Member Profile: Charred Apizza

Located in downtown Springfield, Charred Apizza is a restaurant that offers pizza, house-made phosphate soda, and a range of other exciting menu items. While their storefront location opened in 2026, Charred has been serving food to the community for years. Dave Lucht, Co-Owner of Charred Apizza, provided us with more information on the restaurant.

About Charred Apizza
Charred Apizza is the passion project of two friends, Dave and Terry. Terry is a seasoned baker and self-professed dough nerd, while Dave is a chef with over 30 years of restaurant experience. Together, their combined expertise creates a wonderful pizza.

Getting Started
Dave’s culinary career began at age 14. He attended business college at University of Kansas before studying at the Southern California School of Culinary Arts. The decades of making and serving food gave him great respect for the craft and a strong belief in the power of food to bring about lasting personal connections.

Terry discovered his passion for baking as a hobby 15 years ago, and got serious five years later. He sought out mentorship from many professional bakers to help guide his journey. Today, there is no dough Terry can’t perfect or a loaf of bread he can’t bake.

Creating Charred Apizza
The duo began dreaming and working on Charred in 2022. They started with pop-ups, catering and collaborations with other businesses. They even borrowed a friend’s food truck for some local vineyard events. These beginning steps were quintessential for the formation of the business but were never the end goal. Dave and Terry had their eyes on a brick-and-mortar storefront somewhere in Downtown Springfield.

In early 2025, they partnered with the Washburne Café, taking over the space during the weekend evenings after the café had closed. For nearly a year, they co-habited the space, gaining a local following and some traction on Main Street. During that time, Terry and Dave secured their own space just a few blocks down the street. In October 2025, they got the keys and began an extensive remodel.

Five months of intense work involving concrete removal and pouring, plumbing, electrical upgrades, structural fixes, and a lot of deep cleaning yielded Charred Apizza’s new home at 553 Main Street.

Charred Apizza Offerings
Charred proudly serves Detroit-style pizza, New Haven-style pizza, calzones, a salad bar stocked by local organic farmers, house-made phosphate sodas, 1950s-inspired cocktails, frozen take-out options, and catering. Their dynamic space was built with community in mind. Charred hosts pop-ups, classes, collaborations and special dinner events every other Sunday – a recurring and special evening called 5th night.

While Terry and Dave are masters of their craft, they never stop innovating. They are constantly testing, refining, and showcasing the endless possibilities of pizza. Guests can always expect to see new styles of pizza, wildly creative specials, comfortable classics, and regional specialties.

Charred is proud to be partnered with Pasta Plus and serve as Springfield’s direct to the public outlet. Get Pasta Plus products and pesto at Charred, and save some money compared to the retail prices at grocery stores.