Downtown Dickson's Zander's Woodfired Pizza debuts new food truck

Zander's Woodfired Pizza quickly became a local favorite restaurant in downtown Dickson after its opening in the summer of June 2016.

Before then, it had only been a dream of owners, and husband-wife duo, Zack and Esther Wood. Fast forward two years later, the restaurant is not only thriving in the community but also debuted its newest business addition, a customized food truck, this past Friday during Christmas in Downtown.

In the years that Zander's has been open, being able to travel with their pizza has been in high demand. Many inquiries have been made to the business requesting its attendance at festivals, private events and other large party occasions.

However, up until now, doing such events were not possible. Pizzas could have been pre-made in the restaurant but delivering enough food to feed a large number of people was impossible to guarantee fresh pizza upon arrival; the food needed to be able to cook on site. After much consideration, research and convincing, the Woods decided that it was time to explore the idea and have now added the mobile food truck to its services.

While the Woods are thrilled about their new endeavor, they shared that a food truck was never on the radar with their original plans. They had hoped the business would be successful enough to either grow its footprint in Dickson or some other location but had no idea a food truck was in the works for the future.

However, having such a phenomenal reception from the community has meant so much to the Woods, and helped them realize that this is a positive step forward for their business, family and the community.

How it started

In 2015, Zack and Esther acquired the nearly 115-year old building where Zander's is now located. At that time they had no idea what the business would actually be. Instead, they fell in love with the location, character and history of the building itself and agreed to figure out the rest later. The only thing they knew for sure was that the business had to be something they could do as a family.

Soon after purchasing the building, the concept of a pizza and ice cream restaurant came into fruition. Pizza and ice cream had been a passion of the Woods’ since their college days, and the couple felt like the idea could be a success in the Dickson community.

Before launching the official business Zack built a pizza oven in the backyard and began experimenting. Since the couple wanted the business to be family oriented, they decided to let their children test things out with them. The Woods now have three children: Zander (7), Elowyn (4) and Luke (2).

Zander, who the restaurant was named after, assisted with cooking in the backyard pizza oven as he loves to cook; Elowyn, had always enjoyed homemade ice cream, so she assisted with those duties; and Luke had not yet been born but did make his entrance into the world on the original date of Zander's grand opening day. Each have had and continue to still have intricate roles with the business.

“Our kids have been inspiration and chaos to us,” shared a smiling Esther as she looked at each of her kids doing different things in the restaurant. “This is what opening the business has been all about.”

When visiting the restaurant, the kids may be seen greeting guests, helping take orders or even standing outside in front of the door enticing customers to come in and dine.

Zander's prides itself in being a fun, family oriented restaurant and is constantly working to bring fresh, new ideas to the community through their food. They have been able to continue to make everything they possibly can from scratch and use all natural ingredients in their pizza, salads and most famously, the ice cream. All ice cream served at Zander's is made by hand, in-house using an old-fashioned churn with no electronic refrigeration.

“We’ve always enjoyed sitting with family on the back porch and making homemade ice cream, shared Zach. “I wanted to preserve that at the restaurant, and so far we’ve been able to.”

Pizza inspirations comes from everywhere. Some are from family and friends, while others are from employees and even every day customers. One pizza in particular was named the J.R., which happens to be the initials of a customer who came up with one of the pizza concepts on the menu.

If you can think it, Zander's can try it.

Zander's has embraced inspiration from many different people and many different places, and the Woods shared that they truly felt blessed to just be part of it all.

Food truck

With their new food truck, Zander's is now available for private catering events and can come to you. This is not to be confused with them operating as a normal food truck would.

As of now, food trucks are not permitted within Dickson city limits, but Zack hopes that the conversation for such will continue to happen and be possible one day soon.

The Woods expressed their gratitude to the community and local businesses for all of their support and helpfulness over the past few years and can’t wait for them to be part of their future endeavors.

Their hope is that this will only be the beginning for Zander's and other businesses as a segue into the evolution of Dickson and enhancement to business owners and customers alike.