What Happens When You Make Pizza Because You Love It

In this episode of the Pizza King Podcast, Tyrell Reed sits down with Adam Marks, known online as I Am Pizza Adam, for a conversation about pizza from a different angle. Adam is not building a pizzeria, chasing a pop-up model, or trying to turn pizza into a full-time business. He is a true pizza enthusiast, someone who makes pizza because he loves the craft, loves the process, and loves sharing the experience with others. 

That is what makes this episode valuable for pizzeria owners and operators. When someone makes pizza for the love of it, you get a clear view of passion, curiosity, and creativity without the pressure of labor, overhead, and margins. Tyrell and Adam talk about backyard pizza making, learning through trial and error, using simple ingredients and accessible tools, and why authenticity still connects with people. It is also a good reminder that great pizza starts with care, attention, and pride in the process. 

Follow Adam Marks, I Am Pizza Adam: 

Instagram:
 https://www.instagram.com/iampizzaadam/ 

TikTok:
 https://www.tiktok.com/@iampizzaadam

YouTube:
 https://www.youtube.com/@iampizzaadam

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/adam.marks.1654/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The difference between making average at-home pizza or good at-home pizza is experience, right? I can look at them like I can tell that that's gonna stick on the peel. Or I can look and I can say, this is a stromboli, not uh not pizza dough, because if it doesn't roll out great for a pizza, you just roll it into a stromboli or or make a sandwich out of it. Like, you know, just have to get creative.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Now, Adam Marks, I am I am Pizza Adam. Thank you for joining the Pizza King podcast. Tell us tell us who you are. For those of us who, you know, I I've been watching your content and I love the pizza creations, but there's some folks here that maybe they haven't been introduced to you yet. Tell us who you are and and how you got into the pizza space.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Awesome. It's great to it's great to chat with you. So my name's Adam Marks. I live in South Florida, just in between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, just a western suburb. I consider myself a home enthusiast or a prosumer. I started off and and it was funny because when I first started making pizza, I thought I was great. And now when I look back at the stuff I did from one and a half to two years ago, I was like, oh man, what was I thinking about? And like, you know, how did how did I pass that off? But you know, like um, it's just like just like when you gain weight or you lose weight, you don't when you're so close, you don't see you don't see whether you're gaining or losing weight until you come back and reflect. So it's so yeah, so I have a uh a setup in my backyard. My wife and family are are big supporters of my concept. I call myself I am pizza Adam because you remember during uh Iron Man, I'm kind of a uh a Marvel guy, like um Tony Stark says, I am Iron Man. So like it just came I am Pizza Adam, right? So uh I I I'm I make pizza. We we end up having pizza four or five nights at a week. I try I try to stay fit. I I keep myself to like eating one slice or a portion of the slice. Believe it or not, I I I eat more of the toppings or the ingredients before I make a pizza than I actually make eat after pizza.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Like like as you're prepping for your pizza, that's when you're snacking?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

So I'll cut meatballs up and I'm like, I like meatballs and I I'll I'll just I'll snack on them. So yeah, so um I work I work with uh as a um part of the griddle crew, which is the the Blackstone Ambassador program. So, you know, they not too many people know that they have a uh a pizza oven enterprise, but I'm one of the the few people in the griddle crew that focuses solely on pizza. So I consider myself uh I tell the the leaders that like I'm the field goal kicker of their football team, right? Like so I'll be doing about offense and defense, and all I care about is is uh a small segment of their business. Um but it's been it's been really, really, really good. Like I like I told you when we were chatting in the past is that it turned from a um an interest to a hobby to now it's a passion slash addiction, right? Like so it it uh it's completely uh it's completely uh you know, it's not a business. It's it's purely entertainment for my family and myself. Social uh networking and or the you know Instagram, TikToks of the world, it ends up letting people know uh the vibe that I have and what I'm doing so we people get get to have some insight. And the people that that see my setup when they when they come to to visit, they're like, oh, it's much bigger than what I thought it was. You know, like you don't see the the small narrow part of it, but it it's I can't tell you how it seems really shallow on me, but it's really made my life fuller by having this interest. I I never really had an interest. I was very, very work-oriented and family-oriented. Now I have a personal interest, so it's it's really um very fulfilling.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

I think you take an interest in one of the, in my opinion, and I'm biased, but in one of the the cooler aspects of the food industry, which is pizza. Pizza is is a lot of fun, it's very versatile. What drew me to to your content was the Blackstone oven with the rotating deck. My brother J.R. My business partner, he swears by that oven, and that's what he's got in his backyard. And he's been telling us for years, like, I don't care, don't don't get any other oven because this thing is perfect.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

There's a couple rotators out there that that have similar styles, um, but it's my tagline on on all my posts, it it says, it says everyone can make great pizza with a black stone pizza oven, right? Like you don't need you don't need to be great because all the the nuances and techniques, which I am good at, um you don't really need to worry about because of the that rotating stone.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Yeah, that that thing is is pretty amazing. And it and it's you know, it could do a bunch of pizzas. He did, he's up in Pennsylvania now and he did, I don't know, 65 pizzas for his his team at his place.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Really?

SPEAKER_03 4:50

And it handled it all.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Well, so he was he was on the clock for making 65 pizza. That's that's that I I did a I did a workplace pizza thing and I used um the the smaller one, the you know, like I said, because I don't have a truck or anything. So I brought the the Legiero Pro, the smaller one, and I brought the uh another another one of their products. I was able to to make like 12 and people are still waiting, but making 65, that's that's impressive.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

He's he's got a lot of pizza experience, you know, in in his former life with me. But yeah, he he was able to do 60, I think 60, 65 pizzas for his uh for his team up there in up in Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

And it's it's funny that you say that because um my wife does a lot of charity work and we go to a lot of events and stuff, and I've seen those guys with uh with the carts, like the they have like um it's pizza ovens on the back of a it's like a food truck, but it's not really a food truck, it's like a a modified pickup truck. And those guys, they make they make smaller pizzas like tenor or maybe nine tenor. So the the stretching and the stuff isn't really as as intense, but they're they're able to they move a lot of product. It's it's good.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

How did you teach yourself how to make pizza once you decided you you wanted to pursue this? What was that process like?

