Janet Zapata once told PMQ Pizza that she “manifested” her restaurant, the beloved 550 Pizzeria, into existence. Now she’s done it again with a second location in her hometown of Laredo, Texas.
Store No. 2 opened in the Golondrina Food Park on July 24 with giveaways that included free sandwiches for a month for three winners as well as two guests selected to receive an extra-large pizza for free.
The new 550 Pizzeria location focuses largely on dinner service, including late-night hours stretching to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Zapata has also added two new sandwiches that aren’t on the menu at the original store. “It is like our secret menu over there,” Zapata told the Laredo Morning Times. “For years I have wanted to show people other foods with our pizza dough, and now we’re doing it.”
Zapata, along with pretty much the entire city of Laredo, celebrated 550 Pizzeria’s fifth anniversary earlier this year. The restaurant has been a stunning success story, landing her on PMQ Pizza’s cover in 2022 and on 50 Top Pizza’s list of “Excellent Pizzerias” for both 2025 and 2024. She will also return this year as a speaker at PMQ’s upcoming Pizza Power Forum, taking place September 2 through 4 in Atlanta.
Note From the Editor: Let’s Solve Your Pizzeria’s Biggest Problems Together at PMQ’s Pizza Power Forum
Faith has played a major role in Zapata’s success as a restaurateur, although her talent, skill, marketing creativity and work ethic should not be underestimated.
As Zapata explained in PMQ’s 2022 cover story, “You have to manifest your dreams and think, ‘You know what? I’m gonna do it.’ And it’s not if I’m gonna do it, it’s when.”
Her mentor, Jeff Trevino, encouraged exactly that when Zapata worked for him at Laredo Pizza Factory, where she started as a cashier before moving over to the pizza-making line, all the while nurturing a dream of opening her own pizza shop.
Trevino recognized her abilities—and her easy rapport with customers—and suggested that she start writing all of her ideas down in a notebook. “He was, like, ‘Girl, manifest that stuff! Write it down in your book!” Trevino eventually moved away to San Antonio to start a new restaurant and sold his half of Laredo Pizza Factory to Zapata. But when Zapata and her business partner couldn’t agree on how to take that business to the next level, she closed it down—per Trevino’s advice.
In June 2020, she opened 550 Pizzeria, and even a raging pandemic couldn’t hold her back. Since then, she has launched a food truck, nearly doubled the size of her flagship location from 1,300 to 2,500 square feet, and added extra-large (18”) pies to the menu to meet customer demand.
The restaurant has more than 16,700 followers on Instagram alone, thanks in part to Zapata’s highly engaging and algorithm-friendly posts and Reels that celebrate her employees as much as her food. And it doesn’t hurt that celebrity athletes, like San Antonio Spurs superstar Julian Champagnie and his former teammate, Sandro Mamukelashvili, are drawn to 550 Pizzeria—and Zapata’s down-to-earth charm.
550 Pizzeria has also hosted meet-and-greets with the Tecolotes de Los Dos Laredos, a Mexican League baseball team that splits its time between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Above all, though, Zapata has made sure the people of Laredo feel ownership in 550 Pizzeria. In media interviews, she speaks effusively about the community she loves—without fail—and works with local nonprofits like Bethany House of Laredo, teaches pizza classes, and shares her passion for pizza with local school children.
Another example: To celebrate Mother’s Day in early May, Zapata turned Bring Your Mom to Work Day into a weeklong affair, creating warm, funny, highly watchable Reels that featured employees making pizzas with their mothers.
There’s even a highway billboard at the outskirts of the city featuring a smiling Zapata and the 550 Pizzeria logo. “Welcome to Laredough,” it reads, using the pizza-centric play on words (and hashtag) that Zapata coined to honor the city she loves.
As Zapata told the Laredo Morning Times, “I always remember that I really wouldn’t be here without the community. I wouldn’t have grown so much. When I started making pizza from home [prior to opening 550 Pizzeria], I made a promise to God I would help my community as much as I can. You start at the heart of your city, and then you go to the world. That is big to me—to always help my community. This is where I’m from.”
