Family

The founders: mom, dad, wife, me

2015

Our first oven build

Unfortunately after weeks of working on this thing, it didn't work right. We decided to knock it down. When we were discussing how to rebuild the oven, my dad said; 'you'll see the phoenix rising from the ashes'. It was from this conversation that we adopted the name Phoenix Rising Pizza.

2015

We bought this oven!

After rebuilding our scratch-made oven, it still didn't work! At this point, we realized that even though we weren't great oven builders, we could make a tasty pizza.

2016

Our first sale!

May 2016 we got a health permit from the City of Lowell and set up shop on the side of the road. We landed our first sale! Unfortunately, DCR shut us down within an hour. Apparently the boulevard in Lowell is controlled by the Mass Dept of Conservation and our City of Lowell permit didn't cut it - oops!

2016

Made in Lowell Friday Nights

In 2016 there were a bunch of new food trucks in Lowell. At the same time, a non-profit called Made in Lowell started to put on awesome food truck festivals once a month. Live music, beer, and food trucks. It was a great time. We got destroyed at our first event. It was the first time we ever had a huge line of people. This is a pic of the oven at the end of our first Made in Lowell event. We still miss those days.

2016

We meet PJ from Navigation Brewing

We were setting up our trailer on the side of the road near Hadley park in Lowell. It was here that PJ from Navigation Brewing bumped into us. He invited us to come to the brewery and make pizza for his customers. We gave it a shot and it turned out to be a great match. After a few months, PJ asked us if we'd like to make it a regular thing. We've been there almost every Friday since.

2016

Double Trailers!

We added a second trailer to hold the oven. So much DIY!!

2017

We're outgrowing the oven

Our trailer setup is coming together, but we're quickly in need of a bigger oven

2017

EforAll

We joined an awesome program called EforAll. They provided us with business mentorship and resources to help us grow our business. We won a $4k grant that allowed us to buy a larger oven. With EforAll's help, we secured a loan to build-out a proper food truck.

2017

Big Oven, Little Trailer

We got that big oven and threw it on our little trailer until the food truck was done being built. Spoiler alert - it took way longer to build the truck than anyone expected.

2017

Catering and events!

Building the truck and still getting on the road all the time to cater events!

2017

Beach Wedding Catering - not bad!

2017

Truck build marches on.

2018

Truck is finally done!

We finally got the truck done, just in time for Winterfest 2018

2018

Big Truck Big Crowds

We name the big truck Margie and put her on the road. The truck allows us to tackle bigger events.

2018

Lawrence Gas Explosions

Disaster struck in Lawrence with widespread gas explosions. We weren't sure how to help, so we made a 100 or so pizzas and brought them down to the school gym in Lawrence to feed the people who were displaced by the explosions.

2019

Currier Museum

Snapshot from one of the many events from what was our busiest year ever!

2019

Truck Crew

Dee, Andrea, Amaya and Jenny

2019

Last taste of normal

November 2019, who knew what would lie ahead...

2020

Womp Womp

We just kept going in 2020. Luckily Navigation was open for can sales so we could maintain a connection with our customers.

2021

Figuring out what's next.

2021 was weird. Client events were planned, scheduled, rescheduled, canceled etc.

2022

Detroit Style Pizza

We were experimenting with Detroit Style Pizza since 2019. We started making small batches for the public in 2021. The more we made it, the more we fell in love with the style. In 2022, we made it our primary style of pizza and started using the name Crispy Square Pizza.