Pizza Today highlights 25 of the best pizzerias in the America.

When we conducted our most extensive industry survey in fall 2022, we also asked independent pizzeria operators to submit their pizzerias for consideration in our first Pizzerias to Watch feature. We received hundreds of submissions. We present to you 25 standout pizzerias that are making an impact in their communities. While our previous Hot 100 Independent Pizzerias List ranked pizzerias by highest sales volume, our Pizzerias to Watch feature looks at the total operation, from sales and employee programs to community outreach and marketing. We present to you 25 pizzerias to watch as they continue to thrive and grow.

We’re celebrating standout pizza shops serving up success in their communities:

Pizzeria Tascio

North Kansas City, Missouri
Concept: Quick-Serve  — Established: 2021
Owner/President: Erik Borger
Website: Pizzatascio.com 
Social: instagram.com/pizzatascio/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $750,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $250,000

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? In the last 12 months we have opened 4 locations. With a team of under 10 this has been extremely difficult and yet rewarding. We have opened 3 in the last 90 days. Our growth from here is just as aggressive! But maybe after a much needed couple of naps. Ha!

Why should you be among the Pizzerias To Watch List? I do not know of many non corporate nobodies who have taken all profits and reinvested them immediately into expanding this aggressively. We are like a grass roots organization obsessed with pizza and bringing good pizza to an overall quality starved midwestern city. We use all grande 100% whole milk mozz, Bianco all organic Tom’s, and central milling organic flour. Long ferments and quick cooks with the pizza master oven. We love what we do and strive every day to be the best. We are also tracking to do $3,000,000 this year.

CRISP wine – beer – eatery

Houston, TX
Concept: Casual Dining 
Established: 2012
Owner/President: Al Scavelli
Website: Crisphouston.com 
Social: @crisphouston
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $2,500,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $2,500,000

Why is your pizzeria a great place to work? We provide a work environment that strives to ensure a fun & productive atmosphere. Hiring employees that are eager to give great customer service in turn creates a healthy and productive culture.  Being a Ma & Pa gives us the owners the ability to get direct feedback from the ones on the front line. We provide fun staff incentives that rewards & recognizes our hardworking staff. After all, without our staff, we aren’t able to do what we love 7 days a week.

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? …New renovations have been made to the interior and exterior to our venue plus we recently acquired our liquor license to offer our guests a full bar with delicious specialty cocktails. We plan on introducing seasonal beer / wine dinners coming up at the start of 2023 as well. Focusing on local breweries and wineries in the great state of TX.

Lefty’s Place

Morgantown, WV
Concept: Casual Dining
Established: 2016
Owner/President: Tricia Kinnie
Website: Leftysplacewv.com 
Social: Instagram.com/leftysplacewv
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $622,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $410,000

Why should you be among the Pizzerias To Watch List? We’ve faced many adversities since starting our business in 2016, including opening in a town new to us and choosing a bad location, then that location was flooded and condemned. We moved to a new location that took almost a year for construction and it was finished in March of 2020 just as Covid hit. We’ve constantly adapted where we needed to. We’re now at a point where we’ve been open for dine in at our new location for just over a year and we’re in the groove now. There are a lot of mediocre restaurants (pizza in particular) in our town and we pride ourselves on caring about the quality of the food we’re sending out and also the quality of service our guests are receiving. We want everyone to feel like they belong at our restaurant.

Righteous Slice

Rexburg, Idaho
Concept: Casual Dining  
Established: 2018
Owner/President: Cheryl Crawford
Website: righteousslice.com 
Social: instagram.com/righteousslice/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $930,135
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $776,233

What community outreach initiatives do you organize? We love the community we are in! We donate coupons for free food to local summer reading programs. We donate gift cards for other fundraisers. We also host a day for the high school wrestling team to raise money for their programs.  We actively look for ways to help those around us.    Music is a big part of our community involvement. We have hosted a music festival since 2019. Most years, we invite local groups to participate in the free event. When the weather is too cold for an outdoor concert, we host bands on the second floor of the pizzeria. We love supporting the arts.    We also love field trips. Educating future pizza makers about the wonders of cooking in an imported Neapolitan oven is one of our favorite things to do. Looking into the eyes of 30 wonder-filled 2nd graders makes all of the hard work worth it.

