Niagara/Orleans pizzeria picks Orchard Park for its fourth location

Five years after launching a pizzeria concept in Medina, the Bitsas family and partner Marc Massaro are expanding to Orchard Park this fall.

Cusimano’s Pizzeria will operate from a 2,600-square-foot leased space at 3144 Orchard Park Road, a plaza owned by Bevilacqua Development L.P. that also houses Kaylena Marie’s Bakery and Pita Gourmet.

The restaurant will join locations in Medina, Lockport and Brockport. Founders James Bitsas and Melinda Sechowski, who have a 50-year history in restaurants, also operate Country Club Restaurant in Medina, open since 1972, and the Olive Leaf restaurant in Lockport, which opened in 2018.

Vassilios Bitsas, one of three general managers, said customers have been asking for a location in the Southtowns.

“We get a lot of workers and people from that area that come get lunch at our current locations and always say we need to put a location out there,” he said. “And we’re also huge Bills fans, so we figured it was time to go out there.”

Cusimano’s got its start when his father and Massaro decided to try something other than a diner – and it took off. The restaurants offer pizza and wings as well as subs, salads and appetizers, with beer and wine coming soon.

“We never expected it to take off the way it did,” he said. “We just keep reinvesting the money back into the business. We’re trying to grow our brand properly. We use very high quality ingredients and all our dough, sauce and cheese are prepared daily.”

Matthew Wilhelm, commercial leasing agent with Bevilacqua, said Cusimano’s brings something new to the plaza.

“I think it’ll be a great addition to the plaza and hopefully work well with the other tenants and bring in more traffic,” he said.

While the Lockport site offers a full dining room, the Orchard Park site will operate like the Medina and Brockport sites with a handful of tables with counter service. The focus will be on carry-out and delivery.

The Orchard Park site might not be the last, either, Vassilios said — as long as the company can keep quality high, it hopes to keep growing.

“That’s the biggest thing to us, expanding but keeping the quality,” he said. “We do not want to lose the family-owned and -operated status.”

With about 160 total employees, including 100 at the three existing Cusimano’s, plans call for hiring another 40 to 45 for the Orchard Park site.

By Tracey Drury – Senior Reporter, Buffalo Business First