SPEAKER_00 6:05

It's so funny because people come over and they're like, they're like, show me, show me. And like, and really, really my whole vibe is again, it's back to everyone can make great pizza with that. Like most of the stuff I I make I make my dough occasionally. Like I have my wife bought me the KitchenAid Stand mixer and I use a variety of different recipes, but you know, like uh one of the other motifs that I have is that store-made products are not they're not your enemy. Like if you season up store-made products, you can do okay, right? So like Trade of Joe's has an okay dough. Walmart, believe it or not, has an okay dough. Aldi happens to have the best, the best um cream made dough that that's out there.

SPEAKER_04 6:43

And it's only a dollar.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

It's it's cheap.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

I love that one. Yeah, I we I've tried the jalapeno one from Aldi and I love it.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

That one was a tri that one uh was a surprise trick. I I thought that it was flavored, but there were pieces of jalapeno, and so it caught but the the point of the matter is is that like uh experience has told me like when I go into the store, I select the ones that are gonna work for me because like if they start to bloom, you're never gonna be able to stretch them. If they're all out of shape. Blackstone has this guy, Chef Leo, he's he's world renowned for doing uh for making pizza, and his his motto is that round dough makes round pizzas, right? So if you don't have a round dough, you're not gonna make a round pizza. I can I can assure you of that. So um so it just it's just so interesting that that and and I don't want to be a pizza snob, but like I started off uh making it in a tray, right? Like uh I bought this Calon pan from I think it was TJ Maxx or something. It was a pizza pizza pan. And I was like, I don't really know how to make circles, great. So I just stretched it to there. You bake it in the oven for about one or two minutes, you use tongs and and the peel, and you pull it off, and then you cook it on the on the stone for the rest of it. That was a good beginner way, right? I learned I learned along the way that I was using flour, and then people and people that I met on the internet, they were like, hey, cornmeal or semolino, a combination of flour. So now I use two parts semolina, two parts cornmeal, and then one part flour in my mix to to prep it. And it just works for me. It may not work for everyone else. And when I was using more flour, it's a couple fires because flour is very flammable, right? So you know, you stick away from that. I will tell you that the difference between making average at-home pizza or good at-home pizza is experience, right? Because I can look at it, I'm like, I can tell that that's gonna stick on the peel, or I can look and I can say, this is a stromboli, not uh not pizza dough, because if if it doesn't roll out great for a pizza, you just roll it into a stromboli or or make a sandwich out of it. Like, you know, you just have to get creative. The first the first time I was doing it, I was I was stretching it, and somebody showed me with a rolling pin how to do it. I was like, I don't I didn't really like that rolling pin method. It wasn't it wasn't for me. But so I think the original part of your question was how'd I get like how'd I learn on it? It's yeah, purely watching other people do it, trial and error, and I've I've cursed and I've dropped a lot of stuff and I've burnt a lot of stuff. Some of the bloopers that I have for that my kids have, and they they claim that they're gonna hold it against me when I when I become rich and famous.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

That's exactly what I'm thinking as I'm listening to you. Like I know there's video somewhere of one of those fires or one of those those pizza dolls that had to become a sandwich or a stromboli. Are you are are you hanging on to it in the vault or the kids have it, the kids have it stored safely?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

I no, it it's so it's the irony of that is that in my world, like my social media work, the ones that get the most comments are the ones where I screw up and people some want to be haters and a lot of people want to give advice on what to do. So like every once in a while I'll I'll um slip one of them in there of a epic fail because just to just to simulate some some new followers or to to get that a little buzz. But the good ones, uh it's a little risque, but uh I call my my best and my most popular ones are kind of like food porn where it's bubbling pizza or a pizza coming out and it's steaming and everything, where or people who just are pizza enthusiasts, they like they they like that whole vibe. So I'll get a lot of views and follows off of that. But the the mistakes get the most interaction. They want to know more about that. But believe it or not, those are the ones that get the least traction because I found that um most of the the social media followers these days are have low attention span. By the time by the time I get to what I'm where I want to get to, they're they've already moved on to somewhere else.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

Yeah. They've already gone. You just gotta hook them. When you s when you started making pizzas, was the intent for it to grow into the the social media presence that you became?

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Yeah, um I I have to thank my daughter for that. So I I have uh um three kids, uh oldest that's a boy, a girl, and then a younger boy that went to college and is like a marketing specialist. So we work together on on my social media stuff now. But at one point my daughter said, Hey, you know what? Um, I think people would like this, like to see what you're doing, right? So we just used my iPhone. It was like an iPhone 13 at that point, and we we just started. I look at them now and uh and I had no microphone, I had you know there's no filters, the editing was bad. And I was like, okay, you know, humble beginnings, you know, it's it's not so bad to to to remind yourself, but yeah, it was my daughter, it was 100% her idea. We we sat at our kitchen table one day and she's like we're as we were making pizza, she's like, people would like this, and it's turned out so today in Facebook I have like 5,500 followers on Instagram. Instagram is the hardest place for I get the most traction for content, but the hardest place to get followers, I have like 900 in Instagram, TikTok it is almost 1500, and believe it or not, YouTube Shorts I'm up to 600. I I place very I didn't place much effort into that, but so you know it's like 9,000 total followers. I mean, I'm I'm getting to be where it's kind of legit.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

Yeah, and I see that you're you're also very active on you know in groups and you know, you know, forums like that where you you kind of see a mix of pizza enthusiasts, pizza, you know, pizza pros and casual fans. Where do you get the most engagement?

