FALL RIVER — While traditional restaurants are struggling amid COVID-19-related dining restrictions, pizza — that takeout/delivery standard — is doing just fine.
At local pizza shops throughout Greater Fall River, pizza shop owners say business is good, if not busier these days. During the first months of the COVID-19 shutdown, delivery orders were up, but these days as more and more people are venturing out of the house, pickup and delivery are running neck-in-neck at local pizza shops.
Mid-afternoon last Monday, there was a steady stream of customers stepping up to the takeout window at Pizza Time Restaurant on Pleasant Street in Fall River. Some were picking up full pies while a couple others bought a slice or two. “It’s the best pizza in the city,” said one customer as he walked away with a large pizza box in hand.
The dining area and inside counter at Pizza Time are closed to customers for now, said owner Xenofon Tzevelekos. Though he could now seat some customers inside as dining restrictions have eased, Tzevelekos said he’s sticking to the takeout window for now. They also offer delivery within a few miles of the pizza shop. So far, business has been good, he said. The buffalo chicken and pepperoni pizzas are the two most popular among his customers. He’s also been selling lots of calzones, salads, and meals, especially the pasta and chicken fingers.
On the down side, COVID-19 dining restrictions and event gathering restrictions forced Tzevelekos to close the adjacent Santorini Hall, an upscale event venue that he opened in 2018. At this point, he said he’s considering opening it as a restaurant but for now he’s focusing on the thriving business at Pizza Time.
In the North End of the city, Royal Pizza’s business is bustling as well, said Athena Araujo, who owns the second generation family pizza shop with her husband, Michael. Her parents, Harry and Anna Proimakis, who retired about five years ago, started Royal Pizza more than 30 years ago.
“I feel like we’ve been busy, we could be busier. It’s kind of normal for this time of year. I can’t complain we’ve been able to stay open the whole time so we were blessed with that,” said Araujo. “We do a lot of pickup and delivery anyway so a sit-down restaurant would probably have suffered more.”
In addition to pizza, they sell a lot of subs and wings at Royal Pizza, she said.
Gus’ Pizza in Somerset, another multi-generational family pizza shop is also going strong these days, said manager Kevin McCormick. After closing for the first two weeks of the restaurant shutdown back in March, they reopened and have been going strong since, said McCormick. “It’s been non-stop, especially since most restaurants have been closed. Somerset has no lack of pizza shops and we’ve all been sharing in the wealth.”
In response, he said customers have been friendly and they’re tipping well. At first deliveries were busier because people were nervous about going out, he said, but now people are heading back into Gus’ at 582 South St. to pick up their orders. In addition to cheese and pizza being big sellers there, he said the cheeseburger pizza and the veggie are also great sellers. They’ve also been selling a lot of catering salads for families who eat them throughout the week.
On the flip side of business, though, McCormick said the prices have gone up from their suppliers on everything ranging from cheese to gloves. “The price of gloves has doubled. They went from $35 to $80,” he said.
At the Swansea House of Pizza on Wilbur Avenue in Swansea, owner Reda Aiad said business has been up and down over the past six months. But he only bought the business in February just about a month or so before the COVID-19 pandemic so he doesn’t have a longer perspective on how it’s been compared to a time before the pandemic.