Flo’s Wood Fired Pizzeria in Rockford will serve its final customers on Saturday, November 28, closing the book on an eight-year run at 4425 14 Mile Road NE. A new concept called Oak to Ember is set to open in the very same space just a week later, on December 5.
According to 97.9 WGRD, Flo’s Wood Fired opened in Rockford in 2018, sharing its space with St. Julian Winery and giving visitors a chance to pair wood-fired pizza with Michigan wine at the same stop. The restaurant is one piece of a larger family business that traces back to 1999, when Salvatore and Franca Uccello opened the original Flo’s Pizzeria on Plainfield Avenue in Grand Rapids.
Their sons, Daniele and Davide, took over the operation in 2011 and expanded it with additional locations around West Michigan. Davide Uccello said the change at the Rockford spot continues a story built over ten years, per the station's report.
A Familiar Face Takes the Reins
Oak to Ember is coming from Carol Johnson, who worked with the Flo’s team for a decade before taking on the new venture. She’ll be taking over the restaurant with her husband, Curt, and their sons, Bearen and Cale, the same report notes.
The new restaurant plans to keep the wood-fired cooking that defined its predecessor. A preview menu shared with the outlet shows Neapolitan wood-fired pizzas, including options like chicken bacon ranch, carnivore, deluxe, and a dilly dally pickle pizza, alongside oak-fired wings, flatbreads, sandwiches, and build-your-own pasta.
Dessert will include cannoli and tiramisu, and the bar will pour handcrafted cocktails along with St. Julian wines — a nod to the winery that shared the building with Flo’s for years. Happy hour is planned Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m., with half-off appetizers, glasses of wine, draft beer, and signature cocktails.
Weekly Specials and What's Staying Open
Oak to Ember is also lining up weekly deals once it opens: $5 kids’ meals on Mondays, half-off pasta on Tuesdays, and 30% off specialty pizzas on Wednesdays, per the same account.
Not every Flo’s location is affected. Flo’s has locations remaining open in Grand Rapids and Belmont, and Franca’s Pizzeria in East Grand Rapids is also staying open, according to the report.
This marks the second Flo’s restaurant closure in West Michigan in 2026. Flo’s Pizzeria Ristorante & Sports Bar in Greenville shut down in April, a closure that WZZM13 reported came after 15 years in business, with owner Davide Uccello citing factors including family priorities and the demands of managing multiple locations. At its peak, the Flo’s Collection — three restaurants and a catering company — brought in $7 million in annual sales and employed more than 200 people across West Michigan, according to a profile by Grand Valley Magazine.
For now, Rockford diners have just over two weeks to get in a final visit to Flo’s before Oak to Ember relights the ovens in the same building.
