Saturday, October 19, 2013

MAD Pizza to close shop


"Committed" to Madison Park no more, exits Sunday

Long a mainstay on the neighborhood quick-cuisine scene, MAD Pizza this morning announced in an email to its Madison Park fans that it will cease being a pizza-purveyor in Madison Park at 8 pm on Sunday, October 20, though the Seattle-based company said it will still deliver pizzas to the Park from its Capitol Hill location.

MAD Pizza has been under increasing competitive pressure in Madison Park since the introduction of The Independent Pizzeria in 2010 and the arrival at this time last year of Pagliacci Pizza in Madison Valley.  Although The Independent Pizzeria, with its craft-style Neapolitan pizzas, may have appealed primarily to a more up-scale audience than MAD Pizza's, Pagliacci (and, in particular, it's home-delivery option) was more directly in competition for MAD Pizza's clientele. Although MAD Pizza attempted to meet the challenge  with some new offerings, it appears that the tide could not be turned.

This, however, is simply speculation, since Mad Pizza didn't provide any explanation in its email for its decision to abandon the sit-down/take-out portion of its operation in Madison Park, and our attempts on Saturday to get a response from the company's management were unsuccessful.

After 18 years in the Park, Mad Pizza will by its many fans (including numerous nannies and their charges) be sincerely missed.

[Thanks to loyal reader Glenn Ader for alerting us to this story!]

10 comments:

  1. Mad pizza is complete garbage.

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  2. your speculation is correct. as an ex employee of the past five years (until august 2013) I witnessed their sales plunge by 50 % after Pagliacci opened. The company was struggling even before Pagliacci opened.

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  3. Good news, now we have new location for another BANK!!!

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  4. I ordered a pizza from MAD pizza and when it arrived it was the wrong order. When I called the manager to explain that we got the wrong pizza, he was rude and un-apologetic. I am glad to see them go!

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  5. It is always sad to see a local business lose steam and close. Wonder how long the storefront will sit empty. Madison Park seems to be half "for lease". The good neighbors of "the Village" seem to be out in force with their nasty comments.

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  6. (former employee)..the lease was sold , that place is a dump (needs new concrete floor among other things) so it may be awhile for them to open

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  7. but today I heard they didnt sell the lease

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  8. No matter your experience when you ordered a pizza one time, the community is worse off when an 18 year old business leaves and it represents a collective failure to some degree.

    Besides the few 50+ year old businesses in the Park, Mad Pizza was one of the longer-standing businesses down here. It leaving is not to be celebrated.

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  9. looks like current owner is trying to sell all of mad pizza http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/bfd/4256647014.html

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  10. I was management there 4 years ago, you all have no idea what a mess the finances and organization were, even back then:( Never seen such a mess in person

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