Despite rumors of Dickinson's latest pizza joint not opening, plans are moving ahead for The Evil Olive Pizzeria and coincidentally, the franchise Pizza Ranch will open soon thereafter.
"It got put off another month because we're still waiting for some stuff," said Brian Zastoupil, the Evil Olive's co-owner. "It's probably going to be around the end of next month now."
Zastoupil, along with Dickinson-native Jason Polanchek, are opening the pizzeria and bar in the former Queen City Club building in east Dickinson.
On the opposite side of town, a Pizza Ranch franchise restaurant is slated to be constructed behind Kinderkidz Learning Center, directly south of the Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Jason Fridrich, one of four owners of the Pizza Ranch, said they plan to break ground in late October.
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"They're telling us about 16 to 20 weeks after that we should be open," Fridrich said. "But that's probably a pretty optimistic schedule."
Fridrich said the opening of the Evil Olive Pizzeria is not a major concern to local Pizza Ranch owners.
"Ours is a franchise and it's a pretty solid concept, so I don't see that that would be a big deal for us," Fridrich said.
Coincidentally, Zastoupil exhibited the same confidence level in The Evil Olive's concept.
"I don't think it's really going to bother us much," Zastoupil said. "They're way different than we are. We're doing brick oven and Pizza Ranch is just another food chain."
