COVID-19 pandemic

From Madison Pizza Wiki

The COVID-19 pandemic shut Madison's dining rooms in March 2020. Pizza places were better placed than most restaurants to get through it, since carryout and delivery were already their business, but several closed for good in 2020–2022. The owners who closed often blamed the shortage of staff after the restrictions lifted as much as the lost sales.

Timeline

  • Mid-March 2020: Public Health Madison & Dane County limited bars and restaurants to half their capacity, and the governor banned gatherings of 50 or more[1].
  • March 17–18, 2020: Gov. Tony Evers closed restaurant dining rooms statewide; from 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18, they could only sell carryout and delivery[1][2].
  • March 23, 2020: the state insurance commissioner ordered insurers to cover restaurant delivery drivers on their personal car policies at no extra cost[3].
  • May 26, 2020: under the county's Forward Dane plan, dining rooms could reopen at 25% of capacity[4]. Phase two, on June 15, allowed 50%[5]. The city let restaurants put temporary outdoor seating on sidewalks and in parking lots through October 25[6].
  • Fall 2020: indoor dining was held at 25% again; Dane County's limits were "longer and stricter than most counties"[7].
  • 2021: the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund paid out grants; in Wisconsin only about one applicant in three got one[8].
  • January 5, 2022: Lucille became the first Madison restaurant to require proof of vaccination[9].

How pizza places got by

  • Carryout and delivery. In the first weeks of the shutdown, delivery held steady or rose slightly at the small local chains, but not enough to make up for the lost dining room business. Glass Nickel Pizza stopped taking cash and set rules for no-contact delivery; drivers left pizzas on doorsteps[10]. Roman Candle lost 30–50% of its sales and tried a make-it-at-home pizza kit[10].
  • Delivery apps. Apps charged restaurants 12–30% of an order[11]. Grubhub listed Salvatore's Tomato Pies' menus without permission, so that a $22 pizza cost a customer $38; the owner, Patrick DePula, fought until Grubhub dropped the listing[12].
  • Cheap pizza for the emergency. Salvatore's sold a 16-inch one-topping "community response pizza" for $12 "for the duration of this emergency"[2].
  • Pizza for the front lines. A fund called "Stay home! Send pizza!" raised over $9,000 in two weeks to send Ian's Pizza to hospital workers[13].
  • Patios. The outdoor-seating permits of 2020 and 2021 went to pizza places including Rocky Rococo on Regent Street, Ian's, Lucille, Natt Spil, Roman Candle and Salvatore's on East Johnson Street[14].
  • Virtual brands. Some restaurants sold food under extra online names from the same kitchen: Lucille's Slice Queen, with thin-crust pies cut into squares[7], and Monk's Bar & Grill's WisCow Pizza, started in January 2021[15]. Many disappeared once dining rooms were full again[16].
  • Frozen pizza. Salvatore's developed frozen 10-inch pizzas at its new Monona commissary[17].

Money and staff

The Salvatore's on Livingston Street got $12,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program, but its sales were still 30% below 2019 at the end of 2020[18]. Of Ian's Pizza's seven restaurants in Madison and Milwaukee, only three got Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants[8], and Roman Candle got none[19].

Staff were the other problem. Ian's guaranteed tipped workers $15 an hour, paid $2 more after 10 p.m., and dealt with customers who refused the county's mask orders on State Street[20]. When Rossi's in Monona closed in 2022, its owner said, "It wasn't that my customer base wasn't there ... I just could not fill positions"[21].

Closings

Place Address Closed Notes
Roman Candle Madison Children's Museum March 2020 The museum closed and the counter never reopened[19].
Greenbush Bar 914 Regent St. March to August 2020 Then curbside pickup only; the small basement was too hard to ventilate for dine-in[22].
Pizza Di Roma 313 State St. June 2020 Damaged and looted during the protests of late May and early June, after 18 years on State Street[23].
Boston's Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar 1370 Water Wheel Dr., Waunakee September 2020 After one year[17].
Pizza Brutta 6712 Frank Lloyd Wright Ave., Middleton 2020 Closed to concentrate on the Monroe Street store[24].
Salvatore's Tomato Pies 912 E. Johnson St. January 3, 2021 Too small for safe dine-in; closed "to remodel and refresh"[25]; reopened for a time in 2022[26].
Pizza Di Roma 439 Grand Canyon Dr. 2021 "Temporarily" closed by March 2021[27]; it never reopened, and Mirch Masala took the space in 2022[28].
Paisan's 131 W. Wilson St. June 6, 2022 The city closed its building over structural concerns three times from September 2021[29].
WisCow Pizza / Monk's Verona May 1, 2022 "The employees just basically left us"[30].
Roman Candle 1054 Williamson St. May 27, 2022 Sales 30–40% below 2019: "we just never quite recovered from COVID"[19].
Rossi's Pizza & Vintage Arcade 4503 Monona Dr., Monona May 31, 2022 No staff; it became North Shore Pizza and Subs[21].
Rocky Rococo 1301 Regent St. August 2022 Later Fabiola's Spaghetti House, owned by the same family[31].

