23: The Rise of “Fast Premium” and Roman Style Pizza | Gabriel Baldinucci, Baldinucci Pizza Romana

“Don’t ever even consider opening a restaurant unless you have worked in and ideally managed one.”
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This week’s guest is Gabriel Baldinucci, co-founder of Baldinucci Pizza Romana, a “fast premium” pizza restaurant based in Austin, Texas.

In this interview we discuss the origins of the concept, as well as:

• Why Gabriel believes the market for “fast premium” concepts is increasing as consumer palates become more sophisticated
• What the team did prior to opening to build buzz and refine their recipes
• How the decision to serve Roman style pizza filled a gap in the market, and helped establish Baldinucci as the leader of a new category
• Why they decided to open in a wealthy suburb instead of a city center
• Lessons learned during the first 6 months after opening

and much more.

Gabriel and team opened Baldinucci just over 6 months ago, and they’ve already established themselves as one of the best pizza joints in Austin. This is an insightful episode for those of you in the early stages of your restaurant journey, and Gabriel does a great job breaking down their key lessons learned so far.

Please enjoy my conversation with Gabriel Baldinucci, of Baldinucci Pizza Romana.

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Where to find Baldinucci:

• Website: baldinucci.pizza
• IG: @baldinucci.pizza
• FB: Baldinucci Pizza Romana

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Where to find Gabriel:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbaldinucci/
• Twitter: @gbvc
• Medium: https://medium.com/@gabrielbaldinucci

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Where to find Bryan:

• Website: https://www.myfirstrestaurant.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-tublin-03548910/
• Twitter: @btublin 

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Where to find Kitava:

• Website: https://www.kitava.com/
• Instagram: @kitavakitchen

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Referenced:

• Gensler - Restaurant Design
• ExpandShare
• Raving Fans

In this episode, we cover:

• (01:37) Gabriel’s background growing up in pizza restaurants & early career in tech
• (04:01) The insights that led to opening a fast casual roman-style pizza restaurant in Austin
• (06:02) The market for “fast premium” is increasing as consumer palates evolve
• (08:55) Starting at a ghost kitchen
• (11:17) Deciding to serve Roman style pizza to establish a new category
• (14:12) Why they decided to open in a wealthy suburb
• (16:10) How Gabriel funded the business
• (20:49) Lessons learned from opening and the buildout process
• (22:50) The tricky balance between opening and completing the full buildout
• (25:27) Early growing pains, including a space that was too small and high labor costs
• (28:12) Operational metrics they shoot for
• (30:17) Why Gabriel feels 3rd party delivery apps are unethical
• (34:16) Baldinucci’s team structure today
• (39:14) On The Fly Segment
• (44:15) The feature he wishes Toast POS had