Mr. Gatti's Closes Because of Profit Loss and Rent Increase

 

SAN ANGELO, TX - Another well-known business in San Angelo has closed its doors for good.

Gatti's Pizza, 4349 Sherwood Way, announced it's official closing through signage on its doors. Currently, LIVE! is waiting for an official statement from the district manager, but local management put up a sign that says the following:

"Dear Customers,

This Gatti's is closed. We have enjoyed being a part of the San Angelo community for the past 10 years.

Your game cards will be valid at the following Gatti's locations:

  • Midland: gattispizzamidland.com
  • Odessa: gattispizzaodessa.com
  • Lubbock: gattispizzalubbock.com
  • San Antonio/Universal City: gattispizzauniversalcity.com"

Over the past year, Gatti's has made several changes in its gaming approach, which included new bounce houses.

Once we get an official statement, we will provide an update.

Update at 11:30 a.m.

After 17 long years of business, the San Angelo Mr. Gatti’s location is officially closed. Yesterday, Sept. 11, was the last day of business for the Mr. Gatti’s located at 4349 Sherwood Way.

Nick Moore, President/C.O.O. of Foodservice Management Systems, stated, “Let me just say that the store was closed because it was an underperforming store, and has been for several years. We have been open for a good number of years and were coming towards the end of our lease.”

As San Angelo continues to grow and expand, the price of rent and utilities are increasing, Moore said. This is a problem that the San Angelo Mr. Gatti’s location faced.

“We were desperately trying to renegotiate a lease with our landlord that would allow us to stay open, and he just wasn’t in a position to reduce the rent and do something that we were asking him to do that might have made us stay a little longer there. But basically, it was an underperforming store that we could no longer support, so we decided to just go ahead and cut our losses and close the store,” Moore stated.

Moore also talked about the opening year of Mr. Gatti’s and explained how much of a hit it was, but then things went downhill.

He explained, “In the early days, I want to say that the first year we were open, we were pleased with the store. I want to say, at that time, [the San Angelo location] was the fourth or fifth big-box store that we built in Texas. It had one of the largest opening week of sales that we had had anywhere.”

However, Moore added that “within two or three months, those sales tapered off and it just became an okay store.”

This is where things began to go downhill. Moore explained that Mr. Gatti’s was able to pay its bills, but not return much to the investors.

"We lowered our price to $3.99 plus a drink, which is really unheard of in the buffet business,” he noted.

Trying to compensate for all of the costs, Moore said, “As labor and food costs went up, and utilities and rent and all of that, we tried to bump the price up a little bit, but then not as many people came.”

Sadly, Moore also noted, "It was just one of those things that didn’t look like there was a logical, viable way to market that store and keep it open. It got to the point where investors didn’t want to mess with [the store] any further. [Mr.Gatti’s] was not making them any money. We couldn’t negotiate with the landlord a new lease at terms that we could afford to pay. It was obvious that it was time to make a business decision and move on."

As for the building that Mr. Gatti’s was located in, Moore said, “I do know that the building is being sold. There is a new owner that is supposed to come in January 1. I know that he is looking for a big-boxed tenant.”

Moore ended by saying, “We are heartbroken to leave San Angelo. We love the town. We had some remarkable employees that were natives of San Angelo over the years, and we regret that we are no longer involved with them. We enjoyed being there, and enjoyed operating a business there; we wish we could have stayed.”

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I don't know of a better place to eat and enjoy the fine facility at a very reasonable price . The grand kids will be heart broken , especially now that the cold days are almost here . Please don't tell me that a Chucky Cheese will come to town , that place is horrible and the prices are outrageous . Maybe a Shakeys , like the one my kids used to enjoy so much , at least the food was good .

No loss, their pizza wasn't any good anyhow. CiCi's should probably be right behind them, their buffet is now too over priced for pizza that is no better than a .99 cent frozen Totino's pizza from any grocery store. If you want good pizza for the same price, Double Dave's is where it's at.

