CINCINNATI — LaRosa's Pizzeria celebrated 70 years in business — through doubt, fire, tight economic times and a pandemic — with a proclamation and party on Monday.
Donald "Buddy" LaRosa and some business partners opened Papa Gino's on Boudinot Avenue in Westwood in 1954. LaRosa was — and still is — proud of his Italian heritage, in a town historically heavy in Germans and Irish. His test kitchen was his family's San Antonio Italian Catholic Church, where he found an audience for his Aunt Dena's sauce and for an East Coast favorite that few were serving in the Midwest — pizza.
"[My father said] 'Are you crazy? People eat potatoes in this town, they're not going to eat pizza,'" LaRosa said.
Generations of Cincinnatians are grateful his dad was wrong. With 64 locations in three states, LaRosa's Pizzeria has remained a family business with franchisees.
March 25 became LaRosa's Day in Cincinnati by proclamation from Mayor Aftab Pureval.
Buddy LaRosa handed the reigns of the company to his son Mike more than one decade ago. Now three generations of LaRosa's are involved, with several grandchildren working for the company — including Mike's son Nick.
"Everyone to my grandfather is part of his family," Nick said. "Continuing all of that community support that he started 70 years ago is really ingrained in us because they made us who we are today."
The community has sustained the pizzeria, and the larger company, through some trying times over seven decades. The LaRosa name is synonymous with local schools and prep sports support — and now with boxing.
"My father didn't have an advertising budget back in the early days so his word-of-mouth advertising was to donate pizzas to the high schools, feed the teams donate to churches," Mike said.
A fire at the original location on Boudinot in 1973 closed the restaurant and threatened to keep it closed for months. That was until some neighboring businesses and groups of student-athletes and their families pitched in.
"It was like an Amish barn raising and in two weeks' time we were ready to paint and put the place together," Buddy said. "29 days we were back in business. How about that?"
Buddy started the High School Sports Hall of Fame in part as a way to say thanks for that help. It's still going, recognizing athletes and those who help them succeed.
The Buddycard program also raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for organizations across the Tri-State each year. Mike said the company's charitable works amount to around $1 million yearly.
Aside from the business, Buddy LaRosa's Golden Gloves program is a legacy of his mentoring style of leadership, which has impacted the lives of countless other young athletes.
"Buddy is an example of that early entrepreneurial spirit that made America successful because he built this business out of nothing," Mike said.
The company has innovated, introducing the "One Number" to call for pizza — streamlining phone orders. It was an early adopter of online and mobile ordering.
So, what do the coming decades look like for the business? Mike and Nick told us it will be about more innovation and expansion, both in footprint and menu.
"The out-of-town thing is something we're going to regroup on soon because we know a lot more now about sort of what will work," Mike said. "There's sort of a small town opportunity because all the major metro markets are already over pizza but if you go to a small town like Chillicothe or Zanesville or something like that, it's a little more like things here were in the 80s and 90s."
Inside the newly-rebuilt restaurant on the site of the original on Boudinot Avenue, Buddy called his secret to success relatively simple.
"We're in the service business," he said. "Provide good food in a clean, great surrounding. And have ample restrooms."
LaRosa's Pizzeria will celebrate its 70th anniversary all year.
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