Sbarro is bringing its New York-style pizza and expanded Italian menu to Tanger Outlets Columbus in Sunbury, with the company-owned restaurant expected to open next month.
The new restaurant will be located at Tanger Outlets Columbus, 400 S. Wilson Road, and is expected to open on October 15, according to Sbarro CEO David Karam, who spoke with What Now Columbus about the upcoming location.
Karam said the new restaurant is a natural fit for Sbarro because of the company’s existing relationship with Tanger Outlets and its connection to the Central Ohio market.
“We have experience with other Sbarros and Tanger Malls,” Karam said. “We have a long relationship with the landlord, and, you know, we’re also a company that is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.”
The location will be company-owned and operated, rather than a franchise.
“It’ll be a company-owned operation,” Karam said.
Unlike some smaller Sbarro locations, the new Sunbury restaurant will offer a larger dining experience. The restaurant will be more than 2,500 square feet and will include patio seating.
Customers will still go through a service line, a format commonly associated with Sbarro, but the new location will also feature dining room seating with table service for food delivery.
“This is going to be a little bit of a unique restaurant in that customers will go through a service line, which is typical for Sbarro, but we will actually have dining room seating, and we’ll provide, you know, table service for the delivery of the food,” Karam said.
The larger footprint will also allow Sbarro to offer one of its broadest menus.
The restaurant will serve its signature New York-style pizza by the slice and stromboli, along with whole pizzas, pastas, salads and Italian-American favorites.
The pasta selection is expected to include baked ziti, spaghetti and meatballs and lasagna. The menu will also feature submarine sandwiches, including an Italian sub, chicken Parmesan sub and meatball sub.
“So it’s really—it’ll offer the broadest menu of any of our stores,” Karam said.
Karam said customers visiting the new location can expect the same focus on fresh preparation that Sbarro uses across its restaurants.
“Everything that we do is made fresh,” he said.
According to Karam, Sbarro makes its dough fresh every morning at each restaurant and uses 100% whole-milk mozzarella that is shredded daily.
“We make our dough fresh every morning in every store,” Karam said. “We use 100% whole milk mozzarella cheese that we shred by hand every morning.”
The company also oversees the growing of tomatoes in California used for its tomato sauce.
“We really pride ourselves, Johana, on our ingredients and the fresh preparation,” Karam said.
For first-time guests, Karam recommended trying the restaurant’s Italian pasta dishes while also highlighting Sbarro’s pizza and stromboli.
“I think that our Italian pasta dishes are outstanding,” he said. “And, you know, of course, I think we have the best pizza and stromboli in the industry.”
The new Sbarro is expected to employ approximately 23 to 24 people, according to Karam.
The development process has also received support from local officials and Tanger Outlets, he said.
“The city of Delaware has been very, very helpful with us as we go through the permitting and the development process,” Karam said.
He also praised Tanger Outlets for its partnership with Sbarro.
“The landlord of the mall, Tanger Malls, has been absolutely outstanding,” he said. “As I said, we have several other stores with Tanger, and they’ve been a great partner with us for literally 25 years.”
The new Sunbury restaurant comes as Sbarro continues to expand its global footprint.
Karam said the company has more than 850 restaurants worldwide and is entering its fifth consecutive year of opening approximately 100 restaurants globally. Sbarro currently operates across dozens of countries, with much of its growth coming through franchised locations.
For Sbarro, the new Tanger location has additional significance because it will be a company-owned restaurant in the company’s hometown market.
“Columbus is our hometown, and so this had particular meaning to us,” Karam said.
Karam also confirmed that Sbarro continues to explore international franchise opportunities, including in South Africa.
“We have been looking at franchise development opportunities in South Africa for a long time and continue to pursue that,” he said.
Karam said the company takes pride in its steady approach to growth and remains focused on expanding the brand while maintaining its family ownership.
“We’re a family-owned company,” he said. “I have all of my sons working with me, so this is a company that our family, the Karam family, owns.”
He described the company’s approach as building the business “the old fashioned way.”
“One store at a time, one customer that’s served at a time, one new franchise partner at a time,” Karam said.
As the new Sunbury restaurant prepares to open, Sbarro also hopes to serve customers beyond those visiting the outlet mall.
Karam encouraged nearby residents to use Sbarro’s website or mobile app to order food for pickup or delivery.
“We want to serve not only customers who are visiting the mall, but we want to be able to serve the customers that are ordering pizza or pastas or submarine sandwiches in their homes in the community,” he said.
The new Sbarro is expected to open at Tanger Outlets Columbus in Sunbury on October 15, bringing a full-service dining room, patio seating and an expanded Italian menu to the shopping center.
