Restaurant welcomes new faces at new location

NORTH TONAWANDA - After 10 years of providing delicious pizza pies to the North Tonawanda community from inside their former location - The Wurlitzer Building, The Wurlitzer Pizza Co., relocated to a new area.

In July 2011, Owner Ann Mangione and her husband, Vincent, moved the business to its current location - 1401 Nash Road, North Tonawanda.

Although the new facility is in a great location - equipped with a galore of available parking spots - purchasing the building came with a bit of a catch.

The current location is joined by Jamie’s Ice Cream - a long standing ice cream shop in the neighborhood. The former owners sold both the building and the equipment inside the building to Mangione.

“It’s actually been easy running both businesses. I kept everything the same way the former owners had it,” said Mangione. “But, it definitely got busy around here once the weather started getting nice.”

During a grand-opening held recently, North Tonawanda Mayor Rob Ortt, Assistant to the Mayor Bob Welch, Councilman Russ Rizzo and Chamber of Commerce Members, President Nancy Schmidt and Executive Director Joyce Santiago stopped in to officially welcome business to its new location.

City officials were invited to taste slices of traditional cheese pepperoni pizza, white pizza and steak and cheese pizza - along with italian parmesan, barbecue and medium wings.

Mangione, a North Tonawanda resident herself, is thankful for how welcoming the community has been. She enjoys that the neighbors can walk across the street and get some dinner and dessert. She wants her customers to feel comfortable.

“We try to make it homey,” said Mangione. “We often come out and talk with our customers, and even sit down to eat.”

With reasonably priced items and often having prices lower than her competitors, Mangione feels right at home in the new location and is pleased with the success of the business.

“It’s almost like starting over, but we’ve been really lucky,” said Mangione.

The Wurlitzer Pizza Co. is open year round from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Stop in to meet the owners and try a variety of different menu items.

Additionally, Jamie’s Ice Cream offers a different flavor of custard each week, a slue of flavored milk shakes from traditional vanilla and strawberry to peanut butter and banana flavor, and the good old fashion sundae’s made just the way you like them.