When you get the craving, nothing else will do. It’s got to be Tom’s Pizza.
That’s been the case since 1959 in DeLand. Pizza parlors come and go, but none offers quite the same flavor as the squares of thin crust, sauce and cheese offered at Tom’s.
This month, co-owners Lloyd and Lana Petro are celebrating 40 years at the helm of the popular pizzeria at 140 E. Rich Ave. in Downtown DeLand.
No one’s exactly sure which date in February is the one, so they’re celebrating all month.
Asked about the secret ingredient that makes Tom’s Pizza taste the way it does, Lloyd doesn’t hesitate. He points to Lana.
THE SECRET INGREDIENT — Asked about the secret ingredient that makes the pies at Tom’s Pizza taste the way they do, Lloyd Petro doesn’t hesitate. He points at his wife, Lana. Together, they serve as proxy parents for their many teenage patrons. “Lana’s hugs are a big commodity,” Lloyd said. The couple met at the restaurant, married in 1980, and bought Tom’s Pizza in 1985.
“I could give you the sauce recipe and you could go and make it, and it still wouldn’t taste the same,” Lloyd said.
It’s not only the sauce, he explained. It’s the made-in-house dough, the cheese, even the 66-year-old pizza ovens. The recipe also includes the love Lloyd and Lana have for the community, their 20 employees, and the teenagers who crowd the restaurant at busy times.
Seven television screens in the dining room broadcast the couple’s values: photos of high-school sports teams, Little League, employees’ baby pictures and photos of other family members.
“One of the things that’s near and dear to me is, we’re kind of known as the heart of DeLand,” Lana said.
The Petros are proud of their commitment to providing parental-style management of the younger customers.
“We hold them accountable,” Lloyd said. “Kids need boundaries.”
“They know we have zero tolerance,” Lana adds. “But they know, too, if they need a hug, I’ve got one for them.”
The atmosphere of love that permeates the place is such that at least eight couples have married after meeting or working together at Tom’s — including Lloyd and Lana, who tied the knot in 1980. Others include Jason and Crystie Sowers and Desiree and Jamie Hart.
You can even order a heart-shaped pizza — especially for Valentine’s Day — but available year-round.
FIRST PIE OF THE DAY — Tom’s Pizza kitchen manager Kevin Armstrong has the first of many pizzas that will be cooked and served at the restaurant Feb. 12. Armstrong has worked for Tom’s for 11 years. The pizza ovens he’s using were in the restaurant when it opened in 1959. The gas-powered ovens been repaired many times and in many ways, co-owner Lloyd Petro said.
Lloyd had come to the restaurant for the first time, with a friend. As they waited for their food, the friend asked Lloyd what he was planning to do over the weekend.
“I’m going to take that girl behind the counter to the races,” Lloyd recalls replying. He did.
Five years later, the Petros, by then husband and wife, bought the restaurant that had been opened a quarter-century earlier by Robert Partington.
“I bought this for her to run,” Lloyd said.
When Partington opened Tom’s, it was part of a franchise of 30 to 40 Florida restaurants founded by a man named Tom Veigle — thus the “Tom’s” name. When the franchise ended, Partington was smart enough to buy the recipes from Veigle, Lloyd Petro said, ensuring that DeLand’s Tom’s Pizza would continue the special recipes that set it apart from other pizzerias.
It was a very different restaurant when the Petros took over. The wall that now opens onto the cashier and kitchen area was a solid wall, dividing then-tiny Tom’s Pizza from a laundromat that occupied the western part of the building. And, the restaurant needed a lot of maintenance, including painting and refurbishing. Lloyd was the man for the job.
“The more I did, the busier we got,” Lloyd recalled.
Lloyd Petro was working at the time at the used-car lot owned by his stock-car-racing father, Holder’s Used Cars. Little by little, Tom’s Pizza drew him in.
In 1987, the Petros took a leap and bought the real estate from Clyde Bennett Sr. Volusia County Property Appraiser’s records show they paid $85,000. Lana said they saved the money for a down payment by driving cars Lloyd’s dad had on his lot, instead of buying their own.
They shared the building until the laundromat went out of business, then Lloyd went to work expanding Tom’s Pizza to more than double its size, adding two kitchens (one for pizza and one for the many other menu items), office space, prep areas and more.
Regarding Bennett, Lana said, “ He gave us a wonderful, wonderful opportunity. He really did.”
What the Petros did with that opportunity was to create a community icon, one that was even recognized by visitors from Hollywood.
When the producers of the 1990 Tom Cruise movie “Days of Thunder” came to film in DeLand, they opted to build a replica of Tom’s Pizza to serve as background in the Earl Brown Park area where they were filming. The money they paid for the rights allowed Lloyd and Lana to add a walk-in cooler and freezer.
Lana tells the story of Desiree Hart, the office manager/server she calls “the backbone” of the Tom’s Pizza business. Desiree met her husband, Jamie Hart, some 21 years ago when Jamie’s boss sent his new-to-town employee to Tom’s Pizza so he could get to know some of the local people.
“If you wanted to make friends, this was the place to make friends,” Lana said.
Great article!