One World Enterprises is undergoing change once again.
What started as a pizza shop then added a restaurant and later a brewpub. That expanded to include a catering business, and a commissary that provided kitchen space for all the restaurants owned by One World as well as people who had startup businesses that needed a certified commercial kitchen. The commissary was located on Rogers Street in a space rented from CFC Inc.
More change occurred earlier this month when One World moved into the 39,000-square-foot building off the Ind. 45/46 Bypass just west of Arlington Heights Elementary School on Rappel Avenue. Newly mowed areas near the building and contractors walking in with cases of tools are a common sight at what is now known as One World KitchenShare.
Inside, co-owner Jeff Mease, with coffee cup in hand, eagerly shows off the different work areas in the vast building. “This was kind of beyond our means,” Mease explained, “but it was a good value if we could figure out how to use all the space.”
The building houses a large commercial kitchen where all the dough used for pizzas at Pizza X and Lennie’s is made in huge stainless-steel mixers that churn water and flour to make 200 pounds of dough. Nearby, the tomato sauce used for some of the pizzas simmers, filling the air with thoughts of pepperoni and cheese.
But the thoughts of Mease and co-owner Lennie Busch were more about how to make this building work, not only for One World Enterprises but for other food-related businesses. As Mease explains, he and Busch purchased the building and now receive payments from Pizza X, Lennie’s and other businesses to help pay the mortgage.