Retired Pizzaiolo: Would you pay $20,000 for my locally known brand name?

Maybe it’s not the end for Enzo’s End after all. The 27-year-old Denver pizzeria is set to close its doors on June 30, but owner Charlie Puma seems ready to sell the brand himself to the right buyer.

Puma recently announced on Facebook that he is ready to retire. “Enzo’s end is over!” he posted on June 13. “I’m going on a long vacation!”

The post unsettled fans of Enzo’s End, which Puma opened in 1996. It received 66 reactions, 67 comments and 15 shares, most of which expressed the same sentiment: No one, it seems, wants Enzo’s End to close.

Puma seemed surprised by his customers’ emotional reaction to his announcement, and that led him to throw out an idea that likely sparked light in other Denver entrepreneurs.

“Wow! I am completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support this weekend!” he wrote. “This emotional response (sadness, tears, joy, stories of weddings and children and life events) was unexpected.”

He continued, “I’m not saying we have Steve Jobs-level emotional branding, but maybe there’s something about Enzo’s that’s worth keeping intact. So please give me some feedback: Is $20,000 (less than 6 weeks’ sales) too much to ask for the brand, trade name, menus, recipes, phone number, domain registration, goodwill, etc.?”

Puma noted that Enzo’s building and equipment would not be included in the deal, “so someone would need a restaurant, ghost kitchen, food truck, etc. to make this work. Who is young, enthusiastic and smart?”

It’s unclear if anyone accepted Puma’s offer, but it sparked a discussion on the Facebook page of Denver website Westword, where readers speculated about how they could make a deal with the retiring pizzaiolo. One commenter wrote, “If anyone knows how to negotiate, they could use the $20,000, take everything from him, including the kitchen, and work out a deal. I’d talk to him tomorrow because I live five minutes from there. I bet I could pull off that deal.”

The pizzeria has a good reputation in the Mile High City. “Enzo’s End is really awesome when it comes to thin pizzas,” Westword noted in the “Best of Denver Food & Drink” 2018 list. Denverite says it is “an iconic place … from an era of Denver that has largely been displaced by hipper, newer and more expensive options,” while the Denver Post said Enzo’s End “stands out” for its “clean finish, delicious crust and 30 high-quality toppings.” The Post writer also had high praise for Enzo’s lactose-free cheese, which “has always been an ideal blend of gooey and savory, hiding a tart and perfectly applied sauce with garden-fresh tomato flavor.”

On the other hand, digital marketing and branding haven’t exactly been Enzo’s End’s strong suit. For starters, the website seems to have disappeared from the internet. And its social media presence is… barely there. The announcement of Puma’s closure was the restaurant’s first post on Facebook since March 2020. On Instagram, the company has made a total of eight posts, five of them on the same day – March 25, 2023.

But Puma’s unexpected Facebook announcement still attracted attention and made headlines on Denver’s news platforms. Still, the reaction did not change Puma’s mind about retirement. “It was easy enough,” he said said Westword. “I’ve been doing most of the cooking myself for the past few years. Labor is expensive, so we do what we have to do.”

If someone takes over his lease, Puma seems ready to get to work selling his brand and recipes. “I just want to try some new things and have some adventures,” he said.