Holiday Swag Packs Bring A Smile to Everyone’s Face!

Wondering what to get the pizza lover in your life this holiday season? Look no further.

We get it. Gift buying can be hard. But it doesn’t need to be! Especially when we make it so very easy. This year, do yourself a favor and give the gift of pizza with one of our holiday swag packs.

Holiday Swag Pack: Zachary’s t-shirt (red or black, adult sizes only), Zachary’s hat, and our logo pint glass. Please note, our limited edition Pizza For All t-shirts are excluded.

$35 plus tax. Click here to purchase now!

Mini Swag Packs: Gift Card & Pint Glass. Prices vary. Click here for options or to purchase.

Just in Time for the Holidays!

The Butternut Squash Special

A fall classic and customer and crew favorite, the Butternut Squash special is back at all locations for a limited time! This special is a soul satisfying blend of butternut squash, fresh spinach, red onions, goat cheese, and mozzarella, topped with fresh chopped parsley. Basically, it’s Fall wrapped up in a pizza! Available either stuffed or thin crust.

Click HERE to place an online order for pickup or delivery.

Pizza For All T-Shirts to Support Fam1st Family Foundation

100% of Profits Donated to Fam1st

Our Pizza For All limited edition t-shirts feature the original, winning artwork of Pete Davis from our 2019 Zachary’s Art Contest. Pizza For All’s message is one we believe represents the diversity, individuality, and unity of the Bay Area. All things we value, support and believe in.

When we decided to sell a fundraiser t-shirt to support a local, black-owned community organization, we were initially unsure where to direct our efforts. There were so many organizations doing amazing outreach in our communities. Luckily, our friends at Fred Finch had the answer. They recommended Fam1st Family Foundation, believing they aligned well with Zachary’s own primary outreach around supporting local youth in the Bay Area. We agreed.

Fam1st Family Foundation is focused on under-served youth, aiming to build new generations of innovative thinkers to create solutions for the future of Oakland and the world. Originally founded in 2011, Fam1st was established to ensure that Oakland youth were provided with opportunities to expand their horizons through sports and family support services. Using sports as a metaphor for life, Fam1st emphasizes adaptability, resilience and determination. Since its inception Fam1st has done just that by educating, empowering and elevating not just the youth in Oakland, but around the world as well. For more information on Fam1st Family Foundation click here.

Please help us support this amazing organization and the work they are doing. Purchase a t-shirt for yourself or give as a gift. Either way, know that your contribution is going towards supporting a local, black-owned community organization doing essential outreach in the Bay Area.

Our Pizza For All T-shirts were printed by Oaklandish on 100% cotton tees. They come in adult unisex sizes, small to 2XL. Each shirt costs $30 plus tax with 100% of profits going directly to Fam1st.

Please click here to purchase.

We have new pizza specials available at all locations!

Oakland and Berkeley are now offering the Italian Chicken Sausage pizza. Sliced Italian chicken sausage, onions, red and green peppers, roasted garlic cloves and mozzarella cheese. Equally delicious stuffed or thin and available as both for a limited time!

Italian Chicken Sausage Pizza

San Ramon and Pleasant Hill are offering our Zachary’s Western pizza! This rootin-tootin, buckeroo is Italian sausage, crumbled bacon, onions, sweet-smoky barbecue sauce and mozzarella cheese.  Available stuffed and thin for a limited time.

Zachary’s Western Pizza

The State of California, Alameda and Contra Costa County  require face coverings to be worn by all individuals when at, within or in line for businesses. All customers and employees are required to abide by these requirements. One-way valve masks are not permissible for use under these ordinances. 

Our hearts are with our Bay Area communities, customers and crew. These are truly trying times we are navigating. As we all come together as a community, let’s not forget to check in and support each other in whatever ways we can.

The below changes take effect immediately at all locations. We will continue to update you and our crew as we receive new information from the CDC, WHO and our local governments and health agencies.

• Limited indoor dining at all locations, limited patio and indoor dining at Pleasant Hill and San Ramon.
• Slices available only at Rockridge and Solano Ave.
• Location hours can be found below and are subject to change. We appreciate and thank you for your flexibility.
• We encourage payment via credit or debit cards to minimize cash handling as much as possible.
• Our crew is practicing regular and frequent disinfecting procedures, and continues to avoid hand to hand contact between fellow crew members, and crew members and customers.
• When picking up- we ask that you please practice social distancing as much as possible with other customers, and maintain personal space and boundaries.
• For those wishing to remain home, delivery is available via our website and third party delivery partners- DoorDash, Uber Eats and Caviar.

Location Hours:

*Subject to change*

Oakland and Berkeley (Rockridge, Grand Lake, Solano Ave): 11am to 8:30pm.

