Senior Editor Charlie Pogacar took PMQ in a bold new direction when he launched Peel: A PMQ Pizza Podcast in February 2024. Since then, he has tapped into the wisdom of a diverse roster of pizzeria owners, pizza chefs and influencers ranging from Fran Garcia and Janet Zapata to Marc Schechter, Christy Alia, Juan G. Perez, Jim Mirabelli and many others. If you haven’t discovered Peel yet, here’s your chance to get caught up, learn from some of the best and start a new podcast addiction for 2025.
Christy Alia, March 12: The pizza maker, Instagram influencer and Gozney ambassador shares the story behind her founding of Women’s Pizza Month, which celebrates the role of female pizzeria owners and pizzaiolas and their capacity for reshaping the pizza community.
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Brandon and Zane Hunt, April 1: The founders of Via 313, a rapidly growing Detroit-style pizza brand out of Austin, Texas, talk about their journey in pizza and how they’ve scaled the brand from a single food truck to nearly 20 locations.
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Shahpour Nehad, April 29: This highly accomplished, Iran-born pizza leader shares the details of why he began franchising Pizza Guys and how he’s grown his empire to 90 locations.
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Related: Meet 20 influencers who are making their mark on the pizza industry
Jim Mirabelli, May 28: Mirabelli, a pizzaiolo and influencer with a big heart for the little guy, discusses how and why he spotlights the best pizzerias in his beloved Northeast Pennsylvania region via social media and his popular blog, NEPA Pizza Review.
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Juan G. Perez, July 8: Perez, known as @juangpizza on Instagram and other platforms, talks about growing up in Colombia, immigrating to the U.S. and becoming a renowned and highly influential pizza maker at Posto, a 50 Top Pizza favorite in Boston.
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Fran Garcia, August 5: This pizza legend, famous for Artichoke Basille’s and a pair of hit TV shows, Pizza Cuz and Pizza Masters, discusses his latest concept, Panko Pizza in Middletown, New Jersey, reflects on his childhood in Staten Island and explains why owning a pizzeria was the career he always envisioned.
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Christina Martin, August 19: Martin, owner and operator of Manizza’s Pizza in Las Vegas, talks about building a strong culture in her shop, hiring and interviewing team members, and how she tracked down a person who was (allegedly) impersonating her business on a third-party delivery platform.
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Marc Schechter, September 16: The co-founder of Square Pie Guys tells us about the three-store Detroit-style brand he helped build in the Bay Area and the unique satellite kitchen model being used to scale it. He also talks about his role managing one of the pizza community’s biggest Instagram accounts.
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Salvatore Reina, October 14: Reina, owner of Francesca Pizza and Pasta, explains what possessed him to take on $300,000 in debt and buy a pizzeria without a business plan. He also dives into how he has retained a long-tenured staff at both of his locations.
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Janet Zapata, November 20: She’s the beloved founder of 550 Pizzeria in Laredo, Texas, a marketing wizard and a single mom with anxiety issues who has nevertheless manifested her pizza dreams with a restaurant that 50 Top Pizza named one of the country’s “excellent pizzerias” in 2024.
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Eidref Laxa, December 8: The founder of the What’s Good Dough? podcast opens up about his journey from podcaster to pizza maker as well as the obstacles he had to overcome and the brilliant advice he got from pizza community leaders along the way.
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