LH Press Library
‘I Know I’m not Going to Quit’
Richardson Morning News, by Wendy Hundley
June 1, 2003
The gunshot that killed his brother three years ago still echoes for Andrew Albert. He hears it every time one of his employees heads out the door to deliver pizza in the Lake Highlands area of northeast Dallas. But the crime that touched him so personally has also been a motivation to stick it out and try to make a difference in the area where he grew up.
"I don't want anybody to suffer the same kind of loss," said Mr. Albert, owner of Picasso's Pizza & Grill, at 11300 Audelia Road. "I know I'm not going to quit," said Mr. Albert, 35. Residents say they hope he doesn't change his mind. "It's the neighborhood hangout," Mark Williamson, president of the Woodbridge Homeowners Association, said of the restaurant. He eats there two or three times a week. "It's a comfortable, homey place. The staff is like an extended family; they come and sit down next to us."
After graduating from Lake Highlands High School in 1985, Mr. Albert spent a few years as a traveling musician before settling down in Dallas in the early 1990s. He took a job delivering pizza for Picasso's - "It was the only job a long-haired guy could get," he said - and ended up managing the restaurant before buying it on Dec. 7, 1993.
Two weeks later - on Dec. 21 - a man who knocked on the door at closing time robbed him at knifepoint. Since then, Mr. Albert said his delivery drivers have been robbed and his business has been broken into numerous times. But the worst moment came on Feb. 5, 2000, when his brother, David, was delivering pizza to a longtime customer at a nearby apartment complex. After getting back into his truck, David was shot in the back and died. He was 34. His killer has never been found.
Although David was his older brother, "I took care of him all my life," Mr. Albert said. "He had learning disabilities. He had a great heart but he struggled his whole life." His brother tried many different jobs but always came back to work at Picasso's. "I told him he'd have a job here for the rest of his life," he said. "He wanted to do a good job. When David was killed, somehow he had just started to reach his potential. He was becoming more responsible."
After the killing, Mr. Albert thought long and hard about moving his business. "I originally thought I'd sell or close," said Mr. Albert, sitting at a booth in his restaurant. "Personality-wise, it's not in my nature, as badly as I wanted to quit after my brother was killed." Plus, he said, he and his wife had invested a lot of money and effort into the restaurant. "Customers told me, 'Your brother would not want you to quit. He'd say, 'Don't give up.'"
So instead of moving, Mr. Albert added a patio to the restaurant in his brother's memory. "He'd rather have a patio in memory to him than a closing," he said.
Mr. Albert said he'd continue to take steps to protect his business and his employees. He'll only make deliveries to certain apartment complexes during daylight hours. He'll sometimes offer discounts if customers come to pick up their orders. And he has one rule for his employees: "If you don't feel safe, you don't have to deliver it."
Reprinted with permission of The Dallas Morning News.
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