Fresh Bite Pizza opened its doors on July 1 at 300 S. Pugh St., offering Detroit-style pizza and more to the State College community.
The restaurant, located at the O’Brien Place building in a space last occupied by 8 Mile Pizza, is owned by Bimla Dadra, who has been involved in the local pizza business for decades, with assistance from former 8 Mile manager Jesse Stutzman.
“I actually grew up here, and I did my school here. And while I was doing school, my father owned a pizza shop on Locust Lane, College Pizza. So I was working with him, helping him out,” Dadra said.
After her father closed down College Pizza, Dadra moved to New York to pursue new opportunities. However, once she received word that there was a space open following 8 Mile’s closure in February, she decided to come back to State College to open another pizza shop – this time owned by her and her husband.
“I have experience, and I want to do more because my dad is retired now, just following his steps and everything he taught me, and so now I’m back with my own flavors,” Dadra said. “No one in town has Detroit-style pizza, and I want to give a different style because everyone has just the regular stuff. This place already had that flavor, and I just did a little bit of changes in the ingredients. We’ve come up with a different name, different flavors, so hopefully people can help us to expand this more than 8 Mile.”
The menu features various Detroit-style, deep dish pizzas, including hot honey pepperoni, “silly dilly,” jalapeno habanero chicken and “pizza pollo,” to name a few. On top of offering both regular and specialty pies, Fresh Bite will also offer round pizza, individual slices and many variations of loaded fries on its menu.
“As we all know, 8 Mile was a hit with Detroit pizza,” Stutzman said. “We came, and unfortunately, we went…Food services is a very grueling industry; you have to be able to be in it for the long haul, and unfortunately, 8 Mile just didn’t have the staffing. We were relying a lot on college kids as our target for staff. And I gotta say that probably wasn’t the smartest thing in the beginning. So now, with Fresh Bite Pizza, I’d like for things to slowly grow now that it’s family-owned. Our different recipes that are going on, it’s definitely going to be the next level.”
Fresh Bite aims to bring family-oriented values and open-mindedness toward what they offer to the community. With years worth of experience in the food service industry between both Dadra and Stutzman, their like-minded goals of continuing to offer different kinds of pizza remain in sync as they start the process of making their mark in the area.
“[Dadra’s] family is deeply tied to multiple other restaurants that have been here for a long time in the State College industry, which says a lot,” Stutzman said. “Everybody wanted more out of the old pizza shop that this was. Well, now they have a chance to get it…Bimla was very smart. She saw a turnkey location and an opportunity to get something that nobody else has in State College. She wanted to give back to the community something that they loved as a product under her name. So that’s what we’re here to do. I’m here to bring her recipes to the table, put her to the front line, and hopefully, with a little nudge, I can get her out front. She’ll be the face of Detroit pizza in the future.”
Before Penn State’s fall semester starts, Dadra is preparing to expand her menu and plans to offer many flavors of wings, paninis, salads, cheesecakes and snack options. Once more students come rolling into town in August, Dadra plans to also expand their hours, offering late-night eats until 3 a.m.
For now, Fresh Bite Pizza is open every day of the week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. for dine-in and takeout.
