Story by Tracy Morin | Photos by Terrence Monash
At first glance, Spinachio Pizza seems like an outlier. First, it’s female-led—by two sisters, Zana Kaloshi and Ardiana Gashi, who share an Albanian rather than Italian heritage. They’ve persevered despite difficult timing, opening in June 2019, not long before COVID-19 annihilated restaurant activity in their small town of North Haledon, New Jersey. And their signature, namesake pie features an ingredient kids and adults alike often resist: spinach.
But these two sisters beat the odds, thanks to a rock-solid restaurant background, enviable influencer accolades (including from Dave Portnoy himself), and a drive to succeed that counters challenges with old-fashioned grit and determination. In other words, they’re exactly the kind of operators who’d be able to convince almost anyone to eat their spinach.
Seeing Green
Gashi and Kaloshi’s dream business, Spinachio Pizza, has been a lifetime in the making—and, like all close-knit sisters, they’re so in sync they can finish each other’s sentences. When Gashi explains, “My family’s been in the restaurant business for over 30 years now,” Kaloshi chimes in with her own take: “Whatever restaurant they opened—fine dining, pizzeria, whatever—we were always with them.”
“One day, we got to talking and wanted to do something on our own, but we wanted to do something different—not your typical pizzeria,” Gashi continues. “Every year, we spent summers with our grandmother, and she always made this spinach spread.”
“It’s a traditional Albanian dish that we always had,” Kaloshi adds.
“And she put her special touch on it. So I said, ‘Why don’t we try this as a pizza and see how it comes out?’ With trial and error, we came up with the perfect pizza, and we’re like, ‘You know what? We should open something and make this pizza the focus.’ That’s how we came up with Spinachio Pizza.”
Inspired by Grandma and informed by their parents’ own restaurant entrepreneurship, the pizzeria is also supported with understanding and assistance from their husbands and kids (each sister has two children). That family togetherness creates the heart of Spinachio, a bright, cozy 1,300-square-foot space tucked away in a strip mall. And it translates to customers, too—which is imperative, as the sisters have made the pizzeria their home.
“We’re here all the time, basically—we live here,” Gashi says. “We have a great relationship with our customers. They feel very comfortable talking to us. While we’re doing our thing, we listen to them. We know about their family, about their kids. We greet them with a huge smile, and they’re happy to see us. It’s different when they walk in and see two sisters, you know? Plus, we love what we’re doing—we’re not sitting there miserable. We love seeing them, and their support gives us that energy. They do really become family.”
Crowdsourced Success
While Kaloshi and Gashi have generated success based on their own ingenuity, creativity and hard work, Spinachio Pizza is clearly a team effort, starting with Grandma’s spinach spread. “It’s a dish that’s been at the heart of our family gatherings,” Gashi says. “We use a special, secret mix that truly sets us apart. It adds a fresh, vibrant flavor and a wonderful texture, giving a savory, slightly earthy and creamy profile that pairs perfectly with our Grande cheese.
“We know some people grew up thinking spinach was just something that Mom made you eat, but we love surprising our customers,” she continues. “The way we prepare and season the spinach really transforms, making it a highlight rather than an afterthought. It’s always fun to see someone’s reaction when they realize how delicious and creamy our Spinachio pie is.”
Once their cornerstone recipe was developed, the sisters sought support from numerous sources. The Slice app, for example, was involved at the very beginning, which, Kaloshi says, eased customers’ ordering and helped the business grow. Meanwhile, their distributor, E&S Food Service, “has been incredible,” she adds. “Their reliability and support make it easy for us to keep serving our customers with the best quality ingredients, and we truly value having them.”
Later, they sourced social media help from a local expert, Anthony Pizzi, whom they found on his home turf: online. “I reached out to him, because I saw him on social media,” Gashi recalls. “I said, ‘Listen, I like your stuff, and I was wondering if you’d like to work with us.’ I believe he was working with Slice. Then he came on board.”
Previously, Gashi herself was the team’s sole social media mastermind, showing off photos on Instagram, creating commercials with Slice, and snagging a spot on ABC’s Eyewitness News for Spinachio’s heart-shaped pizzas around Valentine’s Day. But Pizzi brought their efforts to a new level with videos and marketing that attract more eyeballs. “Anthony has made a huge positive impact,” Gashi asserts. “His creativity has helped us reach more customers and share our story with the community. The fun videos he makes on social media really capture our personality and bring people together. He’ll suggest something, and if he sees that we’re a little bit skeptical, he’ll say, ‘Come on, you can do it.’ He’ll push you.”
Another way the sisters crowdsource their success: in-person feedback. This isn’t a pizzeria where comment cards collect dust in a corner; instead, customers have provided actionable suggestions that the sisters have adopted—and influencers are no exception. “All these social media people who come in, I pick their brains on what they like and what they like to eat,” Gashi notes. “Then that’s what I do.”
