ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI – A Fennville pizzeria is looking to reinvent itself while its owner recovers from a car accident that nearly took his life.

Pizza Quest owner Nick “Chewy” Chard is planning a soft reopening weekend beginning at noon on Thursday, August 22 at the pizzeria at 218 E. Main St.

Although Chard is typically known for his specialty pizzas with an eclectic mix of toppings and pop culture-inspired names like “Incredible Hulk” and “Pickle Rick,” the menu will feature a limited selection of toppings as he slowly works his way back into the business.

Pizza Quest has been closed for about a month after Chard was involved in a near-fatal car accident in July in which he swerved to avoid a deer and hit a ramp that sent his car flying 20 feet in the air.

As a result of the accident, he suffered a fractured vertebra, which doctors had to repair by joining the two adjacent vertebrae together using metal rods and cadaver bones.

Chard said the first five days he spent in trauma care were “the worst five days of my life,” but he remained focused on his passion.

“I thought it was so cool because I can be part cyborg now,” he said, laughing. “I’m immediately thinking about my marketing for it… I’m just trying to keep having fun with it while I recover.”

The outpouring of support from the community also helped to lift his spirits. One of his friends took over the shop for a short time one night to make pizzas for the charity and brought him some of his own pizzas while he was in the hospital.

“I really believe that pizza helped me get better,” he said. “It was like the medicine I needed.”

Other Pizza Quest fans have reached out to him and said they haven’t eaten anyone else’s pizza since his store closed, he said.

“When the accident happened, I was overwhelmed by the support that this community gave me,” he said. “I was actually in tears, and when I think about it, I’m still in tears.”

Chard can get around with the help of a walker and a brace, but he still needs about three months of recovery before he can get back into the kitchen baking cakes.

He said he has considered how to bring Pizza Quest back online, but in the immediate future he has had to scale back his ambitions. The shop will have a limited staff and menu and will only take online orders.

Chard said he might come back every now and then to deliver one of his specialty pizzas, but the accident made him realize he couldn’t rely on himself alone to maintain his vision.

“Every doctor I’ve seen has said I should be dead and the fact that I’m not dead should paralyze me,” he said. “I’ve put so much pressure on myself up until now, but now I trust my staff to give me a new vision but still keep the great vibe.”

Chard said it had always been his dream to open a pizzeria, but the opportunity fell into his lap when the former West Michigan Pizza Co. location came up for sale.

Before starting his own business, Chard had years of experience in the hospitality industry, but at the time he was working in asset management, which he said was “soul-eating.”

When he broached the subject of buying the old pizzeria and making it his own, his wife was fully supportive.

“She just said, ‘You have to do this or you’ll regret it for the rest of your life,'” he said. “So we went.”

Pizza Quest opened in July 2023 and quickly gained notoriety in Fennville. Chard recalled an excellent review he received from a customer during opening week.

“She said something like, ‘Come to that pizza place and eat it, because in a few years it’s going to be so crowded you won’t be able to get it anymore,'” he said.

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