By Charlie Pogacar
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.’”
Related: Once Fired From the Shop He Now Owns, Frank Kabatas Plans Free Slice Giveaway
This has become New York City pizza lore: Kabatas was fired from the pizzeria he and his brother now own, East Village Pizza, 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.
Kabatas recalled, “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.’”
This only furthered Kabatas’s appetite for learning more skills in the world of pizza. So Kabatas took a gig at Ben’s Pizzeria near Washington Square Park. There, he began learning the pizza-making process. To supplement his income, he delivered pizza for Domino’s. When his car broke down during a snowstorm, Kabatas walked back to the shop to inform the manager that he would not be able to deliver pizzas until his car was fixed.
“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.’”
Upon seeing Kabatas work inside the shop, Domino’s management realized they had a ringer on their hands: They told him he now worked in the kitchen. Within the next year, Kabatas ascended to manager of the Domino’s location, where he received a core education in running a shop.
“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.”
Domino’s helped instill in Kabatas the idea that you have to give customers what they want. As an example, he points to the 30-minute delivery guarantee Domino’s became known for in the 1980s and 90s. People want pizza fast? Domino’s is going to give it to them.
His time as a manager at Domino’s also taught Kabatas other aspects of running a pizza business. “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, Kabatas learned East Village Pizza was for sale. He began trying to convince his brother, who was reluctant, that they should take the dive and buy the shop together. It would require borrowing money from friends and family back in Turkey, but the brothers eventually put the funding together and made it happen.
The early days were challenging for Kabatas. Looking back now, he said he worked hardest during the seven-year span from 2003 to 2010—a span of time that ended when he finally paid back everyone he’d borrowed money from. Kabatas used to routinely work until 5 a.m., sleep for a few hours in the basement of the pizzeria and open up the shop that morning.
Out of debt, Kabatas began tempering his hours. He also started working on his business rather than in it. He was an early adopter of Instagram, launching an account in 2012. Kabatas doesn’t claim he knew where social media was headed at the time, but he also didn’t much care. He enjoyed showing off the product they were making at East Village Pizza, and it was clear his followers enjoyed seeing it.
“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.’”
His friends probably aren’t laughing now: East Village Pizza has more than 1.7 million followers on Instagram, and another 110,000 followers on Facebook. Kabatas has started his own personal account, @ThePizzaManNYC, where he’s become a bona fide influencer with 127,000-plus followers. On his page, he shows off his shop’s famous pies, calzones, garlic knots and more. As those social media channels have grown, so to has business. Kabatas declined to share sales figures, but said the shop has come a long way.
There’s a lesson in there, Kabatas said, about being adventurous and adaptable as a business owner. And also, to be more like Domino’s: Give the people what they want.
“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.”
