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Eagle’s Pickups Pizza expands menu, hours

PIckups PIzza owners Shannon and Oliver Philpott serve up one of their new Detroit style pan pizzas. Beginning in May, the pizza shop will expand its hours and offer offer lunchtime pizza-by-the-slice options.
Pam Boyd/pboyd@eaglevalleyenterprise.com |

EAGLE — You can’t argue that Pickups Pizza has passion for their product.

For the past year, Pickups has been serving up Chicago style thin crust pizza and building a keen customer base. So when owners Oliver and Shannon Philpott started mulling the idea of opening Pickups for lunch business, they knew they would have to expand into the pizza-by-the-slice realm.

But not just any pan pizza option would do. Instead the Philpotts set out on a journey to find the kind of pan pizza worthy of the Pickups name. Ultimately they found what wanted in Motor City U.S.A.



“Yes, Oliver and I took a trip to Detroit in February, and yes, it was cold,” Shannon said. “We ate our way through Detroit pizza and found what we wanted.”

Oliver said the Detroit style is a pizza style dating back to the 1940s that is baked in blue steel auto parts trays. After six decades, those trays are now seasoned to perfection. “Those pans now have 50 plus years of seasoning so they add to the flavor of the pizza,” he said.

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While Pickups can’t duplicate decades of pan use, the Philpotts are already at work seasoning their pans in preparation for the menu and hours expansion. The change will be launched in May, but until that time, customers should watch the daily specials board to get a product preview.

“The key is the cheese goes all the way to the edges so it is caramelized and delicious,” Shannon said.

One year in

As they contemplate their new pizza option and lunch operation launch, the Philpotts said their great customers have helped write the Pickups menu.

“We have spent a lot of time figuring out what customers wanted for specialty pizzas,” Oliver said. “A lot of people tell us our pizza is different. They say it is unique.”

Unique is Pickups niche. The operation’s delivery option is a case in point. Such as the business name proclaims, customers need to visit the Pickups Pizza site to grab their pies. The single exception is the Bonfire Brewing hotline. Pickups will deliver to the brew pub, located a couple of blocks away. Staff members jump on the pizza delivery bike to transport the Bonfire Brewing orders. Additionally, Pickups doesn’t serve alcohol so when customers want a beer with their pizzas, the crew sends them over to Bonfire with a promise to deliver the pie when it comes out of the oven.

Expanding hours and menu

The craftsmanship that is on display with the Pickups menu extends to the operation’s ingredients and physical space. In his spare time, Oliver is building some benches from the pallets donated from Bonfire Brewing and Shannon has already started her tomato seeds for the 2017 harvest.

The operation is an obvious labor of love for the Philpotts. “I am doing what I came to the mountains to do. I ski in the morning and make pizza in the afternoons,” Oliver said.

Beginning on May 1, Pickups will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, Pickups will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The business phone number is 970-328-3388.


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