Press Release More Champions from Goodfella"s Pizza School NY

Press Release: For immediate release              June 15, 2018

More Champions from the Goodfella’s Pizza School NY

Since 1992, Goodfella’s Pizza School of Staten Island NY has been training the finest pizza makers across the World.  Today June 13, students from such varying places as Northern Kentucky, Dodge City Kansas, Wyoming and Saratoga NY shared their success with the operators (of Goodfella’s Pizza School) Andrew Scudera and Scot Cosentino within and hour. “It’s no surprise that former students are successful and have won best in state in many areas such as Ohio, Tennessee and even a world Champion from Canada but when four in one day contact you, you have to feel proud of your accomplishments and being able to help others succeed” said Andrew Scudera who runs the school. Todays champions are: Wayne Cherry from Saratoga NY who won “The Best of Saratoga Region” Best Pizza 2018 Award.  Dodge City Brewing who won “The Best of the Best Dodge City” Best Pizza Award 2018 and Strong’s Pizza who won the Northern Kentucky Magazine Best Pizza Award 2018 and Fire House Pizza in Wyoming. 

Contact Scot Cosentino or

Andrew Scudera at Goodfella’s Pizza School Staten Island NY

1718 Hylan Blvd, S.I. N.Y 10305

(178)-987-2422

Going to Pizza Expo to get some Pizza School?

It's that magical time of year again when all the pizza men and women from around the world join together to share in the pizza experience of a lifetime. 

 From world champion pizza makers to suppliers of brick ovens, pizza experts to pizza eaters, it's all there.

 If pizza is in your blood and can't get enough of it. If you love being around your fellow pizza makers and enjoy the company. If

 If you love being around your fellow pizza makers and enjoy the company.

If you want to see the latest trends and get inspired, come see the pizza expo in Las Vega on March 23 and visit the boys from NY Brick oven Co,  Pizza School NY, and The World Champion Gooodfella's Brick oven Pizza New York. We would love to see you! Booth N2528

Importance of training employees:

     Everyone knows that having a well-trained staff can make your life as a manger much easier. When everyone is well trained, and they are doing what they need to do and doing it well, this affords you time to tend to other activities. How often as an owner operator do you get to interact with your guests? It is never enough because there is always a fire that needs to be put out right now. That turns into a constant struggle of trying to fight fires all night long especially during the peak hours of operation.

     Who is it that suffers in the end? It is you the owner/manager of the establishment because of continually having to cope the moral of the staff drops. This in turn spills over to the customer experience and will not want to return to your eatery, plus tell everyone about their bad experience. So how do you break the cycle? That will take a little bit of effort on your part.

     What I have found to be the most successful way to train employees is to make a video of what it is that they are supposed to be doing. In the video include all the principal functions on a tell-them-show-them-method. You can also make a more detailed manual of each position in the establishment that outlines all the activities that are expected of the staff. Now that each person knows the functions of their job, how do you correlate this to the real world?

     An easy way to track this is performance metrics - just monitor how much production each person is producing. For example, a waiter can track his average sale per person. If the overall production is increasing then your training is paying dividends. You can take those fourteen hour days and cut them back some and have a better quality of life.

Michael Cosentino

Opening a pizza place? Top reasons it is a better time than ever.

So you are thinking about becoming a pizza entrepreneur and joining the ranks of pizza makers around the country engaged in keeping Americans well fed and happy? Fantastic idea and as always-easier said than done but with today's opportunities and the internet it is a whole lot easier  than it used to be. In fact it's night day when you compare opening a place today with opening a place 20 years ago. "How can that be ?" you may ask. Well consider a few things like:

Brick Oven, Fast Casual Pizza

1. Recipes. There is an infinite amount of recipes available on the internet to choose from with sources like Google, Facebook, Youtube and celebrity chef TV and the food network. Anyone with basic skills and desire can get online, look for the hottest trends, find a recipe and get busy. Why reinvent the wheel when you can easily what is popular in the food world and duplicate it?

2. Restaurant type. You can easily take a look at the different types of locations and layouts such as a slice joint, fast casual or sit down waiter service. You can also do some research and see if delivery and take out or even a brew pub-bar will fit in with your plans. Size of location and type of pizza will be a factor in determining  if you do sit down, fast casual pizza with an assembly line or just slices.

