SNAP Custom Pizza Is Coming To Take Over Center City

As we say goodbye to 500 Degrees and their juicy, gourmet burgers, we will soon say hello to the arrival of SNAP Custom Pizza in Center City.

Pete Howey and Aaron Nocks, owners of Peace A Pizza and New Hope Soda, recently partnered with Rob Wasserman, owner of Rittenhouse Square’s Rouge, to open SNAP Custom Pizza, which debuted in Ardmore last year, only a block away from Wasserman’s other pizza shop, Parlor in Suburban Square.

As the SNAP Pizza chain is rapidly expanding throughout the Philadelphia region, a second shop opened in Exton last month at 291 Main Street.

Over a year ago the owners began a transition to convert Peace A Pizza into SNAP Custom Pizza, inspired by companies with assembly-line, fast-casual operations like Chipotle and Qdoba. With SNAP’s future plans to open 15 locations in the next 18 months, Wasserman said they plan to “capture the surrounding market of the Greater Philadelphia region and tri-state area.”

Wasserman’s burger joint, 500 Degrees, closed last Saturday at 1504 Sansom Street. SNAP will take its place sometime in early February. Wasserman said that after five years in the marketplace, 500’s concept outgrew the location but the space would be great for the type of product SNAP offers.

He also said they plan to open at least three more SNAP’s near that Center City location.

“The concept of SNAP works in both suburban and urban markets,” Wasserman said. “Each market plays well for certain time-frames and bringing freshness to the customer is always important.”

SNAP features a prep line-style operation with choices of custom pizzas starting at $5.99 for plain and $7.49 with choices of ANY toppings for no additional charge including vegetables, cheeses, and meats like pepperoni, Italian sausage, veal meatballs, applewood smoked bacon and all-natural chicken.

They also have a menu with signature pizzas and salads topped with six different choices of house dressing. They will feature two types of salad bowls including a warm quinoa made of grain, as well as a wheat berry.

SNAP also includes products from the local brand New Hope Soda created by Howey and Nocks, which is small batch, flavored, fountain sodas made with pure cane sugar — a healthy beverage alternative that stays away from high fructose corn syrup and environmentally detrimental versions of bottled soda.

Keep an eye out for SNAP Custom Pizza popping up all over Philly. The first Center City location is scheduled to open this coming February.

SNAP Custom Pizza [official]