In the 2007 Disney classic Ratatouille, there’s a moment so many who love food can relate to. As food critic Anton Ego takes his first bite of a Ratatouille, he is transported to his childhood, sitting in his mother’s kitchen, eating a beloved dish.
Fran Garcia had a moment like that—one that eventually led to him founding, owning and operating no fewer than three different brands in the pizza space (Artichoke Basille’s Pizza, Lions & Tigers & Squares, and now, Panko Pizza, to name a few). The first time he tasted the combination of shredded lettuce and mayonnaise on bread he was transported to a future in which he was a serial entrepreneur with his own restaurants.
“I was hooked,” Garcia said on the latest episode of Peel: A PMQ Pizza podcast. “I was like, ‘I gotta be in the restaurant business because I don’t wanna ever have to ask anybody for one of them sandwiches again.’”
Related: Crunch, Crunch, Crunch: How Fran Garcia Achieved the Perfect Crispy and Crunchy Crust
On the podcast, Garcia detailed how his latest brand, Panko Pizza, came to be. It’s a story of innovation-by-necessity to the max: Garcia inherited an Artichoke Basille’s location due to reasons beyond his control. It was a thorn in his side—when an employee couldn’t show up to work, the store was so far away from his other locations, Garcia couldn’t simply send a team member from another store to fill the gap.
So Garcia did what he always does: He began experimenting with solutions. He found one in the form of a recipe that involved panko breadcrumbs. The panko shields the pizza from direct heat and makes it more difficult to burn.
“The panko makes the pie come off the board very easily,” Garcia said. “I’m able to sell a boatload of pizza with a lot less people… I basically had delivery guys making pizza overnight with this new system.”
To hear more about Gracia’s Ratatouille moment—and the plans for his new brand—check out the latest episode of Peel.
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