Three new pizza businesses opening in area

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Mark Fisher covers the restaurant and retail industry in the region. Count on him to continue his in-depth coverage of the industry.

The already robust competition in the region’s pizza market is heating up: Dewey’s Pizza, Godfather’s Pizza and Jet’s Pizza all confirmed new area locations on Friday.

Dewey’s announced it will open its second local restaurant in the Austin Landing in Miami Twp.; Godfather’s confirmed its third local location in Miamisburg near the Dayton Mall; and Jet’s Pizza will open its fourth area location in Huber Heights in May or June.

The 3,700-square-foot Dewey’s Pizza restaurant will seat about 90 and will employ 45. Construction is expected to start in May, with a projected opening this fall.

Cincinnati-based Dewey’s, which operates a restaurant near the University of Dayton, purchased properties in downtown Centerville in 2011 to open a restaurant there, but pulled the plug on those plans in December 2013 after parking, traffic flow and drainage issues arose with the site.

“We’ve worked to bring a second location to the Dayton market for several years,” Chuck Lipp, chief operating officer of Dewey’s and a UD graduate, said in a news release.

In addition to the UD-area restaurant, Dewey’s operates 16 restaurants in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and St. Louis.

The new Godfather’s Pizza will be located at 291 N. Springboro Pike in the Mall Woods Shopping Center across from Home Depot. It will seat about 60 people, employ about 40 and will have a pickup window, according to Jeff Jacobs, district manager, and Chuck Winters, the franchise restaurant’s owner.

The other two Godfather’s Pizza locations are in Centerville and in Huber Heights. Winters and Jacobs said plans call for additional Godfather’s locations in the Dayton area, but no leases have been signed.

Jet’s, which operates pizza shops in Washington Twp., Springboro and Beavercreek, will open a location at 6241 Old Troy Pike in Huber Heights. The carryout and delivery shop will hire a projected four full-time and 10 part-time employees, according to Pete Marrocco, who along with his wife Rosemary owns the Dayton-area Jet’s franchise shops.

Marrocco said he also is still looking for additional locations in the region.