I sat down with Odie O'Connor, co-founder of Boxcar Pizza in Portland and Odie's Pizza Co. in Oceanside, California. Odie shares how he went from making vegan pizzas in his backyard to running two sourdough pizza shops across two states — and the systems, partnerships, and mindset that made it possible. Whether you run one shop or are planning your second, this episode has something you can use today.

Support the show

Want to grow your pizza shop with better systems, better leadership, and real operator conversations?

Join Pizza Pro Circle.

It’s a free community for pizzeria owners, operators, and managers who want practical ideas they can use in the shop.

We talk about sales, marketing, leadership, team development, operations, and the real work of running a better pizzeria.

Join us here:

https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/about

Free Tools and Courses for Pizzeria Owners & Managers

Email: info@tyrellreed.com

Upcoming events and appearances:

California Restaurant Show August 24-26

I talked to Eddie Stalewski — @eddiespizza412 — about going from the Pizza Bible in 2013 to standing on the main stage at Pizza Expo as a World Pizza Champion, and every connection, competition, and late Saturday pizza session that happened in between.

If you have ever questioned whether the craft you are putting into your work actually leads somewhere, this episode will answer that.

Join Pizza Pro Circle, the free community for Pizza King Podcast listeners. Take what you hear and turn it into action you can run in your shop.

Join free at skool.com/tyrells-group-9324

Support the show

Want to grow your pizza shop with better systems, better leadership, and real operator conversations?

Join Pizza Pro Circle.

It’s a free community for pizzeria owners, operators, and managers who want practical ideas they can use in the shop.

We talk about sales, marketing, leadership, team development, operations, and the real work of running a better pizzeria.

Join us here:

https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/about

Free Tools and Courses for Pizzeria Owners & Managers

Email: info@tyrellreed.com

Upcoming events and appearances:

California Restaurant Show August 24-26

Join my FREE Community!

Brandon Herriott is a pizza and Italian food specialist at Performance Food Group Roma in Pittsburgh, where his team sells over 30,000 cases a week to independent operators. In this episode, Brandon talks about what operators get wrong about technique vs. ingredients, how to get more from your food rep, the Detroit style pizza opportunity, where pizza trends are heading, and what separates great operators from good ones. If you buy food from a distributor, this conversation will change how you approach that relationship. Keywords: pizza distributor, food rep, PFG, pizza technique, pizza trends, independent pizzeria.

Support the show

Want to grow your pizza shop with better systems, better leadership, and real operator conversations?

Join Pizza Pro Circle.

It’s a free community for pizzeria owners, operators, and managers who want practical ideas they can use in the shop.

We talk about sales, marketing, leadership, team development, operations, and the real work of running a better pizzeria.

Join us here:

https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/about

Free Tools and Courses for Pizzeria Owners & Managers

Email: info@tyrellreed.com

Upcoming events and appearances:

California Restaurant Show August 24-26

Your slow season isn't coming — it's already scheduled. The question is whether you're ready for it.

In this Takeout Tips episode, Tyrell Reed breaks down how to plan for seasonal slow periods at your pizza shop. He covers why your slowest time of year is also your most expensive, how to adjust your hours and team schedule around seasonal patterns, and what he's doing right now to keep cash flow moving at his Tampa location during the summer dip.

Tyrell also walks through his catering strategy, his community event approach, and the one financial habit that gets most operators through the slow season without dipping into reserves or taking on debt.

If you own or run a pizza shop and you know a slow season is coming, this episode gives you a clear plan before it hits.

Find the free tools Tyrell mentions — including the weekly P&L tool and the Pizza Operators Playbook — inside Pizza Pro Circle on Skool. Free to join.

Support the show

Want to grow your pizza shop with better systems, better leadership, and real operator conversations?

Join Pizza Pro Circle.

It’s a free community for pizzeria owners, operators, and managers who want practical ideas they can use in the shop.

We talk about sales, marketing, leadership, team development, operations, and the real work of running a better pizzeria.

Join us here:

https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/about

Free Tools and Courses for Pizzeria Owners & Managers

Email: info@tyrellreed.com

Upcoming events and appearances:

California Restaurant Show August 24-26

John Gristina grew up around pizza in the Bronx, fought it for years, lost a partnership, and walked away from the industry for 13 years. Then COVID hit. He started doing pop-ups. And the business that once burned him pulled him back in.

