How Burattino Brick Oven Pizza is redefining the idea of neighborhood pizzerias

With regards to pizza manufacturers, you have to rise up and stand out to be observed. What began as a single unit in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, has grown to 3 high-grossing models within the U.S. and Canada. In the present day, Burattino Brick Oven Pizza has a agency basis to again up its current progress.

Emil Chiaberi and Chef Lee Kim have opened two models within the L.A. space in Rancho Palos Verdes and Carson, California, and one in Toronto. The vacation spot model has clients touring a ways to get to their favourite Burattino. Nevertheless it’s the model’s streamlined enterprise mannequin that makes it really a standout.

Emil Chiaberi based Burattino Brick Oven Pizza within the L.A. space. Offered by Burattino Brick Oven Pizza

Chiaberi mentioned in a telephone interview with Pizza Market that he first realized a couple of pizzeria that was about to shut from his housekeeper, whose husband, Lee Kim, a chef, labored there and was about to lose his job. On impulse, Chiaberi determined to step in and purchase the place as an funding. The pizza itself was nice, Chiaberi mentioned, however the place was a gap within the wall and wanted some TLC.

Chiaberi made a few minor tweaks to the pizzeria and that is the way it went for a few years, just about breaking even. Chiaberi’s spouse advised her husband to essentially step into the corporate if he was going to personal it. It was time for a rebrand, a refresh and a rebirth.

Thus, Burattino Brick Oven Pizza was born in 2016.

“I liked meals, and most significantly on this case I am a individuals particular person,” Chiaberi mentioned. “I truly get pleasure from individuals, and I do love making individuals pleased.”

Chiaberi, a marketer by commerce, dealt with the advertising and upgraded the menu. He mentioned he had had no expertise with social media and needed to be taught as he went, however he had enjoyable with it. Income elevated 750% consequently.

An attention-grabbing mannequin emerged. They stored the pizzeria’s authentic location in a L.A. suburb, which does not have foot site visitors. Individuals should drive to get there.

“We grew to become one of the crucial well-known locations in L.A.,” Chiaberi mentioned, with social media contact reaching greater than 60 million individuals a month. “Individuals clearly love what we do they usually love the vibe contained in the place. Principally, I constructed the entire thing with only a thought.”

As soon as phrase received out that Burattino had nice meals in a enjoyable ambiance, Chiaberi mentioned clients began driving and flying in from in every single place. Typically they do not even cost, say, somebody who flew in from Arizona to strive the pizza.

“We’re a neighborhood pizzeria,” Chiaberi mentioned. “We actually carry connoisseur experiences in a really accessible and inexpensive approach. You can see issues that you just’d usually discover in a five-star restaurant, like wild boar pepperoni or sausage or black garlic sauce. … however we’re blue collar. That is who we service. We’re not a flowery place. It is not intimidating … nevertheless it prices identical to your neighborhood pizzeria.”

To maintain up with demand that resulted in two- to three-hour strains, the model opened a second California location about 15 miles away in Carson, California, in 2022 to provide the primary restaurant some respiration room. A buddy of Chiaberi’s later opened a 3rd Burattino location in Toronto.

What you will not discover are coupons or offers at Burattino. The meals right here stands by itself.

A second Marsal deck oven was added to the kitchens to assist with output. “It takes TLC as a result of you must rotate (the pizzas) contained in the oven,” Chiaberi mentioned, “and we’ve got skinny crust, so the way in which it is achieved, it requires some technical know-how, and in addition consistently watching it. … It is a extra advanced operation than a conveyor.”

It takes every week to coach a brand new pizzaiolo, and Chiaberi calls Kim a “dough whisperer,” including that working the ovens and dealing with the dough is Kim’s area. Kim’s ardour is handed off to these he is coaching.

Pepperoni is the model’s prime vendor, like many different pizzerias. Black garlic pizza can be a favourite — topped with pepperoni or sausage and a black garlic sauce. The Meat Lovers is standard, as is the Hawaiian Barbecue Pork topped with roasted pork, ham and pineapple.

With the latter, the corporate roasts the pork within the brick oven for six hours to prepared it for pizzas. They purchase contemporary, native, never-frozen rooster and attempt to supply as a lot as they will domestically, together with chorizo and bacon. It is higher for the atmosphere and helps construct native relationships.

Every location makes its personal dough, roasts its meats and makes its personal sauces, just like the white garlic and black garlic sauces.

“It needs to be completely the very best. That is the baseline,” Chiaberi mentioned. “Substances are all the things. You may make a crappy pizza with nice elements, however you can not make an excellent pizza with crappy elements. It would not work that approach.”

Although the model sells wings, meatballs and salads as properly, practically 100% of gross sales is pizza-based.

The dough is time delicate, to allow them to’t promote take-and-bake pizzas or ship. Pizzas are baked at 600 levels.

Chiaberi mentioned high quality and the model’s recipes set it aside from the bevy of competitors within the L.A. space. One in every of his objectives when he started advertising the model was to teach clients that Burattino shouldn’t be a commodity product.

“We wished to step out of that class as a result of pizza is a commodity product, for probably the most half,” Chiaberi mentioned. “We wished to essentially create one thing distinctive. Our crust, I consider, is fairly distinctive. Our recipes are totally different, and the vibe is totally different. It’s extremely real.”

Burattino Brick Oven Pizza affords pizza, salad and wings. Pictures offered by Burattino Brick Oven Pizza.

Chiaberi mentioned the model’s largest problem has been sustaining its recipes and really feel because it expands. Whereas different eating places wrestle with recruitment and retention, Burattino would not have points discovering or conserving good staff.

“We’ve got a special approach of treating staff,” Chiaberi mentioned. “Some have moved on to different careers as a result of they have been going to high school after they labored with us. … Generally after we have been in a crunch, we might name them and they’d are available for a shift simply to assist out and hang around with outdated buddies.”

Burattino used to supply supply by way of third-party, and though the model was a prime buyer for Grubhub, the supply companies have been taking 30% of gross sales and the model was making little or no revenue. With different deliveries to be made alongside the identical route, high quality management was tough. The model is dine-in or carryout solely now.

“Our quantity dropped somewhat bit, however not by a lot, surprisingly,” Chiaberi mentioned, “and we do not do deliveries anymore in any respect.”