For over a decade, Rico’s Pizza has been a staple in the Stoney Creek community, and the business celebrated their success by opening a second restaurant, this one in Elizabethton.

Twelve years ago, Rico Baltaji realized a life’s dream of owning his own pizzeria when he opened Rico’s Pizza and Subs, located at 2209 Hwy 91 in the Stoney Creek community.

“I have been in this business since I was 15 years old,” Baltaji said. “I’ve worked for many ‘Mom and Pop’s, ‘ and I always wanted to open my own.”

Baltaji moved to Carter County from Florida, noting that he had family living in Butler. He got a job working for the Public Works Department for the City of Johnson City. But, he never lost sight of his goal.

Throughout his life, Baltaji said he worked government jobs during the day, but he was always drawn back to pizza restaurants, either cooking or delivering.

One day, an opportunity presented itself to Baltaji and he decided to take the leap.

“I saw the place up Stoney Creek and said this is going to be great,” Baltaji said. “It turned out to be great from day one.”

When he first opened the restaurant, Baltaji figured it would a be a sideline to supplement his job with the City of Johnson City. However, the restaurant grew beyond what he was expecting, and he left his day job to operate the business full time.

Customers would frequently talk to him about opening another location, possibly closer to town. Baltaji toyed with the idea of opening a second location, not wanting to leave the restaurant’s home base in Stoney Creek. In October, the second location of Rico’s Pizza opened its doors to the public at 817 Broad St., near the Food City shopping center.

“It’s still growing, but I think it will do well,” Baltaji said of the second store.

While the Stoney Creek restaurant features an indoor dining room as well as outdoor dining on a screened in porch, the Elizabethton location is delivery or carry-out only at this time. In the future, Baltaji said, the city location may expand to a larger location in order to offer a dining room.

When you ask what set’s Rico’s Pizza apart from its competitors, the restaurant’s employees will tell you it’s the quality of ingredients and the care that goes into making every order just right.

“Rico does a lot of things in-house that a lot of pizzerias in Northeast Tennessee just don’t do,” said employee Charles Young.

All of the dough and sauces are prepared in house fresh, and even the cheese is shredded at the restaurant.

“Everything is made daily here,” Baltaji said. “The dough is made each morning. The salads are made fresh each day.”

Another special touch at the restaurant is the produce used to make the food.

“We buy our vegetables locally,” said employee Shawn Beamish. “I can’t wait for the farmer’s market to open so we can get veggies there.”

While the restaurant is a business, Baltaji said coming to work doesn’t feel like a job.

“Pizza was my passion. I don’t consider this a job,” Baltaji said. “I enjoy doing what I’m doing. I’m very blessed to have what I have and do what I’m doing.”