Fat Boyz and Stuff celebrates 20 years

This month, Fat Boyz Pizza and Stuff in downtown Minooka celebrated 20 years of service.

In a time when pizza restaurants frequently pop up in Minooka, Fat Boyz has held true to its roots of top notch ingredients and service that makes the customers feel like family.

In those 20 years, four people have held the owner title, Mike Hammerstein, Connie Spiec, Alex Rodriguez and the current owner Carri Bueno.

“I had a job in Oakbrook in the import-export business and worked with the owner’s (Rodriguez's) girlfriend. When we would come back from the river, Fat Boyz was the only place that had room for us to park our boat, so we came in to eat and became friends,” Bueno said.

After Bueno’s second child, she decided to try out the stay-at-home mom gig, and three months later she became restless and helped her parents design and open a restaurant from the ground up in Frankfort. Her family left that business, which left Bueno with an itch to be in the restaurant game, so she contacted Rodriguez to see what she could do.

She said, before she knew it, she owned the restaurant.

“I helped Alex because he traveled a lot, and he asked, 'why don’t you invest Carri and let me know you are serious about this business.' I kept investing a little more and more and next thing I knew, I owned it,” Bueno said.

One thing Bueno did not want to do was change the high quality ingredients the customers had grown to appreciate, but she did have a different way to cook her food, and she thinks that was what has made the difference.

“I use all of the same products, I just treat it a little differently,” Bueno said.

Bueno said frozen foods were never part of the equation, when it comes to the food that gets served. Her vegetables are delivered fresh and sliced in house, meats remain fresh and not frozen or precooked and the sweet, but not to sweet, sauce, high quality cheese and freshly made dough have kept her customers happy since she took over in 2009.

The tried and true pizza most people order would be the pepperoni and sausage pizza. Bueno said she has even turned away pepperoni from her vendor when it was not the quality she desired. Other than the fan favorite, the menu also boasts 13 specialty pizzas.

Employee Bryce Millray said his favorite pizza was The Theo, which has crispy chicken, jalapenos and bacon atop barbecue sauce and Monterey Jack cheese to make it gooey. Customers Meghan Marchio and Matt Kosiek agreed The Theo was a great pizza, as they dined together on the popular half-price pizza on Tuesday’s dine-in event.

“During the school year, I usually come here with my friends. We come for half-off night. One of the guys in the kitchen told us about The Theo. We pretty much come here every week,” Kosiek said.

One change Bueno did make was the addition of different sandwiches, wraps and salads to the menu. She said the lighter fare and pizza by the slice options bring in a solid lunch crowd.

The hidden gem on the sandwich menu continues to be the Rib Eye Griller, Bueno said. This six-ounce fresh-cut charbroiled rib eye is atop a hand-buttered garlic bread roll. It's then topped with grilled onions and mushrooms.

“This is a fresh piece of meat from the butcher, cooked perfectly to medium. It’s truly the hidden gem. People get a quality piece of steak you wouldn’t expect out of a small pizza shop,” Bueno said.

Bueno wants customers to know Fat Boyz has two sides, a carry-out and a dining room, as well as a small bar and gaming room.

Bueno said after she moved here, she could not believe the difference in the small town vibe. She sees her business not as a way to get rich, but a way to serve the community in which she has immersed herself for almost 10 years. On any given day, sports teams fill the many community-style tables, or couples have a date at one of the smaller tables and families come in on a Friday night for their weekly pizza tradition. To her, it’s become a family, not just a community in which she owns a business.

“My long-term goal is to just be here. I want to watch families grow. I watch little kids come in and eat with their parents, and years later they come to me for a job. This place has created such an extended family,” Bueno said. “This sounds stupid, I’m just a pizza owner, but it’s not stupid, I just want to watch my community grow up.”

To find out more about Fat Boyz Pizza and Stuff, or to check out the menu, go to fatboyzpizzaandstuff.com.