Angel City Pizza’s Vito DeCandia Keeps It All The Way Real

What happens when an old-school pizza guy sits down and tells the truth?

In this episode of the Pizza King Podcast, I talk with Vito DeCandia of Angel City Pizza about what has changed in pizza, what still matters, and why so many operators get distracted by trends, lists, hype, and social media noise.

We get into old school vs new school pizza, what keeps customers coming back, why some shops should stop trying to be everything to everyone, and how to stay true to your product while still adapting to the market around you. Vito also shares his take on influencer culture, pizza rankings, authenticity, patience, and why respect still matters in this business.

If you own, operate, or manage a pizzeria, this one is for you. There are a lot of opinions in the pizza world right now. This conversation brings it back to product, people, consistency, and staying grounded in what actually works.

Resources and links

Angel City Pizza website:
 https://www.angelcityla.com/

Angel City Pizza on Instagram:
 https://www.instagram.com/acpizza/

Pizza Pro Circle:
 https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/about

Thrive POS:
 https://www.thrivepos.com/pizzaking

SPM Pro:
 https://spm.circle.so/checkout/spm-pro-group?affiliate_code=9ea4d9

WookAI:
 https://lddy.no/1oadh

PMQ articles:
 https://www.pmq.com/category/contributors/tyrell-reed/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

What's going on, Pizza Fan? Welcome back to the Pizza King Podcast. I'm your host, Tyra Reed. On this episode, it's a special one, right? It was one that I was looking forward to. Last month in Vegas at the expo, I got the opportunity to sit down with Vito the Candier from Angel City Pizza in Los Angeles, more specifically in uh in Venice. You know, Vito, Vito's dope. Vito's one of those guys. He he's gonna tell it straight. He is, you know, got deep roots in the pizza game, very, very old school background. From growing up in the pizza business, you know, being uh a really a third generation pizza maker, and he talks a lot about it in our conversation. And we got into what has changed in the pizza business over the years and what what still matters and you know why so many operators are getting distracted by by trends and hype and you know and and doing all these things instead of staying locked in on product and people and being consistent. We we we kind of talked a lot about you know old school versus new school a little bit and you know what what keeps customers coming back to his place over in Venice. We talked about the truth, you know, behind social media and and how his approach to all of that and we talked a lot about influencer culture and you know what that's done for the business. But we also talked about, you know, why respect for the pizza game still matters, right? And why it's still so important to to lock in on your craft and really master and hone in on that. So really good episode. I mean, just I could have sat there in that hall outside of the expo and talked to Vito for hours on hours on hours. I had a flight to catch and you know the show the show was opening up. But you know, if I would say that if there's an overall theme for this one, it's uh you don't gotta chase every trend to be respected in the pizza game. And you know, Vito is a testament of that. He he's not chasing trends, he's not he's not doing that. He's he is staying consistently excellent in what he does and and it's and it's showing in the respect that he commands in the room. I mean, we sat there for an hour and talked, and you know, the the big dogs in pizza are are are stopping to come and say what's up to him. So, you know, a lot of a lot of love, a lot of respect to Vito for sitting down with me. I hope that you enjoy this episode. So let's get into it. Vito the candy at Angel City Pizza Peace. You ever come to Vegas when it's not Expo?

SPEAKER_01 2:33

I don't really c you know what I come for Expo, so I kind of save my Vegas thing like a you know for expo.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Um it's not you know what it is, bro. It's not it's not the same Vegas.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Oh it is different.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

It's not the same Vegas. I miss old Vegas limos and you know, it's it's funny because the lights. People laugh at when I when I say it, but it really is the truth, man. When the when the wise guys ran Vegas, Vegas was Vegas. So I didn't get to see it like that. You know? And the thing is that you know, back then it wasn't about you know, now you got all these hedge fund companies, you know, they they got Caesars, they got MGM, you know,$12 for a bottle. Like they bang you over the head any chance they get.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

I went I went back to the hotel last night, I got a bottle of water and a Fanta,$16.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

That's what I went even in this, I mean, look, this highway's great. Park is free, valet parking is free, yeah. Rooms are nice and clean, they redid the whole hotel. But same thing, I went in the lobby this morning, I woke up by 3 30 in the morning, I was like, I'm gonna go down and have a cigarette or two. And I was thirsty. I went to get an apple juice, minute-made apple juice, you get them in the gas station, two dollars$6.99. Crazy. I was like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 3:44

It's crazy. Like, I I don't know how they get away with it. I was just talking to another guy, and he's like, he doesn't charge more. He sells like vegan pizzas and vegan products. Yeah. He doesn't upcharge for it. I'm like, you're the only person in the world because everybody everybody upcharges for everything.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

It's more expensive, so it's not even upcharging. You just you have to you have to you know meet the costs. But you know, back in the day, like, they weren't concerned about the food and the alcohol. And uh they were concerned about you being at the tables and gambling. Anything they had to do to keep you at those tables, whether it was climate control, no clocks around, feed them, let them let them eat. Who cares? Prime rib, give them$3 drink, who cares? That's not where our money is. Our money is at the tables. And they were smart enough to know that. Give people a good experience, give them something that they they feel like you're getting something, yeah. And meanwhile, you're taking half their bank account, but they got a ten dollar at least they got that.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

I'm gonna I'm gonna fix your mic a little bit. Say we're down. Let's do this. We're recording everybody? I'm always recording. Oh, all right, cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

I like to just talk. Like Alex, Alex does that too.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

They're talking.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

I did the same thing on Alex's podcast. Uh the Pie the Pie, you know, Alex? I love Alex. You were just talking about it. Hey, when did we start it? It's like we started five minutes ago, bro. That's how we do it. We just start talking.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

I mean, we could we could go formal and introduce you if you like. I mean, for the the couple of people who don't know who who veto, let me and let me make sure I say it right. Is it the candia? Candia. Candia. Vito the candia. Angel City Pizza out in Los Angeles, in the city of Angels. In Venice. So, thinking about that that mob mentality, like the the the same way they ran Vegas, how do you keep people coming back to AC?

