Pizza Today - June 2019 - 47

Since the beginning, Freid
has sourced as much as the
business can locally, reaching
and building relationships with
farms. East Side Pies has built
a reputation on its product
transparency with a focus on
local produce.
East Side Pies features a
farm-to-table pizza weekly
and monthly. During Pizza
Today's visit, Cox shared the
featured slice with white
sweet potatoes, savoy cabbage,
fermented jalapeño and golden
beets. He even found a unique
way to use the beet greens.
"I wound up cooking them
down like a cream of spinach
and using our ricotta for these
dollops," he says.
With the additional
locations and availability of the
local product, they re-evaluated
their selection process. "We've
definitely refined it quite
a bit," Cox says. "It sort of
started with we'll basically get
whatever we can and just get
it on some pizza. So it was
constantly changing which
was cool because there was a
huge amount of variety but we
wouldn't have even the same
pizza the same day. There are
a lot of reasons to want to give
it a little bit greater focus. One
is delivering on consistency so
somebody can hear that we're
featuring a certain type of
produce that is available locally.
They can see it on Instagram
or they can see someone else's
post about it. They can go the
next day and try that. Trying
to deliver a product with some
reliability."
From its inception, delivery
has been a keystone of the
business. Today, it makes
up 65 to 70 percent of sales.
Freid says, they do not partner
with any third-party delivery
services. It's all done in house
through their delivery program

where they can control the
accuracy and quality.
Austinites have gravitated
towards the originality of
East Side Pies pizza menu,
giving Freid and Polk the
wherewithal to bring on a
general manager and shift
manager. That step made it
possible to plan a second
location. The partners opened
a takeout and delivery spot
with walk-up slices on Airport
Blvd. in 2010.
The Airport Blvd's 3,000
square feet made it ideal to
also serve as a commissary.
Today, the commissary services
all East Side Pies locations. A
third East Side Pies opened on
Anderson in 2012.
It was when Freid and Polk
opened their fourth location in
2018, they decided to bring in
new partners from inside the
business. Cox and Hawthorne
had worked for the pizzeria
nearly since the beginning and
are co-directors of operations.
"They both went from regular
pizza guys and worked their
way up," Polk says. "They are
both amazing. Opening this
fourth shop, we really wanted
to (no pun intended) give
them a piece of the pie."
The flagship East Side Pies
has gone through a renovation
that is close to completion.
"The new kitchen will be
pickups and slices with seating
inside, seating outside and
seating on the side," Freid says.
With all of the growth and
updates, Polk says he's unsure
when they will add another
location. "With four and a half
shops, we just want everything
up and humming and be
happy with what we got before
we even think about anything
else again." n
DENISE GREER is Executive
Editor at Pizza Today.
M AY 2 0 1 9 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / 4 7
Pizza Today - June 2019

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