Six pizza locations in Mount Forest, Ont., a community of 5,000

The competition for pizza sales is heating up in the community of Mount Forest, Ont.

On Monday, a Pizza Pizza franchise opened its doors on Main Street, joining five other pizza stores operating in the community of just over 5,000 people.

“All the tourism is coming here. We are another one, but much, much better,” said Massi Salha the area manager for the new Pizza Pizza location.

All the stores are located on Main Street within a one-kilometre stretch. Residents can choose to go to Tito's Pizza, Scott’s Pizza Burger, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Mount Forest Pizza and Pizza Pizza.

“If you're in Mount Forest, you're going to find you probably have too many options for pizza and maybe not enough options for some other diverse foods,” said Ryan Delottinville, a Grey Highlands resident.

But as more stores open, the shops have different opinions on the growing competition.

“We're here to spread love. Nothing against them. You know what I mean?” said Ahmed Amir, a customer service representative with Domino’s. “Mount Forest is full of love for food and pizza.”

Other shops weighed in.

“No, we are not worried about it, because of the quality and whatever we have,” said Rajni Patel, an employee at Tito’s Pizza in Mount Forest.

The owner of Mount Forest Pizza said it isn’t easy being one of many.

“We are struggling,”  said Owner Mukesh Mehta.

Mehta said there needs to be some kind of control for how many people are in the community versus how many pizza stores are allowed to open.

“I hope everybody can survive in the market. It's very small now, but all the best to everyone,” said Scott Young, owner of Scott’s Pizza Burger.

Young is probably the most versed in the communities love for pizza. Young has been running Scott’s Pizza Burger for 20 years and is the longest running pizza shop in the community.

“Originally my partner's dad had the first pizza place in town, Olympic Pizza, and we kind of took that recipe over and started here,” Young said.

“Scott's probably has the best pizza down here. Got to say. It's better than all the rest,” said Lucas Magill, a customer at Scott’s Pizza Burger.

So there is a lot of variety for people that like pizza in Mount Forest, but some say they would like some other food options.

“It would be nice to have change like a McDonald's or a burger place,” Myers said.

Another pizza location has put up signs on Main Street but the opening day is not clear.