By Shannon Lukens.

UPDATE ON Dec. 9. We have been told the deal fell through. We’ll keep you posted.

 

 

Carelli’s Restaurant in Craig will soon have new owners. Anthony and Kimberly Teeter of Craig are purchasing the popular Italian restaurant at 465 Yampa Avenue in Craig. The deal is set to close on Wednesday.

“Owning the Carelli’s for me, it’s about helping the community, helping keep jobs in the community, we’re part of this community, and we have to keep this community running well.”

 

Teeter says he saw that the restaurant was for sale on Facebook.

“We moved here two and a half years ago, from New York. We saw it on Facebook that it was for sale. And we felt really bad that all of businesses are closing, we’re losing everything, we’re losing our restaurants, we just lost Pizza Hut, Walgreens just closed. We saw the reaction from the community. It was like, they love Carelli’s. It’s a local place. I know Carelli’s from years ago because my dad lived here in Craig.”

 

Carelli’s has been owned by Stephanie and Brett Etzler for the past 12 years. Teeter says the new owners and the former owners will work together for about a month once the sale goes through on Wednesday.

Teeter will own Carelli’s in partnership with his cousin, David Teeter, of Craig. They plan to keep the menu mostly the same.

 

“We’re basically going to keep it the same but we’re going to improve on the ingredients. We’re trying to have the best pizza possible.”

 

That means New York Pizza and a Sicilian Deep Dish Pie.

Teeter says Carelli’s is open four days a week right now but they hope to increase that to five or six, plus add a Sunday brunch and maybe breakfast.