[Photos: Gino's Brick Oven Pizza]
I really feel for Jutes Templo, owner of Gino's Brick Oven Pizza in Quezon City, Philippines. Based on the short Twitter snippet after the jump and on the rest of his recent twitter stream, it seems like he's wrestling with staying true to his pizza vision and giving the customers what they expect—in this case, pasta dishes.
From what I understand, the Philippines doesn't have a huge Neapolitan-pizza scene, so this has got to be even more of an uphill battle than in areas where customers are more familiar with the product.
Since I'm not a business-owner, I can't even imagine how hard this has got to be. But professional pizzaiolo Caleb Schiff of Pizzicletta chimes in here—oh, and Mario Batali does, too. Maybe some other pizzeria owners out there can share some advice.
If you visit the Gino's Facebook page, you'll see Templo looks like he's pouring a lot of love into his craft. And the pies in this photo gallery look rock solid.
@Mariobatali why did you separate pizzeria and osteria? Why didnt you just combine them?
— Jutes Templo (@jutey_boy) April 20, 2012
focus!!RT @jutey_boy: @Mariobatali why did you separate pizzeria and osteria? Why didnt you just combine them?"
— Mario Batali (@Mariobatali) April 20, 2012
@RebekahDenn @Mariobatali If you guys think i should scrap it and just focus on the pizza, i will in a heartbeat! @pauliegee @akuban
— Jutes Templo (@jutey_boy) April 20, 2012
This is where I picked up on the conversation, since Jutes @-mentioned me.
@jutey_boy I have no business experience. But the best pizzerias seem to focus just on pizza. Maybe some salds, limited apps
— Adam Kuban (@akuban) April 20, 2012
And then Caleb Schiff chimes in, who you may know from his series of posts chronicling his own journey opening a pizzeria.
— Caleb Schiff (@pizzicletta) April 20, 2012
And I love where Andrew Janjigian goes with this:
@akuban @jutey_boy Best pies are made by one or just a few (pizza auteur theory), selling just pies is almost the only way that can happen.
— Andrew Janjigian (@wordloaf) April 21, 2012
Jutes, good luck. Keep us updated on what you decide and how you're doing!
Gino's Brick Oven Pizza
2F 341 Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights QC (above Mercury Drug), 1108 Quezon City, Philippines
+63 3813963; facebook.com/Ginosbrickovenpizza
About the author: Adam Kuban is the founder of Slice. You can follow him as @akuban on Twitter.