Campus Opens Heart to New Pizza Place

By Joseph Forte

Students can sink their teeth into their first slices of Pizza My Heart pizza today, as the restaurant will host its soft opening in the old University Stuft Pizza location on Bellomy Street. 

"We had wanted to open a location near the university for a long time, but there aren't that many spaces, really," said Chuck Hammers,  president of Pizza My Heart. "When the landlord offered that (location) to us, we had to jump at it." 

The restaurant decided to host a soft opening, to help with their quick turn-around and goal to serve the university community as quickly as possible, and avoid dealing with balloons and fliers.

Matt Silver, the Pizza My Heart supervisor for the Bellomy location, moved from the restaurant near San Jose State University. Silver said he is ecstatic about serving near Santa Clara. 

"We want to get it running and make it one of our killer stores next to an excellent campus," said Silver. "I expect this to be a very busy location once we're up and running at full capacity."

Students returning after spring break were surprised to see windows blacked out by plastic sheets and a disassembled sign showing exposed halogen lighting. On March 22, the closing was announced through the restaurant's Facebook page. University Stuft Pizza shut its doors March 24. 

The university branch opened in 1989, and in its 23 years, it was home to many assorted Santa Clara functions, including fundraisers.

In a phone call, a secretary at Stuft Pizza Franchise Corporation said Stuft's closure was due to not renewing the property lease. Bertram, president of the corporation, declined to comment. 

University Stuft is particularly missed by residents of Bellomy Street because of its open parking policy. Senior Sutyen Zalawadia appreciated the use of the parking lot. "I didn't like Stuft, but they let me park there," said Zalawadia. "I hope (the new owners) do too." 

Unfortunately for Zalawadia and the other students who hoped to park at the new business, Pizza My Heart plans to keep the parking lot for customers only. 

"We're going to do everything we can to use our parking for our customers, first and foremost," said Silver. "We're really excited to be a part of your community and we can't wait to serve the great people of Santa Clara," Silver continued. "We understand that the previous business had a good following, and we would like to do nothing more than to continue the tradition of excellence." 

According to Allison Fessenden, the operations manager, Pizza My Heart will continue the Stuft tradition of hosting fundraisers for university organizations where they will donate 30 percent of the sales to the group. 

They also plan to deliver for an additional $1.50, including on-campus locations, like dorms. The new Pizza My Heart location is also hiring.   

Contact Joseph Forte at jforte@scu.edu or (408)554-4849.