Before Doug Leslie became the owner of the local Chicago-based pizza restaurant, he was a regular customer for a number of years.

After purchasing the local Rosati’s franchise in 2012, Leslie and his two sons, Kevin and Corey, have been slinging Chicago-style (thin-crust and deep dish) pizza out of its Plaza Fountainside location, which is nearing its 20th year in Fountain Hills.

As the owner, accountant, maintenance and repairman, Leslie has left the actual cooking to his two sons who have been working at Rosati’s since they were in high school.

“The boys right now, they’ve both decided that this is what they want to continue to do,” Leslie said, who moved to Fountain Hills with his family in 1996. At the time, Corey was three years old and Kevin was in Kindergarten.

Owning a restaurant had always been a dream for Leslie. He toyed with the idea of running a taco stand on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, but Rosati’s was too good of an opportunity to pass up, the fourth owner of the local francise said.

“The idea was to give (Kevin and Corey) something to do.

“So, it gave them the flexibility to -- if they wanted to -- continue their education and be able to work around their schedules.”

Throughout high school and college, Kevin and Corey worked with their dad around their classes and are now the familiar faces of Rosati’s in Fountain Hills. Kevin’s and Corey’s mother, Leslie, stops in from time to time to check on them. Corey’s fiance is Gabbie Hughes, who has a son named Kamdyn. Together, Corey and Gabbie have a little girl named Lyla.

Making adjustments

Pizza-wise, the Chicago thin-crust pizza makes up the majority of Rosati’s sales but Rosati’s wings are also quite popular, Leslie said, who has made some iterations to its recipe since taking ownership.

Early in his tenure at Rosati’s, the wings were fried, sauced and placed in a to-go box. By the time the customer got home, however, the wings were all but crispy. So, Leslie did everything a restaurant franchise business owner should not do; he tinkered with the seasonings, the dredging, the sauce and even the box the wings came in.

In the end, the wing sauce was placed on the side so that when customers got home, they opened the sauce, poured it on the wings, shook and opened the box to freshly dressed, crispy wings.

“Rosati’s eventually made that option available,” Leslie said, who moves a lot of wings on a weekly basis. “I take pride in what I do. If it’s not good, I’m not going to sell it.”

For those looking for Chicago-style pizza, Leslie said Rosati’s is the most authentic they’re going to find in town.

“We have a good product. We’re not the cheapest in town, but there’s a reason,” he said.

Rosati’s is located at 12605 N. Saguaro Blvd., Suite 4, open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, visit myrosatis.com/fountainhills/ or call 480-836-8400.