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Look, we try to give people the best service we can. We try to be as great as we can, friendly as we can. Sometimes things get hectic and maybe we might be a little Russian, and but you know, it's it's about the product or the way you get people back. And we do a legitimate classic New York City slice. It may not what people consider in New York now, you know. Now you kind of got like your old class of New York, and then you've got your New York 2.0. Mean it what's New York 2.0? What I consider New York 2.0 is all the newer pizzeriaas that and again, and it's not a bad thing. There, you know, you've got great pizzeria out there that are changing pizza and evolving it. You know, you've got Lindistry, you've got Mama's, you've got Lucia, their first store they opened in Brooklyn. I grew up two blocks away from it. I could walk to that place. But it's a di it's different because they're concentrating on more of, you know, they're very into their doughs and their f fermentation and how they do the dough, and you know, and it's it's a completely different generation. They're doing completely different things and you know, it's good, but it's a different time.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

They're doing that, they have the luxury to do that to slow down and say, Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make my dough take two extra days or whate whatever that may be.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

But they have the luxury to do that because a lot of people that are that are in the pizza business now are doing it more out of desire and you know, and love feel they got into it, they love it. When guys like my dad and my uncle got started, it wasn't about this is my passion, this is wasn't about that. They were feeding their families. Right. That's what they did. That's that was their trade, and that's what they did to feed their families. And my my uncle used to tell me he says, You and your cousin and my son, he said, No matter how hard you work ever, you will never work as hard as your father and I did. Because they're working as well. Do you want to know why? And I said, Why? He says, Because you're American born, your belly's full. So when I came here, when your father came here, we didn't we had to survive. We had to eat. So it's a different head. You know, when you're when you're doing something because you have to. You got a you got a family, you got a wife, you got kids, you got a house, you know, you have to survive. So that was more their mentality back then was more of a survival mode as opposed to now where you know we're American born. We have the luxury of I can fail at something and I'd have to worry because I could pick my you know, there's a lot of ways to pick yourself up. Tell customers, outta here. We don't even want your money nowadays. It's you know, and again again, I'm not look, I don't knock what's going on now. It's evolved.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

You know, you go back to the 70s, the eighties, pizza was Italian. That was it. You know, you walked in your local store, it was Carmine or Giuseppe, whoever was back there making the pies, you know, it was you'd be hard pressed to find someone in in in New York in the 70s and 80s make the pizza that wasn't Italian.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

You know? And now it's evolved so much, like everyone makes pizza. And it's and it's cool because as an Italian American, it's gratifying to see that it would appeal to so many different genres and races and creeds and whatever you want to. Yeah. So it's a really cool thing because pizza is a is universal. Absolutely. You know, it it it's the ultimate family meal, right? Yeah. It's, you know, I mean it's and and again, you know, pizza, you used to be pizza was one of the appealing things about it was like it was cheap. Uh-huh. You know, you filled your belly, it was really good, and it was very economical. You know, now today it's really. And uh, you know, now it's more of, you know, some pizza you can go and it's like, you know, I could have gone to a restaurant and sat down and had a meal with waitress service. You know, it's it's you know, it's again, it's that's part of it being a different world, you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Yeah. But um I like that evolution of pizza, but I I love that there's still that that point where the the regular the common family can still go get a good pie. And you don't have to get cheap pizza. You can get good pizza at an affordable price for folks that are still doing it that way.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

And there's a place for everything. There's a place for this new stuff and all all these cool things they're doing with those and fermentations and stuff like that. Good move, Dick. Well, bro. So, you know, I mean, there, you know, there's there's a good place for that. I respect it. I admire it. You know, a lot of the newer pizzeries, you know, I freak when I go to them. Um but at the same time, you have to respect what it was as well.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Is it, you know, I I have a a buddy that he opened up a place. Actually, he he bought a place that had been in in Park Slope, open for 30 years. And he decided that he was gonna change styles and go from the traditional New York style slice shop that was there to sell Detroit style. And it was, it was tough for him in the neighborhood to make that. So, you know, as you see the evolution of pizza, maybe, maybe the communities aren't catching up quite as fast as the as the pizza makers want us to. Because he didn't he couldn't afford to last as long as it was gonna take to change the the perception of the neighborhood. What to say, look, I can uh I maybe I can go buy a$30.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

It depends where you are. It depends where you are. Because look, I I grew up in Brooklyn my whole life. There's parts of Brooklyn that aren't really Brooklyn anymore. It's it's a different Brooklyn, you know? And it depends where you open up, you know. Some areas you can open up, and yeah, you'll you'll get that crowd that wants to, you know, wants to try Detroit, and they, you know, they're a newer generation. But if you're not in that in that right neighborhood, you know, you're gonna get those hardline old school Brooklyn people that to them, a slice is cheese or pepperoni or maybe a Sicilian and that's it. Yeah, that's all there is. You know, like you look at you know, Gio in Luigi's, you know, Gio's like an internet star now. My mom's cousin, when I was growing up, owned a car dealership called Paul Chevrolet right near there. I should go in Gio's place when I was a kid. We're around the same age. He was a kid. His father was making the piece. You know why he's a star on the internet though? You know if he's a straight shooter. Yeah, he just look, like, you know, I've look, you know, I like I I respect Geo. I respect, you know a lot of the, you know, old school places in Brooklyn. But, you know, it's it's just a different and you know, obviously look look, you look at Gio's shop, it looks like it's still from the 60s.