Pleasant Hill : Sunday – Thursday 11-8:30pm. Friday – Saturday, 11-9pm.

San Ramon: Sunday-Thursday, 11-8pm. Friday-Saturday 11-9pm.

To order online please click here

Rockridge, Oakland: (510) 655-6385

Solano Ave, North Berkeley: (510) 525-5950

Grand Lake, Oakland: (510) 658-3226

San Ramon: (925) 244-1222

Pleasant Hill: (925) 602-7000

We thank you for your patience and understanding as we all navigate our way through this.

February was a big month for employee-owner anniversaries! We celebrated two milestones!

Employee-owner Pancho started with Zachary’s all the way back in 1990. Yes, that means Pancho is celebrating 30 YEARS with Zachary’s! ♥ Pancho is one of our foundation kitchen employees, helping train and develop our new employees at our Oakland and Berkeley locations. We were a young company (only 7 years old!), when he was hired. Pancho has been with us through many growing and transitional phases, including the opening of three new locations, and most excitingly, our transition to being an employee-owned company! Congrats on 30 years Pancho! ????

Arturo was hired in 2005 for our Oakland and Berkeley locations.  His hard work and team oriented attitude quickly established him as a standout employee. 15 years later, Arturo is still that same hard working and team oriented employee- with a great attitude and quick smile to boot! ????

Thank you to both Pancho and Arturo! We wouldn’t be the amazing, employee-owned company we are without phenomenal owners like them on our team!

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Who else is excited for the Academy Awards this Sunday?? The celebs, the outfits, the red carpet interviews! All that excitement is going to work up quite the appetite 😉 If you’re trying to take home the award for ‘Best Party Planner’, order half baked pizzas to finish off at home for an easy (and delicious) Oscar watch party! Looking to get an extra nod from the Academy? Place your orders in advance for an early pickup Sunday and avoid the crowd!

Wondering what all the fuss is about with our half bakes? Try one for yourself! Super easy and convenient, half baked pizzas are a great option if you are planning a party and want hot and fresh pizzas! When you place a half bake order with us we will partially cook your made-to-order pizzas (stuffed, thin crust and gluten free can all be half baked!). Our half baked pizzas can last 3-4 days in your refrigerator.  Hence, why we recommend picking them up on Friday or Saturday to avoid the rush on Sunday- and to remove one less task from an already busy day of party planning. When you are ready to cook your pizzas, remove them from the refrigerator and let them get to room temperature.  We recommend pulling your stuffed pizzas out about 45 minutes before you want to cook them. Preheat your over to 450 degrees. Place pizzas on a greased cookie sheet. Cook stuffed pizzas 15-20 minutes and thin crust pizzas 10-15 minutes. Voila! Freshly made pizza in the convenience of your own home! Half bakes are also great for parties since you can cook as you go and have a steady supply of fresh pizza ready for the excitement of the next winner to be announced! If that’s not deserving of an Oscar, we don’t know what is.

There is a pretty big football game happening Sunday, in case you hadn’t heard 😉  And the only thing better than a local team being in the Super Bowl, is a pizza party to root them on with! Sunday will be a busy day for us. Beat the crowds and order your half bake pizzas in advance for pick up Friday and Saturday to finish off at home on Super Bowl Sunday! If you do need to pick up on Sunday, our Rockridge, Grand Lake and North Berkeley locations will all be opening early at 10:30am. Prove yourself the real MVP by getting in early and avoiding the lines!

Since 1983, Zachary’s has been making award-winning pizza in the San Francisco Bay Area. When Zachary’s founders, Zach Zachowski and Barbara Gabel decided to retire, they handed the company over to the employees via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). In 2010, Zachary’s became 100% employee owned.

Our employee owners are the mojo behind the madness. They make each of our restaurants unique, fun, and delicious.  You may recognize our latest spotlight as one of our Oaklandish t-shirt models, but usually Edwin Jimenez’s friendly smile can be found in the kitchens of San Ramon. After almost a decade with Zachary’s, Edwin has recently been promoted to kitchen supervisor, a position that reflects his dedication to great pizza and the amazing people that make Zachary’s—and the Bay—home.

Spotlight

Name: Edwin Jimenez

Hire Date: September 2010

Fave Pizza: Spinach and Mushroom

Fave Food: Pupusas and Tacos!

Current Location: Hayward

Home Restaurant: San Ramon

Zachary’s Claim to Fame: Edwin is known for his stellar reliability and sense of teamwork. He understands our success is based on the team, not the individual. He is a true team player in this regard, helping guide and direct our crew to be the best they can. His deep respect for his coworkers and the pride he takes in making perfect pizzas, make Edwin an all around employee-owner superstar!

