Thanks to 20 years in the restaurant industry, advice from a friend, a touch of pragmatism and the transformational experience of becoming a certified Neapolitan pizza maker, Joe Fugere founded Tutta Bella to offer Seattle an authentic Italian oasis.
Founded in 2004 by Joe Fugere, Tutta Bella has grown to four locations across Seattle with 180 employees and will near $10MM in revenues at the end of the year. Tutta Bella was awarded the prestigious 2010 Independent Pizzeria of the Year award from Pizza Today Magazine, beating out 33,000 other independent pizzerias in the Nation. In August 2010, Joe Fugere met President Obama to discuss the small business needs in Seattle.
What were you doing before you started Tutta Bella?
I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years. Right before launching Tutta Bella, I was at Starbucks for about three years in various national food and beverage roles. Before that I had worked in management positions at Westin Hotels, Taco Time (Washington based food chain) and Red Robin.
What were the key moments that led you to opening an authentic Italian pizza place?
Sage advice from a friend: When I left Starbucks, I was thinking about a variety of venture options in different industries—architecture, landscaping, not-for-profit. Thankfully, my former boss at Starbucks reminded me that what I know best is the restaurant industry and I should pursue opportunities in that sector. Once I got on board with the idea of doing something I was good at rather than something I had no experience in, I could focus on getting innovative.
Embracing the pragmatism (and potential) of pizza: Given the riskiness of the restaurant industry, I started by considering the two most popular food categories in the United States: pizza and burgers. I figured if I at least focused on something popular I could guarantee a customer base and then if I could out-do the competition through execution, I would be successful.
Burgers were just not that exciting to me, so I started to research pizza and its origins in Naples, Italy. The more I learned, the more intrigued I became with the culinary traditions of Neapolitan pizza.
Becoming a certified pizzaiolo in Italy: Through some online research, I discovered the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana in Naples. I told them I was considering opening an authentic Neapolitan pizza restaurant in Seattle and they invited me to come out and learn how to make traditional pies. The master pizza makers I worked with didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Italian, but still they managed to show me the craft. And then came the point of no return: taking my first bite of a true Italian Margherita pizza. I knew then and there that I had never tasted pizza like this and I wanted to take this amazing food back home.
So what happened from there? What were you thinking on the plane ride back from Italy to the U.S?
My trip convinced me that the key to my success would be bringing my experience from Naples back to Seattle.
That meant I had to get it right, especially the ingredients–some of which were not yet available in the US, at least not in Seattle. So from the minute I landed, the first thing I did was contact importers to see who was distributing authentic, DOP (protected designation of origin) ingredients. I teamed up with a local specialty food importer and begged them to begin carry some of the ingredients I needed.
So I became a certified pizza maker in November 2003 and opened the first Tutta Bella in January 2004. That location had 30 seats, eight employees and I was the pizza maker. Today I have 180 employees and 20 salaried managers.
Tutta Bella, Westlake Location
What’s the competition like in Seattle? I’m sure other restaurants call themselves authentic, no?
Ironically, in Seattle there are pizza makers who are originally from Naples and for whatever reason they decided not to make traditional Neapolitan pizza with authentic Italian ingredients. They might have thought the cost was prohibitive or that people wouldn’t prefer the taste. They went the American route—they use gas ovens, local products, stringy cheese, and sweeter sauce.
What do Italians think of your pizza?
There’s a group of Neapolitans who work for Boeing outside of Seattle. They will frequently drive down because they think our pizza is the most authentic outside of Naples. That was validating and encouraging.
How do you measure success?
We now have four restaurant locations in Seattle and we’re on our way to becoming a $10MM company. We also just won the 2010 Independent Pizzeria of the Year award from Pizza Today Magazine, beating out 33,000 other independent pizzerias in the country. Additionally, President Obama met with me in Seattle in August to discuss the needs of small businesses.
But success for me is also about being an employer of choice and a company that customers admire. I probably have higher revenues but lower margins than the average pizza business. That’s intentional. My margins are probably more comparable to full service restaurants that have higher cost of goods because they are serving expensive proteins with each meal. Even though I’m only making pizzas, I want to use the extra margin to buy more expensive ingredients and pay our people more, offer them a better work environment through health care benefits and trips to Italy each year.
What’s something that you do (or have done) for the success of Tutta Bella that other business people may view as totally crazy?
A handful of things come to mind:
- Signing a lease before finalizing a menu
- Annual trips to Italy
- Opening a new restaurant in the middle of the recession
- Giving young people without much experience a chance for leadership
- Trusting creative collateral to a recently graduated graphics arts student
- Upholding a “never say no” policy; we will always contribute to community causes—whether that means through funds, pizza, or pizza parties. Whatever we can manage, but we’ll never say no.
What’s next for Tutta Bella?
Continuing on the course of building a world class company on a local scale. We want to be respected by our customers at a local level in the same way that any of the best brands like JetBlue, Nordstroms or W Hotels are respected by their customers.
