HAMPTON, Va. - When the calendar changed from 2020 to 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic was in full force and Glenn and Donna Allen were looking for new ways to bring in new customers.
"(We were) going out to places we normally wouldn’t. Neighborhoods and such like that. We picked up more business going to office parks and medical centers," Glenn told News 3.
Around then, the Allens — owners of Flame and Pie Mobile Pizzeria — added a new item to their menu that already found success with traditional New York-style pizzas. With the introduction of Detroit-style pizzas, a new level of success and attention came suddenly.
"We usually turn on our online ordering page at eight o'clock in the morning," Allen told News 3 at the time. "Usually by nine o'clock, the 24 pizzas that we bring with us every day are gone."
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Detroit-style pizzas have gotten more attention across the country in recent years. They're a square deep dish with cheese piled all the way to the edges, creating an especially crunchy crust. Sauce is then spooned over the top. Allen's are made in 8x10 pans.
Fast forward to 2024 and it's one of four crust styles Flame and Pie serves, along with the traditional New York, Chicago tavern and gluten-free.
News 3 caught up with the Allens at a stop at Sly Clyde Ciderworks in Hampton. This year, Flame and Pie is celebrating its eighth birthday, while trying to shake off a slow winter.
"This one has been incredibly slow. It hasn’t been a great winter for us, but leading up to it, we do well," said Glenn.
The hope is with the weather warming and the return of regular events around the Peninsula, that business will bounce back. After years of operating strictly at locations in Hampton, Newport News and York County, Flame and Pie Mobile Pizzeria is beginning to plan stops on the other side of the water.
“There’s a lot over in Norfolk to be had and even crossing over the James River Bridge in Smithfield and Isle of Wight County. We get requests all the time and just haven’t been licensed there. We’re expanding. We’re getting ready to do that," said Glenn Allen.
Allen tells News 3 the expansion should happen in the next several weeks.
Click HERE to find out where Flame and Pie Mobile Pizzeria will be parked next!
