Pizza Is My Life

Episodes

Jan. 20, 2024

Do This To Create And Sell The Perfect Pizza Mike Vaona of Rosehill S…

Mike Vaona, formerly the head of engineering at Ooni, has left the company to pursue his own business venture. As the inventor of The Bread Mat and other baking needs, Mike shares valuable business lessons about creating the perfect product …

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Jan. 19, 2024

Will Grant And Mike Vaona On The Importance of Product

Let me know what you think about these. Hoping to make the golden nuggets more available to you. Thank you to our show sponsors: Ooni Pizza Ovens Affiliate⁠ https://ooni.com/?sscid=51k7_g9gpn&utm_medium=shareasale&utm_source=2800064&utm_c...

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Jan. 14, 2024

The One Thing You Must Do Before Marketing w/ Will Grant of Sourdough…

Will Grant of Sourdough Willy’s Pizzeria shares his valuable wisdom from his extensive experience in this industry. My biggest takeaway from this episode is- the product has to be solid, before you market it. Build your team, build your systems …

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Jan. 12, 2024

Why Calculating your Hourly Rate as a Business Owner is a Trap

In this episode, I reflect on the realization I had while working on catering events and tracking my time. I initially calculated my hourly pay after receiving the final payment but realized it might be the wrong approach.Read more here: …

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Jan. 7, 2024

The CHALLENGES Opening A Pizzeria With Gracey’s Pizza

James and Grace are the dynamic duo behind Gracey’s Pizza. In this episode, they unfold their journey and how they got started. Highlights: Grace and James share the unexpected challenges during Gracie's Pizza opening week, highlighting the memorable...

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Jan. 5, 2024

New Ooni Competition?!

At the Las Vegas 2024 Pizza Expo, Ooni will be holding a pizzamaking competition. More details on this podcast. https://pizzaexpo.pizzatoday.com/ooni-pizza-throwdown/ Podcast Survey- Please fill it out to help the show! https://forms.gle/Vz6t9ztF...

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Dec. 31, 2023

I Got Covid, But That’s Not Stopping This Episode

This is my end of the year recap of highlights. It was a truly blessed year. Sit down with me as I reflect on the positive and talk about the planned changes for 2024. Happy New Year Pizza Pal! Podcast …

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Dec. 29, 2023

Why I’m Not Doing A Top 10 Episode This Year (Here’s What I’m Doing I…

Podcast Survey- Please fill it out to help the show! https://forms.gle/Vz6t9ztFgno4ZkMBA Thank you to our show sponsors: Ooni Pizza Ovens Affiliate⁠ https://ooni.com/?sscid=51k7_g9gpn&utm_medium=shareasale&utm_source=2800064&utm_campaig...

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Dec. 24, 2023

What No One Talks About When Opening A Restaurant with Drew Butler or…

Challenge yourself. Embrace failure and get wisdom from it. Explore and stretch your utmost capabilities. You might be surprised by the unexpected capabilities within yourself as you pursue your life’s goals. Drew Butler, a pizzeria owner, has enc...

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Dec. 22, 2023

Don’t Give Up

By extending your projected time horizon, you have room to win. If after 3 years, you've had enough of your business, then we have a problem. Some people get lucky on their first days. Most do not. Shortsightedness is a …

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Dec. 17, 2023

running a pizzeria solo w/ Alim Nayil of Patio.Pizza

Never give up. Keep pushing, because you never know when your sh!t is going to pop off! Alim Nayil was in his pizzeria one night and having only sold 3 pizzas, he said eff it. At that moment he started …

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Dec. 15, 2023

Creating A Minimum Viable Product

Are you starting a new venture? Expanding your current business? Don't let perfectionism or overanalyzing get in your way. Make the product. Get feedback. Improve it. Keep going. Don't let your business dreams stay as dreams.

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Dec. 10, 2023

Dentist To Caterer: Building An Empire- Armen, Dracary’s Pizza

Armen Kovalenko immigrated to the US as a dentist, but chose not to renew his license to avoid going into hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Instead, he created one of the sickest catering operations LA has ever seen …

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Dec. 3, 2023

Taking Over A Pizzeria-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly with John Rowe…

In today's episode, we have John from Speederia Pizzeria- an owner/operator who bought his pizzeria 7 years ago. We discover that John purchased this business from someone who treated it as a side business. We uncover what John did after …

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Nov. 26, 2023

How I Generated 4 Figures in Sales For Local A Pizzeria

This isn't some pyramid scheme- this is something any pizzamaker can do. I taught my first pizza class. The cost per person was $112 and there were 12 people that signed up. I think this is a super viable option …

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Nov. 19, 2023

When is an illegal pizza operation okay?

Today I talk about operating illegally, how I felt about it, and how I currently feel about it. I also talk about the next chapter in my pizza making journey! Sign Up For Our Mailing List https://mailchi.mp/83cc1e422fb0/podcast-blog Thanks for ...

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Nov. 16, 2023

Lesson from opening a pizzeria with Rebellion Pizza

What are some of the things you wish to know when opening a pizzeria? Will it be difficult? Likely. What are those difficult things to look out for and be aware of? Well on this episode, we talk to a …

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Nov. 14, 2023

Do what you LOVE and HAVE FUN doing it w/ Dopio Zero Pie and Pub, Lan…

This is a fun one. We have a wide array of operators in the Vegas pizza scene talking about their dough, their process, their experience, and more. Most importantly- they remind us to do what we love to do, and …

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Nov. 12, 2023

How To Get Customers To Trust You with Esther’s Kitchen + Izzy’s Pizz…

In this episode, I speak with James Trees of Esther's Kitchen and Izzy's Pizza Bus at the LV Pizza Festival. While we talk about pizza, business, and life, I paired these two together because we talk about getting established. How …

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Nov. 6, 2023

Disrupting Dough- The Greek Yogurt Dough Start Up with Michael Rollan…

This is part 1 of a 2-part episode. We've got Michael Rolland in the spotlight, one of the founders of Yough! We're diving deep into the main ingredient of their dough— spoiler alert, it involves Greek yogurt. Trust me, you …

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Nov. 1, 2023

Branding Your Business with Michael Rolland of Yough

The finale of our 2-part series— if you missed the first, take a listen before diving into this one! For this show, we solve the question: How do you run a successful frozen pizza business? Fear not! Michael Rollad and …

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Oct. 29, 2023

What NOT to do as a Mobile Caterer With Ryan of Sanctuary Pizza

Ryan started catering 10 years ago as an employee. Today he owns Sanctuary Pizza and runs a sick operation. In this episode I join Ryan at one of his catering events and we break down how to optimize your mobile …

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Oct. 22, 2023

Green Flags To Look For When Opening A Restaurant with Brett of Zazas…

Brett is back on the show talking about third wave NY style pizza, opening up a second location, and lifestyle design. Main points -Defining third wave NY style pizza is elevated/artisan NY style pizza. Think Fini, L'industrie, or Mama's Too. …

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Oct. 15, 2023

Debrief: Going From A 40 person Catering Event To 150 with Darby Blan…

Having only done 2 events together, and this time for 3 times as many people and one pizzamakers short, I wasn't sure how this would go... This is a part 2 convo talking about my catering event. In part one, …

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