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SPEAKER_00 12:41

Let's see. Um engagement, do you mean like where people are reaching out to you or people or like I would say, you know, where do you where are you getting the best conversations around your pizza? What I what I do today is I I and I messed up some of the best groups that I still want to be part of. I I probably was a little too aggressive in the beginning. Lesson learned, you know. You know, I was probably too aggressive in posting stuff and and challenging their their group policies. But I found that um people that like this content usually are associated with groups in Facebook. Facebook happens to be the one that I that I do the the best with. So I I did a search for for homemade or backyard pizza groups and and you know Meta's pretty good at that. So they suggest places to be part of. I've joined that I I reached out to the admins and I let them know what my if you're ever gonna join a group and you want to publish in their group, reach out to the admin and let them know what your intentions are, right? Because um I have no intention of selling anything or doing anything. So I just said, hey, I make this content, I think your people would like it. Please let me know if it becomes too much to a person, and I learned that after getting kicked out of one or two that I want to be in. So now that now they respond and they're like, yeah, no, it's cool. We like we like your vibe, we like your content, but keep it going. So I post to those groups, and then when people like my stuff, Meta gives you the ability to send them a note saying, Hey, do you like my stuff? Do you want to um follow my page? And then um that's how I build my my population.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

That's pretty cool. I and that's good advice for you know the beginner content creator and you know, enthusiasts or even if you're a pizza shop, those groups have people and and commenters and you know, like you said, I you know, when they're when you make mistakes, people love to give a lot of advice. And you know, the pros out there, you you post a pizza, I'm telling you, the the pros are gonna go they're gonna help you. And I love that about the community, even if it comes off one way or the other, everyone's you know, does it with the intentions of just trying most Americans are kind.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

There's a bunch of haters, but most Americans are kind. Like two they'll they'll say, Hey, you know what? Um here's what I did to solve that same problem.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Even though I know how to solve it, I just was showing everyone that I'm human too.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

I like that. Do you have a favorite? I also like so going into some of your creations, you've done, you know, fusions and and I've seen you you took some like a fast food meal and turned it into a pizza. Like you just what is what inspires you and how do you decide what gets filmed on what are we having today? And you know, I guess pizza four or five nights a week. You start to how do you keep it from getting boring?

SPEAKER_00 15:46

It's not it's not like we eat it. Like there are some nights where I'll make a couple of them for content and then they'll they'll be around. But like um it's not like we're eating it every night. You know, a cheese pizza is kind of, you know, like there's not too many ways to to refilm that so it's so it's different, right? Like you can you can mix up the cheese and all that stuff. But um one day my youngest, the the one that has the the marketing degree, he he was like, hey, let's let's try extreme pizzas, right? So it started off with I think the first one we did was the was the ranch, like that that ranch p the ranch pizza from from one of the ring shops. Like, and then we're like, oh, he brought home chicken nuggets, just like try to make this. And then, you know, like the and then I go through these phases, right? Because people have short attention spans. So at one point I was like, hey, send me out some challenges. At one point I was like, I was in Aldi and I saw, oh, you know, there's beef tips. I was like, ah, that that would be a good pizza. So like there you'll see that if if you look at the history, there's there's a um there's sequences. Like we'll we'll do like a series of this and then we'll move on to a series of that. And then sometimes we'll come back to that series if something unique happens. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_04 17:00

I like that.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

Yeah, yeah. Well, absolutely. It gets you give it a chance, it's just to refresh it, you know, with some different type of types of content. And you know, if it works, you come back to it. If it doesn't, you try it and you get to move on.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Yeah, like like people people throw out some really, really um like absurd combinations. And like you'll notice this is another another trade secret. Like, so like I'm not really that big into like some of the exotic sauces and stuff like that. So like when I make a pizza and it's something that I don't really like, you'll see that like I'll put a sauce or or something unique on only a portion of it. So like so if I want to eat it, I don't have to I stay away from that area.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

You don't have to eat eat something that you don't like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

It's a very unique nuance, but you'll see that like you know, like if I make a jalapeno pizza, it's only gonna be a certain car because I don't really like that's terribly spicy stuff. And like when people lately people have been asking me to, you know, like I'll reach out to them and they'll send me like some of their products and I'll and I'll use it as a a mutual promotion. But um, you know, the whole idea in in this business is that people don't care what I like, they just care what I make.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

Very true. Well, when it comes to watching it, and you know, they they love they love what it looks like. Do you have, you know, a certain, you know, not to I guess not to go too far into your into your secrets of content, but do you have a certain format for the videos that you love to, you know, is it do I capture the cut first? Do I show a close-up of the slice first? Like, you know, a lot of pizza shops try to make content, but we don't do a great job. We're in the kitchen and we're take, you know, I have 6,000 cheese pizzas in my phone. I promise. Well, you know, all look the same.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

You know that in your world, you know, you know the crispies guys, right? Like everyone knows the crispies guys, right? I think.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

So um we don't really we don't really care about what they're making. We care about their persona while they're making it, right? Like, so it's you know, like and my youngest tried to explain this to me, is he and you guys call it a hook. It's like you have to get you have to get something in there that tells algorithm that they want to look at your stuff. And then every once in a while you could drop in some personality stuff. So then it's like four of like sizzle stuff to get them following you, and then one of content. And then as you get a bigger base, then it's three of sizzle, two of content, then and then you then it at some point it may be 50-50 reverse the other way. But people people like the food, but they care more about the person making the food, I think, than they do the food. So I'm I keep saying does that make sense, but it that's the way my mind works.

