Opening a pizza shop with his brother T.J. was a big decision, sure, but it had nothing to do with creating a lifetime in the food business.
A career in photography, yes. Pepperoni and cheese, no.
“I wanted to be a photographer and the only reason I opened a pizza shop was to save money to go to school about photography,” Dominic DeFelice explained. “My father told me I couldn’t go into the pizza business without my brother, so me and T.J. opened the shop and I never went to photography school.
“Since we opened that store in 1982, life’s been about pizza and food ever since,” he said with a smile. “But I can still take a nice photo, trust me.”
DeFelice Bros. Pizza now has nine locations throughout the Upper Ohio Valley and the co-founder now is concentrating on expanding even more. He does not own or operate any of the locations these days but instead is concentrated on refining operations, customer service, and even the menu items served at each.
“You can always improve. That’s something I’ve heard my entire life and it’s something I believe,” DeFelice insisted. “Even after 40 years of business, we can get better and we can expand even more. At least that’s the goal, but it takes the right people and the right location, so we’ll see.”
He staged a month-long contest to celebrate the 40th anniversary that soon will send Janice Harris and a guest to Italy. Second prize winner, Valerie Yang, won pizza for a year, and Kathy Gump claimed third prize and received a DeFelice Prize Pack.
The first shop opened in Shadyside in the early 1980s, of course, as the “pizza worth going after,” and then the business grew on both sides of the Ohio River. Along the way, though, DeFelice has encountered the tough calls, the make-or-break choices, the do-or-die decisions.
“And with each difficult decision, it could have gone either way, but we’ve been blessed that everything has worked out in our favor,” he said. “We’ve been very lucky.”
THE COMMISSARY
Consistency was the goal.
DeFelice wanted his oven-fried pizza in Wintersville to taste exactly the same as it did in Shadyside, and the same was true once a third location opened in Bridgeport in 1994. The co-founder believed the only way to accomplish such a goal was to centralize product availability.
“One of our toughest decisions involved our commissary that we started when we were planning to expand beyond a few stores,” DeFelice explained. “The objective was consistency in the stores so our product would look and taste the same no matter what location a customer was at, and it worked for a while until the federal government came to visit.”
The Feds?
“Well, we had three stores in 1984, and we were making our own sauce, so it was important each store had the same,” he said. “But then the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Transportation came to see me and they convinced me that I didn’t want to have that commissary anymore.”
There were interstate laws and refrigeration standards to consider, apparently, so DeFelice discovered a new direction.
“But at the time, it felt like the end of the world,” he recalled. “But it turned out to be a Godsend because that’s when we took it all to the next level without products and ingredients, and it’s worked out very well.”
DELIVERY
So, the pizza, sandwiches, calzones, and such were worth going after, right? That’s because Italy is too far away, right?
Right, but those facts did not discount the fact other pizza shops started delivering, including the chain monster known as Dominos.
“We didn’t want to be in the delivery business, but yeah, we felt we had to because that’s what was happening in the business back then (in the late-1980s). Delivery is a very difficult part of the pizza business because you can make the pizza and have it ready, but then it’s up to the driver and everyone knows about the roads in Ohio and West Virginia,” DeFelice said. “You know never know what could make our driver late, but it happens and most of the time it’s unavoidable.
“Delivery is a separate monster that really can’t be tamed because it’s an uncontrollable aspect,” he said. “If we have an issue with an ingredient, we can fix it, but there’s very little we can do about the roads and traffic. We wish we could, trust me.”
FRANCHISING
There was a time during the company’s 40-year history when DeFelice was running from store to store because it was his name on the deed, but that changed once he was approached by potential investors who wanted in on the action.
“At first, it caught me off guard,” DeFelice admitted. “But then I started to think about it; what it would take; and I had to wonder if someone else could do it the same.”
These days, though, DeFelice Bros. Pizza shops operate in Bethlehem, Wheeling, Martins Ferry, Moundsville, St. Clairsville, Follansbee, Wintersville, Shadyside, and most recently, Newark, and the co-founder owns not a one.
“Deciding to get into franchising was big for us because all a sudden we had a DeFelice Brothers Pizza in Wintersville,” the co-founder recalled. “The learning curve was huge, and we’ve continued through the year to grow into other communities. Now, I am concentrating on franchising even more because I believe more growth is possible.
“It means a lot to us when we are contacted by people who are looking into a possible franchise because that means they love our food enough to think about making it a part of their future. I don’t know if there is a bigger compliment in the food business,” DeFelice said. “So, I am looking forward to building for the future because I think it’s going to be an exciting time for all of us.”
Blessed Beyond Belief
DeFelice now is contemplating a resurrection of his photography career. No, it’s not because he finds he has more time on his hands, but instead because his company is in need of his skills.
“I’ve never lost my love for photography, and I believe our food is beautiful, so why not?”
Snapping the photos, though, is just one of several parts of his grand plan moving forward.
“I’ve had a blast through the years, and I have many more ahead of me, too,” DeFelice said. “I count my blessings every day because I know how lucky a person I am. I’m truly a blessed man.
“If you work hard and you listen to your customers, I believe you’re going to be successful,” he added. “That’s what we have tried to do during our first 40 years, and it’s what we’ll continue doing for the next 40 years.”
