What a great “build your own pizza” concept, with fresh-aged, hand-stretched dough, coming out of a Mugnaini 120 Wood Fired Oven along with the ipourit draft system.
The concept is well-received in this upper-middle class neighborhood that is looking for high-end craft pizza that is above the typical fast casual pizza business model. Committed to imported Italian Caputo Flour to create a 72 hour aged dough topped with premium sauce and cheese, Blvd 41 is hitting it out of the park with increased sales each week. I have no doubt that their next location will have more space and a larger oven if not a second oven.
These dedicated owners called me weeks before opening with 90% of the store build-out complete. The menu was written, yet they continued to struggle with the right dough. A quick 3 day visit gave me the opportunity to presented them with a simple Neopolitana dough using the Caputo Flour. This dough created a great 2 1/2 minute baked pizza that would support their toppings that are heavier than what you would find on a traditional Neopolitana pizza. The pizza finished with a bit of char on the exterior crust that was crisp to the bite.
Through industry contacts we were able to get samples of great ingredients for sauce and cheese that answered the client’s next question of what to use and how to obtain it. Having the right connections to these resources ensured the customer quality product but also great support and service. The hurdles of the dough recipe, sourcing ingredients, and truly understanding how to manage the wood-fired oven was holding them back from opening their restaurant.
Two weeks from my first visit, hiring was complete and I was back to train the staff. The staff ranged in age from 17 – 23 years of age. A lot of minimum wage employees working at jobs that offered no advancement and working conditions that shared little respect for employees. My training involved all of the employees, and we worked toward embracing who and what Blvd 41 was about. The story is about pizza and beer – something that everyone can agree is pretty stellar. All employees learned how to make dough and learned about dough management. They also learned about the Mugnaini Oven, where it was from, how it was built, how to start a fire in it and how to manage heat. These employees were excited and glad to be learning something new and respected for what they learned. All of these employees learned how to build pizza and looked forward to building and baking their own pizzas.
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This training allowed them to share their own experience and newly found knowledge with the guests that were now streaming in the doors. This enthusiasm is built through respect of individuals and respect for the food that they’re a part of. The commitment of the management team and the ownership to hiring my services to create this atmosphere and begin a culture with them is bringing them success and will continue to do so into the future.