3. Equipment. It has never been easier to see the different types of equipment being used in successful places than it is now. Currently the hottest trend is hand assembled brick oven style pizza with places like Revolve, Spin Neapolitan and Pie Craft leading the way with Revolving Brick Ovens and gourmet pizza. Pizza stations, walk-in boxes and mixers such as the old reliable Hobart are available new and used for the budget minded along with tons of information on sizes, capacities along with industry comparisons.

4.Finance. Today you can basically call up a company like Lease Corp Of America(LCA) fill out your application online and know virtually the same day if you are qualified for a loan. Those of us who remember having to make an appointment with loan officer, fill out endless paperwork while being scrutinized within an in inch of your life under a microscope will attest that the process is light years from where it has been and tell you how lucky you are.

5.Printing. This may seem like something too little to mention but with today's digital media and the ability to do it all virtually on line there is an amazing amount of time, effort and money saved. In the old days you would have to consult with a printer to make your deal on printing. Then you would have to consult with a graphic designer to do your layout and maybe even a specialized menu designee to  help you. This took time, from appointments to initial design to a rough sketch. Then you would have to go back and forth on corrections as you finalized your idea. Once that was done you have to have it proofread and hope you and your proofreader caught all the errors. One error I fondly remember was at the First Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza on Staten Island. We were all set and made our first huge purchase of several hundred thousand menus for in house, mailing and door to door delivery but we all missed the "Ground Bee" instead of ground beef on the pizza menu. We laughed about it for a long time since we had to print so many menus to save a few dollars. Fortunately you don't have to got through that incredibly time consuming operation today. Not only that but you can do it all from the comfort of your home and with computers, digital design, limited run printing options, cheap online graphic designers and still save time without taking the big risk of large runs.

6.Staff. Hiring and finding employees is easier than ever. You don't have hand a sign in the window and hope someone sees it or spend ridiculous amounts of money on classified ads in the local papers. Graig's list will get you more applicants than you can shake a stick at in most areas.

7.Promotion. Getting yourself known with the internet makes it simple. Social media, websites, blogs and press releases will get you known and open the door to customers. If you do a great job with your product, service and presentation people will talk. Your signage, uniforms and design have a lot to do with this.  Yes people will talk so make sure you do it right from the start with all your ducks in a row and a great pizza. You can call the Pizza School of New York if you are not certain of your product.

7. Marketing. Yes this is different from promoting yourself or your place. This is actually offering your product for sale by way of Newspaper, social media, TV, Radio, mailings, door hangers and however else you can get your product in front of a potential customer and tell them to buy it.

8.Location. Location scouting can be done via many outlets now with many realtors competing for business. With the internet, emails and google earth you can even see a place from a street view and decide if it is even worth looking at before wasting your precious time.

9.Training. With video, internet, Youtube, Drop Box etc. there are so many ways to present data to your staff, update recipes and procedures and keep everyone on the same page that even multiple locations become easier to manage when you get to that point.

10.Computerization. Point of sale order taking, inventory, ticket printing and display have made management a great deal more organized. The systems can track best sellers integrate promotional items and sales while even tracking deliveries and scheduling orders of food or reminding you of up coming catering or previously scheduled deliveries.

Of course all these wonderful reasons for it being easier still require the entrepreneur to step into the ring and make his purpose known. My respect and admiration goes to you my friends that make the attempt. I wish you the best of luck. Marc Cosentino

