It’s written on every pizza box they deliver. “We toss ’em, they’re awesome!’

With their signature pizza dough tossing, pies are already flying out the front door.

The first Pizza Factory Express opened at Herndon and Marks on Monday. The main difference between this location and their traditional locations is no seating — at least for now. It’s an order and go type of place.

Owner David Danenberg says his hope is to provide some outdoor seating as soon as this summer. Even though it’s not a traditional dine-in model, he says everything else is up to Pizza Factory standards.

“We cook our own bacon, we cook our own sausage, we hand tear our sausage, we hand slice all our vegetables, we hand grate our cheese, we toss our dough every day — hand toss it for each pizza,” explains Danenberg. “ There’s nothing that’s pre-made other than the chicken.”

First Model of This Type

The Pizza Factory Express location was specially chosen for its lack of seating due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It replaces a DaVinci’s Pizza take out store that formerly occupied the space.

“It allows us to to deliver and broaden our spectrum,” says Danenberg. He says the location will deliver pizza up to 5 miles away.

Danenberg sought out this particular area of town because he felt there was a pizza void left by another business that closed down.

Popular Pizzas

Many of the normal pizza specialties aren’t on the menu just yet because they’re running a one-topping pizza special for $12.99 right now.

But, Danenberg says many of his customers really like the all meat special and the chicken pesto.

“We have a really wide variety of toppings and sauces that that you can create your own delectable thing,” said Danenberg.

Opening During COVID-19

With other businesses struggling to either stay open or try to open during the COVID-19 pandemic, Danenberg says that wasn’t his biggest hurdle to getting the doors open.

“The machinery that I bought actually broke down, so I had to re-buy new machinery,” he laments. “Then the factory shipped it late and they were shipping delays because it was the East Coast. So they shipped it five days late.”

He says it was really stressful and there were times he contemplated giving up. But, his future customers gave him the optimism and fortitude to keep pushing ahead.

“I was excited about the community because I was here cleaning things up and getting things ready, and they would come in and talk to me and tell me about the time they they ate in Oakhurst when the first pizza factory came,” said Danenberg with a smile on his face.

Community Involvement

Danenberg grew up in the Valley, attended Fresno State and moved away a couple of times but says something always brought him back.

“I can’t wait to get involved in the community. I’ve already made contact with some of the schools and we’re going to try and do some stuff for the schools and kids and teachers that they can give out free pizza, free mini pizzas, breadsticks or something for students that are doing really well or are better achieving good things, or are part of our ‘no bully’ contest,” says Danenberg.

The “No Bully Zone” is a way Pizza Factory helps raise awareness of school bullying.

Danenberg especially likes hearing from his customers and anyone in the community. He says the best way to do that is to message him through his Pizza Factory Express Fresno NW Facebook page.