Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Wheeler.
Hi Bryan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was wanting a pizza oven for a couple of years. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, and finally decided on a Gozney Roccbox. I had never eaten, nor heard of Neapolitan style pizza until I spent all of that time on YouTube. I put it off for a year because I had already purchased a new smoker and grill in a short time. The oven was only $500, but it was kind of a big expense for not knowing how much use I would get out of it. I finally pulled the trigger in June of 2024. I taught myself how to make dough, which was not an easy thing to learn, but I didn’t give up. The first pizza that I made was like nothing I’d ever had before, so I kept inviting friends and neighbors over to try it. I spoke with the health department about doing pop-ups, but I quickly became discouraged when he told me what all equipment I would need to sell my pizza. Then he told me that if I would do it on a donation basis, I wouldn’t be required to have all of that. It was so much work getting all of my ingredients, oven, propane, tables, etc packed up to go somewhere and then unpacking, setting up and then tearing it all down and then unloading at home. I tried to do this one a week all while working 10 hour days plus overtime. It was well received so I decided to have a trailer built. We picked up our new trailer in October of 2024 and had our first event on the 16th. People loved it and I kept setting up once a week. It really wore me out, but I knew that I had to keep going. I ran the trailer all but two weeks during the winter when it was brutally cold. I wanted to do it full time, but I knew I wouldn’t do well in the winter so I waited until March to quit my job. Right at this time, I was driving through a plaza to get my propane bottle refilled at the hardware store and saw a For Rent sign on a place that has been several pizza places in the past. I called about it, but my wife was not happy about it and told me she wouldn’t be around if I went through with it after we walked through. It was in bad shape as it had been empty for years, but I knew it had potential. We signed a lease and the owner gave me the keys, but didn’t charge me rent until he had everything installed and repaired. It took a while to get all of my equipment and pizza ovens bought, but we opened on August 1st. My goal was to bring the highest quality pizza to my area, and I know 100% that we did just that. I’m typically at the shop around 12 hours a day/ 5 days a week, plus there’s always work to do on our days off. We’ve been running the shop for a little over 3 months now, and business has been great. I even started selling the same pizza ovens that I use in the shop and trailer. I never would’ve thought that buying that Roccbox would lead us to where we are today.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all. The struggles were making dough, working 10 hour days in a factory, then doing a pop-up somewhere for several hours and not getting much sleep. Figuring out my dough, trying to get a proper balance of everything. Finding the right cheese with no preservatives or fillers, and adding the correct amount of herbs to the crushed tomatoes that I buy. I think back quite a bit about all of the struggles that I had, but I never gave up.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We make Neo- Neapolitan style pizza. We use the highest quality ingredients that we can buy, and I make all of my dough from flour imported from Italy. We want people to know that we put our heart and soul into every pizza, and we will continue to give them new pizza options when we’re happy with a new pizza. We make as much from scratch that we possibly can, and we care about what ingredients go into our pizza.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love the small town atmosphere. There’s not much that I don’t like.
Pricing:
- $13-$18
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Apollopizzallc.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1AGUzT4t7q/
