Moonlight Pizza, the new late night eatery that operates from 4pm to 4am, today acquired the former home of Little Five Points Pizza at 422 Seminole Ave NE, with Steve Josovitz of The Shumacher Group ultimately closing the deal in a mere 16 days on behalf of the seller.
According to managing partner and head of community outreach, Dennis Carpenter, the restaurant could be open within the month.
The Little Five Points outpost will be the brand’s largest location, taking up a 1,260-square-foot space with seating for 50 guests, plus an outdoor patio that can host another 20.
“[Five Points] is going to be that location in which you can learn more about Moonlight, learn more about our people, learn more about how we want to interact and engage with the community,” Carpenter tells What Now Atlanta, adding, “We’re so excited to be a part of that community and show up in a way that puts us in partnership with all of those longstanding establishments.”
Honoring the area’s past while forging its own legacy even extends to the restaurant’s design elements.
“We’re super excited about the layout,” says Carpenter, “because it’s going to be a careful infusion of the historical elements that are already in place there, with a little bit of the new associated with Moonlight.”
As an example, Carpenter points to the existing wooden stalls that have been signed by loyal patrons over the last few decades that Little Five Points Pizza was in operation, explaining that while Moonlight will update some of the paint jobs with its distinctive pink and black branding, signing the building will remain a fixture of the restaurant.
Despite the fact that Moonlight just opened its first Atlanta location at 2730 Greenbriar Pkwy last month, followed by its second in Jacksonville, FL a few weeks later, the brand already has two other Georgia locations that are coming soon – 626 S Central Ave in Hapeville which is slated to open possibly within the month, and 5134 Old National Hwy in Atlanta around late spring, early summer.
“Old National is going to be an interesting location for us, because it’s going to be one of our delivery and pick-up locations similar to what we have in Greenbriar. But what separates it is that we also have space that we’re going to dedicate to our commissary,” says Carpenter. “What we envision is going into that underserved area of the community, and providing the commissary services for all of our metro Atlanta [restaurants].”
Whether it be Greenbriar, Hapeville, Little Five Points, or any other neighborhood that Moonlight expands into over the next few years, each location is carefully chosen, and provides the company an opportunity to give back.
“We’re being intentional about going into some of the underserved areas that we’re going into, and we believe that there’s the opportunity to bring jobs and resources to communities that are traditionally undeserved,” says Carpenter. “When we look at several of the employees at our Greenbriar location, they are on that bus line, or they are on that corridor and can actually walk to work. So we are excited about doing that in several underserved areas of metro Atlanta.”
Moonlight Pizza founder, Joseph Wescom – who owns and operates the restaurant with a small team of managing partners including Carpenter – attended culinary school in Italy, before returning stateside with an arsenal of traditional recipes that feature the highest-quality pies, including vegan and gluten-free options to boot.
The menu spans classic starters, salads, wings, pastas and baked favorites, as well as subs and sandwiches, calzones, Strombolis, and pizzas, with dessert options such as a decadent s’mores pizza rounding out the meal.
A small selection of Moonlight’s pie creations include The Pie Hole, an arabiatta-based pizza with meatballs, sausage, onions, jalapeño, and roasted red peppers, The Philly featuring Philly Chicken or beef, onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms, The Meat Hole topped with pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, and bacon, and The Greek Hole which is adorned with artichoke, spinach, feta, olives, mushrooms, and banana peppers.
