Breweries Have Become the Startup Incubators for Pizza Shops
Allegheny City Brewing has hosted a number of up-and-coming pizza makers that could shape the future of the city. Plus I was interviewed by Pizza Quarterly Magazine.
Hi there!
I am back from vacation where I ate nearly 0 slices of pizza. The only slices I ate were off of Charlie’s plate. These days it’s hard to get her to eat anything other than Spak but we’re trying to expand her pizza palette. Maybe Dog Fish Head Brewery needs to start importing water from Pittsburgh to up their pizza game.
Also last week I was interviewed by Pizza Quarterly Magazine. Tracy Morin reached out to me to talk about the world of writing pizza newsletters. If you want to hear my thoughts on the role of newsletters for spreading the pizza gospel, well, read it here. Here’s a nice quote:
Pittsburgh-based Dan Tallarico, who runs the website PizzaWalkWithMe.com and posts a weekly newsletter on Substack, isn’t just a pizza-centric pencil-pusher. He’s actually worked in pizzerias, which (along with his obvious love and passion for the industry) gives him an edge in his pizza reporting.
Allegheny City Brewing Incubates Pizza Entrepreneurs
“Pizza and beer, what else do you need?” A profound and philosophical question posed by Matt Yurkovich, one of the owners owner of Allegheny City Brewery. Both products involve yeast, fermentation and are a canvas that artists manipulate to create something entirely their own. No two beers are the same like no two pizzas are the same. Pizza and beer belong together so it’s no surprise that breweries are a common venue for mobile pizza shops.
Because most breweries don’t have a kitchen and drinking 7% ABV IPAs on an empty stomach is quite a bad idea, breweries use mobile food vendors to round out offerings. One of my favorite events was the Alberta’s / Blue Sparrow pizza trucks at Dancing Gnome. With Alberta’s opening their shop that dream scenario has vanished. But Allegheny City Brewing is picking up the slack.
This week Allegheny City Brewing is hosting pizza makers two days in a row, the ‘77 Club and Fireside Pizza Company. Today you can head down to the North Side brewery to grab the ‘77 Club’s signature panuozzo. They’re debuting a panuozzo with rotisserie smoked porchetta with tomato fennel jam and arugula topped with grana.
Brittani and Dustin from ‘77 Club shovel loads of flavors and tastiness into every panuozzo like they are powering the Little Engine that Could up a mountain. It’s astounding, so you’ll definitely want to grab one if you can. I was lucky enough to have one of their unique pizzas and they are creating flavor combinations that a Vitamix would be jealous of. They’re still getting started, but are looking for an audience that will appreciate their pizza. What better match than a brewery where visitors are use to trying and exploring new flavors?
They’ve done a few pop-ups at Two Fray’s Brewery, but this is their first visit to the North Side. They say, “We are thrilled for the opportunity to be in a new part of town. Really excited to be around live music. Every new venue is one step closer towards our goal of purchasing a large trailer oven. Once we have that we will be able to serve our pizzas quickly and to the standard that we'd like to uphold. Until then we are moving forward with the mighty panuozzo. Many exciting events are around the corner!”
A good partnership can bring in customers to the brewery that may not go. I don’t go out to the North Side that often, but when I heard Dan Tomcik of Mun’s pizza was first popping up at Allegheny City Brewing we made the journey, even crossing bridges. Since that first pop-up, Allegheny City Brewing now celebrates “Munsday” which is when Mun’s pizza sets up shop at the brewery.
Dan lives on the North Side so he considers this his home brewery and says, “We live in the neighborhood, so that kind of makes it special to us as well. It's been good for me, and I definitely see repeat customers. I kinda have a ‘Munsday’ crowd now.”
Having the space to experiment and grow the business has helped Dan to hone his craft. Dan says, “Most customers have a well baked roccbox pie in approximately 10 min or less, so I'd say that's growth. That's true street pizza. We almost always sell out, which is roughly 60-80 pies nowadays.” Dan is always working to improve his pizza game, but being able to get real experience and grow a loyal customer base is critical for a pizza maker with a dream of making an impact on the pizza culture.
Allegheny City Brewing brings in unique food spots that their discerning clients will enjoy and tries to elevate the experience by pairing programing with the pizza shop. Matt Yurkovich says, “Mun’s has a nice following and our customers and neighbors definitely look out for new places to try. I think the first pop-up they did, we paired it with some Jerry Garcia on the speakers and created an event for it to get people out in February.” I was there that fateful February night and it was bonkers busy, as many people were there to try a new pizza as they were for Jerry Garcia.
It helps that Matt is a pizza enthusiasts who understands the beauty of pizza. He’s detoured long road trips to swing though New Haven, has made time to visit Etna Slice House, grabbed pizza from Eddie, and recently visited Turco’s.
Of the new batch of pizza makers, Matt says, “As far as all the new ones, we're here for it! I love how Mun’s does a special pie every month alongside their solid standards. I havent had Fireside or ‘77 Club yet but will remedy that this weekend. I appreciate that they're all using fresh ingredients and local as possible. It's inspiring to see the new pop-ups and gives us encouragement to continue trying new things. Doesn't hurt that they all seem to be very good people.”
To keep the pizza part flowing, Allegheny City Brewing will also be popping up alongside Turrettini Pizza on September 7 as part of the Brighton Heights Summer Series.
Allegheny City Brewing is nurturing the next generation of pizza shops. Think of Driftwood Oven and Alberta’s pizza who once made a living from traveling to pizza shops. They now both have their own brick and mortar shop and maybe one day these other pizza seedlings will grow to have a shop of their own.
Do you have a favorite brewery / pizza combo? Let me know!
Pizza ya later!
-Dan Tallarico, Pizza Journalist