One of the Charlotte area’s best pizza food trucks is opening two restaurant locations
Get ready for 2024 World Pizza Champion King of Fire Pizza to fire up its first brick-and-mortar locations., as it will open at The Green in uptown Charlotte this August and in downtown Clover, SC, in September.
If you didn’t already know, King of Fire is a family-owned, mobile brick-oven pizza food truck run by a three-time world pizza acrobatics champion Siler Chapman, who has appeared on Food Network, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Steve Harvey Show and The Today Show.
“With everything reopening and the relocation of some of the businesses downtown, we were really focusing on that side of the town right there at The Green,” Chapman told CharlotteFive. “And, so we thought that was going to be an absolutely home run hit.”
As King of Fire’s new location at The Green will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, Siler said the restaurant will mainly “focus on the lunch crowd and give more options there in downtown.”
And no worries if you’ve been a fan of King of Fire’s food trucks — Chapman said they will remain in operation after the new locations open.
Five styles of pizza
At its new locations, Chapman said, “We’ll have five different ways of making pizzas, so it’ll be really cool.”
From those five styles of pizzas, Chapman promises:
King of Fire’s classic American woodfired pizza
Grandma pies, typically a thin, rectangular style pizza
Chicago cracker thins, also known as a tavern style
A New York style pizza
Pizza with a Sicilian style crust.
When it comes to King of Fire’s woodfired style, Chapman likes to keep it all American, with a higher gluten flour, instead of double zero Neapolitan-style flour, which is more finely milled.
King of Fire’s menu also features standout items like its Margherita, made with red sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil and an EVOO drizzle, and the Honey Pie, with a red sauce base, whole milk mozzarella, EZZO pepperoni, crushed red pepper flakes and a honey drizzle.
There’s even an option for pickle lovers, the Hardy Pickle Pizza with breaded chicken, smoked bacon, cheddar cheese and dill pickles, topped with a drizzle of garlic dill ranch sauce. (Note: menus vary by location.)
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Pizza vibes
King of Fire plans for its new location at The Green to offer a friendly, fast-casual vibe.
“It’s going to be kind of like fast-casual, where you come up and order at the front counter. And then by the time you get [your] drink, your pizza will be ready, and you’ll be able to sit around with your friends and family members and be able to enjoy a great lunch,” Chapman said.
At its Clover location, which will offer more of a fine-dining concept, King of Fire will have two styles of ovens that “you’ll be able to come up and watch and enjoy a totally different experience,” Chapman said.
[MENU SNEAK PEEK: A ’90s pizzeria is making a long-awaited return to Charlotte]
Taking home the Trofeo Caputo Cup
At the Trofeo Caputo Cup, where World Pizza Championship teams from countries such as Switzerland, Japan, Norway and Argentina compete in Italy, Chapman went against 40 American competitors and ultimately took home first place in the Traditional American Division.
Chapman said King of Fire’s winning pizza went with toppings including pepperoni, bacon and red pepper flakes, “and then we used the local honey that we like to use in our food trucks,” Chapman said.
“We took first place — and, I mean, it’s a very hard award to win. I got fifth place last year there, and I was determined this year to really come back and try to win this thing, and we did,” Chapman said.
King of Fire
Location: 435 S Tryon St STE 140, Charlotte, NC 28202
Location: 117 N Main St Clover, SC 29710
Cuisine: Pizza
Instagram: @kingoffrepizza
