Longtime familiar face of Pizza City has a new role at restaurant

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Longtime familiar face of Pizza City has a new role at restaurant

County News

Thursday, 29 November 2012 08:31

By Ken Jackson
Staff Writer
Most of the diners at Pizza City in Kissimmee can say they know the owner.
That’s because Chris Carter probably served them their pizza, salad or spaghetti dish.
Carter, a longtime server and one of the main reasons that the small Italian location at 611 W. Vine Street has kept its loyal clientele, became the restaurant’s outright owner on Nov. 1, when the purchase from former owner Richard Shaw became official for all she’ll call “favorable terms.”
Carter, a Kissimmee native and alum of Osceola High School, has been taking congratulations from most customers, many who would consider themselves regulars. For that reason, Carter knows them by name, and welcomes and sends them off after their meals as such. It doesn’t take long to become a regular.
“I might not know names, but I know people by what they order,” she said.
She began working at Pizza City as a server in 1993, when she still lived in Kissimmee. She eventually moved to Lake County to give her children more education options, and lives in Groveland now, but has continued to make the hour-plus commute for work since 1998. Over that time she’d become the de facto dining room manager, and did some of the accounting and bookkeeping, so she knows what she’s gotten into as the lead manager.
“There haven’t and won’t be any surprises,” she said. “Back in August we talked and I told him I’d be interested in buying it from him in two or three years. Then it became, ‘How about now?’”
The changes Carter has made to the restaurant are purely cosmetic, installing new ceiling and floor tiles. Everything is exactly the same, as she kept all the recipes.
The staff has stayed the same as well, and if she could hire back some familiar faces, she would.
“When I told the group, everyone was happy,” she said. “When word got out I had people who worked here before called to congratulate me — and say they wanted to come back.”
The staff of six may grow at some point.
“Eventually we’re going to need two more,” she said.
And it’s not just former staff that came flocking back.
“I’ve been seeing customers come in who I haven’t seen in a while,” she said.
The status quo of Pizza City, outside of its owner, extends to the menu. Carter doesn’t plan on any changes, and the recipes will stay the same.
“Our head cook, Brad, is the same guy we’ve had for 14 years,” she said. “Nothing’s changing back here.”
Some of the specials that became staples are actually more affordable. The weekly special of two slices of cheese pizza (that are big enough to take up half a pan) and a drink that was $5.75 is now $4.50. And the all-you-can-eat spaghetti deal is back on Monday and Tuesday from 3 to 10 p.m. for $3.99.
But the most visible sign that things really haven’t changed much at Pizza City is that Carter, despite running the place and having the power to choose otherwise, is still waiting tables, hustling food orders and drink refills in from the kitchen.
“I still enjoy doing it, having that bond with the customers,” she said. “I’ll do it as long as I can.”
That’s if the six-day, 65-hour weeks don’t catch up with her first. But she has help. Fellow server Jamie Anthony was another back-in-the-day employee who came back in August, before talk of Carter buying the restaurant got serious. Anthony said great days are ahead for Pizza City with Carter in charge.
“She’s always been pretty much been running the place, but now she signs our checks,” she said. “This is so great, I’m so happy for her, because Chris deserves this. Now I’m even more excited to be back.”
The trend on Vine Street does concern Carter a bit — Target has announced that its location on U.S. Highway 192 will close in February, and vacant store fronts dot the highway.
“Downtown looks really nice, but the city needs to do more for the businesses on 192.”
Until then, she’ll have to rely on the continued loyalty of her patrons, who three weeks after all the contracts were signed are still offering congratulations on their way out the door.
They know that if they have some kind of problem, they can let their server know. The owner will definitely hear about it.