Belleville senior Wendy Morton prepares dough for a pizza while Belleville senior Janel Weiss restocks ingredients behind the counter at The Grotto, 304 W. Broomfield Road, Sunday night. "It's been very busy; we have a private party going on," Morton said. "On top of that, having regular orders to do on Superbowl Sunday has made this a pretty crazy day." (Charlotte Bodak/Staff Photographer)

Long before the New York Giants claimed title of  Super Bowl XLVI champions, Mount Pleasant businesses were busy preparing for the night.

Some businesses spent the unofficial holiday more focused on cranking out pizzas and satisfying customers than celebrating the latest touchdown.

Sunday afternoon, Papa John’s Pizza employee Jesse Tallman said all employees were called in to work at his location, 1504 S. Mission St.

“It’s my first Super Bowl working here, so it is probably going to be hectic,” the Perrinton junior said. “One of the employees said I’ll probably be standing in the same spot for hours doing the same job.”

Tallman said his seven-hour shift started right before game time and concluded at midnight.

“I heard the lobby gets really full and drivers are in and out all the time,” he said.

Art Tait, owner of The Grotto, 304 W. Broomfield Road, said they make four times as much pizza compared to a normal Sunday.

“There’s only two girls working tonight, but they’re good workers,” he said. “They’ll stay nice and busy tonight.”

A group of friends from Gamma Phi Delta Christian Fraternity Inc. gathered at The Grotto to watch the game together and listen to live music during halftime.

“These people are probably the coolest family business,” said Detroit junior JJ Jones.

Instead of watching Madonna perform at halftime, the group listened to a live Christian hip-hop music acoustic performance.

“Looks like we’re competing with Madonna,” Jones joked.

Jones said he and his friends don’t really care about who was in the Super Bowl, but plan to just have fun with each other and the workers at The Grotto.

“It’s my favorite place in town,” he said. “We plan to order at least 12 pizzas tonight.”

Instead of taking a lot of small pizza orders, Kyle Schonbok, owner of Pizza King, 600 S. Mission St., said they received a lot of party tray orders that feed up to 17 people each.

“Once the game starts, we slow down, but then get busy again during halftime,” Schonbok said.

He said they prepared the dough the day before, knowing this Sunday would busier than usual.

“We typically prep about 10 for Sundays, but for today we did 30 and we plan on selling all of them,” he said.

To satisfy the 10 employees working during game time, Schnobok said they’ll have a couple of a TVs on to make sure everybody’s happy.

“We’ve got eight rooting for the Patriots and two for the Giants,” he said.

Bottle & Barrel Party Store, 1635 E. Broomfield Road, employee Josh Cleaver said they helped almost 200 customers before kickoff.

“We definitely sell more beer than liquor,” Cleaver said. “The whole back room is packed right now with beer.”

The Grotto employee Wendy Morton said they were still cleaning an hour passed the business’ normal closing time of 9 p.m.

“We normally can get an hour before close to just clean everything up and we’re generally out when we close,” the Belleville senior said. “But we’re still here, it’s definitely been a busy night.”

Morton said the business made double what they would’ve made on any other night.

“People continued to come in and order food throughout the night,” she said of the fraternity party. “Constantly people  were coming in to hangout and everyone seemed to enjoy it.”

The vacant space, and former Pizza King building location, 714 E. Preston St., will be redeveloped into a single story retail building by the end of spring. The property, owned by Bobenal Investments, Inc. of East Lansing, has remained undeveloped since a fire damaged the existing building in 2007.

Jerome Fine, general counsel of Bobenal Investments, Inc. said a representative recently appeared in front of the city and submitted a new site plan and a new concept for the vacated corner.

Bobenal Investments, Inc. was given site plan approval for the design.

“It’s going to be retail,” he said. “We are now moving forward to locate tenants … to look into construction costs and using those two things to try to gain financing.”

The planned building will stand close to Preston and Mission, with the long side facing Preston and parking located south of the finished structure.

Jeff Gray, Mount Pleasant director of planning and community development, said the site plan was approved by the city because such a high quality plan was produced.

“It’s a little different than a typical strip mall,” he said.

The finished building will have multiple entries for the tenants and is expected to be close to 14,500 square feet.

Gray said the finished building will not only cater to the city of Mount Pleasant, but also will be advantageous to CMU students because of its proximity to the university.

“The city is … helping us to get a really high quality development on a key intersection in the city,” Gray said.

Fine said he is hoping construction is completed by late spring of 2011. Names of potential retailers have not been released.

“We’re hoping that the economy will allow us to do this,” Fine said.

Area football fans and casual viewers alike congregated to watch the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV.

But it was more than the average Super Bowl for Louisiana native Jon Alvarado and his girlfriend, Sterling Heights senior Jess Yaxley, who went to O’Kelly’s Sports Bar and Grille, 2000 S. Mission St.

