Lucky and blessed: King Zah's Pizzeria tries to open during coronavirus pandemic
Wade McDonald, owner of King Zah’s Pizzeria in Las Cruces, stands before the wood-fire oven on Thursday, May 14, 2020. [Photo: Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
LAS CRUCES – Talk to Wade McDonald for very long, and the words you’re likely to hear more than any others are “lucky” and “blessings.” That might come as a surprise after you hear what he’s been through.
McDonald has spent the past six months taking on one of the biggest projects of his life — opening a pizzeria during a statewide shutdown and a global pandemic. Of course, that wasn’t the plan when he started in early January.
When he moved to Las Cruces about 12 years ago, he bounced around from a few auto body and mechanic shops, “because that’s what I did — I worked on cars,” he explained. But the jobs felt like dead ends, and the work wasn’t paying very well, so he started looking for jobs in the food service industry. That’s when, in 2011, he ended up finding a job at Zeffiro New York Pizzeria, 901 E. University Avenue.
On his first day of work, he was trained by Jamie Metz. She’d later become his wife.
“She trained me on how to make pizza, and we worked together for about three years before we started dating,” he explained. “She had a boyfriend at the time, and I had a girlfriend. And we worked together for almost three years before we finally admitted to ourselves that we couldn’t live without each other.”
He would go on to manage the pizzeria. But, shortly after they started dating in 2014, Wade was fired by Zeffiro, he said. He ended up getting a job at NYP Slice House, which he would manage for four years.
Wade and Jamie McDonald show off their matching pizza tattoos while at King Zah's Pizzeria on Thursday, May 14, 2020. The two met while working at Zeffiro's New York Pizzeria on University. Wade purchased the space and plans to open King Zah's soon. [Photo: Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
Wade and Jamie ended up getting matching pizza tattoos.
"We are now a full-fledged pizza family. Jamie and I went and got matching tattoos of pizza slices. Pepperoni and green chile — we call it the New Mexican," he told me.
After leaving NYP, Wade began doing odd jobs around town. That’s when an idea was born.
“One day, I noticed that Zeffiro’s on University was for sale,” he said. He was able to quickly put the deal together to buy the whole business — equipment and everything.
"I handed them all the money I could come up with about two weeks before Las Cruces and the rest of the state shut down.”
Things were looking good, and he was ramping up for a grand opening — taking the reins of the place that had played such an important role in his life, the restaurant where he met his wife.
“All the equipment was in place, all the tables were still set, and everything was looking good,” he said. “I felt like I had achieved one of my lifetime goals, and it was one of the most epic moments of my life. And then, BAM! Global pandemic.”
For the past year and a half, Wade has made ends meet by picking up automotive work when he could. After turning his attention to opening the pizzeria six months ago, he’s had very little income, he said.
“In January, I said I’m really not taking any more side jobs. I’m really going to commit myself to this.”
Jamie works for a local credit union. So far, she has not been furloughed or laid off due to the pandemic. She has been shuffled around, between departments to meet demand, but the McDonalds still have some money coming in.
“We’re lucky to have some income right now,” he said.
Still, the whole experience has been terrifying, Wade told me.
“We don’t know if we’re going to be able to pay the bills, as we go forward,” he said. “I was lucky enough in negotiations when I bought the place to have paid ten months of rent in advance. That was a real blessing. In a lot of ways, I guess there were blessings. If the pandemic had hit two months later, I would’ve had employees. I would have had a lot of other complications that would make my life a lot harder.”
Wade said that, if he keeps the lights off and doesn’t run the equipment at the restaurant, the bills have been manageable.
“But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not making any money,” he said. “I’m not providing for my family. And I just gave away every dollar that we had.”
King Zah’s
The restaurant, when it opens, will be called King Zah’s Pizzeria. A zah — or ‘za — is a slang term for a pizza.
“When I was brainstorming a name for the business, I just started Googling various names for pizzas, slang words and synonyms,” he told me. “And that was the one I liked the best.”
King Zah's, he said, will serve a New York-style, hand-tossed pizza.
“We’re also going to do calzones and hot sandwiches,” he said. “Our extra-large will be a 20-inch pizza. As for the sandwiches, we’re going to start with meatball subs and Philly cheesesteaks, which will be served on traditional rolls with traditional ingredients.”
King Zah's Pizzeria is shown under renovation in Las Cruces on Thursday, May 14, 2020. [Photo: Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
Optimistically, he hopes to open by May 21 — which is also Wade’s 33rd birthday. That will depend on whether he can get a fire inspection, occupancy permit and business license. In what he calls a “small triumph,” he’s been granted a 30-day permit to operate as a temporary "event."
“In doing so, I can do delivery and carry-out,” he said. “The Environment Department has been really helpful in helping me find out how to do it.”
He received the license on Thursday, but still King Zah's Pizzeria is shown under renovation in Las Cruces on Thursday, May 14, 2020.has a few hurdles yet to clear before he can open for business. Because the business was not operational before the pandemic struck, it doesn’t qualify for any assistance.
“I do not — in any way, shape or form — qualify for any kind of bailout, or stimulus money or anything,” Wade told me. “I don’t have employees yet, so I can’t apply for the payroll protection program. This is just the worst possible scenario, in every possible way. There’s nothing to do, except to just keep plugging away and hope it all works out.”
When the pizzeria is finally able to open, McDonald plans to reach out to GrubHub to provide delivery services through their app.
“We’ll also have our own delivery service, so customers can call us directly,” he said. “We’re working on building an ordering app for our website, as well.”
What to expect
One of the reasons Wade was so excited to buy the business, he said, is that the demographics in the area have changed since he managed it.
“When I managed it, Bosque (restaurant and brewery) was not there,” he explained. “There was not a dinner crowd, so I relied on the high school — Las Cruces High School students coming over for lunch, giving me a rush, and then the college students, shortly after that. I knew that the lunch hour was my main source of income. Now, I believe that I can still maintain that same customer base. But — with a patio, and a beer and wine license, eventually, I think I could have a dinner crowd, too. I think I can cater to families, and people who want to go out at night. That was something I was really excited about.”
Wade McDonald walks around King Zah's Pizzeria on Thursday, May 14, 2020. The pizzeria, which has not yet opened, is in the same location as Zeffiro's New York Pizzeria on University. [Photo: Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
If he was to open today, however, that scenario would look very different.
“Now, what I’m looking at is NO high school kids. And NO college kids. And NO dinner rush. And all carry-out or delivery for the foreseeable future,” he said. Other business-owners in the University area he has spoken to have told him that they have seen a 50 percent decrease in business since the public health emergency was declared on March 11.
“I’ll have to keep my staff as minimal as possible,” Wade said. “I, myself, will be working 15 hours a day. And I’m hoping to bring on a couple of other people who want a ridiculous number of hours. From a business standpoint, if I bring in — let’s say, eight people, to all work part-time — then I need to ensure that they’ll get some hours. But I don’t know if I’ll be busy enough to need them. On the other hand, if I have two or three staff members working a lot of hours, I can at least cut them to save on labor costs. In doing so, I can provide a source of income to two or three people — instead of six or seven employees.”
If things go well, he hopes to hire three or four to start, he said.
As many business owners are learning, it’s not easy to operate under the current conditions. It’s even harder to open a business, as Wade is learning. He doesn’t yet know when he’ll sell his first pizza — but he remains positive and hopeful.
“There’s nothing to do, except to just keep plugging away and hope it all works out.”
Damien Willis is a reporter and columnist for the Las Cruces Sun-News. His biweekly column focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in Las Cruces and around the region. Have a story to share? Contact him at dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.
This story originally appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News on May 18, 2020.
