Article from the Nichigo Press Internship Program
Pizza Bros, run by Japan-loving brothers Joey Peparoni and Marty McFly, is located on the rooftop of the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, in Sydney’s inner west. It’s conveniently located about a 10-minute walk from Newtown Station. In this article, we’ll discuss the menu items that our reporting team sampled, as well as the questions we asked the brothers about the unique features of the restaurant.
(Text and photos by Kentaro Kondo and Shigetoshi Hara, Translated from Japanese by Sachi Kobayashi Pirola)
Brothers Joey and Marty founded Pizza Bros in Queensland in 2019. They had previously operated a mobile pizza shop, attending events and music festivals around the country. However, after about a year of the COVID-19 pandemic affecting events around the country, they temporarily closed their business due to losses. Their last show was held at the Metricon Stadium.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the two made a living by delivering pizzas and working hard to pay off the approximately 24 million yen of debt they had incurred when they founded the pizza shop. When the pandemic subsided, they opened a new shop called “Pizza Bros ” about 400 meters from the local high school where they had previously been expelled.
The two’s passion for pizza ingredients
Through our interview, we learned that the two possess a lot of dedication, of course, to the making of their pizza dough, but also to every other part of the process. First, the dough is not simply made using strong or weak flour, they mix in olive oil to achieve a crispy texture. The two consider the dough to be the most important part of making pizza, and they always prepare it three days in advance, and let it rest for 72 hours before using it.
The popular menu item at this restaurant is “CACIO PEPE.” The rich cheese is topped with burrata cheese, giving it a rich and creamy flavour. The carefully crafted dough is chewy and delicious, and is crispy and fragrant from being baked golden brown in a 400 °C oven. The two recommend the “JOEY PEPPERONI” and the “MARTY SALAMI,” which are named after themselves. The “JOEY PEPPERONI” is a new item that they began to sell about 3-4 weeks before the interview was held, and the “MARTY SALAMI” is not yet on sale. However, we were able to try it as a special treat. It is quite spicy, with an excellent combination of olives and salami. They are especially particular about their salami, and one slice costs about 50-70 yen in Japanese yen. As all of the pizzas are very delicious, we hope everyone will try them.
A new business model for pizza shops
By emphasising their social media and changing their customer service approach, Pizza Bros is selling pizza in a way that is different from other stores. We asked them about their unique sales methods and their philosophy.
─Why is Pizza Bros focusing so much on social media ?
“We are imitating Red Bull’s business model. Red Bull doesn’t just post pictures of their product; they sell Red Bull alongside sports, art, and other things. A typical pizza shop only posts photos of pizzas onto their social media, but we incorporate entertainment into our social media posts. We tried challenging ourselves by going in a different direction than other shops. We didn’t know if it would work, but we decided to give it a go.”
─What is the relationship with the ‘Imperial Hotel,’ the pub below the shop?
“It’s a collaboration. The pub serves the beer, and we provide the pizza. We make a profit from pizza sales, while the pub makes profit from beer sales.”
─How does your customer service differ from other stores?
“In other pizza shops, the basic approach to customer service tends to be formal. However, that doesn’t help build good relationships with customers. That’s why we make an effort to provide entertaining customer service. We try to do this with our Instagram posts too, creating a fun atmosphere.”
─Is there anything you’d like to tell your customers?
“Our store is open to all kinds of customers, regardless of nationality, culture, gender, or any other factors. We welcome not only people who live in Sydney, but also tourists visiting the city. Sexual orientation is also not an issue. This city is LGBTQ-friendly with a long-standing culture of inclusivity. That’s why our doors are open to everyone.”
─Thank you very much.
Visit Pizza Bros to enjoy the pizza that the two chefs have carefully crafted!
After the interview
I had a lot of fun interviewing the Pizza Bros. The process of planning the interview questions beforehand, interviewing, then writing an article, was a significant experience for me. Both brothers were very nice people, and the pizza they made with great care was delicious. If I have the opportunity, I would like to meet them again and eat their pizza once more.
（Kentaro Kondo）
What I felt during this interview was that Australians are very kind. As it was my first time doing an interview in English, I was very nervous, but the brothers treated me very kindly, and the staff and regular customers at the store were also kind. Since coming to Australia, I have often felt the warmth of people, but this interview made me feel it even more strongly.
（Shigetoshi Hara）
* This article was written by six students from Tokyo Keizai University who participated in Nichigo Press’ internship program over a two-week period. Starting from February 12th, they visited cafes and restaurants in Sydney and conducted interviews. Other articles can be found below.
