Chris Wolfgang
Audio By Carbonatix
Encountering road construction as you drive through Dallas is inevitable, as sure as the sun rises in the east and Ted Cruz will say something foolish on X (formerly Twitter). As inconvenient as this may be for some, imagine that you owned a business on a road that has been in various states of disarray for more than two years. Think of the impacts to your business, especially if that business is a restaurant that relies on people coming in the door to enjoy a meal. Zoli’s NY Pizza owner Jay Jerrier doesn’t have to imagine: The nightmare has been all too real.
As pandemic restrictions started to ease up in January 2021, the town of Addison kicked off an ambitious project to rebuild 2.2 miles of Midway Road between Spring Valley Road and Keller Springs Road. In addition to the rebuild itself, the project’s scope grew to include replacing the water, sewer and storm utilities as well as adding an adjacent recreation trail and crossings for the upcoming DART Silver Line.
Once underway, the demolition of Midway Road turned the entrance to Zoli’s Addison location (as well as neighboring businesses along Midway) into something akin to a war zone. Just getting into the restaurant’s parking lot became a challenge, which caused Zoli’s dine-in business to suffer.
“It’s been brutal,” Jerrier said, in what might be a profound understatement. “Thank God for loyal customers.”
Never shy about using social media, Jerrier’s Instagram account for Zoli’s has been a relief valve to vent frustrations during the project. Whether it was showing off a new, larger building sign in front of the dirt-covered street, begging customers to order more pizza via DoorDash or lamenting when crews cut a gas line that forced a temporary closure earlier this year, the exasperation as construction dragged on was palpable.
“These posts became sort of rallying cries that garnered pretty strong responses from our Zoli’s loyalists,” Zoli’s chief marketing officer Jeff Amador says. “We’d see a nice boost in sales for a couple of days, but we would quickly see our business return to the lower sales numbers.”
As much as Addison pledged to work with businesses to mitigate effects, there was simply no avoiding the scope and scale of the construction.
“I guess you could say the town of Addison was proactive in communication, but it was rarely good news,” Jerrier told the Observer.
We’ve done our part to support Zoli’s in Addison by encouraging an addiction to the Honey Bastard.
Chris Wolfgang
The effects on the bottom line continued to pile up, as Jerrier said he lost approximately $250,000 in sales this year over last, which were already down from the year before. His sanity (and his bank account) were at their limits.
If the night is truly darkest just before the dawn, then sunrise is close at hand. On Aug. 21, Addison announced that “substantial” paving between Spring Valley and Belt Line had been completed, and the town opened up additional lanes of travel in front of Zoli’s later that week. When we stopped in recently to get our Honey Bastard fix, the major road work appeared to be done, although two of three lanes directly in front of the restaurant were closed as crews did some additional drilling and dirt moving.
In anticipation of a return to normalcy, Zoli’s has announced a Midway Project Liberation Party for Sept 28. Throughout the day, Zoli’s will celebrate with $5 cheese pizzas, $10 pepperoni pizzas, and happy hour discounts all day. Ben & Skin from 97.1 The Freak will broadcast live that afternoon, and Zoli’s will raffle off prizes throughout the day. One lucky patron will win a free Zoli’s pizza each week for a year.
“We are hoping that this big pizza party will remind people that we are still here and that it’s finally safe to drive to our location on Midway Road again,” Amador says. “[Midway] now features an oft-desired left turn option into our parking lot. Every day is a gift.”
Zoli’s Midway Project Liberation Party is coming on September 28.
Chris Wolfgang
For Jerrier, the wrap-up of the construction in front of his restaurant can’t come soon enough. If not for his other restaurants, he’s not sure his business could have survived.
“If this were one standalone restaurant, I’m not sure we would have made it, coming out of COVID and right into disastrous construction,” Jerrier said.
For the fans who have helped support Zoli’s during the last 30 months (ourselves included), we’re grateful the crew has persevered, and we look forward to celebrating with them.
Zoli’s Midway Liberation Project Party is Sept. 28 at Zoli’s NY Pizza, 14910 Midway Road, Addison. Admission is free.
