UC grads opening Mio's location in Blue Ash

University of Cincinnati graduates Greg and Ryan Geisting didn’t find jobs after graduation; Greg, 29, has a degree in criminal justice, and Ryan, 24, has a degree in sports administration. So they decided to stick with what they knew: pizza.
 
The brothers started working for Mio’s in Mt. Washington when they were in high school. They have 20 years experience in the restaurant business combined, and when they couldn’t find jobs, they decided they would go into business together and open a Mio’s franchise in Blue Ash.
 
“We love the product Mio’s offers,” Ryan says. “We also really like the neighborhood atmosphere of Mio’s. When we worked in Mt. Washington, we had regular customers who came in on the same night every week.”
 
The Geisting brothers want to become a staple in the Blue Ash community, Ryan says. Although this is the 10^th Mio’s location in the Cincinnati area, they don’t want to be seen as another chain. Greg and Ryan plan to sponsor a few of the Friday night concerts at the Blue Ash Amphitheater, which you can see from the restaurant’s patio.
 
Before they found the location in Blue Ash, Greg and Ryan bid on a location in Northern Kentucky, but they lost it to another bidder. After a week, they heard about the location in Blue Ash opening up (it used to be the Cactus Pear), and by the end of the week, they had it.
 
To make the restaurant their own, Greg and Ryan repainted the dining area, put up new decorations, installed a new whiskey barrel floor, reupholstered the seat cushions, and replaced a wall mural across from the bar with a rock wall that accents the whole restaurant, Ryan says.
 
The restaurant has become a family thing. Their father helped rebuild the inside, and their uncle, Howard Cohen, has done marketing and will be tending the bar once the restaurant opens March 4. Two of their sisters and their brother-in-law are going to help out, and their aunt might be making all of the desserts they serve to help start her own business, Aunt T’s Treats.
 
In the long run, Greg and Ryan can see themselves opening another Mio’s location, and maybe a bar. “There’s a full bar at the Blue Ash location, and it’s definitely a stepping-stone to opening a bar,” Ryan says.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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