A vacant drive-thru restaurant building on Milwaukee's northwest side could soon become home to a new Domino's.
The owners of Milwaukee-based Brew City Pizza Inc. plan to purchase the 1,309-square-foot building, located at 3500 W. Capitol Drive near Century City Business Park, to open a carryout- and- delivery-only store, according to an application recently submitted to the city's Board of Zoning Appeals.
The applicant is listed as Dough Makers LLC, which is a subsidiary of Brew City Pizza.
Brew City Pizza currently owns 35 Domino's locations, mostly in southeastern Wisconsin, but also in Madison and Rockford, Illinois. The company, co-founded in 1995 by John Theisen and Doug Baretz, sits in the top 10% of Domino’s franchisees as its 30th largest U.S. operator.
According to the BOZA application, an estimated investment of $400,000 would be needed to renovate the building, which has sat empty for the past 15 years. The business would employ a total of 30 people from the surrounding community and serve customers that live within approximately a 1-mile radius. About 30 customers a day are expected to visit the store to pick up orders via walk-in or drive-thru, and the rest of the store's business would be delivery.
As part of a written portion of the BOZA application, Theisen said offering all off-premise dining options has its advantages amid the ongoing pandemic.
"This restaurant location will help protect the public by limiting contact with customers by delivering food and letting people pick up food without coming into the building, reducing the chance of spreading (COVID-19)," he wrote. .
While Brew City Pizza has seen steady growth over the past 25 years, the company has been especially busy over this
past year.
In October 2019, the company opened a newly developed multi-tenant building at 7131 W. Capitol Drive to house its flagship city of Milwaukee store, which had previously occupied two other West Capitol Drive sites. In February, Brew City
expanded its footprint on Milwaukee's East Side with a new store on North Farwell Avenue, and later opened its 35th location, near Madison.