Locally made frozen pizzas abound in Richmond. (Photo courtesy Billy Pie)
An ice-cold pizza craze is taking over Richmond. The capital city is home to several burgeoning frozen pizza brands, many born of pandemic pivots as ways to save inventory, grow sales and expand options for folks dining at home. But the easy, pop-in-the-oven pick-me-ups have stuck around. From Chicago deep-dish and hand-tossed sourdough to neo-Neapolitan and vegan varieties, frozen pizzas are packing the coolers at an array of local establishments.
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Photo courtesy Billy Pie
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Photo courtesy Billy Pie
Billy Pie
The icy OG
Where to buy: Over three dozen locations across Virginia including Blue Bee Cider, Shoreline Seafood Market, Ellwood Thompson’s, Little House Green Grocery and more
For over two decades, baker Billy Fallen has supplied Richmond’s eateries and grocers with remarkable sourdough bread, pasta and pizza. In the fall of 2023, he left the restaurant world to focus on scaling his frozen pizza factory.
“Whether you’re making 50 or 100 pizzas a night in a pizzeria, or you’re making thousands a day, it’s just a matter of being organized, having your systems down,” Fallen says, “and having great people help you pull it off so it’s just super efficient.”
Billy Pie sources dough through Lamonica’s, a professional high-volume dough maker in New Jersey. The dough is shipped to the production kitchen in Richmond before fermenting for several days and, once proofed, gets a gentle pat from a dough press. Pizzas are topped by hand and baked in under two minutes in a blazing hot, 780-degree brick oven. Par-baked pizzas are transferred to cooling racks, frozen and vacuum packed. The staff at Billy Pie can take a dough ball to a packaged frozen pizza in less than an hour, and the small staff of 12 to cranks out and distributes nearly a million pizzas a year. The result: a consistently high-quality neo-Neapolitan pizza with all the charm of a brick oven pie.
Varieties include classic white and red pizzas, margherita, mushroom and ricotta, and white pizza with Calabrian chile peppers. The classic white and red pies are also available on a gluten-free, cauliflower-based crust. Distribution is already going strong in Virginia, D.C., Maryland and Pennsylvania, and there are plans to sell in 14 other states in the coming year. Fallen is also open to expansion through private labeling, which brings us to our next pizza player.
Stella’s Grocery
The special edition
Where to buy: Stella’s Grocery locations
The legendary Greek restaurant and homegrown market chain Stella’s has joined the frozen pizza game with a zesty private-label creation made by Billy Pie. Stella’s frozen pizza is topped with red sauce, spinach, feta and Kalamata olives for a nice, salty Mediterranean offering. They also stock Billy Pies in their market and kitchen, and you can get a piping hot white or red pie with fresh toppings over the counter or a frozen pizza from the case.
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Photo courtesy Udderless
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Udderless co-founder Evan Byrne (Photo courtesy Udderless)
Udderless
The vegan underdog
Where to buy: Ellwood Thompson’s, Lombardy Market, Shields Market, Union Market, Yellow Umbrella Provisions
Richmond’s plant-based frozen pizza brand, Udderless, is the spinoff of a shuttered Fan pizza shop. Evan Byrne, former owner of Hop Craft Pizza & Beer, began making frozen pies during the pandemic, and vegan varieties were always a hit. When a popular local vegan cheese purveyor ceased operations, Byrne decided to make his own plant-based cashew cheese recipe. Byrne founded Udderless in 2023 and offers cheese, jalapeno-pineapple and Greek pizzas, the latter with red onion, olives, and grape tomatoes. Co-founder Andrew McQuillen handles production. Pizzas are hand-stretched, topped and par-baked in the big oven at Hatch Kitchen before chilling in the freezer overnight. After, they are vacuum sealed, packed and shipped out to local markets or distribution centers.
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The classic cheese from Penny’s Imperfect Pizza
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The Terillo family of Olive Branch Gardens and Penny’s Imperfect Pizza (Photo courtesy Olive Branch Farms)
Penny’s Imperfect Pizza
The garden party
Where to buy: Dorey Park Farmers Market, South of the James Farmer Market, Ellwood Thompson’s, Yellow Umbrella Provisions, Outpost, Good Foods Grocery
This side project of Olive Branch Gardens in Barboursville has been popping up in Richmond shops and at local farmers markets. Owners Amanda and Matt Terillo joined in on the pandemic sourdough craze and have since introduced Penny’s Imperfect Pizza. Relying on veggies from their farm — and a blend of flours, including local flour from Deep Roots Milling — they specialize in produce-powered sourdough pizzas. They originally sold hot pizzas alongside veggies at farmers markets before pivoting to frozen pies.
Operating out of a commercial kitchen in Charlottesville, the Terillos use a blast chiller to quickly freeze the pizzas at -20 degrees. Their veg-forward frozen varieties include a lemon-radish-ricotta pizza. Pesto is also a popular topping, made using their homegrown arugula. This year, they plan to expand production. Amanda says, “We are working on a meat, a veg [and] a vegan, or cheeseless one. It’s going to be pizza rossa [red pizza], so we’re going to use those San Marzano tomatoes and then a heavy sauce with roasted garlic.”
Traditional deep-dish pizza from Redemption BBQ & Market (Photo courtesy Redemption BBQ & Market)
Redemption BBQ & Market
The Windy City pie
Where to buy: 3420 Lauderdale Drive
Fresh and frozen Chicago deep dish is the decadent open secret at Redemption BBQ & Market, where pit master and former minister John Vest pays homage to the legendary deep-dish influence of Windy City pizzeria Lou Malnati’s. Pies are available fresh and hot via preorder Thursday through Sunday, or pick up a pizza for later from the freezer case. Redemption offers par-cooked pies clad in a deep, buttery cornmeal crust that you can heat at home. Go for the classic Chicago deep dish with Italian sausage or try a vegetarian smoked mushroom deep-dish pizza. Other topping options are the ’roni and sausage combo, featuring pasture-raised pork pepperoni by Tempesta Artisan Salumi, or Meat Your Maker, with sausage, pepperoni, house-smoked bacon and ham. A Southern spin on BBQ pizza includes deep-dish options with smoked brisket, pork or chicken and housemade sauces.
Sausage and peppers pizza from Delzani Pizza (Photo courtesy of Delzani Pizza)
Delzani
The chef’s special
Where to buy: Shyndigz, 1912 W. Cary St.
A one-man operation based out of the kitchen at Fan bakery and cafe Shyndigz, Delzani is led by chef Matthew Williams. Williams pitched the pizza idea to the bakery’s owner, Bryon Jessee, who decided to bring Delzani on board. “After 25 years in the culinary field, I wanted to get my version of pizza out there,” Williams says. “Developing a par-baked pizza was the closest thing to fresh baked.”
Delzani uses King Arthur ‘00’ pizza flour and Alta Cucina tomatoes to create a solid spin on neo-Neapolitan style pizza. Buy them frozen or hot exclusively at Shyndigz. Their ’za roster includes: zesty meatball with red onion, Italian peppers and sausage; classic cheese; three cheese; pepperoni; and chorizo and hot honey. Williams says, “I eventually will work in a white sauce and pesto. Also, strombolis could be a thing, too.”
