News

Aug 16, 2023

For 58 years, orders have come in on the same phone number at Johnny's Pizza in Cherry Hill.

Johnny's Pizza co-owner Rocco Santaguida prepares his marinara sauce. He estimates that he goes through at least one 20-gallon pot of the sauce daily. Special sauce. That secret recipe for marinara

Johnny's Pizza co-owner Rocco Santaguida prepares his marinara sauce. He estimates that he goes through at least one 20-gallon pot of the sauce daily.

Special sauce. That secret recipe for marinara sauce, according to Johnny's Pizza in Cherry Hill, has made its menu a standout for decades.

Although similar dishes are offered at other restaurants, co-owner Rocco Santaguida insists that none would taste the same as Johnny's.

"Even if I told you what the ingredients were and how to make it, yours would not turn out the same as mine," said the co-owner of the restaurant that opened in 1965 in a decade of a population explosion fueled by the earlier Baby Boom. Cherry Hill's population grew sixfold from 1950 to 1970, to 64,395 from 10,358. (Cherry Hill had 74,553 residents in 2020, making it the largest municipality in South Jersey.)

Johnny's Pizza has always been in the same Kings Highway shopping center in Cherry Hill, but it used to be located to the left of where it is in this photo.

At Johnny's Pizza, some of the menu items made with that special secret sauce (at least one 20-gallon pot is used daily) include chicken parmigiana and pasta with meatballs, Santaguida said. Of course, there also is a Sinatra Pie, which not only memorializes Santaguida’s favorite music, but also showcases the sauce. Other menu items include a variety of cheesesteaks, grilled cheese, wings, burgers, calzones and salads.

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Depending on when you show to pick up your order or if you choose to consume in the restaurant, music from Sinatra may gently be playing from the speakers, as it was when a 70and73.com reporter showed up in late June to interview Santaguida.

Santaguida, who lives in Cherry Hill, said he co-owns the eatery with John Falco. He said that he and Falco are at least the third group to own Johnny’s Pizza, which opened along the Kings Highway in Cherry Hill in 1965. At one point, the eatery also had a dairy bar.

The dough used to make the pizzas is made from scratch daily, as are other ingredients on the Johnny’s Pizza menu.

The seating area of the eatery is BYOB and often bustling on weekends, he continued. He said that Halloweens are also busy, with people looking for a quick meal to eat before going trick-or-treating. The night before Thanksgiving has also traditionally been hectic since no one wants to make a big meal the night before perhaps the biggest holiday meal of them all, he said.

Johnny's Pizza has moved, but not far from its original location. It used to be farther down the strip mall from where it is now.

Whether you called the eatery in 1965 on the rotary-dial phone on the kitchen wall or in 2023 use your cell phone to place an order, the pizza restaurant's phone number has remained unchanged, the owner noted.

Its name is from the original owner’s son, Santaguida said, adding that he and Falco took over in 2010 and are grateful for the thousands of patrons it has served since then. Some diners are first-timers, and others are long-timers like the 70and73.com reader who suggested Johnny's Pizza as a FIXTURE, noting that the restaurant was there when she arrived in town in 1967.

Like many established local businesses, the eatery gives back to the community by helping with local fundraisers — providing pizzas or offering discounts.

As another thank-you measure to his customers, he said he also tries to pass the savings he finds in purchasing supplies. For example, when the price of raw chicken wings went down, he said he lowered the menu price rather than keeping them at the higher price he needed to charge when raw wings cost more.

Although Santaguida said he did not think anyone his family would be interested in taking over the business, he did say there is a possibility he and Falco might open a second location somewhere.

Johnny's Pizza does an especially brisk business in the days before Halloween and Thanksgiving.

IF YOU GO:

Johnny’s Pizza is at 717 Kings Highway North in Cherry Hill. The eatery is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays. Its website is myjohnnyspizza.com. And its well-worn telephone number is (856) 667-3232.

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