Volume 4, No. 9
September 2012
Business Kelso Longview
Connection Chamber of Commerce
Family returns to its roots with Pie@Trio’s Pizzeria
Thursday September 13 - 11:45 a.m. to
By Brenda Sexton For The Chamber In 1957, the Longview husband and wife team of Norm and Tiny Kolln created a recipe for pizza and an atmosphere for good times and turned it into Pietro’s Pizza. The couple expanded the business into Oregon in the early 1960s with Pietro’s Gold Coast, a destination restaurant offering pizza and pizzazz. The business grew to include nearly a dozen restaurants in Oregon and Washington before they sold them in the 1970s to the Campbell Soup Company. Fast-forward to four years ago, when the latest generation tossed its first pie in decades at Pie@Trio’s Pizzeria, in the same location – 614 Commerce Ave., Longview. “It’s the three grandsons, hence the Trio’s,” said Sam Miller, who serves as general manager and minority owner partner of the business with his parents Mitch and Jennifer Kolln. Brothers Tim and Mark, who live in Seattle and Portland, are the other corners of the triangle. “It was supposed to be Trio’s for three brothers, but mom kept saying, ‘Pie at Trio’s,’ and it just stuck.” Through the years, the building stayed in the family, leasing it to other businesses with the intent, Miller said, to return to the business one day. “The timing was right for me,” said Miller, who was working as a commercial photographer when he decided tossing pizza was a better way to weather the economy in 2008. “The idea was always to get back into it.” The gamble paid off from the start. “We were slammed the first year or two,”
Calendar
1:30 p.m. Red Lion Hotel Quarterly Membership Luncheon State of Our Cities
Tuesday September 18 - 5 to 7 p.m. Business After Hours Monticello Hotel 1405 17th Avenue, Longview
Wednesdays Sam Miller and crew have brought back the family tradition of pizza to Pie@Trio’s in Longview. Miller said. “It was just like the old days with standing room only and with lines out the door.” Opening the pizzeria has also has worked for the local economy. Although not a large employer, Pie@Trio’s keeps about 20 on its payroll. The location isn’t the only familiar offering. Pie@Trio’s website touts its dough and sauce are made in-house with grandpa’s original recipe.
Please see Pie@Trio’s, page 12
Weekly – 3 to 4 p.m. Chamber Connections Check out the website to see who’s talking about their business To get on the schedule and talk about your business, what’s new, what’s cool and what’s hot. Call Brooke, 360-423-8400, ext. 16.