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For The Love Of Windsor Pizza . . .
Area small business entrepreneurs go for a bigger slice of the pizza pie with new locations, products and promotional ideas
While Windsor and Essex County area hospitality-related small businesses, absorbed the brunt of the impact from rolling closures mandated by the Province of Ontario in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are signs the sector is bouncing back.
According to a survey released in September by Workforce WindsorEssex, the number of people employed in the accommodations and food services sector had reached 10,800, which represents a considerable jump from a low of 5,500 in January 2021 when pandemic-related closures were at their most devastating.
“There does appear to be some bounce back from the sector, but I imagine it will be a slow and steady recovery, which could take a couple of years,” says Justin Falconer, Chief Executive Officer of Workforce WindsorEssex. “Hospitality was one of the first sectors hit by the pandemic and will probably be the last to come out of it.”
The employment numbers are still well off the 15,300 employed in the sector in September 2019, but there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel for the beleaguered hospitality sector.
The sector is represented by more than 800 businesses with 770 of those operating with staffing levels between one and 49.
The pizzeria sector within the overall food services sector is growing again as well.
Online and published postings for jobs at local pizzerias are also bouncing back from a low of 170 during 2019, to 217 so far this year. And the amount of time postings are listed before being filled or taken down, a sign of improving health in the sector, has decreased from an average of 26 days last year to 18 days this year.
“One of the problems for this sector is finding people to fill the jobs because many have transitioned to other employment opportunities,” adds Falconer. “It’s a different world and people have adapted.”
The Windsor Pizza Club
In October 2020, Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island (TWEPI) launched The Windsor Pizza Club encouraging Windsor area pizza aficionados to visit participating restaurants where they could have a passport stamped and qualify for gifts such as TWEPI hats and t-shirts.
“It was a great way to bring our partners together and showcase Windsor-style pizza. When you look at the number of pizzerias in our area, there’s no doubt there’s a hunger for it and as long as the operators keep putting out a premium product, the demand will remain strong.”
TWEPI Chief Executive Officer Gordon Orr
He adds: “The fact there’s enough customers for everyone to be profitable and expand their businesses proves how popular pizza is across the region.”
According to Lynette Bain, TWEPI Vice President Destination Development, 5,000 membership cards were printed for distribution at partner locations and select events; 993 cards have been registered online with over 100 redeeming their completed cards for their free t-shirt.
In addition, a video series was completed for promotional support of the campaign and was released at the launch event. The videos have been viewed over 56,000 times with approximately 4,500 impressions and over 350 hours watched.
An influencer campaign was also executed on the program announcement date, encouraging local influencers with a large following, to create their own Windsor-style pizza with a kit provided by Antonino’s Original Pizza, 4350 Howard Avenue. This campaign promoted a contest to wine free pizza for a year, which garnered over 4,000 entries and 15,000 views!
The dedicated landing page has welcomed over 11,000 unique visitors and 35,000 page views.
In addition to Antonino’s, the other participating pizzerias include: Arcata Pizzeria, 3021 Dougall Avenue; Armando’s Pizza, 326 Cabana Road East; Giovanni Caboto Club,2175 Parent Avenue; Capri Pizzeria, 3020 Dougall Avenue; Franco’s Restaurant, 1449 Tecumseh Road East; Oven 360, 3873 Walker Road; and Sam’s Pizzeria & Cantina, 2214 Wyandotte Street West.
Orr also praised local Windsor pizza restaurant owners for being good community partners and participating in many fundraising events.
“The fact that pizza travels well and reheats well makes it a popular food to be served at fundraisers,” indicates Orr. “Overall, pizza is a massive success story across our region and we’re happy to help celebrate it.”
“Small Business Week” October 17 To 23, 2021
Yet, there have been struggles for small businesses over the past 18 months, because of many closures caused by COVID-19 restrictions and more may follow in the year ahead. And it has had a major impact on the Canadian economy.
According to a report released on September 2, 2021 by Statistics Canada (Statscan.gc.ca), small businesses made up 98% of all employer businesses across Canada in 2020, employing 9.7 million individuals, which is approximately 64% of the total labour force.
By comparison, medium-sized businesses employed 21.2% of the labour force followed by large employers at 14.8%.
In the same survey, small business owners expected more significant impacts, such as a decrease in profitability and sales. They also felt they would be less likely to take on additional debt, have the liquid assets to continue operating and face the prospect of more of their employees working from home.
In recognition of the contributions made by such businesses to the Canadian economy, October 17 to 23, 2021 has been designated as “Small Business Week.”
Locally, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Centre, a division of Invest WindsorEssex, hosts a number of events throughout October to assist small business owners.
They include: “Web Presence 101” on October 5 at 10 a.m.; “Basics of Starting a Small Business” on October 12 at 10 a.m.; “Social Media for Your Business” on October 19 at 10 a.m.; “Basics of Writing a Business Plan” on October 21 at 2 p.m. and “Emerging Technologies in Automation” on October 26 at 8:30 a.m.
Despite the many daunting challenges and concerns, there are still dozens of small businesses across Windsor and Essex County, including pizzerias, not only thriving, but also expanding.
What follows is a small snapshot of those hardy pizzeria owners overcoming the odds.