But the sisters listen closely to “regular” customers, too. “We make sure we’re giving people what they want, like convenient online ordering,” Gashi says. “Even the Burroni was based on listening to people and [combining] what they love most.” This popular specialty pie is topped with vodka sauce, cupped pepperoni, mozzarella, burrata and basil. Unsurprisingly, their vodka sauce is another family heirloom—based on their father’s beloved recipe.
A Portnoy Visit Manifested
The Spinachio team scored a career-changing win when Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports walked in the pizzeria’s door last February and ordered the bar pie-style Skinny Cheese Pizza. He bestowed an 8.1 rating after wolfing down a slice for his nearly 1.5 million subscribers, earning more than 430,000 views for the Spinachio video in just a few months. “After Dave Portnoy visited our pizzeria, our business completely transformed,” Kaloshi says. “We saw a huge increase in customers.”
It was a visit that the sisters literally asked for. “A half hour before he walked in, I said to Anthony, ‘How can we get Dave in here?’” Gashi recalls. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m working on it.’ Thirty minutes later, Dave Portnoy walks in. I was at a loss for words. Usually, I don’t shut up, but I became mute.”
While Kaloshi marveled that they just manifested Portnoy’s appearance, Gashi regained her voice enough to convince him to try the signature Skinny Spinachio, despite his professed aversion to toppings and spinach in particular. While he couldn’t give this pie a glowing review, his verdict (that he didn’t hate it) was enough to spark customers’ curiosity—at least, ones who weren’t already making the pie a top seller.
“They try the Spinachio pizza, they fall in love, and they’re hooked,” Gashi says. “It brings us good vibes and good memories with our grandma. And I’m so happy that everyone else feels the same way. There’s not one person who’s walked in here and said, ‘I don’t like it.’ Even people who say, ‘We don’t like spinach,’ they try the pizza and they’re like, ‘Oh, my god, this is heavenly.’ Even little kids love it.”
Accordingly, plenty of other influencers have applauded the business since its opening. They may not boast the clout of Portnoy, but they include a long list of names from the local pizza and food scene, each with their own thousands of followers. Instagrammers like @twogirlsoneslice, @heidiblum_foodczar, @thepizzahulk, @buffalochickenpizzaguy, @njfood_travels and @youdontknowjersey are just some who have visited, loved and tagged Spinachio to spread the word.
So, while Portnoy may have shot them into the stratosphere, the two sisters have long attracted attention. “These influencers, they would come in, and it’s not like they would ask if we would pay them anything,” Gashi says. “They would come in and want to try our food. And then they wanted to support us. They saw us, two sisters, trying to make it happen. Their support really helped us a lot.”
It also helps that the pair’s unique pizzas have always been social media-friendly, often presenting unique twists on classics. This can occur in name alone—the thin, crispy crust here becomes Skinny Pizza, giving the blue-collar bar pie a much choicer sheen. Or it can happen through interesting ingredient combos, like the Chicken Francese pizza, the Burroni, or the Mosaic, a 16” square pie that’s divided into four sections (customers choose from seven of Spinachio’s specialty pizzas to create their own ideal foursome).
“Influencers love this type of fun stuff,” Gashi notes. “Like with our spinach pizza—who thinks of spinach pizza? But they walk in here and they love it, and they love to rave about it. Even our Burroni, or when I did the Chicken Francese pizza—they love stuff like that. You just find something that you love, and you put it on a pizza. What’s better than that?”
The Indomitable Duo
While luck has certainly shone on the Spinachio sisters, they’ve also faced and overcome their share of challenges. They were able to turn many of them into opportunities, like reeling in new customers when many local restaurants shuttered in COVID times. And their success has been no accident—it’s resulted from teamwork, menu innovation, persistence, and the unique magic that two sisters can create together.
Indeed, Gashi and Kaloshi relish the opportunity to draw on their individual talents, particularly as female owners. “Opening a pizzeria together as sisters has been a dream come true: combining our strengths, supporting each other and honoring our family tradition,” Kaloshi says. “As women in a traditionally male-dominated industry, we’ve faced challenges, but our passion, determination and support from each other have helped us succeed. We hope our story inspires other women to pursue their dreams, trust their vision, and know that, with hard work and support, anything is possible.”
And, even when times were tough, they’ve always had each other—a crucial asset in the difficult early days. “If you open a pizzeria just to open a pizzeria, I believe it’s never going to work,” Gashi says. “You have to really put your heart and your soul and everything in it.”
“And, believe me, we did,” Kaloshi adds. “We literally slept here. There were days when it was so slow, we were like, ‘Oh, my god, what’s going to happen?’ And then, little by little, it started picking up, and here we are today.”
“To see it come from nothing, to becoming what it is—it’s such an amazing feeling,” Gashi says. “Every time I wake up in the morning, I think, ‘Wow, we did this.’ Two sisters, we did this. It’s unbelievable.”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
