Opening in Ohio

Every family loves pizza.

That’s the mindset Shawn McCoy is employing as he plans to open a new Greek’s Pizzeria franchise in Celina, Ohio.

McCoy, who owns the Greek’s Pizzeria location in Portland, has worked in the pizza industry for much of his life. He’s been planning on expanding his business since opening the Portland franchise in 2017, and is inspired by the popularity of the classic dish.  

“Pizza, I mean, it’s the one type of food that every family loves,” McCoy said. “It’s not going to trend out — people will always like pizza.”

The new restaurant will open in a two-story building on the corner of Walnut and Fayette streets in Celina. McCoy is currently scheduled to close on the building at the end of the month, with renovations planned to start in July.

“We’re going to completely remodel it,” McCoy said. “We have to basically do everything from scratch, everything from building the kitchen all the way to building the booths individually.”

He wants the restaurant to have a family friendly atmosphere with a classy touch, with the same menu and prices as at his Portland location.

If the construction begins as scheduled, McCoy hopes to open the new location by the end of the year. He’s been working on the design of the building with architect Cally Lange of Revival Design Studio in Celina.

He started looking for a location in Mercer County to open his new franchise about nine months ago, working closely with the Mercer County Community Development Department. McCoy said he chose Celina because of its population size, along with the economic assistance available to local businesses. Last month, he received a $263,000 revolving loan from Mercer County Commissioners to put toward the estimated $634,000 project.

“They like to support local businesses in town and that’s part of the reason that we chose over there,” McCoy said. “It gives you the sense of having more passion to really take care of it and create something special for the community.”

The coronavirus pandemic has certainly affected the process, McCoy noted, as the stay-at-home order and the two-month closure of the dine-in area at his restaurant have eaten into his profits. He said he is apprehensive, but doesn’t want to remain stagnant.

“We’re talking about spending $634,000 on a project when I don’t know what the future of dining is, nobody does,” McCoy said. “It’s a high-risk deal anyways, but you add in this … but the only thing we can do is move forward.”

As he prepares to open his second location, McCoy is making changes to the leadership structure of his business. He is currently training a general manager for the Portland location, and will likely train a manager for the Celina restaurant as well after things settle down. He’s hoping to keep opening Greek’s Pizzeria franchises in the future, continuing to enjoy the autonomy of being self-employed.

“You can never say never, but I will never have a boss again,” McCoy said. “We’ve got quite a project ahead of us, but I’m not scared of hard work.”