Our History
It was 1977…when Chuck Woodstock opened the first Woodstock’s Pizza near Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon.
His goal was to create a fun, student-oriented pizzeria that dished up amazing pies using his grandmother’s marinara recipe. From the beginning he focused on fresh, hand-tossed dough with a unique folded-over crust with sauce inside. He insisted on putting more toppings on the pizza than any of his competitors, so you get a taste of every topping in each bite.
He quickly gained a loyal following, and partnered with Mike Chew in 1980 to build their next restaurant in San Luis Obispo, and then came Woodstock’s Isla Vista.
Meanwhile back in Corvallis, Jeff Ambrose was a recent college grad without a full-time job. Delivering pizzas seemed like a good way to keep from starving. But it turned out to be much more than he expected —
In 1982, Chuck and Chew traveled to Chico and took a look around the town and knew they had found exactly what they wanted. In fact, they were so excited about the location that Chuck bought the building right across the street from Chico State and named it Woodstock Plaza.
Woodstock’s Pizza opened in August of 1983 and it quickly became an institution in Chico.
Chuck and Chew then partnered with Jeff to open a store near SDSU. Meanwhile, they worked on a new restaurant in Davis.
Sadly, Chuck and Chew passed away in a private plane crash in 1985, leaving the company in the hands of their family members. Eventually the families promoted Jeff to President of the company. In 2001, Jeff and his wife, Laura, purchased all five California restaurants. (The original Corvallis restaurant is solely owned by Chuck’s wife, Carol Lee Woodstock.)
Since that time, we have added two new restaurants, in Santa Cruz and in Pacific Beach, San Diego.
Woodstock’s has an employee stock ownership plan, and encourages all managers to become owners. The company is currently ranked #3 among independent pizzerias nationwide. True to Chuck’s legacy, we are still committed to offering the highest quality ingredients, making our dough fresh daily in-house, keeping our signature sauce a secret, and working hard to create loyal customers and team members, while having fun in the process.
Our Mission
Our mission is to earn loyal customers and team members who uniquely regard Woodstock’s as the Ultimate Pizza Experience.
I actually went to college in Corvallis, home of the first Woodstock's and had to chuckle when discovering this Woodstock's and the one in Corvallis are connected. Our family ate here and although we didn't eat pizza, we had a decent eating experience nonetheless.