01907 Spring 2021

SPRING 2021 | 21
BY GUTHRIE SCRIMGEOUR
For more than 40 years, Cindy's Pizza & Subs has been the local
hangout spot for middle school kids, and even during the pandemic,
that hasn't changed.
"It's been great living and working in town for this long," said
Cindy's owner Nunzio Freddo. "You get to see kids who you saw
when they were little, now bringing in their own kids."
"The parents always knew that if they were hanging out at
Cindy's then they were safe," said Freddo. "They would always come
in and ask if the kids were giving me any trouble."
Freddo said that they rarely ever do.
"It's important to lay down the rules," he said.
The rules are simple — be respectful to the guests and pick up
after yourself.
"We say, 'your mom doesn't work here,'" Freddo said.
Even in COVID times, Cindy's status as the spot for local kids
has remained, with business staying strong.
"We were lucky we weren't hit that bad," said Freddo. "In the
beginning it was a little slow, but it picked up as the year went along.
It gets better and better every month."
The toughest part of the pandemic for him has been wearing a
mask all day.
"Especially when you're standing in front of a hot oven," he
explained.
Freddo has laid out a new set of rules for his young customers —
stay socially distant and wear a mask.
He thinks that the restaurant's ability to survive during the
pandemic comes from the quality of its products.
Freddo's father had a saying: It doesn't matter where you are — if
you have a good product, people will always find you.
"We've pretty much stuck with that," Freddo said.
The menu has stayed nearly the same over the past 40 years,
which features specialty pizzas, subs, salads, and fried foods.
Freddo has been working at Cindy's since he was in sixth
grade, which was more than 40 years ago when his dad bought the
restaurant.
On Sunday mornings, he and his family would wake up before
the crack of dawn and commute from Somerville to open the
restaurant — which at that point was also a convenience store — at
4:45 a.m. The first thing he did was assemble the Sunday papers,
section by section.
"Back then we sold 300 Sunday papers, so it took a while," said
Freddo. "That was our Sunday morning. It was tough, but as a family
we all just did what we had to do. Growing up in a strict Italian
home, whatever your dad
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