Death by Pizza Co-Founder Gets Deep (Dish).
Q: What is your background in cooking, do you have a culinary degree or was this something that came around naturally?
A: My parents had a bakery, so I grew up around the culinary aspect of things. My mom tells this story that she came home from work and I cooked chicken cutlet on the stove at eight years old. My parents had a very big influence on the fundamentals and how to work your way around a kitchen. I also worked in many different styles of restaurants in my upbringing and through high school and college.
Q: Take me back to the very beginning. When did the first two concepts, Two Fat Breggfast and Two Fat Cookies open, and what was your role at the time?
A: Two Fat Cookies started in 2007. My mom opened it with a partner, and a few years later she took over the whole thing. My sister was a pastry chef in Saratoga Springs, and at the time, Two Fat Cookies was in a commercial warehouse, retail by appointment, and mostly wholesale. My parents asked my sister to move back, and she said yes on the condition that they would move into a retail space. They opened Two Fat Cookies in Pineapple Grove, then moved into our current location in 2019. I was working in insurance when my parents asked if I would help develop a second location with more of a breakfast focus. I said, “why not?” and we opened Two Fat Breggfast. Three months later, COVID hit. We were take-out only, and we had a line down the block every day. Two Fat Breggfast really became a household name along with Two Fat Cookies in the Delray community.
Q: Out of everything you could have made, what drew you toward pizza? Was there one pie that made you realize you might actually have something special?
A: When I was young, my mom and I would go to the pizza shop and she would always give me a Sicilian slice. One of the cool things about Detroit-style pizza is that it can be quick and easy, even though that’s not how we do it since we use sourdough. When the pandemic hit, we needed to start hiring people, and we went from 15 staff members to 35. We provided lunch for everybody every day. One day I made a Detroit-style pizza, put it out, and when I went to grab a slice it was all gone. Everybody was asking for more. If you were to compare that pie to the pie I make today, you would laugh, but it was the idea that a family-style dinner turned into a successful meal.
Q: Back in the COVID days, you started tossing pizzas out of the bakery. How did people find out about it? Was it social media, word-of-mouth, or just the smell drifting down the block?
A: After I made that pizza for the staff and everyone loved it, we thought, “why don’t we sell this?” The only day we could was Sunday afternoons. We did marketing through social media, made a new Instagram account for Death by Pizza, and really started to build a following. Then we got a big feature in the newspaper. As much as people say print is dead, people really read the newspaper, and it’s still very powerful.
Q: When did you move from the bakery to your own takeout spot downtown? What did that transition look like behind the scenes?
A: We opened the brick and mortar on October 31, 2022. We gutted the space in East Delray, which took about four months. We were going from working in a convection oven to a real pizza oven, so I took a full week to get dialed in. We started with scheduled pickups, then transitioned to online ordering and dinner service. We quickly realized the space was too small and took over the neighbor’s space three months later. Then we expanded our menu and started doing lunch orders and offering slices.
Q: Then came the second location, where people could finally sit down. Why did that feel like the right next move, and what did you want guests to experience there that they couldn’t before?
A: People always wanted hot, fresh pizza right out of the oven and not a takeout box. We also had a lot of people traveling from West Delray to East Delray to pick up pizza, and I would get a lot of messages asking for a West Delray location. I locked down this space around August of 2024, and it just needed a little TLC and new equipment to get it running by the New Year.
Q: You’ve gone from baker to business owner to content creator. How has your day-to-day life changed through it all?
A: My sister and I started the concept, and we were working in the bakery full time between the breakfast and the bakery side. When we developed Death by Pizza, Sundays became a work day. Now we pivoted our concepts to be manager driven. One of the big things we have is really great leadership, and what creates that is providing our managers great work-life balance. They don’t work more than 45 hours a week. Between leadership, effective communication, and good work culture, we’ve been able to build our business.
Q: Your videos on social media have taken on a life of their own. What’s your process like when you put those together? And how much do you think they’ve shaped how people see the brand?
A: I’ve been called “The Pecorino Guy,” and everybody knows that side of me. The social media aspect has helped build a personal relationship for people with the business and identifying what Death by Pizza is. There’s been an evolution of our social media and the style has changed. I try to keep up with trends but not fall too much into it.
Q: Delray has watched this whole thing grow in real time. How has the community influenced your story?
A: One of the big things I sought out from the beginning, even with Two Fat Breggfast, was to provide food downtown that you could grab and go without breaking the bank. If you don’t focus on your community directly, then you can’t have a supportive community. Originally we had a strict set of rules when we started the pop-up. Now you can walk in and order on demand, and we sell slices for lunch at both locations. Those are two things people wanted, and now with these brick and mortar locations we can do that for the community.
Q: Why do you not offer modifications to your pizza?
A: When we built the name, we wanted to create a specific set of rules and not break them because we believe in the concept and the product. The rule is to make sure the pies come out consistently. We’re a chef-driven restaurant, we didn’t want a “create your own” pizza, and we wanted enough flavors that everybody could find something on the menu. We have 18 different flavors now.
Q: Your flavor combos are anything but typical. What’s your process for creating new pies, and how do you come up with the names?
A: Some pies are classic, some are dishes composed on a pie. A lot of the names are based off films. Our sausage and peppers pizza is named after Tony Soprano, and it’s called The Gandolfini. The Red Rum is from The Shining. The Enemy is a play on words from Public Enemies. The Roni Jibroni is a name The Rock used to use in the wrestling ring. We try to come up with different names that have film references of some sort.
Q: In five years, you’ve gone from a bakery kitchen to a full-blown brand with multiple locations. Do you see DBP expanding beyond Delray, or do you prefer to keep it close to home for now?
A: I think the one word is yes. I’d love to see Death by Pizza grow. I’d love to see it in many different communities and support communities with a unique pizza concept, whether it’s a takeout location or a full service restaurant.
