On August 20, 1959, the first Aurelio’s Pizza® opened its doors at 2041 Ridge Road in Homewood, Illinois. This small storefront had just enough room for about 4 tables and a small kitchen with one pizza oven. In 1959, pizza was a relatively new concept. Joe would sell 6 or 7 pizzas a day, but Joe’s home cooked Italian beef sandwiches kept him going. Joe made some changes to the dough and sauce recipe and began using fresh, homemade Italian sausage rather than pre-cooking it. These changes made quite a difference and pizza sales began to grow. Joe persevered by working 7 days a week, as cook, waiter and delivery guy, while building his reputation and customer loyalty…day by day, one customer at a time.