Oven Story Pizza Franchise
For pizzas, the ingredients required to be purchased by Pizza King, Inc. Are the dough, the cheese, the pepperoni and the sausage, said Ethan Brown, owner of Browny's Pizza King in Rossville.
The year was 1964, Ed and Margie Imo, a young couple with dreams of buying a home for the family, just opened a pizza parlor in The Hill neighborhood. It wasn’t too long before their name and square-cut pies would become synonymous with St. Louis traditions and pizza history.
- THE PIZZAFIRE STORY – PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE If you’re looking for a ground-floor opportunity with all the necessary elements for success, PizzaFire is a franchise you might want to investigate. Start with an award-winning chef who has already shown he can grow a Mom and Pop pizza location into a thriving franchise.
- Our Story Uncle Maddio’s is a next generation pizza Experience where “gimme the usual” meets the unusual, where nostalgia meets whim. The history of pizza is a history of innovation, a history of creativity. What started as peasant food was later adopted by royalty.
Devoted Catholics, the Imo family would wait until 11:30 pm every Friday to order a meat-topped pizza from one of the many Italian restaurants near their home. After years of picking up their pizzas after midnight, they asked themselves, “Wouldn’t it be nice if someone would deliver the pizza to us?” Their thought would soon revolutionize the pizza industry.
An Idea Sparks a Phenomenon
Knowing they had something special, the couple took five years to save up $1,500 and opened their first parlor on the corner of Thurman and Shaw. With no retail background, and no formal culinary training, the couple was ignited by their entrepreneurial spirit and determination.
In the beginning, their first kitchen consisted of a used oven, two refrigerators, and a stove that they purchased for $75. Ed continued to work as a tile setter slicing squares of linoleum by day and pizza by night. Margie answered the phones, prepped salads into cups, and worked the cash register - an old tackle box they repurposed. To keep up with all the orders, they enlisted Margie’s brother to make all the deliveries. Lastly, they hired a chef from the neighborhood to cook the pizzas who, unbeknownst to them, would incorporate an ingredient that would be forever ingrained into the identity of their brand.
A Provel-ution!
In place of the Mozzarella cheese traditionally layered on South St. Louis-style pizza, their new chef chose to use Provel® cheese. It was a hot success! Soon they were pumping out so many pizzas that they needed to find more of the cheesy ingredient.
Unable to find a reliable distributor, word quickly got around town that they were looking. One day a gentleman named Mr. John showed up to their parlor with a block of Provel® cheese in the trunk of his car. Unable to pay him for the first block, he gave them the Provel® cheese on loan the first week. The following week they paid him back, and Mr. John returned every week for the next three years until his death.
Their demand for Provel® cheese rapidly grew, and they needed to find a steady supply. Knowing Costa Grocery held the only rights to distribute Provel® cheese in St. Louis, Ed Imo offered to buy the business. The owner agreed to sell, and their cheesy dilemma was solved.
Throughout the Years
Eight months into opening their first parlor, Ed and Margie’s friends asked if they could open a second location for them. That was only the beginning. Soon the couple had stores everywhere, reaching 30 parlors across the St. Louis region by 1985. At that point the family decided to open the brand up to franchising.
As time went on, their menu expanded to include pasta, appetizers, sandwiches, and desserts. Their product lineup was not the only thing to grew over the years; their fanbase reached a new level. Soon the family was packaging and shipping their St. Louis-style pizza, Toasted Ravioli, and Provel Bites across the country to their loyal customers.
What's Next
The children of Ed and Margie are now running the day-to-day operations of Imo’s, and they are poised to expand the brand’s footprint across the Midwest in the next few years. In 2016, the company relocated its headquarters and franchise operation to a new 72,000 square foot warehouse, and 10,000 square foot office in downtown St. Louis.
With more than 100 stores and franchises in Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas the Imo’s family has never resisted change. From popularizing delivery to creating a nationwide Provel® cheese following, their philosophy of making every customer feel comfortable and welcome has propelled the brand from just a pizza parlor into a tradition; making us the Square Beyond Compare®!
