| dining out |
The Pizza Dough Depot
Holder family re-envisions Cairo Train Depot as First & Broad Pizza Company
words & photos by Payton Fletcher
Built in 1905 , the Old Cairo Depot has become a cornerstone of downtown Cairo , Ga . And now , it ’ s the home of First & Broad Pizza Company , a local pizzeria that has moved in to bring new life to the area .
Karen Holder , the owner of First & Broad Pizza Company , said that the Old Cairo Depot has been through a number of different owners before she moved in .
“ Originally it was a train depot and then it became the Cairo Police Department and then the city built a new police station . At the same time , the city was trying to revamp our downtown ,” she said . “ So , we had to go before the City Council , who renovated the entire building . It was kind of blank canvas , and then we got voted on by the City Council and so we moved , we were originally Home Slice and we rebranded and moved down here and became First & Broad Pizza Company .”
Home Slice , Holder ’ s original pizzeria , began as a way to do something different after she was diagnosed with breast cancer .
“ I was a nurse for 20 years and then I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 39 ,” she said . “ So , I just decided , what the heck , let ’ s just do something different .”
With her husband in the food sales business , she said that there was enough understanding of the food business to get a small restaurant started in a tiny building on US-84 .
“ We decided to open a small little pizzeria ,” Holder said . “ And it , literally was tiny . We had such great community support and customers that when we had the opportunity to move downtown , we decided to give it a try .”
Holder said making the move to their current location came with a lot of changes beyond their new name , with the biggest change being the scope of their business . A change that , she said , she hopes others are inspired to follow .
“ Where we were at was very small and this is quadruple the size , if not more , of where we were ,” she said . “ So , huge change . I ’ ve had to order different , we ’ ve doubled the size of staff , creating more jobs . We
94 Summer 2023 | Thomasville Scene