Checkers Pizza focuses on good food

Checkers Pizza prides itself on having quality pizza and a robust menu.

The pizza shop, located at 139 W. Herrick Ave. in Wellington, brings flavors to crave to downtown.

“We were doing pretty good,” said Allyson Casto, owner of the shop, when talking about the business of the restaurant. “When COVID hit, we actually got swamped because we were one of the places that didn’t have to close. But now we have seen a recent decline.”

Casto said she has owned the shop for almost 12 years.

“It can be very stressful owning a pizza shop,” she said. “It is especially true when this COVID hit. Since this stuff hit, it hasn’t been good. I actually have had trouble keeping people. I got a whole new crew now, but it’s hard to get people in. I’m still looking for people. Specifically, I’m looking for drivers. Since the virus hit, stuff is just not the same. I can’t really put it into words.”

The business has made all of the necessary changes to keep people safe, she said.

“We have all the employees wearing masks when they interact with customers, and I’m making sure we have hand sanitizer. We also wipe everything down.”

The menu features good chicken and, of course, good pizza, Casto said.

“We have specialties,” she said. “We have the deluxe and others that other places might have. We also have an EBA or everything but anchovies; it’s got a lot of stuff on it. The chicken we have here is like what you would get at KFC — only ours is better. We also have a large that is 16 inches. Most places sell that as an extra large, so it’s a pretty good-sized pizza.”

There is also more on the menu for folks to enjoy, Casto said.

“The menu is a pretty good size,” she said. “We have appetizers and subs.

We also have salads, ribs, seafood and sandwiches.”

The open days and hours have changes due to COVID-19, Casto said.

“We dropped a couple of days, so we are open Wednesday through Sunday,” she said. “We go from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday are open an extra hour (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.). We are still going delivery and pickup only for the time being. Our delivery radius is 10 miles.”

Wellington has been a good place to do business, Casto said.

“We have good people out here,” she said. “It’s a

“The menu is a pretty good size. We have appetizers and subs. We also have salads, ribs, seafood and sandwiches.” — Allyson Casto, owner

good location we got here downtown.”

ZACHARY SRNIS — THE MORNING JOURNAL Dylan Gatliff, a cook at Checkers Pizza, preps the dough before the business opens for the day in downtown Wellington.