After much anticipation surrounding Yelm’s newest pizza joint, Farrelli’s Pizza has tentatively set Monday, Oct. 17 as the restaurant’s grand opening date.
Clayton Kreuger, the director of marketing and communications for Farrelli’s, attended and graduated from Yelm High School. Kreuger said he’s happy to serve the community he once called home and is excited to bring the community-based restaurant to Yelm.
“There’s a lot of moving parts right now, but our hope is that we wrap everything up this week and move to training next week,” Kreuger said. “If it all goes accordingly, we’ll open up on the 17th following the training, give or take.”
Over the last several years, he said Farrelli’s Pizza became interested in a Yelm location, but they couldn’t find the right time to “pull the trigger.” He said between missing out on locations and COVID-19, Farrelli’s had a hard time finding a place in Yelm to call home.
That changed when the former location of Golden Dragon in Yelm went up for lease.
“We’ve seen Yelm as an opportunity for quite some time. We just weren’t able to find the right timing,” Kreuger said. “But when we saw the opportunity at Golden Dragon, we knew we had to jump on it.”
Kreuger said the leadership team at Farrelli’s Pizza loves the location of its new restaurant due to its close proximity to Yelm High School and new neighborhoods that are being developed. He added the leadership team also feels Yelm’s size provides a good customer base.
“We pride ourselves in being near the neighborhoods we want to nourish,” Kreuger said. “We want to serve and ingrain ourselves in the Yelm community. We want to be known as a safe place for people to gather.”
According to Farrelli’s website, its mission statement reads “we’ve established ourselves as a pillar in the community and a safe place to gather families around the table, and friends around the fire for celebrations of all kinds.”
Farrelli’s Pizza was established in 1995 in Lacey and has expanded into over 10 restaurants across the Puget Sound.
“To bring families back around the dinner table is something we feel has been lost, so we aim to bring families back around the table to start creating these memories again,” Kreuger said. “Friends around the fire speaks to our bar culture where customers can watch sporting games, have a couple of cold ones and really enjoy each other’s company.”
The menu at Farrelli’s Pizza in Yelm will remain the same as the other locations, but their interior decorations feature a unique nod to the city. Kreuger said the hallway leading to its bathroom features a drone shot of Yelm High School’s football field.
Along with the representation of the football field, Farrelli’s Pizza also has a 90-degree wall with images of the Yelm Water Tower and the “Gateway to Rainier” mural. They’ve also added an expansion to the restaurant, which nearly doubled its size, according to Kreuger. In the expanded area, they will feature a full service bar and “lots” of TVs to display different sporting events.
The new location will also be green. Kreuger noted the restaurant will incorporate solar energy into its building. Yelm’s location will be the first Farrelli’s Pizza location to use solar energy.
“We’re really excited to meet the community,” Kreuger said. “We’ve heard a lot of buzz and excitement about bringing Farrelli’s Pizza to Yelm and we’re every bit as excited as they are.”
