Popular Stamford Pizza Place Details Expansion

Stamford's popular Coalhouse Pizza, located in Bull's Head Plaza, is undergoing a "modest" $100k expansion to both improve business and the customer experience.

"It's mostly going to be for takeout and for storage...spread the tables out a little bit more," Coalhouse Pizza co-owner James Grunberger said. "Same number of seats, but just opening it up more. We're bringing in thirty-two more beer taps."

"That's great, this place could use more space," said Angie, a frequent patron of Coalhouse Pizza.

According to Grunberger, the expansion is in response to customers who felt that while the food and beer at Coalhouse were among the best in the city, the restaurant itself was very cramped. Similarly, shortage of space has become a problem in terms of food preparation and storage as the customer turnout has grown over the years.

However, there were no solutions to the problem until Giuliano's Music Center, which was next to Coalhouse Pizza, moved. 

"It was just an opportunity, because the music store had been our tenant for fourteen years," Grunberger said.

Tight spacing is not restricted to the interior of Coalhouse Pizza.

"Parking's very tight here. It's a function of poor zoning; we only have two-hundred feet of depth in the commercial zone," Grunberger said. "We've encouraged tenants and employees not to park in the front. There's only a finite number of spaces, these stores are popular."

Grunberger's influence spreads to the East Side of Stamford, and he claims that the certain increase in business caused by the Coalhouse expansion will bring profits that can be used for renovating small businesses on the East Side.

"We get involved on the East Side with property owners there, to help them. We just testified in front of the zoning board for Kumo, a Japanese hibachi and sushi place in East Side Common, which was designed with a porch for a restaurant," Grunberger said.

Coalhouse Pizza opened in 2009, and enjoys nearly one-hundred customers per day. It has a "jazz and blues" theme, and murals of famous jazz musicians adorn the walls.