Original Thought

Meredith Johnston

Former Pizza of the Year winner going strong.

It's early in the morning, but the kitchen is already alive with those trying to prepare for the onset of the usual lunch crowd. The aromas of marinated chicken, roasted potatoes and fennel sausage mingle in the air and hold in the small seating area, waiting to entice the hungry customers that will surely be through the doors soon.

Tony Palombino, owner of Tony Boombozz in Louisville, Kentucky, scurries around with the rest of his employees. Not only is he trying to prepare his pizzeria for the day, but he'll soon have to leave for one of his other restaurant concepts and do the same. No one would ever guess by looking at his easy-going demeanor and constant smile that this young man could be so busy and so successful.

"I got started on my own in 1994 in Kansas City," says Palombino. "A friend of the family (called and) wanted to open up a pizza concept with wood burning ovens." It was a phone call that offered Tony his first chance at creating a concept and having ownership in his first restaurant.

Wood fired pizza was a concept Palombino was familiar with, even though he had been away from the restaurant business for a few years.

"My family was in the business a long time. My mom and dad are both from Italy," he says. "My dad came over and started his own restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky. Then we had a pizza place in Florida. We moved to Louisville in 1975. We opened up the original wood burning pizza place in Louisville in 1987."

Palombino's early life mirrors that of the years since. As a teenager, he left home and the restaurant business behind to explore other avenues.

"I went to Hawaii in 1991. I got out of the restaurant business. I was burned out at 19," he says. Palombino worked at Ford Motor Credit Company and Liberty National Bank doing finance. "Then I got a phone call." That phone call was the one offering a chance in Kansas City -- an offer, Palombino says, he couldn't refuse.

Chance of a Lifetime
With that one call, Palombino's whole career path changed.

"I was on my own for the first time. I created the concept, the whole thing," he says. "It was really exciting."

The initial excitement would only grow as the year went on. In fact, it was at the Wood-Roasted Pizza of Kansas City shop in Lees Summit, Missouri, that the pie to put Palombino on the map was created. The Pollotate -- marinated chicken, roasted potatoes and red onions on a garlic herb crust with Asiago and mozzarella cheeses -- won the 1995 Pizza of the Year award at Pizza Festiva?.

"I look at the Pollotate as a very good friend of mine," he says. "When I won that contest, I didn't realize what was going to happen. When I went back to Kansas City and the media picked up on it, I can't explain it. That recipe was a family recipe, not for pizza, but for chicken and rosemary potatoes. It was my favorite dish and my mom made it."

Through the years, across the country, and from one concept to another, the Pollotate has remained a favorite.

"Some people saw the Pizza Today award and they came out to Kansas City and said, `Can you do this in Cincinnati?'" Palombino remembers. "So, I started moving back and forth. Then Cincinnati was going really well, so I sold my interest in Kansas City."

Of course, the new adventures wouldn't stop there. In 1997, Palombino moved back to Louisville and created a new restaurant concept called "That's A Wrap." In 1998, he sold his new restaurant and opened Tony Boombozz the following October. For the last few years, it has been a place where both Palombino and the Pollotate could thrive.

A Gourmet Concept
The Pollotate is not the only award-winning gourmet pizza at Boombozz.

"We have the traditional and we have the gourmet. The gourmet is the hook that we're known for," says Palombino. "Of course, the traditional outsells the gourmet. A pepperoni pizza is going to outsell everything. I'm a big believer in making a good traditional pizza, and then the gourmet pizza is a natural."

This natural ability to make a great pizza has had Palombino in and out of headlines since 1995. In 1997, the D'Sienna pizza -- fresh spinach with ricotta sauce, topped with mozzarella, Asiago and Romano cheeses and Roma tomatoes -- made it to the Pizza Festiva? finals at International Pizza Expo? as the vegetarian category winner. In 1998, the Portobello Bello pizza -- sliced portobello mushrooms with roasted red peppers, fresh spinach, mozzarella, Asiago and fontina cheese on a garlic herb crust -- was the International Gourmet Pizza winner. In addition, Boombozz has won several local awards.

"I like to wow people," says Palombino. "We have a superior product; I believe that. We really go to extreme measures to make sure our product is fresh. We make our own sauce."

Boombozz doesn't make its own dough, however.

"We have someone make it for us. We switched to that a year ago just to make it easier," explains Palombino. "It was a tough decision for me to go that route. We found a company that makes it for us and ships it here. Nobody knows the difference, thank God!"

Despite the focus on gourmet, Palombino says he hasn't been able to avoid delivery. His customers want what they want.

"I am a gourmet concept. But, I am also a delivery concept," he says. "My plan was not to deliver at Boombozz, but (to offer) carryout. But when you answer the phone and the first thing out of people's mouths is -- `My address is?' We had a lot of those phone calls. Once I did delivery and I saw how easy it was, I wished I had done it for years. Delivery is a great business."

Delivery accounts for 65 percent of sales at one of Palombino's locations and 85 percent at the other. The two Boombozz stores did a combined $1.3 million in sales last year.

Making a DifferencePalombino believes the sales, concept and product all hinge on one thing: people.

"You know who's on the bottom? Me. I am the least important person in this whole thing," he says. "I'll be here for the business always, but I have some really great people."

The most important are the drivers, says Palombino. "The drivers have to be on their game everyday."

Palombino also thinks it's important to give people a chance.

"I really feel like people coming out of college and high school do not get the opportunity, they don't get the chance," he says. "It's important, giving opportunities to new employees, because I got an opportunity. Somebody had faith in me. The guys who start out young with me are my best employees. It's very rare to find people like that."

Of course, when speaking of people that push Palombino along, the competition is certainly included.

"My biggest challenges are the competition," he says. "The competition is the independents. There's a lot of good pizza out there."

And Palombino wants his to be the best, but he won't be the first one saying it.

"I don't want to say, `I'm the best,'" he says. "I want my customers to say I'm the best."

Meredith Johnston is associate editor at PIZZA TODAY.