He made a wrong turn and built a Charlotte-area pizza empire. New location opens soon.
Frank Manis labored with a couple of construction workers as he prepared to open his fourth Lake Norman-area Mama’s Pizza Express.
He’s 70 and was all set to retire, but his managers keep wanting him to expand his popular pizzeria with more locations, he told CharlotteFive at the soon-to-open location on the Brawley School Road peninsula in Mooresville.
Manis was nearly finished remaking the interior of the former Rocco’s Pizzeria & Spirits. He plans to open on Sept. 23 or 24.
The new location will join long-established Mama’s Pizza Express restaurants in Huntersville and Cornelius and one that opened a year ago in Statesville. And he’s eyeing locations in Troutman for a fifth Mama’s, he said.
Manis also had a location, which he opened in 2006 and later sold, across from the football field at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Manis is from Howard Beach, Queens, New York, where he opened his first pizzeria in 1983.
He said he also operated 57 movie screens in northern New Jersey and owned two New York City nightclubs in the 1980s and ‘90s: Eclipse Disco and Phase II.
He credits making “a wrong turn” on a road for the opening of his first two Lake Norman pizzerias, the first in Huntersville in 2008 and the second a year later in Cornelius.
He was driving from his North Carolina mountain home in Beech Mountain to his permanent residence in Boca Raton, Florida, when he decided to stop at I-77 Cornelius exit 28, he said. He made a wrong turn that led him to the lakefront Peninsula community and was so impressed by the homes that he bought one.
Manis still has a condo in Cornelius.
Pizza success
Keeping his menu consistent is key to the longevity of his restaurants, he said.
“We make everything fresh,” Manis said. “All of the pastas, everything, is fresh.”
The Grandma Pie is a customer favorite, he said — a thin crust pan pizza with San Marzano imported tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, oregano and basil ($21.99).
Other favorite pizzas among patrons include the Garlic Knot Pizza, an original N.Y.-style pizza with a garlic knot crust ($18.99, 14-inch, $21.99, 18-inch); the Italian Meat Lover’s with Italian sausage, pepperoni, meatball, ham and bacon ($19.99, 14-inch, $23.99, 18-inch); and the Mama’s Special with a choice of three meats and three veggies ($20.99, 14-inch, $23.99, 18-inch).
Other menu favorites include the Sicilian Rice Ball appetizer ($7.99); Frank’s Stromboli, ($13.99 12-inch, $22.99, 18-inch) and various cold and hot hero sandwiches, Manis said.
Mama’s Pizza Express
Location: 19741 S Main St, Cornelius, NC 28031
Location: 105 Statesville Rd, Huntersville, NC 28078
Location: 721 Sullivan Rd, Statesville, NC 28677
Location: 862 Brawley School Rd, Mooresville, NC 28117 (opens Sept. 23 or 24)
