The original story of Rizzo’s pizzeria
Opening a business one day was always a goal of husband-and-wife duo Eric Schumaker and Ashley (Chase). The idea of a pizzeria came when they learned of Subway abruptly closing its doors in February of 2018. At the time, Ashley was pregnant with their son Alex, who was due in April. While many places serve pizza in Franklinville, the town was lacking a scratch pizzeria with a wide variety of offerings. Ashley jokingly ran the idea by her dad and after lots of brainstorming, the rest is history.
The name Rizzo’s was chosen due to Ashley & Eric’s love for hockey. The captain of the 1980 Olympic Hockey team, Mike Eruzione, was nicknamed Rizzo. The pizzeria opened just 4 months later in June of 2018 in front of Skateland, formerly Subway and Marco’s/Zeno’s Pizzeria. The recipe for greatness always existed, but it too about a year to fine-tune operations and tweak recipes accordingly. In late 2019, Rizzo’s Pizzeria was considered a well-oiled machine and began outgrowing its location.
In summer of 2020, Ashley & Eric purchased the pizzeria’s forever home at 49 N Main St. The building has deep history in the village most recently serving as a doctor’s office. Prior to that, a daycare occupied the space and in the 90’s and earlier, it was a gas station, carwash, and convenience store. John Runser Construction and Ashley’s family completed the construction and renovations through summer of 2021. On July 28th, 2021, Rizzo’s opened the doors of their new restaurant. With 3,000 square feet of space, the facility is almost twice as big as their former location. There is plenty of room to entertain guests and a custom-designed kitchen to keep up with customer demand. A 600 square foot redemption game arcade is on the far-side of the building offering fun for all ages.
Rizzo’s uses only the freshest and most natural ingredients, from 100% whole-milk mozzarella cheese to dough made from scratch and hand stretched daily. Our pizza sauced is mixed fresh daily using our secret family recipe. We only serve jumbo wings and proudly offer both Regular Hormel Pepperoni and Margherita Cup n Char Pepperoni for those craving a good ‘ole Buffalo pie!
We are very proud and humbled to serve our community. From the locals to the seasonal Buffalo campers, and visitors, thank you for supporting our business!
our Restaurant team
Ashley Schumaker (Chase) serves as owner/operator. Ashley, along with her husband Eric and their family, opened Rizzo’s in June 2018. Ashley left her career as a Senior Manager at Pioneer Credit Recovery in November of 2018 to focus on growing Rizzo’s and have quality time with her son Alex (born April 2018). Ashley is very involved in her community serving on several boards and committees. Ashley also serves as Director of Operations for Western New York’s Playbook, a local resource for families sharing places to play and explore with a focus on playgrounds. On her days off, Ashley enjoys exploring new spots with her son Alex.
Michael Chase is the restaurant manager. He oversees all daytime prep operations, coordinates cleaning and maintenance, and is in charge of lunch service. Michael originally worked in the grocery store industry and joined Rizzo’s as a delivery driver and morning prep person when they opened. Michael has an eye for detail and takes pride in every task he completes. When opportunity presented itself, he took on more responsibility at the pizzeria and made many key changes to operating procedures and products to get us to where we are today. Outside of the restaurant, Michael enjoys fishing, hunting, and spending time outdoors.
Reachele Kauhl, aka Shelly, is our assistant manager. Reachele is responsible for product portioning and preparation. Her job is to ensure recipes are being made according to instructions and that we have enough to meet demand. She prepares the majority of lunch orders, and you will see her smiley face at counter on occasion! In her spare time, Shelly loves to watch movies and experiment with different hair/makeup styles.
In addition to our full-time employees, we have 10-15 part time employees who play a key role in our success. Many of these employees are student employees.