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Rise Pies hosts opens in Boardman
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Neighbors | Submitted.A Rise Pies employee prepared a pizza during the opening of the new location. The pizza restaurant promised pizzas that are ready to eat in less than three minutes.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Eddie Muransky (center) cut the ribbon for the opening of his new Rise Pies location at 430 Boardman Poland Rd.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Rise Pies opened its new location at 430 Boardman Poland Rd., the first of what will be a nationwide franchise chain.
By TIM CLEVELAND
After achieving much success operating his 70 Auntie Anne’s Pretzel locations nationwide, Eddie Muransky started a new food business with the opening of Rise Pies on Sept. 2.
Approximately 200 people were served during the first lunch hour.
“We’re a franchise of over 70 Auntie Anne’s Pretzel locations nationwide and have been searching for a complementary food concept for years,” he said. “When pizza started becoming so popular in the fast casual segment, we were intrigued and looked at a couple national franchise concepts. However, we thought the pizza here in Youngstown was so much better. So, we decided to team up with Vernon Cesta and Ed Moses of Vernon’s Caf and V2 and do it ourselves.”
The Rise Pies location is at 439 Boardman Poland Road and is 3,100 square feet. The restaurant allows guests to make their own pizza for as little as $4.99 and in less than three minutes. Diners can choose from a variety of dough, sauce, cheese, meat and vegetables to create their own customized pizza.
Rise Pies uses a WoodStone oven that bakes at about 600 degrees that allows the pizzas to be done in less than three minutes. The restaurant has all 10-inch pizzas, but offers three different crusts, six different sauces and more than 20 different toppings. Diners can build their own pizza or one of nine specialty pizzas.
Muransky said two more Rise Pies locations are planned in the future. One will be opening in October at University Town Center in Sarasota, Fla. and one will open in the spring at International Mall in Tampa, Fla.
“After that, we’re ready to expand anywhere in the country,” he said.
Muransky said he felt the opening was a success and the future looks bright for Rise Pies.
“Very well, I thought our employees performed great and kept the speed of the pizza line where it should be,” he said. “I think it has a lot of potential if we stick to a sound real estate strategy.”