According to recent reporting, Plaza Pizza is making plans to open its third location at the end of January. The newest storefront will be located at 90 S Main St, in Johnstown. As detailed on Plaza Pizza’s website, the Johnstown pizza shop is slated to open January 31.
As reported in a Restaurant News article, Plaza Pizza is an established brand in the Columbus area, and opened in 1971 in Newark, Ohio, and was sold to siblings Ben and Brian Claggett in 2019. Shortly thereafter, the new owners started looking into options to franchise the business, and they opened a second location in Heath in 2020.
What Now Columbus spoke with Brian Claggett, who shared that for now, the team is focusing on creating strong brand awareness with its three existing shops before moving forward with the franchise expansions. And, Claggett points to the decision to open the third storefront as an important step toward those future plans.
“We saw an opportunity when a pizza shop closed in Johnstown. This will be our third shop, so we’re working on building brand awareness around Columbus right now,” he said.
Claggett said the third store will be a similar footprint to its two existing locations, and will follow the same delivery and carryout business model as its Newark and Heath stores. Plaza Pizza’s menu features thin crust pizzas, cookies and the Shirley Lou dessert pizza, which features house made apple pie filling, streusel topping and icing.
During its January 31 grand opening celebration, the Johnstown location will offer the first 50 guests a free T-shirt, and receive a free mini Shirley Lou, a smaller version of the establishment’s dessert offering, with all purchases.