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The History of Menezes Pizza; 1986 - 2006
Menezes' Pizza started out in 1986 at 810 Genesee Street in Rochester, across the street from St. Monica's church, and 'just across the river' from the University of Rochester. Ken McLean had operated the storefront as Macasa's Pizza from 1971 to 1985, but for many years previously the locals had known and loved it as "Angelina's".
In 1988 the shop moved to a storefront location at 344 Thurston Road. The back-to-front layout gave the biz a tremendous leap in efficiency, and it was at the Thurston Road location in 1990 that Menezes Pizza pioneered locally the 'driver buy' procedure of dispatch and delivery. By the mid 90's, even that space was getting cramped for the volume Menezes was producing. Freddy discovered the building on Chili Avenue, and we signed a lease with the best landlords we’ve ever had - Mitzie Collins and Tom Bohrer.
The summer of 1996, Menezes moved into the current location at 445 Chili Avenue. Air conditioning! Room to move without bumping into your co-worker! What a dream come true! The following year it was time to computerize. Menezes installed a customized version of "PRism" (tm) software, (from MicroWorks POS Solutions in Webster, NY) a point of sale product that reduced order-taking errors and helped streamline our production and delivery processes.
The business continued to grow, and in 2001 Menezes Pizza made the ultimate commitment to our neighbors and customers –buying the building on Chili Ave. Two years later, taking advantage of the timing to coincide with the City of Rochester's Chili Avenue Street Improvement & Reconstruction Project, we tore down the newly vacant portion of the building and expanded and improved the parking lot with drainage and better lighting.
Remodeling in 2006 (“Phase II”) was a Façade Makeover with the help of a grant from the City of Rochester’s Economic Development Department.
Through it all, Menezes continues to make the pizza, subs & wings that Rochester loves. Thank you, Rochester for 20 years of business!
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Freddy & Jill Menezes, c. 1990 The Story of Freddy & Jill:
Back in 1985, Fernando ("Freddy") Menezes was working for Metidieri's Pizza. Metidieri's had two locations, one on St. Paul St. across from Kodak's "Hawkeye" plant, and the other at Bull's Head. Freddy's boss was Carlos Metidieri, the Rochester Lancers 'Brazilian' soccer star. As it turned out, Rochester wasn't ready for pro soccer in the 70's, but it was ready for home delivery! Carlos wanted to stay in R town, so he opened what later became the first pizza delivery operation in the City of Rochester. Carlos hired Freddy in 1979 and got a hard worker with good common sense. The business thrived and increased under his care. Freddy learned to speak English, made a few friends and started to build a life. Jill Morse, a local girl originally from Irondequoit and later Pittsford, had dropped out of the Illustration program at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) and returned to Rochester to start over. Clerical and bookkeeping jobs with several Rochester companies, including Great Lakes Press, inspired a return to college, where Jill ultimately earned a cum laude BA in Economics. One fateful Wednesday in May Freddy and Jill met on Durand beach...
A year of dates and dinners passed, and Freddy planned to celebrate Jill's graduation with a trip to Brazil to 'meet the parents' and his family. That fall, however, Freddy's employer began to collapse and plans changed. Through the years, Freddy's stability had attracted the attention of Olindo DiFrancesco of Olindo's Food Service. Olindo offered to extend Freddy an equipment loan. Faced with the choice of taking the trip or starting a business, the two chose the latter. Fortunately, Freddy had managed to have saved up $2000 from his minimum wage job by putting aside $20 a week - a good habit to have. Jill had no money, but a newly minted college degree and some bookkeeping experience. Together they shopped for more loans and negotiated the deals that got them started. With the help of friends, they cleaned and painted the shop on Genesee St. Opening day Freddy put on an apron and walked back and forth in front of the shop to drum up business. Before long, Menezes Pizza was selling enough pizzas to pay the bills. Jill's bookkeeping and accounting expertise kept the finances in check and the bills paid. Her eye for design came in handy, developing over time the distinctive Menezes Pizza logo, seen in its latest incarnation on Menezes' new lawn sign. For 20 years, Freddy and Jill's "Menezes Pizza" has been serving up pizza, subs and wings in the 19th Ward and Rochester's surrounding southwest neighborhoods. Come visit us and find out for yourself what the buzz is all about!
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www.microworks.com
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