Aurelio's Pizza Buffet Off To Good Start: Luke Pascale

JOLIET, IL — At the same time that scores of people are walking through Walmart, Menards and Home Depot to do their daily shopping, Joliet pizzeria owner Luke Pascale is hoping that a little bit of foot traffic will go a long way in helping keep his Aurelio's Pizza in business next year.

This marks two weeks since Pascale announced on Facebook that he was reopening his dining room for sit-down meals and bringing back his weekday lunch buffet. Joliet Patch visited the restaurant at 3101 West Jefferson St. last week to observe the new format.

Pascale has several signs placed along his walls to ensure safe and proper social distancing for buffet guests. Also, customers are not permitted to grab their own food. Instead, people stand in a line and Pascale or one of his staff serve the food on a plate to the guest.

The Aurelio's Pizza on West Jefferson Street has large bottles of hand sanitizers and cleaning wipes that guests are encouraged to use.

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Although Joliet Patch has done stories on numerous Joliet area bars and restaurants that are choosing to keep their businesses open for indoor customers, Patch's Dec. 6 article on Aurelio's drew the most reaction from readers.

Two days later, ABC Channel 7 in Chicago saw the article and traveled to Joliet to produce its own story on the Aurelio's Pizza reopening despite the coronavirus mandate.

Last Wednesday, the Joliet Aurelio's Pizza had a small, but steady crowd of customers showing up to eat lunch inside at the buffet. Two women drove to Joliet from Morris, telling Pascale they just saw the story on ABC 7 the night before.

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Pascale told Joliet Patch that he has followed all of the governor's previous indoor dining shutdowns that began back in March and lasted into June. He also followed the rules when Will County's coronavirus totals soared in late August, prompting a three-week indoor dining shutdown for Will and Kankakee County restaurants and bars.

But by late November, Pascale began analyzing his financial books in preparation for the year's end. With payments forthcoming for several of his business licenses, Pascale said he began to realize that if his indoor dining shutdown lasted into 2021, Joliet's Aurelio Pizza would be forced to close, perhaps by the end of June.

Pascale has owned the Joliet Aurelio's Pizza franchise for 13 years.

"We didn't come to this decision lightly," Pascale told Joliet Patch during last week's interview. "This was purely based on survival. We already missed Thanksgiving. There was one guarantee coming, if I don't open, we would go out of business because the Christmas holidays are our busy time. The slow time starts in January and by the end of summer, we would have been in trouble."

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Pascale told Patch he is not trying to make light of the coronavirus and its seriousness. He said he has strong respect for the Will County Health Department. That's why he has signs posted throughout the dining room advising guests where to stand and what to do to ensure everyone has a safe dining experience.

In years past, roughly 40 percent of his business came from dine-in traffic. Another 30 percent came from delivery and another 30 percent from delivery orders.

"It's been a slow bleed," Pascale said of this year's business amid the pandemic.

As far as reopening his buffet and allowing dine-in guests, Pascale remarked, "I'm obviously not the first to think of this," He said that his Aurelio's has been faced with indoor dining restrictions "for 10 months. It's not like it's been two weeks," he added.

Since news of the Aurelio's Pizza reopening its dining room has made the rounds on Facebook, ABC Channel 7 and Joliet Patch, Pascale said the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive and that makes him feel good.

"It's been about 90 percent positive and 10 percent negative," he said. "And of those 10 percent, 90 percent have been respectful and are asking questions without being a jerk."

Pascale told Patch his buffet is $10.99 and it's served from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The dining room is also open at night and on weekends. The buffet special includes a drink and dessert.

Doug Worsley, a Shorewood resident and pilot, chose to dine inside the Aurelio's Pizza last week. "It's a fantastic place," he told Patch. "It's all about supporting a local business. These guys are an important staple to Joliet."

Worsley also said that many people are becoming fed up and tired of being homebound all day. "It gets depressing," he said.

When asked about the Aurelio's Pizza buffet setup, Worsley said, "it's safe. We've got to get these business going again. How isn't this an essential business too?"

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