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Cocca’s Pizza will add a new location, its fifth in the Valley
NEW MIDDLETOWN
One-year-old Rocco Cocca’s first word was “pasta,” much to the delight of his grandmother, Tina Cocca.
“He said it so clear, when he was 6 months old,” said Tina, who noted that shortly after that, Rocco added “pizza” to his repertoire.
The name Cocca is associated as much with family as with pizza, and their local business, Cocca’s Pizza, will open its fifth store in its 29-year history in Poland.
Cocca’s Pizza is moving into 18 E. McKinley Way, the former home of Bruster’s Ice Cream, which originally occupied the 1,196-square-foot structure in 2000 and closed around 2005.
The new pizza shop, slated to open in March or early April, will be carryout and delivery because of the building’s size, said Steve Cocca, who oversees the company.
“We have a lot of customers from Struthers and Poland, and we saw the need,” said Steve, adding that he’s had his eye on the building ever since Bruster’s closed.
The Cocca family already has experience transforming an ice- cream shop into a pizza parlor with their New Middletown location.
“The electric and plumbing is conducive to turning it over,” Steve said.
He said the family is optimistic that the Poland shop will be similar to New Middletown in another way.
“We’ve seen the success of this location in New Middletown and hope to have the same in Poland. People would come in weekly, and I would ask where they’ve been because I hadn’t seen them in Boardman, and they would say ‘Oh, we’ve moved out here,’” Steve said.
In addition to the New Middletown location, Cocca’s Pizza is in Canfield, Liberty and Boardman.
Steve’s mother, Tina Cocca, still works in the pizza shops daily and taught family and employees her dough recipe.
“We make the dough fresh every morning in every location,” she said. “But we don’t flip it. Even in Italy, the flipping is just for show.”
Tina worked in her family’s bakery and grocery store in Italy.
“I make the dough the same way my grandmother did. We were very famous for our bread in Italy. It was always sold out by 3 in the afternoon,” she said.
Her husband, Nick Cocca, lived in the U.S. but returned to Italy for holidays to visit family. During one of these trips, he met Tina. The two fell in love and were married in 1964 in their homeland.
They settled in Boardman, and Nick began his own construction company. The couple raised four children, Maria, Arcangela (Angel), Donato (Danny) and Stefano (Steve), and now have 10 grandchildren. Nick died in 1992.
It wasn’t until 1982 that the first Cocca’s Pizza opened at 7185 Market St.
“Every time I made a big meal, people would say, ‘You’ve got to open your own pizza shop,’” Tina said. “Nick came home one night with papers for the land on Market Street.”
Nick constructed the building, and everyone in the family helped out, said Tina, who even recalled her young son Steve carrying a small bucket around the site.
“We did everything ourselves. It was tough at first, but customers kept coming back,” Tina said “At night, we would put fliers on cars in parking lots around town.”
The original menu featured pizza and two sandwiches: sausage and meatball. Shortly after opening day, Tina created the Deluxe Roll that had “everything but the kitchen sink” — pepperoni, sausage, green peppers, hot peppers, cheese and sauce.
Now the menu still highlights traditional pizza and rolls, but also includes soups, salads, wings, hot subs and specialty pizzas.
Their Briar Hill pizza won “Best Briar Hill Pizza” at the Mahoning Valley Cook-Off, said Maria Cocca Kurelko.
“Soon we’re going have a new section on the website for customers to tell us their favorite things,” Maria said.
Even with the recession, business hasn’t slowed, Steve said.
The original Boardman shop bakes more than 1,000 pizzas on an average Friday, and last Black Friday saw a boost in pepperoni roll sales, more than 2,000 made, because of a new promotion, he said.
Tina said she’s not surprised by the growth of the business, because it has such loyal customers.
“It’s generational now. People come in and say, ‘My grandchildren are raised on your pizza.’ We have very good customers,” she said.