Interview with Neapolitans who think they are selling the real frozen Neapolitan pizza

2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-06-02 21:27

Today you woke up in a good mood, then Dissapore wrote " frozen Neapolitan pizza". Three words punctuated to start the year well, nobody can get away with it.

Specifically, let's talk again about 'A Pizza, a Neapolitan bet signed by the duo of entrepreneurs-enthusiasts Guido Freda and Maurizio Ramirez, whose project is so simple as to be banal.

In a good way eh, mind you: the pizzas are made by hand, as in a pizzeria (1000 pizzas a day as in some pizzerias), cooked in wood-fired ovens and then "knocked down" with a special device that uses cryogenesis, "falling asleep "Flavors and aromas.

Within 24 hours, the product is transported to Italy thanks to refrigerated luxury boxes. The couriers all leave from the store in Via Bernini, in the heart of Vomero, in Naples, and once they reach their destination, the product is found by cooking it at 200 degrees for 8 minutes.

And we are already talking about the franchising project that is receiving a lot of attention.

But pizza makers and enthusiasts have sparked the debate, for the exponents of AVPN (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana), we cannot expect to freeze pizza and continue to call it true Neapolitan pizza.

Undecided whether to be more excited or suspicious of the matter, we decided to interview the creator of the Neapolitan spell, Maurizio Ramirez.

How did you come up with the idea of proposing such a traditional product in such an innovative way?

A little bit scared, huh?

I don't come from the world of food, but I am passionate about Mediterranean cuisine and especially pizza. For more than two years, I have been studying the characteristics of pizza and those of cryogenesis, which is certainly not a new technology, but the idea of applying it to pizza is new.

We want to migrate pizzas, not pizza makers.

How is the market responding?

Customers call, listen, get information through the articles, the website and the toll-free number, where operators respond ready to provide all the necessary explanations, like an eshop in real time.

After all, times are tight: we aim to get the product to your home within 24 hours.

How do you respond to those who accuse you of using the call of the name "Neapolitan pizza" to actually sell an industrial product?

Using the “Neapolitan pizza” brand for us is not marketing: it is really doing it, in a total way.

What type of market are you targeting? Are you counting on convincing even the hard and pure Neapolitans with your product?

Our target market is diverse. At this moment we turn to the national domestic market, because ours wants to represent a quality service for the consumer, who eats pizza at home.

We do not turn to distributors, franchises or large-scale distribution, also because it would change the philosophy of our brand.

How is your pizza different from a normal frozen pizza? Why should customers prefer it to that of the frozen counter?

Our race is not on the large-scale retail trade, we are targeting a domestic market, and the time window of 24 hours is sufficient to ponder the purchase of a "real" Neapolitan pizza.

This is the difference.

The production capacity of your Pozzuoli plant is 9000 pizzas per day

How do you reconcile the “serial” production of thousands of pizzas a day with the concept of craftsmanship, to which other numbers correspond?

The potential is about 9000 pizzas a day. But we don't make 9000 pizzas a day, at least, we don't make them at the moment. To date, we bake 1200 pizzas a day, with 3 bakers.

When there will be a need-– and, perhaps, there will be 9000 pizzas baked a day-– they will hire as many oven workers as necessary, to maintain the proportions and above all to continue to have the real Neapolitan pizza made by hand.

We are a "pizzeria", not an establishment. Furthermore, the selection of ingredients for us is continuous and incessant: the flours selected are those of Caputo (0 and 00), the dairy products come from the Caseificio Orchidea di Sant'Anastasia (Naples), while for the tomato seasonal choices are made, choosing from time to time the best product.

The TSG (Guaranteed Traditional Specialty) specification of Neapolitan pizza, in Article 6 establishes that Neapolitan pizza "cannot be frozen or deep-frozen for subsequent sale"

How does this rule fit in with your product? Are you thinking of getting around the obstacle by simply calling it "pizza"?

The specification in question belongs to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) brand, which is an association that includes all the Masters in the White Art sector.

We are not part of the AVPN, but we fully respect the indications of craftsmanship and quality.

The same specification in art. 3 establishes that “for the preparation of the“Pizza Napoletana”TSG other types of processing are not allowed

In particular, the use of a rolling pin and / or a mechanical press-type disc machine"

So your nine thousand are all produced by rolling the pasta by hand?

In the pizzeria in Pozzuoli, everything is done by hand: there is no risk of being artificial because, if you enter the 9000 pizza regime, there will be staff upgrades.

The only machine in our pizzeria, as in any pizzeria, is the mixer. For the rest, every single block is hand-cut (i.e. formed), stretched by hand, dented by hand. Just like in a self-respecting pizzeria.