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? We are proud of our recent growth and excited to get to the next level with our new styles of pizza  – 43% growth in 2021, 17% growth year-over-year to date in 2022, added New York style pizza, which is now 15% of sales, adding  Detroit-style pizza in the next 12 months. We are now preparing to expand into new markets  – Signed letters of intent for locations in Salt Lake City and Saint George, UT.

St. Angelo’s Pizza

Atlanta, GA
Concept: Casual Dining  
Established: 2004
Owner/President: Sean Rowe
Website: stangelos.com 
Social: facebook.com/stangelosvinings/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $3,200,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): 3,100,000

Why should you be among the Pizzerias To Watch List? We became very focused in the last year even more so than the past. The changes we have made a dramatic effect on the sales.  We continue to improve as an employer as well as the quality of our staff continues to grow. We are always evolving and there is a lesson there for folks who want to get involved in the pizza business.

State of Mind

Los Altos, California
Concept: Casual Dining
Established: 2018
Owner/President: Lars Smith
Website: Stateofmindpublichouse.com 
Social: instagram.com/stateofmindpub/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $3,161,164
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $2,208,175

Why is your pizzeria a great place to work? We work really hard to provide a great work environment for our staff. It is really important for us to have a fun and positive work environment for our staff. We offer competitive pay, tip pooling, health/dental insurance, paid time off, shift meals, discounted meals when not working, and more. But those aren’t what we are most proud of, we make a point to make sure our staff knows that we are there for them even when they aren’t at work. We treat all of our staff like family. They know they can approach us with anything they may have going on in their lives.

What is your pizzeria’s brand and how do you market your pizzeria? We are a pizzeria and Public House inspired by the Golden State. We want both the food and environment in our restaurants to be a celebration of all things California. From the food to the beverage to the music we want to share our love of this state with everyone.  While we are active on social media that is not the primary means by which we market our restaurants. From the conceptual stages of our brand we wanted to use our “marketing” to support schools, youth sports, and various non-profits. We believe that if we support our community they will support us.

Pizza City

New Brunswick, NJ
Concept: Fast-casual Build-to-Order  
Established: 2015
Owner/President: Danielle Diaz
Website: pizzacitynj.com
Social: @pizzacitynj
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $3,800,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $3,200,000

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? Updating our building and equipment to be more efficient and plan to continue to get better.

Why should you be among the Pizzerias To Watch List? Amazing business with huge output, run by a single mom and her amazing crew. We are constantly growing and looking for new ways to offer the best product possible

Regents Pizzeria

La Jolla, CA
Concept: Casual Dining  Established: 2005
Owner/President: Bill Vivian
Website: regentspizza.com 
Social: instagram.com/regentspizzeria/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $6,000,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $4,700,000

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? Our restaurant has grown dramatically as we have emerged from the pandemic, as you see from the sales numbers above.  We suffered a 40% drop in sales during the pandemic and now our volume is well above 2019 level. We have achieved this by undertaking a large number of initiatives that radically changed our business.  The most important effort resulted in expanding our trade area to a 5-mile radius. The growth in our pick-up business was so dramatic, that we had to remodel our restaurant. We started by retaining an Industrial Engineering firm by the name of The Productivity Advantage. They focus only on the restaurant industry and have worked with most of the big name restaurant companies in the industry. They were able to help us expand our production capacity and reduce our service times.  Our marketing efforts have been a key driver in this effort.  We currently work with Mari+Gold which is the hospitality division that was spun off from The Raindrop Agency, an Emmy Award winning local marketing firm. We intend to focus on our single restaurant for the next 18 months and believe we will be able to achieve $7,000,000 in sales annually in that time.  We are located in the UTC district off San Diego which is experiencing tremendous growth.  Our marketing effort is also focusing on establishing us as a regional destination restaurant.

Hella Pie Pizza Co.

