For more than 30 years, the Fredonia Pizza Hut was a booming business on Route 60, but it has been moved to a fresh new home in the Vineyard Plaza across from Tops Plaza in the town of Dunkirk.

Although the local Pizza Hut has moved to a new town, the inside is filled with Fredonia High/Middle School sports memorabilia as a way to keep the old home feeling alive.

Many of the sports photos hanging on the walls were graciously donated by the OBSERVER.

“The process to look for a new place took well over a year,” owner Walt Ruta said Wednesday at the opening. “We started construction in mid- July.”

Ruta hoped the new location would draw all the old and new customers.

“I hope we have a really good turnout,” he said on opening day.

The Dunkirk location has already hired 20 new employees and has kept all the old ones.

“We are excited to be in the new place and close to the college,” Ruta said. “It is important to us that all the employees (from the Fredo-nia location) stayed with us.”

Janice Williams has been an employee of Ruta’s for 22 years, and is considered one of the longest-term employees. She came to opening day and was the first smiling face to greet customers as they walked in.

They will deliver anywhere within an 8-minute drive from the plaza.

“Before Pizza Hut was put up in Fredonia, there was another building there that had a small back and small dining area,” Ruta said.

“In 1986 we added to the dining room, but still had a hard time cooking in the small back. It made things very difficult, but we were successful there. I started with the Fredonia Pizza Hut in 1985 as an assistant manager. We used to be corporate owned, then franchise, and back to corporate. We bought it in 1989 and have owned it for many years now,” Ruta said.

Dunkirk marks the eighth Pizza Hut Ruta has been part of. Jamestown Pizza Hut is the ninth, and construction will begin soon.

“We knew the building was so old and run down and we needed to move,” Ruta said about the Fredonia location. “It was a little scary for us, because the Route 60 location had been so successful for us for so many years. The college will hopefully be a successful market.”

Chamber of Commerce Community Coordinator David Kleparek commented on there not being a good sit down pizza place in the immediate area so this would prove very successful for Ruta.

“You have a good stretch here in the plaza,” he said.

Pizza Hut Marketing Manager Jessica Woodburn likes the new location, because it offers easier access and is safer, due to the stop light out front. She pointed to all the sports and other photos on the walls.

“We tried to get all the sports in,” she said. “We also have historic photos of Dunkirk, Fredonia, and other areas around town. People like to come in and see this on the walls.”

Longtime customer Chuck Ricotta came to enjoy the grand opening of the new location.

“I went to the Fredonia location once a month for the lunch buffet,” he said. “There is no other pizza place like Pizza Hut; it remains the same pizza no matter where you go.”

The new restaurant can be reached at 672-4044. Carry out and delivery orders can be placed over the phone, online at Pizzahut.com, or via tablet, iPhone, text message, mobile Web and Facebook. For more information or to place an order, visit Pizzahut.com. Open Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight.