Campus Area Conan's to Close

[MaybeACoordinator 8,349]

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After 42 years.

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“It’s sad, we’ve had a few (locations) come and go throughout the days, but this one always seemed to last,” said Carlie Strader, an employee at Conans. “There’s so many pizza restaurants in this area, our sales just aren’t where they used to be, so it’s hard to justify staying open.”

Chris and Carlie’s dad Jerry Strader opened Conans with co-founder Scott Leist in 1976. The siblings said they have worked in the family business all their lives and held just about every position in the company.

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“Change is inevitable, but I think it’s hard (that it’s closing), because there’s so many people that have built a community around Conans,” said Flores. “It’s just sad.”

Chemistry senior Alina Deng said she wandered into Conans one day when looking for a new campus eatery to try, and was surprised by the Conan the Barbarian-themed decorations that line the restaurant’s tables and walls. Despite being a bit confused by the character, Deng said she remembers liking her deep dish-style pizza.

“I’m not super surprised that they’re closing, because of the location a lot of students just didn’t know there was a pizza place further down on Guad, but it was very eclectic,” Deng said. “I think a part of me will be sad to see it go.”

Conans Pizza’s two remaining stores in North and South Austin will stay open.

 

[PDP 1]

Boo, good memories with wheat crust and big beer

[Focht Up 631]

Sad to hear because this was a cool place.  I used to work there way back in the day.

[utee94 15,811]

3 hours ago, BurntEyes said:

;0I ate at that place 3 times and got food poison 3 times. Fuck that location of Conans. 

Yeah, sounds like it was a YOU thing, not a Conan's thing. 

 

 

 

[TwiceHorn 31,450]

Yeah, that was good shit.  Fucking millenials.

[troph 24,783]

Closes when? Might have to stop by one last time.

 

[futureman 22,453]

1 hour ago, troph said:

Closes when? Might have to stop by one last time.

 

where ya been?  we’re tankin’ here. 

[DalTxHornFan 3,101]

From Our Family to Yours, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! THE SAD NEWS 😞 Some of you may have heard, that Conans Pizza Central, our original location opened on July 19th, 1976, is closing. I'm writing you with a heavy heart, to confirm it is true.   Our 42nd Anniversary weekend (July19th-22nd) will be our last days baking gourmet pies on the corner of 29th & Guadalupe. We've fed a generation a Longhorns, and will miss being so close to campus. And while we aren't ruling out a new Central location, we have no immediate plans.

 

THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN We'd like to INVITE YOU BACK FOR ONE MORE PIZZA experience in our FINAL 33 days. We've been truly blessed to have a solid core group of loyal staff who have recommitted to making sure you're last Conans Central pizza experience is one to remember! Now recall, this is our smallest store and crew, so if you're planning something big, give us a heads up. And come during our slower off-peak hours to spread the love around.   THE GREAT NEWS!!! CONANS NORTH AND CONANS SOUTH WILL CONTINUE cooking up your favorite pizzas! AND, both locations will only get better in this new era, as two independent owner-operated restaurants, we're doubling-down on the future of Austin, Texas, Earth.   SHARE YOUR MEMORIES One of the best rewards we get is hearing from our customers about their fondest memories. In our final month, I'd love to hear more stories of good times past. Tell your favorite story on your social platform of choice, and tag us!   PS- Nobody likes closing up shop, but know, this is the best thing for our small family business and the pizzas of the future will only improve!

 

 

 

Conans Pizza | conanspizza@gmail.com | www.conanspizza.com   ‌ ‌

[utee94 15,811]

There was a time, back in high school and college, when I could plow through an entire deep pan whole wheat savage, in one sitting.  And I was skinny as a rail.

These days two slices is about my max.

I live up north now and only get to the campus location maybe once a year when meeting friends and such, but it's still sad to see it closing. 

[TwiceHorn 31,450]

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Despite being a bit confused by the character, Deng said she remembers liking her deep dish-style pizza.

One of the things that strikes me and annoys me about the younger generations, ie millenials, is that that they seem to have almost zero knowledge of the "culture" of prior generations.  In my limited interactions, they seem thoroughly ignorant of any movie, music, or other pop culture more than about 10-15 years old.   As a teen in the 80s, and college student, I was pretty familiar with the movies, music and TV of the 50s and 60s, as were most of my peers.  The 40s were pushing it a little, but we knew the high points at least.  And we didn't have a pocket encyclopedia to look stuff up on instantaneously, either/Get-off-my-lawn-old-man-Gen-X rant

[thrillhammer 683]

Wasn't the better location, the one that was actually closer to campus that is now a kerbey lane?  I didn't eat at this 29th one too much but I did do take out there quite a bit when i lived in brykerwoods.  

[HouTex 1,866]

Despite being a bit confused by the character, Deng said she remembers liking her deep dish-style pizza.