Tracy, CA
Concept: Fast-casual Build-to-Order
Established: 2020
Owner/President: Marcus Medina
Website: Hellapiepizza.com
Social: @hellapiepizzaco
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $740,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $382,000

Why is your pizzeria a great place to work? Our pizzeria is understands that the employees are just as if not more important than our customers. We treat our staff like family. We take care of them and nurture them like we are family. We understand that we take care of each other. We also like to have team building days for our crew. Where get yo have an outside work environment that brings us all together even more. They all have a great time because we wine and dine them. We wish we could do it more. The Thursday before Thanksgiving we started a tradition where 100% of our sales go to our staff. The community shows up and really gives them full support and we are blessed to give them a little slice of the pie!

Sofia’s Pizzeria

San Antonio, TX
Concept: Fast-casual Build-to-Order  — Established: 2019
Owner/President: Alan White
Website: SofiasPizzeriaTX.com 
Social: https://instagram.com/sofiaspizzeriatx
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $1,300,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $1,250,000

What is your pizzeria’s brand and how do you market your pizzeria? Sofia’s Pizzeria is known for giving back to our community. We established the brand to be able to give back to the youth of our community and developed our Pies for Kids program. We select a different youth organization each month and 35 cents of every pizza sold that month goes to that organization at the end of the month. We have worked with PTA’s, childrens homes and shelters as well disabled childrens organizations. We are currently developing a Pizza and Paletas program for economically challenged schools.  We use social media, door hangars, email, text and website for marketing.

What community outreach initiatives do you organize? Along with our Pies for Kids program we do several kids-oriented activities throughout the year. Our most popular seem to be our Arts program where kids come in and get an 8×10 canvas with a slice stenciled on it. We provide the paints and canvas and they get to paint their most imaginable slice of pizza. Once dry they get to take this home.  We have also done other activities such as a dough stretching class, pizza making class, kids run, father/child pizza eating contest, and others.

Flying Heart Brewing & Pub

Bossier City, Louisiana
Concept: Casual Dining  — Established: 2017
Owner/President: Jeffrey Judge
Website: flyingheartbrewing.com 
Social: facebook.com/flyingheartbrewing
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $3,200,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $2,300,000

Why is your pizzeria a great place to work? We offer a shift beer and pizza to every employee. Our Culture is second to none, our owner and management team are highly involved at all points of the business. We offer 401k, Health insurance, dental insurance, PTO.

What is your pizzeria’s brand and how do you market your pizzeria? Flying Heart Brewing & Pub’s “brand” is definitely one of a kind to say the least. FHB&P started as a tasting room in 2015. Then introduced the pizza concept in late 2017. In 2018, FHB&P became the brew pub you see today. Our marketing is more of a grass roots, word of mouth style. We are continuously improving our customer experience and quality. FHB&P has consistently won local area “Best Pizza” “Best Wings” yearly. The process began by going to my first Pizza Expo in 2017. After my newfound love of pizza, I began practicing in my backyard every weekend with my friends and business partners. Which led us becoming the “Cool” place to be.

What community outreach initiatives do you organize? We are involved with ST Judes, Autism Society of North Louisiana, Gingerbread House. I also volunteer at our local votech school. This includes mentoring the young students, having pizza days at the school.

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? We just opened up our third location in June of 22 and is doing well on all aspects

Verde

Baltimore, MD
Concept: Casual Dining 
Established: 2012
Owner/President: Ed Bosco
Website: www.verdepizza.com
Social: @verdepizza
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): 1875000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): 1650000

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? Verde has shown sustained growth during the pandemic and continues to add more community outreach and event coordination. We have hired an event planner and continue to reach out to conventions here in Baltimore city. Catering and on line ordering continue to improve and have added a more substantial revenue stream to our mix.

Why should you be among the Pizzerias To Watch List? Verde has struggled over the years and our ability to adjust to changing environments has allowed us to remain relevant. The ability to pivot and move in other direction, delivery and on line ordering, has afforded us time to rethink our strategy, change menu items, menu prices and maintain profitability.   Business is all about solving problems and at Verde we have managed to figure our what our community expects of us and collectively we have grown together and pizza to every employee.  Our Culture is second to none, our owner and management team are highly involved at all points of the business.  We offer 401k, Health insurance, dental insurance, PTO.

