Checkout Chats: Anthony Mangieri, Founder of Genio Della Pizza

Anthony Mangieri is a name that resonates deeply within the culinary world, especially among pizza aficionados. He opened Una Pizza Napoletana, one of the most acclaimed pizzerias. Known for its naturally leavened, wood-fired pizzas and Mangieri's obsessive focus on quality, Una gained a cult following and was even crowned the #1 pizzeria in the World by 50 Top Pizza in 2022 and 2024 (they were #2 in 2023, womp womp). Mangieri still makes every dough ball by hand, and if he’s not in the restaurant it’s not open. In short, he cares greatly about quality.

With Una Pizza Napoletana’s rise to critical acclaim, Mangieri could have easily expanded to multiple locations, but he chose not to. Instead, his path took a surprising turn—from the intimate setting of a single pizzeria to the ambitious, mass-market world of (frozen) CPG. The leap from restaurant to CPG was not merely about growth; it was about bringing the same principles that defined Una to a wider audience. Enter Genio Della Pizza, Mangieri's high-quality frozen pizza line.

Introducing Genio Della Pizza

Launched in 2023, Genio Della Pizza is Mangieri's venture into the CPG world. Genio is Anthony Mangieri's answer to the challenge of bringing artisanal-quality pizza to the masses. Unlike the typical frozen pizza offerings, Genio Della Pizza is crafted in Italy using traditional methods and high-quality ingredients that reflect Mangieri's dedication to authenticity. The dough is hand-stretched by artisans, using a high hydration level to achieve a lighter and more interesting dough structure. The pizzas are then cooked in wood-fired ovens with a blend of oak and beech wood from local Italian farms. Ingredients like Ligurian basil, Sicilian sea salt, and flour milled in Italy all contribute to making Genio Della Pizza stand out in the frozen food aisle. Mangieri’s goal was clear: to redefine frozen pizza, making it as close as possible to the quality of his celebrated pizzeria

Okay so why chose CPG: Why Frozen Pizza?

For Mangieri, creating a CPG product was, paradoxically, both a safer and more ambitious choice. After over 30 years in the restaurant business, he recognized the challenges of brick-and-mortar growth: the difficulty of scaling a restaurant's footprint, the unpredictability of customer foot traffic, and the overwhelming presence of social media.

"In the restaurant world, there's always a gamble. To open other locations is a big risk"

Mangieri had received multiple offers over the years to expand Una Pizza Napoletana, but he never felt that was the right move. The restaurant world has become increasingly competitive, with social media playing a major role in driving customer awareness, while traditional media lost a lot of its impact. In his view, opening more locations was a real gamble, and the complexity of managing brick-and-mortar growth was not appealing. Creating a CPG product, specifically a frozen pizza, felt like a safer, more controlled way to grow and share his craft.

His decision to go into CPG, and specifically frozen pizza, was rooted in the belief that his signature style could resonate beyond New York City. Pizza was always what he was known for, and Genio Della Pizza was an opportunity to share that craft with more people. Despite the shift, his main concern was staying true to the reputation and quality of Una Pizza Napoletana.

"I didn't want people to think this is the same as Una—it's not possible to be the same"

However, he ensured the quality was as close to restaurant-level as possible, capturing the soul of his handmade dough and the traditional cooking methods used in his pizzeria

Lessons Learned: The Challenges of the Frozen Food Industry

Launching a frozen pizza brand from a chef-driven restaurant experience came with many eye-opening lessons. First, Mangieri found that transitioning from a high-touch, intimate customer experience to a scaled, retail-based product required a complete reorientation of how he approached both production and sales. The CPG world is often not as transparent as the restaurant world. It's less about the food like in the restaurant business and more about sales, promos, and margins.

Ensuring consistency and quality at scale proved to be one of the biggest challenges. Producing artisanal-quality pizza in the quantities required for national distribution was a big shift. And just like with his restaurants, Anthony still holds himself to high standards. But, obviously, CPG is a different way of doing business. Finding the right partners who understood his vision was challenging, and many co-packers in the U.S. simply couldn't handle the complexity of using wood-fired ovens or maintaining the artisanal elements Mangieri insisted on. Eventually, production was set in Italy, where he found a team capable of keeping his vision intact, hand-stretching every dough ball and cooking the pizzas in wood-fired ovens

One of the first hurdles was scaling the quality and authenticity of ingredients and production methods.

"It has to be the 'Ferrari of pizza'"

Bringing high-quality food to a larger scale involved countless nodes in the supply chain and a significant learning curve. he knew that not everyone could visit his pizzeria multiple times a week, but with Genio Della Pizza, they could have restaurant-quality experiences at home without the skill.

He also acknowledged that creating a CPG product required adapting to the unique demands of frozen food.

"Frozen is the closest to fresh. It allows you to do things you can’t"

The frozen format provided an opportunity to bring restaurant-quality experiences into people's homes, without the need for culinary skills.

Another insight Mangieri shared was the difficulty of brand building in the CPG landscape. Unlike a restaurant where the experience and the food speak for themselves, a new CPG product requires significant investment in marketing just to get noticed. It typically costs millions to get consumers aware of a national brand at a reasonable scale. Mangieri acknowledged the difficulty of the "pay-to-play" nature of retail and how it limits how quality products reach the masses. He described the CPG industry as "bizarre" and lacking transparency, with many barriers to entry for smaller, artisanal brands.

💡 Advice for CPG Founders 💡

For other founders in the CPG space, Mangieri had straightforward but impactful advice: your product needs a reason to exist. Don't just make something with cool packaging and trendy callouts; that might work for a sprint, but it won't win a marathon. He emphasized the importance of true product differentiation, not relying on surface-level gimmicks but delivering genuine value that sets the product apart from competitors.

The Future of Genio Della Pizza

Looking ahead, Mangieri is optimistic about the potential of his frozen pizza line. He hopes to innovate further, possibly entering food service, but only when it makes sense for the brand. He also expressed a desire for broader retail distribution, albeit acknowledging the challenges of navigating the competitive retail environment. For now, his focus remains on making the best products possible, ensuring that every pizza that makes it to a customer's home reflects his passion and commitment to quality!

Genio Della Pizza is not just about putting another frozen pizza on the shelf, it's about showing what a truly great product can be, even outside the walls of a restaurant. Anthony Mangieri's journey is a testament to the possibilities of transitioning from an artisanal food business to CPG, while staying true to your core values and adapting to challenging new landscapes.