Some Dorchester business owners are pushing back against a location of a national pizza chain opening up across the street from a local shop.
Brian Chavez, who owns Antonio’s Hi-Fi Pizzeria on Dorchester Avenue, has been trying to block the Papa John's establishment from getting its final approvals from the City of Boston.
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“There’s already an abundance of fast-food takeout places. You’ll see that in Dorchester, but I don’t think you’ll see that in Needham,” he said.
The owner of the Papa John’s franchisee is from out-of-state, which is another piece of the problem for neighbors, though the manager would be from the Boston area and employees would work locally.
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We reached out to an attorney for the franchisee, but did not hear back.
We did speak with another neighboring business helping to open the doors of the new Papa John’s.
“We all need investment in our communities, and I think if we limit that investment to only the people that live here, we restrict ourselves,” said Alan Issokson, owner of H. Levenbaum Insurance Agency. “Do we need another pizza shop? Is this going to be competition for Brian across the street? All those things are true, but we have to follow the process and we can change the process going forward, but this is the process we have now.”
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A Papa John’s nearly half a mile down the same street closed several years ago, and there is now a local bakery in that spot.
It is unclear when the city will have its hearing for final approvals on the hours of operation for the Papa John’s. We reached out to the city, earlier on Thursday, but did not hear back.
Papa John’s corporate returned our request for comment, but did not answer our questions about the new store affecting nearby local businesses.
