OT: Best Pizza in CT

[Ewekon]

MBA guys will be MBA guys. I'm one of them.

The branding aspect of this blow out, not roll out, has been done for them with the best of all worlds methodology: free word of mouth that creates a legendary brand. The brand itself can only go down from there.

And it will.

 

[CL82]

I always go for the middle, crustless pieces.

I always go for the crust pieces

 

[HooperScooper]

I just read that Sally's is going to launch 225 new stores and maybe a dozen states. There are gonna be five new Sally's in New Jersey and I think 12 on NY. I don't expect them to be the same, but hopefully they will be pretty good, at least for chain pizza.

The article I posted said 1000 stores. Are they going to rename it Sally's Apizza Hut?

Texas has the most potential locations with 45. Lineage Hospitality says its mission is for 1,000 locations in all.

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2025/12/19/popular-pizza-chain-sets-goal-for-15-mass-spots.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=ae&utm_content=BO&j=43144035&senddate=2025-12-19&utm_term=ep1&empos=p1

 

[CL82]

MBA guys will be MBA guys. I'm one of them.

The branding aspect of this blow out, not roll out, has been done for them with the best of all worlds methodology: free word of mouth that creates a legendary brand. The brand itself can only go down from there.

And it will.

If you view it as an attempt to create a chain version of Sally's, it's doomed to failure. If you view it as an attempt to capitalize on the brand recognition of Sally's specifically and New Haven pizza generally then it has an opportunity to be successful.

To me, the questionable judgment is the massive rollout in states that already have a good local pizza presence. Is the chain version of Sally's going to be better than New Jersey local pizza? Maybe but the bar is higher here than say in the Midwest. Lobbing 25 Sally's into New Jersey seems like a recipe for failure. And I say this, despite the fact that Connecticut pizza is vastly superior to New Jersey pizza. That said, I'll definitely give it a try if there's one near me.

@HooperScooper

 

[Magic32]

Went to Zuppardi's on Saturday before catching a show at Toad's Place. We had no wait and all 3 pies were excellent. It was the first time there for the other two guys and they were blown away by how good it was. They kept eating even when full. I still say it is my favorite pizza, so consistently good.

 

[Waquoit]

“We could have just carbon-copied the Wooster Street location, and gotten the same everything, the same look and just built that everywhere,” said partner Ted Zizlsperger, who oversaw Shake Shack when it was part of New York’s Union Square Hospitality Group. “But I think we would have done a disservice to the brand.”

Shake Shack used to be special, it seems past peak to me. The only brand that has seemed to profit by its ubiquitousness is Dunkin'. The rest end up as content by that guy who explains why profitable businesses turn to crap. Private equity is the starting point for many of these tales of woe.

 

[superjohn]

“We could have just carbon-copied the Wooster Street location, and gotten the same everything, the same look and just built that everywhere,” said partner Ted Zizlsperger, who oversaw Shake Shack when it was part of New York’s Union Square Hospitality Group. “But I think we would have done a disservice to the brand.”

No, sir, I think you're doing a disservice to the brand by trying become Pizza Hut.

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2025/12/19/popular-pizza-chain-sets-goal-for-15-mass-spots.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=ae&utm_content=BO&j=43144035&senddate=2025-12-19&utm_term=ep1&empos=p1

This is going to fail and they ruined what made Sally's great. This is what always happens with private equity...expand everywhere, make the product less good, shrink it, and charge a lot more for it.

I never root for individuals to fail but this is so over the top stupid I'll kind of enjoy this failure. They're now mall pizza.