SPEAKER_03 11:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

You know, it looks like he hasn't changed a light bulb in 40 years. Thank you, appreciate it. Dick. Like he looked at it, it's still walkable. Right. You know, but the but the thing is, is he's and this is my exactly my point about why I say like the new school needs to respect the old school. Yeah. Okay. Gio's doing what he's doing the same way his father did it for over 50 years. I do what I do the same way my father did it for over 50 years. And then you'll get like some of these newer age guys, and they'll be like, oh yeah, you know, the old school guys, like they're lazy, they're, you know, they don't want to change their ways, they don't want to adapt it to they don't. That's not the case. This is what we know. This is what we've been doing for 50 years. Why why do I need to change? You're doing your thing and you're you're doing new things, and that's great. Why do I need to change what I'm doing if it worked? And you don't.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

And to me, what matters is what does my customer want? Yeah. What does my customer buy?

SPEAKER_01 12:25

You know, pizza from the 60s and the 70s and the 80s is that's the pizza that made you fall in love with pizza. That's the pizza that gave you the determination to do what you want to do. So just like you have its place, you know, don't shit on the old school. You do you ever get the urge to try like new shit in the shop? I do sometimes. Like the way I changed my ways is topping. Okay. I'm more open to putting different things on pizza now, things like maybe 10 years ago I never would have done. You know, my my father, if you came in my shop asking for pineapple, he'd throw you out. And and he would and he would throw you out, wow. Yeah, I want a pineapple. No, no, no. Get out of here. You didn't you didn't do that. You know, I I remember there was an old guy around us, he wouldn't even do a half and half. It would, you know, look, when I was like again, when I was a kid, you went in the slice shops in Brooklyn. Now even old school places, some of them just stick to what they did. Some of them have evolved, and like they'll have like a case with like 20 different buys because you know, in some ways you have to. You have to accommodate what people want. But when I was a kid growing up, you didn't have choices. You had cheese, pepperoni, you had a Sicilian, maybe they had a few Jamaican beef patties in the case. Right. That was a big thing in Brooklyn growing up, you had the Jamaican. Even even back then? Oh yeah. Yeah, bro. You would butt we would butterfly them, a little cheese and pepperoni, put it in the oven, bake it up, put it closed, boom. When I was when I was in high school, that was a huge because it was cheap. Yeah. We were in high school, we had no money. You know, you went to the beef page. You went to get a beef patty in a soda in the soda and say, you know what, I'll go with a beef patty today. Or you went to the Chinese restaurant and you got a rice and gravy for a dollar. You got a rice and gravy for a dollar, a pint of rice and gravy, one dollar. Right on Avenue X. Or you can eat. That's it. You got a dollar, dollar in a dream. Rice and gravy. You know, it's that was growing up in Brooklyn, dude. We didn't, you know, we didn't grow up with Porsches and Ben's and, you know. You know, the neighborhood wise guy was the guy with money. They drove a caddy in Lincoln, and that was, you know, that was what it was, you know. But you didn't have all these choices you have today. You know. But again, you know, it's it's it's cool. It's a good thing to see how far it's come, you know, and you see people, you know, that are just like it's their passion. Like they're so passionate about it. You know, you got a guy like me that's doing it for 40 years, and it's like, yeah, I mean, hey, it's I you know, I love it. I'm, you know, doing it my whole life, you know.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

But I'm not like sitting there obsessing over I d well, and look, nothing against the guys who are who are passionate and care about fermentation and and hydration levels and all that. And I'm, you know, you learn it because that's kind of where where the industry is going now. But, you know, I've been I've been in our in in our business for 23, 23 years, right? Shit, we just we still got the same bucket, like with the line on it. Yeah, and it still works. So like, you know, a lot of it, a lot of that still works for us. I talk to guys who are like, T, you gotta, you gotta get to scale and wait. I'm like, that makes my dough process like three times longer. Yeah. Like, I just know where to where my oil needs to go, where my water needs to go, and how much you know, how much salt goes in it, and and we mix it and we go.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Again, it's like we said, you know, there's a place for that, and it's awesome. There's also something to be said for it, just keeping the tradition. My my uh my uncle came here in the early 60s. Yeah. And he stuck my dad followed him a few years later. My dad opened his first pizzeria in 1968. That's where I learned, you know, as a tinkered his recipe a little bit over the years. Because, you know, products change. I mean, even if you're using all Trumps, it ain't the same all Trumps you're using 30 years ago, then nothing is the same now. Even if it's the same brand, you know, things change. But thank you, appreciate it. Keep walking, you fucking idiot. How are they not? Come on, dude, wake up. So, yeah, it's you know, I have my recipe, it's my recipe. I'll tell you what, look, 40 years of watching my dad in restaurants and pizzeria and whatever it is, I never once saw my dad use a scale to roll a piece of dough.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

He just knows what it feels like.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Never. This was it, this was his scales. These were his scales. That was it. He would cut, boom, cut, boom, two at a time. Two at a time, roll him in the tray. Every dough bowl was a set.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

That's how the old man taught us. I still can't roll two at a time. But he goes, What the fuck are you doing, T? What you why are you walking away with the dough? And he's over at the table rolling two, telling me you can stop pacing around. Two at a time.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

