38-year-old runs a mobile pizzeria out of his Smart car in New York City: It's 'like a circus or a magic act'
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I've been cooking professionally for most of my life. But if you'd told the teenager peeling potatoes after school that one day he'd have his own pizzeria —and operate it out of a Smart car, no less — I'm not sure he would have believed you.
As a sophomore in high school, I wasn't running a kitchen or thinking about owning a business. I was just a kid getting my first look at how a real restaurant worked.
There was pressure, noise, heat and constant movement. I'd leave exhausted at the end of the night, but I was always well fed, and for some reason I couldn't wait to go back. That environment taught me early that kitchens could be intense, but also incredibly alive. There was a rhythm to the chaos, and I fell in love with it.
I kept cooking, eventually graduating from the Culinary Institute of America and building a career in professional kitchens and corporate dining. I worked with organizations including the NFL and the New York Stock Exchange.
But somewhere along the way, cooking started to feel less personal. In corporate dining, you can prepare an incredible meal for some of the most powerful people in the world and never actually see them enjoy it.
I realized I missed that connection. I wanted to make the decisions myself, obsess over the product, create something people would remember and watch it all unfold before my eyes.
So I went small when I started Pizza Pod. Really small. I like to call it New York City's smallest pizzeria.
Pizza Pod started with a pretty ridiculous idea: What if I could turn a tiny Smart car into a mobile pizzeria?
The car gets people's attention immediately. It's a bright, shiny green, and it's just big enough to hold two pizza ovens that run on a generator.
When I park outside a coffee shop, wine bar, or brewery I'm partnering with, or pull up to a street fair or a private or corporate event, most of the pizzeria is already there. I set out a table, unpack balls of dough I made in a commercial kitchen off site and let ferment for 72 hours, and bring along other ingredients, all of which I'm very particular about.
Then, right in front of people, I make fresh 12-inch pies — like cheese, truffle and mushroom, creamy artichoke and garlic, ham and hot honey, and burrata — that sell for $16 to $20 each. One of the more unusual pizzas we make is a guava pepperoni pie. It's a small nod to my Puerto Rican heritage, with the sweetness of the guava playing beautifully against the saltiness of the pepperoni.
Sometimes I think the setup is a little bit like a circus or a magic act, where I get to be the magician pulling hot, fragrant pizzas out of a teeny tiny car. Ta da!
I never wanted Pizza Pod to succeed just because of the car. The pizza had to be good enough that customers came back, and they have.
People walk over and ask questions. Kids watch the pizzas go into the ovens. Customers talk to us while we're cooking. Someone comes once, then comes back the following week, and suddenly I know their name and order. People who originally stopped because they were intrigued by the sight of a guy pulling pizzas out of a Smart car have become regulars and bring friends.
That connection is probably my favorite part of the business.
Some of the best opportunities have come directly from those relationships, too. Companies invite Pizza Pod to pop up or cater events. People share videos online. Customers tell other people about this strange little Smart car pizzeria. These interactions have helped grow the business.
Pizza Pod has brought in about $24,000 in gross sales via card payments on Square since March, and I'd estimate cash sales typically make up 65% of our total. So, by my calculations, we're averaging about $12,000 in gross sales per month.
Some days, I'm not only the chef, but also the delivery driver, dish washer, mechanic, salesperson, accountant and social media department, all before lunch. Other days, like when Pizza Pod has a big event, I have a small team working with me.
Running a business this tiny means there's no department to call when something goes wrong. The other day, for example, the generator stopped working while I had pizzas in the oven and hungry people waiting. I quickly hooked up one of the ovens to run through the car for long enough to finish those half-cooked pizzas.
Pizza Pod can be exhausting. But it's also mine. I spent years working inside systems other people created, helping them achieve their dreams. Now, even when the day is difficult, it's because I'm building my own business and cultivating that community around it. It makes me happy and gives me purpose in a way that corporate dining never did.
My son, Axel, who turns 3 soon, loves the car and has appointed himself my No. 1 taste tester, a job he takes pretty seriously.
I hope one day he learns the lessons I have by building this business: You won't be an expert at anything right away, but you'll learn more every day. And you don't need the perfect space or unlimited resources to begin. Sometimes you just have to use what you have and make it work. For me, that happened to be a Smart car and a pizza oven.
Bradley Alvelo is a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef and the founder of Pizza Pod. He serves handcrafted 12-inch pizzas made with slow-fermented dough from a customized Smart car while growing the business through pop-ups, private events, and partnerships. Follow Pizza Pod at @pizzapodnyc or visit pizzapodnyc.com .
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