Ciao Down Pizza is once again closing its brick-and-mortar location at 3230 N. Dodge Blvd, this time seemingly for good.
The reason: They were just too popular.
"We are putting out the flame in our pizza oven due to being a victim of our own success," founder Paul M Reyes said in a letter posted to the pizza shop's Facebook page. "When we started the pizza studio in 2022 we could have never imagined how much support we would receive from the Tucson community."
Reyes said year one was manageable, year two something needed to change and in year three, they doubled their footprint and "it wasn't enough."
"Year over year, the number of pizzas baked continued to climb, to the point it was becoming a problem, a good problem but still a problem," he said.
Reyes said the restaurant's popularity resulted in 1-hour-plus wait times. They ditched phone orders, online orders and table-side delivery.
"All of this (was) cheapening the Ciao Down Pizza experience we had set out to provide three years ago," Reyes said.
They closed temporarily in August to overhaul their process, but it was to no avail.
"Inevitably, when we are pushing out 300 pizzas on a Friday night our quality suffers," he continued. "The staff is no longer having fun crafting the perfect pie because in the back of their mind(s) they are an hour behind on tickets, and still have 70 pizzas to make. All while upset guest are coming into the open kitchen asking why their pizza is taking so long.
"In the long run, we believe the volume of this studio will tarnish our brand."
Ciao Down's Oro Valley location and TREAT Dessert Studio will remain open, Reyes said in the post. The Ciao Down Pizza Truck will continue to cater and Ciao Down Marana is coming soon, he added.
