Frank Kabatas, owner and operator of East Village Pizza in New York City, is celebrating six years of the pizzeria’s signature Double-Stacked pie the only way he knows how: by giving back.
From April 14 through May 16, East Village Pizza is giving away one free Double-Stacked pie each week as part of a month-long Instagram giveaway. Every Monday, a new giveaway post goes live on the pizzeria’s social media channels.
To enter, followers have to like the post, follow the account and tag a friend in the comments. Each Friday at 10 a.m. (ET), a winner is randomly selected and awarded a gift certificate for one of East Village Pizza’s stacked creations—redeemable at the shop’s location at 145 1st Avenue.
The giveaway celebrates not just the towering, two-layered pies that have become an East Village Pizza signature, but also the long, winding journey of its owner.
Almost by accident, Frank Kabatas learned how to do every job in a pizzeria. Those skills have suited him well as owner of East Village Pizza, which was recently voted Best Pizza in Manhattan by Good Day New York.
After emigrating from Turkey to the U.S. in 1997, Kabatas started as a pizza delivery man at the shop where he would go on to earn national acclaim. Back then, his brother worked at East Village Pizza, and, because Kabatas didn’t speak much English, delivering pizzas was about the only job he was qualified to do.
“The [then] owner was looking for a delivery guy, and I was like ‘Yes, I don’t speak English, but I can ride around on my bike and carry the pizza,’” Kabatas recalled. “That way, I didn’t have to say [much] to the customer. I could just give them the pizza and say, ‘Thank you.’”
This has become New York City pizza lore: Kabatas was fired from the pizzeria he and his brother now own after having a disagreement with a line cook, who had blamed Kabatas for his own error. The pizzeria owner believed Kabatas’s version of events, but he taught Kabatas a valuable lesson that day: Don’t argue with somebody if you aren’t capable of taking over their job.
“He just told me, ‘If you cannot cover for him when he’s not around, then don’t fight with him. ‘I need him more than I need you.’”
That moment stuck with him. Kabatas took a job at Ben’s Pizzeria near Washington Square Park to start learning how to make pizza. He delivered for Domino’s at the same time. When a snowstorm took out his car, he returned to the store to explain why he couldn’t finish his deliveries—and got his first shot inside the kitchen.
“And so he asked me, ‘Do you know how to make pizza?’” Kabatas said. “Because it was so busy, they needed help. And I said, ‘Well, yeah, actually.’”
Domino’s quickly realized they had a ringer on their hands and promoted him into the kitchen, then made him manager. There, he got a crash course in the business side of pizza.
“I learned what good marketing is at Domino’s,” Kabatas said. “Domino’s doesn’t make the best pizza, but they have the best marketing.”
“I learned about labor costs, food costs, everything,” Kabatas said. “I learned how to manage a store, really. And I’m thankful for them. I learned a lot of things that you really need as a store owner.”
In 2003, when Kabatas learned East Village Pizza was for sale, he convinced his brother they should buy it together—even though they’d have to borrow money from friends and family back in Turkey. The early years were rough. Kabatas worked until 5 a.m., slept a few hours in the basement, then opened the shop again each morning. By 2010, he’d paid off the debt and began building the business beyond the day-to-day.
One of his first bets? Instagram. He started posting regularly in 2012, long before it was common for restaurants to do so. He didn’t overthink it. He just wanted people to see what they were making.
“I started trying to show people what we were making because I wanted to try something different,” Kabatas said. “I had to sell the pizza, and people actually started making fun of me. My friends would say, ‘This is like a personal blog.’ And I would say, ‘Yeah, but these people are coming and buying slices because they want to try the pizza.’”
Now, East Village Pizza has more than 1.7 million followers on Instagram, and another 110,000 on Facebook. Kabatas himself runs a personal page, @ThePizzaManNYC, with over 127,000 followers. On both channels, Kabatas shows off everything from giant calzones to gooey garlic knots.
The giveaway is a celebration of all that progress and a reminder of what drives him: customer connection.
“I always say getting out of your comfort zone is going to give you a better idea of how to do your job and run your business,” Kabatas said. “So, let’s say in 2014, I didn’t get anything from social media? I was going to change the way I did it, I was going to find something that did work.”
This month’s giveaway is one more example of that same spirit: Give the people what they want, and keep moving forward.
