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Maureen Wallenfang
Appleton Post-Crescent
Published 5:13 PM EDT Apr 6, 2020
As if reopening an iconic restaurant were not enough, try doing it in the middle of a pandemic.
The former Frank’s Pizza Palace at 815 W. College Ave. in downtown Appleton reopened Friday as Pierri Pizza.
New owner Riley Brice, the grandson of founder Frank Pierri, posted on Facebook at 3:53 p.m. Friday that he was opening at 5 p.m.
The restaurant didn’t stop filling pizza orders for the next five hours.
Then it did the same thing on Saturday and Sunday nights.
The demand was overwhelming from the moment Pierri Pizza opened despite the fact that the restaurant couldn’t serve in its dining room under state regulations during the coronavirus outbreak.
It only offered carryout. And to start it was just making large pizzas.
“It was amazing,” said Brice. “We made as much food as we could possibly make trying to keep up with demand. I’m closed today (Monday) because there’s nothing left in the building. If I can get my deliveries, I plan on being open 5-10 p.m. on Tuesday.”
Frank’s Pizza Palace ‒ originally called Frank & Pat’s ‒ opened in 1955. It closed on Halloween 2018 because of staffing issues and has been dark since then.
Third-generation owner Brice took over in March.
“My goal was always to open as soon as possible, and to me it didn’t matter when that was going to be. I hate to call the coronavirus a blessing, but for me it’s a blessing. I get to take baby steps,” Brice said.
“What surprised me is just how understanding people were. I looked someone in the eye and said ‘it will be three hours,’ and they said ‘okay, that’s cool.’ There were times where we had to stop taking orders because we didn’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.”
Pierri Pizza was staffed with family volunteers on opening weekend. Going forward, he knows it will be considerably easier to hire.
“Now I have people asking for employment,” he said. “For years it’s been ‘somebody please apply.’ Now there are people with cabin fever saying they can’t sit at home anymore. ‘Give me something to do,’” he said. “I need to start hiring. My family’s generous, but I can’t ride that wave forever.”
Info: 5 -10 p.m. everyday. Ordering starts at 4:30 p.m. Customers can find updates on Facebook with any notices of service disruptions because of deliveries. Accepts cash, checks, debit cards, credit cards and Apple Pay. The restaurant is in the process of getting a new landline. Until it is installed, Brice is using a cell phone for orders: 920-636-6260.
See a prior story that ran Feb. 5 at postcrescent.com to read more about the restaurant’s history.
Contact reporter Maureen Wallenfang at 920-993-7116 or mwallenfang@postcrescent.com. Follow her on Twitter at @wallenfang.
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