Operations

Timber Pizza Co. lead by 'dream team' both in leadership, culinary design

Timber Pizza Co. was founded by tech execs turned pizza lovers, expanding to six units. The CEO focuses on franchising, venturing beyond mom-and-pop to a polished pizza brand. High-quality ingredients, a community vibe and unique flavors distinguish the brand, emphasizing experience over just pizza.

Photo: Timber Pizza Co.

January 24, 2025 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

Timber Pizza Co. was created by a dream team and is now owned by a CEO focused on franchising. The six-unit brand was founded in 2014 when two execs from the tech sector hated their jobs but loved pizza.

"Selling technology wasn't a passion of theirs at all, but they were really passionate about pizza, and they were really passionate about people," said Luke Watson, CEO, in a phone interview.

Without knowing anything about the food industry, Founders Chris Brady and Andrew Dana bought a '67 Chevy truck and a used wood-fired pizza oven and started serving pizza at farmer's markets, wineries, breweries — basically anywhere that would have them. Brady and Dana tapped friends and family as first employees and figured out how to run their mobile pizza unit on their own.

Chef Dani Moreira entered the picture about a year later and in 2016, the trio opened their first brick-and-mortar shop in Petworth, a Washington D.C. suburb. Moreira had just graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and was working in a corporate chef's position at a high-end restaurant but didn't like the stuffiness of the job. Moreira elevated the menu at Timber Pizza Co. and streamlined processes.

"With Chris, Andrew and Dani they really had the dream team," Watson said.

Today, the brand has six restaurants, of which four are franchised, and four food trucks.

Watson had been working for the hotel brand Marriott at its headquarters in Maryland finding franchisee pain points and taking those back to corporate. Watson loved franchising and hospitality. He found a partner and ended up buying the majority of Timber Pizza Co. but left Moreira, Brady and Dana with ownership as well. Brady and Dana are now consultants for Timber Pizza Co. helping with the menu and branding and ensuring the company maintains the high standards they had set when they first opened.

Watson said he bought the brand with franchising in mind. The first year after he purchased it, 2022, was spent turning Timber Pizza Co. from a mom-and-pop pizza joint to a viable pizza company with tight operations.

The brand has opened three franchised locations in the past three months indicating interest in Timber Pizza Co. Watson said he had originally planned to open one franchised unit a quarter, but instead they opened Annapolis, Maryland, Raleigh, North Carolina and McLean, Virginia.

"We're really excited about this next phase of growth that we're going into," Watson said.

Photo: Timber Pizza Co.

On the menu

The top-selling pizzas are the Bentley, the Green Monster and the Shirley. The Bentley has tomato sauce, provolone and mozzarella blend, cured chorizo, soppressata, Peruvian sweet peppers and spicy honey. The Green Monster is topped with pesto, fresh mozzarella, feta cheese, zucchini and kale. Finally, the Shirley has a provolone and mozzarella blend, pesto drizzle, tomato drizzle, jalapeños, cured chorizo and green onions.

"I think we try to come up with things that we really enjoy, and that we think are good," Watson said. "We think these (toppings) taste good together and so do our customers."

Cheese is shredded and blended in house, and Moreira, who is Argentinian and acts as the in-house chef, focuses on high-end ingredients.

"We're not super concerned about making sure that our budget is traditional," Watson said. "It doesn't need to be a traditional Italian pie or anything like that. Our brand identity isn't tied to any one specific culture. We just say 'hey what are the best products out there and how can be put them together and make them taste good?'"

The brand makes as much as possible in house, including dough individually at each location which takes two days. Sauces and salad dressings are also made in house, as are ice cream cones. "We really believe in fresh, high-quality ingredients," Watson said.

Making so much in house means keeping labor costs down can be challenging. Cross-utilizing ingredients and cross-training employees is imperative. For instance, if an employee is prepping strawberry jam, it's used in more than one area on the menu.

Watson estimates pizza accounts for 70% of sales.

Photo: Timber Pizza Co.

Operations

Watson said he was attracted to Timber Pizza Co. first for the product.

"I'm a huge pizza guy. I love pizza," he said. "I always have. I grew up a big part of my life and my family's life was Friday nights were Blockbuster and pizza night. We'd go, pick up a movie and pizzas. … Pizza's always held a special place in my heart and really invoked that family, community spirit. Their product is just so much better. The crust is absolutely amazing. It's the No. 1 thing people comment on when they try our pizza."

Watson said the crust is "Neapolitan-ish" in design as it is light and airy.

Second, the emotions Timber Pizza Co. evokes are also beneficial to sales. Watson said when he talks to customers about the brand, their faces light up.

"We try to have summer-camp kind of vibes," he said. "Nineties summer camp, throwback music. Reclaimed wood, stuff like that."

Maintaining continuity as its grows has become a top challenge for Timber Pizza Co. Selecting franchise partners is a critical process. Watson said a good partner is someone who is not necessarily like him buts shares the same values. Building — and cultivating — a community should be as important to the franchisee as it is to the brand.

So what sets Timber Pizza Co. apart from the competition? Watson is quick to point out that it's the community-based feeling driven by both employees and customers.

"The look and feel and vibe of the restaurant is just different," Watson said. "We focus on your overall experience. Our mission is to serve amazing experiences to our guests. It's not to serve amazing pizza. For me, part of that experience is walking in and making sure it's clean, the music is right, the lighting is right. You're getting greeted with a big, warm smile from our cashier, and of course you're getting amazing food as well. From an experience standpoint, we do offer a unique experience. It's a high-quality experience."

Watson said his leadership team doesn't believe in paid marketing; instead, they go out and build partnerships within the community such a sponsoring a Little League team or partnering with local charities.

"Really pouring the money back into the community that supports us," Watson said. "We want to be able to support them."

Challenges have popped up as they've continued to grow the brand, but nothing insurmountable. They've been learning lessons for Watson and his team.

"Being able to learn from those experiences and immediately take those learnings and implement new solutions to them — that's always a challenge," Watson said. "That's something that we'll kind of face no matter what. But I would say especially at this early phase of our growth, it's being to recognize what we can do better in the moment, solving for that in the moment and continue to move forward."

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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