Hungry For A Slice Of Joy? Then Celebrate National Pizza Day

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Need an excuse to stuff your face for dinner? It's National Pizza Day.

From thin crust to deep dish, about three billion pizzas are sold in the United States each year.

Inside the Italian Pie Shoppe and Winery in St. Paul preparations are underway for the rush of people wanting to celebrate National Pizza Day.

"Where else can you get something made to order the way you want it in just a matter of minutes," said Katie Wann, owner of the Italian Pie Shoppe and Winery.

Katie Wann says the sign outside tells you what to expect inside.

"They see our sign 'Pizza By The Slice' and that brings a lot of people in," Katie Wann said.

Or lots of hungry students.

"We got a lot of customers from Macalester and we get a lot of customers from St. Thomas, so we are right in between two colleges," Katie Wann said.

Students tell us this is the place to be. Lots of good toppings and they say they can tell a lot of love goes into making pizza here.

"We make our dough fresh, every day we grind our own cheese, we make our own sauce, the people who work for me, we all care about what we are making and doing," Katie Wann said.

But the debate over thin crust or deep dish continues.

"It depends on my mood, it's as simple as that I love them both," Katie Wann said.

"Our deep dish is really good. Our New York-style thin is really good, our stuffed pizza is really good, there's just quite a variety of pizza, you don't just get one style of pizza," said Grant Wann.

Grant is the second generation of Wanns to work here.

"I've been working here the last ten years at least since I was 15, but I've been around it for as long as I can remember actually," Grant Wann said.

He says now more than ever we need something that brings us all together and there is nothing nicer than a huge slice of pizza made just the way you like it.

"You want to get what you pay for, you don't want to be cheap with your ingredients or the quality," said Katie Wann.

The Italian Pie Shoppe also has take-and-bake pizzas and delivery.