Blaze Pizza Closes After 4 Years, Done In Oak Lawn

OAK LAWN, IL — Has the bottom fallen in the DIY pizza craze? It appears to have in Oak Lawn. The third -- and last -- fast casual, artisanal pizza joint to open in the last four years closed permanently this week. Employees arrived for work at Blaze Pizza on Tuesday, only to be informed that the restaurant was closing.

The restaurant chain released a statement about the abrupt closing of its Oak Lawn location, saying the restaurant’s closed at the end of the business day on Monday:

“Closing restaurants is never easy, but sometimes necessary for the health of a system. The Oak Lawn Blaze’s last day of business was Sept. 30. Employees were met at the restaurant and notified in person. The majority of affected employees have accepted employment at another Blaze Pizza location nearby.”

Blaze Pizza opened too much ballyhoo in July 2015 at 6250 W. 95th St. Based on an “service interactive model,” customers built their own 11-inch pies selecting from 40 toppings, which were then over-fired in 120 seconds.

The Chicago-area Blaze Pizza restaurants were being developed by Levy Family Partners, LLC under a 15-franchise agreement. The Pasadena, Calif.-based restaurant chain was said to have attracted celebrity investors, such as Maria Shriver and LeBron James.

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The closing comes on the heels of competing DIY pizza joints Pizza Studio and Pie Five, which closed after less than a year of business in Oak Lawn.

“It was a fad that I didn’t think would last,” Steve Radice said, economic director for the Village of Oak Lawn. “I had my doubts about the quality of fast food pizza compared to locals like Palermo’s, Grassano’s and Lou Malnati.”

Employees came to work on Tuesday, where brown butcher paper covered the windows. The exterior signage had already been removed. A sign on the door claimed that the restaurant had moved to another Blaze location in Berwyn’s Gateway Plaza.

“It was a shock,” a Blaze employee told Patch. “We’re cleaning everything out. It’s sad. I thought we were doing okay.”