It’s 2 a.m. on Court Street in Athens, heading home from a fun night out with friends, many are drawn to the familiar, glowing GoodFella’s pizza sign for a thick, cheesy slice. The line is all the way out the door, but the wait is worth it and the slice of pizza comes out hot, fresh, timely and delicious.
While this is the perspective most people see of Athens’ well-known pizzeria, the workers of GoodFella’s do more than put pizza on a plate. They stay open until the early hours, continuously make fresh pizza and witness fights and bouts of late nights with repose, they say often without common decency or respect from customers.
Signe Karlstrom, a senior studying global studies, has been working at GoodFellas since her sophomore year and outlines her typical routine for an opening shift. She gets to the shop at 7 p.m., an hour before the shop opens. Karlstrom immediately starts making a batch of dough, turns on the oven and proofer to keep pizzas warm, pulls out sauces and utensils and makes anything that wasn’t stocked, all by herself.
In Athens, GoodFella’s has two locations. The shop at 6 W Union St. is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. during summers and weekdays, and the shop at 35 N Court St. is always open from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.
“We have some regulars that come in, especially university maintenance workers and people like that, or even just other bartenders that have just got off their shift,” Karlstrom said, emphasizing the importance of GoodFella’s staying open late. “I try to stay open to get everybody.”
Owners Rachel and Shaun Ritchie bought GoodFella’s in 1995 and changed it from its original name, Bakery Pizza. Shaun Ritchie also co-owns the bar down the street, Lucky’s, located at 11 N Court St.
“I would definitely say our bosses really care about us,” said Karlstrom about the owners. “Rachel and Sean are just really involved.”
The staff have a close-knit connection. According to Karlstrom, they have two employee parties throughout the year, and they prioritize hiring friends of existing staff as a judge of character because “for a local business, it does matter.”
Sophia Hoffman, a senior studying media arts production, is going on to her fourth year working at GoodFella’s and said one of her favorite parts of working at GoodFella’s is her coworkers. Hoffman and Karlstrom dressed up for a Halloween shift together. Hoffman, a cat, and Karlstrom as Sue Sylvester from “Glee.”
“(Karlstrom) had a megaphone, and she was yelling through the megaphone at the customers the whole night,” Hoffman said, laughing.
Regarding GoodFella’s infamously delicious thick-crust pizza, Karlstrom said it’s not about the recipe, but knowing how to make good pizza. The priority is rolling out the dough into a rectangle so it doesn’t “look like Australia,” as Karlstrom described, and balancing the ratios of cheese and sauce.
“You would think, I don't know, ‘Load it up with cheese, load it up with sauce,’ all this stuff, but, too much cheese? Pizza's not gonna bake. Bad pizza,” Karlstrom said.
Both Karlstrom and Hoffman agree shifts go by fast when it’s busy, and they enjoy the adrenaline of working through a late-night rush. However, they both wish customers would have more respect and common decency for the staff. People constantly try to cut the line, laugh when asked if they would like to tip and act as though they are in a bar instead of a restaurant, according to Hoffman.
Karlstrom stands her ground and doesn’t serve anyone who cuts the line. “If you cut the line, I can't serve you, because that's just not fair,” she said. “You'll get pizza in literally five minutes.”
Additionally, people often get their pizza at the counter and start eating and chatting when there is a line.
“When have you ever gone to McDonald's or something, and then gotten your bag and started eating your burger at the counter?” Karlstrom said. “It just doesn't make sense.”
Hoffman shared annoyance with how people react to the idea of tipping for pizza.
“‘Would you like to leave a tip?’” Hoffman said, reenacting a common interaction she has had with customers, “ (They’ll) laugh or laugh at each other and be like, ‘No,’ and then hit ‘No Tip,’ It's really rude, and it hurts my feelings.”
Another typical pizza-purchaser behavior is to steal the parmesan that sits on the counter for customers to use freely. According to Karlstrom, the problem typically arises during Fest Season in the spring. The staff made an Instagram account consisting of video surveillance clips that show people slipping the parmesan into their purses or bags, or other random behavior from the late-night rush. The Instagram account handle is @who_stole_the_parm.
“People get mad because later in the night, we put the parm and the red pepper flakes away,” Karlstrom said. “Don't steal the parm because then you give us reason to take it away again.”
Hoffman and Karlstrom shared a plethora of pizza stories, the majority seeming to happen during busy weekends such as Parent weekends and Fest Season.
Karlstrom and Hoffman asked customers politely to tip more, use inside voices, be ready to order, remember the Court St. location only has cheese or pepperoni and stop stealing the parmesan cheese.
“Just have manners,” Karlstrom said. “Just be nice.”
