“An accumulation of so much work and all of your support and patience, we received the official notice that we’re approved to build our dream kitchen today!” read a post on The Pizza Bandit’s Facebook page Wednesday.
Last April, The Pizza Bandit launched a Kickstarter campaign to expand to a full kitchen inside The Yellow Cab Tavern at 700 E. Fourth St. in Dayton. There will also be an independent carryout window that will let the pizzeria potentially operate outside of Yellow Cab’s standard hours, said Pizza Bandit partner Brian Johnson.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, the food truck began offering delivery and carryout options and started selling out on a regular basis.
“We currently have to limit customer orders due to oven capacity all the time, even outside of weekends,” said Johnson. “The number one benefit is to be able to produce three to four times more pizza and service that many more customers.”
The kitchen will also company to have more refrigeration and sauté station and grill, allowing more variation for The Pizza Bandit’s menu, he added.
The food truck already has most of the equipment and mechanical aspects needed, including the ovens and hoods, according to the Facebook post.
“We’re going to start testing new menu items on a weekly basis as public offerings and once we get closer to the finish line, we’ll start scheduling all of those long awaited kitchen table experiences!” the post read.
The Pizza Bandit did not announce a timeline for kitchen’s construction. The company has not decided if it will transition to strictly a brick and mortar restaurant once the kitchen is completed or if it will continue to operate the food truck.
“Of course, we would love the idea of going to off-site events but we just have to weigh the costs when we get there,” said Johnson. “We could see positives either way.”
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