How one Nashville pizza joint stayed open all day, every day during the snowstorm

Snowfall arrived in the Nashville area last Sunday night — an enchanting experience unless you were a business owner. Or a waitress working the second shift, relying heavily on tips.

Why? Closed businesses don’t get fed.

Within hours of the flurries, dozens, if not hundreds of local restaurants and bars, shut down for a variety of reasons. Staffing. Shortage of customers, including regulars. No strategy amidst frigid temperatures and slick streets.

Meanwhile, Sicilian Pizza & Pasta’s Brentwood location remained open, one of the few around-the-clock businesses in the area. Team members worked behind the counter and in the kitchen, stretching and rolling dough, sprinkling meats and chopped vegetables before placing pizzas and other items in a commercial conveyor pizza oven for take-out and delivery orders.

Yes, delivery.

In the best of times, very few Nashville eateries offer round-the-clock service. Sure, there's always Waffle House and White Castle. There are lots of burger, pizza, and chicken spots open into the wee hours of the morning.

But, Sicilian Pizza & Pasta Owner Fred Ulma has kept his kitchen and dining room open around the clock for years (except on Sundays: 8 a.m. - 3 a.m.). And the snow didn't stop him and his employees from serving up fresh Italian fare.

“After COVID, we decided to stay open (longer) because of all the businesses that shut down (or shortened hours) and we thought that gap (in services) needed to be replaced.”

Not that it’s easy – from staffing to safety, depending on the location.

A 2022 study by Datassential, a menu and restaurant research firm, stated U.S. restaurants decreased weekly operating hours by 6.4 hours – when compared to 2019 figures.

While national fast-food restaurants (McDonald's, Taco Bell, Whataburger, etc.) and diners (Waffle House, IHOP, etc.) have embraced the 24-hour model, fast-casual and fine dining establishments, as well as local spots, have lagged. So it’s no surprise that Datassential's research concluded the number of U.S. restaurants operating 24 hours decreased from 25,449 in 2020 to 21,345 in 2022.

Tim Self, an assistant professor of hospitality management at Austin Peay State University, said these businesses are more likely to be located in areas where an around-the-clock lifestyle fits potential consumers. Think Las Vegas. New Orleans. Or a highly visible, well-it establishments off an interstate or highway.

“If an operation feels there’s a market,” Self said, “that there’s customers that need to be served by being open 24 hours a day, then I think they would be.”

Growing in popularity: ghost kitchens. They are virtual restaurants that serve customers exclusively through delivery and pick-up — based on phone and online ordering.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville's late night eats challenged by winter snowfall