PIE 2 PIE - A Pizza Maker’s Podcast

In this episode of Pie 2 Pie, Alex Koons sits down with Audrey Kelly, owner of Audrey Jane's Pizza Garage located in Boulder, Colorado. Audrey discusses what it was like growing up in the family’s thriving bagel business, as well as her journey into pizza making when she began working for pizza legend Tony Gemignani in San Francisco. She opens up about her experience with baker's

In this episode, Scott Sandler, a pizza industry veteran from St. Louis, joins the show. Scott has opened three successful pizza concepts over the years and ultimately sold two of them. He shares his insights on the importance of understanding restaurant finances and numbers, staffing properly, and when it might make sense to sell your business. Scott discusses the difficulties of

In this episode, Nick Sanford, owner of Toss & Fire Pizza in Syracuse, NY, shares his inspiring journey from working in corporate America to building a thriving, multi-unit pizza empire. Nick discusses the risks he took, the challenges he faced, and the critical decisions that led to Toss & Fire's rapid expansion. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining consistency and

In this episode, meet Ben Stix, founder of The BeHive, a Nashville-based company making some of the best plant-based meats and cheese available on the market today. Ben shares his entrepreneurial journey building The BeHive from the ground up. We discuss the challenges of scaling a wholesale food manufacturing business, and what it actually takes to get your product into grocery st

In this episode, Alex heads to Hesperia, in the High Desert of California to visit the meet the minds behind Slice Godz. Brothers Kyle and Jacob share their inspiring journey of turning a passion project into a thriving pizza haven in their community. Mixing dough by hand, getting savagely creative with their oven setup, these guys epitomize the "where there's a will, there's a way

In this episode, Alex Koons sits down for the second time with Chris Wallace, owner of Ozzy's Pizza, to discuss Chris's incredible journey over the past year. From essentially popping-up in an underground sports bar to opening on a patio in Glendale and receiving a stellar review form from Dave Portnoy, Chris's trajectory has been nothing short of meteoric. They delve into the chal

In this episode, Alex sits down with Hunter of Detroit Pizza Depot in Los Angeles to discuss his journey from Michigan to Los Angeles and the art of crafting "authentic" Detroit-style pizza. Hunter shares his humble beginnings, from running a food truck in his hometown to opening a cloud kitchen near USC, and reveals his exciting plans for a new brick-and-mortar location in the hea

In this Pie to Pie episode, host Alex Koons interviews Vito DeCandia, owner of Angel City Pizza in Venice, CA. Vito shares his journey from growing up in Brooklyn and Long Island where pizza was the family business to opening his own West Coast pizzeria. They discuss the challenges of running a restaurant, navigating regulations, high costs, and workforce changes. Vito emphasizes t

In this episode of Pie 2 Pie, we sit down with Michael Fiorelli and Liz Gutierrez of Fiorelli Pizza, a wood-fired pizza venture based in a community garden in Venice, Los Angeles. Mike and Liz share their unique journey from working in fine dining to nearly opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant of their own to deciding to pursue a mobile pizza concept in an intimate, outdoor settin

In this episode, meet Jean and Grace, the husband and wife duo behind Montreal's Brigade Pizza. The first Neapolitan pizza lineup concept in Canada, Brigade has been serving up beautiful Neapolitan pies and sparking conversations since 2014. They discuss the merits and pitfalls of VPN certification, the evolution of their dough recipe, and the struggle to balance creativity with cu