Delta Sonic Bringing Flagship Store, Brick Oven Pizza To Oswego

OSWEGO, IL — Oswego Mayor Troy Parlier has kept bringing a brick oven-fired pizza operation to the area on his to-do list. But the manner that dream is becoming a reality may not be in the form one might expect.

Delta Sonic, a family-owned car wash and convenience store that also offers a drive-thru service for brick-oven pizza, coffee and other food items, is scheduled to open a flagship location in Oswego this summer, the chain announced this week. The Oswego location, which will be opened on Route 34, will be the 12th to offer the Brick Oven Kitchen and only the third in Illinois. The other two locations serving pizza are located in Crestwood and Joliet.

The drive-thru option, however, will be the first of its kind in the area, officials with the company said in a news release. Officials did not give a specific date for the opening of the Oswego location.

But the pizza offering will only be one of the food options available at the new business. The location will also include a coffee bar and will include culinary choices that include meats on pizza and deli sandwiches that are humanely raised. The coffee bar features handcrafted bean-to-cup coffee along with breakfast sandwiches that are made to order with farm-fresh eggs.

“We’re not the typical car wash operator, we’re not the typical convenience store, and our food offerings will be consistent with the rest of our brand,” John Peach, Delta Sonic’s chief retail officer said in a news release. “We’re aiming to reset customers’ expectations of convenience store food offerings. Visiting Delta Sonic is mean to be an experience for the customer, an experience for the customer’s car, and now an experience for the customer’s palette.”

The family-owned car wash company, known for its “kissing clean car wash” has locations in central and western New York, Pennsylvania as well as several locations throughout the Chicago suburbs. But the Oswego location will be the biggest in Illinois, Peach said, and will be a model for other Delta Sonic locations that will be built around the country. The Oswego location will feature a new indoor vacuuming station and state-of-the-art high-volume car wash facility that can eliminate traffic back-ups.

The facility will also include a gas station, detailing facility, tire and lube shop, convenience store and Brick Oven Kitchen food concept, and is expected to create 100 new jobs, about half of which will be full-time positions with benefits, officials said.

An unlimited membership program will offer a subscription model for car wash and detailing services that allows drivers to wash their cars as much as they’d like each month, and a loyalty plan offers discounts on services and products throughout the store, including at The Brick Oven Kitchen, the company announced.

The new facility will also include several eco-friendly considerations as well. The structures will feature rooftop solar panels for energy production and LED lighting throughout to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint.

Parlier, the village's mayor, said he will be in line for the brick oven-fired pizza on Opening Day, but is excited about wha the business will bring to Oswego.

“The significant investment that Delta Sonic has made in bringing its flagship location here to Oswego just shows the sort of confidence that businesses have in our community and what we have to offer,” Parlier said in a news release.