SPEAKER_04 19:34

No, I understand. I I totally understand.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

What is it that you could at your pizza place? If I really cared about pizza, I'd want to know about your prep area. I'd want to know about behind the scenes, I'd want to know about stuff that like I can see from walking up to your counter what I can see, but like I'd want to see what a 50-pound bag looks like, or when you get a delivery, how many, what like what's in that delivery? But like it could be like in that particular thing, I'd be like, hey, what is it? I'd make a pizza, a nice looking pizza, and then I'd be like, what does it take to get that pizza? And then it would be show you and your brother like unloading pizza, unloading dough, or making a dough thing, like in really like two second clips of of the whole process. Like that would interest me. I'd stay for the whole thing for that.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

I like that. Because I think people do want to get to know the behind the scenes of of the shops too. It just, you know, it builds it builds that story, like watching a reality show or something. Yeah, that's that's why people do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Even the stuff about like um, you know, like if you were trying to to figure out what yeast to use, like people don't understand the difference between, you know, like the different types of yeast and and some you put with warm water, some you put at room temperature, like like you can't have it all the time because uh there's not much sizzle in that, but people they do care and they'll and they'll remember, like they'll remember that you taught them about something having to do. At least I think I think my people, because people come up to me and they'll be like, Hey, you remember when you did this? And I'm like, Yeah, I I guess. And I don't consider myself a celebrity, but like when when it's the first thing that everyone I know comes up to me and says they're like, hey, Pizza Adam, I'm like, it really it boosts my ego a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 21:14

Are you doing any of the any like you want expo or any of the competition?

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Yeah, I I can't. I can't because all my stuff is, I mean, I could, but all my stuff is store-bought, right? So like there's nothing unique about me, it's just me, right? So like here's here's my world, right? So like um, do you live in Florida?

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Yeah, I'm up in Tampa.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Okay, so so like we'll go to Publix and whatever Publix is on sale, like if there's pepperoni on sale, we'll get whatever whatever that pepperoni is, right? So like I thought about doing a C a sequence of how to get stuff, you know, like who really cares what brand it is, how to get stuff cheap to make pizza, right?

SPEAKER_03 21:53

Like I said Do you show that as part of your content too? Kind of like you going out shopping and I should just picking up ingredients.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

I haven't. I should, but I haven't.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

That would be pretty cool to just to see, hey, I'm just going shopping and see what we're gonna find, and this is what it's gonna turn into tonight.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

The only thing that really makes a difference is that like, you know, like in in the store they sell like the pizza sauce that is in the small containers and then they sell the large ones. Like, I don't know if there's any difference between them, but like I'll just tell my wife, I'm like, when you're in public. just get tomato and basil, you know, regular sauce, right? So like still get rayos. My particular favorite is carbon. So like I like that the best of all the but you can't get like chunky ones because chunky doesn't belong. So like you get like the thinner ones. And the two things that I've learned the most are don't buy cheap cheese, don't buy shredded cheese, and get decent, decent sized, decent um tomato sauce. All the other stuff doesn't really matter. But cheese m cheese matters the most like I've been dabbling I I go to GFS and I get the grande cheese which is which is good. Or I'll go to Costco, they sell the the Galbani, the black cheese and I'll grind it, I'll shred it myself. If you're if you're trying to make pizza, don't cheap out on the on the sauce.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

I mean or just for the cheese. Well that was going to be my next one is what what advice would you give someone who's looking to just start making some pizzas at home themselves? Don't buy cheap sauce, don't get cheap, don't buy cheap shredded cheese.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Yeah and um and like it's not the end of the world if you rip the dough or if it if it turns if it's not a perfect circle it's not. For the Super Bowl party we had the the kid from next one of the the young kids from next door they were over and I was like hey let's let's make a pizza and she was worried about ripping it and I was like well if you rip it we'll just flip it over and we'll fix it. It's it's not a big deal. We'll we'll we'll fix it. So um what do they say don't cry over spilled milk or or stuff like that. So like um my first my first partnership was with this company called Spice Madness and Spice Madness is a is a I don't know my wife found them online somehow they make a lot of the the store spices and they they came up with their own brand that's an internet based brand so I reached out to them we bought some stuff and I reached out to them and I said hey I I'm starting out like do you want to do you want to collab on any stuff so they sent me a bunch of stuff. I bought the pizza spices already from my own and then I was like I really like your stuff um do you want to partner on any of this stuff? So they sent me a care package I love care packages more than anything I love care packages. So they sent me a package of their stuff and I promoted them and it really is their blend of spices that they use. I I don't know how or why it is but it just makes pizza taste like pizza. So a third the third part is good cheese, decent sauce and like a decent spice blend like you know a pizza spice blend and and it's gonna taste like pizza.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

So when when you found them and it takes trial and error to get to that point, right? You got to try some things you're gonna have some some cheeses that don't work some spices that don't work out for you. But when you do and I like the the point that you brought up when you found something that you liked you reached out to them and told them and then it it became something. So I think that that's another piece of advice I would I would probably say look don't be afraid to reach out to some folks and and let them know how you feel about their products and they'll probably so my daughter companies like sending care packages too because it creates Raven fans on the internet.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

My daughter on Instagram she um she made a message for me a a blank message and and she sent it out to a to a couple of people for me you know like um you know it was something that we inspire together. So she sent it out and it was like hey spice banness I use your spices you know my name's this find me on this this and this I'd love to have the opportunity to be an ambassador or to promote your stuff or whatever. Like you know do you do you guys would you guys be interested in in sending me some of your stuff to try. And I didn't realize that I've become friendly with some of these marketly people on the other side. I didn't realize that they get hit with so many of these um so like your your um your success rate may be really low but that doesn't mean to to not do it right so like yeah like and you know it's it's it's not that you can't afford to buy the stuff it's just the fact that it's so much cooler when you say these guys trusted me to use their stuff making my stuff.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

Yeah it show it shows that there's connection and and it shows that they're still at least paying attention to what's happening like with with real folks. I think that's important. I we get a lot of you know a lot of things too with samples and gear and all that and we just try to you know entertain all of it. I don't you know always say you know I'm not affiliated with anybody but I try to work with everybody because that's after stick is fun that way and we'll try it in the shop. You know people send me all kinds of things and that's the the good thing about having the shop is we can always use something and we'll find a way to make it work.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

