Mary's Pizza Shack Closes Novato, 2 Other North Bay Area Locations

NOVATO, CA ? Mary's Pizza Shack has permanently closed three of its locations ? Novato, Napa and Dixon ? the longtime Bay Area chain of Italian restaurants announced Saturday.

"Unfortunately, this was a necessary action as we continue restructuring our Noni?s business amidst the evolving challenges that every locally owned restaurant is tackling," Mary's Pizza Shack said in a Facebook post.

"We announced this summer that our family was embarking on a succession plan that would involve direct owner-operator oversight of each location. While we had hoped that these three locations would be included in this succession plan, the unchanging realities of increased food and labor costs mixed with other compounding issues facing our industry led to this difficult decision."

Founded by Mary Fazio in 1959 in Sonoma Valley, Mary's Pizza Shack has pared down from 17 locations to 9. The chain's Sonoma County locations, which include Boyes Hot Springs, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa (two), Sonoma and Windsor, as well as its Vacaville and Fairfield restaurants, remain open.

Gift cards purchased at the three closing locations in Novato, Napa and Dixon will be honored at the remaining Mary's Pizza Shack locations.

"As we continue to take the critical steps to preserve Mary?s legacy for the next generation, we want to sincerely thank our wonderful crew members and our guests who have loyally supported us in these communities for many years. We hope that we will see you at a nearby Mary?s Pizza Shack soon."