Varsity Pizza

What's up with this place? I went by last night at 6:30 and they were close. They had power as just about everyone else in the center of town does. Before the storm hit I would go by in the evening during prime time and they would be closed. Sometimes they'd be opened. Problems?

What's up with this place? I went by last night at 6:30 and they were close. They had power as just about everyone else in the center of town does. Before the storm hit I would go by in the evening during prime time and they would be closed. Sometimes they'd be opened. Problems?

You tell me....I've driven by there during midday [on more than one occasion] and seen a "CLOSED" sign hanging on the front door....

I'm not too familiar with Varsity Pizza - I've only been there once and they were closed (at 7:30 on a Friday night). I was actually looking for Fastbreak Pizza and didn't realize it had changed ownership. In any case I never got a chance to try them out, but I think I remember that the ceiling and floor were painted green (it's not that often that you come across a green ceiling so it stuck in my head). I just saw a listing on craigslist for a restaurant for sale in Crestwood... and it looks like the ceiling is green in the picture. Plus, the ad mentions a conveyer oven (usually used for baking pizzas). The ad says the owner is relocating. I'm not sure if it is actually Varsity Pizza and I'm not trying to start any rumors (Robin, feel free to censor me if I'm out of line), but if anyone who is familiar with the place can look at the photos in the ad and confirm, it would explain why they've been closed at odd times.

Here's a link to the craigslist ad:

http://louisville.craigslist.org/bfs/1023287248.html

I'm not too familiar with Varsity Pizza - I've only been there once and they were closed (at 7:30 on a Friday night). I was actually looking for Fastbreak Pizza and didn't realize it had changed ownership. In any case I never got a chance to try them out, but I think I remember that the ceiling and floor were painted green (it's not that often that you come across a green ceiling so it stuck in my head). I just saw a listing on craigslist for a restaurant for sale in Crestwood... and it looks like the ceiling is green in the picture. Plus, the ad mentions a conveyer oven (usually used for baking pizzas). The ad says the owner is relocating. I'm not sure if it is actually Varsity Pizza and I'm not trying to start any rumors (Robin, feel free to censor me if I'm out of line), but if anyone who is familiar with the place can look at the photos in the ad and confirm, it would explain why they've been closed at odd times.

Here's a link to the craigslist ad:

http://louisville.craigslist.org/bfs/1023287248.html

...looks like "Varsity Pizza" to me.

Since I owned Fast Break Pizza -- I can tell you that it is indeed Varsity that is for sale in the Craig's List ad.

Sonjay, something I can help you with?

-Scott

Not unless you happen to have a large conference table, an aeron chair, and some nice office furniture for sale... that's what I was looking for in the business section of craigslist when I saw the restaurant for sale ad and got curious. I didn't make the connection to Varsity Pizza until I saw this thread and remembered where I had seen the green ceiling.

Frankly I'm happy to see it being sold. I loved Fast Break Pizza. The crew was great and always made you feel welcome. It was fine for a quick, inexpensive bite or a sociable beer on my way home. It had a 'Cheers' type atmosphere.
Then it was sold.
Twice I went into Varsity for a meal (twice!) during prime time. No big crowd, maybe one or two other tables. The waitress/hostess looked at me, said "hi" and that was it. No "I'll be with you in a minute " "Have a seat" "Can I get you something to drink?" anything. I seated myself... and waited. She came and went taking care of the other table and completely ignored me. She wasn't rushed, didn't hurry about like she was pressed for time or in the middle of anything other than a crappy attitude. It was like I was invisible. I asked "Do I order at the bar now?" she said "No" and continued to ignore me. That's it. I waited for almost 20 minutes thinking surely to goodness I was doing something wrong or something. No business was that slip shod. I even checked the window for hours of operation or a "MEMBERS ONLY" or "PRIVATE PARTY TONIGHT" sign. Nothing. No one else came in the restaurant, the other table paid and left and the waitress disappeared never to return. No one was behind the bar.I was totally alone in the restaurant. This was at about 6PM. I left totally befuddled and a bit insulted. Came back a second time with similar experience except I didn't wait as long. I left thinking "OK, never again for me." I never posted the experience here because both times were so bizarre and I didn't want to trash a restaurant's reputation without knowing for sure it was just poor management. I often asked other Crestwood folks "What's the deal with Varsity?" and many simply shook their heads. Several times I drove by and the crowd that would sometimes be there always looked a bit ... ummmm...dicey.
Scott why don't you buy it back?

