Marty’s Pizza, 16680 W. Bluemound Rd., has been serving customers with a menu of pizza and other Italian specialties since 1957.
However, after 65 years of service, the restaurant has made the decision to close its doors after service on Friday, May 20.
Like so many other restaurants in the market and beyond, Marty’s has faced a very real struggle. Despite maintaining a core of longtime employees, some of which have been with the restaurant for as many as 40 years, they’ve been unable to hire and maintain the staff needed for full operations.
“We never fully recovered from the pandemic, employee-wise,” notes Tim Blake, a ten year employee and manager. “Everyone who is working here has been working as hard as they can. And it’s just gotten to be too much. We’re running shifts with four people when we should have ten.”
In fact, Blake says, customer demand has been impossible to meet.
“The history of the restaurant and the overwhelming support we’ve received from customers is wonderful. But when you don’t have time to care for your customers, it’s an impossible situation.”
The Marty's Pizza location in Delafield will remain open.
As a passionate champion of the local dining scene, Lori has reimagined the restaurant critic's role into that of a trusted dining concierge, guiding food lovers to delightful culinary discoveries and memorable experiences.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with every dish. Lori is the author of two books: the "Wisconsin Field to Fork" cookbook and "Milwaukee Food". Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or planning for TV and radio spots, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.
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