The owners of an Arroyo Grande pizza restaurant that was damaged when a truck crashed into the front of the building on Monday say they don't know how long they'll be closed, but they do plan to return.
Kelly Stevens was in the Palo Mesa Wood Fired Pizza shop in the Village of Arroyo Grande just minutes before the storefront was ruined.
“I was just here and I went to go home just five minutes away," she said. "As soon as I got home, I got a call.”
She said at first, she thought the person on the phone was exaggerating, but when she got there, she was shocked to see the damage. She said the truck barreled into a front window and missed their gas line by inches.
Eileen Wagner stopped by the shop the day after the crash to see the damage.
“That could have been a real disaster if it got any closer to the gas line,” Wagner said.
Stevens said there is almost no damage inside. One interior wall had a small dent, but the original floors and a stained glass chandelier remained intact.
“The outside structural wall looks a little bad," Stevens said. "But I know that the city is working with a structural engineer and an architect as we speak.”
Stevens said her family has a special connection to this location. She said when her family moved to the Central Coast, they met Ken Craig who they call their adopted grandpa. Craig built the spot in the 1950s and it was his flower shop when the Stevens moved here.
“When it came up to sell, we just knew that we wanted to be here," Stevens said. "We opened our first wood fired spot here and it was just amazing to be able to be here full circle after grandpa.”
She said Craig, now 100 years old, came to show his support while crews recovered the truck. Stevens said there is one full time employee at the Village location, who will move to another Palo Mesa Pizza restaurant while this spot is closed.
The Arroyo Grande Police Department said the cause hasn’t been determined. After the crash, the two people inside the truck had minor injuries and did not go to the hospital. No one was inside the pizza shop when it happened.
“I'm just so glad nobody got hurt," Wagner said.
Stevens said their four other Palo Mesa Pizza locations in San Luis Obispo county remain open.
