Elemental Pizza is exiting downtown Tacoma. Here’s what’s happening.

In 2015, Elemental Wood Fired Pizza opened in downtown Tacoma and was among the first of several Seattle restaurants to eye Pierce County for expansion.

Almost three years later, the wood-fired pizza restaurant is exiting.

Or, rather, handing over the keys to its two-story pizza restaurant at 1702 Pacific Ave.

Another Seattle-based operator will take over the space, and it likely will be a pizza brand familiar with locals —Zeeks Pizza, an outfit known for its craft beer and delivery of pizza, beer and wine.

The transition will happen in August although an exact time line is still under consideration.

“We don’t have plans for anything else right now” in Tacoma, said co-owner Steve Rosen, who operates the company’s Seattle locations with business partner James Allard.

The reason behind Elemental Pizza exiting Tacoma is complicated and requires a historical look at the restaurant market, circa 2014. There was the problem with how Elemental introduced itself to Tacoma — it didn’t, said Rosen.

“I think we took for granted that people would discover us organically. We didn’t do an awareness campaign. I think that was a problem,” he said.

Second, the company’s business plan shifted between 2014 and now. Delivery was not something Elemental Pizza had done at its Seattle restaurants beyond same-building delivery at its Columbia Center location. Four years ago, when the company was planning its Tacoma location, the business partners noticed limited delivery options in the greater Tacoma area outside a handful of outfits and the usual chain pizza restaurants.

“The more we got to know the Tacoma market, the more we started feeling that delivery could be a very big component of any restaurant’s revenue stream,” said Rosen.

There was a catch, though, with their wood-fired oven, a more laborious pizza-making process and their dough recipe.

“Wood-fired pizza is meant to be eaten right away,” said Rosen. “The reason for that is that wood-fired pizza crust is so heavily hydrated.”

Too long in the box translates into a soggy crust. Rosen and Allard realized that having a decent-sized delivery zone combined with increasing traffic in the area would mean they’d have to come up with a new dough.

“We couldn’t get comfortable with creating a whole new dough designed for delivery and a different dough made for in-store,” said Rosen.

Then along came the Pierce County invasion of UberEats, DoorDash and Grubhub that gobbled up a big slice of delivery business. It was enough to abandon delivery because, as most restaurateurs know, third-party delivery apps are as big a disruptor to restaurants as ride-sharing services have been to taxi companies or, as Rosen noted, how Expedia pummeled the travel industry.

They made the decision to consider exiting.

Offering the space to another operator became more attractive after Rosen and Allard started talking to representatives from Zeeks and determined the company could do what it couldn’t. Zeeks and its franchisees operate brick-and-mortar locations with a focus on pizza and craft beer but also delivery that includes a mobile ordering app and beer and wine delivery.

After hearing that Zeeks was interested in hiring the entire Elemental Pizza staff, Rosen said it seemed a good business decision for both companies.

“They (Zeeks representatives) spent most of their time talking about how integrated they want to get into the community, and they also were really interested in maintaining continuity with the employees. That was the thing for me that was the most exciting. I can sit in front of employees and say, ‘Their plan is to only be shut down for one week. They want to train all of you …. and you won’t be out of work for 90 days during a build-out,’” said Rosen.

Indeed, the plan is for Zeeks to take a week or less to transition the restaurant with a goal of that happening in August. The plan is to make minimal changes to the interior other than swapping out the cooking equipment. The plan is to replace Elemental’s wood-fired oven with a traditional deck oven, said franchisee Michael Goronkin.

Elemental Wood Fired Pizza

Where: 1702 Pacific Ave., Tacoma

Info: 253-272-4000 or elementalpizza.com/tacoma

This story was originally published July 20, 2018 at 12:00 PM.