And I made it a point to learn two at a time. I wasn't gonna have my father say there was something I couldn't do. He was your father. That's yeah, your father's your father. Yeah, yeah. And then I've been like, you know, I started doing it and I got it down. And again, it you know, the old days, it just wasn't so precise. It wasn't like I gotta have 6.2 kilograms of this, and I gotta have three, you know, do I mean no metrics? I have these guys that giving recipes and they're they're putting everything in metrics. I'm like, I don't know, metrics. I haven't used metrics in my life. There's 25 pounds of this, three pounds of this, you know, six ounces of this, you know, six ounces, boom. That's it. So, you know, how do how do you teach that? You can't. That's the problem. Yeah. You know, and I get friends that get mad at me sometimes because they want, you know, because I'm a chef as well. And I'll get friends who'll call me, hey man, you vodka sauce. Like, how do I make that about? And I'm like, uh, you know, it's butter, pepper, heavy cream. Yeah, but how much? Until it feels right, until it looks right. Other than telling you that you gotta use like two and a half gallons of heavy cream, I don't know. I, you know, I the bulk, I taste it, it's it's it's it's what it's that's that's my my brain is just trained to grab and throw, and it, you know, and when it's done, it always tastes the same, it's always right. It's just the way it is. Like I don't measure things out, I don't, it's just I wasn't taught that way.

SPEAKER_03 18:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

You know? And it and that's the difference also between now and back then is that, you know, everybody is now is trained specifically in a way like, you know, that's how they know it. And they study it and they Google it and they research it and they and they're doing this and they're doing that. You know, when I when I first started learning with my father, I didn't know why you did what you did. I just I just how you did it. I did it. I was taught to do it, so I did it. I wasn't worried about how we got to where we got to. I was worried about, you know, we're gonna be busy. This has to be ready. You know, I didn't know about what we gotta eat. You put this to caramelize the crush.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Was there ever any hazing in the shop back then? Oh yeah. So I, you know, I grew up the old man taught me how to do it. Uh shout out to my guy, old man Joe. And he's, you know, old school Italian, straight from Sardinia. He'd leave the sauce in the cooler and wait for me to get in to mix it. And we were like, we were mixing by hand. So he'd like, you gotta mix that sauce. Like, why'd you why'd you keep it in the cooler for two, three hours? Just because you're late. Because you woke up late. Always some haze.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

I'll tell you what, and again, it's not a knock on anybody, it's just the way the world goes. But I tell you right now, 90% of today's generation would not last back then. We had no safe spaces, we didn't have cry rooms, you didn't have a personal perimeter that people couldn't penetrate. There was no, you can't talk to me like that. You dude, in your in a in a in a kitchen, in a pizzeria, in a restaurant, in a catering, anywhere you are, the chef was the boss. And that was it. Questioning him, there was no this, there was no that. I had it in my own restaurant, in my own dad's restaurant. My dad told me straight up, he is the boss, not you.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

It's just what it is.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

He says, goes, and that's it. And dude, I look, I've had frying pans, whiz across my head, plates, good. Yeah, you can't do that no more. You're in service people, and you know, and the shit's hitting the fan, and you, you know, you're getting into the weeds, and you're, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do, and that's it. And if you can't do it, it's get off the line. Get your ass out of here. It's not for you. And you got people now and crying in the corner. You can't talk to me like that. I'm a person.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

Like, stop, please. You know, as much as technology has helped us, I think, even like we see people here that keep w walking in front of the damn cameras, yeah, staring at their phones, not paying attention to anything that's really going on. There's no real human connection anymore. Like if you have eyes and you look and you see like you notice things around you and you and you adapt to that.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

But if you live your whole life right here, the problem, one of the big problems today is that there's no self-awareness. None. There's no self-awareness of what's going on. It's just all about them. And you know, you're you're in their world and it's that simple, and everything is about them. And I don't know. I get into my place. People come in, I get couples that come in, they they and they they order food, they order whatever, they sit down, and she's on the phone, and he's on the phone.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Out to dinner.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Like, put the phone down. Leave the phone the house, leave the car. Talk. Yeah, you know, and then you want to know why, you know, you got kids shooting up high schools at 17, and it's a common thing because these kids were never told no. Yep. They were never taught how to properly socialize, they were never taught respect. No emotional intelligence. Like, you know, you know, whatever you call this gentle parenting bullshit. And again, look, I I'm not saying like bend your kid over and and beat him with a paddle. I'm not saying that. But you have to, you know, you have to establish from a young age, you are the boss, you are the parent. Oh yeah. And that's the way it is.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

I don't I don't I have boys, and I don't I don't parent them to fear me, but I do raise them to respect me.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Fear and respect are two different things.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Yeah, I I want them to respect me and not just me, I want them to respect every fucking buyer. Now you gotta you you're gonna get so much further when you know when you know how to respect yourself and respect people and command respect when you walk. Into a situation. Absolutely. You gotta be a real person for that. You can't be some some identity online. That ain't that shit don't work.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

That's you know, and that and that's that's the downside of social media is that we've created a world where everyone is so intent to be famous.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Everyone social media is a necessity. Yeah, especially in business. You need it to help improve your business, and if it works for you, it's great, but not to the point where you start losing sight of who you are. And like you think, you know, like like the world should like you know, like, you know, when I was when I when I was a kid, it was like you admired like musicians, you admired movie stars, you admired people that like, you know, now we're gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

But that you couldn't reach. You couldn't touch. You never seen them in your whole life. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Now it's come on, get in here. Come on, get in here. Get in here.

