One Slice to Rule them all…

At the turn of the 20th century, pizza was a simple homemade meal prepared by thousands of immigrant Italian families across the country. Today, we see numerous chains and restaurants offering their interpretations of the classic Italian meal to the public; trying to entice with a little (although often big) slice of heaven. The city of Flagstaff, Arizona is no different in this regard. It is, however, a town in which two Pizzerias seem to have claimed their dominance in the Flagstaff pizza turf war. For if you ask the Flagstaff locals what their favourite pizza restaurant is you will be met with one of two answers: NiMarco’s or Fratelli.

And so we have a town divided. Similar to an intra-city baseball rivalry, fans of NiMarco’s will boycott Fratelli and fans of Fratelli will boycott Nimarco’s. For many choosing which pizzeria to go to is a family affair and one of tradition. Local born Flagstaff resident and NAU student Breanna O’Connor said that her family only ever goes to NiMarco’s “It’s just the place we eat as a family on Sundays, its great fun and we never even consider going anywhere else”. Contrastingly, fellow local Eli James stated that Fratelli held sentimental value for him “It’s where I went on my first date with my now wife, we’ve been married for 7 years now”.

Owned by Dave Ledbetter and his wife Angie since 2000 after they both graduated from Northern Arizona University, NiMarco’s was originally established in 1979 as a small take out only pizza kitchen on Beaver Street. Since then, NiMarco’s has evolved into a bustling two location chain and earned the reputation of one of Flagstaff’s originals and best. With such a high reputation it was exciting to experience NiMarco’s first hand. The downtown store was a flurry of noise and activity with the tantalizing aroma of fresh pizza dough and meat lingering in the air. After collecting my senses I placed my order and took a seat. Ordering a half and half of the ‘Popeye’ and ‘Gary’s Special’ pizzas, I certainly wasn’t disappointed as the quality and taste was brilliant.

In an attempt to gather a behind the scenes look at the restaurant, I decided to interview NiMarcos employee Victoria Dayne. Victoria told me what NiMarco’s meant to her and what’s it like to work there.

“Firstly, it’s a really fun and relaxed environment. In a restaurant as busy as ours it’s often easy to find yourself getting stressed. That’s why we all make an effort to help each other out and cheer each other up; most of the employees consider themselves to be quite the jokers”

“To me NiMarcos is a locally owned and proud restaurant with a strong repour within the community. We make our own sauces, dough, and sausage at the restaurant and all our ingredients are fresh. Recently we also introduced a range of Gluten-free pizza bases too.”

Fellow Nimarcos employee Lauren Page also offered insight into what it is like to work at the restaurant. “Working for Dave and Angie is wonderful. Everyone here is one big family. We look out for each other inside and outside of work” she said.

“We employ over 40 staff at each restaurant so that’s a total of 80 altogether. Meaning that Nimarcos has become an important employer of the youth of Flagstaff. Ask around, the store has been here so long that it feels like nearly half the town has worked here at one stage or another!” But a mere 100 yards from the Nimarcos downtown location lies a hidden gem. Boasting the fact that it has been voted Flagstaff’s best by AZ Daily Sun readers for the past 11 years, there is no doubt that Fratelli Pizza has become a household name in Flagstaff. Established in 2002 by brothers Pete and Brent Schepper (Fratelli meaning ‘brothers’ in Italian) the two men maintain two locations throughout Flagstaff. Seeing the potential market of a college town, the Schepper brothers initially created the business with the intention of being a late night delivery pizzeria. Instead, however, the Flagstaff community embraced the restaurant and before long it had been established as a family destination. With success came expansion and the brothers were able to establish a second restaurant in 2004, and in 2006 relocated their first restaurant to the more practical and spacious location downtown on Phoenix Ave.

It was this very downtown location that I went to visit when I chose to dine in at Fratelli Pizza. Having recently undergone a series of renovations in 2012 in which the location was closed temporarily for 6 weeks, the new look restaurant was spacious and certainly held family friendly vibe. Michelle Bem, a long-time employee at Fratelli Pizza explained to me just how serious Pizza is to the Fratelli franchise. “It’s hard work, but fun. Most of the crew don’t just do their jobs, but we are also encouraged to offer ideas and feedback; things like menu items, promotions, ingredients, that sort of thing”

“They (Pete and Brent) keep an active eye on things. They are great guys who are clearly passionate about their business, evident by their continued presence and involvement at the ground zero level of the restaurant” Fratelli maintains an active role in the community; sponsoring several community events such as Movies on the Square, a family oriented outdoor theatre event that the brothers choose to sponsor in order to promote the family image of Fratelli Pizza, and also helping to host several blood drives throughout the year. “One of our most direct ways to give back to the community is our 10% Tuesdays” Says Michelle. “On specific Tuesdays the company donates 10% of total sales to local school and education programs”. Since its inception in 2008, 10% Tuesdays has raised over $24,000 to be given back to the community.

Lastly, Fratelli pizza obtains its ingredients locally from Arizona. “Most of our ingredients, especially dairy come from Shamrock Farms in Phoenix” says Michelle. “But other specific ingredients we get from further away as they are better quality, like our tomatoes that we use for our sauce, they come from Stanislaus County, California.”

So which pizza place is the best? It is impossible to ascertain from the public as it seems everyone has their deep rooted favorites and loyalties. One can only try both for themselves, a prospect that should make any pizza fan drool with pleasure.

NiMarcos Pizza
101 S Beaver Street
Flagstaff
(928) 779 2691

Fratelli Pizza

119 W Phoenix Avenue
Flagstaff
(928) 774 9200