Zionsville Pizzeria Has Served Up Authentic Pies For More Than a Decade

Writer  /  Jon Shoulders
Photographer  /  Ryan Woodall

When Tom Hill heard that Zionsville Pizza Delivery was up for sale 11 years ago, his interest was immediately piqued.

Hill himself had never been too much of a pizza fan, but his daughter Leighann Kogan and her husband Brad brought him some slices from the establishment, and he admitted it wasn’t half bad.

So as the opportunity came in 2007 to buy the pizzeria when its previous owner Warren Smith passed away after more than 20-plus years in business, Hill and his wife Sherry took the plunge. As co-owners they brought Kogan on as manager and eventually expanded the pizza-only menu to include salads, pasta, oven-baked subs and wraps and a beer and wine selection that now includes local brews from Upland, 3 Floyds, Sun King and others.

“My husband had read in the paper that Warren had passed away and the business was for sale, and we were all joking around that we could buy it and run it as a family,” Kogan recalls. “A few weeks later we were all sitting around and my dad said, ‘Well, I bought that pizzeria.’ So here we are.”

Under a new moniker and armed with a diversified menu, Zionsville Pizzeria has steadily grown its customer base for the past 11 years on South Main Street, and Kogan credits her family’s focus on quality and freshness for their success so far.

“We’re not a five-minute pizza place,” she says. “It’s all cooked to order from scratch, so there’s nothing sitting out on a rack. Everything’s fresh and no vegetable comes out of a can. Good pizza takes a little time, but the customers tend to realize and appreciate that.”

The Hills and Kogan make all of their own sauces, oils and dough in-house and cook up their sausage and meatballs fresh daily.

“We still have regulars from when Warren Smith had the business — we have great, loyal customers,” says Kogan, adding that she’s a sixth-generation Zionsvillian on her mother’s side and that Tom grew up here as well. “We try to keep those people happy, and we kept some of the previous owner’s recipes like his sausage and sauces. He didn’t do his own dough, so that’s something that we started doing.”

Zionsville Pizzeria also offers appetizers like wings, toasted ravioli and baked goat cheese and gluten-free pizza options are available.

Kogan says her menu’s Recommended Pizzas tend to be faves among local patrons, including the Deluxe, which comes loaded with sweet Chicago sausage, pepperoni, black olives, roma tomatoes, banana peppers and onions, as well as the White Pizza, complete with mozzarella, spinach, fresh basil, roasted garlic, tomatoes and no sauce. Lunch and dinner buffet specials are regularly offered.

“We also have these really good sweet and spicy peppers, and we do a Sweet and Spicy pizza with barbecue, pepperoni, sausage and the peppers,” Kogan adds. “Everybody seems to like those.”

The family strives to stay connected to its native Zionsville beyond offering a brick-and-mortar restaurant and delivery for a product they believe in. Zionsville Pizzeria has participated in the Taste of Zionsville, the Zionsville Fire Department’s annual Memorial Golf Outing and the annual Tri Kappa Santa Breakfast, which benefits local not-for-profit organizations and schools through grants and scholarships.

“We try and do as much as we can,” Kogan says of the business’s community-oriented endeavors and philanthropic efforts. “Any time someone comes in and needs a fundraiser gift certificate I’m always happy to do something like that and help out. For the past couple of years when the town does the Creekfest we’ve donated pizza to the volunteers who help pick up the creek and beautify the town.”

When asked what she thinks makes her pizza stand out from the competition, Kogan’s reply is simple.

“I eat it every day,” she says with a chuckle. “It’s just good pizza. There’s no better proof that what your doing is good than when you love it yourself.”

Zionsville Pizzeria is located at 255 South Main Street in Zionsville. For additional info including a full menu listing, call 317-873-2878 or visit zionsvillepizzeria.com.

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