Brick Oven Pizza For Bars and Pubs

Introducing the Brew Pub Model 85 Series Revolving Brick Oven

With an ever increasing demand for craft beer and neighborhood breweries comes an increased demand for an easy way to provide comparable quality food selections in a comfortable atmosphere. Enter the New York Brick Oven Companies Inferno Series Model 85. This oven provides a small foot print with a very high production rate for personal sized Neapolitan and gourmet brick oven pizza. In researching the amount of space available to existing bars and restaurants it was found that the average operator had less than 150 square feet to add a food prep and production area to his existing bar or pub. Such a small area dedicated to food prep and production did not lend itself to many if any gourmet food items that could be produced to order in any volume-that was until the New York Brick Oven Company came along. Utilizing a small dough table/refrigerator for prep and toppings and the inferno series oven any operator can now gain an entirely new income stream while keeping his customers in the seats instead of having them to find food at other locations. Not only that, but the wood and gas combination brick oven is capable of producing a world class gourmet pizza that anybody in the pizza industry would be proud of. The high temp oven is also a favorite of the Fast Casual Pizza Crowd for good reason. This small oven is comfortably rated for 60 small pies an hour with larger models being able to bake hundreds of pies in hour. For those of you that are not in the Industry you may want to compare this 90 second pizza to your average pizza oven that bakes about 4-5 pies in 15 minutes. You can see that this is truly high production. The real selling point of these ovens though is the quality of the brick oven pizza they produce with least amount labor and skill required to operate them. As an operator this the area that can make or break you. Now take this oven and add the Pizza School of New York and you get a homerun, out of the park solution to providing your customers with a great pizza while keeping the initial investment down and the satisfaction rate up. The New York Brick Oven Company has been helping pizza men for years and they have World Champion Pizza men on their team waiting to assist you so call now and make your operation more of a success.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjlWtFZt4kE

1-800-OVEN-053
nybrickoven.com

 

Post navigat

If your starting a pizza shop-read this.

Pawn Stars With New York Brick Oven Co,

Opinions are like bellybuttons, everybody’s got one. The thing that always drove me crazy in school was the teacher explaining things to me that I knew he had no experience with and no real world understanding of. Examples are most prominent when it comes to art or business but it applies to everything. A most recent example was my son telling me about his class where they are starting a businesses and the teacher was giving a class on how it is done and that a farmer may be better to shut his farm down and start a new business if it isn’t working out on paper. I said ” a lot easier said than done” and then I heard my son regurgitating the teacher’s justifications for this. Makes me want to puke to hear this holier than thou armchair quarterbacking from a guy that never ran a successful business or even had the nerve to try to run his own show. It seems that school has become a place where “teaching” is more important than learning how to do something. Titles, diplomas, certifications decide who gets paid most to talk the most. Well the real world is something a lot of people are trying to discover and the popularity of reality TV shows is a bit of an indicator of this. I think people in general are tired of  phony “experts” and want to see the blood and guts of life. Whether it is a successful pawn shop like the one featured on Pawn Stars, an auto mechanic and sales place like Gas Monkey Garage or the big players interacting with up and coming little players on shows like Shark Tank or  The Aprentice, your average Joe knows the truth when he hears it and is tired of posers. The reason I make this statement is that if your looking to open a business the guy teaching you how do so better have some real world success and better not be a textbook hero who never stepped into the arena of life. Even a guy who failed miserably can teach you a lot about what not to do. If you want successful teachers and advice go people like Scot Cosentino and Andrew Scudera at the Goodfella’s Pizza School New York because THEY DID IT and have created very successful students and have helped create very successful concepts. Statistics and actual production are the only true measure-not words and formal titles. Can they do it? Have they taught it? Can you see the results in the physical universe? These are your only questions and when you have someone that can’t answer them-move on and try again. There is  lot of false data on business and the food business in general. There are some shoddy products passing as pizza for sure but that is slowly changing as your average customer is learning about gourmet brick oven pizza and expecting more. Whatever it is you are endeavoring to do, know that is more than the average guy will ever try. Stepping into the arena requires guts and daring and a dream. Don’t dare sell yourself short by following bad or incorrect advice. Do your homework, see what is true for you and be a big success! Happy pizza to you.

Pizza School New York with NY Brick Oven Co.

 

