HotBox Pizza Opening December 21
511 N Martin St.
Muncie, IN 47303
Most students will have to wait until after Winter Break to try the Village's newest pizza place.
HotBox Pizza will open Dec. 21 in the building where Sunsations Tanning Salon used to be.
Suzanne Flynn, co-owner of HotBox Pizza alongside her husband Bryan Flynn, said the general contractor working on the building needed more time to get everything up to code. The building needed its plumbing and drywall redone to meet the state code for public restaurants.
"It takes time," Suzanne said. "The state of Indiana as well as the city of Muncie have to make sure we don't cut corners."
Other than the renovations, Suzanne said everything else has been going smoothly. The pizza chain has hired close to 40 employees at this point, many being Ball State students.
Taylor Dillon, a sophomore psychology major, said she first learned of the chain’s Muncie location while job searching. Though she didn’t apply for the job, she is excited about the new restaurant and eager for its opening.
"It's a new attraction," Dillon said. "Everyone will want to check it out."
Though Dillon thinks HotBox will be competing with the "classic" taste of Greek’s Pizzeria, Suzanne does not think this will be the case.
"Hopefully it will just be an additional type of pizza and experience," she said. "We won't really cross paths when it comes to competing for business."
HotBox Pizza has a lot of pizza competition in Muncie, with Greek's Pizzeria, Cousin Vinny's Pizza, Papa John's, Mancino's Pizza and Grinders, multiple Pizza Kings, Pizza Hut, Papa Murphy's Take and Bake Pizza, Little Caesar's Pizza and Domino's Pizza all working to draw college students and Muncie residents in.
Alec Macchione, a junior accounting and finance major, said he has been employed at the Noblesville HotBox restaurant for the past two summers as a deliveryman. When he heard about the new Muncie location, his relationship with Suzanne and Bryan helped him to get a better position within the pizza chain.
Suzanne, who is the head of marketing for her Noblesville location, named Macchione as the Muncie location’s newest marketing coordinator. He is currently recruiting other students to assist him in spreading the word around Ball State and sponsoring local events.
His position will have him working on his own time with his team, doing different jobs to promote the HotBox franchise.
"It all depends on what events are going on, what opportunities there are, and what I can do to market what's going on," Macchione said. "But I think I'll be a good asset to what they're trying to achieve in Muncie."
Macchione is not only excited about his new job, but for the opening of the Muncie location. Because many Ball State students come from cities across Indiana, he believes the HotBox name is already well known and the chain will thrive in the Village.
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