With a 7-year-old, a 5-year-old and a 9-month-old, she knows firsthand about the difficulty of entertaining kids during quarantine, so she brainstormed ideas on how to keep them occupied. “Our prices are always good, but they’re even better now!” laughs daughter Danielle Gulalo.ĭanielle is also the mastermind behind the pizza kits Tower is now offering. They’ve also expanded their delivery area and have lower-priced daily specials. After popping the trunk, staff in masks and gloves place your order in your vehicle for you. They’ve added contactless parking lot pickup where you pull into the parking lot after paying with a credit card over the phone. Since the Coronavirus pandemic and the state order that restaurants must close their dining rooms, Tower Pizza has had to become more creative in order to keep their doors open. Their son Joseph lives in Portland, otherwise he’d probably be helping out in the family business, too. We pretty much know everybody’s name, drink order and favorite food!”Ī true mom and pop business, the Serutos and their two daughters work at the restaurant and all live near each other in Westchester. Tony adds, “It’s like a big family when you come in. “You don’t have to worry about them being too loud or bothering anybody. “We hear from so many parents that Tower is such a great place to go with kids because you can relax and your kids can have fun,” said Nicole. Retired regulars came in almost daily and many Westchester dads liked to come in and have a beer and a chat while their kids played videogames. “We’ve seen some of the kids from the teams we’ve sponsored grow up and now they’re coming in with their own children,” Joanne noted. “With everyone coming in after their games, it made my sister Danielle and I very popular in grade school!” laughed daughter Nicole Pelka.Īnd after being in business for more than three decades, the Serutos are seeing more familiar faces. Those partnerships have also made Tower the place to be after games and for team celebrations. Over the years, Tower Pizza has continued to give back to the community that supports the restaurant and is proud to sponsor youth sports like AYSO, DRALL, Westchester Little League, LMU Athletics and St. They also began to offer catering, which before the Coronavirus, represented about 25 percent of their business. It ended up being a good marriage delivery might have been slow, but the dining room became busy and filled with locals.” Today, Tower is more like a sports grille inside. “I focused more on the dining room and began sponsoring Little League teams, added TVs and a small arcade. “I started to build a small family restaurant within the restaurant,” Tony said. Tony and Joanne knew they had to do something different to really set themselves apart. Then a pizza franchise opened nearby and saturated the market with advertising. “At first, delivery went gangbusters, but the dining room was slow to catch on.” Since I knew the neighborhood so well, I knew it would be a great opportunity,” he said. “My focus was on doing pizza delivery because of the university. Marilynn Pratt, a GP with a practice in Westchester, helped with a loan as well. “So me and my father-in-law Richard Leger, an electrical contractor, physically built the location.” “It was an empty saloon with no kitchen,” Tony said. When Tony realized that no local place offered pizza delivery in the 80s, he saw an opportunity to try something new, so they sold their home near Glendale and opened their restaurant on Lincoln Blvd. As an added bonus, they’d also be able to raise their kids back in their hometown. They envisioned opening a family-friendly eatery located close to where they both grew up–Joanne in Westport Heights and Tony in Playa del Rey. He had spent his life working in other people’s kitchens and he and wife Joanne dreamed of having a restaurant of their own. Owner Tony Seruto opened Tower Pizza in August 1986. Westchester’s own “Cheers,” Tower Pizza, is making sure their customers are still being taken care of even though business looks a lot different these days. The Seruto family pose in front of Tower Pizza.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |