Illnesses force this family-run restaurant to close. They hope to be back

The mood inside Kite’s Corner Pizza in the 800 block of 14th Street West was about as gloomy as the weather outside as a cold front moved into the area on Thursday under dark and cloudy skies.

The occasional customer looking for a pizza or chicken Parmesan walked in despite the front doors being covered in paper. They were told each time, “Sorry, we’re closed.”

Stefanie Kite ultimately had to lock the doors as family members worked to pack up boxes.

“It’s nice to see them,” Kite said, holding back tears. “But I just can’t do it. It’s too hard.”

Kite’s Corner Pizza announced the closure of their family business Nov. 12 on Facebook.

“After many weeks of intense thought and discussion, we believe this is the best path for our family at this time,” the post reads. “With Stefanie’s cancer diagnosis and long recovery, in addition to the recent illness of another family member, we have determined this is best for our family. ... We have enjoyed getting to know each and everyone of you and truly feel like a part of the community.”

The good news is that Stefanie Kite was declared free from the Stage 2 breast cancer she has been battling for some time. It was the best and worst day of her life as the doctors gave her the news, which came at the same time as her life’s dream of having her entire family run a restaurant came to an emotional end.

During her battle, Kite could often be seen running around the kitchen with her head covered in a bandanna, her blonde hair missing from several treatments of chemotherapy. She wasn’t going to be defeated by her illness and when you talked to her about her cancer, she was upbeat and positive, never without a smile.

But on Thursday, as the reality of Kite’s Corner’s closing hit home, there was no smile to be found.

While she is now cancer free, the chemo and cancer medications have created new issues for her to contend with, including neuropathy, which causes intense nerve and joint pain.

“I’m OK,” Kite said. “I don’t have cancer anymore. I’m cancer free, but my recovery has been very long and the chemo and medications I’m still on have really messed with my body. I can’t be on my feet very long or lift heavy boxes. Stirring sauce with a spoon feels like I’m stirring with a knife. It’s caused me to not be here as much as I would like to be.”

Her brother, who was the primary pizza maker at Kite’s Corner, got sick two weeks ago and is in the hospital until further notice.

“With him not being here, it does put a lot of stress on the people that are here,” Kite said. “It’s sad. It really is. We’ve been holding off on actually packing the boxes. Putting them in the truck to put in storage is a task I don’t want to do. We didn’t want to close. I’m just really sad about it because I love our employees and family members who work with us so very much.”

Kite said she and her husband have made it through rough times before, so all of her concerns were directed toward her employees.

Wishes for good health and sadness about the closing poured in on their Facebook page as well the Bradenton Herald’s Manatee Eats page.

“We were shocked,” Kite said. “We have customers who are very loyal to us. My mom can even tell you which customer will be in on what day so I’m not surprised to see their names. But there were others that I don’t know and didn’t even know they have some sort of connection to us that we didn’t know we had made. To see the comments and love for a family business and how great the food is, is nice to hear. Sometimes as a business owner, you wonder if anyone knows you are here or cares.”

Kite said it was bittersweet to see the love and support.

The illnesses are of most concern to the family, but it’s been one of those runs where life can truly get cruel and turn your world upside down, delivering one challenge after the other in short order.

“There are a lot of different things that all kind of converged together to force us to close down,” Kite said. “Red tide was very disruptive. A good portion of our nighttime business was delivering to the downtown hotels. With nobody coming, that cut out a lot.”

Kite said only about 30 percent of the business was from locals and walk-in traffic. While the city looks to improve walkability in the area, it comes too late for Kite.

“People don’t wander this way for much,” Kite said. “Certainly not enough new people to grow that percentage of business.”

Kite said they’ve had a few people reach out to them to try and work out how they could stay open or relocate. But without investors stepping forward at this point, the financial burden created by the illnesses and loss of business have taken their ultimate toll.

Now unable to contain her tears, Kite said, “We didn’t want to do this. I just want to say a big thank you to the community for supporting us, being relatively unknown business owners who tried their very best.”

There are whispers Kite’s Corner may not be gone forever and the family is hopeful their misfortune will change. For those interested in some type of partnership or for anyone wishing to purchase their existing restaurant equipment, call 941-718-2538 and ask for Kevin.

“We hope to be back,” Kite said. “With a little luck and good health, we won’t be gone forever.”