Zuppardi's Apizza introduces 'mobile slice shop' pizza trailer

Zuppardi's Apizza's bright red "Zupps Truck" has a new sibling. The West Haven-based pizzeria has added a "mobile slice shop" to its catering vehicles, a trailer to serve pizza slices and other select items at large events. In a post on its Facebook page Monday, Zuppardi's noted the trailer was set up to work with colleges and universities, entertainment venues and hospitality groups and the like. Zuppardi's Jim Ormrod, who runs the mobile operations, said the new trailer is equipped to serve high quantities of pizza slices, something the food truck isn't necessarily designed to do. On the truck, staffers make full-sized pies from scratch and bake them in the truck's onboard oven. He said he found himself turning down some business requests because he couldn't do a high volume of slices from that setup. With the trailer, he said, he and Zuppardi's employees can bake pizzas ahead and reheat slices in a convection oven, making it more feasible to serve crowds more quickly. "I noticed right now there's a lot of demand for that at the colleges," he said. "I've had some interest from some of the music venues in the past about the truck. And because it's booked with catering and because it's not designed to do that, I had to kind of turn a lot of that stuff away. So [the trailer] will be able to handle that." The trailer, easily hitched to a pickup truck, is less complicated to operate than a full-sized food truck, Ormrod said. It doesn't require propane or a generator, as long as there's an available power source, and it can be run with fewer staff members. Zuppardi's is now taking inquiries for trailer bookings, Ormrod said, and menus will likely feature a selection of pizza slices, salads and drinks. The trailer announcement comes just over a year after Zuppardi's opened its Slice Shop and Takeout Apizza location in Ansonia. The Beaver Street shop offers whole pizzas and slices, salads, sandwiches and garlic bread, along with minestrone soup in the fall and winter months. Ormrod said the customer response to the Ansonia shop has been great, and it gives him the opportunity to try new recipes and introduce new offerings. Though Zuppardi's may be best known for its sausage and white clam pizzas, the Slice Shop has added new items like "grandma pies," made with a thick, square crust. The Ansonia location is also offering a lobster-topped white pie during Lent. "I think different is good, as long as you still stick to your foundation and things like that, which we've been able to do forever," he said of his family's tradition. Ormrod is the great-grandson of founder Dominic Zuppardi, who opened the pizzeria in West Haven in 1934, and he now runs the business with several other family members. Beyond the mobile offerings and the newer slice shop, he said the storied West Haven pizzeria is "as busy as ever." Zuppardi's also has a satellite location at The Hops Company beer bar in Derby, with a menu of red and white pies, homemade soft pretzels, a Sunday brunch menu and specialty pizzas, like one topped with pickles.

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