A new level of scrutiny and short notice from the university means a popular Chapel Hill restaurant will not be among the vendors at UNC football games in 2025, according to the owners.
Italian Pizzeria III and its Philly cheesesteak station at Kenan Stadium will not be operating after failing an inspection of the stadium’s vendors ahead of the new season. The news — which came just a day after the West Franklin Street pizza joint celebrated its 45th anniversary of operating in Chapel Hill — was shared with IP3 on Friday after UNC fans noticed the group missing in the concessions section of the Football Gameday Guide.
Vincenzo Marrone, who co-owns the restaurant with his brother Angelo, told Chapelboro the restaurant found out thanks to a concerned customer who called IP3.
“They let us know, ‘We bought the season tickets, but I just saw [UNC] posted the vendors that are going to be there,'” Marrone recounted. “‘You’re not in it, and that makes me really upset,’ the customers said. And I’m like, ‘What do you mean we’re not in it?’
“It just kind of broke my heart a little bit,” he added, “because I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, it was not [my decision.]’ It’s not like I don’t want to be there and don’t want to cook your cheesesteak, because they know they can come here and get [one] any time.”
Thinking it was a mistake, Marrone called his Kenan Stadium and UNC liaison to ask if it was true. He said the person responded that it was, asking if IP3 had a different setup with ventilation it could use for UNC’s other events. The restaurant co-owner responded that he believed it would be too short-notice for his team to buy and install something — meaning it would be out of the vendor rotation for the entire fall.
Marrone said the cooking station went untouched by his team since it was used in the 2024 season, and it was allowed in the previous eight years IP3 cooked cheesesteaks for UNC fans. He added that he had not heard from Kenan Stadium or Carolina Athletics on when to come prepare the station ahead of Monday night’s football game, but usually would arrive two days prior to clean.
“If the law is the law, I understand,” Marrone said. “I mean, it’s an open area, it’s [a] 20-foot ceiling, we’re really clean…it’s not something that would catch on fire once a week. But, you’ve got to respect the law: they say we’ve got to have the hood, [so] we cannot operate it.
“I was like, ‘Wow, this is shocking,'” he said of the lack of notice from UNC about their vendor status. “Because, I love to go to work at Kenan [Stadium]. It’s good business for me, people love it, I like to be there…I like the atmosphere and everything.”
Chapelboro contacted UNC Media Relations and Carolina Athletics representatives for comment and clarification on the inspection process, but failed to receive a formal response by Saturday. It was confirmed all concessions vendors at Kenan Stadium were held to the same scrutiny and enforcement of the fire code, but unclear which entity — the university or the state — conducted the inspection and who is responsible for alerting third-party vendors of status. The Town of Chapel Hill confirmed that its fire marshal is not involved with Carolina Athletics venues’ reviews.
For the Marrones, Vicenzo said the news is disappointing and will have a modest impact on their business.
“There’s nothing I can do — I’ll do what I gotta do, what I can do here: focus on [the restaurant],” he told Chapelboro. “Maybe we’ll get more catering jobs during the football season, especially if [the team] does well.”
But Marrone added, looking ahead, he and Angelo “definitely” want to make the upgrades necessary to have the IP3 cheesesteak stand up and running again in Kenan Stadium for the 2026 football season.
“If they will give me a chance, I will do whatever it takes to come back,” he concluded. “Whatever they need me to do, I will do it — definitely [following] what the law says, ‘You need this, you need that’…I will do it, and I would love to be there.”
Kenan Stadium kicks off its fall operations when UNC football hosts TCU on Monday at 8 p.m., with gates opening for fans at 6:30 p.m. Italian Pizzeria III, meanwhile, is open daily at 508 West Franklin Street from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Featured photo via Italian Pizzeria III.
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