1963
University of Missouri - St. Louis Opens
St. Louis Zoo Train & Planetarium in Forest Park opens to the public
1964
Imo's® is Founded
The first Imo’s® opens in the Shaw neighborhood just a couple miles east of The Hill proper.
St. Louis Bicentennial
Cardinals win the World Series against the New York Yankees
1965
Imo's® Opens Second Location
Gateway Arch is Erected
1966
Busch Stadium is Built & Completed
Last Street Car Line Disappears
1974
Imo's Delivery is Famous
The Post Dispatch proclaims Imo’s the “hands outstretched” winner of delivery.
Eads Bridge Railroad tracks are closed
1981
First VP Fair takes place on the Riverfront
1982
Cardinals win the World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers
1985
Imo’s Opens Franchises
Imo’s® opens 30th store in the Greater St. Louis region and opens up to franchises.
Imo’s Ditches the Paper Bag!
Imo’s® discontinues their original paper delivery bag.
1990
Imo’s® Egg-Ceptional Pizza is Invented
They said “eggs on a pizza?!” We said, mmm...
1993
The Metro Link Opens
The Great Flood of 1993 hits St. Louis
2000
The St. Louis Rams win the Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans
2006
Cardinals win the World Series against the Detroit Tigers
2011
First Torry Holt Commercial
Cardinals win the World Series against the Texas Rangers
2012
First David Freese Commercial
Imo’s releases their first commercial featuring World Series hero and hometown superstar David Freese.
2014
April 8th Proclaimed “Imo’s Day!”
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Imo’s, former St. Louis Mayor Slay proclaims April 8th as “Imo’s® Day.”
2015
Imo’s Reaches 100 Stores!
The “Original St. Louis-Style Pizza” reaches 100 stores in Missouri and Illinois.
Imo’s Moves Downtown
Imo’s builds a new headquarters & distribution center in downtown St. Louis.
2018
First Jayson Tatum Commercial
Imo’s releases their first commercial featuring NBA star and hometown basketball standout Jayson Tatum.
Oven Story Pizza Franchise Opportunities
2019
Oven Story Pizza Franchise Cost
Imo’s® Guy Goes Viral
Imo’s Guy makes his debut in San Jose during Game 2 of the NHL Conference Finals, St. Louis Blues vs. Sharks.
| Patsy's Pizzeria | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1933; 88 years ago |
| Owner(s) | Frank Brija |
| Previous owner(s) | Pasquale 'Patsy' Lancieri |
| Food type | |
| Dress code | casual |
| Street address | 2287 1st Avenue and East 117th Street in East Harlem |
| City | New York City |
| County | Manhattan |
| Postal/ZIP Code | 10035 |
| Country | United States |
| Other locations | 12 locations in New York, and counting |
| Other information | Franchise owned by Frank Brija |
| Website | www.thepatsyspizza.com |
Patsy's Pizzeria is a historic coal-ovenpizzeria in New York City and is regarded as one of New York's original pizzerias as well as for its use of traditional New York style thin crust pizza.[1]
History[edit]
Patsy's Pizzeria was founded in what used to be the predominantly Italian neighborhood of East Harlem in 1933 by Pasquale 'Patsy' Lanceri.[2] When it opened it was one of New York's earliest pizzerias along with Lombardi's, Totonno's and John's.[3] Patsy's claims to have originated the idea of selling pizza by the slice.[4] Lancieri is said to have learned his craft at Lombardi's brick-walled coal oven.[5] New York's pizza dynasties are now in their third and fourth generations, and counting.[5] And in its neighborhood of Spanish Harlem (which at the time the restaurants were started was known as Italian Harlem), two restaurants 'vie for the title of El Barrio's best bite': Patsy's Pizzeria 'where — so they say — the archetypal thin-crust New York pizza was first invented' and nearby Rao's, which was run by legendary restaurateur/ Sopranos actor Frank Pellegrino until his death in 2017.[6]
