Maria Pasta

Maria Pasta is a small Ligurian restaurant in the heart of South Pole City. Somehow managed by the flippant teen Maria Denise, this small eatery is immensely popular and praised for its quality food and wide selection of affordable Ligurian-style dishes. By far, though, the most popular dish is their spaghetti a la pinguinne. Since Maria is a minor, the power of attorney as a manager is provided by TurtleShroom's family, who are more apt to just approve of her business choices as commanded by "the rules". However, his family has been seeking to acquire the company from Maria since it became popular.

Background
Maria always adored eating, among many other luxuries in life. Normally, she is a lazy penguin, but in certain areas, she can take initiative and apply herself, excelling in whatever it is she chose to do. Maria only performs mediocre in school because she hates it; in reality, she is actually a brilliant penguin with a pretty good knack for running a business. Maria dreamed of starting her own restaurant as a future career, but she had no drive or even knowledge of how to do so. She had always wanted to sell her recipes for Ligurian cooking, which she and her family always took pride in, so she called up TurtleShroom for a favor. Having worked in Jones-owned companies in the past, she hoped that TS, or one of his relatives, would help her through the paper work and around the fact that she was "too young" to own a company.

TS, being a penguin that loved to see and boost young entrepreneurs, agreed to see if there was some way to do it. In the end, he managed to convince his brother, Hermeshroom, to act as Maria's power of attorney. Hermeshroom was tasked to sign items in her name and continue flying under the radar, as she was legally too young to run her own business all by herself. If asked, she would represent herself as a waitress or a customer.

This business venture, risky at first, proved to be a very worthwhile investment for Maria and her investors. Maria Pizza, with the startup costs covered by TurtleShroom's family, paid itself back in a mere six months after it opened.

Involvement
Today, Maria Pasta is one of the most popular restaurants in the South Pole City area, at least in its genre for variety and affordability. It trails behind Pizza Seven, though, despite its wider and more diverse menu. Maria usually delegates the operations of the restaurant to the manager, simply called "Joe" by her and the Maria Pasta staff. She hopes to assume full ownership of her company when she comes of age.

TurtleShroom and family have been attempting to get Maria to sell the restaurant to them ever since it paid their initial investment back. Maria constantly refuses. Maybe it's out of pride or fear of getting caught? Additionally, Hermeshroom is both too rule-obsessed and too pure to abuse his POA abilities to sign over the company. It seems that Maria Pasta will remain Maria Pasta for many years to come.

Trivia

 * This is a parody of Mona Pizza, a restaurant owned by the character Mona from the WarioWare series of video games.
 * Veranda enjoys eating here almost as much as she does eating at the Pizza Parlor. It's a much more local business, but she claims something is "different" about the pizza sauce used here.
 * Despite its success, it still trails behind Pizza Seven and can not even dream of matching the success and power of the famous Pizza Parlor.
 * The company has a jingle that is so catchy that it was prohibited from being played by the municipal government. Once heard, it's never forgotten.