Q&A with Jeanette Catena, Business Development Manager, 24/7 Restaurant Equipment
Women have been making pizzas since Roman times. Did you know that in 1889 pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito made three pizzas in honor of King Umberto di Savoia and his wife Queen Margherita?
While Raffaele made the Marinara and the earlier Mastunicola recipes, it was his wife who added the mozzarella and basil to make the pizza represent the Italian flag (red, white, and green) colors and it was then that the Pizza Margherita was born.
Both the King and Queen approved of the pizza, and Raffaele Esposito’s wife’s famous recipe became emblematic of not only pizza but of Naples itself.
Today, there are over 774,000 pizza makers currently employed in the United States, 39.8% of all pizza makers are women, while 60.2% are men.
Jeanette Catena is a pizzaiola and is inspiring both women and men to join her in the pizza culture. She has over 40 years of food service experience starting in customer service where she learned how important it is to get out and see firsthand the customer’s operation and develop a relationship.
She quickly moved into outside sales for the large broadliners. When she was looking for a change, she went into importing and food brokering which is where her interest in pizza began.
Catena saw the trend of Neapolitan pizza coming to the USA and opened a Neapolitan Pizzeria. She imported flour and finally landed at 24/7 Restaurant Equipment sort of completing a 360-degree tour of the industry.
She loves the industry and the people she meets daily. Meet Jeanette Catena…
Tell us about being in a pizza family, and what you learned early on about the business of pizza.
The pizza culture is intense. It is filled with really good people who work hard. Most pizzaioli, while trying to offer their version of the best pizza, are also sympathetic and friendly to other pizzaioli.
No matter how many years you have been in the business, you will undoubtedly learn something, when getting together with other pizzaioli. It is a sort of brotherhood & now sisterhood.
There were very few women front and center in the pizza business when I opened my pizzeria. In fact, I vividly remember a little girl coming into my pizzeria and pointing at me saying, “Look Mommy there’s a lady making pizza.” I thought why wouldn’t a woman be making pizza?
You went from owning Luna Pizza to managing the business at 24/7 Restaurant Equipment— share a day in the life of Jeanette Catena.
I sold Luna Pizza after opening back up after the Covid lockdown. I could not rethink the business for a third time. My husband always said, “Once it stops being fun then we will stop.”
We had taken the business from concept to award winning pizza to sale. After many years of importing products from Italy, I was lucky enough to find an emerging business in the pizza equipment sector.
I love to pioneer brands, but understand the amount of unrewarded time and energy it takes to be successful. Fortunately, 24/7 has an owner who is very savvy and forward thinking.
A day in the business development role for 24/7 Restaurant Equipment is never the same, which for me, is challenging yet exciting. I start each day with a plan which sometimes unravels perfectly but mostly becomes a dance of activities.
How many people worked for you at Luna Pizzeria and now at 24/7 Restaurant Equipment?
When we opened the pizzeria, we started out with just our five family members. My husband and three daughters. At ages nine, 11 and 13. Each daughter assumed very naturally a position, whether it was front of house, operations, marketing, they learned many valuable lessons by being business owners. When we sold the pizzeria, we had 10 employees.
At 24/7 Restaurant Equipment, it is just me and Christian, the owner. We are constantly working to expand in our market by traditional selling and also by hosting small events for potential customers. We meet with vendors, plan sales activities, network and do a lot of quoting on equipment and jobs.
You are an AVPN Certified Pizzaiola… how did this come about?
I worked for an importing company who sold flour, tomatoes, and olive oil. I traveled around the country promoting the art of Neapolitan pizza.
This was a relatively new concept for the USA, so I had a renowned chef from Italy work with me to drive home the authenticity of the concept.
We spent a lot of time together making dough, working in pizzerias and consulting to many levels of pizza organizations, from chain accounts to mom-and-pop locations.
When I decided to open my own Neapolitan pizzeria, my husband and I spent a week of in-depth training at his restaurant starting in the early morning. I was recognized by Italy for this knowledge and granted the certification.