Interview*

*Edwin was interviewed by Zachary’s Marketing Manager, Robin Smith

Robin (R): What attracted you to Zachary’s Pizza or made you choose to work here?

Edwin (E): To be honest, before Zachary’s I started working at another [pizza] restaurant because I love pizza and I had the chance to work over there.  But then Alvaro (a fellow San Ramon kitchen employee-owner) talked to me about [Zachary’s] and the opportunity, I didn’t think twice. I came for the pizza but I stayed because I really liked the environment and the people. That’s why I stay. I came for pizza. [Both laugh]

R: The draw was the pizza

E: Yes.

R: What is one of your favorite aspects about working at Zachary’s?

E: It’s funny that you mention it, but I like the reaction of people when I say, “I work at Zachary’s.” A lot of people [say], “oh, really?” That’s very genuine that people react in a really good way that I work at Zachary’s because they’ve heard a lot of good things about the restaurant- the food, the pizza is awesome. So I like that reaction.

R: They’re excited.

E: Yeah, excited. And the funny thing is they start talking about experiences that they’ve had or things that they’ve heard about this place or the pizza or about all the awards, you know, and that’s good, that’s amazing. I like that.

R: It makes you feel good.

E: It makes you feel proud.

R: So spinning on that feeling of pride, what does being an Employee Owner mean to you?

E: It makes me feel more engaged with my job. It’s more responsibility because I’m not just working for someone. I’m working for this place that cares about me…everything I do I have to do with quality and excellence because they do care a lot about me and I care about this restaurant too.

R: Besides being an employee owned company, what are some of the things that make you feel that engagement and keeps you motivated to accept a supervisor position, like you recently did?

E: The reason why is because I felt like, for so many years, I received a lot from this restaurant and this company and I feel like it was time for me to give something back.  To step up and do a little more than what I was doing, like taking another level…Like saying, thank you so much for everything you have done for me…I am going to do something for you guys. I’m going to do my best, help the new guys, if something needs to be fixed, let’s do it, I’m going to help, I’m going to do more.

R: What’s something you love about living in the Bay Area?

E: To be honest I always talk about that with people that come and visit the area and the first thing they say is that they love the area. That they’ve been in…different places around the world, some of my friends that have come to visit and they’ve said this is the best place to live. And to be honest, I love a lot of things about this area. First of all, I love the weather. The weather is perfect. And the fact that you can go to the city, the mountains, to the snow, everything you want to do, everywhere you want to go, it’s a plus. The location is perfect. The weather is perfect. And then the third thing that I love about this area is the people. To be honest the people. They make me feel like I’m welcome here. I feel like I’ve never been treated in a bad way, or seen in a bad way, and I really like that. I really appreciate the people make me feel like I’m welcome here.

R: Absolutely. That’s important. You need to feel welcome where you live. When people come and visit, what are some of the things that you show off to them?

E: The lifestyle here, it’s pretty good. You can go either shopping or you can go visiting museums. The Academy of Sciences in San Francisco is really good. The views. The views are amazing. Places like the Golden Gate, Santa Cruz, things like that. The view that you get when you drive on the Highway 1.  All those things make this place very special and I like to show that to the people that come and visit. What else?  The food. There’s a lot of good places you can go and dine in and have a good time.

R: Speaking of food, what’s your favorite Zachary’s pizza?

E: I gotta say, the OG, it has to be the Spinach and Mushroom. Yeah, that’s the best.

R: I mean, you can’t go wrong…

E: Yes, that is the best one.

R: I agree.

E: And I like how spinach and mushroom complement each other. They create another, totally different flavor. Yes, so that’s my favorite.

R: Hand’s down. [Laughs] Do you have anything else you’d like to talk about or add about your experience at Zachary’s? Besides being the model for the Zachary’s t-shirt? [Both laugh]

E:  The only thing that I would say is that I learn so many things here. I learn that this place…gives me the chance to grow up. Not just as an employee, but as a person. And I have the chance to meet a lot of beautiful people here and I’m happy with that. And I’m thankful because I feel like this place attracts a lot of beautiful people and they help me in different ways…some with their friendship, some with advice, but all to be the person I am.  I really enjoy it because, to be honest, I’ve been spending a lot of time here. It’s going to be almost a decade now, and I’m thankful because it’s not everywhere you have a chance to meet people…It’s good. I’m happy with that and I’m thankful for that.

Employee-owner Nathan is celebrating 20 years with Zachary’s today!! Regulars may well recognize Nate from the art work he’s been drawing on their togo boxes at the Oakland and Berkeley restaurants the past two decades.  A talented artist, Nate also submitted an art piece for last year’s Zachary’s Art Contest, which you can see hanging in our dining room at our College Avenue location! Thank you Nate for your creativity and dedication to our employee-owned company all these years!