Pizza NOLA Shuts Down Following Disappointing King Cake Season

Lakeview’s Pizza NOLA, which made big news and decent money each king cake season for carrying the highly coveted Dong Phoung king cakes, will close on Sunday, March 11, 2018, after seven and a half years in business, according to a press release.

Co-owner, Will Samuels, partially blamed a sluggish king cake season for the closure. “After a slow second-half of 2017, we were counting on a much bigger financial boost from this Carnival season to get us back on track. Unfortunately, we did not get that,” he said in a press release this afternoon.

New Orleans East’s Vietnamese bakery Dong Phuong suspended its 2018 Carnival-season partnership with Pizza NOLA after its king cakes became so popular following a James Beard Award that it couldn’t keep up with the demand.

Hours-long lines stretched around the popular bakery. King cake scalpers were reported by the media.

Pizza NOLA still plans to sell king cakes in a pop-up format during the 2019 season, resuming its “long-standing partnership with Dong Phuong bakery to provide king cakes throughout Carnival.”

“We were the first to promote their king cakes and we are so proud of what we have accomplished in our partnership and of the recognition the bakery has achieved,” Samuels said in the press release.

Pizza NOLA’s space on Harrison Ave does not yet have a new tenant.

• All 2018 Shutters [ENOLA]
• All Pizza NOLA Coverage [ENOLA]