When Square Pie, a Philadelphia pizzeria, received a catering order from the Atlanta Braves, ownership decided to have some fun with it by playing up the city’s distaste for one of its archrival baseball clubs. That turned out to be a stroke of marketing genius: The playful maneuver went viral, further endearing the pizzeria to the local market.
As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Square Pie owner Giuliano Lozzi received an order for 10 pies to be delivered to the Braves’ visitor clubhouse at Citizen Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. Lozzi said the order was for Easter Sunday—a day he had intended to be closed. He decided to open up the shop just for the order and make the most of the opportunity.
Lozzi fulfilled the order and, at the suggestion of his cousin, Gianni Lozzi, wrote a cheeky message to the Braves on the inside of one of the boxes.
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“Dear Atlanta,” he wrote, “Thank you so much for choosing us. We are honored and would love to have you at Square Pie anytime. But [you] are still in South Philly so…”
There, he inserted an image of Phillies’ superstar Bryce Harper staring down a Braves player as he rounds second base during a home run trot. Lozzi signed the message, “XO, Square Pie.” The photo in question was taken during a Phillies’ playoff victory during a testy National League Divisional Series game last fall. The Braves player, Orlando Arcia, had poked fun at Harper after a Braves’ victory early in the series. The very next game, Harper smashed a home run and, while circling the bases afterwards, spent much of the time staring down Arcia as if to say, “what do you have to say now?”
Lozzi told the Inquirer he was not sure how the message was received inside of the Braves’ clubhouse. A reaction from the Braves likely wasn’t what Lozzi was after, though: A social media post about the stunt had received well over 1,000 likes by Wednesday afternoon. Presumably, many of those likes were from the pizzeria’s regulars, or other Philly citizens who supported the message.
The reception to the successful PR move was further evidence that Philadelphians possess a deeply irrational love for their sports teams. Or perhaps better put, they hate their beloved sports teams’ rivals above all else.
Lozzi noted that the Braves had asked for a number of off-menu pizzas he did not choose to fulfill. The fact that it was the Braves asking for such favors certainly played a role, he said.
“I denied stuff they wanted like Hawaiian pies, barbecue chicken, and a bunch of other crap,” Lozzi told the Inquirer. “I told them ‘This is our menu, let me do what I do best for you. But if it was the Phillies or Flyers? [I 100%] would have done it.”
