“What my goal has always been is to hire the right people that have that entrepreneurial spirit in them that want to eventually have some type of ownership,” said owner Dave Keen. “That’s the ultimate goal to create future ownership for future people that are invested into it.”
The Troy restaurant will be led by one of Keen’s chefs in Xenia. The goal is for him to work himself into some type of ownership role, Keen said.
Troni Brothers Bella Bistro will be a full-service restaurant with a menu mirroring the Xenia location. The recipes will stay the same. Customers can expect authentic Italian food such as pasta, New York style pizza, calzones and strombolis.
“What we have learned is that Xenia has been very successful. It’s by far our busiest location,” Keen said.
He attributed the success to not having any other Italian restaurants nearby. Keen said he has spent the last 10 months looking for the perfect location for his third restaurant location. He looked at spots in Chillicothe, Washington Courthouse, Tipp City and Englewood, but kept coming back to Troy.
The Troy restaurant will be a little bit smaller than Xenia at 2,900-square-feet. It’s expected to seat around 70 people. Keen said they plan to keep the same footprint as Rapid Fired Pizza by featuring an open kitchen concept.
Keen, his wife, Gina, and sons, Dylan and Riley, took over operations at Troni Brothers Pizza, located at 4654 Wilmington Pike, in May 2022 after a few years of working with the Troni Family.
Keen, who also owns Roxstar Payments, a company that sells point of sale (POS) systems, said he was helping Labinot (Labi) Troni, the owner of Roma’s Pizza in Springboro, set up the system when the phones started ringing off the hook. Labi asked Keen if he could stay and help answer the phones, so he did.
This was not a one-time incident. Keen said from that day forward he continued to volunteer at the Troni family’s restaurants and soon after brought Riley to work as well. Keen said he had a lot of fun working in the pizza shop and as his relationship with the family grew, so did his POS system business.
Hisni (Junior) Troni, former owner of Troni Brothers Pizza and Labi’s uncle, was a client of Keen’s. When Junior was ready to start slowing down he asked if Keen would be interested in owning the business.
Keen now operates the Xenia location with the help of the Troni family.
MORE DETAILS
The Troy location is expected to start hiring in November. For more information and updates, visit tronibrotherspizza.com or the restaurant’s Facebook page.
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