SOUTH DEERFIELD — After 15 years at its location on Routes 5 and 10, Hillside Pizza has consolidated its original Deerfield operation into its Yankee Candle location.
Hillside’s Pizza’s other locations in Bernardston and Hadley are unaffected by the move.
The consolidation, which has been in the works before the COVID-19 pandemic, was motivated by a desire to save money on the costs associated with operating two restaurants in the same town and to have more indoor dining space.
“Paying two rents, two electric bills and everything else,” said Bob Lindner, Hillside Pizza’s co-owner, in a phone interview. “It’s just driving an extra two miles if you’re coming from the north and two miles closer if you’re coming from town. … We feel it is as good a time as any to make the move.”
The original restaurant opened at 265 Greenfield Road (Routes 5 and 10) in 2006 before expanding to a second Deerfield location inside Yankee Candle in 2019 in a partnership with Powder Hollow Brewery, which took over the former Chandler’s Restaurant.
Lindner said Yankee Candle provides a better location because of the tourist traffic and its increased indoor dining capacity — the maximum capacity is 120 people at Yankee Candle while the original store’s capacity is 24 — allowing room for pandemic-safe seating.
“It just made sense. The dining-in features are way better down there,” he said. “It’s a better mousetrap overall.”
There are also picnic tables outside and other tables available throughout the Yankee Candle campus.
Lindner said there will be a “slightly different menu,” but other than that, Hillside Pizza’s day-to-day operations will remain the same, with some added improvements.
“We’re having online ordering and getting DoorDash,” Lindner said. “Getting into the 21st century.”
He added that Yankee Candle, despite being a large corporation, has been accommodating with Hillside Pizza’s transition.
“We’re kind of funky. We’ve never been in the corporate world,” Lindner said. “Working with Yankee (Candle) provides some challenges, but they’ve been very, very supportive of us.”
He said the 265 Greenfield Road location is “tired and needs a lot of work,” and the move is “pretty straightforward” because the infrastructure is already in place.
“This place has been great to us. This was our first restaurant,” Lindner said.
The move to Yankee Candle also will provide a new opportunity for Hillside Pizza to go back to its roots of fundraising through pizza, he said. The company began in 2001 in the Greenfield Community Development Corp.’s community kitchen.
“This is our 20th year in fundraising,” Lindner said. “The thing with Yankee (Candle) is they have crowds coming in from everywhere. … We can do fundraising all around the region now because of the contacts and connections that may happen.”
Lindner said the addition of Tree House Brewing’s brewery and concert venue nearby is going to create a great business opportunity for all of Deerfield.
“This is kind of going to be a little brewery alley here,” Lindner said. “It’s like you’ve got a car dealership and then you’ve got another dealership down the street. It’s great.”
Hillside Pizza’s Facebook announcement mentions a looming retirement as another motivation for the consolidation. Lindner said he will stop working at some point, but that time isn’t clear yet.
“I’m one of them,” Lindner said when asked about retirements in the company. “I’ll be 65 in January and I’m still cutting peppers. Who knows where that’s going to go? I’m not in some big, super hurry.”