Honey Pie Pizza Closed Newberg Location

Honey Pie Pizza, which changed ownership in May, closed its flagship restaurant in Newberg, Ore., at the end of service on Sunday, September 3rd, and transitioned operations to its new location at Mac Market in McMinnville, Ore.

“It’s been a tough decision, especially so soon after purchasing the business,” said Honey Pie co-owner Travis Miranda, who bought the Newberg pizzeria in May 2023. “The Newberg community has been great to Honey Pie, and we are sad to leave it.”

The closure was not posted on Honey Pie’s website or social media. Instead, diners were greeted with a flyer at the Newberg restaurant over the weekend:

We’re Moving!
Dear Newberg,
Thanks for a wonderful 2023!! As the summer ends, we’ll be joining forces with our McMinnville team to make one big Honey Pie. Newberg’s last day of service will be Sunday, Sept. 3.
We’re excited to see you soon for lunch and dinner in our spacious indoor, outdoor, and event spaces at Mac Market.

“It wasn’t a last-minute decision,” Miranda said about the late notice of the closure. “We knew we had to make changes to accommodate customers during the winter and consolidate our staff in the fall.”

Miranda said the consolidation and the closure of the Newberg location came down to a few factors: staff returning to school with restrictive schedules, a challenging labor market overall, and historically low sales in the winter. The Newberg location did not have any indoor dining options but rather a covered patio with heaters.

“The McMinnville location is better suited for indoor dining and the ability to consolidate the remaining staff,” Miranda said.

He noted the staff was informed of the decision to close, and the non-seasonal hires who wanted to come to the McMinnville location were transferred.

Despite the closure happening shortly after he and his wife Anna purchased the business, Miranda said this was not part of the plan upon purchasing.

“We originally fell in love with the Newberg spot,” he said. “Ideally, we would have run both.”

The restaurant’s former owners, Aubrey and Alex Nichols and Bubba and Sarah King, said they are sad to see the business they helped build go; however, they understand.

“We are surprised and sad to hear of this change,” said Aubrey on behalf of the group. “We are not privy to any details regarding the closure, however we do know and recognize that running a restaurant is hard and exhausting work.

“We continue to love and support downtown Newberg and would love to create a place for gathering someday in the future.”

Opened in 2019, Mac Market is a “collaborative and community-driven eating, drinking, shopping, and gathering place housed in a renovated historic warehouse,” with a mission to support the vibrancy of the Willamette Valley’s food and drink landscape, according to the market’s website.

Honey Pie is one of five businesses in the space, including Hayward Restaurant, Bakery Bar coffee shop, Sustainable Rituals sustainable shopping, and Wellspent Market artisanal pantry goods.

“The Mac Market location offers ample indoor and outdoor dining and parking, large event spaces, other complementary businesses, and a large and well-equipped kitchen space,” Miranda said. “There is a lunch crowd in McMinnville, and we have slices available all day. It’s a fun atmosphere!”

What’s Happening with Newberg Businesses?

Honey Pie Pizza is the second business in the past year to leave Newberg in favor of McMinnville.

Recipe Neighborhood Kitchen closed its doors in early 2023 and is moving to McMinnville under the name “Pinch Restaurant and Bar,” slated to open “late summer 2023,” according to their website.

Other businesses have closed their doors in 2023, including Uflora Plant House in early August and See See Motor Coffee Co. in January. Their vacancies add to the number of empty commercial spaces in Newberg’s downtown core.

Local commercial relator Philip Higgins said there is some real movement happening — one vacant building has a lease in process, and another prominent building recently sold and is undergoing renovation for opening next spring or summer. Others are in late stage negotiations. (Editors Note: there’s a full story coming on this soon.)

The Newberg Downtown Coalition (NDC), an organization founded to build Newberg’s downtown core through physical improvements, events, promotions, and business support, said the loss of any business in the downtown core is a tough loss. However, with that loss comes opportunity for others who want to start their business in town.

“The Newberg Downtown Coalition is always sad to hear about any business leaving the downtown core,” said NDC executive director Aubrey Nichols (also a member of the former Honey Pie ownership group). “Honey Pie has been a staple for years. We are happy to connect with anyone who would like to do business in downtown- we would love to see another restaurant in that space!”

The City of Newberg is actively working on reducing the barriers of entry for people who want to start their businesses in Newberg by reducing System Development Change (SDC) taxes levied on Newberg-based businesses. In short, SDCs are taxes that come from businesses changing or retrofitting their businesses, which go toward the public facilities they would strain.

For example, a restaurant expanding to allow for more customers would pay a tax on that expansion to support maintenance of the roads that experience more cars driving and parking around the restaurant. Adding an extra bathroom to accommodate those new customers would incur SDC tax for the extra strain those bathrooms will add to the town’s sewer system.

That topic is on the agenda for the city council meeting on September 5.

“We’re excited about the potential changes in SDCs for city of Newberg, which we believe will encourage new businesses to join the downtown core— as well as encourage current businesses to have the freedom to renovate or expand with less financial restriction,” Nichols said.