It takes about one minute to cook a pie in the 1000-degree oven at Pupatella Neapolitan Pizza, and ALXnow just got a sneak peek inside their newest location in Old Town North.
The new restaurant is the twelfth for the company, and has been in development for more than two years. It will officially open on Sept. 15. Today, (Sept, 12) Pupatella had a soft opening for special guests and the restaurant’s Managing Partner Michael Berger was at the opening today, and was joined by company CEO Jim Biafore and Vice President Natasha Neely. Biafore said that the opening feels like crossing the finish line.
“It’s a pivotal moment for the company,” Biafore said. ” To be able to have our twelfth location in Alexandria is a major milestone for us. We’re thrilled to be in the community.”
Biafore continued, “We’re your neighborhood pizza shop. We offer great food, amazing drinks, and an awesome patio in a convenient location.”
The restaurant employs 25 full-time staffers, and after an undetermined ramp-up period, will start delivery, Berger said.
Berger says that the company is focusing on slow expansion, and is focusing in on Montgomery County, Maryland, as well as potential developments in the south.
“We will be looking for the best available real estate in the local markets,” Berger said. “We do have plans to eventually enter Montgomery County… We’ve discussed going to the south, whether it be North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida, and we have talked about international. That’s probably on the much further horizon.”
Biafore said that the key to the company’s growth is taking care of their staff.
“We’re in growth mode, not just for the sake of growth to build new locations, but we want to take care of our people,” Biafore said. “We promote from within and provide a career path for our leaders. That’s what keeps them there, keeps them excited, keeps them engaged. It’s the growth, the learning that they go through. So, we want to grow, but we want to do it strategically.”
Enzo Algarme, a native of Naples, Italy, founded Pupatella Neapolitan Pizza in a food truck in Ballston, Virginia, in 2007. Pupatella is his grandmother’s nickname, and it means “little doll.”
There are now nine Pupatella locations in Virginia, one in Maryland, and two in Washington, D.C.
The location is the former longtime home to Sam’s Custom Cleaners, which shut down a month after the death of owner Tony Tran in 2022.
A video tour of the new Pupatella Neopolitan Pizza is below.
