Westside Pizza
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Friday-Saturday.
Where: 540 W. Washington St.
Phone: 683-3100
On the web: www.westsidepizza.com
After five years of establishing themselves in Sequim at the Rock Plaza along Old Olympic Highway, Westside Pizza recently has grown and relocated to 540 W. Washington St.
With nearly 20 employees, the pizza place “outgrew” its past location, co-owner Bonnie Ogilvie said.
Ogilvie’s husband and business partner Tanner Stephens had been “eyeing the location” for a couple of years before they decided to make the move.
Although a couple of businesses have come and gone from Westside Pizza’s new location, including Arby’s and most recently Sequim’s Fresh Seafood and Smokehouse, Ogilvie and Stephens admit they’re not concerned because they’re already established.
“A large amount of our business is delivery and that won’t be affected by a different location,” Stephens said.
For ease of a smooth transition, Stephens and Ogilvie decided to not do anything special for their “grand opening” other than simply unlock the doors and invite the community into their new spot.
“We’re already so busy and we didn’t want to be too busy on our first day at a new location,” Ogilvie said.
However, the owners did mail out 10,000 announcements to inform the community of their move.
What makes Westside Pizza seemingly so popular? Stephens and Ogilvie believe their business success is because they simply make “quality pizza.” All the pizza dough and sauces are made by scratch everyday and they chose to grate their own cheeses. Not to mention, Westside Pizza will match any coupon from any other pizza place.
“When we match coupons the price is the same, the only difference is we just give them (customer) better pizza,” Ogilvie said.
Despite having been involved in the food industry, and primarily the pizza industry, for many years, Stephens admits he still enjoys the occasional slice of pepperoni pizza. Ogilvie, on the other, hand said she has done a better job of “pacing herself” and continues to eat pizza on a regular basis, though she tends to stick to her favorite kind and a well-known classic – cheese pizza.
With nearly 20 employees at the Sequim location alone, Ogilvie said the move is not only exciting, but necessary because the employees needed more room to work during peak hours.
“We hire a lot of young local people,” Ogilvie said. “For a lot of them, they use their job with us as a ‘bump up job’ and we know that and that’s cool with us.”
In addition to the greater amount of space for employees, the larger floor plan has allowed for a few TVs and a couple of arcade games for customers to enjoy, Stephens said.
Westside Pizza also offers six micro-beers on tap now and to try to satisfy all customers needs, Westside Pizza offers gluten-free options, too.
“We try to appease all of our customers’ needs,” Ogilvie said. “We even have some customers that call in a pizza order a week in advance.”
With a some fresh paint, bold lettering, some serious cleaning and light remodeling and two tired, but excited owners, Westside Pizza made its move and is now a visible landmark along Sequim’s central street – Washington Street.
Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.
