Construction forced Italian Gator Pizza by the Slice to close its window for the foreseeable future.
The good news: It will have double the space and more toppings when it reopens in late April or early May, owner Joel Mills said.
Mills said he worked in pizzerias starting at age 17, and he always dreamed of owning a business. At the age of 28, he spent all his savings on the 122-square-foot space off University Avenue and moved to Gainesville with his pregnant wife.
He’s served food out of a 3-foot-wide window with his staff ever since.
On Jan. 16, the business closed as major structural changes started taking place next door.
“It’s out of my control, but I’m going to utilize the situation to make Italian Gator the best I can,” he said.
Italian Gator will have new electrical and plumbing systems, Mills said, along with larger ovens that will hold 12 pizzas, twice the amount he could previously make at one time.
He said the last few years have been his busiest, and the addition of a larger window, combined with a second cashier during peak hours, will slice wait times.
In the meantime, cashiers such as Christina Montana are working at one of three Piesano’s Stone Fired Pizza locations, which Mills co-owns with three other people.
Montana said she visited the restaurant twice a week as a UF undergraduate, and her passion for pizza turned into a job two years ago.
“From where the cashier stands, it’s like serving pizza to a horde of zombies,” she said. “Some people are trying to climb in, they’re shouting, some are fighting each other.”
Danielle Rosen, a 21-year-old UF marketing senior, said most of her family hails from New York, and she enjoys Italian Gator’s authenticity.
“Nothing is comparable,” she said. “I’m really, really upset.”
