April 24, 2026

A new pizzeria coming to Minnesota Avenue will feature East Coast-style pizza, including by the slice, and smashburgers.

The owners of Union Social in Harrisburg are creating Union Pizza & Smash in the former Boss’ Pizza & Chicken space at 2111 S. Minnesota Ave. and keeping the connected Pinball Room.

They’ve also taken over the former Boss’ space on 26th Street west of Marion Road but don’t have plans for that yet.

The pizza will be thin crust, said Francisco Gajardo, the director of food and beverage at the family entertainment center in Harrisburg that includes a bowling alley, axe-throwing lanes, arcade, restaurant and bar.

“The best way to describe it is the ingredients speak for themselves. You know, good dough, good cheese, good sauce,” said Gajardo, a native of Chile who lived in New Jersey before moving to Sioux Falls in 2015.

“The vibe is going to be like a East Coast/Jersey kind of pizza shop. We’re going to do the traditional pies, a couple of specialty pies,” he said.

Francisco Gajardo in the kitchen at Union Social

“We’re going to be doing little smash slider burgers, a couple of different variations, like in threes. We’re going to have a couple salads, a couple of sandwiches. We’re not going to go crazy with the menu. We want to start small and kind of grow it from there. Eventually, we’re going to bring in some pastas.”

Some of the favorites from Union Social also will be on the menu, he said, like the appetizer Skillet Bread, the Chicken Caesar salad and Hudson Co. Chicken Parm sandwich, which includes garlic Parmesan fries between the slices of bread. Union Social serves flatbreads instead of pizzas.

Gajardo said he hopes to re-create the feel of the pizzerias he grew up with in New Jersey.

“You come in, you can get a slice, you can play some games, people are hanging out there. It’s a community. It’s what it was. That’s where we went. We were broke. We could afford a soda and a pizza and maybe some some coins for Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, that kind of stuff, and that’s it. And we were happy. A lot of nostalgia, for sure.”

Union Pizza & Smash will serve draft and bottled beer, along with soda.

The Pinball Room will continue to be an important part of the space, Gajardo said, and the same business that provides the machines and operates pinball leagues will continue to do so.

Union Pizza & Smash likely will be open in the evenings to start and eventually add lunch service, he said. Third-party delivery services will be available.

The goal is to open sometime in May.

The founder of Boss’, Jeremy Seefeldt, said he and his wife are heartbroken to see the closure of the business they started in Sioux Falls 20 years ago. He had turned the Sioux Falls locations over to a franchisee two years ago so he could focus on expanding the franchise.

There are eight Boss’ restaurants in South Dakota and surrounding states, and the Big C Travel Plaza in Clark in northeast South Dakota recently began serving Boss’ pizza. The closest location to Sioux Falls is a Boss’ Pizzeria & Sports Bar in Yankton.

Seefeldt said there are multiple people who are interested in having a Boss’ franchise here, and he hopes to see that happen.