By Ebony L. Morman

453 square feet. That’s how much space Bird Pizzeria owners Nkem and Kerrel Thompson had to work with in the years since opening a brick-and-mortar location in 2021. 

It’s a cozy spot in Optimist Park with an oversized window for customers to peek through while waiting for their pies. There’s music, good vibes, and a parklet — a small seating area along the sidewalk. It’s a space that’s been home to the pizzeria for years, a natural progression for business, which previously offered pizzas by way of a pop-up.  

Now, another expansion is on the horizon. And it comes with more space, too — nearly 800 additional square feet, thanks to a remodel of the space next door. With more than 1,200 square feet and two kitchens, the staff will be able to make more dough, serve more people, and finally showcase all that Bird Pizzeria can offer. 

In the coming weeks, customers who stop by the pizzeria for a pie will find an enhanced version of the restaurant. Instead of a parklet with a handful of seats, there’ll be a dining room that seats 50, including six seats at the bar and patio seating behind the pizzeria. Instead of pre-ordering a build-your-own pizza to-go days in advance, guests can enjoy pizza served on a tray, still warm and ready to be eaten in community with others. 

“It’s a big deal because it will allow more people to experience Bird,” Nkem Thompson says. “That’s just been one of the big pain points that people have been patient with, but 99 percent of customers that we have are just incredible and understanding.” 

The additional space means there’ll be more opportunities for the owners to grow the business in multiple ways, says Thompson, who oversees front-of-the-house operations, human resources, and marketing. 

“I think the bar just allows for more accommodation and Bird can be included in more conversations in the culinary space,” Thompson says. “We’re a pizzeria. We’re not trying to be a fine dining restaurant or anything like that. I just think people will understand us more now that we’re able to accommodate in this way.” 

Thompson’s hope is for Bird Pizzeria’s customers to more fully comprehend the couple’s effort to bring even more energy and excitement to Charlotte’s food scene than they did before through the pick-up window. Charlotte is growing and the pizzeria is, too. And Thompson wants customers to know that they’re doing the most they can with Bird Pizzeria, which she refers to as a blessing. 

And if you’ve ordered from Bird Pizzeria in the past couple of weeks, you may have already experienced the results of having more space to store and create more dough. The back-of-the-house team is hired, which means staff is undergoing training. So, there are more pies to go around as they’re working with two kitchens but still serving solely out of the pickup window. 

It was nearly five years ago when Kerrel decided to be more intentional about learning the ins and outs of running a restaurant. So he went to work in one, only to have the pandemic occur within a couple of months. During that time, he set a lofty goal of making one pizza each day. The family kitchen quickly resembled a commercial kitchen with 50-pound bags of flour dispersed throughout. Kerrel, who is Bird Pizzeria’s chef, was devoted to figuring out the dough recipe. 

“Pizza has always been a love of [Kerrel’s],” Nkem Thompson says. “We just came up in the era of Ninja Turtles, pizza parties, and pizza being such a big thing at every event. Growing up for him, pizza was significant. And then he just was opinionated about it. Even now, the pizza we make is sort of a combination of all the things that he’s ever liked about pizza. And so there’s multiple references of how he landed on his specific recipe.” 

As for the new menu, which is still being refined, diners can expect to choose from a set menu of pizza selections and a few not-pizza items. There’ll be several flavor profiles, with some pizzas inspired by seasonal flavors and others that’ll entice customers to explore new pizza adventures by getting out of their comfort zones. The current build-your-own process, which Bird Pizzeria offered from the start, will be available for takeout only. 

The Thompsons are collaborating with local mixologist and owner of Lorem Ipsum, Justin Hazelton, to help fine tune Bird Pizzeria’s bar menu. Thompson promises one thing for the full-service bar: it’ll be lively, not serious. There’ll be playful cocktails and rifts on classic drinks. Beer and wine will also be served.

Bird Pizzeria is a neighborhood pizzeria, one that’s located on a residential street. So cultivating a vibrant community atmosphere with an urban aesthetic is something that the Thompsons are adamant about upholding, especially in the midst of Charlotte’s growth, Thompson says. They hope the pizzeria, after the expansion, will retain much of its charm and be a place for people from all backgrounds and experiences to meet and have fun engaging one another with the possibility of making new friends. 

“It’s important to consider the other aspects of lifestyle [outside of food] that are important to people like music, fashion, and other elements that help us express ourselves so that people can find ways to relate and build community through Bird,” she says. 

The restaurant is housed in an old building that’s not technically historic, but has been an incubator for small businesses and artists, which is why the couple is committed to maintaining as much of the building’s existing condition as possible. In the design of the new space, Thompson says they have worked to reveal the existing architecture and complement it with modern elements, combining old and new to create the best possible ambiance. 

In June, The New York Times named Bird one of the 22 best pizzerias in the nation. The honor came at an appropriate time as the expansion was already in the works and now they’re able to better accommodate the added business as result of the new press.  The Thompsons are looking forward to Bird Pizzeria’s next phase, which is quickly approaching. 

“The experiential aspect of Bird hasn’t even been hasn’t even happened yet,” Thompson says. “We’re most excited about being able to serve a hot pizza on a tray to people, and not just put it in a box and hope people get it. We’re excited to just create a new space for Charlotte to really experience Bird.”