By Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host Published Jun 08, 2018 at 1:11 PM

After five years of operation, The Roman Candle pizzeria, 133 E. Silver Spring Dr. in Whitefish Bay, will close its doors.

The final day of service at the restaurant will be on Sunday, June 24.

"The decision to close our Whitefish Bay Location wasn’t easy, but it’s the right move for our family and our Madison-based pizzeria company," noted Brewer Stouffer, owner and founder of The Roman Candle in a release. "... Cooper Ledvina, our General Manager, his entire Whitefish Bay team and I have really appreciated all of you, our customers. You are our friends and neighbors and we will miss you all."

The restaurant shared the news with its Facebook audience this afternoon.

"Dear Facebook friends –

After much thought and deliberation, we are closing our Whitefish Bay location. It was not an easy decision. We enjoyed a great five-year run, and appreciated being part of this vibrant community. We hosted so many soccer, softball, and theater Community Days, and we were proud to be a part of so many anniversaries, birthdays, and afternoon hangouts.

We are proud of the work we've done in Whitefish Bay, but we just couldn't quite keep it going, given the current cost of operations. The distance from our home base in Madison increasingly became an issue, and we had trouble supporting GM Cooper Ledvina and store operations from 85 miles away. Our five-year lease is up at the end of the month, and we felt this was a good time to say goodbye. We want to thank the Whitefish Bay Village, BID Board, Civic Foundation, Atid and Moshe Katz, Dakota Properties and Gwen Benner, and so many others for your help in bringing us to the Bay in 2013 and supporting us thereafter.

We especially want to thank Cooper for his leadership and dedication, and our hard working staff for all the care and pride they put into every single hand-crafted pizza we made over the past five years.

Our Madison stores are not impacted by this closure. All Madison area locations remain open and ready to serve you when you next visit our state capital.

Please come in and visit our Whitefish Bay location to enjoy one last gourmet pizza or craft cocktail before our last day on June 24th – and we hope you’ll come to see us in Madison, too!"

Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host

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 each and every dish. She’s had the privilege of chronicling these tales via numerous media, including OnMilwaukee and in her book “Milwaukee Food.” Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. 

When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or recording the FoodCrush podcast, 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.