new jersey pizza

When Ronnie and Greg talk about community marketing, they don’t mean flyers — they mean donating pizzas, hosting fundraiser nights, and knowing 90% of their customers by name. 

From thoughtful staff rotation to addressing the misconception that technology disconnects you from your customers, listen in as these co-owners share their playbook for turning a good shop into an extremely high-volume shop.

This industrious entrepreneur and owner of New Jersey’s Nino’s Pizza shares the playbook that led to him being honored for his dedication to customers, value to the local community, and commitment to using technology to help his business thrive. 

Tune in for a lively, industry-insider conversation recorded in the best place on earth: a beloved local pizzeria. 

Sal Mandreucci went from running deliveries in a ‘97 Ford Contour to building an audience of over 5M for his family’s pizzeria as TikTok star Sally Slices. 

Listen in for Sal’s recipe for social media success: how many posts per day, what to film, the right mindset, and ideal balance of fans and haters (hint: you want some haters!).

Every day, new pizzerias open everywhere to varying degrees of success. But what is it that causes some of them to immediately burst from the gate and generate excitement and buzz? Geno DiPaolo and his daughter Gena, somehow found that "secret sauce" to make it happen in Charlotte, North Carolina at their Geno D's Pizza. Geno is known by his fans as "Geno from Jersey," and that is definitely part, but not all of the magic. Listen in as Geno and Gena fill us in on what makes New Jersey pizza so special to the many Carolinians who are now flocking to their tiny kiosk-style father/daughter pizzeria. Geno also shares some of his techniques for his signature Grandma pizza, which has quickly become a crowd favorite. It's all here on this latest episode of Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart.

Click here for the video versions of Pizza Quest. 

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This week Peter Grippo joins the show to talk about Brookyln Square, his pizzeria located in Jackson, NJ. Peter's pizzas have earned widespread acclaim as well as two major distinctions: a "Best Pizza in New Jersey" ranking from Pete Genovese, and an 8.9 from One Bite Pizza Reviews, the highest rating given to a square slice. Peter grew up in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn, the son of two Italian immigrant parents from a town called Caggiano in the Campagnia region. He worked at his uncle's pizzeria, Ciccio's on Avenue U, where he made his first pie when he was 15 or 16 years old. Today we discuss how he makes his pies, the process that goes into creating a new pie, the whopping 7 different sauces he keeps on hand for his different pies, and the buzz around some of the new slices he's introduced. Peter talks about how he wants people to feel when they come into Brooklyn Square and how he staffs his pizzerias with people who will make you feel at home. We lament the loss of the Brooklyn he grew up in while looking to New Jersey as a new hotbed of Italian bakeries, delis and pizzerias. Peter shares how he's influenced by his trips to Italy, and he ends with some very high praise for the guys in Brooklyn who are still slinging pizza.