Despite delays, the Galesburg Pizza Ranch is eyeing a September opening.
Pizza Ranch franchise owner Brandon Pratt says weather has slowed the project down.
“Construction is doing a great job catching us up,” Pratt says. “We’re framed in on the outside, they’re actually putting the roof on this week, siding the building and we’re working on mechanicals and electricals on the inside. So, we made up about a half a week of two weeks of lost progress from the rains.”
He says work should be done in late-August and the all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant will open in mid- to late-September.
Early estimates called for a 2015 opening. In November of last year, Pratt said he was shooting to open in summer of 2016.
The all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant will take up 6,100 square feet at Knox Square Dr. and Seminary St., seating 200 patrons.
Pratt says the Galesburg location will employ 100 to 110 people when it opens, however, as the business settles in, he expects that number to drop to between 60 and 65. He adds that more than 400 people have already applied.
The Galesburg spot will be the fifth Pizza Ranch in Illinois. According to the restaurant chain’s website, more than 190 locations operate throughout the U.S.
Updated at 12:26 p.m. 6/2/16 to correct Pizza Ranch’s opening time frame. The original story called for an “early- to mid-September” opening. This has been corrected to “mid- to late-September.”
