(Editor’s note: This is the 16th installment in a series about opening a mobile pizzeria by Jason Cipriani, co-owner of Sips & Pies. You can read the other articles here.)
The 2025 food truck season is nearing an end, and yet I feel like we never truly got started. It’s been a whirlwind of stress, anxiety, excitement, happiness and frustration. Through it all, there have been many lessons learned and adjustments made.
Every time we go out and set up, we experience something different and learn something new. It’s exciting, but it can also be exhausting. Below are some of the key points I’ve learned.
Mobile Pizzeria Challenges
As much as I love that we have a mobile restaurant – I feel that’s a huge selling point, especially once we open to catering weddings and other important events – I find myself often daydreaming about how much easier our life would be if we had a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
With a permanent location, every piece of equipment would have a dedicated spot, everything would be easier to clean and maintain, and we’d be ready for service at any time. The physical demand of unloading and loading equipment just to make some pizzas for a few hours wouldn’t be a thing.
We wouldn’t have to figure out when we can squeeze time into the shared space at our commissary based on the booking calendar. Nor would we have to wait for someone to finish in the dish pit before we could wash our dishes and go home.
Finally: Pulling a trailer is stressful. Backing it up into a tight spot is even worse.
I say all that not to discourage you from opening a mobile pizzeria. I would do it again, without hesitation. But looking back at all of the classes and seminars I attended, not once did someone talk about how physically demanding it is to set up and tear down.
Admittedly, if we had opted for a truck or enclosed trailer, the physical demand would be much lower, but not fully eliminated.
Little Will Go As Planned
Coming into this year, I had a grand vision that we’d open, and like clockwork we’d set up every two weeks (our target cadence) for the entire summer and into the fall, picking up a private or public event here and there. In my mind, it would be smooth sailing. Along with that, I pictured us offering complicated specials with advanced toppings and finishing steps.
Just as we were getting into a rhythm of placing food orders, making dough and setting up, I got injured and we were unable to open for roughly two months. Instead of opening over a dozen times this season, it’s looking like we’ll be lucky if we get eight services in.
I had so many plans that just aren’t going to come to fruition this season.
While I was recovering, I had a lot of time to reset my personal expectations for what this season is going to look like. However, I am frustrated by how far behind my personal goals and schedule we are.
Had we been able to get into a routine, our confidence level about all aspects of running our business would be far ahead of where we’re at now, and we’d be more efficient as well. In our short time of being open, we’ve sped up ticket times and increased the complexity level of our specials, but we’re nowhere near ready for online ordering or booking large catering events. And that’s exactly where I wanted us to be at the end of season one.
I can’t remember which class it was during Pizza Expo 2025, but I remember someone saying that if you’re treating a mobile pizzeria as a hobby, you’re doing it wrong.
I smirked and wrote it off at the time, but I get it now. Setting aside the financial implications of not being consistent, it’s incredibly difficult to refine your workflow and end product if you’re only doing this occasionally.
It takes practice to be great, and we need more practice.
Share Your Knowledge
The morning after our first service, I sat down with my wife and kids and talked it through. Where did we go wrong? What did we do right? Where could we improve?
As they talked about aspects they wanted to change, I started to feel really guilty. Guilty that I didn’t properly prepare them. I had spent the last two years soaking up knowledge from industry experts and YouTube influencers, and I had done my best to share it with them. I didn’t do enough. I let them down.
Since then, I’ve done my best to take their feedback, integrate it into our service and refine it as needed. I’ve also set out to make sure I talk through everything I’m envisioning. I’m not perfect, and we still have a long way to go, but every time we go out, things run more smoothly.
Take Notes
Every time I make dough, prepare a special, or we go out for service, I tell myself I need to sit down and journal or take notes about how it all went. What did I like? What didn’t I like? What do I want to change? I’ve yet to do it, and each time I run into a situation where I could easily have the answer if only I’d taken notes. I kick myself for it.
For example, we had a spinach pizza special ready to go right before I got hurt. We’d spent an afternoon and 12 pizzas going over the recipe, trying different cheeses and figuring out precisely how we wanted to finish it. We were ready to launch it that same week.
Then, the doctor hit me with bad news, and we didn’t do anything pizza-related for weeks. When it came time to actually serve our special, it took my wife and I a few days of discussing the finer details to fully remember exactly what we did. Heck, even as we set up for service, we were still questioning it.
So, I’m including taking notes as some sage advice for you, but also as a reminder for myself. Take notes! Future you will thank present you.
Thank You
There are countless other stories and lessons learned I could have shared here – or in any of the weekly installments we’ve published during this series. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed sharing my experience, and hopefully those insights have helped you – even if just a little bit.
Even more so, I’ve enjoyed talking to everyone who has reached out with kind words, cheered me on or asked for advice. I continue to be amazed at how welcoming this industry is when it comes to sharing knowledge and offering advice.
I want to say thank you to everyone I’ve interacted with along the way. You’ve made a newcomer feel right at home.
Cheers.
JASON CIPRIANI is the owner of Sips & Pies, a mobile wood-fired pizzeria serving Neapolitan-inspired pizza, in Colorado.
