VILLAGE PIZZA

The product of a mysterious illness and a nose-to-the-grindstone Greek immigrant, this Massachusetts pizzeria has thrived through three generations.

BY TRACY MORIN

Not much is known about the original founder of Village Pizza—only that his name was Teddy, and he’d traveled north from Pennsylvania to seek experimental treatment for his daughter, who had a rare illness. To fund the efforts, Teddy, who worked in a pizza shop, decided to open his own place in Greenfield, Massachusetts, called Village Pizza, in 1961. “He kept the place for three years, ended up leaving and sold it,” says current owner Chris Balis. “My father eventually bought it in 1974, and it’s been in the family ever since. Teddy had 120 pizza pans—we still use them today.”

To say that Chris’ father, George, earned his success would be an understatement. A Greek immigrant with a third-grade education, he traveled to the States in 1966 to build a better life for his family, who stayed overseas until he could bring them over a decade later. George juggled gigs at Wonder Bread Co. and The Royal Typewriter Company, while working part-time at a nursing home and a pizza shop his brotherin-law owned. “He worked 112 hours a week for 20 years,” Chris recalls. “A Greek guy used to do accounting for Village Pizza, so he ran it by my father, and he ended up buying. There, he worked open to close, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.—16 hours a day, seven days a week. I asked him once, ‘Why did you do that?’ He said, ‘Because I was afraid to fail.’”

Soon, though, the pizzeria became a full-family effort. When they arrived from Greece in ’76, George’s wife, Eleni, revamped a lot of the recipes, and the business started to really take off. Chris and his sister (now co-owner), Betty Gioules, worked in the business, as did his younger brother before eventually moving on. In 1988, George passed the pizzeria on to his kids; today, Chris’ wife and son, as well as Betty’s son, remain involved. His daughter helps out with social media—an area Chris finds a mystery but which, he notes, enables his customers to do the advertising for the pizzeria.

After 60 years, word-of-mouth is Village Pizza’s sole advertising strategy, and wait times often stretch well past the one-hour mark on weekends—a byproduct, Chris believes, of following his father’s original principles. “We do everything from scratch, and 65% to 70% of our business is pizza—that’s what we’re known for,” he says. “My father said you have to treat people the way you want to be treated. They work hard for their money, just like my father worked hard for his money. I just want to thank this country for the opportunity. I hope the next generation keeps it going for the next 60 years.”