Lola Jean's kicks off future dinner service with take-and-bake pizzas

Lola Jean's owner Russell Ping has been planning to put pizza on the menu since he opened his south city cafe in the summer of 2018. He could hardly have envisioned unveiling his “Grandma-style” pizza under the current circumstances, but after months of testing recipes, Lola Jean’s will launch a weekly take-and-bake pizza night on Thursday, April 9.

As restaurants adjust to operating as takeout, curbside pickup, and delivery-only operations, pizza is proving more popular than ever. With no end in sight to the shutdown, a number of restaurants are finding frozen pizzas a boost to the bottom line. Ping’s intention has long been to gradually evolve Lola Jean’s into a neighborhood restaurant serving pizza along with full dinner service. Under the current circumstances, he decided now is as good a time as any to give customers a taste of what is to come.

“We opened Lola Jean’s as a temporary coffee shop until we had our pizza concept dialed in,” Ping said in a statement. “The community response was so overwhelming that we just kept progressing our café experience for breakfast and lunch. We have plans to roll out dinner service this summer while maintaining the coffee shop and café during the day. Our timeline may change, but we think take-and-bake pizzas will be a great introduction to the future of Lola Jean’s.”