Pizza Studio will open in Charles Village next month in the former Sandella’s and Verizon Wireless stores at 3201 St. Paul Street.
Pizza Studio, a Calabasas, Calif.-based company, serves up 11” pizzas that range in cost from $5.99 for a “starving artist” pizza to $7.99 for a “studio masterpiece” or “make-your-own” pie. Each pizza is made in front of the customer in 3 minutes.
The new Pizza Studio location will offer a variety of crusts, cheeses, and toppings to choose from, and the “make-your-own” pizzas will allow customers to order unlimited toppings without an additional price. The store will also offer vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free pizza options.
“I’ve never heard of pizza that was vegan,” freshman Grace Hao said.
Hao said that she looks forward to eating at Pizza Studio because she has many dietary restrictions, abstaining from meat, dairy and gluten products.
“It really helps that there’s a place where I can go eat that’s both vegetarian and vegan friendly and gluten free,” Hao said. “I feel the pizza’s going to be healthier there, too.”
Some students said they were excited about the new Pizza Studio location because they had heard of the restaurant’s locations in California.
“I have friends who have it [in California] and they all said it was pretty good and they like it,” freshman Karina Ikeda said.
Freshman Aaron Bickert said he was intrigued by Pizza Studio’s concept.
“They seem to have their business model down, and they’re from Baltimore,” Bickert said. “It just seems very fresh, close and convenient. It’s handcrafted pizza and good quality fresh ingredients, and personalized pizza that’s not just processed.”
As of December 2014, Pizza Studio had 26 locations across the nation with over 100 locations in development. Users of the restaurant review website Yelp gave the chain top marks for fast-casual pizza restaurants.
In addition to selling pizza, all Pizza Studio locations have a ‘starving artist wall,’ which features local artists of all ages. Customers can sell their work for at Pizza Studio locations for no additional fee, and the store does not receive commission for any pieces sold.
According to co-CEO and co-founder Ron Biskin, thousands of pieces of art have been sold off of ‘starving artist walls.’ Part of the inspiration for this wall was to help make the community involved in the store and to make each location unique.
Biskin and fellow co-CEO and co-founder Samit Varma are originally from Owings Mills, Md. and Rockville, Md., respectively. Biskin said they are excited to bring the concept back home to Maryland. Although the company started in California, Biskin said it was always their aspiration that they would be able to open up a store in Maryland.
“We started Pizza Studio in Southern California, and are thrilled to open our doors back in Baltimore, a city that has always meant so much to us,” Biskin wrote in a company statement.
Biskin has 30 years of experience in the food industry at restaurants including Wolfgang Puck and T.G.I. Fridays. He said he was inspired by other “choose-it-yourself” concept restaurants, including Chipotle and self-serve frozen yogurt establishments, and realized there was no pizza place that fit this concept.
In February, the franchise is also opening a Pizza Studio in Washington, D.C.’s DuPont Circle.
Construction will soon begin on more new retail establishments on St. Paul Street. The soon-to-be-built 3200 St. Paul complex, located across the street from Pizza Studio, will host a CVS Pharmacy and new restaurants along with student apartments.
The Freshii location at 3113 St. Paul Street closed in December. A replacement for the fast-casual, health-conscious restaurant has not yet been announced.
CORRECTION: The original version of this article stated that Ron Biskin's quote came from an email sent to The News-Letter.
