What happens when an engineer quits his job, goes all-in on pizza, and builds a slice shop obsessed with consistency?

In this episode of What’s Good Dough, Eidref is with Charlie Anderson, founder of Good Pizza Cleveland, to talk about the real work behind opening a modern slice shop. From menu minimalism and workflow design to dough fermentation, content creation, and long-term vision, this is a deep dive into what it actually takes to make great pizza— consistently.

Highlights:

2:05 – Building a New York-style slice shop in Cleveland
4:15 – Modern pizzeria branding & restaurant interior design strategy
6:00 – Why a 6-item pizza menu improves consistency and profitability
8:30 – Weighing pizza toppings for cost control & operational consistency
10:50 – Commercial pizza oven management: stone temp, bake time & workflow
13:40 – The realities of running a high-volume slice shop
15:30 – Quitting engineering to open a pizzeria full-time
18:10 – From pizza pop-ups to brick-and-mortar restaurant ownership
21:00 – Imposter syndrome as a pizza entrepreneur & content creator
24:10 – Reverse-engineering New York pizza & building a pizza YouTube channel
27:00 – Using Instagram & organic social media to grow a local restaurant
30:00 – Poolish vs straight dough: 73% hydration pizza dough formula
33:20 – Controlling dough temperature for consistent fermentation
36:10 – Two-stage dough balling technique for stronger pizza crust
40:00 – Why long fermentation doesn’t always mean better pizza
43:00 – How to identify over-proofed pizza dough in a restaurant setting
46:20 – Slice shop bottlenecks: staffing, speed & labor efficiency
50:00 – Increasing restaurant revenue through operational efficiency

Follow them:⁠https://goodpizzacleveland.com/⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/goodpizzacleveland/?hl=en⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@goodpizzacleveland?lang=en⁠

⁠https://www.youtube.com/@GoodPizzaCleveland⁠

Thank you to our show sponsors:

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⁠https://bit.ly/3FmQ3up⁠

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Topic:

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