ANTHONY MANGIERI
out then that’s it, but here we are 30 years later”.
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Tere are thousands of pizza places in New York City, from slice joints to dine-in restaurants with tablecloths, and competition is fierce. Running a pizza restaurant – or any restaurant – in New York City is tough. “Te place is not very forgiving. Tere’s just an endless amount of expenses, and there’s always some waiting around the corner that you didn’t anticipate,” he says, but adds that a crowded market doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to add something if it is good. “My grandmother told me
that there’s always room for something beautiful or great in the world, even if there are 10,000 pizzerias. If you do something great, and you’re not chasing after everybody, you’re being your own person, and really putting it in, you can find your way,” he says. His singular approach to the
restaurant extends to how he navigates the crisis in staffing. “Tis is the biggest talking
point for me and all my peers around the world, we’re all always short staffed. We’re always stressed out about it; every day someone’s calling out or not showing up,” he says. After three decades in
the business, he has chosen a different path at Una Pizza Napoletana; one of equity. He was alert to the lack
of transparency with pay and tips: “One person’s getting this percentage, one person’s getting that percentage, but they left early, and this person gets cut,
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From the table to the plate, Italian culinary culture is present throughout Una Pizza Napoletana
and this person comes in and they’re counting on getting paid, but we have a slow night, you can go home,” he says. “I just didn’t want that.” So, at the front of house
everyone is paid the same and all the tips are split evenly. Everyone comes in at the same time and leaves at the same time. “So even if we had a slow night – which we never do, thank god – and we have six people scheduled for front of the house, we’re going to keep them there the whole service, the whole shift. Tey’re still going to make their money. We never cut shifts,” he says. His take on parity goes
further – everything is everybody’s responsibility, except for the pizza. Tere is no dedicated dishwasher, no busser, nobody in the kitchen covered in soapy water and feeling miserable. “Everyone does everything, we shift it around regularly, it’s even and open,” he says. “Sometimes people come in
and they work one shift and say, ‘Oh, I’m not washing dishes’ and so we say, ‘OK well, then you don’t have to work here.’” His chosen path of
following his north is not an easy one, but it has worked. “It’s 30 years of going at things with this mentality of, ‘Tis is the way we’re going to do it and if you don’t like it, too bad,’” he says. “As crazy as the world is, I think a lot of people are looking for things that are truthful, that are transparent, that are authentic and filled with love and hard work. And if you do those things, I think inevitably people start to get attracted to what you do.”
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