House of Pizza closes downtown St. Cloud location; Pacific Wok temporarily closes in Sartell

The downtown House of Pizza has closed its doors due to staffing issues, and the Pacific Wok in Sartell has closed temporarily for the same reason.

Brandon Testa, who owns both businesses, said he lost some employees at House of Pizza's downtown location at 19 Fifth Ave. S and was having trouble hiring. House of Pizza has two other locations: one on Second Street in St. Cloud and another in Sartell.

Testa said the business was using the downtown location as its delivery hub for St. Cloud during the pandemic. (Sartell's location, at 1733 Pine Cone Rd. S, continued to operate its normal delivery area.) But moving into the holidays last winter, Testa said, he chose to transition deliveries to their west location at 4040 Second St. S and move the downtown drivers and cooks there, too. At the time, he thought it would be a temporary closure of the downtown space.

"That 'hope for the best' never really came, and it made sense for us to ... continue to operate out of our west location, as we do today," Testa said.

He said the community has been great to House of Pizza, and its customers have been very supportive of the business.

It's more efficient from a delivery standpoint, but it was a tough choice, he said. He knows many customers feel a sense of nostalgia for the downtown location.

"A lot of people had an emotional connection to it ― as did I," Testa said.

It's where his father started the business in 1964. Testa purchased House of Pizza from his father in 2000, and the downtown location was his first restaurant. But Testa said closing the downtown location was the best decision for the future of the company, as the team will focus on the remaining two locations and growing the business.

He has not listed the building for sale, and said he is not considering this a final decision. However, Testa also said many things would have to change for the downtown location to reopen.

"At this point, I don't foresee a change happening anytime soon, so I need to focus on new growth and new developments ... rather than spreading ourselves so thin," Testa said.

Sartell's Pacific Wok temporarily closed

Testa also owns Pacific Wok, which is temporarily closed due to staffing reasons. Testa said he's seen the COVID-19 pandemic hit the hospitality industry labor market particularly hard, and that many workers decided to change industries.

Pacific Wok in Sartell, at 1733 Pine Cone Rd. S, would normally have around 15 employees, but before closing, he lost some long-time managers and Pacific Wok had six or seven workers, Testa said. The temporary closure began at the start of July. Testa is hoping to reopen the business.

"We limped by for a bit, and we just don't have the staff to be able to run it," Testa said.

He said all Pacific Wok employees were offered jobs at House of Pizza. He emphasized that the temporary closure wasn't due to financial concerns or a lack of community support for Pacific Wok.

"In the just shy of 20 years that I've been open, we've been busier than ever in the last six to eight months," Testa said.