Table Talk
New pizza place on Northwest Side touts late-night hours
Mark Franks is the owner of Cousin Vinny’s Pizza 4658 Kenny Road. The new business is the first Cousin Vinny’s Pizza in the Columbus area. Buy This Photo
PrintBringing a new pizza place to a town full of new pizzas places, Doug Norris decided he had to resort to guerrilla marketing tactics.
The regional manager of Cousin Vinny’s Pizza on the Northwest Side took 65 pizzas to Ohio State University campus – naturally, as the bars were closing – to introduce not only the pies, but the store hours: the place is open until 3 a.m. weekdays and 4 a.m. weekends.
The response was encouraging: the pizzas sold out in an hour at a reduced price.
Cousin Vinny’s takes over the Dough Boys Pizza Co. storefront at 4658 Kenny Road.
The pizzeria, the 11th location of a Dayton-based chain, offers two crust options: thin and a hand-tossed, medium-thin style that has a thick rim.
Aside from wings, the place is pretty much centered on pies.
“You have to keep it simple,” Norris said. “That’s part of it. The more stuff you have the longer it takes.”
There are a number of hand-selected “specialties,” a create-your-own section and eight gourmet pizzas, including the Florentine, topped with alfredo sauce, cheese, chicken, bacon, mushrooms, feta, spinach and garlic.
Efficiency is another important aspect to the business. Norris said the goal is to have pizzas ready and out the door in 30 minutes.
The first Cousin Vinny’s was founded 10 years ago on the University of Dayton campus. Since then, stores have been added in the Greater Dayton area, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Indiana.
“We’ve done it so long we do really well at it,” Norris said. “We want to do more.”
For more information, call 614-459-4400.
It doesn’t appear that Flaxella Cafe & Deli will reopen in downtown Columbus.
The 400-square-foot coffee shop, 89 E. Long St., was hit by a car Sept. 5.
Owner Godofai Tgiorgios said the property owners do not want to rebuild. Tgiorgios said he would like to open another location, but doesn’t know where or when.
Flaxella was known for putting ground flaxseed in everything from fresh fruit drinks to coffee. It opened in September 2011.