Just before the pandemic, Roman Candle had closed its Monroe Street store on December 14, 2019, and its Fitchburg store a week later[32], and Cafe Porta Alba had closed in October 2019[33]. Lotsa Stone Fired Pizza on State Street is sometimes counted among the pandemic losses, but it had closed in 2018[34].

Openings

  • February 18, 2020: DarkHorse by Sal's, 10 N. Livingston St.; a month later it was carryout only, and in June 2020 it became a Salvatore's Tomato Pies[35][4].
  • June 9, 2020: Salvatore's in Monona, carryout and delivery only[4].
  • October 2020: Sugar River Pizza in Sun Prairie; building it counted as essential work[3][36].
  • 2020–2021: Clyde's Pies, started by a cook who lost his restaurant job in March 2020[37].
  • July 2021: Branch + Daughter in Windsor[38].
  • February 1, 2022: Maria's Pizza in Oregon reopened after more than two years, for carryout only[39].
  • March 2022: Glass Nickel Pizza's new building in Sun Prairie; the owner had put it off because of COVID-19[40].
  • August 22, 2022: North Shore Pizza and Subs, in the former Rossi's[41].
  • Announced: Mio Fratello, from the It’s Good for You pizza stand, in 2021[42]; and Mafia for Pizza, next to Kosharie on Regent Street, planned for January 2021 and still waiting for staff in April 2022[18][43].

Trivia

  • Delivery drivers were exempt from the "safer at home" order. Tips per order went up, but total tips went down[10].
  • Ian's Pizza had fed protesters before: in 2011 it delivered up to 1,200 pizzas a day to the Act 10 protests at the Capitol[44]. In 2020 it gave pizza to the racial-justice protesters[45].
  • With no 2020 football season, Rocky Rococo on Regent Street lost the home-game tailgates that drew 4,000 to 5,000 people[46].

