Green paint covers the walls. A life-size picture of MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo stands near the door. Across from him is a large poster of Breslin Center.
All of this in a pizza place.
New pizzeria opens In E.L.
The first campus location of Papa’s Pizza & BBQ Pit, 1219 E. Grand River Ave., opened a week ago from Saturday. The restaurant joins a community already flourishing with pizza parlors. Manager Robert Bashi explains why he chose East Lansing and the process of making the pizza, from rolling the dough to cutting the slices. Barbara Breedlove, an office assistant in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, explains why she stopped in to try the new restaurant.
Papa’s Pizza & BBQ Pit, 1219 E. Grand River Ave., is the newest pizza place to join the community after opening its doors last week. Manager Robert Bashi said because this was the first campus location of the chain, he wanted to cater to students.
“I think it looks sweet,” he said. “I designed it myself. I tried to make it look like a campus store.”
Bashi said despite minimal advertising, business has been good.
“We turned on the open sign and the outcome was excellent,” Bashi said. “We probably sold about 350 pizzas, which is not bad for a first day.”
Despite joining a community with a plethora of pizzerias, Bashi said he has faith Papa’s Pizza will thrive.
“We have a huge menu,” he said. “We’re not just a pizzeria. We have ribs, chicken, seafood, pasta, burgers, corned beef and calzones. I think that gives us a step-up on the competition.”
Bashi also cites his 25 years of experience in the restaurant business and ingredients as keys to his success.
“A lot of our ingredients are made just for us,” he said. “We use a cheese that’s very specific. We make our own barbecue sauce and we make our own salad dressings.”
Habib Jarwan, owner of Bell’s Pizza, 1135 E. Grand River Ave., said the pizza business is harder than it once was. Jarwan said although he still is selling as much pizza as ever, the cost of making pizza is increasing.
“The cost of doing business these days and the suppliers and everything are higher than they used to be,” he said.
He said he isn’t concerned about competition such as Papa’s Pizza because the products are too different.
“I have a different clientele,” Jarwan said. “I don’t worry much about the competition.”
Physics freshman Parker Degroot said he stopped in to Papa’s Pizza because the restaurant is on his way home.
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“I passed it everyday while they were redoing it,” he said. “I had one of those menu flyers up at my apartment.”
Degroot said if it wasn’t for the flyer, he wouldn’t have known to go to Papa’s Pizza for something such as chicken fingers.
“The chicken is really good,” he said immediately after trying it. “It’s not soggy on the outside and it’s still moist on the inside.”
Bashi said designing the East Lansing location brought him back to the when he first started in the restaurant business.
“It made me feel like how it was in the beginning, the feeling of opening a new store,” he said. “I couldn’t wait for this one to open up. It’s my favorite store right now.”
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