Sapori Pizzeria and Italian Market will celebrate two years in business this September, and the owners already have an expansion in the works.
Longtime Springfield restaurateurs Chris Hanken and Vic Lanzotti opened the business in Montvale Junction in 2023. When the adjacent business, Design House by Staff, relocated to a larger space at the other end of the shopping center, the owners saw a chance to expand.
“There were so many other ideas we were unable to get implemented because the pizza just took off,” Hanken said.
Lanzotti said they quickly ran out of capacity in the existing kitchen. “We got a lot of (customer) feedback about not taking online orders, but we were so busy – you can’t just keep taking orders for pizzas with nowhere to bake them.”
The additional space has allowed for the addition of a new oven and dough prep room.
“We quietly started offering online orders last month,” Hanken said. “We have the staff and the capacity for the prep now. So without even announcing it, we’re already doing 20-25% online orders, but we still have a line (at the restaurant) most nights.”
The reconfigured space has made room for another 18 seats, plus outdoor seating has been added. Gaming machines are also in the works.
“We thought it was a natural progression to have some adult entertainment available,” said Hanken. “You place an order for a pizza and have an 18 to 22-minute wait.”
Hanken said part of the additional space will be devoted to adding market shelves and more refrigerated and frozen items, including home meal replacements, ingredients and sauces – “things we create here for customers to take home with them.”
Having a second suite will also allow for more separation between the restaurant and the market.
“We need to allow people to shop in the market without waiting in a pizza line (to pay),” Hanken said. A second register will be added for people to check out if they are only purchasing retail items, and the market will not necessarily have the same operating hours as the restaurant.
“We’ll open earlier for coffee service and our in-house pastries, but it won’t be a full menu,” Hanken said.
No firm date has been setting for the opening of the expanded space.
“I’ve been saying two weeks for the last two months,” Lanzotti joked. “We’re going to make sure that it’s ready to be open, but I think September is a realistic target at this point.”
This article appears in SBJ August 2025.