SPEAKER_05 22:51

Please come in here.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Get in. We got Scott Wiener. Come on, man, you gotta come say hi. You got Scott Wiener in the house. I'm Scott George. Come on, man. And we love him. He's the man. I love you guys. How's it going? How's it going? Good, good. Starting interrupt the conversation. Come on, man. What's up, brother?

SPEAKER_04 23:08

I'm just happy to see everybody and then you know, sneak in and bust things up. I gotta run into the show. I will see.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Can I can I reach out to you to do this with me virtually one day? Anytime, anywhere. Please. Can we do that? Today, tomorrow, anytime. I would love that. I tried to come on a tour, but my kid wasn't ready for a half-day pizza excursion two weeks ago, but I really try to do it.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

Um we can just chat.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

I would I would love it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Because you have my early, send me a message.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

I got you.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

I'll reach out to you.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Thank you, Scott. He's good. Scott's definitely these good people. And you know what? And again, that's what I'm talking about. Like people like that that have a passion that just love pizza. And he teaches. But if you watch Scott and you watch his videos, he respects the new school. And but he is also adamant about this is you have to respect this. This is old school, this is what started it. And he's, you know, he's fair in his assessment across the board of everything, you know. I respect that. I have a lot of respect.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

I got I got a lot of respect for Scott too. Even back before it was pizza tours and he was writing for pizza today, and and he always shed light on who was doing the work. He always showed love to folks. He is, that dude knows more about pizza than anybody I've ever seen or witnessed or met in my life. He is definitely a pizza geek, definitely a pizza kind of sort, without a doubt. And that's kind of part of the reason why we started this. And I know we were talking about social media and you know whether it has good or bad effects. It is necessary for business, and a lot of people go to it in order to learn or to figure out something or meet somebody or do that or connect with a person. So that there's a there's a lot of good that happens. And I started this podcast and this channel for that very reason because our business, statistics tell you, eight out of ten pizzeria's fail within the first five years.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Look, look, restaurants in general, anything food-related is the highest rate of failure in any business across the board.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

And with the right education and the right advice and the right people sharing it, we can change that. And that's why I started this because we needed more platforms to tell folks the real stories that are happening. Absolutely. The real things that are happening.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Like I said, there is a place for social media. Absolutely. It's a good tool if you know how to use it properly. It's, you know, it's great to help build your business, but don't be one guy on camera and be a different guy when you're out. They're gonna find out. I I I always say one thing about myself is that I'm the same person, whatever situation I'm in. You're always getting me. That might not always be a good thing. Because I'm brutally honest, and I'll tell you, you know, so it might not always be a good thing, but at least you know when you're talking to me, you're getting the same guy that was at 15, at 25, or 35, and now at 55, I'm the same person always. And you have to, you know, I got people all the time. Start a podcast, please. Like, you got the personality for it, you'll do great. And you really need to get more on your social media, put yourself out there. You've got a really good personality for it. And I'm like, ah, you know. I do, I just want to I just want to make pizza. And I just want people to come in and enjoy my pizza. That's it. You know, and it's harder to reach those people now. You know, your pizza was your social media. If you made good pizza, we got we got Danny Boyzo.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

Come on over here and say what's up.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Come and say hello, Danny. Tyrell Reed. It's good to see you. What's up, brother? Hello. Good. That's everything.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Actually, it's going well.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

You have to say it's going well.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

No, you're supposed to be like, that's so great. It's going well.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Good. That's a good man. It's good to see you. That's a good guy, too. Oh. Oh, yeah, Danny's a screwdriver. He's a good guy. Huge on social media. He's got a whole team. You know, he pumps out video after video after video. He's not a different guy on camera. And it's smart. Steve found the right angle to promote his business, bring in business. Um and again, like I said, you know, you know, there there is a place to social media and you have to do what you have to do now. It's it's a different world. You know, years ago, your fame came from your pizza. You know, look at look at so many places not just in Brooklyn. That have been in it at Spalone Gardens. Dafar. You know, Crispy. You know, you're talking about places that have been around, you know, 30, 40, 50, 60 years. Yeah. You know, I used to go in in Dafarra when I was a kid, my mom worked one block over. She worked at the Midwood Brooklyn Public Library. Okay. Was literally one block over from Dafarra. And that was like, you know, my parents were divorced when I was a kid, so at that age, I was in Brooklyn with my mom. And, you know, that was like my treat on Fridays. I would take the bus after school, I'd go to Avenue J, meet my mom after work. We'd walk over to Dafarro. You know, I I knew Dom when I was 12 years old. He was he was me now. He was a fifth, you know, he was a he was a just a you know young guy, you know, and was before all the hype and and the social media blow up. That was my treat, you know. My mom would be get a pie and appreciate you. We'd get a pie and then go home and you know, that was my that was my Friday treat. So But you know, again, you look at a guy like DeFares and you look at Spumoni. You almost did it right. He went right in front of the camera. Yeah. You know, same thing with Spumoni Gardens, man. We would Spumoni Gardens when we went to school. Back then you had Lafayette High School was like right across the street. And I went to sh I went to Sheep's, I went to Sheep's head. And that's what you would do. Like the first cut day of spring, yeah, as soon as the weather got nice, it was a cut day. Everybody went to Splumoni Gardens. Everybody. Sheepsead, Harasi, Lafayette was right across your street, and New Trick would come to only and that was your first cut day. Everybody went to Simone Gardens, you know. But you you know, yeah, you you it wasn't you built memories off of that. Yeah. And and and look out, look, you you still hang on to those. Yeah, and I'm a pie man. My family owns pizzeria since the 60s. My favorite Sicilian in the world is Simone Gardens. Still. Still, still, I don't have I make Sicilians. I make the upside-down sicilian, like it out of out of honor for them. To me, I still, you tell me what's the best Sicilian in New York Camoni Gardens. Still. Absolutely. I gotta put they're on my list. You can't, you know, I'm not gonna like, well, yeah, I want my pizza's the best. No, I love Simone Gardens, Sicilian. You make your pizza because of what you because of it. And I would still say it's the best.