So I did I did um I reached out to this to this olive oil company right because I I liked I like their vibe. Like you could tell they they have similar beliefs I didn't I didn't know how important like a finishing olive oil was going to be to my pizza. It's expensive for if you're running a business it's expensive to use right like it it it prices you out. Like you may have it may be too expensive to do that. But uh these guys at at seasons the the company I work with they make like uh flavor-infused olive oil and it's like a finishing olive oil and I I put it on top of the pizza now like I'll cook it most of the way and I'll put it on at the very very end I'll I'll cook it a little bit more and it just makes the I I don't know what it does but it it brings out some some additional flavors and it makes the the the the cheese like glow and shine. It's almost like you know pulp fiction that box you know like when it the the pizza shines it's it's it's too expensive to you know like these bottles of olive oil are are are not expensive and you do it you guys all you in the um production area you're everything's based on cost per you know like the unicost so um but it makes such a difference and I'll make one without it and I'll make one with and I'll tell I'll ask my family I'm like what you like better and and every time it's it's one with it.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Has making pizzas at home changed how you you know shop for pizza outside of the house?

SPEAKER_00 28:08

If you invite like since now we're friends if you said hey if you're in Tampa come by you know like check check my stuff out I would I'll do that but uh for the most part uh you know and my oldest bought me some boxes you know like uh corrugator boxes like off of Amazon and I used to not like send people home with stuff but now we're making more and more so like now I'll I'll crack open some boxes and I'll send some people home and they're like oh you're so close to doing like takeout and I'm like no I'll do it. So like we we did a um this past summer we did a trip to to Milan in in Italy and we were there for for a while and we ate pizza every day. You know like it was it was my it was an adventure. We and you know the that that type of pizza it a knife and fork pizza you know like you can call it whatever you want it's a whole different experience like like since you're a professional like I rate pizza based off of if I take a bite of it out of it I don't want everything coming off right like you know like that's one of my first my first things is like can I bite it without everything coming off and all that Neapolitan pizza like everything's together. Like if you don't eat it with a knife fork you can't eat it. And um it was it was a humbling experience because I thought that I was going to be on like a this vision quest or this awesome experience and it was okay at best. Like it it was pizza but it was okay. I hope you again you get what I'm saying. Like it's a it's a different thing.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

Yeah I it wasn't what you were expecting.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

And they do that they do that um that high hydration uh dough and the high temperature and you know it's it's fluffy and everything but like I consider it more like bread or like f you know Italian bread than I I did pizza.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

I think that's the difference is there's more more intent and more focus on highlighting the bread as the main actor in the pizza experience there. Which you know is fine it's everyone there's so many different that's the beauty of pizza there's so many different styles so many different you know interpretations of it and you can have it your way and you found a way to do it on your own. How did you how did you get linked up with Blackstone?

SPEAKER_00 30:11

So um there's a guy his social handle's name is Mike's messhall he's just a guy I'm not even I don't even know his last name right so um he's just Mike's messhall to me. So we were doing this I was doing my thing and he found me somehow because like I, you know, even though they say it's not effective I would always put hashtag Blackstone Pizza and in in my stuff. He must have either been looking for me or or looking for for people that had mutual interest or whatever it was. And he found me and he said he sent me a direct message and he said hey there this griddle crew is having auditions you know uh apply. So I applied and I was I was I was young in this in this business at that point. I'm still young but I was young in this business and I didn't have that many followers and it was and it was unique but but like my whole vibe is unique. The application process they reached out to me we had a little conversation it wasn't it wasn't the right time for either of us and then like two months later they they reached out and they said hey we'd like you to be part of the griddle crew so it's a community so they it's it they they announce stuff but most of it is grassroots marketing where people in there reach out to other people or or you you see it from there. So this whole the whole Blackstone griddle crew community is is uh it's very heavily geared towards flat top cooking and stuff that whole outdoor cooking vibe is uh there's there's a lot of energy towards that so people follow me they're like so we we do a lot of mutual hosting so I I put on my thing I was like if you want to be part of it apply if you want advice let me know and this guy Mike he hooked me up on I'm forever in denizen because it um in in my social circle in my in my social circle being being associated with Blackstone is kind of like the holy grail right like so like when I when I talk with with um with my friends they're like oh yeah we saw that that blackstone you know gives you approval even though blackstone's not the the the top of the food chain in in um outdoor pizza ovens there's there's somebody yeah here the the brand is is worth it so it um yeah it's been a very reward rewarding for me and for them like we we both have have helped each other out so yeah and if you want to be part of the griddle crew you it's you can reach out anyone listening you can reach out to me I'll I'll be glad to help uh I'm navigate you through the process or just pay attention to their open auditions.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

Well that's really cool I think what I what I like to hear or see people do is reach out if they want to learn more about you know your process and making pizzas at home and you know creating a presence on social media and not you know not being afraid to put yourself out there. A lot of folks get caught up in you know the perfectionism I think you and I we kind of started to touch on it a little bit before we hit went live on this how does that play a how does you know moving past perfectionism perfectionism play a part in how you treat your content today versus when you started?

