A Diavola Pizza at Pizzeria Locale. The pizzeria doesn’t toss the dough in the air but rather slaps and extends it to make the crust.
Pizzeria Locale, once a promising and popular joint venture between a local restaurant group and the Chipotle chain, announced Wednesday that it will close its remaining locations.
“We have made the decision to close all five Pizzeria Locale restaurants on July 10 and dissolve the business,” Chipotle chief corporate affairs officer Laurie Schalow said in a statement. “Impacted employees have been extended employment opportunities at Chipotle restaurants in the Denver area.”
The move, first reported by Westword, comes six months after Pizzeria Locale founders Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson separated their original location, a sit-down restaurant at 1738 Pearl St. in Boulder, from Pizzeria Locale’s fast-casual spots, by rebranding it as Pizzeria Alberico.
Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson, who are also behind Frasca, Tavernetta and Sunday Vinyl, founded Pizzeria Locale in 2010 and struck up a partnership with Chipotle in 2013. The goal at the time was to rapidly expand in a manner similar to Chipotle and in a format where customers ordered at the counter, selected toppings and got their pizza shortly afterward.
At one point, Pizzeria Locale had locations in Cincinnati and Kansas City, in addition to Colorado, but it closed the out-of-state stores in 2018. The company opened a new Colorado location in January in Greenwood Village. That location is now closing with the others.
Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.
Originally published at Jonathan Shikes