Antonino’s Original Pizza: Planning For Two New Locations
The history of Antonino’s Original Pizza dates back to 1959 when Antonino (“Tony”) and Vita Ciaravino opened their first pizzeria.
They sold the business in the late 1960s before re-opening in the mid-1970s and later closing it down again.
“They were old-school and if they couldn’t make the pizzas themselves, they didn’t want to own the business,” recounts current owner Joe Ciaravino who re-launched Antonino’s with his mother in 1999 in honour of his father who passed away in 1980.
Originally located at Howard Avenue and North Talbot Road, Ciaravino moved the business into a brand new, larger location on an adjacent lot a little over two years ago. The new building was built by Rosati Construction.
“We simply ran out of space,” he explains.
Antonino’s has never offered delivery services except on larger orders above $85 and Ciaravino says that isn’t going to change.
“When you put a hot pizza into one of those hot boxes for delivery, the heat turns to steam and it makes the pizza soggy,” he says. “You’re much better off picking it up yourself.”
All of the restaurants have various levels of eat-in capacity, but at the time of writing (late September) none have re-opened since Ciaravino shut them down at the onset of COVID-19 restrictions.
Ciaravinobelieves his restaurant’s secret to success lies in its consistency and use of fresh ingredients, such as Galati Cheese Company’s Uniondale-brand whole-milk mozzarella cheese, a cornmeal crust, dough which is homemade and slowly fermented in a cooler, as well as fresh or canned mushrooms and shredded pepperoni.
“All that and love!” laughs Ciaravino.
Ciaravino admits that consistency is hard to achieve given that multiple people at multiple locations are making multiple pizzas seven days a week.
“We don’t always get it right, but we get it right the vast majority of the time,” he says. “There are a lot of moving parts in making a pizza.”
When COVID-19 restrictions impacted the restaurant sector, Ciaravino stepped up his pay-in-advance and curbside pickup system by adding debit and credit card terminals at every phone station and hiring additional staff to run pizzas out to customer’s vehicles.
“We have about 60 employees who are all an integral part of our business,” adds Ciaravino.
There are three Antonino’s locations (which operate as franchises with the owners of each in brackets) — 4350 Howard Avenue (corporate), 6535 Malden Road in LaSalle (Paolo Scalia) and 1695 Manning Road in Tecumseh (Janet Hurmoz and Jay Matti).
There are plans to open new locations in Riverside (Linda and Amir Kakous) and Leamington (Andrew Krautner) in the near future. Both buildings will again be built by Rosati Construction.
“We’ve thought about expanding outside Essex County, but it doesn’t make sense to go somewhere where nobody knows who you are when we have high brand recognition and loyalty here at home,” states Ciaravino about his multi-award winning pizzeria.
Using this “home advantage,” in May 2021 Antonino’s began selling their Stone-Baked Frozen Pizzas exclusively at Mancini’s Italia Bakery, 571 Erie Street East under the slogan: “Real pizzeria quality and taste, because we make ‘em in a real pizzeria.” Prices start at $11.99 and available choices are: Cheese, Pepperoni, Original Super and Angry Hawaiian.
As well, soon after the pandemic started in March 2020, Antonino’s began to offer kid friendly take-home pizza and cannoli kits for customers that include everything you need to make four 6” pepperoni pizzas or six Sicilian cannoli.
For further information on all they offer check out their website where you can also learn about how the Ciaravino family and their pizza legacy has become a Windsor institution.
Nonna’s Pizza A Pezzi Take-Out Location Opens
Paul Perciballi launched the business five years ago in Lakeshore, with the help of sister and co-owner Adriana Luciani, along with niece Diana Luciani. But when COVID-19 exploded and forced restaurants to curtail their hours, he decided to move it to a space next to Perciballi Pools, near the Windsor/Tecumseh border.
Nonna is an Italian term of endearment for grandmother and with some of Perciballi’s staff falling into that category, travelling out to Lakeshore became difficult.
“Those were the main reasons we moved and now it’s much more convenient for our staff and customers as well,” says Perciballi. “We’ve been busy since we moved.”
He explains: “We’re not a traditional pizza restaurant. In addition to the food we offer, we also rent or sell wood-burning pizza ovens because we noticed during the pandemic that people were interested in making their own pizzas and hosting pizza parties when it was safe to do so.”
Perciballi also offers lessons to help people make their own pizzas in the Rossofuoco traditional wood-burning pizza ovens.
“It’s not that hard to do and it’s becoming more popular,” he indicates.
In addition to 10 varieties of pizzas, Nonna’s serves Ciociaro Ciambelle, which is similar in texture to a bagel or baked soft pretzel; panninis, Arancini (rice balls), pasta dishes and Rustici, which can include sausage, vegetables and cheese wrapped in pizza dough and baked in the oven.
In order to serve pizzas that are as close to the authentic Italian variety as possible, Perciballi imports flour and salami from Italy and uses traditional San Marzano tomatoes.
Perciballi says his staff includes a handful of nonnas, all but one over the age of 70, who work “their traditional Italian-cooking magic especially on Saturdays when they make dozens of Ciambelles, which sell out very quickly.”
Open since August 2021, this take-out business offers pickup services only and customers can either order online or drop in and make their selections in person.
Nonna’s is located at 11624 Tecumseh Road East and you can see photos of all they offer on their social media page.