Patsy's Pizzeria was sold and expanded after its founder's death to Frank Brija, an Albanian from Kosovo, who bought the pizzeria from its founder's widow in 1991.[7] Brija, the current owner of the East Harlem Patsy's Pizzeria, trademarked the name and in 1995 opened Patsy's Pizzeria franchise at 509 Third Avenue, near 34th Street.[5] Tsoulos, 'a member of a Greek pizza-making clan in Queens', and his partners opened four more franchise locations in Manhattan.[7]
Dispute over Patsy's name[edit]
The original Patsy died in the 1970s and his widow sold the East Harlem pizzeria to longtime employees in 1991, 'to the chagrin of Patsy Grimaldi, her nephew, who opened a Patsy's in Brooklyn in 1990'.[5] The feuding deepened when Frank Brija began expanding his Patsy's Pizzeria franchise in Manhattan, and Patsy Grimaldi changed the name of his pizzeria to Grimaldi's Pizzeria, which the New York Times said is the best and truest to the original.[5]
In 2009, there was a legal battle with Patsy's Restaurant on West 56th Street, founded by Pasquale (Patsy) Scognamillo in 1944 and a haven for Frank Sinatra and many celebrities, and Patsy's Pizzeria which was sold to Frank Brija in 1991.[2][8][9]
Renaissance of pizza[edit]
A story from The New York Times reported in 1998 that, before the 'pizza renaissance' of the 1990s, 'the classic pizza was on the endangered list, treasured as an artifact of old New York but bypassed by a culture that preferred its pizzas fast, cheap and delivered.' The tradition was kept alive by 'just a few pizza landmarks, most famously John's Pizzeria on Bleecker Street, Patsy's Pizza in East Harlem and Totonno's Pizzeria Napolitano in Coney Island ... [who] zealously preserved the traditions.'[5] Environmental regulations made it hard to build new coal ovens because they could only be rebuilt or replaced under an environmental grandfather clause, 'not installed from scratch.'[5] According to The New York Times, 'Pizza makers have become architectural historians, seeking out spaces that once housed a coal-burning oven, like old bakeries or restaurants'.[5]
In 2019, a waiter at Patsy's Pizzeria returned a $423,987.55 cashier's check to a customer who left it behind on one of their tables. The customer had left without tipping, after complaining that the restaurant didn't have enough photos of women on their walls.[10]
Media[edit]
Patsy's Pizzeria was featured in a Manhattan-based episode of the Cooking Channel show Man v. Food, which first aired on April 7, 2020.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Irving DeJohn (2013-04-02). 'Patsy's Pizzeria opening first outer-borough location in Queens'. NY Daily News. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
- ^ abJohn Marzulli Patsy's feud continues with heart of matter of name July 6, 2009 Daily News
- ^'104 Years of Pizza in New York'. NYMag. 2009-07-13. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
- ^Galen Moore (October 15, 2003). 'An enticing slice of New York: In a city known for its coal-fired pies, pizzerias are keeping the tradition alive'. The Boston Globe.
- ^ abcdefghEric Asimov New York Pizza, the Real Thing, Makes a Comeback June 10, 1998 New York Times
- ^Thomas, Amelia (August 11, 2008). 'A taste of Spanish Harlem'. Chron.com. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
- ^ abLeslie Eaton The Patsy's Connection; Two Competing Pasta Sauces Share a Name and a Trademark Lawsuit February 1, 2000 New York Times
- ^Clear sign they're still fighting July 7, 2009 Daily News
- ^Anthony M. Destefano Restaurant winner in battle of the Patsys April 11, 2008 Newsday
- ^Slattery, Denis; Adams Otis, Ginger (10 May 2019). 'NYC pizzeria waiter returns half-million dollar cashier's check to retired social worker who failed to tip him'. New York Daily News. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
External links[edit]
Coordinates: 40°47′49″N73°56′05″W / 40.79707°N 73.93480°W