Operations

Against the grain: State of Mind Public House differentiates with California style, craft, culture

With 23 years of experience, Lars Smith launched State of Mind Public House, a family-owned Bay Area pizzeria with three locations that differentiates itself from chains by offering a unique California-style pizza, made-from-scratch food and a commitment to employee care.

Photo: State of Mind Public House

December 18, 2025 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

Lars Smith cut his teeth in the pizza business the old-fashioned way. He worked for California-based Pizza My Heart and has 23 years of experience under his belt.

Today, he owns State of Mind Public House, which has three locations in the San Francisco Bay area, located roughly between San Francisco and San Jose. The concept of State of Mind arose when Smith's father neared retirement and it became clear Smith and his brother would remain in the restaurant business. They wanted to open a family restaurant, and decided on a neighborhood pizzeria featuring beer, old arcade games and a celebration of their family's ties to California — the music, atmosphere and food.

The Los Altos location opened in 2018, a slice shop opened in Palo Alto in 2021 and the third unit opened in Redwood City in 2023.

Lars Smith makes a pizza in his pizzeria. Photo: State of Mind Public House

On the menu

Smith described his pizza as California style, often considered a "third rail" in the industry. It is influenced by both New York and Neapolitan pizza, but they "do our own thing," Smith explained in a phone interview.

"Our pizza is influenced by many styles," Smith said. "The wonderful thing about being where we are here in the Bay Area is we don't have a long tradition of pizza and we have very open-minded clientele and such a wonderful diverse range of food. There's no tradition that I have to be part of."

The Public Houses offer 14-inch round pizzas and quarter-sheet Grandma pies. The Slice shop offers 18-inch and 20-inch pizzas, plus a pan pie. The brand occasionally does a Roman-style pizza, Smith's latest passion.

The focus is on fresh, local and seasonal ingredients for toppings. Smith said in a saturated market, he wants to differentiate himself. He doesn't have any interest in trying to compete with the big chains or their discounts.

"I don't have the resources," Smith said. "I'm never going to win that competition because the big chains, they've got a lot more money to put into marketing and purchasing than I do, right? We knew we needed to differentiate ourselves."

He's also passionate about fresh ingredients and unique flavor combinations and seasonality. The make dressings and French fries from scratch, and wing sauces are made in-house. Wings are fried raw and are cooked to order every day. Even some of the mayonnaises are made by hand.

"If I want to have a restaurant that my customers are going to want to come to, if I'm engaged, and my family and I who run the business are passionate about what we do, it's going to be a better product and a better atmosphere because we're not trying to say what's going to sell the most or what's the best money-making," Smith said.

Pizza accounts for about 60% of sales, and they bake in electric deck ovens from Cuppone. Though they opened with gas, about a year and a half in they couldn't keep up with demand, so he started looking at different options and settled on electric decks.

Photo: State of Mind Public House

Operations

How does the team maintain continuity as the brand grows? Smith jokes that he doesn't sleep. It's been a work in progress. Smith said they've had to double down on standard operating procedures and processes.

He's also developed good teams at each of the locations, and they run well. Existing employees came to the new stores as they opened to help them run. "They've stuck around and that's been huge. So, we're not reinventing the wheel or reinventing the culture every time we open," he said.

The brand is family owned and operated. And while Smith said it's "hokey" to say they treat people like family, it matters to him that employees are well taken care of and that their work adds meaning to their life. Full-time employees are offered health insurance and there's PTO and sick leave for managers.

"I think having a place that people are taken care of, and they enjoy coming to work, just creates positivity for customer interactions and helps grow the brand as well," Smith said.

The COVID-19 pandemic was challenging for Smith and his team, as the restaurants were closed for a long time thanks to California restaurant rules. That was a learning opportunity, and it gave Smith perspective on what a big problem was.

Smith said he prepared for what would happen if business didn't come, but he didn't plan for the demand at the first two restaurants.

"There's times where the demand just completely outpaces what we're capable of, and we have to figure out what those either guardrails or emergency brakes are so that we can continue to provide the best quality food and service and not just get totally overwhelmed," Smith added.

They use Toast, and Smith said choosing that brand was one of the single best business decisions they've made. "I'm not sure we would have survived the pandemic without having switched over to Toast with their online ordering capabilities and a lot of the cool tools they have there, and they've only grown. So, we use Toast and we absolutely love it," he said.

Offering advice

Smith's dad had one requirement for Smith and his brother when they said they wanted to start a pizzeria: write a business plan. It's not sexy, but you need to know your numbers before you start.

Added Smith: "Even if you have enough private equity to open it on your own, I still think having a strong, detailed business plan that would be good enough to go to the bank is the best first step any operator can take."

About Mandy Wolf Detwiler

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Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
 
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living. 

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