Pizza, Pizza, Pizza: New Pizzeria Coming to Shorewood, Salvatore's Closing Doors

After just 16 months, Salvatore’s is closing its doors. But, that doesn’t mean residents will loss a local place to get their pizza pie fix.

Brothers Ted and Sam Speerschneider plan to open Falbo Bros. Pizzeria by Oct. 1, serving up thin, deep-dish and Chicago-style stuffed crust pizza, salads, flatbread sandwiches and deserts. The Speerschneiders plan to take some of Salvatore’s pasta recipes and tweak them a bit. The store will also offer beer and wine.

The Madison-based pizza chain has six restaurants in the state, five in Iowa and one in Colorado. Ted has owned a franchised Falbo Bros. in Middleton, Wis for eight years, and said he's bringing Sam into the pizza business with the Shorewood location.

Ted said his family is from Whitefish Bay, and they decided on the Shorewood location because they saw a market for a pizza shop in the area. They'll stay open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

“With the university right down the road, we figure there should be some hungry people late on the weekends,” he said. "Madison has some pretty good late night business, and we are going to give it a shot."

He added Falbo Bros. will also be open for lunch throughout the week.

The brothers will take over the shop with all of Salvatore's equipment already in place, so they'll just need to purchase a few small items to get up and operational.

"We've been working on this for two, three months," Ted said.

Salvatore's owner Rihanna Vella said the community was very supportive of the pizza shop, and if the Speerschneider hadn't approached them about taking over the restaurant, they wouldn't be leaving Shorewood.

"We were profitable from day one, the community has been amazing," she said.

She added it was just the right time to move on, and closing the store will give her family more time to focus on expanding their bakery, Sciortino's Bakery on Milwaukee's east side.

The Vellas plan to support Falbo Bros. through bread and deserts from Sciortino's.

(Updated Thursday Sept. 20, 3:03 p.m. with comments from owners of Salvatore's Pizza )