BATON ROUGE - Fleur de Lis Pizza, a Baton Rouge staple for more than 70 years, is up for sale and looking for a buyer who will reopen the shuttered restaurant.

Sitting on the corner of Government Street since 1946 lies a little slice of history. Some guests even treat eating at Fleur de Lis like time travel.

“It’s more than just pizza, it’s an experience. You can go anywhere and eat pizza, but this place has a jukebox with Dean Martin songs on it and a payphone. They don’t take credit cards, and your drinks come in these little glass bottles. It’s a time machine. It’s like going back in time, and the pizzas are pretty good,” resident Patrick Reynolds said.

The property was recently listed at an asking price of $4.5 million, with the listing calling for a "motivated entrepreneur, investor or pizza enthusiast to carry on the time tested recipes of this mid city gem."

“I think it’s a great deal because it comes with a built-in fan base, so many people love it. You can’t build a place like this. A place like this has to evolve over seven decades,” Reynolds said.

The building is said to still be fully equipped with a working kitchen and other restaurant necessities. The sale includes the Fleur de Lis Pizza name, property, all equipment and even the recipes.

The long-running business, located on Government Street near the Jefferson Highway intersection, announced it was closing "until further notice" back in July 2022. At the time, ownership cited a staff shortage as the main reason for the sudden closure. Now, locals hope that new owners can bring back their beloved pizza place. 

“The last time I got to go in here was the day they closed. I ran in twenty minutes before they closed," Reynolds said. "And they couldn’t sell me a pizza, but I got that smell for one last time. I think that every day it is closed is another day it might not ever reopen, so I am glad that there is some action, some movement. Maybe it’ll be bought, maybe it’ll reopen. This is a promising thing."