Nashville-based Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria is set to put a food truck in the Travis Heights neighborhood of Austin, Texas, in late April, as Austin Eater reports.
Slim & Husky’s is a socially conscious Black-owned pizza chain known for its high-energy hip-hop vibe and a variety of oblong-shaped pizzas. The brand operates both brick-and-mortar and food-truck locations n Nashville, Antioch, Chattanooga, Memphis and Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as well as in Atlanta and Sacramento.
Cofounder Clint Gray told Eater Austin that the Austin food truck, which will be the brand’s first location in Texas, will test a kiosk system for ordering pies. The article noted that Slim & Husky’s chose Austin because of its growing importance as a technology business hub.
Related: This Black-owned pizzeria buys key ingredients from other Black-owned businesses
Pizzas on the Slim & Husky’s menu include the P.R.E.A.M., a white-sauce pie featuring a house cheese blend, spinach, pepperoni, pulled Italian sausage, mushrooms and red onions; the meat-heavy, red-sauce Cee No Green, topped with a cheese blend, ground beef, pepperoni, Canadian bacon and Italian sausage; and the vegan-friendly Nothin’ But a “V” Thang, made with a red sauce, vegan cheese, spinach, plant-based pepperoni and sausage, mushrooms and red onions.
The founders of Slim & Husky’s created the PREAM Scholarship for qualified employees who want to get a college education.
Slim & Husky’s also features a rotating selection of beers from local breweries and a variety of wines.
Founded by best friends Gray, Derrick Moore and Emanuel Reed, all graduates of Tennessee State University, Slim & Husky’s was the first Black-owned business on Nashville’s famed Broadway Street. In 2018, the trio created the PREAM Scholarship for Slim & Husky’s qualified employees who want to pursue a college education. They also developed a program to encourage Antioch, Tennessee elementary school children to read.
According to the Nashville Business Journal, Slim & Husky’s is eyeing “all the major cities in the South” for growth.
“We tell people we’re not just a pizza company,” Gray told WATE in Nashville. “It’s pizza, art and music.”
He added, “Growing up, we never saw a minority business, an African-American business, scale to what we’re doing today, and so it’s very important for us to be able to show those coming after us the possibilities of what can be.”
