Has it really only been four years since the whole concept of fast-casual pizza became a thing?
One of the early purveyors, Phoenix-based Fired Pie, is marking the anniversary Tuesday, July 18, with a deal we can sink our teeth in: $4 pizza or salad when you buy a beverage.
That's roughly half off the regular $8-ish price tag for the artisan pizzas/salads and the deal's good all day today at Fired Pie's two Tucson locations:
• Downtown at 350 E. Congress St., in front of the Cadence student housing complex.
• In midtown at 2645 E. Speedway.
Fired Pie, which opened its first pizzeria in Tempe in 2013, has 18 locations mostly in the greater Phoenix area. It entered the Tucson market with the downtown location in late 2014.
Tucson was introduced to the fast-casual pizza concept earlier that year when locally owned Pionic Pizza and California import Pizza Studio opened within days of one another in August 2014. Pizza Studio, located across from the University of Arizona, pulled out of Tucson 18 months later; Pionic, at 2643 N. Campbell Ave., is still going strong.
Other chains have since made Tucson inroads:
• Seattle's MOD Pizza, with three locations: 6351 E. Broadway in the Wilmot Plaza; 4386 N. Oracle Road at Wetmore; and 10580 N. Oracle Road in Oro Valley.
• Pasadena, California's Blaze, 5615 E. Broadway.
• California-based Pieology Pizzeria, 914 E. Speedway across from the University of Arizona.
Fired Pie is open until 9 p.m. today.