SPEAKER_00 33:05

Yeah it that's one of the things that and I told you I was doing this live and and my persona on a live which which was unscripted and and was truly me was is way different than than the the edited version that that shows up on my stuff. So um my kids had told me that they thought that the live was going to be the hardest for me because because there's some times where like I I I'm goofy but I was like you know that's I'm I'm goofy no matter what right so it's uh I have to work on that part like people think that you can just sit down and or or just start doing it and people you know um people want quality they want uniqueness they want a persona that that they can trust it doesn't have to be perfect it just has to be real I think being real whoever you are um because people people want to to um they want to see parts of themselves in you and they want to see that oh wait this guy can stretch a pizza dough he's just a you know a a guy right like he's not classic can stretch a piece of pizza dough like last night one one of the people that was here they they said okay um I know where you get all this stuff at you told me all this stuff I see the the supplies that you have I'm gonna make it and I was like well I was like that's a good start I was like that that's cool it's a good start that but just know that experience matters more than anything right so like you guys in your in your shop when you look at you can you can um you probably have that mental clock where you know a pizza's been in about a certain time and you can go check or you can see from the primer how it's gonna look that doesn't come from watching somebody else do it that just comes from from doing it a few times like absolutely right experience is a good teacher. I can feel it though and I I didn't make it most of the time I'm not making it but I can feel it I'm like this one's gonna cooperate or this one's not gonna cooperate. Like I can 99% of the time I know what's gonna happen. There there have been times where where I just put that one back away and I grab another one just to because I I like I've seen a lot of these guys who run those food trucks and they're they're all their dough looks exactly alike. None of mine looks like none of mine look alike. They all look different.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

It's it's a it's an art one of the hardest things for me when you know I was in between we we sold a shop back in July and then I just bought another shop a couple of you know about a month ago. So I was out you know I was home for six months I was trying to figure out what we were going to do when I started to make some pizzas and it was hard and I'd been making pizzas for 22 years 23 years and it's like I didn't I knew how to make pizza in that environment. I didn't know how to make pizzas in this environment. My kitchen wasn't I didn't have enough prep space.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

I had this little kitchen aid mixer and those pizza oven those pizzas the pizza stones for inside of ovens they're good though I I don't I don't have one but I've seen the product that they make that they're they're good I they're able to make a an oven that only goes to 550 another 100 degrees hotter to to make pizza I don't know how it works but it works.

SPEAKER_03 36:03

I I tried the stone it worked it worked pretty good. First I tried on the rack it's terrible like it's like a steel I think it's like a steel not a steel I got the steel I have the steel now and the steel is great. It makes it makes the oven like a it it gives you that brick oven feel and it and it does get you an extra you know extra 100 degrees 120 degrees in that oven so you can cook normally it doesn't recover as fast but it does work pretty well if you're just cooking a few pies.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

Just just chatting one the one struggle the the black soap pizza oven I I love it more than anything but it for size constraints it's 16 inches right so like sometimes I want like even if I get to six inches it it comes to the head so that some of that corner shown gets gets burned a little bit. But the pizza steels are good because they're square so like you can you can you have some room to to navigate and and put it on the inside the the the black stone oven it it's blessing and it's curse is the fact that the stone is a size uh about the size of the pizza that you want to make so it um it takes some time to navigate that too there and there have been times where where the cross has caught on fire like and I've blown it out and I'm like oh that no one saw that.

SPEAKER_03 37:13

Well you gotta show it somebody saw it we didn't see it but somebody saw that what are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00 37:22

There were numerous ones where um where they've they've fallen f face flat onto the onto the ground and like you know um I it gets me mad so I like I don't I don't capture that stuff but I can see how other people seem to be like yeah um crap happens to everyone yeah I I have one and it's still on my camera but I didn't I haven't even looked at it to edit but I tried to make a breakfast pizza here at the house and I was going to launch off of the peel like I've been working on.

SPEAKER_03 37:52

I grew up making pizzas on screen so launching off the peel is a new thing for me. Same thing get my Cimolina my my flour blend and I tried to do this breakfast pizza and I poured way too much egg over it and it and it ran over the crust onto the board and there was no launching that pizza. It was too wet it was too it just wasn't gonna happen and I tried anyways and it made a total mess in that oven. And it's I have I have it all there.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

I've never I'll probably never even watch it to show it because I was so mad I was so proud of the idea and so disappointed in the pizza maker that is probably never no one will let the When I make a breakfast pizza like I'm fearful of eggs so I scramble them first like a quarter way scramble and then I'll put them on that that way so that they're because I tried to a friend was over two weeks ago that's part of the griddle crew and I was telling her it's like an earthquake. When you're sh when you're shaking it like if the stuff's not it's not firm in place it's gonna fall off right so like everyone sees when they go to a pizza place they're like oh that guy slides it in and he pulls it right out right that's because there's a lot of room to work you don't you you know like you can just you can just pull it right out yeah yeah at the house it was for it's good but don't you think that sometimes the screen affects the texture of the bottom of the the crust sometimes sometimes you know just in in our shop what we always did was you know cook you know I guess 80% of the way on screen and then and pull off to to crisp up on the bottom but yeah there's I think there's definitely some some subtle differences um from just stone baking to using a screen for sure. I think I think the screen has has uh most people say that they use it because they want a consistent shape, right? And the screen helps you get that consistent shape as well.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

Yeah it does it's it's easy to teach someone to make pizzas with the screen too how's that just be just because you know we have we have the shape, you know we have the size we can tell them look stretch this far past the edge of the screen tap tap tap to bring it back or you you know we get weight on and then and then we stretch you know if you stretch a little bit short you go sauce and cheese and then you and then you pull to the edge to get your um you know to get your shape or to get your size. It's very forgiving when it comes to to making the pies and then of course the launch is super easy because you're just going straight in. My new shop we have a conveyor you know in here the conveyor oven. And this is it well it's got we got a conveyor and we have a deck. So I got a blodge it on top of the edge conveyor oven and I promise you it's been six weeks now haven't turned the deck on once.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

Really? So the haven't turned it on once the conveyor the conveyor bakes it just the way you want it?

SPEAKER_03 40:35

Just just we had to do some tweaking it was it was very hot. It's got like you know they call them fingers but it's got all these you know all these chambers to blow heat and oh so it's like a convection it's like a convection oven almost yeah it was it was cook it was overcooking the pizza it was burning the cheese more than I more than I like. So I reached out to a good friend of mine who who deals in ovens and he helped me get it adjusted, helped me help me get those fingers covered got me the right product and the pizza once we got it dialed in I'm like I don't know that we ever really need the deck because it's it's doing what we need in five minutes, 20 seconds and it's it's similar to to the Costco um conveyor or is it similar to what now?

