Who is Mike?
Mike Cosentino was born in Calabria, Italy in 1904 and migrated to America in 1919. Mike opened a number of restaurants in Waukegan and most of Mike's family was involved in the restaurant business. His wife Mary and son Pet, ran Mary's Diner in Kenosha and his Robert helped Mike in Waukegan. One of Mike's first efforts was the Star Restaurant on Glen Flora near the old North Shore Line train tracks. Many of the commuters stopped by the restaurant after work to enjoy Mike's home cooking. Later Mike partnered with Aldo Nudi and opened the Italian Village on Belvidere in Waukegan. After Aldo left to open Mamma Mia's in Park City, Mike had his son take over the operation of the restaurant so that he could work on a new venture. Mike envisioned pizza as a coming trend and wanted to devote a restaurant solely to pizza. In 1964, he opened Mike's Pizza at Lloyd & Elmwood, that had been the site of a wood frame grocery store and meat market that dated back to the turn of the century. The building was razed in 1957 and the present brick structure was built. Mike's was originally opened as a dine-in and carry out restaurant with seating for 35 people. Mike was a master of Italian cooking, who brought his knowledge of Italian home cooking and Old World flavor in creating the recipe for the sauce that is still used, without change, at Mike's Pizza today. Mike believed that customers knew quality when they tasted it and from the day he opened Mike's, he used only the best ingredients, regardless of price. The sauce, meat and dough were all made from scratch. A few years later a small meat market was locate din Milwaukee that was able to duplicate the flavor, quality and consistency of the meat. Mike's has been using that supplier for the last 44 years.
Mike's begins to grow
In 1966, Mike was joined in the business by Bill Scuglik, his son in law. Bill was a perfectionist, made many of the pizzas and ingredients himself, and personally inspected every pizza that came out of the oven, creating the reputation for the quality that Mike's is famous for. Under Bill's direction, each member of the team specialized in one aspect of the pizza making process and didn't move on until he had mastered it. Bill was always attuned to what the customers wanted and introduced the delivery service shortly after joining Mike's. In 1969, Dave LoBue, still in high school, joined the team. When Bill retired in 1973, Dave became partners with Mike. That partnership saw as low but steady growth until Mike's death in 1986. In the years that followed, Dave looked for ways to expand the business, replacing all of the equipment with higher production models and replacing the handwritten order system with computers. The computers greatly sped up the time it took to place an order and because the computers retained repeat customers and their last order, many mistakes were eliminated. The customer data base is updated daily and has about 70,000 customers, any of which can be recalled in less than 5 seconds. Orders are now taken by an ordering center that is staffed by their experienced telephone staff. Once of the secrets of Mike's phenomenal success is the expertise of the staff. LoBue realized early on that the quality of the product depended how well that product was made. The average employee at Mike's has more than 10 years experience.
In 1991, LoBue became business partners with his then manager, Katy Rossi, so that the business would have an on-site owner at all times. Katy started at Mike's when she was 16, 36 years ago. Mike's is the only job she'd ever had. She runs many of the day-to-day operations of the business and has brought a devotion that has been instrumental in the success of Mike's. LoBue does much of the accounting work, ordering and maintenance of the equipment and computer systems. He also received his Mater's Degree in advertising and designs most of the advertising for the store. They are assisted by their managers Jaun Castrejon, Hector Cruz, and Casie Jensen, who have a combined 50 years experience.
In 1996, the oven space was doubled with the addition of the state of art Middleby-Marshall ovens. In 1998, they bought the building and immediately added a dough making prep area. In 2004, a second pizza making line and a revolving oven was added to speed up the deliveries. Last year, Mike's added an additional 800 square feet of refrigerated storage to the store to accommodate the ever increasing business. They also renovated the ventilation system and makeup air and replaced the conveyor ovens with the latest computer controlled ovens from Middleby-Marshall.
Although Mike's Pizza has made great strides to improve service, demand is so great that during peak times, especially weekends, there is a wait. The next challenge is one that most business envy.
How do you keep up with customer demand?
In June 2017, a new ordering system was put in place. You can now order online & monitor your waiting time by telephone. We also installed a system in the store that allows you to enter your name when you arrive. The kitchen will know you're waiting & when your pizza is done. Your name will appear on a screen in the waiting area.
