Meet the Proprietor Behind the World’s Greatest Pizza

A small Manhattan pizza joint has been named the brand new dwelling of the world’s finest pizza. 

Una Pizza Napoletana, of 175 Orchard St., is a standard, long-standing, family-run restaurant that has at all times stored its profitable method to success near dwelling, promising to by no means develop or franchise out. 

50 Prime Pizza, the distinguished Italian rating information that topped Una Pizza Napoletana primary, sends nameless inspectors across the globe, hoping to fish out a few of the finest-tasting pies worthy of recognition. It’s been considerably of a affected person climb to the highest for the Manhattan restaurant, having reached second place in 2023, falling quick to Naples’ Diego Vitagliano and Caserta’s I Masanielli—each tying for first. 

This yr marks a slightly outstanding second for Una Pizza Napoletana, which turned the primary U.S. restaurant to outshine an Italian institution within the high 50 rating. 

With a deep historic Italian heritage, New York’s pizza tradition blends custom and innovation, which has made it a world-class culinary vacation spot. Una Pizza Napoletana has lengthy set the usual for pizza perfection within the metropolis, orchestrated by proprietor Anthony Mangieri’s meticulous high quality management and confirmed culinary experience.

The guts and mission behind Una Pizza Napoletana

This newest accolade is the crowning achievement for Mangieri, whose lifelong quest has been to craft a pizza beloved by individuals the world over. In 1996, at age 25, Mangieri established the Una Pizza Napoletana identify in New Jersey, later shifting operations to Manhattan’s East Village.

By 2004, Mangieri wasn’t simply drawing massive crowds to his pizzeria every day; he was spearheading the revival of Neapolitan-style pizza in New York. This pattern noticed pizzerias throughout town undertake an easier, extra conventional strategy to the craft, prioritizing high quality and style over value or comfort. On the daybreak of the millennium, New York was able to undertake a pizza tradition able to standing alongside Italy’s finest, as institutions discovered immense undiscovered potential in providing native artisanal pizza with a give attention to simplicity.

There is no such thing as a doubt that Mangieri was a key participant in engaging customers away from the engaging and inexpensive commuter pizza market of the previous. Since opening Una Pizza Napoletana, the meals lover has sworn by a clear, sit-down pizza expertise that in the end lets nature do many of the speaking. 

After opening a bakery in 1993 as a result of inadequate funds to begin a full restaurant, Mangieri mastered the basics of baking. Three years later, in 1996, he opened his first pizzeria, providing simply two basic variations: the world-renowned Margherita and the Marinara. Again then, every pie was priced at a modest $6. In his early years, Mangieri adopted a breakthrough technique: serving pizza that was neither avant-garde nor visually advanced—it simply needed to style distinctive.

Lately, this simplicity precept has emerged as a transformative drive behind the triumph of each neighborhood bistros and worldwide manufacturers. By honing in on a minimalist culinary philosophy that prioritizes high quality over amount—fewer substances, much less staffing and minimal fuss—eating places using this strategy are attaining operational effectivity whereas nonetheless delivering a eating expertise that feels nearer than ever to dwelling cooking.

Mangieri is element obsessed

Mangieri’s promise to prospects has paid off as he continues to function his pizza restaurant with strict high quality management and a clear pizza-making course of for all prospects to see. The proprietor’s obsession with perfection will not be solely the rationale he has carried out so effectively, but additionally the precept issue for why he’s adamant about by no means increasing. 

At Una Pizza Napoletana, success comes from a domestically centered eating expertise that speaks for itself. Every ingredient is thoughtfully sourced and ready to the best requirements. The well-known dough, particularly, has garnered acclaim as the inspiration to what actually units Mangieri’s meals aside.

“At Una, what makes us completely different is our dough is of course leavened and extremely hydrated, by no means refrigerated, made with a mix of many various Italian flours, and I make the dough daily we’re open,” Mangieri informed CNN Journey this month. 

Small eating places and companies face worrisome ‘make-or-break’ yr

Small, unbiased eateries that don’t share the worldwide fame of Una Pizza Napoletana have been compelled to think about growth, franchising or exterior partnerships, as 2024 has been a “make-or-break” yr for tens of millions of small companies. 

Following a survey carried out by Slack in January, a nationwide inquiry discovered that almost one-third of small companies had been apprehensive they wouldn’t survive by 2024. Latest knowledge from early September paints an much more worrisome prospect for small eating places, as Chapter 11 bankruptcies are surging nationwide. Jonathan Carson of chapter providers and know-how agency Stretto prompt, “A difficult financial atmosphere, post-pandemic restoration points, rising labor prices, altering shopper habits and inflation have brought about extra eating places to battle in 2024,” chatting with Fox Enterprise earlier this month. 

In an interview with Eater in Might, Mangieri famous that many early small companies of the trendy day simply can’t survive within the conventional one-location, small-staff mannequin his joint makes use of. 

“Folks used to have a restaurant and resolve it was what they had been going to do for the remainder of their lives; they might assist their household, attempt to make an excellent product, and, after they drop useless, it’d shut until it went to their children,” he informed the outlet.

The demise of the “outdated approach”

Mangieri explains, “That was the outdated approach. Realistically, that’s needed to change due to the price of doing enterprise in main cities. With hire, employees and different little nitty-gritties, individuals shortly notice they want the assist of a restaurant group or buyers to take a few of that stress off.” 

Nevertheless, as talked about beforehand, Mangieri stays true to his small enterprise imaginative and prescient and methodology, and as a result of this newest accolade of being awarded the very best pizza on the earth, his recipe for fulfillment is clearly working.

Even if many eating places concern they have to evolve or perish, shopper preferences are at all times shifting, and there’s encouraging proof suggesting that higher-cost unbiased and native eateries might quickly outperform big-name chains throughout the nation. 

For the reason that COVID-19 pandemic, customers have warmed to unbiased restaurant choices like by no means earlier than. In 2022, a NEXT survey of greater than 1,000 restaurant prospects, discovered that 64% of restaurant-goers had deliberately chosen native eating places over chain choices. Native pizza joints particularly have at all times had a knack for staying forward of the curve in shopper attraction. With solely slight variations in value between native and chain pizzas, prospects usually gravitate towards the extra genuine expertise provided by native institutions.

Longing to attempt a pizza from Una Pizza Napoletana? The restaurant is closed till Oct. 3 whereas the workforce visits Italy… however head in to style the world’s finest pizza for your self after that.

Picture by: Melanie Dunea/Courtesy of Una Pizza Napoletana