2 Fifty Texas BBQ Buys Dumm's Pizza

Riverdale Park Business Association News

Bulletin from The BIZ

RIVERDALE PARK, MD., October 10, 2019 – The parent company of 2Fifty Texas BBQ on Tuesday

bought Riverdale Park landmark, Dumm’s Pizza & Subs for an undisclosed price. MADRE USA

CORP., which owns 2Fifty, said it has settled on the acquisition of the Dumm’s business and its

valuable liquor license in the deal with owners/operators Georgia and Mike Sotiriou.

In addition, the company has reached an agreement with Georgia’s Sotiriou’s father, Pete

Spiropoulos, to lease the 2,700 square foot open space on the corner of 4700 Riverdale Rd.

that once was Dumm’s Corner Market. The space has been empty since 2012 when the

grocery, beer and wine operation moved around the corner to much larger space on

Queensbury Rd., and was renamed Town Center Market. (The market is operated by

Spiropoulos’ sons, Ted and Jimmy, and owned by all three of them.) Spiropoulos told The Biz he inked an eight-year lease with Madre USA Corp. Spiropoulos is also president and a co-

founder of the Riverdale Park Business Association.

Fernando Gonzales and his wife, Debby Portillo, have operated 2Fifty Texas BBQ at the Riverdale

Park Farmers Market for the past year and its popularity has exploded.

Madre is headed by former TACA Airlines pilot Samuel Portillo, president and chairman, and

his daughter, Debby Portillo, CEO. She and her husband, Fernando Gonzalez, have been

operating 2Fifty Texas BBQ in a pavilion at the Riverdale Park Farmers Market for a year,

drawing longer wait lines each week. The couple took over the daily operation of Dumm’s at

4:30 pm Tuesday..

“They are the new us!” exclaimed Georgia to a handful of customers in the restaurant,

referring to Debby and Fernando as they stepped up behind the stove and cash register

wearing their new Dumm’s Pizza & Subs tee shirts. Georgia and Mike Sotiriou opened

Dumm’s Pizza nearly 30 years ago and have decided to hand off the business to the next

generation. “Pete said ‘do whatever makes you feel comfortable’” Georgia said. The

customers were stunned and had mixed emotions about the change in ownership.

“It was a blow,” said a stunned

Nancy Reed, a longtime Dumm’s

diner and resident of Riverdale

Park. “I am not happy with it.”

But others seemed to embrace the

future with optimism when they

learned that the new operators

plan to keep the current menu and

add Texas BBQ popular specialties

to the menu in the coming months.

Fernando Gonzalez told The Biz

that Madre plans to create a 38-

seat dining room in the old

Dumm’s market space, adding to

the 25-seat Dumm’s Pizza dining

area.

The new dining area will also include a bar serving beer, wine and mixed drinks. The

boarded-up windows facing Lafayette Avenue and Riverdale Road will be opened to light in

the coming months after a focused buildout. Gonzalez has already “spent thousands” on a

custom-made outdoor wood smoker that will BBQ up to 500 pounds of meat at a time. It

arrived on site Tuesday.

Georgia Sotiriou said she and Mike will be in the restaurant showing Debby and Fernando the

ropes for the next two weeks and then “the first thing we’re going to do is jump in the car and

go for a ride.”

Where? She was asked.

“Well, we drove north last weekend for our son’s wedding in New Jersey (and Pennsylvania),

I think we’re going south this time!”

For a closer look at Dumm’s Pizza & Subs and its rich history in Riverdale Park, see the October

issue of The Biz. The profile was written before the Sitiriou’s announced that they had sold the

business.

Dumm’s Pizza & Subs and 2Fifty Texas BBQ are RPBA members.