SPEAKER_00 41:14

To the Costco conveyor like I've seen the one at Costco where like the the I don't know have you ever gone to Probably I haven't seen it but it's I mean it's big.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

It's got you know it's got a full sixty inch deck oven on top of it and it's I mean I my full I guess my full length is probably 120 inches of the you know the the belt is left and right left and right to Yeah from left to right and then my just the belt itself is I think 32 inches wide so we can go side by side 14s or stagger 18s on it. Yeah it's a it's a production machine.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

I watch I watch like uh a lot of uh not proud but like I I watch a lot of videos of of like conventions where they they show all these new unique uh um commercial commercial units and like there's there's ones where you put the dough in it it makes perfect dough dough ball like it you know you crimp it down and it makes perfect dough balls and then there's ones where you take that dough ball and you put it on a machine and crimp it down and it makes a perfect you know 16 inch crust.

SPEAKER_03 42:23

There's a there's a lot of technology out there to help for pizza.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

But it still doesn't give you the experience needed to get better and to do it at a high level, right? Because you know at the end of the day we all see a lot of pizza shops open and closed. And you know and to your earlier point being an enthusiast allows you to do it for the for the love of it and you know still have some fun and not get caught up into the financial aspects of it because it does change things once you decide that you're gonna go that route and do pop-ups and or you know put your name on a personal guarantee for a commercial lease. Like these things start to matter and it comes with different it comes with different implications. So you know I think you know for for those for the enthusiasts out there I love what you're bringing to it because you're saying look I don't I'm not doing this because I want to you know I need to make a living from it I'm doing this because I really enjoyed this and I I love seeing that part of it. That's real passion.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

I tried to I tried to break down the uh the component costs of making it and it's it's it's super hard like like the the cheese is definitely the most expensive the sauce is is right behind it. Like now I know why pizzas at at uh at Mama Pops are like$24,$25 because or maybe even more because to get pepperoni to get meatball to get uh quality cheese like you can buy them a bulk and get the the prices down but it's still you know like you need your unit cost to be for that$25 pizza you need it to be like like six dollars in order to cover your overhead and your and all your stuff. And it it's it's hard.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

It's hard to get there consistently with high quality products once you factor in waste and marketing costs and labor costs and you know all these different things. So yeah it's it's tough but it's there's a lot of folks that are doing it and doing it well. And then people knock on the on the chains and on the you know the big companies but they figured out a good system for producing pizza regardless of the quality.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

I tell my wife that I'd be broke if I um if I opened up a business, I'd be broke because I would just give the f I'd give everything away. I'd be like, oh you want I'd be like, I'm working on this. Like I I started making these pinwheels. Like I guess you do I don't know if you if you make pin like like uh pepperoni rolls.

SPEAKER_04 44:41

Yeah sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Yeah so so I'm I'm like if I was experimenting stuff I would just I'd give it away. I'd be a bad businessman when it comes to that.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

Yeah that's that is uh bad business practice. We call them care packages but we only do we only do a few of them at a time. No there's there's a component of that because you do want people to you want feedback and you you don't want to I'm having this internal battle right now on just fees, right? Which is common practice now credit card surcharges or cash discounts and all these things and it's and it's liter like my wife's like why are you still talking about it every night it's like keeping me up. I don't want to I don't want to do it but I also understand that it's a necessary it's almost necessary at this point like working with third party vendors. I don't want to charge push those fees onto the customer. What if we could just lower the price and do it but at a fair price but at some point it becomes bad for the business too.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

I'm from the other generation like we don't do Uber each or any of that stuff so like I like I like to um I like to go in there and kind of like make sure that it's only been in the person who made its hands and my hands before I preferi but but there's a lot of people out there that that will they don't care how they get it just as long as they can get it. Like I'd rather just make it than then or drive to go get it that to have it delivered to me. And it's it's not for the money it's just for the fact that like you know it's just it's kind of like uh uh you know audiobooks compared to radio books some people can read them or some people can't you know however it is but yeah but just just to um to give you synopsis of my world is is the fact that like this has given me purpose and direction. It's become a thing my wife my wife's very supportive um the the internet stuff is is uh uh it wasn't the primary purpose but it's become one of the driving influences of developing the brand we're we're in a spot now where people want to come over and eat which is which is great like we had this big Super Bowl party and there's food from everywhere and everyone's like well you know I'll wait for your pizza and I'm like okay well that that's that's a grown compliment and it's it's really it's driven off the ego now at this point. It's the fact that um I make something that people like and people want. So I'm gonna keep making it as long as I can afford to keep making it I'll keep making it and if you like people say hey you know I I'd like to try that I'm like just give me 15 minutes come over 15 minutes I'll I'll have you I'll make you whatever you want. There's always supplies ready. So it's it's peep people think it's a burden but for me it's a it's a pleasure and it's a joy. And and the fact that it's all outside and we live in Florida it makes it easier because it it's not messing up my my kitchen. You know like everything I do outside is uh is is outside.

SPEAKER_03 47:18

Well that's it's it's fun to watch and I'm glad that you've taken the direction of continuing to bring to bring your creations and your passion out and and having a family that supports it and gets involved with it. I think that makes it even more fun too knowing that your wife and the kids and everyone's just involved in creating this thing you know for that.

SPEAKER_00 47:35

When when you reached out to me I was like oh my God this is this is this is all like virgin territory for me. Like I people do these lives and they do podcasts and they do all this stuff and when you reach out to me I'm like wait my is this validating that I'm actually doing something right and I so I was pleased the second you reached out I was like I was like yeah sign me up let's do it come on I was like we can do this over dinner come on over like you we can we can figure that out I they have some family that we visit in that area all the time. I love that one of the people crew they live in Indiana and they were like hey we're going on vacation you want to get together I was like come on over I'll make you dinner and and it was it was one of the best nights that I've had in in many years. So it's that griddle crew is a good good quality group of people all with with similar beliefs and my pizza vibe is it fits into their world.

