Popular East Sacramento pizza restaurant seeks new location as lease ends
OneSpeed Pizza, a much-beloved East Sacramento institution for 17 years, will lose its lease at the end of this year. It’s seeking a new location within the same neighborhood.
The restaurant’s landlord had previously expressed interest in demolishing the building to make way for a multistory residential project. At the time, Chef Rick Mahan still had an outstanding lease, which the landlord had to honor through this year.
“We definitely want to keep OneSpeed in its general area. That’s where it started. That’s where our customer base is. All the people that have supported us over the years, that’s where they live. And it’s really a neat community that we have there,” Mahan said.
While there is urgency to find a new space before the lease runs out, Mahan must also balance the potential risk of acting too early and incurring excessive carrying costs.
“I would love to get out, you know, next month, if I found a place, but I’m not prepared to pay rent for the rest of the year, which is what would have to happen,” he said.
He’s also interested in finding a location that is already equipped to be a restaurant.
“Ideally you want something that has been a restaurant, because the expensive part is not so much equipment. The expensive part is the infrastructure, the plumbing, the grease trap, the hood vents, enough power going into a building,” he said.
Mahan thinks they’re about six months from pulling the trigger, but is actively scouting options now.
Mahan opened OneSpeed in its location at 4818 Folsom Blvd. in 2009.
“It has certainly changed a lot since then,” he said. “There were just a few places to eat. There’s a lot more choices now, but we’re still doing pretty darn well.”
OneSpeed produces an American-style pizza “with sensibilities of Italy,” using farm-fresh ingredients. Mahan is committed to the farm-to-fork sensibility, but also adapts to customers’ tastes, including a kid-friendly barbecue chicken pizza.
Mahan also is the chef-owner of The Waterboy Restaurant in midtown, which will turn 30 this year.
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 8:56 AM.
