News

New fast casual brand debuts as Pie Five conquers new territory

March 10, 2017

A new fast casual pizza brand is debuting in Iowa, while another fast casual pizza brand —  Pie Five —   is adding its first Tulsa restaurant next week.

The new player in the pizza marketplace is Smokin' Oak Wood-Fired Pizza. The brand debuts this spring in  Ames, Iowa, across the street from Iowa State University, according to a news release.

Smokin’ Oak Wood-Fired Pizza roasts its own meats and makes dough from scratch daily. The brand is modeled after one of the first wood-fired fast casual pizza restaurants in the U.S., Pi Wood-Fired Pizza in Rochester, Minnesota. But this restaurant is putting its main emphasis on ingredient freshness above all else.

"The food is so fresh, we don’t even have a freezer,"  Smokin' Oak President and COO Linda Black said in the news release. "Nothing is pre-processed and our food will never just come out of a bag. …  We make pizza, but we also do our best to make people happy."

The menu includes more than 13 specialty pizzas, as well as build-your-own options, starters, salads, wood-fired sandwiches, and craft beer.

Meanwhile, also in the nation's mid-section, Pie Five is opening its first Tulsa location on Monday on South Olympia Avenue, under the ownership of franchisees, Josh Fields and Brandon Birdwell, according to a news release. The two also own eight Firehouse Subs locations in addition to five Pie Five sites.

In celebration of the grand opening, Pie Five donated all contributions made from its pre-opening events to the Garner-Stocker Foundation, an organization that provides college scholarships to local youth.