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A slice of real life
"If you come in and want to talk, I'll talk, but if we have orders I need to make food."
By BUCKY GLEASON
News Sports Reporter
11/26/2006
James P. McCoy/Buffalo News
Tim Anderson opened a pizza joint in the heart of the Village of Hamburg, joining the list of local heavyweights that are located within a square mile of his small restaurant along Buffalo Street. You can usually find him behind the counter on Monday evenings, as Jimmie's Pizza Co. braces for the blitz that accompanies Monday Night Football. It's when Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Tim Anderson leaves his day job for his second gig as a 6-foot-3, 304-pound pizza boy. Well, he's not exactly a pizza boy.
To describe him so simply would be overlooking his other talents. There's more to Anderson's life than cheese, pepperoni and a size XXXL apron. He also makes chicken wings, fingers, various calzones, eight appetizers, three salads and 14 submarine sandwiches.
When Anderson isn't stuffing opposing running backs, he's trying to help customers stuff their faces with his food. He opened a pizza joint in the heart of the Village of Hamburg, joining the list of local heavyweights that are located within a square mile of his small restaurant along Buffalo Street.
"I make the pizza, work the deep fryer, work the cash register, sweep up, whatever," Anderson said last week. "I don't just sit in the office. I get out, get dirty, make food, take orders. Making the customers happy is our No. 1 goal. We do our best to accommodate them."
You can imagine the conversation.
Customer: Hey, Tim, great game yesterday. What did you have, two sacks or three?
Anderson: Two sacks, four tackles. That will be $19.58 for the daily pizza-wing special. Did you want extra bleu cheese, sir?
"If you come in and want to talk, I'll talk, but if we have orders I need to make food," Anderson said. "I'm considered an employee when I'm there. We only have so many people working at one time. If I'm there, I'm one of them."
Anybody who has lived in Western New York long enough knows pizza is a local delicacy, right up there with beef-on-weck, wings and Genny pounders. Anderson did in business what he's done for years on the field. He busted his way through the middle. John & Mary's has a location across the street from Jimmie's. Edie's and Nino's are in one direction and Now Pizza and Domino's are in the other.
Anderson opened the place with two other investors about four months ago. They spent about $17,000 apiece for the equipment, space, insurance and other start-up costs. It's a relatively small investment, especially for him. The only sign of Anderson playing for the Bills is a framed picture of him on a counter near the corner. He wants the food to stand on its own while turning a profit along the way.
"There were people that would look at the picture, look at me and say, "Naah,' " Anderson said. "Our customers that are avid Bills fans, they recognize me. I don't know, maybe it's kind of a thrill to have
me waiting on
them. I guess it is surprising with all the perks that come with football that I still go in a couple nights a week and actually work."
One investor was his brother, Jim Anderson, who moved to Western NewYork a few years ago and now sells mattresses. The other is Jim Butera, who grew up in Blasdell and was practically born with sauce on his chin. Butera's grandfather, father and uncle have been in the pizza business for the better part of 50 years.
Butera is the brains behind the network. He was a chef along the Arizona-Nevada state line for years before moving back to Western New York a few years ago. He took his grandfather's sauce recipe, added a few spices to give it more pop and helped Anderson open the business.
"The thing I like about Tim is that when he puts his mind to something, he goes full bore," Butera said. "I never expected him to work here. I figured I would use him as a silent partner. But he's dedicated to coming in, very humble."
If it means getting behind the counter, fine. He's protecting his business. Anderson singed the hair off his arm earlier this year. One customer asked what the going rate was for tipping a professional athlete. The 5-foot-5 Butera chastised him recently for not scraping sauce containers, thus creating waste, and has found humor in watching Anderson fumble at the cash register because his fingers are so big.
"He wants to learn the business," Butera said. "He wants to see this through."
The only thing he knew about pizza was that one large pie wasn't enough. Anderson can eat a large pizza without breaking a sweat. He guessed he could eat two large pies if he really pushed himself. He estimated he could eat three subs without much problem, four if he were pressed, confirming that you can't reach 300 pounds unless you try.
"Believe it or not, I don't eat that much there," he said. "I love pizza, but now it's to the point where rarely do I eat it."
Business has been steady, thanks largely to the Bills' offensive line. The linemen get together every Friday afternoon for a pizza, wings, fingers pig-out session that costs about $200 and is paid for by the rookies. They gave the restaurant rave reviews, a smart move considering Anderson's job description.
His first night behind the counter was Oct. 16, which actually was his toughest night. It was the Monday after Western New York suffered through the surprise snowstorm and the Bills suffered through an embarrassing loss to the Detroit Lions. Residents were left without power, and pizza joints were swamped.
Welcome back to the real world.
"Not everybody has a great job like this," Anderson said about football. "I play a game for a living, and that's awesome. You realize what real work is. You realize that not everything is as nice as playing in the NFL. It's a tough world out there."
