The Geoppo family was excited. People were digging their Papa Vito’s Pizza flagship parlor in Waterloo, Ill., and they decided to expand. They sold rights to ownership groups to operate their own Papa Vito’s franchises in nearby O’Fallon and Belleville.
The Waterloo and O’Fallon pizza enclaves are doing fine, thankyouverymuch. But earlier this year, the Papa Vito’s in Belleville was not doing just fine, the Geoppos say.
“We were in a partnership with a couple guys and they weren’t living up to the Papa Vito’s name,” said Jamie Geoppo, the son of business founder Jerry Geoppo. “My parents, my siblings -- all of us have worked at Papa Vito’s, and built it up, and that’s our blood, sweat, and tears, so we decided to pull our name and logo off and let them [the Belleville ownership group] go out on their own. And that didn’t work out too well for them.”
In March, with the Geoppos in retreat, the still-extant pizzeria changed its name to Z’s Pizza – a move that was not without minor controversy.
Last summer, after a brief turn as independents, Z’s Pizza took its final bow, and tomorrow, the Geoppo family, chastened by a regrettable business deal, re-opens Papa Vito’s in Belleville to fanfare.
“Now [in Belleville] we’re going back to the family-owned business,” said Jamie. “My sister Katie and my brothers Chris and Ryan will all work there, and my father and mother, too.”
Papa Vito’s thin-crust pizza finds its apotheosis in the Papa’s Deluxe, said Jamie. That one has pepperoni, mushrooms, bacon, sausage, onions, green peppers, and black olives on request. The toppings are fresh, the red sauce is made in-house, and the meats are spiced to the restaurant’s specifications, he added. The sweet Italian salad dressing, also made on the premises, is a customer favorite.
Belleville today, St. Louis tomorrow: “We would love to open more stores,” said Jamie. “We’d like to come over to the Missouri side next.”
Papa Vito’s 318 E. Washington Belleville 618-277-6200 mypapavitos.com Lunch and dinner daily (but closed on Mon for the first month of business).
