The PizzaPlex founding team is passionate about pizza, equitable growth, and sustainable cities.
Their love for these things led to the birth of PizzaPlex L3C, a community-centric pizzeria in Detroit. The PizzaPlex team is actively embarking on a journey to become a worker-owned company.
The PizzaPlex story begins in Naples, Italy, birthplace of Italian pizza and where the PizzaPlex extended family and mentor, Fabio Cristiano – internationally-acclaimed founder of Scuola di Pizzaiolo – reside. PizzaPlex co-owner, Alessandra Carreon, is Italian and Filipina. She grew up on different continents, including Europe, where her family ran a small pizzeria in Naples. In high school, she worked in a pizzeria.
When Ale and her husband – and fellow co-owner – Drew McUsic, got married in Naples in 2015, they received pizzamaking certificates from Fabio. They proceeded to hand-build a wood-fired pizza oven in their backyard with the help of their close friend and PizzaPlex co-founder, Nathan Hannon.
PizzaPlex’s pizza style has been developed over hundreds of years; the flavor profiles on the menu are there for reasons steeped in history. Today, Neapolitan pizzamaking is on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
PizzaPlex is doing work to co-create a place that values love for people, the planet, and pizza.
PizzaPlex worked with a team of U-M Business School students in BA453, Capstone MAP in 2019. Order online at pizzaplex.com!