Links
- Una Pizza Napoletana (Instagram)
- Una Pizza Napoletana (Website)
- Genio Della Pizza (Instagram)
- Genio Della Pizza (Website)
Transcript
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Welcome to Hospitality On The Rise, the podcast about the people shaping the hospitality industry and their journeys. I'm your host, Alice Cheng, Founder and CEO of Culinary Agents, hospitality's go-to hiring platform. And I'm here to give you your dose of virtual mentorship.
Here, we'll be sharing the stories, lessons learned, and advice from hospitality leaders who've carved out their own path to success. After all, this industry is where many get their start and go on to do incredible things.
Whether you're a pro, starting out, or just love the hustle, this podcast highlights what makes hospitality extraordinary, the people.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
I'm so excited to have Anthony Mangieri with us today. Anthony is the Owner and Chef of Una Pizza Napoletana, a naturally leavened wood-fired pizza with some other appetizers, ice cream, sorbetto, Italian beers, and wine. That is a mouthful. No pun intended. And Founder & CEO of Genio Della Pizza. Anthony, thank you so much for joining us today.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Oh, thanks. Thank you.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
I'm particularly excited to have you on for various reasons, but one, because I feel like you've been a little bit of, like, man of mystery. At least in my world, everybody knows about you, knows about your brand, but even when we were doing research, we're like, let's get more details about how it all began. But here you are. Why don't you tell us how did it all begin?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
It's a long story, and it's sad. No, I'm kidding.
I'm from New Jersey and I grew up in a pretty close-knit Italian-American family. My grandmother lived across the street from us, and I spent a lot of time with her, and I, at a young age, really started to love history. I just love history, so I just naturally gravitated towards wanting to know about the food from where my family was from and all that kind of stuff.
Fast forward towards the end of school, I was really into music and cycling and all that. And parallel, also cooking at home. And then I just started getting more and more obsessed with cooking and made a lot of trips to Italy with my mom. And that was sort of the beginnings.
And then eventually I opened a bread bakery when I was about 20 years old in New Jersey. It was all hand-mixed, naturally leavened, wood fire-baked, and that was in Red Bank, New Jersey. And then I had wanted to open a pizzeria at the time, but I didn't have the funds to do it, so a bakery was easier because I didn't need to have tables or employees or anything. It was literally just a counter with a little wall that my dad and I built, and behind that was this big wood-burning oven, and that was kind of it. And was all just me, and my grandmother would come and hang out there. And then eventually a couple years later, I opened the first iteration of Una Pizza, and that was in 1996.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Wow, and I saw somewhere that you started making pizza actually when you're around 15 or in the teens.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Was that just something you just started doing one day, “I feel like making pizzas” or…?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
No, I was always a picky eater. I was really into skateboarding and punk rock music and stuff, and my friends didn't care about food, and I was always the one that was more picky and never wanted to eat at anyone's house because I didn't like the way the food smelled and the parents didn't know how to cook. I was really picky. So no, I just, I loved pizza, and I started trying to make it at a very young age, and then I was making it and giving it to like the neighbors and stuff, and that was sort of the beginning of it.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, and you've probably had fun during the research phase too in general, right? Tasting around.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, yeah, like New Jersey, I've actually been thinking about it a lot lately for some reason. I just, I have such a nostalgia for what I remember my childhood to be like. Not that it was all amazing, but when it comes to food and the going to these pizzerias and stuff and just the way things were back then. I think about it a lot. I really, really loved the pizza in New Jersey when I was growing up as a kid. It's changed a lot over the years and stuff, but I really loved it.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, it's also one of those foods I feel like–you know, I was born and raised in New York and Manhattan and grew up in Queens a little bit. And I feel like every neighborhood has their spot, and all the kids go there after school. You know, it's generally more affordable and casual than other types of grab-and-go type of situations. And there's definitely a broader culture around that beyond just pizza.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, I agree. I mean, Christina and I are always like, “If we open a place that makes Italian-American style pizza, we have to sponsor a little league team.” You know what I mean? That's just like, that's what I remember. It's like you would go there, or we would be so excited if it was Friday night, and we were going to pick up the pizza and have it at home or whatever. Whatever the case was, it was just such a part of my life as a kid. And then as I grew older, I ended up hating all of it. ‘Cause I was like, “This isn't like in Italy.” And I became such a purist, and full circle all the way back around. And as an adult now, I've kind of come around to love and appreciate both cultures and both cuisines, which are very different. They definitely take from each other, and in some ways I feel like even the cuisine of Italy takes from Italian-American culture in some ways, but they're very different cuisines.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, yeah. And then even the sub-regional areas within Italy…
