Randy Murray’s Stone Creek Wood Fired Pizza: Unique, Family-Owned, and Local

stone creek pizza olympia
Stone Creek’s father and daughter team, Randy and Jennie Murray stand next to their West Olympia pizza oven. Randy is grooming Jenny to someday take over the business.
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By Kelli Samson

south sound trucksMy daughter’s friend Lindsay’s claim to fame is witnessed on the chalkboard menu at Stone Creek Wood Fired Pizza. “Lindsay’s PPPizza” was named in her honor a couple of years ago. Not every ten-year-old has a pizza named after her, to be sure.

And it’s just like owner Randy Murray to name a pizza after a frequent customer. I went into our interview assuming pizza is his passion, but, truly, he has a passion for providing excellent customer service for his community.

His ties to Thurston County run deep. “I’m a fifth generation Olympian,” Murray proudly states.

stone creek pizza olympia
Stone Creek’s father and daughter team, Randy and Jennie Murray stand next to their West Olympia pizza oven. Randy is grooming Jenny to someday take over the business.

He grew up farming in the Rainier and Yelm area, where he met the girl who would become his future wife when he was only thirteen. Murray and Suzanne have raised three daughters together in Olympia and now own this business together. He is also a graduate of The Evergreen State College.

It was while he was attending Evergreen that he learned his way around concrete. He became a very skilled artist, learning to both mold and carve it to look like whatever he wanted. This is really where the foundations were laid for what would become Stone Creek Wood Fired Pizza, only he didn’t know it at the time.

Every artist needs a signature or studio name, and Murray decided upon Stone Creek. At around the same time, he also became interested in molding and sculpting concrete ovens for cooking things like pizza.

He casually mentioned his desire to attempt a mobile oven to one of his two brothers. Before he knew it, his brother began a pizza truck business in Utah. His other brother, who also lives in Utah, followed suit. Both have done extremely well and use the forms Murray has built for the ovens.

stone creek pizza olympia
The pizzas at Stone Creek can be ordered “blonde” or with a “dirty skirt.” The former equates to a softer crust, while the latter means a crust that is very crisp and with a lot of charring.

Murray decided to give it a go himself about four years ago. His pizza truck was first located in the West Olympia parking lot of Jay’s Farm Stand. He is now just across the street and down the road at 4524 Harrison Avenue NW, next to Fun Junk.

Stone Creek Wood Fired Pizza is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 12:00 – 6:30 p.m. That doesn’t mean he has three days off in a week, or even free evenings. Instead, he is kiln-drying the wood, prepping ingredients, making all of the dough by hand, and slowly heating the oven up again before Wednesday rolls around.

In addition to their perfectly charred pizza, Stone Creek also sells dessert in the form of Murray’s wife Suzanne’s wood fired cinnamon rolls. She makes everything from scratch, including the vanilla that goes into the frosting. The rolls are placed into the wood fired oven upon order, where they develop a caramelized bottom and a smoky flavor profile. In other words, you haven’t had a cinnamon roll until you’ve dug into one of these gooey delights.

The Murrays are also busy caring for their youngest daughter, who has Cerebral Palsy (CP) and is deaf and blind. They’ve raised money for Family and Friends for Children with Deaf Blindness through their pizza truck and through their other endeavor, Em’s Italian Water Ice (a sorbet-like frozen dessert).

stone creek pizza olympia
In addition to the from-scratch pizzas, Murray’s wife Suzanne bakes cinnamon rolls (and even makes her own vanilla for them) that get finished off in the wood fired oven and are a hot item at the pizza truck.

Murray’s middle daughter plans to open up her own pizza place in Colorado, while his eldest daughter Jennie is being primed to take over Stone Creek one day. The “Jen-nay” pizza is named after her, and she can usually be found confidently making pizzas, taking orders, giving orders, and keeping everything (including her dad) line.

Stone Creek’s menu offers a pizza to suit every taste, with toppings ranging from cashews to feta. Orders can be called in ahead, and customers can specify a “blonde” or “dirty skirt” on their thin crust, which translates to a light crust or a charred one, respectively.

Customers also may walk up to the truck to place an order, then grab a seat under the tent and prepare to wait a little while. Stone Creek does a furious amount of business, especially at dinnertime on the weekends.

No matter how busy things are, though, Randy Murray always makes time to chat with his customers. “98% of the people coming in here are in a good mood. If not, they’re about to be,” he explains.

He likes to make people feel happy and important, especially those customers who come by on their way home from nearby Capital Medical Center. “People like watching us make their food. It’s like a show. Because of all the doctors’ offices around here, we get people coming in here after things like chemotherapy or surgery. Everyone’s always got something in common with somebody else, and I work hard to find it when I’m talking with my customers,” says Murray.

By next winter, Murray hopes to use the truck and mobile oven solely for catering events. “I love the controlled anarchy and the kids running around,” he laughs. He is hoping to open a fixed location for Stone Creek Wood Fired Pizza close to his current location.

stone creek pizza olympia
Randy Murray is proud of the fact that he has only dropped three and half pizzas in four years. Where did the other half go? Into the tip jar.

“Brick and mortar. Steel and concrete. Sounds good to me,” confesses Murray.

You can keep an eye on what’s cooking at Stone Creek by checking out their website or following them on Facebook or Instagram.

Stone Creek Wood Fired Pizza

4524 Harrison Ave. NW in West Olympia

360-888-9500

Wednesday-Saturday, 12:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

 

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