A Marine pizza maker?

First you add the sauce to dough, then comes the cheese. Sprinkle your favorite toppings on it and throw it in the oven.

What do you have about eight minutes later?

Yes that is right, a pizza.

Well, this is certainly not all Steve McCoy, 32, criminal justice major, does.

McCoy owns the Hungry Howie's in the Gateway Plaza located at 2701 SW College Road.

"I have always wanted to be an attorney and own a business," McCoy said. "The timing was perfect for the business and easy at the time. You only get so many chances, so I took the opportunity to open this store when it came."

After graduating from Lake Weir High School in 1995, McCoy attended CFCC on and off until he joined the Marine Corps. in 1999.

Nine years later he left the Marine Corps. as a staff sergeant and opened Hungry Howie's on Oct. 18, 2008.

A Hungry Howie's did exist there before McCoy got a hold of it, but it was owned by another man and was shut down.

"The best part about owning this store is meeting new people and knowing people like something you made," McCoy said.

Though he is taking a break this semester, McCoy plans to have a full schedule in the fall.

Does managing a business and schoolwork become hard to balance?

Not for McCoy.

McCoy sets his work schedule around his classes and his brother manages the store when he is not there.

"We are extremely close, like best friends," said McCoy's brother, Matthew McCoy, 29. "We argue in the business, but who wouldn't?"

So, managing his time is not much of an issue, but according to McCoy, there is one downfall to owning a franchise: the lack of franchise protection from other Hungry Howie's.

"Our store and other Hungry Howie's fight for the same business," McCoy said.

As a sponsor for the men's basketball team, McCoy has guaranteed business every Tuesday, feeding the players.

McCoy said he respected the strict program that Tim Ryan, head coach of the men's basketball team, and Tito Arias, assistant coach, ran.

He agreed to be a sponsor, joking that if they wanted to continue the sponsorship for next season, the coaches would have to beat him in a game of basketball.

McCoy plans to keep his store open while finishing his education and then he may possibly sell it.

"I mainly just wanted to have the experience of owning my own business," McCoy said. "I figured a pizza restaurant would be a firm stepping stone to move on to bigger and better things."