NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Germantown pizza shop that was days away from permanently closing its doors is still open — thanks to an outpouring of support from the Nashville community.
Kimberly Wolff, owner of 312 Pizza Company, said this year pushed her business to its breaking point.
"This year in particular, 2026, has definitely been – the hardest that we've – that we've experienced," Wolff said.
Wolff has owned 312 Pizza Company in Germantown for 12 years. The restaurant specializes in Chicago-style pizza, a concept born from her family's roots and recipes.
"I moved to Nashville in 2011 before Nashville is what it is today and the first thing that we looked for when we moved here was Chicago pizza," Wolff said.
The idea came from her parents.
"My mom and dad were coming up on their retirement and they were like you know what, we have these family recipes in our family, why don't we bring Chicago food to Nashville?" Wolff said.
But as Nashville has grown, so has the competition. Wolff said the influx of dining options has taken a toll on foot traffic.
"Some of our foot traffic has slowed down a little bit just because there are so many options now," Wolff said.
That reality pushed her to make a difficult decision. She announced that Labor Day would be the restaurant's final day of business — but a social media post changed everything.
"Just immediately had an overwhelming response from our community," she said. "So in 24 hours we went from we're closing Monday (Labor Day) to – hold on, wait, maybe we should let everyone know and give them an opportunity to come and support us."
The community responded in force.
"Nashville showed up," she said. "Boy, did they show up."
Support came in multiple forms — from dine-in customers and carry-out orders to donations on a GoFundMe page, and even people inside the building offering hands-on help to keep operations running.
"Not only did people come and support us, they were here, they were getting dine out, donating to our GoFundMe, but then the people in this building were physically offering their help to help us keep things going inside," Wolff said.
The plan is to take things week by week. But the waves of business came so fast and so large that the restaurant found itself understaffed — unable to keep up with the surge in customers both front and back of house.
"But if we can get back to the normal business how we used to do it when there's a Cubs or a Bears game on and this place is packed and people are eating pizza and drinking beer and we're all together, then I see a light at the end of this tunnel," Wolff said.
312 Pizza Company is at the corner of 4th Street and Monroe in Nashville.
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