Pizza Wars and the Neapolitan Connection

New York Brick  Oven Style Pizza

Most of the pizza in the world is made and sold in America to Americans. In the same way the Italians perfected that pasta they borrowed from the Chinese so too the Americans perfected pizza they borrowed from the Italians and made it into one of the world’s largest food segments.   Respect to those brave ground breaking entrepreneurs from Pizza Hut and Dominos who knew the masses would go for this new food and  the Italian American classics like Lombardi’s, Tortono’s and Patsy’s  who brought pizza to America early on creating an interest for those who followed and added their own American twist. There are too many to mention but some of the big players along the way that contributed were Uno, Bertucci’s, California Pizza Kitchen, Goodfella’s, Sbarro, Papa John, Uncle Maddio, Little Cesar’s  and the other hundreds of chains and independents in every town across this great land. Pizza is both territorial and universal at the same time because when all is said and done a pizza is dough, sauce, cheese and toppings cooked in various ways at various temperatures in various ovens. To think there is group of people from another country coming to the land of the free and the home of the brave with the nerve to say pizza can only be made one cookie cutter way, with one flour, with one type of mixer, one type of cheese and cooked at one temperature in one type of oven is bad enough but to force a pizza man trying to make ends meet to pay a monthly fee for a certificate to make pizza and buy an exclusive flour from only one company is a bit much for any red blooded American, besides being a bad business choice, since all the competition will be making the same exact product. Diversity is what makes America the place everybody wants to come and live. Whether you are on the West Coast like California or Hawaii and want pineapples and ham or maybe you are in Chicago looking for a deep dish or even New York City looking for a slice -we salute you and as the great Burger king says “have it your way” and eat more pizza, because it’s all good.

Adding Pizza to your Bar or Brew Pub Menu

Adding Pizza To your menu is easier than you think.

The pizza "Gold Rush is on and with pizza rocketing to become America's favorite food it's no wonder entrepreneurs  from all sectors are jumping in with both feet. Although Fast Casual is the word of the day and attracting most of the pizza press a growing segment of brew pubs, bars and amusement parks are also cashing in the continued interest and attraction of the pizza eating public and increased awareness of the gourmet pizza trend. Making it an easy plunge are outfits like the Pizza School of New York that trains a complete novice to expert in no time flat(why would you train any where else but NY?) and the New York Brick Oven Company which provides the industries top revolving brick oven for ease of training and operation while making incredible gourmet brick oven pizza at the same time. Beer and pizza is another natural and that is not surprising since the founder of Pizza Hut got his start making pizza in the kitchen of a local bar in Kansas, as the story goes. Many micro breweries and local taverns are having tremendous success adding pizza to the menu since it is an easy item to prepare and produce with a low food cost, an added benefit is that it keeps customers from leaving to dine elsewhere when the establishment does not offer any food items. Bowling alleys, amusement parks, mini golf and hotels are also joining in on the pizza party since there is no need for a skilled "chef" extensive labor or extensive kitchen space required to present a noteworthy product which depends mostly on fresh ingredients and a quality bake for results. If your looking to expand your menu or start one this is sure fire way to go.

Pizza Expo 2015 Las Vegas

For pizza men, pizza fans and pizza eaters from around the world March is an exciting time because the International Pizza Exposition takes place at this time every year. It is a gathering of pizza men, manufacturers, designers, chefs, entrepreneurs, promoters, experts, novices and a host of others dedicated to making pizza. If you are remotely interested in pizza there is something for you here. As a young entrepreneur you can attend seminars with experts from their fields on things like dough making, employee training, food cost,  growth and expansion, profits, digital marketing, branding, pizza making and "So you to want own a pizzeria" with big Dave Ostrander. On top of this you will get to meet some of the top names in the Industry like when Papa John, Big Dave from Wendy's and the Founder of Pizza Hut congratulated the World's Best Pizza Winners-Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza of Staten Island New York when they won their first contest. Goodfella's in turn became a force in the Pizza World after winning the title of World's Best Pizza a whopping three times with subsequent expansion of their concept across the country. Exposure and experience is why all entrepreneurs should attend and compete in contests from local up to international because as the saying goes "You have to be in it to win it" and the press you can receive for winning is truly priceless. Beyond the contest is an overview of pizza trends such as brick ovens, fast casual, take and bake and others to be seen this year. One of the Hot trends catching fire and made prominent by the New York Brick Oven Company is their Revolving Brick Oven which is becoming a staple in the industry for ease of use, training and consistent baking. Another trend is the fast casual market with concepts like Spin Neapolitan, Revolve and Pizzeria Uno putting their hat in the ring. On top of this you get to see the latest in pizza boxes and maybe run into a real pizza aficionado like Scott Wiener  who runs the Pizza Tours of New York and has the worlds largest pizza box collection. All in all this a an overwhelmingly fun time for pizza lovers and is highly recommended for all levels of pizza makers and pizza fans.
      Looking forward to seeing you there.
      Marc Cosentino Co-founder of Goodfella's Pizza

Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Founders Marc And Scot Cosentino with Giant Pizza Box

Why All Fast Casual Pizza Makers Should Attend Pizza Expo

For guys like us, it's all about the experience, the sights, the sounds, the excitement, the food and most importantly-the people. Where else do you get the chance to meet people from all over the world who share the same passion as you. In my years of attending I have made friends from every corner of earth involved in all aspects of the pizza industry. From the top dogs running multi-million dollar franchises to people from small towns in areas I have never heard of let alone find on a map. I have even met people from my home town and old neighborhood at the show. A chance to get away from the daily routine and stress with the ability to get an exterior view of your pizza and concept is valuable. Input from different people making a variety of pizza is fun and stimulating. Seeing the latest developments in the industry such as our Revolving Brick Ovens is priceless because it can prevent you from making costly mistakes due to lack of information and being in the dark because your head is buried int your business. Look for part 2 and why should compete in pizza contests and the incredible $$$ return on investment. Marc Cosentino

Everybody Knows Cooking on a Stone Hearth is the Only way to Make Great Pizza

Yes that is so true that even conventional metal ovens have a "brick lining". Imagine if you could have a brick oven with a revolving stone hearth? Well you can. The guys at New York Brick Oven Company have several sizes available and recently set a world record at Pizza Expo in Las Vegas with Brad Kent,  the head chef from Blaze Pizza stepping up to the oven and putting out 201 pies in a blistering 52 minutes.

World Famous Goodfella's Pizza School of New York

Marc Cosentino of the New York Brick Oven Co.

Revolving Brick Oven at Blue Planet Grill-Ground Zero

Andy Scudera Lead instructor Pizza School NY

From the Goodfella's Pizza School of New York to the Oldest pizza place in Brooklyn-Totono's and all the new fast casual pizza places up and coming, anybody can tell you, "you can't beat a stone hearth for making pizza" .Just ask a pizza lover.

Totono's Pizza Coney Island New York

For the Best Pizza, You Need the Best Oven

Whether  your a single proprietor of a mom and pop store with plans to expand and make a brick oven pizza, building a new location or a multi-unit  franchise owner looking to be faster and more consistent while offering a better product, the revolving brick ovens from the New York Brick Oven Company are something you can't afford to miss. Ease of operation, consistent cooking, steady temperatures, labor saving and higher/faster production are what they offer. Wood, gas, propane, or a combination wood and gas help make the perfect brick oven pizza from New York style to Neapolitan. They even encourage you to try the oven in actual working restaurant. These guys have been in the pizza business for years and have won many international titles so they have a pretty good idea of the needs your facing for various types of pizza and types of locations. They have built ovens across the country in brew pubs, fast casual chains and  neighborhood joints so they can help you too. Call 1-800-OVEN-053 Now.

Pizza-a Neighborhood Institution

On the way from the church to the reception, a young couple "had to stop for pie"at Goodfella's Pizza Staten Island.

Growing up in Brooklyn there was a pizza place in every neighborhood, and it seemed like every other block had one.  Our local pizza man's name was Frank. Frank was there all through my childhood and teens and I just took it for granted, like he was part of the scenery. Pizza has always been part of my life, from celebrating little occasions to first dates and quick slices. Any pizza is better than no pizza. When I run into Old timers and talk pizza I get a little nostalgic, especially when I try a place far from the old neighborhood and get a pleasant surprise of an authentic Brooklyn style pie. I had just such an experience the other night when I met Lou of Keyport Pizza and found out he learned his craft as an apprentice, and has been true to the recipe for over 30 years.

Big Lou-Keyport Pizza NJ

We talked of the good old days and "banging out" 500 pies in a night and how these young kids are in awe to this day when Lou takes over during a rush and spreads that dough at a mind boggling pace. As most place are doing now he asked me about Brick Ovens and what is involved in switching over to one to keep up with changing tastes. Although I have been in the brick oven game for decades and swear by them I still love that occasional Old School Slice of New York Style Pizza, Brooklyn Style to be specific.

SAY NO TO DRUGS, YES TO PIZZA AND GET BUSY!

