ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT: Owner Jason Kohn has kept Downtown House of Pizza humming since 2005. [PHOTO BY: Brian Tietz]
That’s why the restaurant takes steps like procuring and prepping fresh produce every day of the week to ensure that its pizza stands out from the competition. And Kohn and his team must be doing something right, since Downtown House of Pizza has consistently been growing 12% to 15% a year for more than a decade. Since the restaurant opened in 2005, it’s served more than 1 million pizzas to more than 2 million customers.
Kohn, who’s been working in the hospitality, food, and beverage industries since he was 15, hadn’t set out to run a pizza joint. He started out as a partner in the former EnVie Lounge downtown, which opened in 2004. “To be honest, Downtown House of Pizza kind of just developed [after that],” he says. “The opportunity just presented itself, and I jumped on it.”
A lot of employees from the restaurant’s early days are still with him today. “You really need the right people,” says Kohn. “The key is recognizing their talent and utilizing it correctly, giving them the resources and tools to do their job, and then holding them accountable for it. We have 45 unique individuals, not 45 employees.”
Kohn reads and responds to customer reviews and listens to what people want, whether it’s gluten-free and vegan options or more tables at the restaurant. “I’ve been fortunate enough to talk to thousands of customers over the years,” he says. “And as a restaurant these days, you have to evolve.”
That’s why when the space became available, Downtown House of Pizza expanded to add both a second pizza oven and an additional dining area for customers. “That’s what our customers were asking for,” he says. “It was certainly very expensive. But you always have to be ready for anything and everything.”
Kohn also believes in the importance of being involved in his community. He serves on the board of directors for the River District Alliance and volunteers at Edison Park Creative & Expressive Arts Elementary School, where his children attend. “If it helps the business that’s great,” he says. “But the truth is that I feel that I have an obligation to be involved in the community. We all have to do our part.”
Kohn has seen downtown Fort Myers grow and change along with his business, weathering challenges like six months without a functioning street in front of the restaurant during the River District’s major utility and streetscape improvement project. With a number of new residential and hotel projects either under construction or in the planning stages downtown, he’s excited about what’s to come.
“We used to not have much of a dinner crowd here initially when we opened,” he says. “That’s definitely the biggest change. There’s a lot of activity in the evening now, and that’s good to see.”
To get ready for even more potential growth, he wants to enhance the restaurant’s in-house online ordering system. He has about 10 drivers who make deliveries within a three-mile radius. “We’re very busy with that, and because we want to serve only the freshest possible product, we’re happy with that and don’t plan to use third-party delivery [services],” says Kohn.
And despite interest, he’s not looking to grow too quickly. “We hear every day why aren’t we in Cape Coral or Gateway or wherever else,” he says. “Right now we just need to focus on taking care of the many customers we currently have—and are fortunate to have.”