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Totally.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
…it’s own their own way of making things in their own local ingredients, etc.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Absolutely.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah. So I was doing the math. I was counting. Is next year your 30-year anniversary of the brand?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, yep. Yeah, 2026 is 30 years.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Wow. Okay. So you were just starting to talk about you open your first Pizza Napoletana in 1996. Do you remember what were some of your biggest challenges when you're going in that direction from your bakery?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think the first challenge was more just me emotionally, as somebody who wanted to cook and bake. I had never really considered that there was a lot of other things that have to take place to run a business separately from just being like, “I love baking, I'm gonna have a bakery.” And in a way, I kind of could pull that off a little bit back then because I had no employees, it was a different era, there was no social media, you could make things that were terrible, and no one knew unless they came in and ate it. It wasn't like national news in five minutes.
So there was some beauty in that, there was some leeway to learn your skills. But then transitioning to the pizzeria, I think the first hurdle was just learning how to actually engage with the customers in a different way and have them dining in the space and slowly learning about hospitality.
And then parallel that, to then also starting to have employees and a staff and learning how to manage that, and it's and it's constantly a journey and a learning experience. I feel like we've only recently in maybe the last three or four years really, really have focused so much on hospitality and the front of the house side of things. Because for many years, and I mean I developed somewhat of a maybe a slightly out of proportion reputation for being kind of not nice with customers. But that was way, way back. And it wasn't that I wasn't nice. It was just that I was very kind of old school, and I was like, “Here's the pizza” and kind of “screw you if you don't like it, and there's no customer service coming with it.” And it worked when I was young. But you know, as I got older, I started to also appreciate and understand that the dining experience is more than just the food, and I've spent so much time over the years learning more about that and how to treat people and how to engage with people.
Now I feel like it's at least 50% of our effort in the restaurant is how do we inspire the guests and the staff, and how do we get folks to leave the restaurant and feel like they really bought into it and that they want to be a part of it and that they want to come back and they want to support it? And you know, it's important because there's so much stress in the world. There's so many options in the world that there's a lot of good food. There needs to be more than that, I think, nowadays for people to come back more than once. It's okay if it's kind of like, you know, whatever the gimmick is that gets people through the door once and you have lines for a little bit of time, but to sustain constant growth coming on 30 years, it needs to be a complete package.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah. And I love that you said that, because even though you're coming on 30 years, right, you A. have moved the brand and the soul and the essence of it to multiple cities and places and locations over the years and been able to maintain that same level of consistent quality and reputation in general as a master of this, of your craft. And to your point about even recognizing that, stylistically, how you approach business and front of house and hospitality, etc., that's also a reflection of how diners are now and how the times are now versus before.
At the end of the day, you continue to communicate what you're communicating through your craft, through the ingredients. You're sourcing things very meticulously. And there's no other way that you can communicate it except through your pizza, right? And through the experience that's being had.
I mean, I bought in, I drank the Kool-Aid. I stood in line even when I didn't need to. Thank you. I was telling Christina a funny story when I recently dined there, which was incredible. And we got there before opening, and there was a line. And my husband, myself, my daughter, we just got into line. And even though we had a reservation, I'm like, “We're just going to stand in line because I don't want to stand in front of the door and have this whole line of people looking at me”.