I've ordered from both "Fast Break" and "Varsity", and per Carla's comments thought "Fast Break" possessed a friendlier atmosphere with better execution -- and the pizza was good....never thought "Varsity" was bad, just mediocre, coupled with a rather passive attitude....if you don't care, it shows and eventually neither will your clientele.....

Scott why don't you buy it back?

Carla, the short answer is because I like myself! In all seriousness, thanks for the vote of confidence. Even though I enjoyed my 5.5 years owning Fast Break... I'm glad that part of my life is behind me. Holidays actually mean time with my family and friends now. No more employees calling in sick, asking off for prom, concerts, Bonnaroo, basketball, football, etc... Even in a softened housing market, I'm really enjoying being a Realtor. I still get to interact with the public and network. I get to use my technology skills a lot MORE. I'm not reliant on anyone else to do my job and I have some flexibility with scheduling my work load. Granted, that still means 80 hours a week, but I choose when to work those 80 hours I don't have to work that hard, but I choose to. I know that it takes a lot of work in the first few years to establish myself.

Last year, while owning Fast Break -- I got to go to two basketball games. This year I've already been to 6, and I turned down tickets during the ice storm because I didn't feel like driving out to Ballardsville to pick them up. I've got a good shot at landing the Marquette tickets on March 1st! Woot! Go Cards! Which if you have tickets and are going to let them go to waste, call me! I'll come get them and go to the games I also made it to all of the family gatherings at Christmas and Thanksgiving. Some of my family members (Great Aunts, Second Cousins, etc.) hadn't seen me in six years because I always missed Christmas and the Summer Picnics... No more! Life is too short.

Running a restaurant was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Especially the pizza shop, since we had a delivery component. Not only do you have a dining room that can fill up at any point in time, but the phone can ring at any point in time. Keeping appropriate staff levels, and menu prices in line with an ever increasing cost of goods was tough! If the phone rang and I had 3 different deliveries come in all within 10 minutes of each other and I only had one driver, that last delivery could be close to an hour for delivery. Which really IS too long. But if I don't have enough deliveries to afford 2 delivery drivers, what do you do? It is a horrible catch22. I did learn a lot, and the business did do okay, but with my social life on eternal hold and my business partner having his first kid and leaving the business essentially to be a stay at home dad, I just got burned out.

When new ownership took over, they dumped some money into some projects that I had laid the groundwork for, but couldn't pull off financially. They finished the outdoor patio I started. They started a mug club. They expanded the number of beers offered on tap. They continued to offer live music and continued to offer karaoke. They increased business during the summer months. They shifted business a little bit towards more bar/pub, and less of a family restaurant. From what I can gather, traffic definitely increased, I don't know if sales numbers went up or not. But they looked busy. Then they ran into some personal trouble that I think eventually trickled down to effecting their business. As far as I know they are still open, but as everyone has mentioned, hours are sporadic. I think they open up at 5pm now.

John, thank you for visiting me when I owned Fast Break. It is good to know that the long hours I spent there paid off. As I did INDEED care.

-Scott

Scott...

Local pizza options are few and far between in Oldham County, so it's a real loss when one closes, whatever the reason...I always liked the name, "Fast Break" and often thought it had potential as a franchise concept....Domino's and Papa John's did it, and they hardly reinvented the wheel...just took a popular product and put their own "tweak" to it....I think they've been successful more because of their marketing versus their products....my wife is also in real estate out here, and while it's slow, there is business -- just have to hunt a little harder to find it right now -- good luck!