Nick N Willy's Slice of Life: September 2009

What do you get when you mix delicious pizza, a worthy cause and an afternoon of fun? The ultimate pizza party, of course! That's exactly what happened last weekend when Nick-N-Willy's celebrated the new ownership of its freshly renovated restaurant in Valencia, California.

Franchise owners, Ray Shirani and Abbas and Sean Moshrefi, along with Nick-N-Willy's President, Richard Weil treated the people of Valencia to an afternoon of free pizza samples, live music and family festivities with face painting, balloon twisting and a pizza making contest just for kids. The contest was a fun (and messy) activity that kids of all ages enjoyed. They were invited to get creative and pick any toppings of their choice to make their own special pizzas. Many of them came up with fun ways to make pizza faces and uniquely cheesy creations. The best part for the kids was eating their delicious personal pizzas fresh from the Nick-N-Willy's woodstone oven.

But it wasn't only the kids who got in on the pizza making action! Local school representatives battled it out in a pepperoni pizza making competition called the Nick-N-Willy's "Compete For A Cause" contest. They tossed, rolled, slathered and sprinkled their way to pizza perfection in what was an extremely close race. In the end, it was the Principal of Rancho Pico High School who reigned supreme, winning a donation of $600 for her school.

Santa Clarita Mayor Frank Ferry also joined in the festivities to officially open the restaurant and present a grand opening certificate to the new Valencia franchise owners. As part of their community giving program, Ray, Abbas and Sean made a special donation to the Firemen's Memorial Fund.

Local radio station KHTS - 1220 AM conducted a live radio remote for part of the day. Announcer, Jon Dell conducted a number of interviews with the franchise owners, Richard Weil, the Mayor and some of the people attending the grand opening.