CHRISTOPHER PIZZA COMPANY CLOSES ITS KITCHEN

September 17, 2008 (Nashville) – After five years of being a benchmark business on Demonbreun Street, this week Christopher Pizza Company will close its kitchen.

Announced last week on the restaurant’s blog, the news caused sympathetic well wishes and tears across the nation. Couples were engaged there. Friends reunited there. Weddings and birthdays were celebrated there. With a small and personable staff, regulars who have moved across the country would return with empty stomachs and hugs.

This is something that can’t be branded or franchised, but it is something that is vulnerable to economics and personal growth. Owner Chris Rioux explained in a recent blog entry that while the rising food costs and the forecasts of development affected his decision, it has more do with his desire to be more available for his family.

“When I started the restaurant I was young, single and close to my target demographic. Now I'm married with two kids and live pretty far away from where I work. I saw my dream of the restaurant I envisioned come into fruition and grow into something even bigger. Now I'm ready for life's next challenge. I'd like to be present at my kids' soccer games and actually ‘be present’ and not worrying about the call I'll surely get about the broken freezer, credit card machine mayhem, and well, you know what I mean.”

The pizza may be going, but the music will live for a little bit longer. Quipped by WRLT Lightning 100 as “Nashville’s destination for independent music,” Christopher Pizza Company has also garnered a reputation for welcoming local and touring music acts. Never just a venue, but an avenue for established and up-and-coming acts, the Christopher Pizza stage will continue supporting live entertainment nightly through the end of the year.

While Nashville and the Christopher Pizza fanatics across the nation say good-bye and pay their final tab on that infamous red graffiti-ridden bar top, Rioux suggests that the story isn’t over yet, “I made the decision to take a few years off and enjoy my family, with the thought that in a few years I may open up a similar concept a little closer to home.”

For more information and to view the entertainment calendar, visit www.christopherpizza.com.