One of the things that strikes me and annoys me about the younger generations, ie millenials, is that that they seem to have almost zero knowledge of the "culture" of prior generations.  In my limited interactions, they seem thoroughly ignorant of any movie, music, or other pop culture more than about 10-15 years old.   As a teen in the 80s, and college student, I was pretty familiar with the movies, music and TV of the 50s and 60s, as were most of my peers.  The 40s were pushing it a little, but we knew the high points at least.  And we didn't have a pocket encyclopedia to look stuff up on instantaneously, either/Get-off-my-lawn-old-man-Gen-X rant

Great topic for another thread. I imagine it's because then we only had TV and books and the culture of the 40's and 50's was still on display through the 70's and 80's. Nowadays they are only into what's happening now because that's their exposure. And it sucks.

[CooterBrown 18,006]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

One of the things that strikes me and annoys me about the younger generations, ie millenials, is that that they seem to have almost zero knowledge of the "culture" of prior generations.  In my limited interactions, they seem thoroughly ignorant of any movie, music, or other pop culture more than about 10-15 years old. 

Browsing through Amazon Prime, the old Looney Tunes caught my 5 year old's eye. She's been obsessed with it for the past week.  My 11 year old walked in the room and had no idea what the hell Bugs Bunny was. I felt like a failure. I made her sit her ass down and watch for an hour.

 

[TwiceHorn 31,450]

9 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Browsing through Amazon Prime, the old Looney Tunes caught my 5 year old's eye. She's been obsessed with it for the past week.  My 11 year old walked in the room and had no idea what the hell Bugs Bunny was. I felt like a failure. I made her sit her ass down and watch for an hour.

 

Considering my post and the whys and wherefores, I guess it was the idiot box and re-runs, and radio that made me/us aware of a broader spectrum of things.  Now they get to watch/listen to exactly what they want when they want to.

 

Funny thing, I remember those "musical" black and white cartoons that parodied or cartooned people like Victor Borge, Jimmy Durante, etc. that had to be explained by my parents.  But even that caused a cultural expansion.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3,868]

15 hours ago, Focht Up said:

Sad to hear because this was a cool place.  I used to work there way back in the day.

I had a cup of coffe working at that location in the late 80s. Worst management I experienced in a twenty year hospitality industry  career. 

[CooterBrown 18,006]

12 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Considering my post and the whys and wherefores, I guess it was the idiot box and re-runs, and radio that made me/us aware of a broader spectrum of things.  Now they get to watch/listen to exactly what they want when they want to.

 

Funny thing, I remember those "musical" black and white cartoons that parodied or cartooned people like Victor Borge, Jimmy Durante, etc. that had to be explained by my parents.  But even that caused a cultural expansion.

I had the same thought you did.  All the media back in the day had a ton of current event references - real world events unlike the references today that just reference memes and other references.  One of the Donald Duck cartoons they watched was one of the WWII cartoons. I had to explain to them what the hell was going on. 

 

[TwiceHorn 31,450]

11 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

I had the same thought you did.  All the media back in the day had a ton of current event references - real world events unlike the references today that just reference memes and other references.  One of the Donald Duck cartoons they watched was one of the WWII cartoons. I had to explain to them what the hell was going on. 

 

Another thing, I was reminiscing about Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with someone the other day.  As I remember it, the highlight of my week as a ringmeat kid was Wonderful World of Disney at 8 on Sunday nights.  It was preceded by Wild Kingdom, which I didn't hate, but would watch with my parents.  I would also catch some of 60 Minutes before that.  So the scheduling of TV force fed me some edifying content along with my pablum.  Guess that doesn't happen anymore.

 

Also, this thread has triggered my carb addict. Mmmmm doughy pizza!

Edited June 29, 2018 by TwiceHorn

[CooterBrown 18,006]

6 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Another thing, I was reminiscing about Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with someone the other day.  As I remember it, the highlight of my week as a ringmeat kid was Wonderful World of Disney at 8 on Sunday nights.  It was preceded by Wild Kingdom, which I didn't hate, but would watch with my parents.  I would also catch some of 60 Minutes before that.  So the scheduling of TV force fed me some edifying content along with my pablum.  Guess that doesn't happen anymore.

Yep. Kids today are lacking accidental exposure to anything other than pr0n. 

 

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

I love conans, but they seriously need to get with the times with one thing.  Beer.  They have like 5 beers on tap.  If they turned themselves into a beer pub/pizza joint, they'd kill it.  Look at pinthouse pizza.  That place is packed all the damn time.  

[troph 24,783]

Wasn't the better location, the one that was actually closer to campus that is now a kerbey lane?  I didn't eat at this 29th one too much but I did do take out there quite a bit when i lived in brykerwoods.  

This was my go to. The 29th street location was third after the one up north. I still eat Conan’s a few times a year. Maybe not enough but I hope they stick around for a while longer. Deep dish savage is pretty damn good.

[utee94 15,811]

16 minutes ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

I love conans, but they seriously need to get with the times with one thing.  Beer.  They have like 5 beers on tap.  If they turned themselves into a beer pub/pizza joint, they'd kill it.  Look at pinthouse pizza.  That place is packed all the damn time.  

Just having employees that aren't so completely baked that they can actually take your order and get you a pizza in less than 45 minutes would also help, but that seems a tall task for them.

Totally agree though, if Conan's went full-on beer bar, they'd have a ton more business.  The location at Burnet/Anderson is already in a prime spot for that sort of thing, there's definitely a very large market for it.

