By Tracy Morin
On July 7, Women in Pizza and PMQ will bring together some of the brightest minds in pizza for our first female-paneled webinar, “Pizza Women On the Rise: Claiming Your Space in the Pizza Community.” Co-moderated by Alexandra “Azie” Mortati of Women in Pizza and PMQ associate editor Tracy Morin, the webinar will gather three female pizzeria industry standouts—Giorgia Caporuscio, master pizzaiola and owner of Don Antonio; Erica Bell, lead pizzaiola and general manager at Double Zero Pie & Pub; and Audrey Kelly, owner and pizzaiola of Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage—as they share the challenges they’ve faced, the victories they’ve achieved and the progress still to be made.
In this special series of profiles, we will learn more about each of the women featured in the webinar.
Audrey Kelly, owner and pizzaiola of Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage in Boulder, Colorado, was born into a restaurant family—but first her mom insisted on her getting a college education. She still ended up back in food, thanks to a stint living in Italy while pursuing a journalism degree. “I always knew I wanted to work with food,” Kelly says. “In Italy for a journalism internship, I fell in love with pizza, I guess you could say. I had always loved eating it, but [I fell in love with] its simplicity and how you could create anything on this canvas.”
Upon returning to San Francisco, she decided to change her career course and studied the art of pizza making under Tony Gemignani at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. “It was right when Tony Gemignani was opening his flagship restaurant in North Beach, and he was offering classes there,” Kelly recalls. “So I took one of his classes, hounded him with questions, and talked my way into a job with him after his class ended. I worked for him for five years. And then I moved back to Boulder, which is where I’m from, and opened my restaurant in 2015.”
In Boulder, Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage quickly gained a local following. But things really turned around when her business was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network (now, it’s been on the show three times, as well as Food Paradise on the Travel Channel). Kelly has been featured in articles on NPR, The New York Times and The Denver Post, and on numerous podcasts.
Meanwhile, the Garage has won the Best of Denver award from Westword—bolstered, no doubt, by Kelly’s competitive spirit. She has competed both nationally and internationally, winning the Pizza in Teglia division at the Trofeo Caputo in Naples, Italy, while also being an ambassador for Women in Pizza. Kelly took time from her busy schedule to talk about her pizza journey—and why progress for women in pizza is so important—in this exclusive Q&A.
PMQ: What was your original vision for Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage, and how did that evolve over time?
Audrey Kelly: It’s actually changed a lot. I envisioned more of a sit-down restaurant with neo-Neapolitan. I only did Neapolitan at Tony’s place, so I wanted to combine that element with an electric oven. I actually looked for spaces for years, and we just couldn’t find anything.
I had almost given up on finding a space; I was working at my family’s bagel shop. Then the space opened up, and we changed the concept to fit the space. It’s on the backside of a building. We’re within 500 feet of a school, and in Colorado, you’re not legally allowed to have any alcohol within that space. So we opened as a slice shop instead. I had never really made New York-style pizza, or slices as big as we make them. So we shifted the concept to just fast-casual slices, and it’s been that way ever since. It’s worked for us.
PMQ: You’ve gotten a lot of great press along the way, including on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Can you tell us about that?
Kelly: Triple D was a pretty big break for us. Before that, we were pretty quiet. The business wasn’t losing money, but we weren’t turning a huge profit. Triple D came and asked if we wanted to be on the show. Of course, we did! It turned things around for us, I would say.
Also, I think just by being more established, people kind of found us. We’re not easy to find if you don’t know where we are. Marketing is not a strong point—we don’t really do any. Our biggest marketing is if we get a shout-out somewhere or through word-of-mouth.
PMQ: How much did business change after appearing on the show?
Kelly: Triple D is kind of a magical thing. They never tell you when it’s airing, and they air you a lot. All these people that would never come to you otherwise find you through the show. There are people that try and go to every single Triple D place, which to me is wild. But we’re very fortunate; we’ve actually been on it three times. We were on it again for the pandemic, then on Triple D Nation, and then we were on a different show, Food Paradise, on the Travel Channel.
PMQ: Let’s talk about your work with Women in Pizza. Why is this movement important to you?
Kelly: It’s incredibly important. I think it’s wild to think that at the beginning of my career in pizza, there wasn’t anything like it. It’s amazing to see, even at Expo this last year and at other events, how many people feel that connection and how many more women are in the industry and actually being seen.
There have always been women in the restaurant industry and in pizza. I think they just haven’t necessarily gotten the recognition, or they’ve been a little bit on the shier side because it’s not been accepted or promoted that they’re the ones in the spotlight. So I think just giving women that space and that stage to have a voice has been really incredible.
PMQ: Do you feel women involved in pizza are stepping into the spotlight more? How do you see things evolving?
Kelly: I think spotlighting women in pizza is important because younger women, or people who have been in the industry, recognize themselves in what they’re seeing. It pushes them to do more and want more with their own careers and restaurants.
My hope for it—and I don’t know if it’s a popular opinion—is that one day we won’t be labeled as women in pizza. We’ll just be pizza makers. The ultimate goal is that we’re not distinguished. We’re winning awards. Our restaurants are doing incredible. But we don’t have to be picked out as female. I guess that’s true of everything in the world, really—just having that equality throughout.
PMQ: What are your personal and professional goals for the next few years?
Kelly: I just actually started looking for a new space. Not that I feel stuck in my location, but I feel like I’m ready for a new challenge. I have four-year-old twins, and that was very defining. It gave me a new sense of self, and I feel like I’m kind of starting—not from scratch, but I took a break from things for a while in a different way. So I’m ready for something new and just to do more. I’m definitely ready to do more.
Pre-COVID, I was focused on building our business. Then COVID came, and we were so busy I couldn’t focus on anything else. Then I had kids, and I think my professional goals got a little lost. Now I’m refocusing.
PMQ: What advice would you give an up-and-coming woman in pizza?
Kelly: I think if you want something badly enough, you can accomplish it. You just have to put the work in. Anything in the beginning is all the time; it’s 24/7. But if it’s really your goal and you want that, it’ll happen. No matter what the economy is or what people tell you, if you have the talent and the ideas and the work ethic, you’ll succeed.
