Today we’d like to introduce you to Malysha Flanders and Lindsay Sammons.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
We moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2017 with the hopes to use our college degrees, Malysha’s in criminal justice, and Lindsay’s in occupational therapy. After living in Los Angeles for a few months, we worked Doordash, GrubHub, and various babysitting jobs to scrape by averaging 12-13 hours a day. Malysha was having interviews after interviews for different law enforcement agencies, and Lindsay was preparing to go to Master’s school for occupational therapy.
Los Angeles was hard on us for a while, rent was sky high, we were out here by ourselves, and finding real-time jobs was much harder than expected. The word ‘struggle’ was an understatement. At the end of the day, we had each other and our four fur babies. We have always been pizza fanatics. Being from Chicago, we have a huge love for food. As everyone knows, Chicago’s food culture is unlike anyone else’s. Nothing can compete with the hot dogs, polish sausages, pizza puffs, Italian beef, and most importantly, pizza.
Los Angeles lacks when it comes to pizza. Being here for six months and trying all of the pizza places we stumbled upon, nothing could compare to Chicago pizza. One of our date nights, we were craving Chicago pizza. We went to a small pizza shop in the Valley claiming they had Chicago style pizza. We were ecstatic. With our hopes high, we ordered the pizza. Forty-minutes later, our pizza was ready. We opened the box and saw a giant pizza puff. This “Chicago style deep dish pizza” was literally two pizzas placed on top of each other cheese touching.
We were incredibly disappointed. This lit a match in our mind, if no one could get Chicago style pizza right in Los Angeles, it was up to us to set the standard for Chicago style pizza. Shortly after we started experimenting with pizza, it took us a little bit to figure out the science, but we did it. We had friends come in from out of town from Chicago and made them all try it. Our pizza passed the test, not a single complaint, we made authentic Chicago style pizza.
We used all of the money we saved, and with the help from family, we were able to purchase an old 1967 Cardinal Trailer that we were able to convert ourselves into a food truck. From there, we hit the streets selling our pizza all throughout the Valley. Our first week, we sold out everyday. We have catered weddings, Warner Brothers office, comedy shows, breweries, etc. The response we have received is overwhelming and such a blessing. At this point, we have been open for over eight months and are growing rapidly,
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
This has been a whirlwind of an adventure. Opening up a food truck is not as easy as we thought, especially being broke college kids and Chi-Pie being our only source of income in this expensive state. Handling with the state to make sure our truck is up to standards and paying for all of the additional fees and the product was tricky at first.
There are slow days that are discouraging and days where we saw the bright future Chi-Pie holds. One of our biggest struggles is taking care of our customer in a timely manner. In our tiny trailer, we can only produce a small amount of pizzas at a time.
Our pizzas take to come to 35 minutes to cook, so when we are backed up, we have a long wait time that can easily frustrate our hungry customers. Chi-Pie has most definitely had its ups and downs, but overall we are growing rapidly and building a large fan base that excites us to see what our future holds.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are a food truck specializing in Chicago style deep dish. Our pizza is unlike any in Los Angeles because it closely replicates some of the big chains in Chicago like Giordano’s.
We are most proud of our deep dish, everything is made by hand. The dough and sauce are always made fresh, the cheese is hand grated, and the pizzas are hand rolled.
The quality of our pizza is rare, and we are proud of creating such a delicious product without the use of store-bought products, preservatives, and machines. The catch to all of this is that we do all of this in a small trailer where neither one of us can fully stand up straight.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I wanted to be an animal catcher or make it to the NFL. I grew up with two older brothers and two loving parents. My mom is my superhero because she is the strongest and most independent person I have ever met. My middle brother, Montrell, was my biggest role model growing up, always showing me what hard work gets you.
I grew up in a competitive household where everyone held each other accountable to be the best that they could be. I was always extremely determined and dedicated. Being extremely competitive, one of my favorite past time activities was competing with his cousin for “who is the better cook” or playing athletic activities. I went on to play division 1 football and obtained my degree in criminal justice.
I, Lindsay, grew up with an older sister and a younger brother. All three of us was and are extremely different. I always loved animals, and I grew up playing soccer. I was always so full of energy, rambunctious, and pretty creative.
On the rare occasion, my sister and I would get along, we were probably plotting on our crepe or smoothie shop we were going to open up when we got older. We would take our favorite recipes from my grandma’s cookbooks and make up menus for our make-believe restaurants. I went on to get my degree in psychology to pursue a degree in occupational therapy.
Pricing:
- Whole pizzas are $17
- Our combo pizza (pepperoni and sausage) is $19
- Slices are $5
Contact Info:
- Address: 14735 Ventura Blvd Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
- Phone: 630-656-3142
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/chi.pie331
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chi-Pie-144023459609691/?ref=br_rs
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPie331
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