ST. LOUIS — St. Louis’ small but wildly popular Katie’s Pizza & Pasta chain of pizzerias will soon be available to a much larger consumer base after it received the rare honor of earning a Golden Ticket following a pitch to Walmart recently.
Katie’s pitch to Walmart to carry its frozen pizzas was so well received that it received the offer to carry the products almost immediately, according to the companies.
Katie’s Pizza said that only a fraction of companies that pitch to Walmart’s Open Call receive the offer.
“We did it! We got a Golden Ticket,” owner Katie Lee said. “It’s the American dream come true, and we’re so proud to expand into Walmart. We’re so grateful to our St. Louis fans who have supported us as we started offering frozen pizzas through our restaurant business during the pandemic. We dreamed big and expanded into local grocery outlets, nationwide shipping, then moved into wider retail distribution, and now Walmart.”
Katie’s move to include frozen pizzas came out of necessity during COVID and it proved to be such a big hit that they began being carried in local grocers in the St. Louis area.
Katie’s Pizza and Pasta has only three locations and is believed to be the only restaurant of its size making pizzas and pastas by hand for retail.
The pizzas are expected to be in Walmart stores in mid to late 2025.
Katie's Pizza began as a single, small pizzeria and has eventually expanded to three locations in the St. Louis metro area, offering artisan-style, wood-fired pizzas.
