A Bigger Game: Slice House On The National Stage

by Joe Bonadio

When Tony first started talking about franchising his second restaurant, Slice House by Tony Gemignani, it was way back in 2019. The chef’s original plan had been to start opening more Pizza Rock locations, but as with so many other businesses, the arrival of Covid flipped the chessboard. In this case it was a positive: in the new takeout-intensive environment, Slice House thrived. “When the pandemic hit, Slice House became almost Covid-proof,” Tony told me back in 2022. “They just did extremely well.”

Tony had licensed a few locations before in San Leandro, Belmont and Haight Ashbury, but this was going to be another thing entirely. It took two years of due diligence to put the plan together, and the chef had to close his esteemed pizza school to focus on the enterprise. As is his habit, Tony intended to be prepared. As he told PMQ Pizza in July, “You can [franchise] the cheap, easy and faster way, or you can….talk to the right people, and then start hiring the right people.” Tony and his partners were determined: Slice House By Tony Gemignani would be a national brand.

By July of last year, the Slice House franchise was heating up, and people had begun calling it the hottest pizza brand in the country. As Tony told me at the time, “Pretty soon we’ll have one opening up every month.”

Fast forward to 2025, and that estimate seems almost quaint. Starting in Thousand Oaks, Tony and his team absolutely went after it, and later this month they will open their 25th store, this one in Loveland, Colorado. And as you’ll see from our conversation below, Tony is just getting started.

JB: So Tony, congratulations. 50 Top Pizza, which I’m still having a hard time saying right, just ranked you #3 in the U.S., and #10 in the world. How many years in a row have these guys recognized you?

TG: Since the beginning, On the original 50 Top, we were number one in the U.S. They didn’t have the 50 Top worldwide list yet, but over the years we’ve bounced from #1 to #2 in the U.S., then to #4, maybe to #6, now back to #3. I’ve also been fortunate enough to go to Italy, and be in the worldwide top 20, then the top 10 rankings over the years. This one was great because Gino, my son, was there. He had the chance to go up on stage with me. We dressed up, and yeah—he loved it. It was cool.

JB: That’s great. How old is Gino now?

TG: He’s going to be 11 next week.

JB: Wow.

TG: Yeah. I’m supposed to do a TV show in L.A., and I might have to miss his birthday for it. It’s a big show called Access Hollywood with Mario Lopez, so we’ll see what happens. It’s my son’s birthday, but it’s a pretty important show, especially with my franchisees out there.

JB: You’ve got a good relationship with your kid. You know how to make it up to him.

TG: I hope he’ll forgive me, yes. I owe him more gifts!

JB: So, how’s Gino’s pizza game now?

TG: It’s good. But he’s been playing more soccer lately, so he might be rusty. Actually, I told him that yesterday.

JB: Well, it’s the kind of thing you’ve got to do every day, right?

TG: Yeah, you do, and he hasn’t done it in a while. But he’s been playing soccer a lot, and he started playing golf, or taking lessons that is.

But again, 50 Top is big, because it’s not just Italy and the U.S. now. It’s Brazil, it’s Europe, it’s Asia. So it’s a pretty big mixed bag, and you never know how you’ll do.

JB: The lists in the past really haven’t covered places like Asia and South America, right?

TG: No, they’re the first ones to really do it. Like I’ve told you, it’s like a Michelin star, where the reviewers come in, and you don’t know even know they were there. And the event is like an Academy Awards ceremony, it’s just amazing. In terms of recognition in our industry, it’s probably the biggest thing going other than winning a championship.

JB: I’ve got to say, when you consider how influential they are, 50 Top hasn’t been around that long.

TG: No, they haven’t.

JB: They’ve become incredibly important, very quickly.

TG: They have, actually. And there’s a lot of press that comes from it. I was actually a little bummed that the press didn’t grab it out here. For example, the Chronicle didn’t write about it. You know, anytime we can brag that we have a place that’s top ten in the world—it’s not just Tony’s, it’s San Francisco, you know. You see New York do it, you see Chicago do it maybe, of course Italy, London. But it’s a big deal for our city. And we didn’t get a ton of press from it. I mean, we got some. But being in the top ten just doesn’t happen all the time. Don’t get me wrong, we get a lot of press…

JB: Well, the press here is sort of spoiled; they’re accustomed to you knocking it out of the park.

TG: But the Giants win the World Series, you’re not gonna write about it? Win five times, ten times, you’re not gonna write about it? We always bitch about not being recognized in San Francisco for certain types of food, and one is pizza. And when we finally get that recognition, they don’t report it.

JB: You know the press is notoriously fickle. You remember that period a while back, I don’t know how many years went by without the Chronicle reporting on you. I did a press search, and they hadn’t done a story on your place since 2017.

TG: I do remember that.

JB: I think it was 2023 when they finally wrote something.

TG: Don’t get me wrong, Chronicle’s been good to us, SFGate has been too. But this was one that I feel like they might have missed, you know?

JB: Yeah, for sure.

TG: And it’s important, not just to me, but to San Francisco. I see the press in all the other cities recognizing it, they’re using it—they’re abusing it, you know? Even the cities that aren’t even recognized for pizza just throw it all over the press.

JB: You’ve got to wonder if that’s one of the reasons that Tony Mangieri went back to New York in the first place.

TG: I don’t know about that. I know him, I see him. He makes great pizza.

JB: I mean, that’s a bigger stage to be on out there. It’s a different thing. You know?

TG: Yeah, I know.

JB: So, how’s everything going on the Slice House front?

TG: Good, busy. We have like six openings in the next nine weeks, maybe. Nine, ten weeks. Universal Studios is opening. Loveland’s opening, Boulder is opening. Milpitas is opening.

JB: Wow…

TG: Then Millbrae’s opening, and Meridian’s opening. So, those six. It’s actually going to be a really hard finish at the end of the year.

JB: That’s a lot to get done.

TG: Yeah, and there are multiple states. Two in Colorado, pretty much outside of Denver. And then you have Meridian, which is Idaho. And then you have L.A., and Bay Area.

JB: Whoa, Idaho.

TG: That should be a good store.

JB: Tony’s Pizza, Idaho. The people there are going to be so psyched. Are you kidding me?

TG: Yeah, there are a lot of transplants there.

JB: You’ll have a built-in audience. So tell me about the thing you just did down in LA.

TG: I did a Dodger/Giants collaboration at LaSorted’s Pizza, and that was great. It’s in Chinatown, which is right up the street from the ballpark there. I cooked the High Five pizza, and yeah, it was a lot of fun. A bunch of writers came out.

JB: I just had that pizza the other night, actually.

TG: How’d you like it?

JB: I loved it. But I have to say, the hit of the table was the Royal Margherita.

TG: Oh, you like that one?

JB: Oh yeah. The crust on that thing is insane, everyone was blown away. Tony, thanks again for taking the time.