Powder Street Pizza's first day at its new location in the Southbridge Mall food court Tuesday was much busier than owner Dusty Fratzke expected. “We had to do prep a couple of times just so we would have enough food," he said. Powder Street Pizza's original location inside Pete's Kitchen opened in May 2023.
Pete's Kitchen closed last week. Fratzke's grandfather always wanted to open a pizza place. “He’s no longer with us, so I’m just trying to carry that on," he said.
Fratzke said he decided to move Powder Street Pizza to Southbridge Mall because a spot was available where Mr. Taco was once located. He thought it was a good location.
Besides having a space all to itself, the two biggest changes so far at Powder Street Pizza are selling pizza by the slice and having a conveyer oven. "We can do pizzas a lot faster now," Fratzke said. As far as future changes, Fratzke wants to add some new items to the menu.
Powder Street Pizza makes its own fresh dough every day, according to Fratzke, and some of the unusual pizza varieties on the menu include crab Rangoon, gyro, and dill pickle. The staff also does customized toppings for individual orders, "unless it is way out there," Fratzke said. The pizza place is named after Mason City's "Powder Street," a nickname for South Jackson Avenue.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Powder Street was infamous for murder, bootlegging and other crimes. "We are keeping a part of Mason City history alive," Fratzke said. Powder Street Pizza .