Woody’s Wood Fired Pizza

Golden, CO
Concept: Casual Dining 
Established: 1993
Owner/President: Jonathan Bortles
Website: woodysgolden.com 
Social: instagram.com/woodysgolden/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $6,381,431
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $4,626,902

Why should you be among the Pizzerias To Watch List? After almost 30 years in business we have been quietly building one of the busiest single unit pizzerias in the country. It seems like a lot of attention is focused on multi-unit chains… and yet we still managed to make Yelp’s Top 100 Pizza Places in the US for 2022. This shows that not only are we busy, we are making a lot of folks happy – like over 1,000 people per day in our 100 year old building next to the Coors Brewery in little Golden, CO. We are also one of the last places to rock the all-you-can-eat soup, salad and pizza buffets… and maybe one of the only to do it with high quality wood-fired pizza and a scratch menu. All of this while doing right by the community and winning awards like the Sustainability and Innovation Award & the Living Legend/Hall-of-Fame honor (for our founder) from the Colorado Restaurant Association. We are small and funky, but we are mighty!  This is what multi-generational pride looks like.

Spinelli’s Pizzeria

Tempe, AZ
Concept: Casual Dining 
Established: 2004
Owner/President: Christopher Palma
Website: Spinellispizzeria.com 
Social: @spinellisAz
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $7,100,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $6,800,000

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? We have become more efficient, and have grown sales.   We are looking at other high margin items to offer our guests as inflation continues to spiral out of control.

Why should you be among the Pizzerias To Watch List? We have been offering a consistent product in an evolving world for almost 20 years.   We have been able to scale our business to multiple states in multiple regions while maintaining the core principles that made our first store so successful.

Creekside Pizza & Taproom

San Anselmo, CA
Concept: Casual Dining  — Established: 2017
Owner/President: Pat Townsley
Website: CreeksideSA.com
Social: instagram.com/creeksidesa
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $2,500,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $2,200,000

Why is your pizzeria a great place to work? …Our entire staff is comprised of “word of mouth” recruiting, family, and local residents. Our employees, both front and back of house, understand and foster our commitment to quality products, labor intensive prep, outstanding presentation and friendly full-service dining. Everyone takes true pride in their work and their output. The result is a collaborative and very friendly team which has won us Best Pizza in Marin County for 5 consecutive years.

What is your pizzeria’s brand and how do you market your pizzeria? …Our mission statement begins “Creekside is a Marketing Company..” … I know that we are creating memories; it’s a multi-sensory experience beyond just food. It’s the lights, the sound, the welcoming, the decor, the cleanliness, the engagement.

Dempseys

Watertown, SD
Concept: Casual Dining 
Established: 1999
Owner/President: Sean Dempsey
Website: dempseybrewpub.com 
Social: facebook.com/Dempseybrewery
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $2,500,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $1,900,000

What is your pizzeria’s brand and how do you market your pizzeria? The main store is Dempsey’s Brewery, Pub & Restaurant, that’s are were we focus on brewing, ( 2nd oldest brewery in the state! ) and a more robust menu. – but 60 % of our sales Is pizza related. We have our brand were expanding on – Danger Von Dempsey’s Pizzeria and Brewhaus. Our pizzas boxes actually have a cool mix logo between the two stores  the sword and the twin axes…

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? Yes, we have grown by leaps and bounds. In 1999 Dempsey’s Brewery Pub & RST was established, in 2018 we established our first Danger von Dempseys in Aberdeen SD, and in 2022 we expanded to the new regional airport location in Watertown. Our future growth is spring 2023 were expanding our brewery operations, fall is a store in Brookings SD ( home of SDSU ) – and were building for a massive footprint in DT Sioux Falls – which is the biggest city in SD.

Detroit Style Pizza Co

Roseville, MI
Concept: Carryout & Delivery Only 
Established: 1958
Owner/President: Linda Michaels
Website: detroitstylepizza.com
Social: m.facebook.com/detroitstylepizza/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): 1833111
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): 1768923

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? We bought a new store for the distribution center that is more then twice the size because we grew out of the one we are in now. We are partnering with another company to sell our frozen pizza’s around the country. We partnered with the owner of 89 Buffalo Wild wings and the owner of 8 Black Rock restaurants to franchise our Detroit Style Pizza. The first one opened in Petoskey Mi on 9/20/22. With 2 more in the process of opening.