SPEAKER_03 29:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

You know, certain people have their niche, certain places you would go. And that's like, look, LA has has evolved so much with pizza. We have a lot of great pizzeria now, but it's still more of a destination. Yeah. New York in the same block. You can walk from one good pizzeria to another good pizzeria to another one and not break a sweat.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

And it's just independent. Like everybody had your favorite thing. Like for me, Sicilian was Simone Gardens. Yeah. If I wanted white pizza, and it wasn't even called white pizza back, it was called Calzone Pizza. Really? Nobody else made it. We would go to Del Mar on Sheep's Hebrew Road. Del Mar was the only place around that made Calzone pizza. Really? Yeah. And if I wanted a regular Sicilian, you'd go further down Sheepsay Bay Road. Right under the train station was a place called Bay Pizza. And they made a traditional Sicilian, you know, cheese on top of sauce. But their Sicilian was really good too. Oh man. So that was your thing. That's why people say, like, oh, what's the best pizza? You know, I I hate the, I hate all the bullshit lists. The 20 best, the 20 best. That's bullshit. The best pizza is what your favorite pizza is. Whatever you're, whatever you're having. Whatever you want. Whatever you want, whatever you go to. I might want Spamoni Ground of Sicily.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

And to me, that's the best one. So when you you you go home, you go to New York, what's the first place you're going to? Oh my God. There are so many. And I've seen you, I've seen folks, you know, in a because we're all in like our group chats and all that stuff. Yeah. And folks like, oh, I'm going to New York this weekend. And you're always one of the first ones. If I to say, yeah, go go do this.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

I haven't been home in a while. But if I, I mean, just depending on what first thing I'd probably do is, oh my God. It's not just a pizza thing, dude. Brooklyn is just a food thing. I mean, I would definitely hit Spermony Gardens. I would definitely go to Joseph Avenue U, get a Panapanella sandwich, Brennan and Car through the dip roast beef, rolling roaster, cats. Yeah. After heading to Manhattan, get the Niper Stramia cats, you know. Peter Luger's, which is great because they have one here now.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

Yeah?

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Yeah. They have a Peter Luger's in Vegas now, and it's, it's, it's, I'm after. I'm going there tonight. It's great. It's my third year straight since they opened. That's my tradition. I come here, I have to have White Castle and Peter Luger's. That's my tradition every day. White Castle. White Castle and Peter Lugas. I gotta hit them at least once before I get out of here. There you go. But uh, yeah, you know, and again, it's it's not to disrespect anybody that's on these lists, but these lists are bullshit. It's for readers, it's for for travelers. First of all, if you haven't tried every single pizzeria in LA, then how do you know what a top 20? Have you gone to every pizzeria in LA? It's impossible. No, you haven't. It's not even possible, especially the way LA has street vendors now and all that. Plus you're lumping everything together. You know, look, we have New York style out here, we have Detroit style out here, we have wood-fired pizza, we have now tavern pizza starting to become a little bit of a thing out here. You know? So how do you put like an Apple Nidan wood-fired place in the same category as me? You can't. And then you how do you put a Detroit pizza in the same category? So, you know, you want to do a list of you know what? Then put in separated like an energy into it. But no, that's too much work. Put the ten best New York pizzeria in LA. Put the ten best Detroit pizzeria in LA. Put the ten best wood fart because that's you're just generalizing it as pizza, and they all bring different things to the table. So you can't, you know, you can't rate. It's it's whatever your favorite pizza is. That's the best pizza.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

Yeah, I think I think the internet had a lot to do with the you know the ratings and point systems and all that. And you know, just go eat your pizza, man, and enjoy it. If you don't like it, don't do it.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

And it's a huge thing. It's a huge thing in LA. Yeah. Everything is a list. A list, a list.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

What is uh the one piece of advice you would give somebody who was gonna start a start their their pizza business now? What would you tell them? Here? Anyway, in a in LA, well, I would say, yeah, in LA. Someone wants to start start their start a pizzeria in LA. Well you wanted them to last 50 years, 60 years, like some of the places that you you've grown up with. What would you tell us?

SPEAKER_01 33:41

I would tell them just, you know, you have to be you have to be patient and you have to be persistent. You know, look, I'm doing this. My dad had me in the kitchen at 12 years old. Yeah. All right. I'm 55. 40, 40 plus years in here. I'm 40 plus years doing this. Okay. I came out here, I I had to start over. Yeah. You know, because why? Nobody knew me here. Nobody knows who nobody knows who I am in LA. You know, I had a I had to like prove myself out here pizza wise. Yeah. And it's, you know, you just you have to be dedicated to it. You have to understand that depending on your situation, it's not gonna happen overnight. You know, you look, you might get lucky. You might be in an area where it just clicks for you and it happens overnight. Yeah. Few and far between. Yeah. So you can you can't bank, don't bank on that. You gotta work at it, you know. You've gotta you you have to be in today's times, you've gotta be on social media. And again, like this, look, the social media thing is nobody's really changing your license anymore. Okay, unless Port Noy walks through your door, there's very few guys that have that much sway now that are actually gonna affect your business. True. Yeah. You know, you got a lot of guys now that just either looking to make a quick couple of bucks, they're looking for a free meal. And, you know, we're not gonna pay guys, I ain't I ain't paying a guy. My policy is we don't pay, I don't pay influence. And they'll contact me. Hey, you come in, we'll do this. I say, look, you want to come in, you want a meal, you want food, whatever you want. I'll cook you whatever you want, not a problem.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

