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Antoni Mangieri proves that two brands may be built concurrently, but at the same time individually.
As founder Neapolitan Pizza – and now Pizza genius — redefined success in the world of pizza through constant labor, authenticity and strategic development. Just like an athlete.
Mangieri the journey requires a lot of strength and determination. After porting his pioneering Napoletana-style Una pizza and going through many iterations before settling on one location on the Lower East Side, Magieri built his pizza empire with the same discipline and dedication an athlete gives to his sport.
The famous pizzeria chef tried to limit distractions as much as possible. “It’s not always easy to tune out the noise.” Mangieri shares with the host Shawn Walchef With California BBQ Media. “In my opinion, I approach it almost like even an athlete would approach something. If you wish to be really good at something, you have to place your all into it. The work is really difficult. There’s just no way around it. “
This attitude led him to create a brand that, based on ESD, became the number one pizza brand in the world 50 best pizzas for 2022 and kept Mangieri on the path he had designed for his restaurant business.
Instead of chasing rapid growth like many restaurant owners, Mangieri stayed true to his original vision for Una Pizza. It believes in maintaining the quality and uniqueness of its product relatively than diluting it through hasty growth efforts.
Balance, though challenging, is struck by each Una and the artisanal frozen pizza company Dell’s genius retain their distinctiveness and prime quality. “I had to make sure everything was OK and that the pizza would be as good as possible,” Mangieri says. “I thought it would be a better idea to create something like, here’s another product I make, and it’s not. None of them take away from any of them.”
The latter product, Genio Della, is a consumer packaged goods sold in stores corresponding to Whole Foods and also through Goldbelly. Launching in 2022, Mangieri spent three years perfecting a scalable product that will take up space in freezers across the country.
As a chef entering the CPG space, Mangieri goals to disrupt the industry with a product whose quality is comparable to the sought-after Una pizza.
While it wasn’t at all times an easy road, Mangieri was in a position to build Genio Della to be as sought after as the home of the Una Pizza Napoletana location, which only hand-crafts a certain quantity of artisan dough every day.
“If you’re going to create a CPG, make it scalable from day one,” Mangieri advises. “And hopefully you will do it in a way that is impactful, meaningful and moves people as they experience what you have created.”