Operations

10 Questions: Prince St. Pizza CEO Lawrence Longo

In our latest 10 Questions series, Prince St. Pizza CEO Lawrence Longo discusses the lessons he’s learned while expanding the New York-born brand, including why growth should never come at the expense of product quality, hospitality or culture.

Photo: Shutterstock

September 28, 2026 by Valerie Gritton

Summarize withChatGPTGrokPerplexityClaude

At Pizza Marketplace, we spend a lot of time covering what restaurant brands are doing. But sometimes the more interesting story is why their leaders are doing it and what they've learned along the way. That's the idea behind 10 Questions, a series that goes beyond the headlines to get inside the minds of the people shaping the pizza industry. In this series, each CEO answers the same set of questions, giving readers a chance to see how different leaders approach the challenges, opportunities and decisions shaping their brands — and the pizza industry as a whole.

From building a cult following to taking Prince St. Pizza beyond its Manhattan roots, Lawrence Longo has had a front-row seat to what it takes to grow a beloved pizza concept while protecting what also makes it special. As the CEO of Prince St. Pizza, the New York-born brand known for its signature Sicilian-style slices, including the wildly popular Spicy Spring, Longo has had his marketing hand everything from music partnerships to a TikTok and iHeartPodcasts celebrity-infused series.

We asked Longo 10 questions about pizza, growth, leadership, the industry and what he's learned throughout his career. Here's what he had to say:

1. PMC: What first drew you to the pizza business and what has kept you in it?

Longo: Although I've always loved pizza, I never set out to get into the pizza business. My first business in food was Off The Menu, an app I created around discovering secret menu items and unique food experiences. In 2019, through Off The Menu, I brought Prince St. Pizza to Los Angeles for a pop-up. I thought I was creating a great experience for LA; I had no idea it was going to change my life.

The response was incredible, and that was really the moment I became ingrained in the pizza world. I fell in love not only with the product, but with the business, the people, the culture and the community surrounding pizza. What started as an experience in Los Angeles ultimately became a huge part of my life—and I've been obsessed with making great pizza and building a great pizza company ever since.

2. PMC: What inspires you on a daily basis?

Longo:My family and my friends. I'm fortunate to have a lot of people around me who inspire me, challenge me and keep me grounded. I also get inspired by the people we work with every day. Watching someone grow within the company, take pride in what they do and build a career is incredibly rewarding.

3. PMC: What has been the biggest lesson you've learned throughout your career in the pizza industry?

Longo:Stop worrying about the competition. You can waste a lot of time watching what everyone else is doing. I'd rather spend that energy looking at ourselves and asking, How can we be better today than we were yesterday? Better product, better hospitality, better operations. If you keep improving your own business every day, the competition becomes a lot less important.

4. PMC: What's one decision you've made in your career that didn't go as planned, but ultimately taught you something valuable?

Longo:I've made plenty. One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that growth for the sake of growth can be dangerous. A great location on paper or an opportunity to expand quickly doesn't automatically make it the right decision. Every new restaurant has to strengthen the brand, not just increase the store count. That has taught me to be much more intentional about where we grow, who we grow with and making sure we never sacrifice the guest experience just to get bigger.

5. PMC: What do you think makes a great pizza brand? Is it the food, the people, the culture, the customer experience—or something else?

Longo: It's all of the above, but I think it starts with hospitality. You can make an incredible pizza, but if people don't feel good when they walk into your restaurant, you're missing something. Then comes the quality and consistency of the product, followed by the culture you create around it. When you get hospitality, product and culture right, the customer experience becomes something people want to come back to—and tell their friends about.

6. PMC: What's the one thing about the pizza industry that you think people outside the industry don't understand?

Longo: How difficult it is to make something simple consistently great. Pizza looks simple—dough, sauce, cheese, toppings—but there are hundreds of little decisions behind a great slice. Dough fermentation, ingredients, ovens, water, temperature, training and execution all matter. And then you have to reproduce that same experience hundreds or thousands of times a day across multiple restaurants. Simplicity at scale is actually incredibly complicated.

7. PMC: When you look five years ahead, what excites you most about the future of pizza?

Longo: The entire industry is stepping up its game. For decades, the three heavyweights dominated pizza because convenience, price and scale won. But consumers have changed. Once people experience really great pizza made with better ingredients and more attention to craft, it's hard to go backward. I think we're entering an era where quality-driven regional and emerging brands can take meaningful market share from the traditional giants. That's incredibly exciting.

8. PMC:What's something you still want to accomplish that you haven't done yet?

Longo:Sell pizza on Mars.

I'm only half joking. I've always believed you should think bigger than what seems reasonable today. When we started growing Prince St. Pizza, I never wanted to put a ceiling on what the brand could become. I want to see how far we can take it, how many people around the world we can introduce to our pizza and how great we can make the company along the way. So yes—Mars is still on the list.

9. PMC: What's the one thing you would never compromise on in your business?

Longo: The product. Period. Growth, margins and opportunities are important, but none of them matter if the product starts slipping. People came to Prince St. Pizza because they love the pizza, and we have a responsibility to protect that. As we grow, maintaining that quality and consistency becomes even more important, not less.

10. PMC: What's next for you and Prince St. Pizza—and what should pizza operators be watching?

Longo:Intentional, thoughtful, exponential growth. We have an opportunity to grow Prince St. Pizza significantly, but I don't want growth just to say we have more locations. I want the right operators, the right markets and the right partners who understand what makes the brand special.

I think the next generation of successful pizza companies will figure out how to combine scale with craft. Historically, those two things haven't always gone together. Our challenge—and our opportunity—is to prove that you can grow exponentially without losing the quality, hospitality, culture and personality that made people fall in love with the brand in the first place.