This simple statement made me think of my past 20 years in the pizza industry and an observation I have made after seeing hundreds of employees come and go. Kids that are genuinely busy and engaged in attainable goals are not the ones using drugs. It is the ones that are not winning, not involved the game of life with no purpose or direction that get into drugs and the attending trouble. This is especially prone to occur when their "friends" are of the same ilk. There is always someone in the crowd who thinks it's cool to smoke weed and thinks nothing of the people he or she encourages to join him in using drugs as a way of combating what I have seen over and over as  pain, upset and lack of direction. When you say "hey that is not cool" you set the tone and make it known to all how you stand and maybe the example you just set will prevent another from going down that road. 

Lady Ga Ga Pizza by Marc Cosentino

When I see kids allowed to work, create and participate I see successful kids. When I see the ones who are coddled, given everything, not allowed to contribute, work, or participate, I see trouble coming. At Goodfella's Pizza in Staten Island I witnessed this over and over through the years. The kids thet enjoyed working and playing made something out of their lives while the ones always trying to "get over" get away with doing as little as possible, end up cheating themselves in the end. Drugs, crime, welfare, dependency always follow the "do nothings". In the police department we called them "empty suits"-guys just there to collect a check and never lift a finger to help anyone but themselves. I know you've seen similar things so encourage people especially kids to help, to work, find a hobby or a sport. They don't have to be good at it but they need to be encouraged to JUST DO IT because in this life that is the big difference between happiness and misery. 

de Blasio Fork Sells for Thousands in Tunnel to Towers Auction for Disabled Veterans

Andrew Scudera and Scot Cosentino displaying award winning pizza

Marc Cosentino of  Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Serving Mayor de Blasio the Smoking Goodfella

The infamous fork that was at the center of the international pizza scandal involving Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio's culinary skills has finally sold at auction. The fork was donated to the Tunnel To Towers Foundation by the owners of Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza to help raise awareness for the foundation which has been a tremendous help in the community building housing for disabled veterans. "We got to work with Frank Siller and the Tunnel To Towers Foundation during the recovery efforts on Staten Island after Hurricane Sandy and we witnessed the dedication and commitment to helping the community and decided we would do what we could do to help them. My brother Marc is a veteran and decided to use the fork to help raise awareness and funds for Tunnel to Towers so we said sure, let's do it " said Scot Cosentino.  The bidding was started off by the New York Brick Oven Co. at $1000 dollars which kept rolling and ended off reaching the $2500 mark by auction end. The fork was purchased by an anonymous donor who then turned around and donated it back to Goodfella's saying " it's where this piece of history belongs". The fork is now on permanent display at the world famous Staten Island eatery.

Mayor de Blasio's Fork

Opening Bid on de Blasio Fork: $1000 by New York Brick Oven Company

Scot Cosentino, Frank  Siller, Marc Cosentino, Andrew Scudera

The New York Brick Oven Company Makes $1000 bid on fork from Forkgate Scandal. "It was only a natural since one of our ovens was responsible for cooking the infamous slice of pizza" said Marc Cosentino." It's all for a great cause" added lead instructor of the Pizza School of New York Andrew Scudera  a partner of the Original Goodfella's S.I.N.Y.

• The fork that made headlines around the world after Mayor Bill de Blasio used it to eat pizza can now be part of your kitchen.
  The Staten Island based nonprofit Tunnel to Towers Foundation began its charity auction Thursday of the infamous fork on its website. Marc Costentino, the co-owner of Goodfella's Pizzeria in Staten Island where de Blasio was caught on tape famously eating pizza with a fork, handed over the utensil to the organization Thursday. The starting bid was $1,000.
  John Hodge, the director of operations for Tunnel to Towers, expects that it will sell for much higher when the bidding ends on Feb. 21.
  "This fork is now a piece of New York history," he said. "Decades from now people will talk about this moment because it is one of those quintessential New York moments."
  All proceeds will help fund Tunnel to Towers programs, such as its annual race to Ground Zero, Superstorm Sandy relief and veterans home renovation initiative. Hodge said it has been in talks with the mayor's office and they fully support the auction.
  "We're having a lot of fun about this and Mayor de Blasio is being a big sport about this," he said.
  Log onto tunnel2towers.org to participate in the auction.

