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Meet the Couple Who Ditched the City to Open a Floating Pizzeria in the Caribbean
Pizza is always the answer. At least it was for Sasha and Tara Bouis, a couple who quit their nine-to-five jobs to sell pizza on a boat in the Caribbean.
Before living in the Caribbean, Sasha worked on Wall Street, while Tara was a teacher in Indiana. Sasha had left New York City after he realized the cubicle life just wasn’t for him.
“I thought I was living the dream but quickly got tired of it,” he explained to Bloomberg. “I was walking farther and farther away from my office on my lunch break, and I walked past a sailing school and thought, I wonder if I could get a job there?”
And that he did. He packed his bags and moved to Puerto Rico and eventually made his way to the British Virgin Islands, where he met Tara, who was teaching summer scuba lessons. In 2012, the couple married and then spent eight years working on a private chartered yacht together.
It was during that time where the couple thought to sell pizza and PiZZA Pi was born!
The idea took about two years to complete. The couple purchased a 37-foot, termite-infested boat that needed a lot of work. In 2014, the pair opened for business and have not looked back since.
“Business has been great,” Sasha Bouis shared with INSIDER. “Our busiest day was International Pi Day (March 14) when we sold 90 pizzas. On an average day we sell between 30 and 40.”
The boat, which uses solar panels to work the majority of the appliances onboard, even has a nifty machine that transforms ocean water into cooking water.
Tara Bouis uses local ingredients for inspiration when creating the menu. One highlight includes the Carbonara, a pizza topped with fresh lobster and locally smoked pulled pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard, just like the original sandwich.
The floating pizzeria is currently the top rated restaurant in St. Thomas on Trip Advisor. However, the biggest critic just might be the owner himself.
“As a native New Yorker I am quite a pizza snob and I am probably PiZZA Pi’s biggest critic,” Sasha Bouis said. “New Yorkers say that the pizza is better than in New York, but that might be just because they are eating it on a boat in the Caribbean.”
To find out more information about PiZZA Pi, check out their website here.