And so the fact that you've been able to recreate essentially Una Pizza Napoletana again and again in different cities. What is that like? Because you also have to deal with the difference in water, for example, from like New York versus San Francisco. So take me through some of those challenges.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Sure. Well, it's a lot. I mean, it's not getting any easier as I get older. Because I think also, again, just connected to that growth and the time that we've been around, I feel like the stakes keep getting higher. So whenever I do something, I really want to give every ounce of myself to it, emotionally, mentally, physically, just everything that I can bring to the table. And so it is exhausting. There's always a learning curve whenever we've closed and reopened somewhere else. I mean, most of the time, it's been for life reasons more than business reasons.
The move to New York was more of a business reason the first time around, because I was in New Jersey, and I just felt like, “God, I'm so sick of people coming into my place and being like, ‘It's good for New Jersey.’” And I'm like, “No, it's good. It doesn't matter if I'm in New Jersey.” It just made me so upset. And I'm like, “I'm going to open in New York, and I am going to kick butt. And I'm going to be so focused and not mess around and just be on this path.” Because also I was younger, and New York has a lot of temptations, and chefs and stuff like to go out late at night. And I really was like, “I'm gonna come up here, and I'm gonna just do this.” It’s like a physical sport, like I'm in a game, and I'm like trying to win the game.
And so I tried to stay as focused as I could, and I achieved everything I felt like I could at that time, and then at that point, I started to get a little bit burnt out and then moved to California. And that was purely a lifestyle reason, because I wanted to be where I could cycle and still run a business. And then eventually, I felt like I needed to come back to New York where we're from and where I just felt like it would be better for the brand and closer to family and all that. But it's been tough every time.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, and well, kudos because you've been able to continue the brand, essentially, like not just the essence, the culture.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
I think it's actually better each time. I think this version, which is in the same space that it was before COVID, and then we closed for, I guess, about three years. And I had a location in New Jersey during that time, and we still had this. And then I rebuilt the inside and changed it and bought out the investors and the partners. So I own it completely independently.
When I came back up here, I was like, “We're gonna come up here, and we're bringing so much love and so much focus, and I'm gonna work myself to death if I have to. But it needs to be the best version it's ever been.” And I really do believe this is the best Una we've ever done in 30 years. Vibe-wise, service-wise, food-wise. Just everything. I think we're firing on all cylinders. We can always be better, believe me, but I think we come in every day and we really are like, “Let's give it all.”
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, and I love you touch a little bit upon your growth and evolution. And one of the things that restaurateurs or leaders sometimes talk about is the need to grow, open more multiple locations, partially because they want to retain some staff. And part of it sometimes is because they personally, that was a goal for them personally, to have several locations or to grow a big empire. But you stayed really focused and have just focused on making it better, making your brand better in that location. Do you think that's going to continue to stay, or do you have plans for different types of growth?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
You know, it's hard to say, because we've gotten close to that kind of growth many times over the years. I mean, going all the way back to the first New York location on 12th Street and through the years, I've been fortunate enough and flattered that people have come to me and been like, “Oh, would you like to do this?” or “Would you like to do that?” And I always entertain it, and I always vet it.
You know, quite frankly nothing up until now has ever made me feel like it's worth it. Because I know a lot of chefs kind of buy into this idea, especially currently where it's like, “I'm only going to be relevant for so long. I got to just hit it and do everything,” and they just go, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. And it's like five restaurants, CPG's, this, that, and it's great. Like, God bless them. But like, I've been around so long, and I don't plan on stopping unless I drop dead or my son grows up and wants to take over, which is gonna be a while anyway, so I got a little bit of a road ahead of me still. So I don't feel the rush to be like, “Oh, I've gotta hurry up and do this or no one's gonna care next week and then no one will wanna do it.” I just feel like if you keep evolving within your craft and keep evolving within your hospitality side of things, I think you can always stay relevant, you know?
