Front Street Pizza hosted a grand opening ceremony Friday. Business owner Massimo Cataldo did the honors and snipped through a red ribbon.
Cataldo owns the building property with his wife, Cindy. The restaurant opened New Year’s Eve, followed by a soft opening on Jan. 4.
To celebrate, the restaurant owners invited customers to enjoy a tap take over, dedicating six out of 20 taps to Bell’s Brewery. Ice sculptor Danny Bloss also attended and worked to carve a sculpture on the back patio.
The restaurant is one of many in the Niles area to celebrate establishment or business growth and Four Flags Chamber of Commerce interim president Randy Hendrixson only expects more to come.
“We are on this trend of doing a ribbon cutting once a month (since November), so we are pretty stoked to be here,” Hendrixson said.
“Things are going well,” Cataldo said. “Business is hanging in there. We still hear a lot of positive things from our customers.”
Cataldo is a longtime Niles restaurant owner. In 2006, he opened Massimo’s Pizzeria and Backside Bar at 20 E. Main St. The restaurant saw success throughout the years, so much so that Cataldo said he began running out of room.
Cataldo closed down Massimo’s and rebranded his restaurant under the name Front Street Pizza Pub, offering the same pizza and drinks that attracted his customer basis to begin with. But Cataldo also had goals to make a few changes, including adding more menu items and utilizing a music stage and back porch area for more customer entertainment.
Overall though, Cataldo had said he hoped to open a family-oriented restaurant where people could gather, relax and enjoy good food and drinks.
Traffic to the restaurant has been high. With 5,000 square-feet of property — 2,000-square-feet more than his former restaurant’s location, Cataldo said they have been able to host birthday parties and events in the space, which was not an option at the old location.
“It has been great. We have had an awesome response,” Cataldo said. “People call us every week asking [to reserve] for a birthday party. It is really good.”
And there is still plenty of room to grow and change, Cataldo said.
“We are still excited for things to come,” he said.
By the summertime, Cataldo said he hopes to roll out some new menu items and have the back porch area, which looks west onto the St. Joseph River, ready for use.
“We are looking forward to summertime,” Cataldo said. “People love the idea of being able to sit outside.”