Apollo Pizza is coming to Corbin

“We had actually had our eyes on Corbin for quite a few years,” said owner of Apollo Pizza and Beer Emporium Wesley Browne. “We just had so much on our plates that we didn’t pull the trigger.”

The trigger was officially pulled in September when the restaurant owner purchased the former Ascension Consulting building from Freeman, Childers and Howard Law Firm.

The building is located on the corner of Second Street and Main Street in downtown Corbin.

Browne said they found the building because a local business owner called to let him know that they were selling their corner building on Main Street in downtown Corbin.

Despite the call, Browne said it still took a while before they decided to make the move.

“It wasn’t really a snap decision – it was a long time coming – but when we finally did make the decision to go, it was kind of quick.”

Browne said that while the decision has been made to open a location in Corbin, it will take a bit of time to get all of the pieces into place before it opens.

Browne said the hope is that the restaurant will be open later this year, but the building will be undergoing some renovations.

“We would like to do a rooftop dining area, but that is one of the things that is making it a little more complicated,” said Browne.

Apollo Pizza establishments typically have 15 to 18 draft beer taps, and the beer bar is typically a central feature.

“We want to make sure we get both [the rooftop and the beer bar] of those things right,” said Browne. “We want it to feel good when you go in there.”

“We don’t want to rush it and not hit the mark,” Browne further explained.

One important factor when designing an Apollo Pizza restaurant is curating its unique look.

“We very specifically don’t do two restaurants alike,” said Browne. “The design of the Corbin location is not going to look like any of the other ones.”

“There is more than one Apollo, but we still want them to be unique,” Browne explained.

In order to get the aesthetic right, Browne said they have talked to friends they have in Corbin to try to help determine what kind of atmosphere would work best based on the community.

Regardless of the details inside the restaurant, Browne said Apollo Pizza had its eye on Corbin before the decision was ever made to open a new location.

After opening locations in Lexington and Berea, Browne said they were trying to figure out where they wanted to open the next Apollo Pizza.

“We probably talked about seven or eight different places, and the one city that kept catching our attention the most was Corbin,” said Browne.

“Corbin is just really attractive in terms of the burgeoning food scene and social scene,” said Browne. “We were fans of what was happening in Corbin before we ever really thought about going to Corbin with our own thing. We just liked the way it was building up.”

Apollo Pizza currently has locations in Richmond, Lexington and Berea.