Mesa employee Molly Guacka shows off the best-selling Mac N’ Cheese pizza. Photo by Morgan Wolfe of Murphy News Service
By Morgan Wolfe/Murphy News Service
This winter in Minnesota is cold, but the pizzeria competition is heating up around the University of Minnesota campus.
And U students now have almost as many options of places to choose from than the amount of toppings to add to a pizza.
Commonly known delivery companies such as Dominos, Toppers and Pizza Hut are among the options, but U senior finance major, Sam Sloan said those more corporate restaurants “do not compare” to three pizza restaurants competing near campus.
“Mesa, Punch and Pizza Studio all are unique and different. That’s what draws students in, and why we keep going back,” Sloan said.
The pizza sector of the food industry is very competitive, but representatives of Punch Pizza, Mesa Pizza by the Slice and Pizza Studio contend that they only focus on their business and their goals.
In carving out their niche within the competitive pizza landscape, Mesa, Punch and Pizza Studio have all developed unique products and services aimed at the experience that they want their costumers to have. They’ve revolutionized the way the University students consume pizza.
(Dinkytown: 1323 4th St. SE, 612 436 3006)
(Stadium Village: 921 Washington Ave SE, 612 355-4400)
Mesa pizza is the oldest pizzeria of the three, opening in Dinkytown in 2006.
Mesa took traditional meals and transformed them into pizza recipes. Mesa’s most popular pizza is the Macaroni and Cheese, Mesa employee Alex Stillman said.
“Bar close shifts are like organized chaos,” employee Alissa Clark said.
Anyone walking through Dinkytown late at night from Thursday through Saturday can see the line going out Mesa’s door.
“It takes a special type of personality to work the counter at those times,” employee Molly Guacka said.
Mesa is known for its quick service, Clark said.
Clark said Mesa still considers itself as a small business, and does not advertise.
“Developers are more of a threat to us than other pizza restaurants. They are the people that could put us out of business,” Stillman said, referring to building projects that at times dislocate pizza restaurants and other small businesses..
Recently, the owners of Mesa opened up another location five minutes away in Stadium Village.
The vibe at each location is different, though, the Dinkytown location is “super chill,” Clark said.
(Stadium Village: 802 Washington Avenue SE, 612-331-3122)
The first Punch opened in St. Paul in 1996. What sets it apart from other pizzerias is its commitment to quality, friendly service and authentic Neapolitan pizza, Punch co-owner John Puckett said.
Punch is known across the country after a shout out from President Barack Obama during his 2014 State of the Union Address. The president praised Punch for starting the trend of raising their employees’ minimum wage before most businesses in the nation.
Puckett said that Punch has had a huge positive response in customer traffic and on social media because of Obama’s remarks.
Puckett credits Punch’s success to its “culture and commitment to quality.”
It was a good year for Punch, Puckett said, pointing out that in 2014, they hired 75 new employees overall in the Twin Cities area.
(Dinkytown: 1415 4th St. SE, 612-331-3957)
Pizza Studio is the transfer student compared to Mesa and Punch, which have been established in the area for sometime now.
Pizza Studio’s concept is different than Mesa and Punch, because customers create their own pizza for one price. They have six different options for crust and 25 unlimited amounts of toppings to choose from.
Pizza Studio is based in California, and first expanded in Minnesota at the Mall of America last winter. The company saw strong sales, and decided to open up another location in Dinkytown last October.
Pizza Studio CEO Ron Biskin said the company has had success with its first store being near the University of Southern California campus, and wanted to open up more stores adjacent to universities.
“We were drawn to the size of the university. We think Dinkytown is cool,” Biskin said.
Unlike Mesa, Pizza Studio advertises and wants to increase its outreach for 2015.
Pizza Studio is located in the heart of Dinkytown, but Biskin said that they want to engage more with the U community.
One way they are doing that is by displaying artwork from local artists in the pizzeria. Pizza Studio does this to connect back to the authenticity of old Dinkytown, Biskin said.
Reporter Morgan Wolfe is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota