Pappo’s Pizzeria and Pub owner says location, lack of kitchen staff led to closing of restaurant

QUINCY — Difficulty in finding employees to staff the kitchen helped lead to the decision to close a Quincy restaurant.

Pappo’s Pizzeria and Pub in the Quincy Town Center announced it would be closed “until further notice” on its Facebook page last Wednesday. Franchise owner Jim May told Muddy River News in a text on Tuesday that the restaurant will not reopen.

“I reached out to the landlord, Cullinan Properties, trying to renegotiate the lease terms, which was part of my plan to reopen,” May wrote in a text conversation. “They refused to accept the terms.

“That, coupled with how hard it is to staff the kitchen, are the reasons for closing. The location also is very challenging. I have many successful businesses that I own and operate well. Although we were profitable, the location is too challenging to spend valuable resources such as manpower under the current staffing issues.”

May said he believes the Quincy Town Center’s occupancy rate is “somewhere in the 30 percent range,” leading to low traffic counts.

“Any restaurant that is there has to stand on its own,” May said.

A post on Pappo’s Facebook page last Thursday offered $18 an hour for professional kitchen staff. May said earlier this week he had not received one application.

A post on Pappo’s Facebook page last Friday said May was looking for an operating partner. He offered $100,000 annual compensation. “Must have a desire to be successful and love the restaurant business,” the post read.

Pappo’s specialized in stone-hearth oven-baked pizza and craft beer. It served more than two dozen types of specialty and traditional pizzas, along with calzones, wings, sandwiches, salads and breadsticks. Twenty-four craft beers were on tap, including both small batch brewed house beers and guest beers. 

The first Pappo’s location was built in 2012 in downtown Springfield, Mo. Osage Beach, Mo., was the site of the second location. Pappo’s now has two locations in Springfield, as well as locations in St. Robert, Mo., Columbia, Mo., Fairview Heights, Ill., and Huntsville, Ala. The Quincy restaurant, the first in Illinois, opened in September 2020. 

May said franchisor Chris Galloway, who started Pappo’s, is going to buy the equipment and possibly reopen the restaurant.

“(Galloway has) been a good friend for 20 years,” May wrote. “That’s why I brought (the restaurant) to Quincy.”