  Related

  Urbanite Jon Stewart doesn't approve of de Blasio's pizza-eating method
• • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Stumble Upon
• ALL POSTS

Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Celebrates 21 Years of Service

Co-founders Scot and Marc Cosentino in Front of the Original Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza

Partners Andrew Scudera and Scot Cosentino pose with an award winning pizza

Who knew those crazy Cosentino boys would still be in the pizza game after all these years, especially after opening in the countries highest Italian American populated area of Staten Island New York. The only goal of the time was just making a good pizza. They started off with the first brick oven in the borough and a dream of working together as a family. Fresh hand made ingredients like oven roasted peppers and fresh mozzarella set them apart in what may have been the first Fast Casual Gourmet Pizza place, with lines out the door daily and people coming from all over the world to try their trend setting Vodka Pie creation which soon became a national fad and is now a staple on menus across the country. The secret was really caring about the customers and making sure each pizza was cooked to perfection even though the constant demand made it hard to be the fastest at times. "We are doing the best we can, this  isn't Mcdonalds" could be heard from the staff on a Friday night even with 2 brick ovens going full force. "The customers are the unsung heroes, they were always understanding and supportive and spread the word like wild fire knowing their recommendation would always be appreciated by friends and family trying the pizza for the first time. Many have become close friends over the years celebrating important events from engagements, weddings, births, baptisms, first days of school and then college to starting the whole cycle again with the new generation. It's been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life" said Marc Cosentino in reflection. "Then there is the hundreds of incredible employees over the years who have contributed tremendously to making Goodfella's the place it is" said Scot Cosentino. "We have had successful chefs, managers, artists, actors, doctors, police officers, soldiers, teachers, writers, firemen, reverends,  and all kinds of business owners work with us on the way up and contribute to our success" said Andrew Scudera, who went from Eagle Scout/bus boy to working every position in the restaurant and ultimately becoming a partner and the Lead Instructor of the Goodfella's Pizza School of New York , not to mention his winning the World's Best Pizza Title. "One of the best compliments I ever received was in the wake of 911 when a regular customer came over to me smiled and thanked me for being here and said ' I don't know why but I stop by here every night on my way home from Manhattan and it just makes me feel better' said Scot thinking about the past 21 years. The fellas are looking forward to the next 21 years and thank each of the people who supported them through thick and thin for making them a great American Success Story. Visit them at 1718 Hylan Blvd. Staten Island New York and share your story. Best wishes and Happy Pizza!

Pizza Expo Fast Casual Pizza Demonstration by New York Brick Oven Company

2/04/2014 - The New York Brick Oven Company led by Scot Cosentino will team up with the Pizza School of New York led by Andrew Scudera for a blazing fast casual pizza demonstration at this years Pizza Expo. The team will be utilizing a revolving brick oven provided by the New York Brick Oven Company to make the pizza and are attempting 120 pizzas in one hour. Having recently made a "blaze" of 5 pies in 70 seconds they feel they can comfortably keep up with the pace of 2 pies per minute to reach their goal. You can see the live demonstration at booth number 231 on March 26th at the International Pizza Expo in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

If You Build it,They Will Come-Fast Casual Pizza by the New York Brick Oven Company

The Ricca brothers, famous for their bread and pastry making have just opened their new Ricca Brothers Brick Oven Bread Factory & Pizzeria restaurant in Hammonton NJ. The New York Brick Oven Company's Marc and Scot Cosentino were on hand to help with the pizza and brick oven operation and to handle the standing room only crowds. "There were so many orders, brand new staff, customers out the door, complete and utter chaos but we made it go right several hundred pizzas later. The staff was ready willing and able which was needed hour after hour making pizza from the hand built oven at an alarming rate while pastries, cakes and wings flew out of the kitchen under Mike Ricca's direction" said Marc Cosentino.  The fast casual pizza concept is a new one for Hammonton but the word is out that fresh dough, local farm grown vegetables and the ultimate gourmet pizza with incredible desserts has come to town. If your in the area be sure to visit them and if your in the market for the industry leading revolving brick ovens or want to learn the art of pizza making, visit the Cosentino brothers and Andrew Scudera at Goodfella's of Staten Island on  New York on Hylan Boulevard  also home of the New York Brick Oven Company. Happy Pizza!

Scot Cosentino