Pizza Today - December 2016 - 16

conversation

Don't miss Pasquale
at Pizza Expo 2017.
He will take part in two panel
discussions: "Common Pizzeria
Startup Mistakes and How to Avoid
Them" & "Best Customer Loyalty
Programs"

PASQUALE DI DIANA
BACCI PIZZERIA / CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

The original Bacci location was opened in 1996 in Chicago's Little Italy by Pasquale Di Diana's aunt and uncle.
Now there are a dozen Bacci's in the Windy City, and Pasquale owns six of them.

In the beginning - Back then, we
became very popular with the local blue
collar workers and college students for
offering a jumbo slice of pizza and a soda
for just a little over $2. Initially we cut the
slices out of a 24-inch pie. Through the
years we have developed our product to
expand on our early successes. We now
famously serve our Jumbo Slice cut out of a
30-inch pie. The finished cooked pie weighs
in well over 10 pounds and feeds 10 to 12
people.
The style of our pizza is what I like to
call between a Chicago-style thin crust and
New York hand tossed. Because of its size,
our pizza dough is passed through rollers
initially, but requires a good amount of hand
tossing. All dough is prepared daily. The
past few years we have spent a lot of time
developing our stuffed pizza pies, and we
are very proud to say that we have come up
1 6 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6

with something that challenges any stuffed
or deep dish pizza on the market.
Our concept was built around serving
delicious and gigantic slices of high-quality
pizza for the lowest price we possibly could.
These days we have furthered our brand
inspired by the Little Italy Neighborhood
where it all began for us. Now you will
find cooked-to-order pasta (no par-cooked
stuff here), Italian beef sandwiches, pasta
fagioli and stuffed pizza pies (among other
popular neighborhood items). We are very
hardworking modest people that come from
humble beginnings. So we really take our
customers' dollars seriously.
Another thing about us is that all of our
stores are owned and operated by family
members. Currently, my uncle, aunt and
cousins own and operate about half of the
stores, while my wife, brother and sister-inlaw help me run the other half.

The reason I believe we are so well
known and successful in the Chicago area
is because of our deep rooted culture of
family. It begins with our employees, some
that have been with us well over 10 years.
And they know that when guests walk
through our doors, we are to treat them
like family. My wife and I have our store
managers over to our home, to show them
first hand how we treat our guests in our
home. And that's the way we expect them
to treat their team members and our guests.
It's all a chain reaction. When you get to
the point that you no longer can have that
one-on-one with all of your guests, you
have to make sure you are taking care of
your people so in turn they take care of your
customers.

More on PizzaToday.com
Learn more about Bacci Pizzera at
Pizzatoday.com/more/bacci/

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Pizza Today - December 2016

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