I think that's one of the saddest things for me is, because I'm such into history and nostalgia, it always makes me feel a little sad when you go to places that have been around for 20, 30, 40 years and they kind of suck. And you can see that they, you know, the owners are never there. They're just kind of going through the motions. It just feels worn out. And I just don't believe that that has to be the case. My grandmother used to always say that there's always room for great stuff. It's never like, “Oh, there's too many people doing this. I'm not going to bother.” There's always room. If you're doing something from the heart and transparent and just with a lot of love.
And so… long, long answer to say, I don't know. Maybe somebody comes to me and they're like, “Hey, we want to do this. And here's $10 million.” And they're aligned with me, and it's beautiful, and it makes me feel safe, then maybe I would do it. But I think the first step for me in doing that is that I need to feel that there's a reason to do it. One, financially and two, like beauty, are we gonna be able to build a beautiful staff and give people a real career? What are the points behind it, you know?
And I think the reason we see so many places that are opening, or chefs that are opening so many locations or different versions of things, is because 90% of all the guys are part of restaurant groups now. And that's just the M.O. of a restaurant group. Restaurant groups aren't going to buy into a place and be like, “All right, keep that one. That's going to make all our investors happy.” They're going to be like, “What the hell are you doing over there? Come on, let's do it.” So that's also why we've chosen to stay independent up to this point. But I'm always interested and always willing to learn about stuff and see what's out there. But for now, I don't see anything.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah. Well, I mean, and you said it. You vet it, you listen, and you evaluate it. I think that's really important.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Exactly. No, no, totally. I never close when it comes to that, or when it comes to learning about social media and using that as a tool, or learning about AI, I'm using that as a tool. I'm an old man, but I'm still trying to stay young at heart and surround myself with people who inspire me and just be open to things and use things as a tool to benefit me and the brand and my life.
So I think as long as you stay open, that's the key to staying relevant, you know? Like, don't buy the same ingredient from the same source, because that's what your mom bought at the restaurant. Well, maybe that ingredient is crap now, you know? You gotta keep going and being like, “All right, you know what? These tomatoes we used to get five years ago, now they're not good anymore. So now I'm getting these because they're better.” Like just moving and moving and moving along is, for me, the key.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, well, I mean, I don't know how you keep this energy level up because you made a joke that you're an old man, but I saw you working the pizza that evening. And there's nothing slow about that happening.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
I'm very fortunate for that. Thank God.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, and I mean, that's the other thing that you–correct me if I'm wrong–are still handling, you're the only one that's handling the dough and making the pizzas to this day.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
It’s a lot of pressure.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, well, I mean, I don't really think about it, but I guess so.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Whoops, sorry, I didn't mean to unlock that for you.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah. Hold on. Hold on. Knocking on wood. Yeah, I'm the only one that makes the dough in the restaurant and the only one– There was a brief period when, right before COVID, where we're open here six days a week, and I was building out the other restaurant where I started to train folks to do some of the dough and stuff because it just became impossible. And at that point, we were toying with scaling, and so we were going to have two locations, and I was building out all this stuff. But that was just for a very brief period.
But basically, yeah, for 30 years, I'm the only one that's made the dough, and I still make the dough every single night here. And we don't open unless I'm here. I'm either opening and topping the pizzas or baking the pizzas or some nights doing all of it. And again, that was sort of a choice when we came back to reopen after COVID in this location. I had felt like I wanna come back, and I wanna really find a way, financially, to be able to somehow sustain being open less days and be smart about it. But I wanna be here every night that we're open. And so far we've made it. I mean, definitely that there is pressure on, only for the fact that sometimes we're like, “Gosh, we need to do more private events” or “We need to do this. We need to sell our olive oil” or whatever to keep it all together.
