It’s a blowout 10th anniversary weekend as Spinoza’s Pizza celebrates a decade at Fairfield Commons

***UPDATE (June 7, 2019)***

Spinoza's Pizza & Salads — the independently owned restaurant that has operated for 10 years and recently renewed its lease for five more years at the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek — is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in style this weekend and slightly beyond.

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Starting tonight, Friday June 7, there will be live music for four straight nights, accompanied by special craft beers and special prices, according to Spinoza’s founder and owner, Glen Brailey.

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The live music events include:

  • Friday, June 7 at 7 p.m. with the return of "Troubadours of Divine Bliss." Here's how Brailey described the musicians: "Aimee and Renee have been award winning musicians for over two decades. They are also inspirational speakers, workshop and retreat leaders, community organizers, podcast hosts and celebrants.
  • At 7 p.m. Saturday night, June 8,  the guitar and vocals duo Del Boca Vista from Cleveland will perform.

>> Pizza to Pacchia to Spinoza's: Glen Brailey is our Daytonian of the Week

  • The celebration continues at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 9 with a performance by Matthew Szlachetka, who performs roots rock and folk as "Szlachetka," praised two years ago by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the "10 New Country Artists You Need to Know." He will perform with his full band, Brailey said. This concert is part of Spinoza's Summer  Concert Series, and the cost for this concert will be $10 per person ($8 for students and free for children under 12), or attendees can choose a Buffet/Music Combo for $25 (not including tax and gratuity). The buffet will include a variety of specialty pizzas, salads and appetizers.
  • And on Monday, June 10, The Brian Cashwell Trio will jazz things up with a performance from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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In mid-June, the restaurant will shut down for temporarily for an estimated 10 days for a significant makeover of the restaurant that will include expanding its patio, reconfiguring the seating in the dining room, and perhaps changing lunch service to better accommodate workers who need to get in and out fast, Brailey said.

Credit: Teesha McClam

Credit: Teesha McClam

***ORIGINAL STORY (April 25, 2019)***

Glen Brailey,  owner of Spinoza's Pizza & Salads — the independent restaurant that has operated for 10 years surrounded by chain restaurants at the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek — hears it from his customers all the time: "I can't believe a place like this is in a mall."

But the way he sees it, “We’re not in the mall — the mall is attached to us,” Brailey said, smiling. “We attract a lot of people to this mall, and to the community.”

For a decade, the formula has worked, and now, Brailey has signed a new lease to stay put in the Fairfield Commons mall for another five years.

But changes are coming that Brailey believes will help him improve the restaurant’s visibility and compete against his neighbors.

The restaurant will shut down temporarily in mid-June for 10 days for a significant makeover of the restaurant that will include expanding its patio, reconfiguring the seating in the dining room, and perhaps changing lunch service to better accommodate workers who need to get in and out fast, Brailey said.

Plans call for widening the patio by six feet and adding a natural-gas fire pit, as well as installing a large overhead garage door at the current patio entrance, Brailey said.

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“We’ll update the interior with new colors and tile, and we’ll tear out the central section of booths in the dining room and replace them with high-top tables, which will improve sight lines to the stage,” Brailey said.

The restaurant was designed more than a decade ago as a California Pizza Kitchen, and at that time, the focus appeared to be packing as many diners into the smallest possible space, Brailey said. The new seating design will probably reduce interior seating capacity from 120 to about 110, but patio seating will likely expand from its current 25 to about 40, the Spinoza’s owner said.

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Brailey said he is “seriously considering” adopting a counter-service concept that would be in effect at lunchtime only and would offer a scaled-back menu. Diners could order from a kiosk or place call-in orders, or they could place their order at a counter.

“It would be more efficient and quicker, and there would be no tipping, so it would be less expensive,” Brailey said. “That would accommodate (Wright-Patterson Air  Force) base employees who have a limited time for lunch. Then at 4 p.m., we would switch back to full service, so it will become a hybrid business model of sorts.”

>> Pizza to Pacchia to Spinoza's: Glen Brailey is our Daytonian of the Week

A week prior to the renovation project, Brailey is planning a 10-year anniversary celebration June 7-9 that will include special craft beers, special prices, and live music each night.

The celebration will culminate in a Sunday night performance by Matthew Szlachetka, who performs roots rock and folk as "Szlachetka," praised two years ago by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know.”

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