After taking gamble in Vegas, pizza shop owner returns

The entrepreneur's new pizza chain, his third, is named after his father.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Brian Bleggi thought he'd find his dream in the glitter of Las Vegas, but after a year in the pizza business there the Austintown native says he and his pizza are back in the Mahoning Valley to stay.
"I guess you don't know what you have here until you leave it," said Bleggi, 34. "That's why a lot of people come back, and I'm glad to be back home. Very glad."
The founder and former owner of the Brier Hill Pizza and Wings chain, Bleggi said he was drawn by the bright lights and fast-paced lifestyle of the Nevada gambling capital when he moved there in 1997.
He sold his pizza company and moved his wife and four sons West with plans to have eight shops operating in Las Vegas within a year.
Bleggi called his new chain Youngstown Pizza, opened his first shop on East Flamingo Road in one of the city's main thoroughfares, and had a second shop in the works when he decided to move back to his hometown.
"The wife and kids didn't like it out there," he said. "So I had a choice, the family or the pizza shop."
New business: Now Bleggi is starting over on Youngstown's West Side with a new pizza franchise he's named Original Aldo's after his father.
There are two Original Aldo's pizzerias so far -- Bleggi's headquarters at 2328 Mahoning Ave. behind Danny G's Party Shop, which he also owns, and a franchised Struthers store at 587 Fifth St. He plans to expand to four or five shops within the next year and a half.
Original Aldo's features some of the family pizza recipes Bleggi used when he first got into the pizza business in 1990 with a pizza shop called Papa Aldo's, also after his father. The entrepreneur hopes to bring back his old customers from that era with his slogan: "Same great taste, like it used to be."
Besides pizza, his menu features salads, wings and sandwiches. The Mahoning Avenue shop also offers home delivery of beer, wine, cigarettes, pop and lottery tickets because it's attached to the party shop.
After returning home, he had to wait three years to get back into the pizza business in the Valley, Bleggi explained, because of a "no-compete" clause in his contract with the investors who bought his Brier Hill chain.
Vegas experience: Bleggi said he was surprised to discover how many Youngstown-area natives have moved to Las Vegas, and many became regular customers at Youngstown Pizza while he was in business there.
The Valley transplants enjoyed the Youngstown State University memorabilia he used to decorate the restaurant, he said, and some were thrilled to find the Brier Hill style pizza not available at other national pizza chains.
But there were drawbacks Bleggi hadn't anticipated.
Operating costs were high. He estimated start-up costs and rents in Las Vegas are triple what a business would pay here, and food costs are about double.
The transient population also makes it difficult for a small, locally owned business to build a following, Bleggi explained. Las Vegas is growing fast, with as many as 5,000 new residents moving in a month, but thousands more move away in that same time frame.
"It's too big a city for a hometown Youngstown business," he said.
The Bleggis disliked the torrid climate -- temperatures often climbed to 125 degrees on summer days, he said. And most of all, they missed their family and friends in the Youngstown area.
Looking back, Bleggi regrets his decision to sell the Brier Hill chain when it was at its peak. "I could kick myself every day for moving," he said. "but if I didn't take the chance I would have always wondered. I took the chance. I did it. Now I'm hoping the third time will be the charm."
vinarsky@vindy.com