Because even restaurants that are open seven days a week and part of a restaurant group, the margins, as we all know, are very thin. And it doesn't take much to be like, “Oh my God, we're not in a good place anymore.” So we're just always trying to look ahead and be smart and keep things moving, and we're, again, very fortunate that we do do quite a few private events, which helps a lot, and just find different angles.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, well, I mean, look, hitting 30 years, you're doing something right. You're doing a lot of things right. And I think even just what you're describing with having an open mind to evolve and try, I think is really important, because you may be very meticulous and specific in the dough and then the pizza-making. But keeping a broad, flexible kind of opinion on what's working, what's not, listening to your audience, listening to your guests and what's happening, and utilizing the tools you have. I mean, all those things combined keep you at the top, right? And at the top of, what is this, the third year in a row that you were named number one pizzeria in the world? How's that feel?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
It was two years in a row. The year before those two years, we were number two, and then the year before that, we were number one. So it was like one, two, one, one.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, well see? You improved from that year and got into the one slot.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
I was so upset. I was. I was like, if you're not number one, it's like, I don't care. Let's not talk about it. Pretend that never happened.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Hey, no consolation prizes for you.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
No, no, I'm not one of those guys that's like, everyone did a good job. It's like, no, you're either number one or you're not.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Because I mean, you're from, I mean, we're from the same generation, and things have changed. Everything has evolved. Yeah.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, yeah, it was different. It was a lot different back then. Yeah, it was no like, “Oh, you're the bench warmer on the baseball team. Congratulations!” It was like, “Oh my God, I don't want my parents to know this.”
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah. Ah, man. That's a whole other episode, by the way.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, yeah. And by the way, you can't treat your staff like that anymore. So just a heads up to all of you, as everyone knows.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Absolutely not. And I'm going to segue there for a little bit, because I had the pleasure of chatting with some of your staff, happy staff members, when I visited…
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
They've all been fired since.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
And one in particular who, I think, I saw him working three different stations or three different areas that evening. So clearly, your teams are cross-trained, and they're doing multiple things.
Do you have a specific philosophy or approach on how you develop your team?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
I mean, again, like everything here, it's from the dough recipe to everything else that's constantly evolving and shifting. But the overall kind of thing that we've done here since over maybe the last three or four years is that we have the entire staff come in at the same time and leave at the same time. No one has ever cut. So it's guaranteed hours, and everyone is paid the exact same amount, which is a little above the minimum wage, and then the tips are split exactly evenly. And then if you're doing stuff like extra for us, and we pay you out of our pocket. So that way it makes everything completely transparent. Everything is on the up and up. Everything is open.
I never liked trying to manage the thing where it's like, oh this server gets this amount of points, and this one gets this percent. It's like, oh my God, it's way too difficult to figure out what's going on, and then you have people getting cut because it's slow, but they're getting more money in tips because they're a senior. And so we were just like, you know what? Let's just make it where everybody knows what we're doing. We print out the amount that's made every night. We show it to everyone. Here's the tips, whatever, and there's six of you, and you all know exactly what you're getting. So everything is just like, bam, right there. There's never a question.
And then more on the practical side and actually in the restaurant is same thing. There's no, as you mentioned, there's no like, “Oh, I only host” or “Oh, I only work the bar.” I tell everyone that works here, “First of all, you're representing 30 years of my life. Like, I'm not coming out and talking to the guests. So I'm trusting you. Like, this is my life, and we're not open unless I'm here. So it's not like I'm home watching TV and I'm demanding things of you that I wouldn't do. I've been doing it all. I've brought out the garbage every night. I've done it all. I've mopped. There's nothing in here that I haven't done and still don't do.”
