Pizza Today - January 2022 - 66

EXPO SPOTLIGHT B I L L OA K L E Y
MARCH 21 - 24, 2022
LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER
Young Entrepreneur of the Year Rocky Shanower
is Coming to Pizza Expo 2022!
mean to you, don't just say it. Be on a fi rst
name basis with everyone who comes
through the door.
2. Tell the story behind your pizza - not
just quality but the why. Local partners can
be your best allies. Mutual support, create
one-of-a-kind menu items or products they
can only get from your pizzeria.
3. Creating a positive culture. Live
W
hen the team at Pizza Today
and Pizza Expo went through
the lengthy process to
determine the 2020 Young Entrepreneur
of the Year, Rocky Shanower, co-owner of
Park Street Pizza and a mobile wood-fi red
pizza truck concept named Bahler Street
in Sugarcreek, Ohio, stood out from all the
other submissions.
Rocky is a self-taught, fi rst-generation
restaurateur, visionary, trailblazer and
college dropout who never attended a
business class or culinary school. Rocky and
his wife, Courtney, have set into motion
not only a restaurant, but a " Philosophy of
Pie " that lives by its creed and commitment
to serving the " Best Pizza " to its small
Ohio community. Since opening in 2003,
Park Street Pizza has become a regional
destination pizzeria that is known for
having seasonal menus developed around
locally sourced products and ingredients.
His passions in business include
collaborating and developing relationships
with local farmers and producers, as well
as team building with an emphasis on
customer service. Th e core values for their
business include service, quality and culture,
which embody the following:
1. Have a servant mentality, show
gratitude to every customer, be authentic,
make a real connection, encourage staff
members to be authentic and show your
team members how much your customers
66 / PIZZATODAY.COM / JANUARY 2022
your mission, truly care about your team
members, be vulnerable, admit fault,
sacrifi ce for each other and care about the
long-term impact of your business. Leave
things better than you found them, not just
the environment, but your team members,
customers and community. Invest in your
people. Th e restaurant is our home. We are
a family, and we are serving our friends and
family dinner every night. Treat people this
way.
4. 'Do the right thing.' When you use
this as your guidepost, it allows you to
think about things in a selfl ess way and you
almost always do the 'right thing'.
Rocky feels service, quality product,
and price are the three main focal
points of building any business or
restaurant. However, he also fi rmly
believes that to build a business that feels
magical and makes people want to be a
part of it, you need to look closer. Beyond
those initial criteria comes making an
emotional connection with your guests
through energy, atmosphere and purpose.
Th ese are the invisibles in a business that
makes it go from average to exceptional. A
restaurant can have the most amazing food,
but if it lacks those other traits, customers
will not be drawn back. He strongly
believes that the emotional connection you
build with your patrons and community
far exceeds anything else you can do to
become successful. He also believes that
to be a successful entrepreneur you cannot
undervalue any one of these things. You
must create a harmonious balance and focus
on all these characteristics of your business.
Th e pizza at Park Street doesn't fall into
a particular style, but if Rocky had to give
it a name, he would aff ectionately call it a
" Neighborhood " style pizza - because it is
a style that exists only in his community.
Th eir dough incorporates a small amount
of their signature sourdough starter, cold
ferments for 24 hours, gets a second rise in
the pan and is baked in a gas convection
oven. It was developed in this way because
those were the tools they originally had to
work with. Th ey shaped the process around
achieving the desired result, so their recipe
is quite non-traditional. Th e result is a
soft, pillowy dough with a crispy edge that
can stand up to heavy sauce and lots of
toppings. It is dialed in to what our locals
crave fi rst and foremost, but we have found
it has mass appeal to nearly everyone who
comes from far and wide to try it.
I like to think that attending Pizza Expo
will be one of, if not the best, investments
of time and money that you'll make. Th e
bottom line is there's always something
new at Pizza Expo that can improve your
restaurant. Remember, attending Pizza
Expo is a tax-deductible working vacation.
For more information on attending
International Pizza Expo 2022, please visit
PizzaExpo.com.
It's all pizza and it's all for YOU!
Kind regards,
Bill Oakley
Group Show Director
BILL OAKLEY is the
Group Show Director for
International Pizza Expo and
Pizza & Pasta Northeast
http://www.PizzaExpo.com http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - January 2022

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