Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
EP #83 - Building Mr. Petisco: A Family’s Brazilian Dream In Massachusetts
A small family shop with a big heart, Mr. Petisco was born at a kitchen table during the pandemic and grew into a thriving Peabody storefront bringing the Taste of Brazil to Main Street. Lais Lima shares how a father’s recipes, a mother’s financial savvy, and a daughter’s drive turned risk into resilience and culture into community. Every bite reflects care—potatoes peeled in-house, dough made from scratch, and food cooked fresh to order with no additives, just warmth, grit, and flavor. Even a naming mix-up that briefly confused locals became an opportunity to rebrand and strengthen their neighborhood presence.
Their success also travels through the local festival circuit, where weekends bring new customers, shared stories, and inspiration for future dishes. For anyone who loves authentic Brazilian food, supports local entrepreneurs, or dreams of starting something meaningful, Mr. Petisco’s journey offers both encouragement and a blueprint: work with care, adapt quickly, and let culture guide the way. Explore their menu and catering options at www.bot.mrpetisco.com, call 978-896-2409, or visit 85 Main Street, Suite C9, Peabody, MA to experience their story through every delicious bite.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Young Godfrey.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we're thrilled to have with us Lice Lima. She is the daughter of the owners of Mr. Potisco, located in Peabody, Massachusetts, off Main Street. Lice, how are you doing this morning? I'm doing great. How are you? Doing fantastic. Thank you for asking. Enjoying this wonderful morning. Lice, can you please tell our listeners about Mr. Patisco? Of course.
SPEAKER_02:Hello, everyone. Thank you for having me here today. This was a very exciting and unexpected invitation. We couldn't be happier to join you this morning. Mr. Patisco is a family business. I actually helped my parents run it. And they are we are located in Peabody off Main Street. And our journey through it all will be thought through the questions. But the main idea was to bring the Taste of Brazil to Massachusetts.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful, beautiful. And you have done that. So what's the backstory? How did your parents get into this business?
SPEAKER_02:So uh our main goal here was to definitely bring our family, our culture, and our food closer to what we are now called home. Uh, we were a little far away from it, but in the midst of the pandemic, we decided to come together and build Mr. Patisco from the ground up with a lot of hard work and the help with the city of Peabody. We uh got this first store of many, hopefully, up and running in March of 2022. My dad, not only the brains behind all the delicious recipes, he did also all of the decorating and the floors, the walls, the everything. He really did help. So that's why we do have the mister on the Patisco.
SPEAKER_01:Love it, love it, and love it. What are some myths or misconceptions surrounding Mr. Patisco?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, there was actually a really funny one that happened in the when we first opened our doors. Some people really thought Mr. Patisco was a pet store, even with all the pictures and products on the window, the bow tie and the pet and the potisco really confused the few people. Since then, we've updated our storefront and we're adding a big, beautiful sign to the 95 Main Street building. And hopefully, now there's no confusion, confusions, no problems on that end.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful. I can see how confusion can come out of that. So thank you for elaborating on that and sharing that with us. So, Lice, outside of work, what do you do for fun?
SPEAKER_02:So, me myself, I go on hikes with my husband and my kid, but my parents, the owners of the business, are very much involved with festivals and fairs and all of that over the weekend. So they really don't have much time for you know fun, what you would call it. But uh most of the fun right now is at the festivals and the fairs, they've been participating, lots of cool stuff happens on those. Uh, meeting a lot of new people every day, so many other business owners, so many interesting stories, dreams, and aspirations. It's always so so awesome. Um, but yeah, that that's right now is uh walking around the festivals uh while they're not working and meeting new people, meeting um new food, new friends, and that's that's how they make their fun as of right now.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, beautiful. Involvement, engagement, it's all good. Yes, for sure. So, Lice, um, changing gears. Subscribe to our listeners one hardship or one of life's challenge that you rose above and can now say that because of it, you're stronger, you're better. What comes to your mind?
SPEAKER_02:Uh so at 23, I've learned that sometimes you have to sacrifice small things to reach big ones. When my parents started Mr. Patisco, it wasn't only about the food, it was about creating roots, teaching me and my sister resilience and building something meaningful to our family. That's what Mr. Patisco represents to us, a dream built with our own hands to bring people together through food and culture.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful, and it would be a legacy that will pass on from generation to generation. Yes, yes, open soul. Beautiful. So, Lice, can you please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Mr. Potisco?
SPEAKER_02:Of course. So everything in Mr. Patisco is done with so much love, with so much grit, and we have so much history. We each uh have a part of the pillar, it's crucial. I do my best on the social media, so I focus on the website, the festivals, and the fairs we participate with the permits and city halls and all of that. But my mom runs the financial side of things, and my dad, as you guys know, um, is the brain behind it all. Our Mr. Tuar Patisco, so he does a lot of the recipes, he is the the brain there. Um, all the delicious recipes are from him. My mom does help him a lot on those, and um, one of the important things people should know is that everything is prepared right when you guys get there. Um, everything is freshly fried, freshly made, and handmade. So our family makes it out of scratch. We peel our potatoes, we mash the potatoes, we make the dough, everything is made from us, and there's no added anything to it, you know? And they I'm very proud to bring that to you guys. And um, one more thing, not to make it long, but there's only a few times that you see people helping us, mostly during the festivals and the fairs, um, other special occasions, um, but most of it is just our family, and I'm very proud of what we brought together, uh, just the four of us. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful, a family affair. Love it. It is so Lice. How can our listeners learn more about Mr. Potisco? Do you have a website? Yes, we do.
SPEAKER_02:So, if you guys are interested in placing catering orders, joining us for our festivals and fairs, um, wants to just explore the menu to learn more about us, just feel free to um check out our website, www.bot.mrpatisko.com. All our contact information is there with uh, but you could if you would like to call us right now, you could call us on 978-896-2409, and we are located on 85 Main Street, Suite Seat 9, Peabody, Massachusetts.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful, beautiful. A big thank you for being on the show with us today, Lice. Thank you. We wish you and your family all the very best moving forward.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you, thank you. I really hope everything goes well with you, too. I'm very excited for this.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpnorthore.com. That's gnpnorthore.com. Or call 857 703 9406.