Pizza King Podcast: Empowering Pizzeria Leadership
The Pizza King Podcast is where pizzeria owners and operators go to sharpen their skills, build better teams, and grow more profitable businesses. Hosted by Tyrell Reed—franchise leader, coach, and author of Next Level Leadership—each episode delivers practical insights, real-life stories, and expert advice to help you win in the pizza business. Whether you're opening your first shop or scaling your tenth, this show is your guide to pizza business excellence.
Episodes
156 episodes
The 14-Week Pizzeria Operators Playbook
Most struggling pizzerias do not need more ideas. They need a clear order of operations. In Episode 156 of the Pizza King Podcast, Tyrell Reed breaks down the 14-week Pizzeria Operators Playbook he used to bring structure to ...
Small Team, High Standards with Chef Peter Garces
A great pizzeria needs more than a strong recipe.Chef Peter Garces built By The Chef Pizza around premium ingredients, skilled people, simple systems, and hands-on leadership. In this conversation, Peter shares his path from culinary sch...
The Pizzeria Advice Nobody Wants to Hear: Just Do It
Four years ago Tyrell picked up "Podcasting for Dummies" in a bookstore and never bought it — because you learn more from doing than from reading about it. In this Takeout Tips Thursday, he makes the operator's case for action over study: your ...
From Merrill Lynch to Best Pizza in Chicago | Sal Guagliardo, Pizza Protector
Sal Guagliardo ran from the family pizza business, became a Merrill Lynch investment banker, then couldn't stay away — and a month after buying a little Chicago shop, the Chicago Tribune named it a top-3 pizza in the city. In this Pizza King Po...
Japanese Dough Science, Hater Comments & $30 Pizzas
Two of the most respected names in the pizza world sit down with Pizza King for a no-filter conversation. Uncle Rico brings the Florida-style, 26-years-behind-the-counter perspective; Vito brings Michelin training, Roman-style obsession, and a ...
The Kid Takes Over the Pizza King Podcast | Takeout Tips
This week's Takeout Tips got a special guest host — my son Dallas Reed grabbed the mic and turned the tables on the Pizza King. What starts as a hard-hitting debate (sausage vs. broccoli) turns into a surprisingly real conversation about runnin...
How the Right Oven Solves Your Labor Problem | George Clark, Edge Ovens
New episode this week on the Pizza King Podcast. George Clark drives the Edge Ovens test truck across the country — Maine to Miami, Seattle to San Diego — baking real pizza in real shops to prove one thing: a conveyor oven can absolutely make a...
The 4 Levers of Pizzeria Marketing
Most pizzeria "marketing" is really just a pile of one-off tactics — a flyer here, a boosted post there, a guy you hired to run social — with no strategy tying it together. In this week's Takeout Tips, Tyrell breaks down the only four levers th...
The Direct Mail Playbook Every Pizzeria Owner Needs to Hear
I sat down with Kevin Slaughter, owner of Mailwise Solutions, a direct mail and print company that has been serving pizzeria operators across the country for almost nineteen years. Kevin started at Mailwise in college driving a box truck for hi...
33 Years in the Pizza Game: How Gary Wilson Built a Legendary Shop on Service and Community
Edge will bring their oven to you! Learn more at Edgeovens.com/Test-bakeGary Wilson has been running Wilson's Pizza and Grill in Kansas City, Kansas since 1993, and what he's built there ...
How Odie O'Connor Runs Two Pizza Shops From Two States | Pizza King Podcast
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 t...
What Reps, Relationships, and One Book Did for Eddie Stalewski | Pizza King Podcast
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 ...
Technique Over Ingredients: The Truth About Pizza Consistency - Brandon Herriott
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...
How to Plan for the Seasonal Dip Before It Hits Your Pizza Shop
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 slowes...
He Left the Pizza Business for 13 Years. Here's Why He Came Back.
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. <...
How to Build Accountability in Your Pizza Shop Without Being the Bad Guy
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 s...
From Michelin Stars to Maryland: How Chef Sed Built Black Sicilian Pizza
https://blacksicilian.com/bio/sedrick-crawleyChef 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 — mi...
Should You Switch Your Flour? What Operators Are Actually Doing
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 b...
Giovanni Labbate on Premium Pizza, Food Trucks, and Tievoli Pizza Bar
Giovanni Labbate from Tievoli Pizza Bar joins the Pizza King Podcast to talk about building a premium pizza brand, growing from food truck operations into a successful restaurant, competing on major pizza stages, and refusing to race to the bot...
Takeout Tip: Go Do the Work
In this Takeout Tip episode of the Pizza King Podcast, Tyrell Reed gives a quick store update from Westshore Valrico as April wraps up. Sales were up in January, February, and March, but the bigger lesson is where that gr...
What Pizzeria Owners Need to Know About Hospitality and Mental Health
Chef Vincent Tropepe joins the Pizza King Podcast for a conversation every pizzeria owner, restaurant operator, and kitchen leader should hear. Chef Vincent has opened 95 restaurants, worked in serious New York kitchens, written mul...
How We Got a 6X Return on Pizza Ads
Join our free community on Skool https://www.skool.com/tyrells-group-9324/aboutIn this episode, I break down what we’re doing right now to market the store better a...
How Troy’s Italian Kitchen Is Growing Through Relationships
Neel Vaidya from Troy’s Italian Kitchen joined me for a conversation packed with real lessons for pizza operators. We talked about smart pop-up strategy, local partnerships, vegan positioning, Pizza Expo, leadership, customer service, and how h...
Pizza Expo Floor Stories With Tara, Tony, and Brett
This week on the Pizza King Podcast, I’m bringing you a different kind of Takeout Tips episode.Instead of one topic, I’m sharing a few quick conversations I recorded live from the Pizza Expo floor at the Perfect Crust booth. These are sh...
Angel City Pizza’s Vito DeCandia Keeps It All The Way Real
What happens when an old-school pizza guy sits down and tells the truth?In this episode of the Pizza King Podcast, I talk with Vito DeCandia of Angel City Pizza about what has changed in pizza, what still matters, and why so many operato...