There’s always bad news for the pizza business if you’re looking for it—if that’s where your mindset takes you. But there’s plenty to feel positive about, too.
Let your fears and your worries guide you through 2025, and you won’t get far. In fact, you might end up getting nowhere at all or moving backward. Here are 10 uplifting stories from the past year to remind you that creativity, persistence, forward thinking and a willingness to take bold but calculated risks—and maybe a little serendipity—can propel you to new heights of success.
How I Failed in the Pizza Business and Bounced Right Back
When he opened his first pizza shop in 2014, Yousef “Joseph” Alhussan didn’t listen to his customers, and they stopped showing up. Within a year, he was out of business. Joseph had a lot to learn from failure. He did exactly that and, soon enough, it was time for a comeback.
How a Man Who Has ‘Never Been Good at Anything’ Became Great at Making Pizza
Did anyone reinvent themselves during the pandemic as effectively as Auggie Russo of Tiny Pizza Kitchen? His self-deprecation knows no bounds, but his positive attitude is equally palpable. And he has famous fans like Stephen Colbert driving him to further success.
Related: Check out Matt Plapp’s ongoing series of articles for PMQ to jumpstart your pizzeria marketing in 2025.
Blair Pietrini Is Living Her Late Husband’s Pizza Dream and Loving It
Blair Pietrini helped her husband, Gene, pursue his dream of pizzeria ownership. Then Gene passed away. Pietrini Pizza Napoletana is her dream business now. “Being a risk-taker,” she says, “I didn’t want to come to the end of our time saying, ‘We coulda, woulda, shoulda.’ I’m good with it if it doesn’t work, but I’m not good with us not trying.”
Trust Your Gut: The Bold Choices That Made Wizard Hat Pizza a Word-of-Mouth Success
Pop-up pizzaiolo Josiah Bartlett was blindsided when his host business rolled out its own pizza concept. They offered him a job there, but that meant he’d have to abandon his dreams for Wizard Hat Pizza. Maybe somebody else would have given up and taken the job and the promise of security—but that isn’t how Bartlett rolls.
How a 19-Year-Old Pizza Prodigy Keeps Honing His Skills at JP’s Pizza
Xavier Jon Paul Machado is a self-taught pizzaiolo and pizzeria operator who started making pies at home in the eighth grade. Thanks to his openness to learning and commitment to perfection, the teenager says, “[I’m] slowly achieving my ideal pizza.”
TikTok Treats: This Pizzeria’s Walk-Up Window for Dogs Is Sheer Marketing Genius
The owner of Bartoli’s Pizzeria in Chicago hit upon this brilliant idea during the pandemic. But it took a dog-loving employee with a keen understanding of the power of social media to take it viral several years later.
‘We Dreamed Big’: Pizzeria Owner Katie Lee Lands Nationwide Deal With Walmart
Katie Lee hasn’t exactly built a pizza empire in St. Louis. She only has three locations, in fact. But that won’t stop her from taking her brand nationwide next year in a partnership with the world’s largest retailer.
Flat Broke, I Went into the Pizza Business at 63 Years Young
Joe Scrima lost everything during the 2008 recession. In this first-person account, he describes how he started again from scratch, with no money, and pivoted to pizza. “Even though life knocks you down sometimes,” he says, “you have to think out of the box and go in a different direction.”
How Dave Portnoy Saved Christmas for This Struggling Baltimore Pizzeria Operator
Stymied by local politics and bureaucracy, Will Fagg planned to close Tiny Brick Oven for good on Christmas Day 2024. Then, El Presidente himself showed up—quite unexpectedly—for a One Bite Review. Their conversation led to a holiday miracle of sorts.
Lost Pizza Franchisee Keeps Helping One Boy Make Hundreds of New Friends
When Eric Braden, the general manager of a Lost Pizza restaurant in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, learned that a local schoolboy with autism couldn’t get his classmates to sign his yearbook, he said, “We knew we had to do something.”
