Last Lexington location of chain that’s ‘definition of pizza’ closes. Owner tells why.
The last location of LaRosa’s Pizzeria has closed in Lexington. The Southland Drive LaRosa’s, which was carry-out only, closed Sunday night, according to Gary Holland, franchise owner.
“Our sales expectations, given the community enthusiasm for LaRosa’s presence in Southland, unfortunately were consistently not met. So, we made the difficult decision to close the pizzeria,” Holland said in a statement. “We truly appreciate the support and enthusiasm from our fans in the Lexington area over the last four years, and hope that they will visit us at LaRosa’s in Dry Ridge, Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati.”
All Southland team members have been offered positions at other area restaurants operated by the LaRosa’s Southland franchise owner.
LaRosa’s also is served at Kroger Field concession stands, and Holland said that they plan to continue to do that for at least one more year.
In July, the location on Richmond Road closed; it will be reopening as a Dunkin’ in 2024. Locations in Brannon Crossing and in Richmond also closed and were converted to other One Holland restaurants, which include First Watch, Skyline Chili and Dunkin’. Holland also owns Merrick Inn.
The Brannon location became a First Watch, and the Richmond location became a Skyline Chili. Both are doing well now, Holland said.
The restaurant group also plans to open another new Dunkin’ location with a drive-thru off Nicholasville Road in front of the Kroger grocery store in Regency Center in 2024.
Why LaRosa’s closed in Lexington
Holland said that the popular Cincinnati-based pizza chain did well here, just not well enough.
“You go up to Northern Kentucky and it’s the definition of pizza,” Holland said. “People wouldn’t think of eating anywhere else.”
He had high hopes with they opened their first LaRosa’s on Richmond Road in May 2019; the Southland Drive location opened at the end of that year in the former Hunan Chinese restaurant spot, just off Nicholasville Road.
“At end of the day, if you compare LaRosa’s to most pizzerias in Lexington it was doing well but it wasn’t enough to meet our financial expectations. We have 50 restaurants, and that just didn’t meet projections,” Holland said in an interview.
He said that they own the two-story property, which has a drive-thru, and plan to offer the building for lease.
“Pizza is a very, very tough business,” Holland said. “You cannot sell your main dish without someone wanting a discount. That’s not just Lexington, that’s everywhere. In the consumer’s mind it’s ‘what’s my discount’ … we thought we could differentiate ourselves but at the end of the day it perceived as just a nice pizzeria rather than something more special than that.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2023 at 11:56 AM.
