A Q&A with Zachary Black on Jason’s NY Pizza in Bangor and Brewer, Maine
Pizza Style & Dough:
At Jason’s NY Pizza, we pride ourselves on delivering authentic New York-style pizza. Our pizzas feature a thinner crust, light toppings, 100% mozzarella cheese, and a true large size at 18 and 24 inches—capturing the essence of New York pizza. While we offer subs, salads and pasta, pizza dominates our sales, accounting for 80% of our revenue across all locations. In a region saturated with Greek pizza shops that often serve smaller 14-inch “large” pizzas and focus on salads, our New York-style approach truly stands out.
Legacy of Jason’s and Continuing the Tradition:
Our parents, Marty and Donna, started the journey in Bangor, Maine, in 1997. They dreamed of providing their family with more than just a paycheck-to-paycheck life. Marty, an electrical salesman, and Donna, with experience in a machine shop and pizza-making from her time in Pennsylvania, chose Maine as the ideal place to start their pizzeria, recognizing its potential and less competitive market.
Our second shop opened in Brewer in 2000, and in 2009, Jonathan joined the family business, bringing new energy and ideas to the table. In 2018, his partner, Zach, joined the business as well, solidifying our commitment to keeping Jason’s a family-run operation. For 26 years, we operated just two stores until 2023, when the location we’d had our eyes on for 20 years became available. Our drive to continue growing our brand led us to discover another stellar spot, and we are excited to open our fourth store towards the end of 2024.
Embarking on Store No. 4:
As we prepare to roll out our fourth location, our focus is on building a strong team and infrastructure. Leadership, management, training, clear policies and recipes are the backbone of our success. We’re continually investing in our current stores, making them stronger and more efficient, and promoting growth from within. As we expand, building on the momentum of growth keeps us moving forward—engaging our community and employees has helped us exceed our goals year after year—and we’re not stopping here!
Dos and Don’ts for Expanding a Pizzeria Concept:
One piece of advice we’ve taken to heart is to keep doing what works. For us, that means staying true to our roots as a takeout-focused pizzeria, with a few seats available at some locations. Although we’ve considered expanding into a larger dine-in operation with beer and a full dining experience, we’ve decided to stick with what works well for our concept. Why reinvent the wheel when our current model is so successful? Maybe someday, we’ll circle back to that.
What’s on the Horizon:
With our fourth store being 90 miles away from our other locations, our long-term goal is to bridge the gap between Northern and Southern Maine by opening more Jason’s New York Style Pizza shops. As we continue to grow, we aim to strengthen our presence across the state, bringing our menu and community involvement to even more areas of the great state of Maine.