Alvarado, a lifelong Saints fan, had traveled 12 hours from his Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., to watch the game with her.

“Because of the Super Bowl, I wanted to be with her to watch it,” he said.

Yaxley said she wanted to take him somewhere local. The two met through a mutual friend in Annapolis, Md., eight months ago, while Alvarado was attending the United States Naval Academy.

Alvarado planned his leave around the Super Bowl after the Saints clinched their berth in the Super Bowl against the Colts two weeks ago. He came to the bar Sunday wearing his Drew Brees jersey, and Yaxley wore a homemade Reggie Bush shirt.

Sunday was the first Super Bowl the Saints have ever appeared in — something Alvarado has been waiting for his whole life.

“I’ve waited 24 years for this game,” he said. “If you had Saints tickets, it was just a bonus reason to go to New Orleans. They’ve never had anything, and now they have the Saints.”

From the residence halls

Cheers permeated through the Saxe, Herrig and Celani residence halls Sunday.

The halls hosted the Super Bowl game with a requirement that attendees bring either $1 or one can of soup for the Isabella County Soup Kitchen.

Kayla Pitt, a Grand Rapids freshman, and friend Autumn McDaniel sat comfortably on top of a Lion King blanket in front of the television. Pitt smiled whenever the Colts — her team of choice — scored.

“I like it!“ the Grand Rapids freshman said, beaming.

Craig Johnson, SHC Hall council president and a Lake City junior, was hoping the Saints would win. He said the event was for fun and fundraising.

“I root for the underdog,” Johnson said. “This is their last game of the season. A ton of people are watching and it’s showtime.”

Woodland sophomore Kasey Flessner said she was looking forward to the Colts winning.

“I think it is a good chance that they will win, they are playing pretty strong,” Flessner said shortly after the Colts scored a touchdown in the first quarter.

Other students supported teams because of a specific player. Highland Park Chris Thomas wanted the Saints to win because of running back Reggie Bush, whereas McDaniel had someone else in mind.

“I’m a huge Peyton Manning fan. I’m very excited — I love the Super Bowl,” McDaniel said.

From the pizza place

Mike Ely, 27, formerly of Dowagiac, pulls a pizza out of the oven at Pizza King on S. Mission St. during the Super Bowl on Sunday night, around 8 p.m. (Sean Proctor/Staff Photographer)

Super Bowl Sunday often means cheering a favorite team — but not everyone has the chance to relax in front of the television.

For employees at Pizza King, it meant working on one of the busiest days of the year.

“The orders are a lot larger, and we have a lot more party pizzas go out,” said owner Kyle Schonbok.

Orders for party pizzas, which have 30 slices and an unlimited amount of topping possibilities, started coming in Saturday night and only picked up as Sunday continued, said Schonbok, a 27-year-old Weidman resident.

Pizza King employees hardly had a moment to pause as gametime neared Sunday afternoon. Their work ethic was rhythmic — one person kneading dough, another applying toppings, a third pulling a fresh pizza out of the oven and a delivery boy always on hand.

“I enjoy it,” Schonbok said. “All the timed orders actually make it a little easier if we keep up on them.”

With two televisions in the store at 600 N. Mission St., employees were still able to enjoy the game, especially after halftime, when orders start slowing down.

Schonbok and employee Kayla Yaklin both hoped for a Saints upset.

For Yaklin, 22, the Super Bowl brings a wave of customers she is always glad to see.

“I’m hoping for a good rush,” she said before the game started. “This is our first Super Bowl being open, so we’re hoping for a good turnout.”

From the apartment party

From right, Nashville junior Kyle Pash, Adrian sophomore Jon Vallejo, Nashville sophomore Chris Cadwell, Rodchester sophomore Amy Lindstrom and Saginaw junior David Cornish watch the Super Bowl Sunday evening in Lexington Ridge. The group of about 30 people from Campus Crusaders for Christ was split between Colts and Saints fans. (Nathan Kostegian/ Staff Photographer)

More than 30 people crowded into a Lexington Ridge apartment to celebrate the big game Sunday, taking up room on two couches, at least 5 chairs and standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the kitchen.

Various snacks covered most of the counter space. Votes for the Saints and Colts were split throughout the gathering.

Nashville sophomore Chris Caldwell was energetically voicing his position as a Colts fan, yelling and high-fiving his friends standing next to the couch he was sitting on.

“It’s better with friends. You can really say whatever you want and know no one’s going to be offended,” Caldwell said. “I like any football game. I just use the time to scream.”

Caldwell was positive the Colts would win, especially since the coach’s last name also was Caldwell (Jim).

Midland freshman Jennifer Biber, a big football fan, had other thoughts — she was rooting for the Saints.

