Wood-fired pizza restaurant to open in East Pierce County. ‘The space is huge!’

Cascadia Pizza Co., a wood-fired pizza brand with roots in nearby Enumclaw, is opening a new restaurant in Bonney Lake.

The fast-casual restaurant will move into an empty shell at 22503 97th St. E., just east of the roundabout on State Route 410, in a plaza that includes pickleball courts, a food bank hub and a quilt shop. The team is hopeful for a late summer or early fall opening, confirmed marketing director Emily Bourne.

Cascadia Pizza first shared news of its ninth location and fifth in the region on Instagram last month.

“This new location is extra close to our hearts because it is being opened by [Jacob Andrew], our first employee to become a franchise partner,” the company wrote. “He started with us when he was just 16 years old, learning the ropes, working hard, and growing with us from the very beginning.”

Thomas Reinhard, chief financial officer and co-owner of Cascadia Pizza Co. with founder Christian Buck and CEO Calvin Freatman, told The News Tribune in a phone call this week that they are “really excited for Jacob.” He fondly recalled Andrew’s interview, to work part-time at their new-in-2021 Maple Valley restaurant, and his immediate passion for the business that led to conversations of leading a location of his own some day.

In his own Instagram post, Andrew earnestly revealed the restaurant-in-progress, with the foundation of walls now up. “The space is huge!” he says in the video. It will seat about 90 people, confirmed Reinhard, and will employ about 20 people.

Beyond the sizable dining room, the “open-air kitchen” will boast a visible pizza line and, of course, wood-fired oven. All dough will be prepared on site, and a private party room should hold almost two dozen guests. Takeout and third-party delivery will also be integral to the business, said Andrew.

The focused menu will mirror the other locations, starring most prominently the wood-fired, Neapolitan-inspired pies ($12-$29.50), available in 10-inch personal and 14-inch standard rounds. Styles range from classic margherita or pepperoni to updated versions, respectively, like the Cascadia Margherita which adds fresh tomato, herbs and balsamic and The Nona with Mike’s Hot Honey and ricotta. White pies use a garlic-sauce base, and a few pies bear names representing the brand’s South Sound roots. The Buckley, for instance, combines pepperoni and sausage with Mama Lil’s peppers, fresh mozz and goat cheese, while the Wenatchee, a white pie, has bacon, slices of apple and gorgonzola.

Other wood-fired bites include “dough bros” (garlic bites), wings, breadsticks and dessert pies fashioned after a s’more or apple pie. Salads ($10-$15) include a Caesar and a “Northwestern” with bacon, pear, goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.

A bar will serve local beer on tap as well as wine and various NA beverages.

History of Cascadia Pizza Co.

Christian Buck started Cascadia Pizza after stumbling into a food trailer equipped with a wood-fired dome oven in 2015. He spent a couple of intensive days with Will Grant, owner of Sourdough Willy’s in Kingston and a master pizzaiolo whose pies earned top marks at the Caputo Cup, a serious pizza-making competition. For a few years, Buck focused on catering and private events while also parking regularly next to Fill’s Growlers, a taproom in downtown Enumclaw.

Buck catered his own wedding, where an old friend of his wife, Thomas Reinhard, tasted the pizza. Disillusioned by law school, Reinhard thought it was far and beyond the best he had ever had and wondered: “How do you make money from something like this?!” Soon after, he and another friend from the area, Calvin Freatman, teamed up with Buck to take the business to the next level.

As Fill’s moved into a Craftsman house next door, Cascadia Pizza Co. took over the original taproom and converted it into their first brick-and-mortar pizza shop. It’s takeout only, which has served them well since 2019. (My first Cascadia Pizza experience was ordering a couple of pies from the window and enjoying them with a fresh brew on the porch at Fill’s after a day on the trails at Mt. Rainier National Park.)

“We’ve really just been growing ever since,” said Reinhard.

In 2021, they opened a second brick-and-mortar along the Cedar River Trail in Maple Valley, this time also serving beer and wine with seating on a covered porch. In 2023, they expanded to a much bigger restaurant and brewery concept in Bellevue and now employ more than 100 people. That same year, they started franchising.

Since then, franchised locations have opened in Coeur d’Alene and Rathdrum, Idaho; Salem, Oregon; and Tempe, Arizona. Two stores are also expected to open in the coming months in Dallas, Texas.

The trio pursued the franchise model to have local owners “who have a good pulse of what’s happening the community, what groups need support,” said Reinhard. Franchise partners also incorporate a food truck into their business model, according to PMQ Pizza, an industry magazine.

Bonney Lake will be Cascadia’s only franchised location in Washington state and its first in Pierce County — but probably not the last.

“We love the whole South Sound plateau area,” said Reinhard. “We’d love to start expanding south.”

They’ve received “a lot of requests to bring our pizza out that way,” he added, as the rapidly growing community in East Pierce is “really craving a community-centric, family-friendly restaurant space.”

Much of the pizza scene in Bonney Lake relies on big chains and takeout, although regional brands including Robin Hood and Frankie’s have locations in town. George’s Bonney Lake Tavern also serves pizzas. In Cascadia’s stomping grounds of Enumclaw, Pierce County-based Farrelli’s Pizza will soon debut a full-service restaurant in the former Claw event space, while other local pizza chains including Puget Sound Pizza and Fat Zach’s Pizza are also expanding to new cities in the region.

Cascadia Pizza Co. - Bonney Lake

• 22503 97th St. E., Suite D, Bonney Lake, cascadiapizzaco.com
• Details: new location for local wood-fired pizza chain — family-friendly with beer/wine, plus private event space; target opening late summer 2026
• Follow instagram.com/cascadiapizzaco for updates