Yeah. We don't pay I'll feed you without the without the review. You just want a pizza, I got you.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

I'm not exactly if I'm paying you, what does that mean? It means I'm paying you to say I'm good. I don't I don't need to pay you to say I'm good. You don't like me. You're not my customer. Come in, have the food. If you like it, you like it. If you don't like it, you don't like it. I don't give a shit. Be honest in your review. I don't care. The food's free, whatever you want, I don't care. Don't bother. We're not we're not paying, we're not paying you the influencer, you know? And even to the point where, like, I've had guys that you know contact me, like, oh, well, like on$1,200,$300, we'll come in, we'll do this. I'm like, dude, I'll tell you what, show me something that guarantees me that I'll even make that$1,300 back. You can't.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

No talk. But they don't, you know, they don't own the platform, they don't control the reads, they don't control the traffic that's gonna come through your door.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Fluencer Game 2 has gotten to the point where it's like they're competing with each other now, yeah, and they have to stay in the mix.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

If they would just work together, they could do it better.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

You get you get the same guys going to the same places over and over, you know, and and you see it playing as day, because you see this guy goes, and then within the next three weeks, you'll see seven more of those guys right behind him and go. It's like chat G. And it's like, you know what, dude? I don't need you to tell me eight different times about one place. Find me the place that no one knows about.

SPEAKER_05 36:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

That's that's what you're supposed to be showing me. You're supposed to be showing me a place that I didn't find on my own. I know this guy's great. I know that guy's great. Because 20 other influencers have told me that already. Well, yeah. Go find me the guy that's breaking his ass with a with a little oven and two seats in his place that's making drop dead pizza or a drop-dead sandwich or something good that no one knows about. That should be your job as an influencer. All right. I agree. And there's, you know, look, there's there's some guys out there that are legit, you know, they're sincere. They tell you honestly, you know, you got Daniel from forking around TV, yeah, is a great guy. Eddie Sanchez, hungry in LA, David, best of LA Food. Um, you know, Luca, I don't know if you met Luca was uh thing last night, you know, the LA countdowns. You know, and these are guys that you know what? Like, look, Eddie Sanchez came into my place. I happened to be away. I was in Hawaii. Didn't tell anybody who he was, paid for his food, sat down, did a review. I never knew he was there. That's fair again. Then you know what? Came back a few weeks later with his family and sat down and ate. And again, paid for his food, didn't know. Those are the guys that you watch their videos, you're like, you know what? All right, this guy's legit.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Yeah. I had a guy, you know, we just took over, just took over a restaurant uh beginning of the year. And I didn't even know until really last week that we had this food reviewer come in. He came in to have a cheesesteak and he gave it a, he gave it out his honest review, good score, but we had no I I had no idea. This thing is 12 weeks old. And I and I reached out to him like, man, I didn't I didn't even know that I didn't know he came in or any of that. We had just taken over, but we got a solid score because we just do what we do. But if I would have known, like, dude, yo, come back and you're like, but I I like that too. Yeah. You shouldn't know they're coming because he didn't he didn't yok for anything, he didn't want a free meal. Yeah. He just gave and it's and he and he's pretty clear about and this isn't about what you should do. This is just my review. And that's just how I feel about it.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

And that's legit, is that people just come in, spur the moment, try your product, and you know what? If you're doing the right thing, it doesn't matter because he should be getting the same slice that everyone else is getting. Absolutely. You know, you shouldn't be doing anything special because this guy's this guy's coming in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and then there, you know, there's other really, really got like, you know, big guys that like, you know, you reach out to them and like they just ignore you. They don't want to, you know, but they'll go re you know, they'll they'll go review the same place four different times, you know, and it's like, all right, well, how's this area you? You're full of shit. You know, you know what that means.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

This is where I can get the most views, this is where I can get the most money. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

So is it about the food or is it about how many clicks you can get?

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Where my influence can be amplified.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

So and again, is it about the is it really about the food? No, I hell. Or is it about how many clicks can you get?

SPEAKER_02 39:11

It's about the opportunity to grow a platform, you know? But but some some guys just do it for the love. I watch a guy, this motherfucker literally just goes around reviewing hotel bathrooms. He just goes to the sort of guy, he just takes a shit in all the all the hotels, and he tells you which one is it not. So I'm like, that's the kind of content I love because that guy, no one's paying this guy to go do that. He's just going, he's just making it. He's a he's at work doing his job and then found something fun to do online to make uh you know, to make it fun.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

And again, some people, you know, they do it out of out of a true love. Yeah. God bless you. You know, it's you know, everybody has to make money, everybody has to live. But you know, it just be fair. Go everywhere, try everybody. You know, some of these guys, they know they have the power to help you if they want to, and they choose not to.