Today John owns Pizza Fenice in Pelham, New York — Fenice meaning Phoenix in Italian. In this episode, he and Tyrell talk about the hard decision to walk away, the 13 years rebuilding his life, and what it finally took to go back. They get into his dough philosophy (your crust is the first and last thing anyone tastes), how he developed a creative menu including Captain Crunch chicken fingers and a green apple dessert pizza, why he built his shop around limited-time offers, and what it means to compete at Pizza Expo after years away.

Support the show

Want to grow your pizza shop with better systems, better leadership, and real operator conversations?

Join Pizza Pro Circle.

It’s a free community for pizzeria owners, operators, and managers who want practical ideas they can use in the shop.

We talk about sales, marketing, leadership, team development, operations, and the real work of running a better pizzeria.

Join us here:

https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/about

Free Tools and Courses for Pizzeria Owners & Managers

Email: info@tyrellreed.com

Upcoming events and appearances:

California Restaurant Show August 24-26

In this week's Take Out Tips, Tyrell Reed gives you one practical tip for your shop this week: build accountability without being the bad guy. Vague expectations produce inconsistent results.

Your team is not the problem - unclear standards are.

Tyrell breaks down how to set measurable standards your team agrees to, how to make results visible so the numbers do the enforcing, how to build a leadership pipeline so accountability does not rest on you alone, and how to address it when someone falls short without making it personal.

One action step: pick one measurable standard in your shop, post the results after every shift for two weeks, and watch the culture start to shift.

Keywords: pizza shop management, team accountability, pizzeria leadership, restaurant operations, independent operator systems.

Support the show

Want to grow your pizza shop with better systems, better leadership, and real operator conversations?

Join Pizza Pro Circle.

It’s a free community for pizzeria owners, operators, and managers who want practical ideas they can use in the shop.

We talk about sales, marketing, leadership, team development, operations, and the real work of running a better pizzeria.

Join us here:

https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/about

Free Tools and Courses for Pizzeria Owners & Managers

Email: info@tyrellreed.com

Upcoming events and appearances:

California Restaurant Show August 24-26

https://blacksicilian.com/bio/sedrick-crawley

Chef Sedrick Crawley built something that does not look like anything else in the pizza space. Black Sicilian Pizza Company is a ghost kitchen in Maryland delivering 100 to 120 pies a day — minimum 3-day cold fermentation, luxury-brand-named pizzas (the Birkin, the Louie, the Chanel No. 5), and a brand identity rooted in hip hop culture and Black identity. Most days they sell out. That is on purpose.

Chef Sed came to pizza through Pizza University after 20 years in fine dining. He trained with Leo Spizzirri, John Arena, and Tony Gemignani. He got the blessing to name Black Sicilian from Tony at a bar in Atlantic City. And he has built a business that treats dough as the foundation — not the ingredients, not the toppings, not the cheese. The dough is first.

In this episode: baker's percentage, the FOMO model, why new operators start with too many menu items, the yeast-in-the-freezer story, hip hop as brand identity, representation in pizza, mentorship, and the discipline of building something that tells your whole story. This is a long one and every minute earns its place.

Support the show

Want to grow your pizza shop with better systems, better leadership, and real operator conversations?

Join Pizza Pro Circle.

It’s a free community for pizzeria owners, operators, and managers who want practical ideas they can use in the shop.

We talk about sales, marketing, leadership, team development, operations, and the real work of running a better pizzeria.

Join us here:

https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/about

Free Tools and Courses for Pizzeria Owners & Managers

Email: info@tyrellreed.com

Upcoming events and appearances:

California Restaurant Show August 24-26

The flour debate is here. New York just moved on potassium bromate. California already did it. And if you run a pizzeria, it's coming for you whether you're in those states or not.

On this Takeout Tips Thursday solo episode, Tyrell Reed breaks down the bleached and bromated flour conversation from an operator's perspective. No science degree required. Just real talk about what this means inside your kitchen, your dough, your food cost, and your brand.

Tyrell shares what he learned running 700+ bags of Caputo unbleached flour three years ago, why cost and consistency stopped him from switching then, and what he's doing now as the pressure builds in every corner of the industry.

This episode covers: what potassium bromate does and why shops depend on it, the case for switching and the case for staying put, the three paths available to every operator right now, and the questions you must answer before you make any move

Support the show

Want to grow your pizza shop with better systems, better leadership, and real operator conversations?

Join Pizza Pro Circle.

It’s a free community for pizzeria owners, operators, and managers who want practical ideas they can use in the shop.

We talk about sales, marketing, leadership, team development, operations, and the real work of running a better pizzeria.

Join us here:

https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/about

Free Tools and Courses for Pizzeria Owners & Managers

Email: info@tyrellreed.com

Upcoming events and appearances:

California Restaurant Show August 24-26