New Pennville pizza place

Jason Suman grew up in his grandmother’s restaurant.
Ryan Suman helped pay for college by working at a pizza place.
So when the opportunity came along to get into the food business in Pennville, the siblings decided to go for it. Suman Bros. Pizza opened Tuesday for carry out and delivery service, with plans to open a dining room by the end of the month.
“Opening my own pizza restaurant has been a thing that I’ve always wanted to do,” said Ryan, 23, who briefly ran a restaurant in Markle before opening the business with Jason. “It was really getting to know customers and talking to people (that drew me to restaurants). Also, on the pizza side of it I enjoyed putting it together and making it my own.”
Jason, who is nine years older than his brother, remembers spending time as a kid at his grandmother’s business — Pioneer Restaurant in Decatur. His family sold the restaurant 20 years ago this month because of his grandmother’s declining health.
Ryan’s restaurant experience came from his time in college, having worked at Pizza King in Dunkirk for two-and-a-half years while earning a degree in political science at Ball State University. He opened Best Pizza Place and Restaurant in Markle after graduation, but the driving distance proved to be too much.
So the Sumans decided to focus on their home town, Pennville, with hopes to fill what they saw as a void. They pointed to the closing of Blankenbaker’s Corner Store this summer as a loss for the community, and noted that with the other family restaurant in town closing at 2 p.m. daily there was a need for an evening eatery.
“We decided, there’s no pizza around here, there’s no place to eat, hey, let’s try it,” said Jason, who also works at Peyton’s Northern in Bluffton and spent eight years with Jay Emergency Medical Service.
The Suman Brothers’ Pizza menu includes, obviously, pizza, as well as subs and wings. It also offers salads, wraps, breadsticks, mozzarella sticks and French fries.
And there are several menu items offered as an homage, including the Grandma Suman’s Garden Sub. It’s a sandwich made with the customer’s choice of meat, cheese and coleslaw made by Jason’s daughter, Taylor.
Gordy’s Supreme pizza, named for grandpa, is loaded with pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, onions and sausage. And another pizza, the biggest of the bunch, with double the toppings of the supreme along with olives, ham and hamburger, is named Bulldog, after the Pennville school mascot.
The brothers, both of whom are Jay County High School graduates, hope their location in the small town on Ind. 1 will be an advantage.
“Being in Pennville, there isn’t any big chains within 12 to 15 miles,” said Ryan. “So that helps. We have convenience.
“We’re really not worried about trying to compete with the price,” added Jason. “Our main thing is trying to make sure we’re giving good quality service and good pizza.”
Suman Bros., located at 170 N. Union St. (Ind. 1), is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. It offers delivery daily from 5 p.m. to closing. Business has been good for the Sumans in the opening days, with Pennville children running in and out while counting up dollars and reviewing a menu in an effort to attempt to decide what pizza to try. They made so many pizzas in the first two days that they ran out of dough.
“Opening day we were very busy,” Ryan said. “We were so busy I didn’t have a chance from 3:30 to probably about 8 to sit down. It’s been good so far.”
The brothers have already discussed the possibility of opening another restaurant in the future if their Pennville venture works out. And Ryan has dreams of eventually putting his political science degree from Ball State University to work with a run for elected office.
But for now the brothers are focused on becoming a success in Pennville, because they hope to be there for the long haul.
“We want to get established, do well, and if it does well enough, branch out to other areas,” said Jason. “We just want to do well and pass it on … because restaurants have always been in the family.”

[[In-content Ad]]