So the mentality is we're all equal, and we're all together in this, and we all help each other. So you come in together. Every single thing in the restaurant is everyone's responsibility except making pizza. So I'm like, from the front door to the back door, whatever needs to be done gets done. And we all help each other, and we just have complete open communication. Obviously we have sections in the restaurant just for pure logistics. But again, it's like, if one server is a little weaker or newer, then somebody who's a little more talented is going to help them and carry their weight. Ultimately, it doesn't matter because the tips are getting split evenly anyway. So everyone just kind of gets it.
And then we also don't have any bussers, food runners, or dish people or kitchen people. Every night we rotate; one of the servers has to go into the dish pit towards the end of service and do that. And that's part of the job. Everything, they do everything. Somebody's cleaning the bathroom every night. There's literally nothing that they don't do. So I think it just makes more of like a team, you know? And also they all respect and understand all the aspects of what's going on and what it takes. Yeah, so that's how we do it.
And even to the point that I don't even have a printer in the pizza kitchen, because I don’t want to be back there and just have this, like, [printer noises] “Fire, fire!” I’m like, ah! I’m like, “Bring me the ticket, and we can communicate. And you can let me know, like, ‘Hey, table 10 is really annoying. Can you push them ahead of everyone?’ or ‘They have to get to a show’ or ‘They’re a friend.’” Just this constant communication of what’s going on in the restaurant, and am I doing something that I shouldn’t be doing? Should I do something else, can I help, can I get something out quicker or vice versa on their side.
So again, it's just this constant communication, and we do a big pre-shift every day and go over everyone that's coming in. I mean, it blows my mind that you go to restaurants and they don't know who's in the restaurant. Like, it just makes me crazy. I've been to so many restaurants where the owner-chef has invited me, and then we go in and we're like–and I don't want anything for free, but like, Jesus, I've been in, and it's like, they don't know we're here. And no one's even acknowledged us. And we're just like, this is weird. They told us to come in, and they made the reservation, you know, for God's sake.
And that's not to say something might not slip through the cracks, but we're pretty adamant about going through every single guest, looking at all the notes, looking at the notes from OpenTable, just from guests that we don't know to see if there's anything mentioned and really trying to give as much as we can. We're not Eleven Madison Park, but we want to give literally as much as we can in our own way and really acknowledge people. I feel like, God, I always tell the staff, I'm like, can you imagine some customer who's coming in that's never been here, we don't know, but in OpenTable notes, it just says like, “Oh, my son is celebrating his birthday tonight.” And just knowing that, or even even less of a milestone, but being like, “Oh, we're visiting from Connecticut, we always wanted to eat there,” and just having this sort of be able to come over and be like, “Hey, welcome. Is this your first time in New York? I know you guys are visiting from Connecticut.” People are just like, “What? Wow. Really?” Like, that blows their mind. When they know that I know about stuff, then they're really like, “You knew we were coming in?” I'm like, “Of course I knew you were coming in.” So that's what we try to do. So that's sort of how we approach the staffing and all that stuff. As far as the hiring goes, that's just always tough. It's such a tough, tough, tough, tough thing, I think, for everybody.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, well, good thing you're on my VIP list.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Exactly, exactly. That's why we're on there.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, no, I love that. I mean, I didn't want to interrupt because, I mean, I was listening very intently. I mean, when leaders are talking about or thinking about culture and what does that mean and how do you set it and how do you train your staff a certain way? I mean, you basically just laid it out. You know, this is how we do things. Setting your expectations, making sure everybody's on the same page, and reinforcing that and doing it night by night. That certainly is not easy. And I'm sure you have to reiterate. So kudos on that.
And yeah, I mean, hiring is a challenge in general. Finding the right people, finding the qualified people or the quality people that you're looking for, that would be the right fit for your culture. And the best thing you can do is continue to share your philosophy and your employer brand. And essentially, you'll attract the people who that resonates with. And they're like, “Yeah, that sounds like a place that I would thrive in” or “I would really enjoy to be a part of that and learn from that.”
