Owner Bruno Zacchini, III, has faced several obstacles in the past several months including a dumpster fire.
Pizza Bruno
Orlando, Florida
Concept: Pizza Bruno’s business plan has always been to have excellent music, awesome pizza and killer vibes. It’s the only plan you have when you open on an empty wallet.
Pizza Style & Dough: Our pizza style is neo-Neopolitian pizza. Our dough is 100-percent naturally leavened and made with a blend of King Arthur flours, filtered water, and natural sea salt. It’s fermented for up to 48 hours. We believe our best product is between 36 and 48 hours. All of our pizzas are topped with primarily the best American ingredients we can get, from tomatoes to olive oil to house-made mozzarella.
What challenges have you faced with a Neapolitan product in a carryout and delivery environment during the pandemic?
Naturally, our style of pizza, especially any Neopolitian pizza, does not travel well. It’s designed to be eaten right out of the oven, so doing carryout/delivery just doesn’t translate as well as it does in house. Thankfully our customers are rabid fans and don’t let any of this deter them from supporting us during this time.
How were you able to pivot during the COVID-19 crisis and as we begin to transition again?
We changed from a primarily dine-in experience to a total quick-service experience almost overnight, which also included adding a phone line (our business had been without these past four years). This in itself was a huge pivot and change for us, but we were forced to be flexible, adapt and adjust as the current state of the world unfolded. Going forward, this experience has shown us our demand for take-out and delivery — which was nonexistent before — and has pushed us into opening a take-out only space directly next door to Pizza Bruno. This will offer our traditional pizza style along with a few specialty ones and new menu items built specifically for carryout/delivery.
We see your dynamite dessert program. Tell us a little more about it and how successful it is. Our new dessert program was spurred on by the pandemic, really. We had an overall shift and change in personnel and management during this time. This really allowed our new employees more opportunities. I’ve always had a vision for a stronger dessert program. And, low and behold, we found a new hire, Chef Miranda Friedel, who was actually hired as a “host” and turned out to be a pastry chef with real credentials! She has really taken my vision and taken it to the next level. We are excited to see what else she comes up with, along with adding new items to our menus with Catered by Bruno (our catering company) as well.
