Pizzeria shutters at Bay Area mall, lays off 43 staff members

Pizza Antica is down to two Bay Area locations after permanently closing its Mill Valley outpost at an outdoor mall, as first reported by the San Francisco Business Times.

Bacchus Management Group, which manages Pizza Antica in addition to other Bay Area restaurants, confirmed in an email that the restaurant closed  its doors Aug. 20 after a 17-year run at Strawberry Village. The closure impacted 43 employees, who were laid off last month.

Pizza Antica employees learned of the layoffs and closure in late July when the Bacchus Management Group filed a WARN notice, which is mandated by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to notify employees of mass layoffs. Among the affected were two managers, two chefs, 11 servers, eight bussers/runners, five bartenders, and 15 line cooks. The hospitality group also informed the team members that they would have the opportunity to apply for positions at other Bacchus Management Group-managed restaurants.

Pizza Antica closed for good due to waning foot traffic, which has been a persistent issue since the pandemic, according to the WARN notice. Moreover, Bacchus Management Group blamed recent property renovations at Strawberry Village that have “all but eliminated any and all foot traffic or visibility to the restaurant.”  

Karey Walker, director of public relations at Bacchus Management Group, told SFGATE that the restaurant group doesn’t have plans to open another Pizza Antica but didn’t rule out the possibility if the group were to find a “great location.”

Pizza Antica continues to operate two Bay Area restaurants, with one location in Lafayette and another at its flagship outpost at Santana Row in San Jose. Those restaurant locations are not expected to close anytime soon, Walker said.