OUR STORY
A South Jersey love story, with extra cheese.
Sal and Dottie met in 1983 while working the late shift at a twenty-four-hour truck stop. Sal worked the grill, Dottie ran the counter, and both of them believed the same thing: nobody should have to settle for a sad sandwich just because it was two in the morning.
In 1988, they scraped together enough to rent a closed video store off Route 70. They pulled out the carpet, brought in a secondhand pizza oven, painted the walls red and green, and opened Sal & Dottie's with twelve chairs, one telephone, and Dottie's family sauce recipe. Sal made the dough. Dottie knew every customer by name.
At first, the doors stayed open late for nurses, road crews, warehouse workers, and anybody coming home from a long shift. On New Year's Day 1992, Sal forgot to turn off the front sign. Customers kept coming, the coffee kept pouring, and they decided there was no good reason to close again. The shop has been open 24 hours a day ever since — at least according to Sal. Dottie says he still owes her one night off.
Today, the family still makes dough in small batches, still argues about how much oregano goes in the sauce, and still answers the same phone by the register. Trends come and go. Around here, a hot pie, a cold soda, and somebody picking up the phone never go out of style.
| 1988 | Opened in a converted video store with twelve chairs. |
|---|---|
| 1992 | Started staying open all night, every night. |
| 1999 | Added subs, wings, and the famous Grandma Pie. |
| Today | Still taking every order the old-fashioned way: by phone. |