Randall Hon quietly buys Paladino’s in Cicero, expands pizza holdings

Randall Hon quietly added another name to his growing restaurant portfolio when he bought Paladino’s in Cicero from founder Anthony Paladino in August 2025, a deal that had been kept under wraps for months before it surfaced publicly. For Cicero customers, the change matters less as a headline than as a shift in who controls one of the area’s longtime pizza stops, and in a market where a small group of owners increasingly shape what shows up on local menus.

Paladino’s Cicero Pizza has deep roots in the northern edge of Onondaga County. The business says the family opened its original pizza location in 1980, and its Cicero shop has operated at 8154 Brewerton Road since 2012. New York State business records show Paladino’s Cicero Pizza Inc. was filed on April 26, 2012, underscoring that the Cicero location had already built its own history long before Hon stepped in.

The sale comes after a difficult stretch for the restaurant. In July 2024, a contractor-caused fire damaged the roof at Paladino’s Cicero Pizza, adding operational strain before the ownership change. That history gives the transition more weight than a routine business transfer: it affects employees, suppliers, and the regulars who have treated the shop as a neighborhood fixture for years.

Hon’s purchase also fits a wider pattern of consolidation in Central New York’s independent restaurant scene. In April 2025, reporting said Hon, through CNY Pizza, already owned two local Pavone’s Pizza shops. Earlier in January 2025, Poundtown Burger Bar was described as being run by Hon and Tihami Chowdhury, with Hon also a partner in two Pavone’s locations and Taphouse on Walton. By May 2026, Hon’s holdings had expanded again, with three Pavone’s Pizza restaurants, Paladino’s Cicero Pizza and Poundtown Burgers all in his portfolio.

That growth has local consequences. A March 2026 report said Poundtown Burger Bar was expanding to new locations in Cicero and Auburn, showing that Hon’s business interests are not standing still. For Onondaga County, that means more menu overlap, more competition for labor and more purchasing power concentrated in fewer hands, even when the storefronts still carry familiar neighborhood names.

Paladino’s, meanwhile, remains tied to a family brand that has served Central New York for decades. Its original 1980 opening and its long run in Cicero help explain why the sale landed with unusual force: this was not just another property transaction, but a change in ownership at a place many regulars likely still associate with the Paladino name. Hon’s move adds another layer to the county’s pizza landscape, where the biggest changes often happen quietly, behind the counter, long before customers notice.