And whether it's intentional or not, you're kind of teaching your whole team on how to run their own business, right?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Totally.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Because you said it in the beginning, when you're shifting from just being an employee or owning a station or even being an executive chef somewhere and you have management responsibility. Once you get into ownership, you're spending the majority of your time doing a lot of other things that may have nothing to do with recipe development and execution and stuff. So that's great. I know a lot of people are always looking for those types of experiences to put on their resume or to round out their own skills, because they one day want to open their own place or they would love to lead an organization a specific way. Anyway, this is about you, not me, but I like to iterate.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
No, I agree. No, it's true. I agree with everything you just said 100%. I mean, I do think for the folks that get it, they get it. And some of our staff has been with us now for many years because they get it. And then sometimes we get people in, and by the end of the first night, we're like, they are not going to get it. And that's OK.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, and it's okay. Yeah.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
You know, but that's why I try to be so transparent and so clear from the beginning, because I think for people I get it’s like– And like you said, it's so true. You do have to reiterate, it's crazy. I say to the staff when we do pre-shift, I'm like, “You know, I'm sorry if I'm saying the same thing every day, but this, this is the stuff that's important to us. It's not like all of a sudden, like I don't care about this stuff. This is the foundation of how we want to treat each other and treat the guests for real. It's not just a passing fad.” And it's so important to myself and to Christina that we just keep kind of repeating the same stuff every day, with things that change and evolve and whatever, but the core ideas are always the core ideas.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Yeah, yeah. And to your point about the hospitality and focusing on that and that rounding out, obviously, the back house or the food and the overall experience. I mean, your brand itself is so far-reaching, way beyond just the amount, the number of dough that you make per night. Right? There's just so many that you can make. But the fact that that experience and your brand is going to live way beyond, and now with social media and everything, it all kind of ripple effects into this cycle that feeds back into your business and brand.
And before we kind of go into quickfire, I do want to hit upon a little bit that you also have, online, you have olive oil, which we were just talking about, which I see behind you. I'm very excited. I've been waiting for this olive oil drop. And your online store is where people can purchase these things, I believe, right? Some of the things that you procure.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, I mean, we're not selling too much. But we do have olive oil, which a variety of oil that I've wanted to use for many years. And now it's grown. We've grown it over the last maybe three or four years as a little side business, and it's from a small town north of Naples. Amazing for cooking because it has a very high smoke point, but amazing as a finished oil too. And yes, that's on our online store. And we sell our panettone during the holidays through Goldbelly, who's been a great partner.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Oh, great.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
So I think we may have almost just sold out of it.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
Oh, well, get it while you can. I am going to have to go on to Goldbelly.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Yeah, it's so good.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
I do that not to give you a shameless plug…
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
I'll take it.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
I do it because what I want to highlight and hone in on is your meticulous sourcing of ingredients to perfection. And I think that adds to your overall brand and what you portray. So the fact that you're now bringing these things that you're selecting and you're specifically placing for others to enjoy, I think that's great. To your earlier point about when you were younger, you were like, “This is this is how I make it. This is my interpretation. And take it or leave it” type of, I think a lot of people look for that and still look for that because they trust your brand. They trust your procurement of things and your selection. So I want to share that with others because I find that very, very fascinating and difficult to maintain. You know, it's just, it's hard.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
It is. It is difficult.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
So thank you for sharing your point of view.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Thanks. Thank you.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
On that note, we are going to go to quickfire. What advice would you tell your younger self?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Stay positive when things are down.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
What's your advice for someone struggling in the industry?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Find your own voice, learn everything you can, and then find your own voice and don't chase fads. Just do your thing, and let everything come to you. Build a real foundation.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
What's your advice for fellow hospitality leaders?
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Keep working, go to work, don't sit at home.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
I love it. On that note, thank you so much, Anthony, for spending time with us and sharing some of your exciting career story. I can't wait to see what's next.
GUEST: ANTHONY MANGIERI
Thanks, thank you so much.
HOST: ALICE CHENG
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