Today we’d like to introduce you to Carmela Fuccio.
Carmela, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, my husband and I were raised in cultured families where every meal was made with fresh, nourishing ingredients, and was always served with love. I worked in the wholesale and retail fashion industry for 20 years, together we moved to LA 11 years ago. We got married and after having our first child and my mom passing, we thought it would be amazing to open our own pizza restaurant to keep traditions going and at the same time create a brand. I am first-generation Italian, and pizza was so prominent in my life to the point that I would bring pizza to birthday parties instead of cupcakes. Now a mom of two little ones (my son six and daughter three), running this business has filled my heart. When you walk into Pizza Sociale we want everyone to feel at home and as we say in Italian… “like a Paesan”. Being social is in our blood and nothing gets us more excited than entertaining friends and family.
Something special happens when you gather around the table to enjoy a good meal. Pizza has always been at the heart of our social gatherings, and now we strive to bring our culture and love for authentic pizza, with a New York flavor, to the people of Los Angeles.
Has it been a smooth road?
Quite honestly, I don’t know many new businesses that start out on a “smooth road”. A project that was supposed to take a year took us two years, a few law suites and a larger investment than we anticipated. With no support from our landlords and build-out issues, it’s been a struggle. We finally opened the end of October 2019, learning a lot about people and the overall restaurant business… we really learned it was important to do a lot ourselves and keep learning everyday. After having to open at the worst time of the year, we got hit with COVID19 in March which brought our sales -70%… With very little support, we have been powering through and just doing our best to give back to the community. The only way to get through this for us was to have a positive attitude, donate to those in need and thank the neighborhood for keeping us alive with take-outs and delivery. Luckily, we have an amazing staff and literally run our restaurant like a family…. and will not have it any other way.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
At Pizza Sociale, we believe that something special happens when you gather around the table to enjoy a good meal. We also believe the savory goodness of an authentic, handcrafted recipe enhances this experience. But a recipe is just a list of ingredients until it’s made with care and appreciation. We literally bake everything in our brick Marra Forni oven and pride ourselves on using the freshest ingredients.
The art of pizza-making is a time-honored craft that we recognize and admire, which is why we only work with pizzaiolos who have honed their craft and understand that they’re not only making pizza, they are interrupting someone’s day in the best possible way; with a delicious, lip-smacking, can’t-wait-to-tell-your-friends meal.
We specialize in our authentic dough (also known for offering the best gluten-free dough), homemade sauce, my freshly baked Melly’s meatball special, but mostly pride ourselves on the experience. We make sure everyone leaves with a smile and feels at home. At Pizza Sociale, everyone is a Paesan!
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
It’s is definitely challenging to open a business in LA, but with the right location, the best service and amazing product it’s all about how much you are willing to genuinely put in as a business owner and have really thick skin.
Contact Info:
- Address: 448 West Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026 - Website: www.pizzasociale.com
- Phone: 213-634-5444
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @pizzasocialela
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pizza-Sociale-584284018720701/
- Twitter: @PizzaSocialeLA
- Yelp: yelp.come/pizza-so-ciale-los-angeles
Image Credit:
The pic of the woman kneeling putting the pizza in the oven is my mom that passed so it’s very special to me. The others are of either me or me with my husband and children.
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