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

34 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Just having employees that aren't so completely baked that they can actually take your order and get you a pizza in less than 45 minutes would also help, but that seems a tall task for them.

Totally agree though, if Conan's went full-on beer bar, they'd have a ton more business.  The location at Burnet/Anderson is already in a prime spot for that sort of thing, there's definitely a very large market for it.

Having employees that are baked kinda goes with the landscape. I agree it takes long, but that just means more beer!  Also, it legit takes 30-45 mins to bake a deep dish pie.  

I understand they have a licensing issue with the comics.  They are not allowed to continue use of the Conan imagery into any expanded locations, only the existing locations which have been grandfathered in.  

[utee94 15,811]

1 hour ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

Having employees that are baked kinda goes with the landscape. I agree it takes long, but that just means more beer!  Also, it legit takes 30-45 mins to bake a deep dish pie.  

I understand they have a licensing issue with the comics.  They are not allowed to continue use of the Conan imagery into any expanded locations, only the existing locations which have been grandfathered in.  

Takes 'em 22 minutes from order to ready. I order to go pretty frequently.

But yeah, I'm (sort of half-) kidding about the wait and the baked employees.  But in my 30 or so years of going to various Conan's locations, I can definitely say I've had more than a couple bizarre and/or bad customer service experiences due to the nature, and state, of the typical Conan's employee.  It's part of the charm, I suppose, and the pizza is more than worth it to me.

Better beer whilst waiting would be a Godsend though.

[jimmyjazz 45,899]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Another thing, I was reminiscing about Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with someone the other day.  As I remember it, the highlight of my week as a ringmeat kid was Wonderful World of Disney at 8 on Sunday nights.  It was preceded by Wild Kingdom, which I didn't hate, but would watch with my parents.  I would also catch some of 60 Minutes before that.  So the scheduling of TV force fed me some edifying content along with my pablum.  Guess that doesn't happen anymore.

My Dad sold Marlon Perkins a 35 mm camera.  Well, he put the camera on consignment at a camera shop in St. Louis and Marlon bought it.

So, I like to think we were there in spirit every time Marlon sent Jim into a rabid python den to free a Nile croc or some such.

[Paper_jam 831]

What other pizza joints near campus are left, that have a brick-and-mortar, dine-in type model? When I lived at Dobie my friends and I tended to hit up the Gattis or Pizza Hut on MLK, or Nikki's inside Dobie Mall. Or we'd order really cheap delivery from Pizza Classics. There was another place on the Drag with pizza and italian...Tony's?

 

 

[ChickenSandwich 9,833]

7 hours ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

Having employees that are baked kinda goes with the landscape. I agree it takes long, but that just means more beer!  Also, it legit takes 30-45 mins to bake a deep dish pie.  

I understand they have a licensing issue with the comics.  They are not allowed to continue use of the Conan imagery into any expanded locations, only the existing locations which have been grandfathered in.  

It’s par for the course at all pizza joints. Hot and messy kitchen. Huge turnover.

austin is worse than most. There is no accountability when the shitty employee can walk ten feet the the next place and get hired. Service in Austin is at the bottom of the barrel.  

[ChickenSandwich 9,833]

9 hours ago, HouTex said:

One of the things that strikes me and annoys me about the younger generations, ie millenials, is that that they seem to have almost zero knowledge of the "culture" of prior generations.  In my limited interactions, they seem thoroughly ignorant of any movie, music, or other pop culture more than about 10-15 years old.   As a teen in the 80s, and college student, I was pretty familiar with the movies, music and TV of the 50s and 60s, as were most of my peers.  The 40s were pushing it a little, but we knew the high points at least.  And we didn't have a pocket encyclopedia to look stuff up on instantaneously, either/Get-off-my-lawn-old-man-Gen-X rant

Great topic for another thread. I imagine it's because then we only had TV and books and the culture of the 40's and 50's was still on display through the 70's and 80's. Nowadays they are only into what's happening now because that's their exposure. And it sucks.

Because cultural appropriation has been deemed racist. 

White girls open a Mexican restaurant?  Not so fast says Portland. 

Just not enough real Italians to go around. 

[Hank_Hill 18,803]

10 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

One of the things that strikes me and annoys me about the younger generations, ie millenials, is that that they seem to have almost zero knowledge of the "culture" of prior generations.  In my limited interactions, they seem thoroughly ignorant of any movie, music, or other pop culture more than about 10-15 years old.   As a teen in the 80s, and college student, I was pretty familiar with the movies, music and TV of the 50s and 60s, as were most of my peers.  The 40s were pushing it a little, but we knew the high points at least.  And we didn't have a pocket encyclopedia to look stuff up on instantaneously, either/Get-off-my-lawn-old-man-Gen-X rant

Talk to the hipsters.

[Deej 76,759]

The 29th Street location was great back in college. Stop at Oat Willie's for some rolling papers, roll a fatty in the car, order pizza, go back to the car and smoke the fatty, go in and eat pizza and drink pitchers of beer, stop at the porn shop next door, buy a box of whippets, stop at the video store and rent a movie, go home and watch movie and do whippets. That location had it all.