I seriously doubt most of their customers are there for the best pizza in town. Mr. Gatti's and CiCi's are cheap pizza places to take the kids to and have a good time. Nothing more.
P.S. If you really want the best pizza in San Angelo stay away from the chains and go to Joe's Italian Restaurant.

SA Doc, Mon, 09/12/2016 - 17:36

Nice comment from the manager at Double Daves (Doctor Ding-bat.)

I hate to see anyone close down because it affects so many people. That being said I enjoy eating at CiCi's and Double Daves! Great pizza!

Yosemite Sam, while I agree that most people went here for their kids entertainment, you simply cannot serve substandard pizza and force everyone who walks through the door to buy a buffet when they really don't want to. I hated the fact that regardless of the fact that I had zero interest in eating here, I had to pay for myself and my wife in order for my kids to attend a friend or relatives birthday party. I think that the rent increase is just the nail in the coffin of a dying business. Even the owners admit that business went south pretty fast after the first few months that they were open, WAY before any rent increase.
I do think that this would make a great place for one of the icons of San Angelo pizza buffet and entertainment places, Shakey's Pizza Parlor. They did it right. Fantastic pizza, chicken, rojo potatoes, salad bar, cold beer, game room and movie rooms. They were a victim of the owner's divorce, not food quality issues or lack of community support.

You are so correct about Joe'S Italian (best pizza in town) and correct about homeowners not being able to pay property taxes!

I feel badly for all of the people who will lose their jobs , lets hope they return to the ranks of the employed soon . In San Angelo these were considered good jobs .

First: Moore wants to try and place blame on higher rent and a landlord that didn't want to work with them. A store that hasn't performed well in 17 years minus the first few months it was open. He kept mentioning rent and landlord and all this other stuff, but then kept saying it was an under performing store. Lay blame where blame should be, the store. Bad food, bad service, probably bad management. Barely able to keep the business afloat for years seems more like what the issue is more than anything else. Moore hinted around it but it seems as though the investors were backing out well before now. I doubt that they even tried to negotiate a new lease, this was just perfect timing to close because they didn't have to renew a lease, or pay to get out of a lease early.

Second: I'd agree Double Dave's is the best pizza in town but their hours for buffet is lacking. They are not a true buffet pizza place until they have the buffet open during both lunch and dinner hours. Up until a few years ago it was a guess as to when the buffet was actually open.

THIS is so sad, thru the years my family had many happy times at Mr. Gattis. My son was born here in San Angelo & had his 1st birthday at Mr. Gattis. After returning from California it was great seeing Mr. Gattis was still here. Even my daughter had her 1st Birthday there. Mr. Gattis became a tradition to my family's special moments. I am really sad to see the place go. While in California I had Shakeys, but it was nasty & over priced. Chucky Cheese wasn't much better. Maybe it's time for San Angelo to bring in a Peter Piper's Pizza. They are really good & will be a good addition to San Angelo. Peter Piper's Pizza is a must stop when we visit family in El Paso or San Antonio. We love their New York style 3 cheese pizza & Hot Wings. Plus they also have an arcade & tvs. So if they move into the building they really won't have to change much. Better pizza & buffet even for a chain store. Let's try something new San Angelo & maybe we can make it stick this time.

Soong sounds like one of San Angelo's greedy landlords , they want to keep business out by keeping rents and leases out of reach of most businesses .

They sold of a ton of there games both skill and arcade for like $50 apiece a few months ago. Some of these games literally cost thousands of dollars.
They did this to put in "bouncy houses". So you buy games that all together cost at least $50,000, probably closer to $60,000 and sell them for like $2000. I know because I know they guy that bought almost all of them. With business decisions like that I wonder why they had to shut down.

You should see some of the dumpy houses they are renting out for a small fortune . Some of those places should be condemned and torn down , and yes some of them are HUD homes , only in San Angelo .

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