Shirley and Jack DeCheco opened their original Firestone Park pizzeria just a few houses down from Jack’s childhood home.
The space, a small, brick building at the corner of South Main Street and East Ralston Avenue, was originally split between Shirley’s beauty salon and Jack’s barber shop — ventures the couple opened in the late 1970s.
When a broken ankle in the early 1990s forced Shirley to hang up her shears, she and her husband opened DeCheco’s Pizzeria. In one half of the building, Shirley DeCheco mastered sauce recipes, topping combinations and her pie’s slightly sweet, focaccia-style dough, while Jack’s barbershop continued on the other side.
“My dad essentially ran the pizza shop, but it was all my mother’s recipes,” owner Nathan DeCheco said.
The space has gone through aesthetic changes throughout its 33-year history, but it serves the same signature white pizza that earned it this year’s top prize (after two years as the runner up) among Signal Akron’s readership.
What’s a white pizza?
No one knew what a white pizza was in 1993, Nathan DeCheco said of his mom’s unique, garlicky sauce. But they do now: It makes up about half of DeCheco’s business.
And all those recipes are “essentially the same,” with some of Nathan’s personal tweaks, he said. As the business grew, the family worked with a local commercial kitchen to mass produce her sauces for every store.
“I always told my parents this is what I wanted to do, I want to take over the business,” Nathan DeCheco said. “And they always told me ‘No, you won’t like it, your hours will be too long and you won’t make any money.’ I’ve seemed to prove them drastically wrong with what I’ve done over the last 15 years.”
From 1993 to 2020, there was a small waiting area inside the Firestone Park store, Nathan DeCheco said. But when the pandemic shuttered restaurants, they pivoted entirely to the walk-up window and carry out and have kept the model going, including expanding the inner kitchen into the former barbershop in 2021.
Other locations have opened in the more than three-decade span, with three more set to open by the end of this year.
Planning for 50 DeChecho’s Pizzerias by his 50th birthday
Nathan DeChecho’s goal is to have 50 family-owned storefronts across Northeast Ohio by the time he’s 50 years old. It is a lofty goal for the nearly 38-year-old, but he does not plan on cutting corners to make it happen. He’s added staff, like Chief Operating Officer Cory O’Connor, and kept on longtime managers like Firestone Park’s Nick Vozar, who’s been running that location for nearly a decade.
It would be easy to sell franchises, he said, but DeCheco wants the business to remain family-owned. And every location — new and old alike — will continue to use the same fresh, high-quality ingredients that were key to his mother’s recipes.
Shirley DeCheco died in 2025 at age 73. Even after her son took over the company, she could be found visiting the stores and planting flowers to keep each business feeling like home.
Whether there are two or 20 locations, each will remain true to Shirley DeCheco’s vision, Nathan said, and he will continue his mother’s tradition of lending a hand during a weekend rush.
“I don’t think a lot of people will believe me, but Friday nights, one of my favorite things to do is go to a store and make pizzas,” DeCheco said. “I absolutely love it — I shut my brain off and sling pies.”
DeCheco’s is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, with stores in Firestone Park (2075 S. Main St.); Ellet (1581 Canton Road); Fairlawn (2283 W. Market St.); Hudson (178 W. Streetsboro St.); Cuyahoga Falls (2926 State Road) and Munroe Falls (9 S. Main St.).
Online ordering and delivery are available at dechecospizzeria.com.
1st place:
DeCheco’s Pizzeria
Multiple locations, including Firestone Park and Ellet
11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
2nd place:
Luigi’s
First-place winner in 2024 and 2025.
105 N. Main St., Akron
330-253-2999
11 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Thursday
11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday
3 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday
3 p.m. to midnight Sunday
3rd place:
Totally Baked
18 N. High St., Akron
234-678-0421
11 a.m. to midnight Tuesday through Saturday
11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday
Closed Mondays
