A co-owner of six local Paradise Bakery&Cafe franchises will open a 200-seat restaurant in Zionsville next week.

OoBATZ! will serve pizza, pasta, sandwiches and salads in the expanded site of the former Brewhouse Sports Bar at 1576 W. Oak St., just west of Boone Village shopping center.

About 50 people have been hired to staff the restaurant, which includes a bar and an outdoor stone fireplace, said co-owner Kirk Givens.

The restaurant’s name means “crazy” in slang Italian, said Givens. “The reason we came up with the name was all our friends said we were crazy to open up a restaurant in this economy,” he said.

He said he and co-owners Jason Geary and Julie Weisenbach feel Zionsville has a shortage of family restaurants.

The restaurant, which opens Sept. 23, has a menu with all entrees priced under $15, including a 20-ounce hamburger, create-your-own pastas and nine types of salad. Specialties includes drinks with LED lights inside the ice cubes and a $10 chocolate cake dessert that can serve four.

“We put a lot of money into the place. It’s pretty trendy,” Givens said. The landlord is Kite Realty Group.