Homemade pizzas reinvent former ice cream parlor

On Monday, Matt Bathey — along with his friends and family — opened Superior Pizza & Subs on the 9000 block of W. 6 Mile Rd. in Brimley.

Going out on a whim, Bathey, a former director of gaming operations at the Bay Mills Resort & Casino for over 20 years, took a chance to open a pizzeria he had no plans on opening.

“We just decided to do it,” said Bathey, on Thursday afternoon at a table inside his restaurant before his dinner rush ramped up. “We bought it [the location] in October of last year, and I spent the next six months renovating and turning it into a pizza place.”

The location was once home to an ice cream parlor that he and his fiancé jokingly talked about buying with the prior owners. Once the laughs stopped, Bathey, a novice in the restaurant business, committed to opening a pizzeria. The ice cream parlor remains inside the small yellow restaurant in addition to pizza, submarine sandwiches and salads.

In order to stir up word-of-mouth advertising, Bathey gave away 75 pizzas in the days leading into the restaurant’s opening. In addition to the free Italian pies, the use of social media has kept the staff busy through the first few days. Walk-in customers mention to the cashier that they’ve heard about the quality of the pizza from Facebook.

“That’s my oldest daughter, that’s my fiancé and son,” pointed out Bathey, to the young lady running the cash register and to his fiancé who was holding his son standing near the table he is sitting at. The staff is comprised of a close-knit group of friends and family. Bathey notes that the cooks’ experience has been a huge help.

The aromas of garlic and butter are intoxicating inside the converted ice cream parlor. There are no walls between the kitchen and dining area. Customers ask the young cashier about the garlic knots. She says that the doughy knots are one of the more popular items.

“We opened on Tuesday,” said Bathey. “The response has been overwhelming. We’ve had people parked up and down the roads.”

After the staff adjusts to dealing with the workload, the plan is to start delivering around the Brimley area.