Marketing

Pizzeria owner bargains for pizza post pandemic

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September 7, 2021

New York City-based Unregular Pizza owner Gabriele Lamonaca has found a way to receive free cocktails, hotel stays, electric toothbrushes and other goods and services. He trades his handmade Italian-style pizza, according to a Fox Business report.

The Rome, Italy native began making pizzas in his apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

"I wanted to try out different combinations of toppings," Lamonaca told the news outlet.

His friend, Paola Sinisgalli, suggested they create an Instagram page to showcase the pizza. Soon after, they started delivering pizzas to friends' apartments. When a friend reciprocated with cocktails delivered by bike, Sinisgalli and Lamonaca began trading for other goods and services — everything from Chinese food to hotel stays and massages.

One year after their first barter, Lamonaca and his business partner, Salvatore Gagliardo, opened Unregular Pizza, but they still barter three to four times a week. They're holding pop-up shops with other businesses in their restaurant selling those businesses' goods alongside their pizza.

Twenty percent of sales from those products goes to a fund to help small businesses launch, according to Sinisgalli, who is now spearheading marketing for Unregular Pizza.