Pizza sales don’t deliver

A popular Italian eatery is saying arrivederci to the Balboa Fun Zone.

After almost 16 years in business, Gina’s Pizza and Pastaria is leaving the restaurant in the hands of its licensee Magid Azar, who will operate under the new moniker “Azar’s Gourmet Pizza.”

Gina’s Pizza representatives said sales at the Balboa Fun Zone location have been stagnant for years, while the small chain’s six other locations in Orange County were continually growing. Owner Andrew Costa said Gina’s Pizza wanted to focus more on expanding and decided to no longer license the Balboa franchise.

Azar will now operate the Balboa location with his brother Saeed Azar. He said he was cautiously optimistic about the success of Azar’s Gourmet Pizza after six years operating the Balboa Gina’s Pizza.

“We’re going to see how it goes,” said Azar, who also owns the Gina’s Pizza in Costa Mesa.

Sales at Gina’s Pizza dipped by nearly half at the Balboa location, which brought in more than $1 million a year when it first opened in 1992. But the decreasing popularity of the Fun Zone coupled with competition from new Orange County attractions like the Irvine Spectrum and the Block in Orange led to a drop in foot traffic to Gina’s Pizza.

“No matter what we do, sales were steadily declining,” he said.

The seasonality of the Balboa Fun Zone, which Costa said does only a decent business in the summer months, along with ongoing construction in the area made it difficult to operate. He said in the new venture the Azar brothers will focus more on concession food, while Gina’s will focus on growing its six-restaurant chain with locations in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Irvine and two new ventures in Huntington Beach and San Clemente. It also handles the food concession services for the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach.

“Gina’s as a whole is booming, but that one location isn’t working for us,” he said.

Azar said he hopes business improves at the Fun Zone when the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum takes over operation. The museum closed escrow on the Fun Zone on Dec. 29.