Pizza lovers were saddened to learn last year that Mozzeria, the famed deaf-owned pizzeria on 16th street, was forced to shutter its doors permanently. Mozzeria continued to operate as a food truck in the area, but until now there’s been no indication of what would happen to the building.
Thankfully, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Firepie, the popular San Francisco-based pizza food truck and delivery service, will be opening a full-time brick-and-mortar restaurant on the former site of Mozzeria at 3228 16th Street, in the heart of Mission Dolores.
Firepie was founded by CEO Rick Richman back in 2015 in order to fix what Rick considered to be a “broken delivery process.” A pizza connoisseur himself, Rick discovered that ordering pizza in his neighborhood was often a long and laborious process that could take over an hour and leave his pizza cold, soggy, and uninspiring. Rick sought out to simplify the process to prove to San Francisco that there’s no reason to have to choose between quality pizza and convenience.
Featuring an efficient, pared-down menu that only offers three classic pizzas (and only one size), Firepie streamlines the delivery process to ensure that customers always receive a fresh, hot pizza that is cooked on-demand and never reheated. Every Firepie pizza takes 90 seconds to cook in their 900º oak-burning oven and can then be delivered to any Mission District resident within 15 minutes. By cutting the average delivery time by nearly 70%, Firepie is changing the way the Bay Area does pizza.
Firepie also prioritizes the hiring of underprivileged young people and pays them an above-average wage in order to help train the next generation of restaurant leadership. Fostering community is very important to Rick, and his new brick-and-mortar restaurant is the perfect opportunity to help him actualize that vision.
While the pizzeria has been operating quietly the past few months with a soft launch, the team at Firepie is hoping to launch an official Grand Opening by the time September rolls around. While they put on the finishing touches, consider placing an order on their website to see what Firepie has in store for the future.
