NEW HAVEN — Back in the day, if you wanted to get Sally’s Apizza delivered, you had to own a big, old factory having a Christmas party, be some kind of bigwig ordering pies by the dozen at Yale — or Frank Sinatra, himself.

Only a few years ago, you couldn’t even get Sally’s to pick up the phone to order pies for takeout unless you had reached that rarified status in the New Haven community where you were one of the lucky folks with the secret Sally’s Apizza inside number.

Well, as the coronavirus pandemic has shown us, things change.

Over the weekend, Sally’s — among the first New Haven restaurants to close a few weeks back — quietly reopened for takeout. And beginning later this week, pizza lovers will be able to order its soulfully thin, nicely-charred, unmistakably fragrant, coal-oven New Haven-style apizza both online at sallysapizzatogo.com or over the phone at 203-624-5271.

And, through the wonders of modern smartphone app technology, they (well, DoorDash, Uber Eats and GrubHub, anyway) will deliver it to your door.

That’s right: Sally’s Apizza (or maybe a few), rated as the 7th-best pizza in America in the most recent 2019 Daily Meal list , will be there.

The once unheard-of move by Sally’s, which the family of the late Flora and Salvatore “Sally” Consiglio sold to Lineage Hospitality in December 2017, follows by several weeks the move by their cousins a block-and-a-half up Wooster Street at Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana.

Pepe’s stepped out onto the delivery stage shortly after Gov. Ned Lamont on March 16 issued an executive order limiting restaurants to takeout and deliveries.

The third member of the New Haven holy apizza trinity, Modern Apizza on State Street, does takeout but still hasn’t taken the plunge into delivery.

Back a few years ago, “We couldn’t handle” delivery, said Sally’s former co-owner Bob Consiglio, who along with his brother Rick Consiglio still works at Sally’s a few hours a week. “There weren’t a lot of people — and the place used to be busy!

“The demand was well beyond the supply,” he said.

“We now have the ability to do that, because things have been streamlined,” said Rob Nelson, Sally’s director of operations.

Sally’s hours for now will be 3-9 p.m. 7 days a week — although it might be scaled back to 8 p.m. in the future, depending on how things go, said Nelson. He said he hopes to begin deliveries by Friday.

Delivery will be available to people who live within 5-8 miles. The app will let potential customers know whether they’re close enough, Nelson said.

While Sally’s has been closed, it’s been having periodic oven maintenance done, as well as other improvements — including installation of new signage that give people the website where they can go to order, Nelson said.

Sally’s also has continued to pay its employees — some of whom have been there for decades — during the time it’s been closed, Nelson said.

“There was never a question of not paying the employees,” he said.

According to Bob Consiglio, the only real deliveries Sally’s did back in the day were “when New Haven was full of industries ... at Christmastime, when factories would do their Christmas parties ... and for Yale.

“But those were big events,” he said.

Sinatra, who was a good friend and employer of Sal Consiglio’s brother, Tony Consiglio, “sent the drivers down” to pick up Sally’s pizzas when he was in New York.

Plus, “there were a few bars in the neighborhood that would get their pizzas delivered for happy hours,” Bob Consiglio said.

“But as far as (deliveries as part of the) business? No,” he said.

One person happy to know about the delivery was Dean Falcone, one of the three executive producers (along with Gorman Bechard and Colin Caplan) of “Pizza, A Love Story,” the 2019 documentary based on the premise that Pepe’s, Sally’s and Modern are the only three pizzerias that really matter.

“Now everybody’s a rock star,” said Falcone, who did the movie’s music — and was among the first to pick up a bunch of pies from Sally’s over the weekend. “They’ll bring it to your house, so everybody’s in the same boat. Everybody’s reached that status.”

Falcone pointed out that while they were closed, Sally’s also quietly added salads to the menu — also something once unheard-of, as well as shrimp and chicken as available apizza ingredients. (Sally’s did formerly make chicken pizza, but dropped it a number of years ago.)

Nelson said patrons can order either by going to the website or calling on the phone. They also can order via the individual delivery company apps, but that will result in additional charges to Sally’s.

Bobby Consiglio, 71, joked that when things started getting crazy with the coronavirus, “I was the first guy” sent home. “I was told, ‘Get out of here — you’re old.’ I think Sally’s might have been the first restaurant to shut down, before it was mandated.”

The staff at Sally’s includes two guys who have been there for decades — Mike Shanahan who “has been there, boy, as long as I have,” said Ray Santiago, now in his 60s, who has worked at Sally’s since he was in high school.

“Mike was my first friend growing up,” said Bobby Consiglio, who formerly owned Sally’s with his brother, Rick Consiglio, and sister, Ruth Consiglio.

There are some other employees who have been there for 6 or 7 years, and “the rest are just strong individuals that we’ve picked up since I started,” said Nelson.

Since reopening, “We’re extremely busy,” said Nelson. “We didn’t tell anybody that we were going to do takeout, and we’re doing maybe 65 or 70 percent of our normal business.”

When delivery does get up and running, “We intend to do our first deliveries to first responders, at no charge,” Nelson said.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com