What happened to Little Italy? Pizza place shuts down a week after opening off square

Rachel Estes, The Times, Gainesville, Ga.
·2 min read

Mar. 7—Roughly a week after its New York-style pizza became a commodity on the Gainesville square, Little Italy is available for lease as a turn key property.

The Bradford Street eatery shuttered early Wednesday, March 2, reportedly due to a gas leak. The following day, owner Ben Cortese announced via Facebook that Little Italy was temporarily shut down due to equipment issues; on Friday, he announced the space was available to rent, warranting a spectrum of comments on social media ranging from shock to dismay.

"If someone wants to keep Little Italy, that's an option," Cortese wrote in a comment, stating in another that he'd decided "to take a different route."

Cortese declined to comment when reached by The Times.

The sudden turn of events came as a surprise to pizzaiolo Chase Osborne, who was voluntarily laid off earlier in the week to help Cortese curb some of the expenses associated with opening. The remainder of the Little Italy staff were laid off the day after the gas leak, he said.

"There were a lot of setbacks in the business, (and) I think it started to cost a lot of money," Osborne said. "We weren't able to retain cashiers, and that definitely didn't help as far as the functionality of the business. We weren't able to fill all of the positions, which made it very stressful."

Osborne added that the community's response to the restaurant's launch on the square didn't seem to meet Cortese's expectations.

"When you open a business, you plan for things to go a certain way, and I think (Little Italy) didn't go that way and just became a big burden on him," Osborne said. "(Cortese) said he wasn't getting the response he was hoping for."

Osborne is back at his old job at Johnny's Pizza on Spout Springs Road in the Flowery Branch/Braselton area.

"That's where I plan to be for a while, he said. "I definitely won't make that same mistake again — going out on a limb and trying to start a new restaurant post-COVID."

Osborne said he has no hard feelings toward Cortese.

"I'm not upset; I told him I wasn't upset with him, that it was just business," he said. "Small businesses, family businesses, are getting harder and harder to run."

As for Little Italy, Osborne said Cortese had indicated an interest in finding someone to take over the restaurant. The space is still advertised as available on Facebook.