24/7 recently opened a showroom and culinary center. Tell us about your goal to inspire and bring together people and businesses in the pizza community.
I am very excited to be a part of this new business. I have been involved in the pizza business for more than 20 years in some way or another. I sold food for major distributors, I imported flour from Italy, of course there was the pizzeria for 14 years and now specializing in pizza equipment at 24/7 Restaurant Equipment.
I like to hear the stories of those in the pizza business. We learn how they got started in business, where their families originated and the struggles and triumphs they have encountered. I can relate and hopefully and most importantly, I hope to help in some way.
What are your lessons learned about leadership and maintaining the pizza culture?
I learned that you need to respect each pizzaiolo for who he/she is and what pizza they create. It is a deeply personal offering, and no one should criticize.
There are guidelines and rules for certain styles of pizza, but in the end, it is the decision of the pizzaiolo, which could be what he/she wants to serve, what their customers are demanding or simply just what has been done in the past and that’s OK.
Who are the mentors that have helped you in your career?
Roberto Caporuscio was the one who trained me, who I worked with out in the field and who treated me with respect. I could call Roberto any time of day and ask why my dough is doing something weird and he would diagnose it sight unseen from the other side of the country!
I also worked with Dante Daga, Top Italian Chef in Italy extensively. We worked to promote the flour I imported by going to pizzerias, bakeries, and pasta manufacturers.
I learned so much about the properties of flour and how it reacts under certain conditions that it brought my understanding of pizza to a whole new level.
How do you teach the culture of pizza to your staff? How do you share it with your community?
Well since our staff is just the two of us right now, we learn from each other. Christian is becoming quite the pizzaiolo and I am learning the technical side of equipment from him. As we grow, we will share our knowledge and experiences with our team.
We are always inviting the community into our Culinary Center for organized demo days, but we also conduct dedicated days to an end user if they want to test out recipes or new techniques without distraction.
We are here to help and will make it convenient for the operator because we know how valuable their time is.
What does 24/7 Restaurant Equipment offer dealers?
We offer dealers the knowledge needed to service Pizzerias and a culinary center open to them and their customers anytime to come test the equipment. We love to showcase our pizza related equipment in person while having meaningful conversations about the challenges of the pizza business in their particular area of the country.
We provide solutions to the operator and encourage dealers to engage with hands-on experience for themselves.
Tell us about the recent “Pizza Jam” event, the NJ Pizza award winner, and the NJ Pizza influencers.
We recently put together a “Pizza Jam,” which was inspired by watching how when pizza people get together there is an immediate party. Everyone is happy, making pizza together and getting together for pics.
We had a friendly competition for those who wanted to check out the new Dragon stone conveyor oven. We also had the electrically powered brick oven, the Power deck running.
This powerdeck received many compliments and I believe we will be selling many more of these ovens than was anticipated! When you add some vendors, who also impart knowledge and are eager to learn you have an open, casual setting for sharing ideas.
The two winners (actually three, because there was a tie) were chosen by the people using an app to track votes and two judges tallied their scores for their favorite.
The bragging rights are what each pizzeria is in need of for a sense of pride and accomplishment but also for recognition. My Pizzeria won awards and with each award came a flurry of business and so we tried to be sensitive to all our competitors.
I personally traveled to visit each pizzeria who took part in the competition. I was in awe of each one of them! We got to know some influencers and they added fun and social media expertise!
Which equipment are a necessity for you? Recommend to other pizza businesses?
For me it is the following:
The Oven. This is the machine that will be your best friend every minute you are working. You will get to know your oven and how to harmoniously work together.
The Mixer. It is important for the type of dough you are producing so it should work the dough the way you want.
The Prep Table. You need to make sure you have a good quality prep table with enough working space. The other necessary equipment pieces would be refrigeration, freezers and more depending on the concept.
When recommending pizza equipment, I first need to understand their vision and operation. Then their staffing situation, their budget and utility capabilities. It is not hard but does require a well thought out plan and we can help!
