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About

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I started Crustworthy Pizza for lots of reasons:

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  • For me pizza is the perfect food – grain, produce, dairy, meat, vegetables, fruit – everything goes!

  • I have a deep-seated appreciation for sourdough; the flavor, the fact that it’s a living thing that takes care and feeding, and that it never turns out exactly the same way twice.  

  • I wanted to operate a business that was a force for good in our community.  I have always believed that how you do things is equally important to what you do.

  • There are so many amazing local and regional food producers and farms in this region.  Pizza is a wonderful vehicle for showcasing all of that.

  • I’m really passionate about finding ways to make business more sustainable.  I love researching new opportunities and way to make that happen.

  • Like sourdough, fire is a living, breathing thing and harnessing its power to bake our pies weaves in tradition and an appreciation for this remarkable element in nature.  

 

My path to Crustworthy has been anything but a straight line.  My love of food started in the kitchen with my mom but went next level as a teenager working at a family-owned market stand in my hometown of Natick, MA.  I learned to appreciate food and its producers, being part of a team and working with my community.  But next came college and a move to the West Coast and before I knew it, and I’d spent almost 20 years working in financial services.  

 

Eventually I found my way back to my love of food via the the San Francisco Baking Institute,   

and left my corporate career in 2018 to start Rise Bakehouse, a home-based, organic sourdough bread business baking up loaves for my local community and a couple of great restaurants.  In 2020, not long after the Covid pandemic began, our family made the decision to head back east and after a nine-month RV adventure road-schooling our two children, we settled here in Charlottesville. I wanted to get back to working with sourdough but also try something a little different – and now here we are!  

I’m so very thankful for my privilege and the opportunity to get this new business off the ground.  I’m also eternally grateful for the love and support from my amazing family – my wife Liz, daughter Claire, son Brendan and our dog Finn - as well as my parents, brother, extended family and friends.  

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to learn more about us and I hope you enjoy our sourdough and GF pizza.  If you haven’t tried us yet - come find us somewhere soon!

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