Shadle combined his business development with his studies at The Ohio State University, from which he graduated in June 2005. He entered an OSU business plan competition. “I didn’t win the $100,000 prize, but then the winner had created an implant for spinal cord injury—hard to compete with that,” he says. “My friends and family loved the concept and said they would support me if I pursued it.”

Shadle set his sights on a new mixed-use development near the OSU campus. “They were going with Wolfgang Puck Express, but I hounded them for months, and when that fell through they agreed to talk to me.”

Pesto has been a good fit, drawing students, faculty, and professionals. “Dinners are stronger than lunches, and weekends are stronger than weekdays. That has been surprising,” Shadle says. Pesto serves about 250 customers a day on weekdays between the 11 a.m.–11 p.m. hours and roughly 450 a day on weekends.

The average check is $9. “About 50 percent of customers get gelato, so that’s really driving our average ticket up,” Shadle says. Pesto offers samples of the rich Italian ice cream as customers wait to order, and unusual flavors range from Guinness beer to carrot cake.

Also a bit unusual (for an Italian restaurant) is Pesto’s décor, which tends toward sleek and modern rather than old-world Italian, which Shadle says has been overdone. In keeping with contemporary furnishings in walnut, slate, and steel is the modern, high-energy European Techno music playing in the background. “From the atmosphere to the way our employees are trained to relate to customers, we want the feel of a cool, hip setting of outgoing people having a good time.”