Grand Rapids’ Creston neighborhood is gaining a new pizza joint in the coming weeks, as the owners of a local food truck plan their first brick-and-mortar location.

Clinton Edwards and Samantha Poma-Edwards, the husband-wife duo that own and operate the food truck, are opening Arcane Pizza at 1300 Plainfield Ave. NE, where they’ll serve artisan wood-fired pizza for customers on the go. 

The Edwardses have been operating their pizza truck, also named Arcane Pizza, for three years and say they’re excited to take their business to the next level by adding a brick-and-mortar takeout restaurant.

“The opportunity just kind of presented itself and we decided to just take a leap,” Clinton Edwards said. “This is definitely a big transition for us.” 

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Arcane Pizzas are made with sourdough crust, with both vegan and vegetarian options on the menu. Offerings include a mushroom trio pizza featuring a mushroom blend, garlic cloves, house-made cashew ricotta and arugula, as well as a prosciutto goat cheese pizza featuring pears and rosemary-infused honey drizzled on top. 

“We try to be creative,” Edwards said. “We consider it artisan (pizza). We have a passion for food and the people eating it and just try to keep it fresh and fun.

“There’s a lot of pizza places in town that you can go and get your standard pizza. What we want to be is the pizza place where you go to try something new or something a little bit funky.”

Edwards first got into the restaurant business several years ago, when his wife worked as a traveling nurse and he traveled with her, working in restaurants across the U.S. in a variety of positions.

“I worked at a wood-fired pizza place in Colorado, and I remember having a lot of fun,” Edwards said. “I fell in love with wood-fired pizza through the job and then I talked to (Samantha) about it and we said, ‘You know, we could do that.’” 

With the goal of opening a pizza food truck, the Edwardses bought a box truck and started outfitting it to align with their business plan. That included installing a wood-fired pizza oven weighing more than a ton to the vehicle, which involved a full renovation of the box truck and the addition of insulation, a cooler and more. 

“It basically just started taking off right after we built it,” Edwards said. 

The Edwardses will continue operating their food truck for events and catering in addition to the 900-square-foot Plainfield restaurant, which they are currently preparing to open in the coming weeks. 

The space was formerly home to Roberto’s Pizza Plainfield, which closed in May 2022 after only a year and a half in business. The owner cited rising costs and slumping sales in a Facebook post announcing the closure, noting that the company was focusing efforts on its remaining Burton Street location. 

Jackpot Pizza opened in the location shortly after the closure, but also closed in spring 2023. 

Thanks to the pre-installed brick pizza oven and a fully outfitted kitchen, the restaurant is nearly ready for Arcane Pizza to move in. 

While the Edwardses don’t have a specific opening date in mind, the restaurant is slated to hold a soft opening in the coming weeks, with a grand opening planned after Thanksgiving. They will offer pizza for takeout only for the time being, with the goal of opening a patio for dining in the near future. 

Arcane Pizza is at least the second food truck to announce plans to open a physical location in the Creston neighborhood. The food truck Street Chef Shaw is aiming to open an as-yet unnamed takeout restaurant this month at 1539 Plainfield Ave. NE, as Crain’s Grand Rapids Business previously reported. 

 

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