MAY JUNE 2017

If you’re a fan of the beach, a lover of live local
music and you love pizza and craft beer, then
most likely you have been to Slyce Pizza on
Indian Rocks Beach. It’s such a well-known place
and so busy that owner Ken Gillespie decided it
was time to branch out and open a second location
on Madeira Beach. “We needed to ease the
pressure,” Ken explained. “The Indian Rocks Beach
location is always packed. We love that but we
wanted to serve our customers better and not have
them wait over an hour for a table. We wanted to
open another location that was close enough so
we could still treat our customers and give them
the choice of going to IRB or Madeira Beach.” Ken
told me he would like to open a third location
when the restaurant on Madeira Beach becomes
too busy.
When asked what the key was for running such a
successful restaurant, he laughed and told me he
can’t give the secret away. But after a good laugh,
he told me that people keep coming back because
it has the feel of family. “It’s not about just serving
food and getting you back out the door. People
come to enjoy the music and stay for hours!”
Slyce Pizza is great at promotion as well. “We want
to do big things that make a big statement! We’ll
throw big bashes with 5 to 6 piece bands and
activities for the kids such as a petting zoo and
jump houses. We make it fun and we make it big.”
Ken says, “It is very family oriented. From free pizza
for the kids to having our neighbors from across
the way come and hang out with us.”
Another way Slyce to gives back to the community
is through their outreach program. “We have a
foundation called Slyce Life and we do events and
BUZZ Magazine May-June 2017 45