If you enter Cozmic Pizza — the conspicuously yellow building at 1432 Willamette St. — and find no one operating the counter, don’t be confused. You might soon be alarmed anyway. A muffled voice will eventually click on and acknowledge your presence.
“It’s really confusing to a lot of people who don’t know what’s going on,” employee Sara Sabol said. “People get weirded out.”
Cozmic Pizza opened for business October 1999. The former tenant was Rising Moon Organics, which vacated the building for a new location. Sabol, who has worked at the restaurant for a year, said Cozmic Pizza now has two additional businesses operating within its walls — Conquering Lion Raw Foods and 7 Wonders Herbal Elixir Bar. These replace Cozmic’s salad bar, although the eatery still offers salads for order on its menu.
Health conscious ingredients distinguish Cozmic from other pizza restaurants. The cooks make dough for each pie with homemade ground flower — whole wheat and white. All the food is vegetarian, including the meat, which is still listed as Canadian bacon, sausage and pepperoni. There is also a selection of vegan pizzas on the menu. And of course, everything is organic — minus a few toppings — artichoke hearts, olives and pepperoncinis.
“We have the healthiest pizza this side of the UO — it’s pretty cosmic here,” employee Nichole Marie said. “We’re creating conscious awareness of our diets … we can’t live off grease and expect to progress scholastically,” she said.
Marie, who holds no official job title, quoted Mark Twain’s saying “make your vocation your vacation,” and said she likes making pizza because it’s artistic.
“I’m thankful that I have this job,” she said.
She added that she wished more college kids would order pizza through Cozmic’s delivery service, which uses both cars and a bicycle dubbed “the rocket” by employees. Sabol said that while the restaurant is sometimes empty, it receives more delivery orders than dining customers.
“It’s doing well,” she said. “It just fluctuates so much. It’s not struggling, thankfully.”
Conservation is another key concern for Cozmic. The restaurant uses “re-boxes” — reusable delivery boxes — to bring its pizza to customer’s doors. Sabol said they also
compost as much as possible.
If the dining area seems eerily quiet, this is because the kitchen is detached from the main building. During the summertime, Cozmic opens up its back yard, a grassy plot of land surrounded by sky and cloud murals. There is a stage, flower garden and bench for customers to eat at.
The restaurant employs seven people, and has recently opened up another location in Ashland. Employee Tyrone Barnett has worked for Cozmic for three years and puts in about 30 hours per week. Barnett, also a musician, performs a variety of tasks for the restaurant, including delivery.
“I like delivering,” he said. “You don’t have to stay in one place, you can go around and find things. It’s like a video game.”
For desserts, the restaurant offers vegan cheesecake and Rusty’s Handbuilt cookie bars. This isn’t mere coincidence — the dessert business operates next door to Cozmic.
Cozmic is open from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. everyday.
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