This year was different for Biber — usually, she spends it with family. Sunday, she was with friends from the group Campus Crusades for Christ.

Cheers and heavy sighs filled the air and laughter erupted throughout the apartment during commercial breaks. Biber said she enjoyed hanging out at someone’s place even more than being out on the town.

“This is the first time I’ve been to a big Super Bowl party where people aren’t rooting for the same team,” she said. “It’s kind of intimidating.”

“What we were really enjoying was the homemade flavor,” said Lorraine, of Mount Pleasant.

Two years after an arson fire destroyed the original Pizza King at 714 E. Preston St., a new location opened Nov. 2 at 600 N. Mission St.

The location features the same recipes and cooking techniques Pizza King is known for.

“We’re the only pizza shop that uses a brick oven — we actually set the pizza on a big slab,” said co-owner Daniel Green. “It’s a little more classy type of cooking.”

And the cooking technique is evident once people enter the store, Dan Kirchner said.

“I liked the smell when I first walked in the door,” he said.

Since Pizza King opened its doors, it has seen a steady increase of business.

“We want to make sure we know what were doing before we’re really bringing in the crowds,” Green said.

Looking for improvements

The store hopes to bring back a catchy jingle from the previous owner, since they have the same phone number.

Green and co-owner Kyle Schonbok want to improve Pizza King by adding more decorations to the blank walls and tint the front window.

In spite need for a few improvements, many people are enthusiastic about the store opening.

“We’ve noticed a lot of people that we’ve seen in the last week two or three times,” Green said.

Some customers are thankful that they will no longer need to drive far to go to Pizza King.

“We always buy from the one in Weidman,” said Rosebush resident Vonda DeLorenzo. “I’m glad they’re back in town.”

Others are enthusiastic about being able to shop at a local pizza business.

“Locally owned is important, you got to support your local businesses,” said Charles Lux of Mount Pleasant.

Plans to open the business at 600 S. Mission St. are under way and the owners expect the location to be open by the end of the month, though no official date has been set, said co-owner Daniel Green.

Former Pizza King manager Evan Thomas Desjardins set the former location on Preston Street on fire Sept. 16, 2007. He was found guilty of arson and was sent to prison in June 2008. Levi Henning, the former owner of the restaurant that burned down, is not involved with the new restaurant.

Green shares ownership of the restaurant with Kyle Schonbok, and the pair also own a Pizza King in Weidman.

“There are quite a few people from Mount Pleasant that come out there,” Green said.

They expect customers will return to frequenting the Mount Pleasant location.

“I’m glad — they had really good pizza, so that’d be a good plan,” said Mulliken senior Ashley Longanbach.

She also remembered the prices being very reasonable.

“If feel like they all missed it, it seemed like something the people of Mount Pleasant enjoyed, it had been here so long and just needed to come back,” Green said.

Students who had not visited the old Pizza King also expressed an interest in the restaurant.

“I probably would check it out,” said Samantha Swamp, a New Haven freshman.

The new location may also draw students in.

“I’d be cool because I live right off south Mission,” said Flat Rock junior Kyle Smith.
Schonbok and Green did not pursue building on the old site because of plans the property owners have.

The plan was to develop the lot at Mission and Preston Streets into a mixed use property, with commercial business on the ground floor and residential housing on the top floor.

“The people that owned that wanted to build with apartments above it, which doesn’t really work for a restaurant,” Green said.

“We have some other things sort of on hold for that whole development,” said Jerome Fine, general counsel of Bobenal Investments, Inc.

It was the location of Pizza King, The Store and The Hip Hop Shop, 714 E. Preston St., until an arson fire destroyed the building in September 2007.

Since then, the property, owned by Bobenal Investments Inc. of East Lansing, has remained vacant and undeveloped.

“Originally, coming out of the fire, we had discussed, designed and even obtained city approval for a multi-story mixed use building,” Fine said.

The business was set ablaze in Sept. 2007 when former manager Evan Thomas Desjardins poured gasoline and set the business on fire Sept. 16, 2007. Desjardins was found guilty of setting fire to the business, as well as stealing $30,000 and was sent to prison in June 2008.

Bobenal was planning on a building with retail on the first floor and residential on the second and third floors. This plan was sent back to the drawing board after the economic
downturn, Fine said.

“Another pizza shop would be really cool, a locally-owned pizza shop,” said Jeff Grasso, a Woodhaven junior.

He felt something like Pizza King would be a good decision.

Many other students also felt another food shop would be the best choice for the corner.

“Probably another food place, a non-chain though, something that is local,” said West Bloomfield junior Katie Roshirt.

Chris Lozen has other ideas.

“If you put a Sonic there, you would probably bank,” the Clinton Township junior said.

Bobenal still thinks this is an excellent location, Fine said, and the company is just waiting for the economy to resolve itself.