Another Vendor Exits 3rd Street Market
Paper Plane Pizza announces departure from downtown food hall. Chicago location still going.
The Avenue and 3rd Street Market Hall. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Paper Plane Pizza is taking its leave from 3rd Street Market Hall.
The slice shop, led by Dustin Drankiewicz and Milos Stevanovic, has closed after just under 18 months in business at the food hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave.
The co-owners shared the news in a Tuesday morning social media post. “Our lease and time is up,” they wrote, adding that the food hall format is “tough and very expensive for small businesses,” making it difficult to thrive.
“We gotta shift gears and go back to what we know and do best.”
Moving forward, Paper Plane Pizza will be shifting focus to its upcoming location in Chicago, which is set to open this summer. The business also operates at From Here On, a food hall and market in Chicago.
The pizza restaurant is the third concept to exit 3rd Street Market Hall in recent weeks. Two others, Greenhouse and Make Waves, left the food hall in early May.
During its 18-month tenure in downtown Milwaukee, Paper Plane Pizza specialized in long-fermented pies with flavorful, bubbly crusts. The restaurant offered a handful of signature pies and a rotating daily special, as well as a build-your-own option.
In addition to pizza, Paper Plane served a variety of salads, desserts and sandwiches featuring housemade focaccia bread.
The casual Italian concept was a step outside the box for Drankiewicz and Stevanovic, who cut their teeth in Michelin-star restaurants and later worked the fast-paced tavern scene before launching Paper Plane.
Compared to their previous ventures, the partners intentionally took a slow and steady approach to the pizza concept, starting off with a counter-service pop-up and food truck, then slowly building up to permanent locations.
“This was our way to kind of slow everything down and just take it back to simplicity,” Drankiewicz told Urban Milwaukee in a previous interview.
The departure of Paper Plane Pizza leaves 16 food vendors in operation at the market hall.
That includes Mid-Way Bakery, Dairyland, Mr. Dye’s Pies, Wok Downtown MKE, Yummy Bowl, Shuckers Crab Shack & Oyster Bar, Strange Town Bottle Shop, Kompali Tacos Y Tortas, Mr. Wings, Dawg City, Anytime Arepa, Pho Spot MKE, Smokin’ Jack’s BBQ, Criollo, Kawa and Rod & Makk.
For more information and future updates on Paper Plane Pizza, visit the restaurant’s website or follow Paper Plane Pizza on social media.
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This kind of thing is probably inevitable. I hope the spaces fill up, soon.
I remain in awe of what Omar Shaikh has done with Third Street Market Hall, and what Josh Krsnak and Tony Janowiec have done with The Avenue overall. A combination of diligence and creativity, and the capacity to pivot if something isn’t working or doesn’t look like it will work.
Great job all around.
Tried eating there several times and a bunch of stuff on their menu wasn’t actually available every time.
Goodbye, hopefully find someplace else to backfill and actually have food available.