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Photo by Christopher Lugo/Staff Dane, Garrett, Tommy, Dan and Pam Canary plan to open the new Highlands Pizza Place in the coming weeks.
After two years of being closed, The Pizza Place is being reopened and renamed to Highlands Pizza Place.
The new owners, Dan Canary and his wife, Pam, have been coming up to Highlands for 10 years.
“Dan’s dad actually had a home here and we came up visiting on vacations,” Pam Canary said. “It’s hard not to fall in love with the place. Originally, we are from Miami, but we have been homeowners here for at least three years now. Slowly but surely, we got the boys up here.”
Though they have never owned a restaurant before, the family has managed several restaurants and said they are excited to have Highlands Pizza Place be their baby.
“We have all had some restaurant experience,” Pam Canary said. “But, this will be our first time owning a restaurant. It will be our baby.”
For years, the family said they have enjoyed the food and atmosphere of the former Pizza Place.
“The food was good,” Pam Canary said. “We were so upset when we found out that it was closed. When the opportunity came up for us to buy it, we thought, ‘Hey, we can do this. We can carry on the wonderful tradition that this place is for Highlands.’”
The menu for the new restaurant will be about the same as the former Pizza Place.
“We think the idea of sandwiches, salads and pizza in a family friendly environment is a good thing for HIghlands,” Pam Canary said. “Of course, we want to make it our own, and we have gotten lots of feedback from people stopping by. We are hoping that we stay true to the things that people love but adding our own twist.”
From people stopping by on the street while they are remodeling, to people posting on social media, Dan Canary said the feedback from the community has been very positive.
“We have gotten nothing but really super sweet people that are very supportive,” Dan Canary said. “We have even had other restaurant people coming up and giving us advice.”
Pam Canary said the people in Highlands are missing more than just the food of the restaurant; they are missing the camaraderie.
“People are telling me about how the kids baseball teams would buy pizza and are really missing a place where they could feel part of it all,” Pam Canary said. “High schoolers would come and sit in the back after school eating pizza sticks. So, we hope that we can keep that same family friendly environment.”
With the entire family hard at work to open the restaurant, Pam Canary said they are still a couple weeks away from being completely ready.
The new restaurant just received their CO, but the family wants to give the place a bit of a facelift.
“We got our CO, which was the big one,” Dan Canary said. “There were a couple of things that we had to do in the kitchen. We are going to give it a little facelift, but nothing too crazy. We want to keep it warm and inviting.”
When it comes down to employees, the Canarys already have three sons that will be on the staff, but the family is looking to hire more help.
“I obviously have a great team right here, but we do need more people,” Pam Canary said. “We are looking to hire several people. We will only be closing one day a week, so we are definitely looking for some good people to join the team.”
As of right now, Highlands Pizza Place will be open from 11 a.m., until 8 p.m., during the week, closed on Tuesdays, and they plan on staying open till 9 p.m., on Fridays and Saturdays. They also plan to be open year-round.
“The feedback we are getting from other businesses in the area is that the winters are not as slow as they used to be,” Pam Canary said. “We may close two days in the winter, but for the most part, we will be open year-round.”
Dan Canary said he hopes they can do the restaurant justice.
“It is a little intimidating because there is a standard already set,” Dan Canary said. “It has been a really good event so far, so we are really looking forward to being open for everybody.”
- By Christopher Lugo