Why should you be among the Pizzerias To Watch List? Because we are carrying on 2012 award winning world champion pizza maker Shawn Randazzo’s legacy. We are expanding and growing rapidly with the franchises, pizzeria, and distribution center. And we have a great story of struggles and overcoming obstacles to get were we are at.

Millstone Pizza and Taphouse

Rock Hill, SC
Concept: Casual Dining  — Established: 2013
Owner/President: Brendan Kuhlkin
Website: Millstonepizzaandtap.com 
Social: Millstone _pizzaandtap
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $1,300,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $1,150,000

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? We’ve just gotten back to full staff ! We’ve also hit new highs in sales . We are planning an expansion! Bringing in 2 new wood fired ovens as well as. Adding a glassed in dough room . And plan on hiring 10 more team members.

Why should you be among the Pizzerias To Watch List? We were a first in the charlotte NC / Rock Hill SC area . No one had a wood fired oven 10 years ago . We are pioneers in the Neapolitan pizza style . Our oven is wood only no gas assistance. We’ve weathered many storms from employee shortages to covid to initially gaveling to educate the community on what wood fired pizza is.

Old Town Pizza

Auburn, CA
Concept: Casual Dining 
Established: 1999
Owner/President: Reese Browning
Website: otpizza.net 
Social: facebook.com/oldtownpizza
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $11,263,850
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $8,799,180

Why is your pizzeria a great place to work? It is very popular in the communities we operate, and our team enjoys being busy. We are proud of our team, and they are proud of us. We offer very competitive pay and because of how busy we are they are also compensated very nicely by customers via tips.   We offer medical, dental, vision, 401K, anniversary bonus, performance bonuses, company picnics, shift meals and employee/family discounts.

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? We opened a new full time outdoor venue at our local Fairgrounds and also moved from our original location of 3000 sq. ft. and 90 dine in seats to a brand-new location of 12,500 sq. ft. and about 350 dine in seats including rooftop dining.

Peels on Wheels

Rochester, NY
Concept: Fast-casual Build-to-Order 
Established: 2019
Owner/President: Luis Perez
Website: peelsonwheelspizza.com/ 
Social: instagram.com/peelsonwheelspizza/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $350,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $61,000

What community outreach initiatives do you organize? My business is located in a lower income neighborhood. I also grew up in one of the poorest communities in the country, the South Bronx. Taking care of the community and adding to meaningful change is core to my business. I saw a community that lacked high quality pizza, but I understand that not everyone can afford such luxuries. I donate pizza and money to many of the local nonprofits that support youth. I have also hired some of the youth in the neighborhood and make it a point to get to know them. One time a group of young kids came in. One told me it was his birthday the following day, and wanted to know if he could have a free slice of pizza. I said, how about a whole pie for you and your friends? They came the next day and enjoyed a whole pizza. I have also provided pizza making kits to some of the local schools. I hope to continue to work with the schools and partner with them for pizza making classes. A fun fact, the high school near my pizzeria, East High has an INCREDIBLE culinary arts program.

Pizza Now!

Albany, OR
Concept: Carryout & Delivery Only 
Established: 2012
Owner/President: Chris Salmon
Website: Pizza-now.com 
Social: facebook.com/pizzanowalbany
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $1,270,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $1,030,000

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? We have reached that million-dollar mark in both of our pizzerias. The one that wen opened in 2012 reached that milestone in 2020. Our 2nd location reached it in 2021 after opening in 2018. Our future growth plans would be to open several more locations in Oregon. Currently we are almost as busy as we possibly can be in both stores while still providing excellent service. Despite being a DELCO, our next location will need a larger sized building so we can scale up with our sales, and not be at the point of bottlenecks with production and long waits because we are at our limit, thus jeopardizing our whole Pizza NOW! concept.