SPEAKER_02 40:01

That's hard to reconcile, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:02

It's a part of me that it's like, you know what? If I've reached out to you one or two times, like, hey man, we'd love you to come down and try it, and like, you know, you don't even answer me. And then a week later I see a video of you from a place like a half a mile down the road for me, like, oh you yeah, you're full of shit. It's like you're just a dick.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

You're a dick. I I appreciate you because you you reached out to me, said, bro, let's do a podcast. Yeah, yeah. I've been wanting to do this with you forever, but I we haven't met. Yeah, and I usually and I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like to meet people and do all this, but you said, bro, let's do it. And I'm like, got you. And I've heard so many good things about you and about the shop and to follow it. Thank you for this. So I thank you. Thank you for this because this is a pleasure. And when I get to LA in August, I'm I'm oh and I ain't gonna tell you. I'm just gonna order it. Come on in, baby. Order it online before I get there.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

I love doing these. I did one with um, you know, Bruce. I love Bruce. He's he he started me. Bruce is a great guy, and what I love about Bruce is that he's very thorough and he covers from A to Z and he knows the questions to ask. He knows what to look for. And uh he was the first podcast I ever did. Yeah. I did it with a video. And uh and I liked it. I really enjoyed it. You know, then I did pie to pie with Alex. Another great time. We had a lot of laughs, it was a good, good time filming it. Um, and it, you know, it's cool. It's nice to be able to talk and be honest and not have to sugarcoat shit and you know, put on a phony facade, like, you know, oh yeah, I love everybody. Everybody's so brave. Everybody come on, dude. You know, that's I'll tell you what, that's one that's one difference I've noticed, especially out here. And again, it's because of there's such a wide arena of pizza. Like in the 70s and 80s and like 90s, you weren't friends with other pizza shop owners. That was the fucking enemy. Like pretty much, you know what, but you weren't friends because of one main reason. You were all selling the same shit. Yeah, it was cheese, pepperoni, sicilian, and that was it.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

Well, yeah, guys, guys are like hiding their labels.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

They're it was a competition.

SPEAKER_02 42:07

You accidentally got some some guy's product on the truck, and you're like, oh shit, that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

You know, and it's now it's like out here, it's like, you know, you're friends with everybody because there's no reason not to be.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

I think there's so there's so many people, there's so many opportunities.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

You know, there's no reason not to be. Look at how many guys came up. Danny came walking in. You know, Danny makes the same stock pizza, New York stock pizza. Yeah. You know, we were hanging out yesterday with, you know, my uh buddy Chris from Aussies, New Haven, you know, Hunter from Detroit Pizza, the Detroit Pizza. And they're and they're all they're great guys, man. You have a lot of laughs. We have a great time. Everybody's got each other's back. We're all like, you know, it's just it's just a it's a different one.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

I got I have a lot of love for the LA pizza scene because as I was getting into this and speaking and teaching, LA just kind of opened up for me. You know, these guys like Brian, guys like Hunter, Hunter and I from the same place in Michigan. Like, we got we got I used to play at the park that was down the street from where he grew up. Yeah. Like, so it's it's you know, it's just good, man. Alex is great.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

It's a different head now. It's a different world. Nobody needs to compete with each other. You know, we're all here to help each other if we can. And it's just not like it took me a while to get used to when I first came out here because I wasn't used to that.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

You know, guys like Louis. Louis introduced me to a ton of guys from South Bay over there in Redondo. Louis's a street guy. That's that dude. Louis is the nicest guy. He's one of my best friends. Not like that kid. No, man. He's a nice, nice kid. I mean, I come to LA. I've got I go to that guy's house, and yeah, we go to the show. Like, that's that is a good dude right there. And he and he speaks so highly of you. He loves you and he loves your place. He's a good guy, but I like I like Louis.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

That that's one of my you know what I like about Louis? He's a very sincere guy. Salute. You know, he's just a nice guy. He just wants to be friends with everybody. He just wants to be, you know. He's quiet, yeah. But he's so nice.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

Yeah, yeah. So

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Guys like that, man, LA really just showed me a lot of love. Look, and there's a lot of good people out here. You know, you got Sean from Secret, Sean and his crew, great people. You know. Are you doing Pizza Fests? I am doing Pizza Fest, yes. That's coming up in a it's just a couple of weeks, right? I'm making pizza on the Saturday, and then on the Sunday, I'm on the I'm on the discussion panel.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Yeah. Good, man. I love it. It's just like the whole LA Pizza Alliance. I mean, unfortunate that the fires happen and so many people lost so much. You know what? I always see that how the community came together.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

I always think of it as as it was a good thing for a horrible reason. Yeah. You know, and to see how fast the pizza scene on in LA jumped on that. I mean, it was literally like 24 hours. Shit was getting done.

SPEAKER_03 44:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

You know, and Scott, Scott was a huge part of that. You know, Scott has sliced out hunger. Uh-huh. And, you know, from 2,500 miles away, Scott had, you know, Aaron is influence and his reach. They have people, I mean, we're we're donating money in Florida because we were seeing everybody, and uh, it really was a nice thing to see everybody come together to support our our our city. Yeah. Because look, I'm a New Yorker, I'll always be in New Yorker. I consider myself a guest here. I'm a transient. Yeah. I'll always be a New Yorker. You're a New Yorker, but you got Florida. This is my home. Yeah, you're you're West Coast now, you're in Miami. This is my home now. You have to support where you are. You know, this is my city now. And it was, you know, great thing just to see how everybody stepped up and stepped to the plate. And we fed so many people. Yeah. I mean, we've these thousands and thousands and thousands of pizzas and sandwiches and salads between all the places in LA. Jumped on that, and it was really uh it was really a good thing to see. It's really a good thing to see. Vito.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

Yeah, that's just yeah. This was good, man. Thank you so much. My brother. Pleasure. Yes, sir. Let's enjoy the rest of this show. I actually got a flight to catch.