SPEAKER_03 48:21

Glad to see that you're you're here and you're presenting it and thank you for coming and bringing your world to our world so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

Any uh you know anything that excuse me how can folks reach out to you learn more about you know your platform where's the best place to follow connect with you I got you on Facebook you know messenger we we you know you respond really quick what's the best place to to find pizza atom so in in uh on TikTok it's it's just I am pizza adam the letter I and I am pizza adam on Instagram it's I am pizza adam my instagram and my Facebook are linked together I I think I've I figured that meta world out that they that they cross post and everything happens together. On uh Facebook it's Adam and then they let me put I am pizza adam as my middle name marks so it's Adam I am pizza adam marks and then on YouTube it's just I am pizza adam so at one point I was trying to figure out whether I just morphed to just pizza adam um this one this one's been it's worked out well for me so I'm gonna just run with this for a while.

SPEAKER_04 49:26

Fix it.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

I'll kill it I am Pizza Adam Blackstone Griddle crew making pizza for the love what's been your favorite one my go to my go-to pizza every day every week up and is just um cheese pizza with as much pepperoni as I can fit on it and I've been experimenting with these pepperoni cups now so that's my new my new joy but as much pepperoni and then like Costco sells us these these like bacon bits that in this big bag that are not not like crappy bacon bits or like chunks of bacon that that's crumped up. So like regular pizza tons of pepperoni and some bacon bits with the with the spice madness seasoning on top of it I guarantee you so you come over you'll say maybe I need to add this in my menu.

SPEAKER_03 50:12

I'm gonna figure it out I was just looking to see like where where my uh my cousin lives in relation to you he's like kind of like that Hollywood area.

SPEAKER_00 50:21

So that Hollywood and where we live are it's the same street. It would be like um you know Temple Terrace is north of of Tampa so it's so it's it would be like Tampa to Temple Terrace. So it's you know exactly where I'm at then yeah I I work for a really big company that um their headquarters are in in your area so um I've been there many many many times.

SPEAKER_03 50:43

All right then we'll then we'll have to find a way to connect I got some I got some pizza lovers down here in that area close to you. You keep in touch and I will feed you say it to you my friend I'm gonna send you a Publix like five item list and see what you create from it and we'll we'll like like give me your cash app and all that and we're gonna give you a shopping list and pay for it and just wait for the video to come out. That's that's the challenge.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

You can send me the list but you don't need you don't need to slend me anything I'll I I got one. Just you just tell me what you want it's gonna be if you even if you tell me I need to make homemade dough with it I'll make homemade dough it doesn't matter man I'll I'll I'll do whatever you want and that was the uh follow request like people would say hey chicken bacon ranch is a good pizza too like if you can if you can find a way to do that in your in your shop as like affordable people love chicken bacon ranch with like a anfredo sauce it's good it's good yeah I like that one that's that's one that we that we did add the jerk chicken has been a a very popular one I we kind of did like I did a similar thing where I was kind of taking suggestions and it all got out of hand.

SPEAKER_03 51:43

Nothing that we could ever sell because I'd have to charge$75 for it. But the jerk chicken stayed the chicken bacon ranch stayed.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

People um if you create a community in your space like because I'm the kind of person that that is the shop like I I tell my guys from Blackstone I go I go I'm your demographic like I'm the person you want to be buying your stuff like when when you do your marketing you're looking for me or and my friends. So like in your space like if you're if you need a one or two night a week pizza person that's that's me and my family and my neighbor. So like sometimes if you listen to your name and you say and you have something that they want then chances are that they'll they'll be loyal for life. They'll be loyal to you and make them mad.

SPEAKER_03 52:25

She's speaking the language right there and that's and that's our golden customer that that you know a couple of nights a week we see them we know them we know their order we see their name on the caller ID we just start making it like that's we love those folks.

SPEAKER_00 52:38

We like it as much as you like it. Just so so you know like if you it's it's old school but if you greet me by my name and you're like hey you want this tonight like I'm like all of a sudden I'm like well why would I ever go anywhere else?

SPEAKER_04 52:51

It's like you're trying something new tonight. What have it?

SPEAKER_00 52:55

Sometimes it's hard and sometimes when you have staff it's hard but like if if you give if you give people a little announcement they won't be well forever. As long as your stuff as long as your stuff is good. If your stuff's bad then they're not you know they won't give a shot.

SPEAKER_03 53:07

Well look we we've heard it too many times now good food is just the entry point you better be good or you you're not even gonna compete at this point.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

And then beyond that good food good service good environment you know we're all humans here let's be good to each other's a lot of options for pizza I'll leave with this my my youngest who's going to grad school now and he's he's has a part-time job and he's he's working at like a bar or restaurant every night when when when he comes home after working I'm like how'd it go and he's he's like it's it's such a simple recipe people just want to be treated decently like if you if you go up to them and you're and you see that their water is empty you don't need to fill it you just need to say hey would you like more water or hey um how's the food like and listen to what they're saying he's like you know you'd be surprised that people are generous and and you'll have a job for average um I don't know where common decency is left but like all you have to do is it starts at the minimum and then when you do a little bit more than that like as a server you can do okay because because people will will take care of you if you if you just give them like respectable treatment.

SPEAKER_03 54:15

Thank you Adam it's been a pleasure talking to you getting to know you keep in contact with me I I I'd love to see I won't I'm gonna be watching anyways but just be be careful.

SPEAKER_00 54:25

When you tell me to stay in contact that means we will stay in contact.

SPEAKER_03 54:28

No hit me up anytime awesome