Business Spotlight: Pies on Division

Rocco’s Pizza was destined to sell pies on Division Street. Though the small family-owned chain has operated in Springfield’s bedroom communities since 2006, the Palazzolo family had never crossed the city limits – until now.

When Rocco’s entered the southwest Missouri market, the Palazzolos had purchase offers on two buildings, one in Republic and another at 834 E. Division St. The family was second in line in Republic, and when the first bidder’s contract fell through, Republic was Rocco’s birthplace in the Ozarks.

“Otherwise, we would have been here in 2006,” says John Palazzolo, son of the chain’s retired founder and namesake, sitting at a table on Division Street last week.

Owner-operators John and Vicey Palazzolo opened a Rocco’s Pizza shop last month in the Midtown Neighborhood. On this day, there’s a black Mercedes parked outside, two Springfield Police officers ordering carryout and classical Italian music piped overhead.

Of four area restaurants, one remains owned by the Palazzolos. The family has sold operations in Marionville, the original in Republic, Nixa late last year and a Willard store that now operates under a different name.

“We establish them and seek buyers,” he says in between preparing late lunch orders, one of three times he excused himself to the small kitchen.

In addition to the “tomato pies,” the Palazzolos sell their dough and sauce separately under Palazzolo Foods LLC. The other Rocco’s Pizza operators buy dough and sauce from Palazzolo Foods in exchange for use of the Rocco’s trademark and logo.

“It’s all the same consistency,” he says of the licensing model. “This is the concept that’s been working over 40 years. They can change it if they wish but understand it’s pretty easy to mess it up.”

No frills
Right off the bat, there is a distinctive Italian flair about Rocco’s Pizza.

Maybe it’s the no-frills work ethic stemming from Rocco Palazzolo’s time tending animals in the Sicilian mountains. Maybe it’s the culturally symbolic Fiat parked outside the Division Street restaurant.

Whatever it is, the chain is a long way from Rocco’s roots in New Jersey, where Sicily native Rocco started the pizza house in 1969.

With John Palazzolo now at the helm, operations are still centered on the basics. This year, the restaurant purchased its first point of sale system. Palazzolo says his father, though retired, grilled him about the roughly $5,000 investment.

“It was all old school, man,” he says.

He also has invested in machinery to make the dough, which is now at volumes for some 4,000 pizzas a week. “I bought machinery to do that,” he says. “We used to do all the dough rolling by hand. I was looking like Popeye.”

Palazzolo Foods serves nearly 10 accounts, including restaurants outside of Rocco’s. Declining to disclose revenues, Palazzolo says dough and sauce sales have not exceeded his restaurant sales.

“We only have eight or nine accounts,” he says, “but if we could get to 30 or 40 of them.” The thought trails off. “I’m not a very good salesman. If you want it, get it; if you don’t want it, I don’t care.”

Palazzolo says the Republic store is the top performer in the chain.

Owner-operator Tim McKee says the restaurant sells nearly 950 pizzas a week, and a Palazzolo Foods delivery driver twice weekly drops off dough trays, as well as pizza sauce and marinara by the bucket.

McKee bought the Republic store from the Palazzolos after leading the Marionville restaurant through a rough patch. He has twice made renovations to the 90-seat establishment and tweaked the name to Rocco’s Italian Kitchen to reflect a broader menu.

“I wanted to separate myself a little bit from the other stores,” McKee says.

Palazzolo says he doesn’t assess royalties.

“If they make money, we make money. It’s all in the dough sales,” he says.

Christian County countryside
While Palazzolo was born in New Jersey, he lived 10 years in Cinisi, Italy, until the age of 20. When he moved back to the states, he opened his first Rocco’s in North Carolina.

Southwest Missouri wasn’t on the radar, but his brother Sal’s wedding introduced him to the Ozarks.

His wife Vicey is right in the middle of the business.

“I married into the family,” she says – which is to say she married into the business.

Residing on 45 acres near Billings, the Ozarks countryside offers a little taste of their property in Italy, where Rocco at one time had a farm with 600 goat and sheep.

“We lived in the mountains,” John Palazzolo says, pointing to a picture of the old Cinisi City Hall at the turn of the 20th century. “That’s the Mediterranean in the back. Both our kids were baptized in that church. We brought them over there.”

It’s been eight years since they’ve visited the homeland, where his sister still lives. At 69, Rocco spends his days producing goat cheese and ricotta on the family’s Christian County land.

John Palazzolo says of all the things he’s learned from his dad, common sense and work ethic rise above.

“When he was 7 or 8, he was pushed up in the mountains to work,” he says, noting his dad only completed two years in school. “He can only write his name. He can’t write and can’t read in either language. Yet he’s one of the most successful businessmen; you’d never know it. All the investments he’s done, they are idiot proof. All the odds are in his favor. That’s how I was brought up: Just keep it simple.”