Tea Pizza Ranch remodels inside and out

The Pizza Ranch has a new look.

Co-owner Todd Pharis, who also owns the 41st Street Pizza Ranch in Sioux Falls that received massive damage after a September tornado, has been busy working on preparing that store to re-open in October. While work continues on that building, Pharis had plans to remodel the Tea location at some point in 2020. However, the pandemic moved up that timeline.

“We had the dining room closed and we thought that would be the perfect time to do it because we were going to plan on doing it this year anyway. It gave us the opportunity to do it quicker because we didn’t have to worry about not doing any work during the lunch buffet or the evening buffet,” Pharis said.

Dine-in customers will notice additional seating space, along with new TVs. They added a separate pasta buffet, plus a new beverage station with a new countertop and a couple of different flavors.

“We actually were adding that (seating) and the pasta buffet right when everyone had to shut down. Really nobody even saw that because we really were only open two or three days after we added all that. When we were closed we said, ‘why don’t we go ahead and replace the beverage counter, the pop machine, ice machine and lets keep going and replace the TVs,’” Pharis said. “It was bizarre but it was good timing. The business we lost in the dining room we made up in delivery and to-go. We were actually up in sales for March, April and May, which is just amazing. To-go and delivery increased like 200-300 percent.”

Besides noticing a difference in the dining room, customers will also notice an addition in the Fun Zone. They had some extra room in that space and decided to add a photo booth for a different experience from the arcade and crane games.

On the outside, they have begun replacing the roof, which Pharis expected to be finished this week. The parking lot will be re-paved and re-striped in sections this week and next week.

The biggest change outside will be the change in signage. After nearly 15 years in Tea, Pharis thought it was time to choose a different look for the store.

They changed the roof to black, as well as the window trim and doors. New red signage completes the new look.

“Pizza Ranch offers two looks right now, but the one with the red is the newest look. That’s what we’re switching to at the 41st Street Pizza Ranch too. We just thought it would be nice to get a new look,” he said.