Operations

Old Scratch Pizza has ‘Midwesternly Neapolitan’ philosophy

Dayton, Ohio-based Old Scratch Pizza has four locations. Founder Eric Soller calls the brand 'Midwesternly Neapolitan.' The pizza is rooted in Neapolitan tradition, but appeals to a midwestern palate.

Photo: Old Scratch Pizza

February 15, 2024 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

Eric Soller has been in the restaurant industry for most of his life. He graduated from a culinary institute in Vermont, where he met his wife, Stephanie. He worked for a commercial equipment company, Hobart, a familiar name in many pizzerias, finally winding up as the director of marketing for the company.

Eric Soller. Photo: Old Scratch Pizza

In the back of his mind, however, was the idea to bring to life a Neapolitan pizza and beer hall. He wanted large communal tables in an open environment with wood burning ovens and beers on tap. In 2016, he brought that idea to life and launched Old Scratch Pizza in Dayton, Ohio, with his wife.

"It's just a big, fun place to eat pizza," Soller said. He opened his first location in what had been an old auto parts store in a part of town that folks thought was unusual for a restaurant. Since 2016, Soller said his restaurant, and subsequent tenants in buildings they own, have transformed the neighborhood.

The brand opened its second location in a Dayton suburb in 2019. Soller said he knew he was ready to open a second location because the time he spent in corporate America gave him the management systems and organizational skills needed to lead a business — skills first-time restaurateurs don't always have.

Soller said he built a team of managers that made it easy to separate them into two teams to run two different restaurants.

The third store opened in at the end of 2022 and a fourth opened in January in Troy, Ohio. Soller said he weathered COVID and was thankful he was in the pizza business during the pandemic. As other restaurants failed, pizza brands succeeded with carryout and delivery.

"We had a lot of things going for us," Soller said, explaining the first was a large marketing database of people with which they could communicate. They could share emails using that master list and be able to tell diners exactly when they were open, how to order and hours that might have changed.

Second, Soller said, was the fact that the brand was fully entrenched in online ordering during COVID. It wasn't added as an afterthought and was done well. "We had a very robust online ordering platform," Soller added.

Finally, the brand owned its own real estate, a move Soller said allowed them to control their parking lots so they created efficient curbside service.

Photo: Old Scratch Pizza

On the menu

Most of the menu is made in house. You won't find a microwave or freezers at Old Scratch Pizza locations. Right before they started their third location, the Sollers launched a commissary at their second store. Dough, dressings, sauces, caramelized onions, house-made pickles and more are made at the commissary.

"We did the commissary for two reasons: one, for consistency in the product in every restaurant location and two, it's so that the staff at the restaurants stop focusing on all of this prep and production and really just focus on making absolutely the best possible pizzas we can," Soller said.

"I think in the pizza industry, that having freshly prepared food and a diverse menu of freshly prepared items is a differentiator for us. … We were crazy enough to do it on day one, and now we just have to keep doing it. This is just a part of who we are."

Soller dubs the pizza "Midwesternly Neapolitan." The pizza is rooted in Neapolitan tradition, but features flavors that appeal to a Midwestern palate. Soller thought there was a space in the market for Neapolitan pizza in his region, where tavern-style pies reign.

The restaurants each have three wood-burning ovens in the open kitchens, giving guests views of their pizzas being baked. The ovens burn a local ash wood at 800-850 degrees.

Old Scratch does a high volume in the most authentic Neapolitan way. The dough is made with just flour, water, yeast and salt, "and it's not easy," Soller said, "but we've developed a pretty good system to make it happen."

The top selling pizza is The Angry Beekeeper, which features tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil, spicy soppressata, house-made hot honey and olive oil. Pepperoni comes in second, and a traditional Margherita or the Chicken Bacon Ranch weighs in in third place.

"We've developed a population of customers who are interested in what we have to offer," Soller said. "We make some of the best pizza in the world in the most difficult way you possibly can as fast as you possibly can."

Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free offerings are also available.

Photo: Old Scratch Pizza

Operations

With pizza made in traditional Neapolitan ways, training is critical. After the launch of the third store, Soller promoted an employee to the role of education manager. He said it takes a solid month to learn how to use the ovens and get good at them, but employees can always get better, as there are numerous factors that go into operating them — from oven temperatures to humidity and how cold or warm the dough is.

On a Friday night, one of Old Scratch's busier stores will have 12 people in the kitchen, and 10 high school students, Soller said. Sixty percent of employees at another location are in high school. They've built a training system that allows management to take anybody and teach them how to work the ovens and be skilled pizzaiolos.

"It's really about focus," Soller added. "It's taking somebody with experience as a mentor to teach somebody who's interested how to do something that is an art form.

"There are way easier ways to make pizza. Making 800 Neapolitan pizzas a day is not an easy feat, but we do it all the time."

The database Soller mentioned is at the center of the brand's marketing platform. The brand asks for signups on its web site, but Soller and he team also did gathers names and emails via online ordering, asking for emails to receive wifi (which is free now), and via its newsletters and promotions and giveaways.

Social media works well for Old Scratch Pizza, they do email marketing and some community marketing like the Cones for a Cause program. Soft serve ice cream is always free at Old Scratch, but they take donations of which 100% goes to local charities. There are large glass boxes in front of the ice cream machines where dollar bills are collected, and since 2016, the brand has donated about $250,000.

Soller said he would tell fledgling operators to keep their concept as simple as possible.

"Do as few things as you can the best that you can," he said. "I think the days of huge menus and complexity are over. I think you really need to execute a few things really, really well."

About Mandy Wolf Detwiler

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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