Revamping & restoring: New family-owned pizza restaurant to open at familiar NSB location
Jamie Ponti was just a teen when she met her now husband, Martin, while both worked beachside at their local pizzeria. Now, over 20 years later, they walk through the very same doors not as employees, but as owners.
Beachside Pizza, formerly Manny’s Pizza Beachside, will officially open shop next month at 3318 S. Atlantic Ave. in New Smyrna Beach.
Working to re-open the doors to such a familiar location, a place etched with inimitable memories for the couple, has been an altogether “emotional, exciting and scary” venture that, they hope, will revive the spirit of the dear restaurant they once knew.
With the invaluable help of their business partners and close friends, Stephen Viel and Bridget Highet, as well as trusted input from previous owner Kenny Haggard, the couple soft-opened the restaurant this week and plans to host its grand opening on April 4, with a number of new and returning menu items for customers to look forward to.
Beachside Pizza: How it came to be
For the Pontis, Manny's Pizza Beachside, now Beachside Pizza, is more than a restaurant — it’s a location that has always been like home for them.
It's a place where Jamie had first job at just 15 years old, a place she will forever tie to her 16th birthday surprise party, her pre-prom dinner with friends and her late grandparents 55th anniversary celebration.
It's the very spot where the couple's love story began many years ago, where they shared breakfast on the weekend of their wedding and where they now bring their three young girls.
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Though the couple went on to pursue other career paths away from Manny’s Pizza, they continued visiting the eatery over the years with their growing family. Over time, the restaurant inevitably evolved, following various changes in management, recipes and services, before ultimately closing its doors earlier this year.
Following the eatery's closure, the duo, who tells me they had been “interested for years,” knew that the full-circle opportunity to take over was well worth the risk.
So, they went for it.
Looking ahead, the optimistic pair hopes to return the support, success and kindness that Haggard, their former boss, now longtime friend, had provided to them by restoring the longstanding eatery to its decades-old roots, with the flavors, recipes and fun locals remember from back in the day.
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“I had worked full time for a couple of years from maybe 2001-2005, and then I worked and lived on an ocean-going tugboat," Martin said. "Every time I came home from my leave, Kenny always had a job ready for me so that I had something to do when I came home."
“… It was just all about the environment that Kenny fostered,” he continued, noting it was Haggard’s unwavering trust, encouragement and guidance over the eatery's then young staff that created such a persisting loyalty and family-like bond within the restaurant.
“And we didn’t want him to be left out in the cold,” Jamie said. “I mean this was his home. He’s been here for 35 years or so, so that was a big draw for us too — being able to keep him home and keep him here in some capacity.”
Revamping and restoring: What’s to come at Beachside Pizza
Beachside Pizza plans to offer a full menu of returning favorites with "a twist."
Popular items making a comeback will now be made using the restaurant’s original recipes — some dating back over 30 years — including pizzas with homemade sauce and dough, made fresh daily, as well as the eatery’s original cheese blend, Greek salad, homemade lasagna, and full-service breakfast — a previously popular offering that was halted in recent years — with breakfast pizzas, coffee and more, coming this summer.
They’ll also be adding several new homemade dishes, including alfredo, mac n’ cheese, and Caesar salad, among other items.
“We’re going to have a high level of quality that’s going to be consistently maintained,” Martin said.
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Adding their own local touch, the couple plans to offer beer and wine, with beer selections from the New Smyrna Beach Brewing Company, desserts from Pattiecakes Cheesecakery in Edgewater, coffee from Island Roasters Coffee Company in New Smyrna Beach, as well as continuing partnerships with local schools and sports teams in an effort to give back to their community.
“It’s a big risk to jump into something like this, but we know what it has been and could be,” Jamie said. “And we weren’t going to do this without Kenny. He was always our drive — to help him succeed … everything he had, he put into this place.”
Moving forward, Beachside Pizza hopes to be a hub for great flavor, exceptional service and affordable fun for locals and vacationers alike, whether stopping in for an early morning breakfast before work, renting out the restaurant’s arcade for a birthday party or enjoying a weekend pie with family fresh off the beach.
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The restaurant will also offer 401k plans to its employees, some of which have been with the restaurant for over three decades now, the couple noted.
“How nice would it be for people that have been here this long to have that?” Jamie said. “To allow them to work here — to want to work here, and be successful long term and not have to worry about what they’re going to do later.”
Beachside Pizza will offer both takeout and delivery, as well as Manny’s original pizza, salad and pitcher special on Thursday nights.
“(Opening this restaurant) is very personal to us. It’s something that we’re very passionate about,” Jamie said.
“It’s very important to us that we get it to what it was, keep it local and make it a place people want to be — and a place people want to work.”
Beachside Pizza is located at 3318 S. Atlantic Ave. in New Smyrna Beach and will host its grand opening on April 4. During its soft opening this week, the eatery is open 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon - 6 p.m. Sunday. Hours are subject to change. For information, call 386-423-5060 or visit beachside-pizza.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Beachside Pizza to replace Manny's Pizza Beachside in New Smyrna Beach
