Who's celebrating 25 years of serving Italian food in Hewlett? The Pizza Place that's who.

Pete Porcelli, owner of The Pizza Place in Hewlett, has spent 25 years serving the community with Italian cuisine and kind acts from the 1344 Broadway location.

“I believe in helping people if you can, you can’t make everybody happy all the time, one day they hate you the next day they love you, it’s only food,” Porcelli said about how he approaches the business.

This business was not Porcelli’s first go at the food industry. He got his start in Astoria, Queens and owned another spot in East Meadow.

Porcelli moved from Naples, Italy to the United States in 1966. He worked in meat packing in New York City, growing up around high quality products.

“I learned the business, little, by little, by little, by little,” Porcelli said.

Over the years, the business has faced challenges that any business faces, Porcelli said. But, he and his employees always prioritized putting the Five Towns first.

“Good times, hard times, pandemic, Sandy storm,” Porcelli said. “Sandy storm I was the only one here that had power. That morning when I opened up the door, people saw me and followed me in. There was a line from nine in the morning to 10 o’clock at night. A friend of mine came to say hello with sandals on. I kept him all day to work. I was making pizza for 12 hours.”

He’s also partnered with Five Towns fire departments to help out in whatever ways he could following the 2012 hurricane.

At The Pizza Place, Porcelli uses top quality cheese, chopped meat, veal and other products, he said.

“If something is not good I dump it,” Porcelli said. “People see it, quality. People are not stupid.”

Many of The Pizza Place’s employees have worked with Porcelli since the beginning.

“I don’t have like a specific job, you don’t have to do one job all the time, I’m a waiter, I make pizza,” Alex Soza, a 20-year employee said. “Do you know why they like the food here? Because it’s fresh.”

Porcelli has customers that come in every day of the week and customers who come back from New York City, to have his pizza, he said.

“When my kids were in college, I used to bring food to the college,” Porcelli said, bringing his three daughters and their friends food from the space. “I would take orders.”

The Pizza Place offers appetizers from clams oreganate, to garlic bread, to zuppa di cozze and soups like ditalini soup, lentil and shrimp, house salads, avocado salads, parmigiana platters, pastas and several entrees like chicken verde, marsalas, piccatas and franceses along with sides.

Porcelli and Soza said their favorite menu item is a classic slice, but customers can get Sicilian slices, marinara, buffalo chicken, barbecue chicken and specialty slices.

The Pizza Place also introduces new menu items, Porcelli said, as he likes to be creative.

“I’m an inventor, I like to make different things,” Porcelli said.

On July 13, the business celebrates 25 years, and they plan to decorate for the special Saturday.

“I still enjoy coming to work because of the people, we’ve got some really nice customers,” Porcelli said.

To learn more visit PizzaPlaceHewlett.com.