PUKALANI — For a well-known Maui chef, pizza makes the perfect meal — especially during a pandemic.

“People love pizza,” Kula resident Jeff Scheer said. “And it’s relatively safe for takeout, which is great to have that option right now.”

Chef-owner Jeff Scheer and his wife Kaili Scheer have put their life’s work into launching Marlow, a wood-fire kitchen and sourdough pizza restaurant in the new development of Kulamalu Plaza in Pukalani.

The spot officially opened with 13 employees Tuesday to full-service dining and takeout from 4:30 to 9 p.m. daily at 30 Kupaoa St. It’s already drawing traffic from residents of rural Upcountry, which has a handful of restaurants.

“We’re pretty busy,” Jeff said Thursday. “Every night is getting busier and busier and busier. By the time we hit Friday and Saturday I think we’re going to be at our maximum capacity.”

Marlow specializes in wood-oven sourdough pizza, along with locally sourced meats and vegetables from Kupa’a Farms and Malama Farm, among others. The modern-rustic space, which has indoor and outdoor seating for nearly 60 people, is expertly designed by Kaili, known for her successful Olympia Activewear brand.

Jeff said the “Salsiccia” pizza, which has pork sausage, caramelized onion and mozzarella, is a popular choice. Takeout ordering online makes it easy to pick up a salad and a red or white sauce pizza (or both) on the go.

Created to collaborate with Mahalo Aleworks once its tap house and brewery opens in the neighboring unit, the kitchen will expand hours to lunch and even offer espresso and coffee drinks in the morning. Eventually, the menu will have seasonal offerings, such as oysters in the winter.

Formerly known as executive chef of Mill House and as an owner of Maui Executive Catering, Jeff said the focus on pizza — for his first restaurant venture — can be attributed to both passion and personal experience.

“I love bread. I’ve always loved doing bread. I’ve always loved doing bread work, always loved doing sourdough and I’ve actually always loved doing pizzas,” he said. “I threw pizzas on the menu at the Mill House and it blew up.”

“It’s hard to do good pizza, it’s really complicated, there are a lot of variables, but it’s also something that can be done really consistently,” he added.

Unique to Marlow is the made-from-scratch sourdough, which creates a billowy, scrumptious taste and texture. Sourdough is known as one of the healthier breads because it’s easier to digest, has a lower glycemic index and contains prebiotics not found in other breads.

However, sourdough is also “very demanding,” Jeff said.

Because of a fermentation process, “it requires multiple feedings that must follow a routine and schedule,” he said. “It takes a long time to make.”

Then 22-years-old, Jeff moved from Athens, Ohio, to Maui in 2004. He attended Maui Culinary Academy and started Maui Executive Catering, which ran high-end dining and chef’s table events for nearly a decade. Jeff was executive chef at now-closed Mill House for about four years. Then, he spent time at Travaasa Hana, now Hana-Maui Resort. The pandemic brought him back home to Kula.

The Scheers began cooking pizzas in an outdoor wood-burning oven at their house during mandatory shutdowns at the onset of the pandemic. Soon, interest grew and people started ordering a month in advance for Friday and Saturday night pizzas.

“It was ridiculous,” Jeff said. “We were selling 120 pizzas a night. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I had a whole team up there and staff. It was just meant to be fun; it wasn’t meant to be a big business — but we got a huge following from that.”

Named after Jeff and Kaili’s 5-month-old daughter, Marlow, the kitchen already has character, the chef said with a laugh.

“I didn’t name the restaurant something with two names with an ‘and’ in between it like, ‘Pizza and Salad,’ ” he said. “Giving it the name Marlow created the personality. And I think that’s really important.”

Meanwhile, son River, 3, is often seen “running around here, destroying the place,” Jeff said.

Family is central to the new business, he noted. Marlow is partly owned by Kaili’s cousins, Knox and Gene Weymouth, who are brothers. McKenna Lickle, another of Kaili’s family members, is working as a server.

Jeff said he envisions Marlow growing strong Upcountry roots and providing a warm, welcoming spot where residents can return time and again.

“It’s like to create a business that’s not driven by tourism,” he said. “I’m not going to turn tourists away who come in here. Absolutely not. But at the same time, I don’t want to build a business that I’m relying on customers who come in one time in their life, you know, once a year. I want it to be more family oriented … I’m trying to create a place where I would want to go eat.”

* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at kcerizo@mauinews.com.