
DJ Steve Aoki quietly opens a cloud only pizza restaurant in Oakland - belltaco
https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/02/11/dj-steve-aoki-quietly-opens-a-pizza-restaurant-in-oakland
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yborg
It's Amazon house brands, but for generic takeout food. In my mind, it's the
culinary equivalent of frozen dinners for people willing to pay extra to have
someone else stick it in a microwave for them and then drive it to their
house. An EDM DJ putting his name on the box just gives me the false hope that
I'll be able to get my groove on while eating the equivalent of a Tombstone.

~~~
reidjs
Hate to admit it, but a bunch of ideas from this article really resonated with
me

1) Convenience of ordering, speed, & price > atmosphere (edit: for pizza
joints at least)

2) Shorter menus

3) Goofy marketing gimmicks (aoki) help me convince friends to get out of
their comfort zone and try new things. Instead of saying 'want to get some
pizza' I can say 'did you know that awful DJ opened a restaurant in Oakland??
we gotta try it!'

4) it's just more efficient to expand the kitchen size than have more room for
seating. The weather is amazing 11/12 months of the year, let's eat outside.
Or more likely in our overpriced apartment

5) I get about the same enjoyment from frozen pizza as fancy pizza. They're
both equally terrible for your health, may as well save a few bucks

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fredsanford
>> I get about the same enjoyment from frozen pizza as fancy pizza.

Dominos, Papa Johns and especially Pizza Hut are not real pizza. They're about
the same shit as a grocery store frozen puck.

Try a _real_ pizza place some time. For instance... If you're ever in Southern
Palm Beach County in Florida, try Jack's Pizza. Or find a family run place
near you...

~~~
reidjs
I lived in Brooklyn near Robertas and used to work in little Italy (the real
one, Arthur st in the Bronx). I’ve tasted the best American pizza you can buy.
If I’m just feeding myself I’ll usually opt for dominoes or something. I’m
just not really a foodie especially when it comes to greasy food like that.

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catalogia
> _a total of 12 pizza brands, almost all being delivery-only restaurants. As
> in Oakland, each location hosts several brands in one space,_

> _Customers can order thick crust pizzas from Chubby Pie or Thick & Tasty;
> New York-style from Gabriella’s, Lorenzo’s or Joe’s; Chicago-style from
> Froman’s; etc. Vavra said although multiple brands use the same kitchen,
> each uses different recipes and ingredients. He said sauces and doughs are
> made in-house, and Family Style either creates its own recipes or licenses
> recipes from chefs. “We look at each brand as its own company,” he said,
> “Every product we put out is distinct from the other product.”_

That sounds like a nice theory at first, but after putting more thought into
it I'm strongly opposed to it. A single pizza shop could offer several recipes
under one brand if variety was their objective. However by putting several
brands into one location and concealing that fact from consumers, they are
attacking the consumer's ability to make savvy informed purchasing decisions.
If somebody has a food quality issue with a pie from a normal pizza shop, they
might avoid that pizza shop in the future. However this scheme makes that more
challenging since you need to be sure you don't order a pie from the same shop
(with the same quality/sanitation issues) operating under a different brand.

This practice should be illegal without clear and prominent disclosure.

~~~
yodon
Many car brands are owned by the same company (see for example GM), many
beverage companies are owned by the same company (see for example Coke or
Pepsi), many beer companies, many electric drill companies, restaurant chains,
hotel chains, candy companies, toilet makers, shampoo brands, and faucet
manufacturers use this technique as well. I hear you arguing that Pizza
however is clearly different and anyone proposing to bring hundred year old
brand management practices to Pizza clearly needs to serve time in jail. I
suspect if you looked into modern commercial kitchen practices, where
restaurants commonly share kitchen facilities, you would be surprised to say
the least.

~~~
chrismcb
I don't agree with the op, but most of your analogies miss the point. The op
is essentially talking about manufacturing. So perhaps a bottling plant voting
student branded sodas or beers. Perhaps a car company making several different
brands in the same plant. It isn't just about one company owning several
products. If it's about several products being made under one roof, but all
appearances make it look like they are different. I don't agree with the op
though.

