Capri Restaurant received almost 82K calls on its opening weekend in Loves Park
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
Get our free e-newsletter
LOVES PARK — Capri Restaurant’s phone lines were overwhelmed on its opening weekend as thousands of calls came in from customers looking to order their pizza and Italian cuisine for the first time in nearly two years.
The restaurant got 59,570 calls on its opening day Saturday, Sept. 28. Then it got an additional 22,039 calls the following day, according to metrics Capri shared with the Rock River Current from its phone provider IP Communications. The metrics refer to total dials of the number, which means it can include someone calling multiple times.
“There still is a lot of frustration from customers saying they can’t get through and it’s literally because, even if that’s down to 5,000 calls, we can only answer so many,” said Vito Grisanzio Jr., part of the family that runs the restaurant. “It’s stabilizing a little bit, but certainly there are still people coming in saying they’ve tried all day and they can’t get through.”
More news: Massive Rockford pumpkin gets artistic makeover from Food Network carvers
To help customers understand the backlog of calls, the city of Loves Park ran a Facebook contest inviting people to guess how many calls Capri received on opening day. The city announced the total 59,000 on Friday, and named Kris Haegg Delmore the winner of the contest with the closest guess of 31,800.
“There’s an overwhelming amount of support for sure,” Grisanzio Jr. said. “We knew we were going to be busy, we just — I don’t think — quite knew to this level.”
The family-owned Italian restaurant had been a staple in downtown Rockford for about 60 years until a fire forced it to close in October 2022. The family decided to reopen in Loves Park, buying and renovating a former Shell gas station property at 6480 E. Riverside Blvd. for its new home.
The restaurant is now open for carryout service, but that’s just the first step for Capri’s new location.
A banquet hall and dining room are under construction, and the goal is to open for sit-down indoor service in 2025. The dining room will have seating for about 160, similar to the space in downtown Rockford, and there will be an outdoor patio with seating for about 90.
The family will wait until its new restaurant is complete before deciding how to use the downtown Rockford property. One option, Grisanzio Jr. has said, could be to use it as an event or catering space.
He said the family is grateful for the support and for the patience of customers who dealt with long waits while they were overwhelmed in the opening days.
He appreciated hearing multiple customers tell them they’re glad to see Capri back in business.
“These people are waiting an hour and a half for pizza and on the way out that’s what they’re saying to us, multiple people,” Grisanzio Jr. said. “It’s such a a good feeling to hear that, even though we’re struggling to meet the demand of that.”
Fast facts | Capri Restaurant
Founded: 1963 in downtown Rockford
New location: 6480 E. Riverside Blvd., Loves Park
Opened: Sept. 28, 2024
Hours: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday for lunch; closed Monday
Phone: 815-965-6341
Online: lovescapripizza.com
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
