Harvest Pizzeria is expanding further into Central Ohio, and with two locations opening in the next three months, the German Village-born restaurant will soon have six stores in the state. Bexley is the next destination for Harvest, opening in May, followed by a Grandview debut in early June.
In Bexley, Harvest will take over the former Zoe Cafe, which sits at 2376 E. Main St. Zoe served its last meal on Sunday. It opened its doors three years ago under Tasi Rigsby, who also runs Tasi Cafe in the Short North. Rigsby was not available for comment.
Grow Restaurants, the Columbus-based restaurant group that owns Harvest Pizzeria, Cosecha, Curio, and The Sycamore, have been looking at Bexley for several years, says co-founder and CEO Chris Crader. The timing and the location is now right to enter the neighborhood.
“Bexley was on our radar from a neighborhood standpoint for a couple of years, but we wanted the location to be right, so we weren’t in a hurry to do it,” Crader says.
Purchasing an operating restaurant means minimal labor for Crader to transform the 2,700 square foot space into a Harvest Pizzeria. He said with the exception of some equipment and furniture, it’s remaining largely the same.
Sticking to the core pizza and salad program available at every other Harvest, Crader said they’d also be branching out into brunch at their Bexley location, sticking to the tradition started by Zoe. They may also experiment with other new menu items.
“We’ll open with a menu, and then we want to be flexible enough to where, if there’s something people are really craving in that area, we can try and make them happy,” Crader says.
Harvest will open in Grandview as well, in the former Old Bag of Nails space. That location is set for an early June opening. Crader said the opening of these two Harvest Pizzerias does reflect a mission to further grow the Harvest brand, though no specifics were provided on other neighborhoods of interest.
“I don’t think every street corner needs one,” he said. “I think what we want are neighborhoods that respect our attention to detail, the fact that we’re working with local farmers. We’re not the cheapest product in the market, because we source the best food we can. So, communities that are aligned with those values, yeah, that’s definitely on our radar.”
For more information, visit harvestpizzeria.com.
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