Southern Yankee Crafthouse

Houston, TX
Concept: Casual Dining  — Established: 2021
Owner/President: Patrice Porter
Website: crafthousehtx.com/ 
Social: instagram.com/soyankcrafthouse
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $1,500,000
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $0

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? In early August 2021, our brick oven was getting installed at the Crafthouse. Our company consisted of the original brewery location team plus the Crafthouse general manager, executive chef, and bar manager who had been working with us for months – about ten employees. When we opened the Crafthouse in September 2021, we became a company with 40+ employees at two locations.    As a result of our team’s success in delivering a quality experience, Southern Yankee Crafthouse was voted Best New Restaurant in the Houston Chronicle Best of the Best 2022 Community Awards and a Top 3 finalist for Best Bar, Date-Night Restaurant, Patio, and Pet-Friendly Restaurant! (And Southern Yankee Beer Company was a Top 3 finalist for Best Brewery!)    Recently we were nominated in Outsmart Magazine’s Gayest and Greatest Reader’s Choice Awards 2022 in several categories including: Best Brunch, Best Lunch Spot, Best Pizza, Best New Restaurant, Best Restaurant for Outdoor Dining, Friendliest Restaurant Staff, Best Happy Hour, Best Cocktail, and Favorite Place for Drinks on a First Date. If things go well and the opportunity presents, we think the Southern Yankee Crafthouse could expand to other locations in the Houston area. Time will tell.

Thunderbird Pies

Dallas, TX
Concept: Fast-casual Build-to-Order 
Established: 2021
Owner/President: Jeff Amador
Website: thunderbirdpies.com 
Social: instagram.com/thunderbirdpies
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $1,006,929
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): 0

What is your pizzeria’s brand and how do you market your pizzeria? Thunderbird Pies brought Detroit-style pizza to Dallas. We started as a ghost kitchen during the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-2020, operating out of the kitchen of one our sister restaurants, Zoli’s Pizza (Addison/Fort Worth, TX). The third pizza brand from the PILF Restaurant Group (Cane Rosso, Zoli’s Pizza, Thunderbird Pies), and our third style of pizza to tackle in our pizza restaurants. Thunderbird’s popularity quickly grew larger than operating as a ghost kitchen could handle, and we opened our first brick and mortar location in East Dallas in August of 2021. We just celebrated our first anniversary at our casual, counter-service pizza joint, known for our twists on the “standard” pizza offerings. Choose from classics like plain cheese or pepperoni, or go for it with signature pies like the Honey Bastard (Wisconsin brick cheese, hot soppressata, bacon marmalade, and habanero honey). Also offering a beloved “Thunderburger,” appetizers, salads, and more.

Walters303 Pizzeria & Publik House

Denver, CO
Concept: Casual Dining
Established: 2010
Owner/President: Mike Kienast, Partner: Stacy Turk
Website: walters303.com 
Social: instagram.com/walters303uptown/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $2,856,684
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $1,828,512

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? During Covid when most of the restaurants closed around us we stayed open. We wanted to maintain some kind of normal in a scary time in the world. We would sometimes see the same customers several times a day. It was comforting to see familiar faces. Fortunately we were able to maintain most all of our employees, and the ones we couldn’t keep we offered meals to those in need. (They have been hired back and are still here working). We started doing pizza breakfast burritos in the morning, selling plants and trying creative ways to keep the serving staff afloat.

Wooden Paddle

Lemont, IL
Concept: Casual Dining  — Established: 2013
Owner/President: Brianna Cowan
Website: woodenpaddle.com
Social: instagram.com/woodenpaddle/
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022): $1,987,847
Gross Annual Sales (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021): $1,383,837

Why is your pizzeria a great place to work? We pay over industry average in our area. We go as far as paying every server the true minimum wage of $12 per hour instead of the tipped minimum wage. We offer PPO health insurance through Blue Cross, company retirement plan, vision insurance and dental insurance.

How has your company grown during the past 12 months and what are your future growth plans? In the past 12 months we have been building up the people side of our business. Angela Terrafino runs our restaurant operations and we have recently hired on Joelle Beranek to take over our off site event operations. We started running our business on the Entrepreneurial Operating System based off of Gino Wickman’s book Traction. We now have a solid leadership team in place and are figuring out all of the company issues at a rapid pace. We will be opening a new location in March or April of 2023.