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Christians, L. (2020, March 17). "UPDATED: Some restaurants close, others shift to low-contact take-out in wake of COVID-19." madison.com.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kalk Derby, S. (2020, March 19). "How customers can help Madison's restaurant scene survive amid COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic." madison.com.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kalk Derby, S. (2020, March 24). "State order designed to help restaurants deliver during COVID-19 pandemic." madison.com.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Christians, L. (2020, June 21). "Coming at you like a . . . Salvatore's: DarkHorse restaurant changes name." madison.com.
  5. ↑ Christians, L. (2020, June 20). "Sanitizing on the hour, restaurants adapt to pandemic dining." madison.com.
  6. ↑ (2020, June 3). Restaurants and the city's temporary outdoor-seating program. The Capital Times. p. O23. Newspapers.com image 666891763.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Christians, L. (2020, November 7). "Cold comfort: With winter on its way, Madison restaurants scramble to stay alive." madison.com.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Schmidt, M. (2021, July 31). "Only 1 in 3 Wisconsin restaurant applicants got COVID relief grant, leaving room for worry." madison.com.
  9. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2022, January 5). "Lucille to become first Madison restaurant requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination." madison.com.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Rickert, C. (2020, March 28). "Quintessential American delivery: Pizzerias adjust, hope to ride out COVID-19 pandemic." madison.com.
  11. ↑ Christians, L. (2020, December 31). "Patios, protests, takeout and resilience: 7 stories from a memorable year in food." madison.com.
  12. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2022, February 8). "Solving third-party delivery problems with sights set on Uber Eats, Grubhub and DoorDash." madison.com.
  13. ↑ Christians, L. (2020, April 6). "Stay home, send pizza: Efforts to 'feed the frontlines' of coronavirus fight gain traction." madison.com.
  14. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2021, May 27). "Outdoor dining is here; beleaguered bar and restaurant operators say it helped them through." madison.com.
  15. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2021, May 6). "Online brands help the bottom line for some Madison-area restaurants." madison.com.
  16. ↑ (2022, May 11). "The rise of ghost kitchens." The Capital Times. p. O24. Newspapers.com image 840896501.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Kalk Derby, S. (2021, August 20). "Dark Horse rides again: New gallery and music space taking shape in former Star Bar." madison.com.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Kalk Derby, S. (2020, December 3). "Curbside review: 2 people, 2 top dishes of the year at Salvatore's on Livingston." madison.com.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Kalk Derby, S. (2022, May 21). "Roman Candle on Williamson Street closing, 'It's just a really untenable situation'." madison.com.
  20. ↑ Christians, L. (2021, September 29). "Out of service: What will it take to bring back Madison's restaurant workers?" madison.com.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Kalk Derby, S. (2022, July 7). "Rossi's Pizza, a local institution known for its arcade and 30-inch pies, closes in Monona." madison.com.
  22. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2021, April 2). "Curbside review: Greenbush Bar will win you with Sicilian salad, antipasto, pizza." madison.com.
  23. ↑ Adams, B. (2020, June 21). "A changed landscape, worry and hope on State Street in wake of protests, amid COVID-19 pandemic." madison.com.
  24. ↑ Christians, L. (2020, October 22). "'This is going to be a long haul': Local taverns close for the winter." madison.com.
  25. ↑ Christians, L. (2021, August 30). "Salvatore's Tomato Pies swims through the pandemic, picking up speed." madison.com.
  26. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2024, June 25). "Ale Asylum co-founder opening Detroit-style pizza place on Madison's Near East Side." madison.com.
  27. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2021, March 2). "'Community over competition': One pizzeria helps another after Sun Prairie crash." madison.com.
  28. ↑ (2022, December 7). Mirch Masala review: the former Pizza di Roma on Grand Canyon Drive. The Capital Times. p. O37. Newspapers.com image 902934910.
  29. ↑ Mosiman, D. (2022, June 16). "Fight to reopen compromised Paisan's restaurant building seems over." madison.com.
  30. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2022, May 31). "Monk's Bar & Grill in Verona closes, 'the employees just basically left us'." madison.com.
  31. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2023, January 24). "Old-school, red-sauce spaghetti house coming to Regent Street." madison.com.
  32. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2019, December 9). "Roman Candle closing 2 of its 4 local restaurants." madison.com.
  33. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2020, January 9). "New Novanta restaurant is quick, dependable and spirited." madison.com.
  34. ↑ Adams, B. (2020, August 23). "Fund launched to aid State Street businesses but challenges persist." madison.com.
  35. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2020, February 18). "DarkHorse by Sal's opens Tuesday with glam, rock n' roll look." madison.com.
  36. ↑ Haase, N. (2024, April 3). "Hot chicken and cold beer: Stone Porch Alehouse in Verona invites celebration." The Capital Times. p. O38. Newspapers.com image 1056657020.
  37. ↑ Thompson, H. (2021, December 1). "At Clyde's Pies, a bread baker turns pizza maker." The Capital Times. p. O30. Newspapers.com image 783773172.
  38. ↑ Davis, V. (2021, August 15). "In Windsor, new Branch + Daughter bridges farm to table with pizza." madison.com.
  39. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2022, February 3). "Maria’s Pizza in Oregon makes triumphant return." madison.com.
  40. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2021, November 1). "Post explosion: New Glass Nickel Pizza taking shape in Sun Prairie will be more 'bougie'." madison.com.
  41. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2022, November 4). "Restaurant review: North Shore Pizza and Subs a welcome addition to Monona Drive." madison.com.
  42. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2021, July 17). "Friends who met in a Madison sushi restaurant plan to open a pizzeria." madison.com.
  43. ↑ (2022, April 20). Kosharie review, with the owner's plan for Mafia for Pizza. The Capital Times. p. O34. Newspapers.com image 835047676.
  44. ↑ Vetterkind, R. (2021, February 7). "Act 10 helped put Ian's Pizza on the map." madison.com.
  45. ↑ Christians, L. (2020, June 12). "Restaurants say #blacklivesmatter with posts, pizza." madison.com.
  46. ↑ Wroge, L. (2020, August 11). "Reported Big Ten football cancellation deals economic blow to Badger-reliant businesses." madison.com.
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