It all started in 1980 with one slice of homemade dough with fresh tomato sauce and melted cheese cut into a triangle.
Now, 43 years later, the 16 Italian Village Pizza shops in Western Pennsylvania have hit the 100 million mark — a 100 million slices of pizza sold.
“That’s a lot of slices,” said Frank Veltri II, co-owner, as he sat inside the expanded location of Italian Village Trattoria in Waterworks Mall near Aspinwall on Nov. 29. “My dad founded this business on selling pizza by the slice. Not many pizza places did that when he started.”
Born in Amantea, Italy in 1955, Frank Veltri Sr. moved to New York City in 1967. He began working in a pizza shop on Mulberry Street in Little Italy, at the age of 12. He went on to co-own three Italian Village Pizza shops in New Jersey. Being part of a huge Italian family from the old country, he decided to take his talents to Pittsburgh, his son said.
In 1980 he opened Italian Village Pizza in the former Century III Mall in West Mifflin. Italian Village Pizza now has 16 locations.
As the Century III Mall was closing, Veltri Sr. stayed until the very last day, said Tara McBride, general manager and co-owner of the Waterworks store. He knew many of the mall walkers and made many friends. He was sad to leave.
“He wanted to keep selling slices,” McBride said. “He loved that pizza shop.”
He still works in the office offering advice from his wealth of knowledge of the business, his son said.
It was McBride who began counting the slices. One day in October, employee Emma Reiser mentioned her how busy they had been that day at lunchtime and wondered how many slices they’d sold.
The shop has a counter where guests can select slices from 10 pies. McBride, of McCandless, looked at the sales for that day and for the month, and the numbers intrigued her. She mentioned it to Veltri II.
“We sat down and went through the computer, and the numbers added up to 100 million,” said Veltri II, who grew up in West Mifflin and lives on Pittsburgh’s South Side.
“We were like, ‘Wow,’” McBride said. ”We decided we want to do something to celebrate this milestone.”
The restaurant’s new Waterworks Mall location close to the Giant Eagle and not far from the Waterworks Cinemas will mark a year at that spot on Dec. 20. It had been on the opposite end of the plaza for 11 years. It moved to the larger space because it had more seating. They added a bar. Italian music plays in the background.
The menu has expanded to include freshly made pasta. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
They are planning to serve $1 slices at all locations on Feb. 9, which is National Pizza Day.
Veltri II said one reason he thinks the business continues to succeed is that many of the shop owners are family and many of the employees are like family.
Michael Onder is one of them. He babysat Veltri II when he was little and worked at the Century III Mall location, which led him to a career as a chef in Atlantic City and other jobs, he said. He was looking for something to do now that he is retired.
“Working here at the beginning opened so many doors for me,” Onder said. “I called and they were looking for employees so I came back. It’s like coming home again.”
Onder was tossing pizza dough for those slices — such as plain, Margherita, Bruschetta, Florentina, carnivores delight and buffalo chicken. The restaurant sells New York style and Sicilian pies. Toppings can be added to any slice.
They also sell a gluten friendly pie, which changes seasonally, but they also keep the favorites.
Veltri II learned the passion for making the best pizza and pasta from his father, he said. It’s about using the freshest ingredients.
“Pizza is a universal food and it is one of the healthiest of fast foods,” Veltri II said. “When I told my dad about the slices, he said, ‘it’s probably more than 100 million,’ and he’s probably right because the system he used in 1980 wasn’t as accurate as what we use today.”
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More information is available at italianvillagepizza.com
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact JoAnne by email at jharrop@triblive.com or via Twitter .