MOVING COSTS FOR PIZZ'A CHICAGO PALO ALTO

My name is Juan Lorenzo, owner of Pizz’a Chicago in Palo Alto. We have been a part of the community in Palo Alto for over 25 years. Many of you know that after being in our original location for more than 20 years, we moved to this location and have been here less than 4 years. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we have to move once again. Many of you have told me to find a different location and to keep going, or where will you get your pizza fix? Sometimes it seems that I am going against the current, but I am also not ready to give up, and the two biggest reasons for that are my employees and my community here. More than half of my employees have been working for me for over 20 years. There’s Miguel, Ernesto, Juan aka Harry, Teresa, Monika, Marcelino, Roberto, Patrick and the others who are just as important Juan, Andrea (my daughter), and Victoria (my niece).

They have stuck it out with me, and when I mentioned having to leave this location, they all asked, “Where are we moving to?” It never crossed their minds to close the store down and they are willing to continue going for as long as we possibly can.

This community has also been amazing to us. We have watched kids grow up right before our very eyes. Daughters and sons going off to college and some becoming parents themselves. We have made many friends and want to continue doing just that. A lot of you have stated you do not want us to move and a couple have suggested we put up this GoFundMe We are asking for help with the cost of moving. We have found a location at 3866 El Camino Real, but a few things will need to be done to the building to get it move-in ready. The City of Palo Alto requires us to have an architect draw up plans, which is expensive, and we will still need to get approval from the city. Once that is done, all the improvements will have to be made. All of this costs more than our budget allows, and is why I am here asking for help. We are closing up here in the beginning of December and hoping to have the new location ready by March at the very latest. While we get this done, we have rented out a commercial kitchen and will only offer delivery. This keeps my staff employed and paid. We know times are tough, but anything helps, even just sharing. We appreciate all of you and hope to continue serving you delicious pizza throughout this process.