After 20 years of owning the Provino's franchise in Auburn, John Sellers and his wife Kim have chose to branch off of the Provino's chain and rename their business.
"Venditori's is the new name," Sellers said. "It's Italian for my last name."
Even though the name is changing, Sellers cannot stress enough that nothing else about the restaurant is changing.
"If anything, we're going to add to the menu, not take anything off," Sellers said.
According to Sellers, the choice to move away from the Provino's chain had nothing to do with bad blood from his old business partners.
"We still have a great relationship with Provino's," Sellers said. "We ended the franchise agreement and received nothing but support from Provino's."
Tracy Ray, chief executive officer of Provino's, had nothing but good things to say about the Sellers.
"We have a special relationship with the Sellers," Ray said. "They're great people, and we have 20 good years of working together."
The picture of "no change" Sellers wants to portray about his restaurant seems to be working. A local regular of Venditori's, Keith Warren, recently ate at the restaurant after the name had changed.
"Me and my family went pretty recently and we didn't even notice the name change," Warren said. "I think it will still stay as popular whatever the name is."
If the name change has done anything for Sellers' business, it's made himself more familiar with his customers.
"I have people calling me personally to make sure I was still the owner," Sellers said. "And then I have people coming in here asking if I'm the new owner."
The Sellers have made a name for themselves in the area. Now that they've gone away from the Provino's chain, the Sellers have the freedom to expand on the menu and the building.
"The favorites will still be there, but we want to use the freedom we have now to expand the menu for our customers," Sellers said.
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