March 3, 2017 at 9:24 p.m.
New pizza place to open
New pizza place to open
By Rose Skelly-
A new pizzeria slated to open next week will fulfill its owner’s longtime dream of having his own restaurant.
Shawn McCoy, owner of Greek’s Pizzeria, will host a grand opening event with a ribbon cutting at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 9. He said the restaurant, located at 1607 N. Meridian St., will combine quality food with quality service.
“Instead of sub shop or a burger place, the reason I chose Greek’s is the quality of the product is superb,” McCoy said. “It truly is good pizza, so I can mix great quality with my background of customer service skills, and I think I can hit a home run with this.”
No stranger to working with pizza, McCoy started out at Pizza Hut in Portland when he was 15 years old. He began as a dishwasher and worked his way up to general manager during his 16-year stint. After taking a few years out of the business to work in sales, the timing was right for McCoy to get back into food service by opening his own Greek’s Pizzeria franchise. His wife Candy knows the founder of the company, which has restaurants throughout Indiana.
“We would have done this years earlier, but we wanted to stay solo,” McCoy said. “We didn’t want partners. Not out of greed of money, but out of making sure it gets done right. That’s what it’s all about.”
Even though the restaurant is a part of a chain, McCoy has put his own spin on his location. He said Greek’s Pizzeria is fairly lax with decorating and appearance requirements for its locations. One difference with the Portland location is that it is a lot bigger than other Greek’s Pizzerias.
“There’s tons of seating, which is very rare for a Greek’s Pizzeria,” McCoy said. “I think my kitchen alone is the size of an entire Greek’s restaurant typically. So what I’m doing is I’m attempting to bring their brand to a whole new level and they’re just going to benefit from my ambitions.”
Those ambitions have been in place since his days at Pizza Hut, McCoy said. He enjoyed being a general manager, but he always wanted something more. Now the pizza business has a personal side to it.
“I’m going to be making my own decisions and I’m responsible for those decisions so I take them very seriously, and it’s all my money,” McCoy said. “When I was a general manager, I did all the right things but it wasn’t my money.”
The restaurant’s hours are Sunday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Greek’s already has 30 employees, and McCoy is looking to add five to seven more delivery drivers. He will serve as general manager, but only until his management team can take over for him. He anticipates many more Greek’s Pizzeria grand openings in his future.
“Once this team is developed my plan is to go the next town and do the exact same thing,” McCoy said. “I’m going to keep opening [Greek’s] in little towns like Portland … My ultimate goal is to have 30 restaurant
Shawn McCoy, owner of Greek’s Pizzeria, will host a grand opening event with a ribbon cutting at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 9. He said the restaurant, located at 1607 N. Meridian St., will combine quality food with quality service.
“Instead of sub shop or a burger place, the reason I chose Greek’s is the quality of the product is superb,” McCoy said. “It truly is good pizza, so I can mix great quality with my background of customer service skills, and I think I can hit a home run with this.”
No stranger to working with pizza, McCoy started out at Pizza Hut in Portland when he was 15 years old. He began as a dishwasher and worked his way up to general manager during his 16-year stint. After taking a few years out of the business to work in sales, the timing was right for McCoy to get back into food service by opening his own Greek’s Pizzeria franchise. His wife Candy knows the founder of the company, which has restaurants throughout Indiana.
“We would have done this years earlier, but we wanted to stay solo,” McCoy said. “We didn’t want partners. Not out of greed of money, but out of making sure it gets done right. That’s what it’s all about.”
Even though the restaurant is a part of a chain, McCoy has put his own spin on his location. He said Greek’s Pizzeria is fairly lax with decorating and appearance requirements for its locations. One difference with the Portland location is that it is a lot bigger than other Greek’s Pizzerias.
“There’s tons of seating, which is very rare for a Greek’s Pizzeria,” McCoy said. “I think my kitchen alone is the size of an entire Greek’s restaurant typically. So what I’m doing is I’m attempting to bring their brand to a whole new level and they’re just going to benefit from my ambitions.”
Those ambitions have been in place since his days at Pizza Hut, McCoy said. He enjoyed being a general manager, but he always wanted something more. Now the pizza business has a personal side to it.
“I’m going to be making my own decisions and I’m responsible for those decisions so I take them very seriously, and it’s all my money,” McCoy said. “When I was a general manager, I did all the right things but it wasn’t my money.”
The restaurant’s hours are Sunday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Greek’s already has 30 employees, and McCoy is looking to add five to seven more delivery drivers. He will serve as general manager, but only until his management team can take over for him. He anticipates many more Greek’s Pizzeria grand openings in his future.
“Once this team is developed my plan is to go the next town and do the exact same thing,” McCoy said. “I’m going to keep opening [Greek’s] in little towns like Portland … My ultimate goal is to have 30 restaurant
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