Local Business Spotlight:

MOONLIGHT PIZZA & BREWPUB

The Spotlight

Past and present owners of Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub
Back, L-R: Kyle Buskist, Brenna Eaker, David Ward, Bryan Ward, Andy Vigil, Heather Adams, Scott Bouldin, Kim Bouldin
Front, L-R: Vickie Sue Vigil, Suzanne Ward

Tell us a little about your background and who you are.

Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub is a restaurant and brewery located in Historic Downtown Salida. Founded by David Ward and Andy Vigil in 1994, it opened in a strip mall on Highway 50 (which is now Mountain Pawn & Gun). Shortly thereafter, Moonlight Pizza relocated to a building on 1st Street, before moving to its current location on F Street. The building we are in now was originally a Sinclair gas station, but through the years it’s been an ice cream shop, a flower shop, and even a record store. Over the years, Moonlight has had several owners including David’s son Nathan Ward, PT Wood, and Kim & Scott Bouldin. Today, Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub is owned by Bryan Ward, Heather Adams, Kyle Buskist, and Brenna Eaker.

Owners Brenna Eaker, Heather Adams, Bryan Ward, & Kyle Buskist

What is Moonlight's mission/vision statement?

Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub is all about creating an experience that allows friends and family to enjoy time together. It’s really important to the owners that, in addition to offering amazing food and service, we provide an atmosphere that is fun, energetic and welcoming to everyone - kids included! We love knowing that we get to help create these memorable experiences for our customers - and that really means so much to us!

One of Moonlight’s famous specialty pies, The T-Guns.

How long have you been operating?

Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub has been operating since June of 1994.

Please tell us a little bit about your restaurant.

Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub is family friendly, casual, and fun. We use only the freshest ingredients and we make almost everything in-house (including our salad dressings and sodas). Our on-site brewery opened in 2011, and is a 7-barrel brewing system. We typically have 15 beers on tap ranging anywhere from classic English styles and German lagers to hop-bomb American pales.

Between us and our staff, we tend to just play around with making new things to eat and when we find something we love, we add it to the menu. That’s how our sandwiches were invented (just putting pizza dough into a bread pan and baking it with garlic and basil). We also have a delicious dessert pizza, the Strawberry Moon - which is Moonlight Pizza’s original crust topped with homemade strawberry sauce, cinnamon streusel and lemon icing. Also worth mentioning, we do sell our house-made salad dressings by the jar and customers can receive a discount if they bring the original jar in for a refill.

Caesar Salad with housemade Caesar dressing

Can you tell us a little bit about your Moonlight Monday program?

Moonlight Monday’s were created by Kim Bouldin. Non-profit organizations were extremely important to Kim, and she had always worked with them in one way or another. When she became the owner of Moonlight Pizza, she no longer had the time to volunteer with these organizations but she wanted to continue to give to them in some way. She soon discovered that she had a powerful vehicle in Moonlight Pizza, and that she could use it as a community gathering area for people to come together and support various non-profits around Chaffee County. Through the Moonlight Monday program, Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub has been able to bring awareness and focus to these groups, as well as help them to raise money. Moonlight donates 10% of their sales for the day to the organization who is being hosted on that particular Moonlight Monday.

Have you won any awards or had any special recognition or acknowledgment of your business?

Yes, we recently won Salida’s Best Pizza, Best Margaritas, and Best Restaurant for Kids. Additionally, we have several award winning craft beers. Our Auburn Ale took home a bronze medal at the 2018 Colorado State Fair Craft Beer Competition. And the following year, our Skinny Dipper Mexican Lager took home a gold medal and our Porter took home a silver medal.

Is there anything special you would like to feature about your business?

We think it would be fun to share the story of how we got our name. The story goes a little something like this . . . back in the early 1990s, David Ward and Andy Vigil decided to partner together and purchase Daylight Donuts. They soon discovered that, in addition to the equipment needed to make donuts, there was a ton of pizza equipment that came along with the purchase . . . and from there an idea was born! They would make donuts in the "daylight” and they would make pizza in the “moonlight.”

Do you have any upcoming events or specials that you would like to share with us?

Happy hour is everyday from 3-5 and includes $1 off of mixed drinks and $1.50 off beer
Lunch special everyday until 3pm. Slice with one topping of choice and a soda or cream ale for $6.69.
Full Moon Special - on the day of the Full Moon, buy one Full Moon or Harvest Moon pizza, get a pizza of the same size or smaller & of equal or lesser value FREE! PLEASE NOTE: our Full Moon Special is now limited to the first 75 orders.
Weekly specials include:
- Twofer Tuesdays - Buy a whole sandwich get a 1/2 sandwich for free
- Wing Wednesdays - 75 cent wings all day
- Thirsty Thursdays - Buy one, get one free margaritas
- Sunday Special - 14" Specialty Pizza, 6 Wings & 2 Breadsticks for $19.99
We also have our “Build a Pie” contest each month which allows our customers to design their own pizza recipe. Our social media followers then vote on the pie they’d like to see on our menu - so each month we feature a new “customer creation” on our menu.

There are plenty of “to-go” options when it comes to your your favorite Moonlight beverages.

Moonlight’s Sunday Special: one 16” pizza, 6 wings, and 2 breadsticks.

Please tell us one of your favorite things about being a part of our community.

There are so many things we love about Salida - but, to us, it is the people who make up this amazing community who truly make it so special. Being a part of this community is like being part of a big family. We’ve always felt that way, but it’s become even more apparent to us over the last couple of years - especially during COVID. The way that people have come together to support each other, and to support all of the small businesses in our town, really means so much to us.

What are your hours of operation? Do you have seasonal hours?

Our hours do change throughout the year depending on the season and they do change during some holidays.

Fall/Winter Hours (typically Sept - May):
Monday thru Saturday - 11am to 9pm
Sundays - 11am to 8pm
Spring/Summer Hours (typically May - Sept)
Sunday thru Wednesday - 11am to 9pm
Thursday thru Saturday - 11am to 10pm

CONNECT WITH MOONLIGHT!
Follow Moonlight on Facebook and Instagram

GET IN TOUCH
Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub | 242 F Street, Salida, CO 81201 | 719-539-4277 | info@moonlightpizza.biz
www.moonlightpizza.biz | Online Ordering