Attention Springfield buffet-lovers: Cicis Pizza is coming back in early 2019

News-Leader

Cicis Pizza will be coming back to Springfield in the same location as the previous one under a new franchise owner in early 2019.

Folks who enjoy buffet meal deals like "Endless PAN Pizza" for $5.99 will have a lot to celebrate come February.

Cicis Pizza will return to south Springfield around that time, Joplin-based entrepreneur John Martin confirmed in an email Thursday.

Martin is heading up the return of Cicis Pizza to 319 E. Battlefield Road. Martin declined an interview with the News-Leader, saying he would be willing to share more details closer to the store's opening date.

But information about the new Cicis has been getting to the community in recent weeks.

The new store already has a social media presence with more than 1,000 followers. Photos posted show demolition and remodeling work in progress.

"Hey, Springfield. Are you ready for a change?" one post asked followers. Another said the new store would have "a MAJOR remodel." Community members responded with enthusiasm in the comments section.

On Oct. 23, the new Springfield Cicis began posting job listings for "team members" paid $8 to $9 per hour. On Oct. 31, it began recruiting shift supervisors and assistant managers.

Oklahoma-based Costley Enterprises No. 104 LLC is the new franchise owner, state business filings show. The company was registered in Oklahoma on Jan. 9.

Cicis Pizza previously operated at the same location.

The old franchise was struggling around the time that Costley Enterprises No. 104 LLC was formed, previous News-Leader reporting shows.

As the News-Leader reported in June, the old Cicis closed in late May, following months of drama, according to a June interview with former franchise owner Carla Nations, as well as court records and documents generated by a two-month Springfield police investigation.

Nations said her relationship with Cicis corporate officials had soured for months before the store closed, despite good relations in past years.

In late 2017, Nations also came to believe two of her on-site managers were embezzling money, she said.

She filed a police report Dec. 1, 2017. Springfield police investigated for two months, finding a pattern. It looked like someone at Cicis was ringing up transactions (123 of which were documented by police) on the cash register, then deleting them soon afterward. The practice didn't make sense for a buffet where guests pay before lining up to serve themselves pizza.

The two managers, both fired by Nations in late 2017, denied wrongdoing in interviews with police.

County prosecutors declined to pursue felony complaints against the managers because police evidence was "unable to show guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," they said Feb. 22.

On March 7, Nations' landlord sued her company for back rent.

On May 22, a judge ruled in favor of the landlord, Battlefield Plaza LLC, evicting Nations' franchise from 319 E. Battlefield and ordering her company to pay $7,837.80 in unpaid rent, attorney's fees and court costs.

The old store closed not long afterward. Public records show that the court later placed a garnishment on a bank account tied to Nations' company.

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