Little Caesars on track to open Creston location

Creston residents will soon have another pizza restaurant to choose from.

Daniel Curry, 32, and his wife, Kim, both of Mount Ayr, recently purchased the old Century Flooring building on Highway 34. Curry bought the building with the intent of opening a Little Caesars restaurant in the southwest corner of the building.

Curry is currently renovating the building and hopes to be open for business the first week of October. The building, located at 509 W. Taylor St., has sat largely unused for several years.

“I thought Creston could really use something like that. It’s a really good value for the money,” Curry said. “They have their $5 hot-and-ready pizzas. We thought the type of people who are in Creston would really like it. There’s a lot of working class, industrial areas.”

The Little Caesars restaurant will feature a drive-through window on the west side of the building.

Curry said he’s noticed Creston has a heavy lunch crowd and thought the pickup window would serve as a good option for people who need to grab lunch in a hurry.

“There’s not a lot of pizza places that offer that, so we thought it was something that would work well in Creston,” he said.

Curry, who will serve as the on-site store manager, said he hopes to hire between 25 and 30 people right away for positions ranging from assistant manager, and possibly a co-manager, to crew members.

Veterans’ program

One of the reasons Curry became interested in opening a Little Caesars restaurant was the company’s incentives program for veterans.

Curry is an Iraq war veteran, having served in the United States Army from 2006 to 2010. He served as a combat medic with the infantry and was deployed to Iraq from September 2008 until September 2009.

Little Caesars waives the franchise fee for veterans and also puts money toward the equipment package. The company’s veteran’s program also helps with the grand opening marketing and advertising.

“I’m excited because Daniel is a vet and has talked about doing promotions for area vets,” said Ellen Gerharz, executive director of the Creston Chamber of Commerce. “I think that says great things about the people we have coming into the community.”

Curry, who previously lived in Creston, said he wanted to open his business in Creston because Mount Ayr was not big enough to support a franchise, and because he likes the Creston area.

“I was happy it was a young couple that believes in the area and wanted to start their own business here,” Gerharz said. “We’re not just staying stagnant, but we’re attracting new businesses. I think it says a lot that we are attracting young people back to the community. I think that’s a wonderful thing for our community.”

Building

In addition to opening the Little Caesar’s in the southwest corner of the building, Curry plans to renovate the rest of the building and lease it out.

Check ‘n Go currently operates out of the building and plans to stay there.

But, the building also offers a 6,000-square-foot showroom that could house a large retailer. The building also includes warehouse space, for which Curry said he already has one interested tenant.

He also plans to have some office space available for rent.

“I think with a nice, highway frontage like this, a retailer in the large space that draws in a large amount of customers would be nice, because it helps the other retailers in our building,” Curry said.

Curry worked with Gay Lynn Owens of GO Realty in Creston to find the right space for his business needs. Community Business Lenders worked with Nishna Valley Credit Union to provide financing for the project, while Curry also received financing help from the Grow Iowa Values Fund.