Meet Isaiah Ruffin | Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Isaiah Ruffin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Isaiah, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The state of the restaurant industry is not good. We sought out to create a (mobile) restaurant that put people, the planet, and profits on a level playing field. The thought process started with people, the biggest failing of the restaurant industry. From the start, we agreed a living wage was paramount to creating our business plan. To determine what was a living wage, we looked up in our city how much someone would have to make to afford a two-bedroom apartment for themselves. And we decided never to go below that rate. The same process occurred for our environmental and economic viability of the business.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Our business model is very simple. We only make wood-fired pizzas, with the exception of special events. Every day I am excited to make the dough, by hand, roll them into balls, and sling them out at 100 pizzas an hour. We focus on being sustainable, intentionally sourcing our ingredients by working closely with our farmers, and thriving with community involvement. We just started a nonprofit called Food Lit Foundation that donates Learning Garden Grants to schools and other learning-based organizations. Aside from that, we have a very small team, myself, Colleen who is the other half of Project Pizza as well as two pizzaiolo’s who help keep us moving day to day.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend were to visit we would start off by taking him to Stodgy Brewing Company in Fort Collins. They have the coolest outdoor space and top-notch beer. They also tend to have some awesome food trucks from the area as well. Our next day would be headed into the mountains. Estes Park would be first on the list. They have a few great breweries and one of our friends has a food truck specializing in wood-fired pizzas. We would definitely get some pizza from them before moving on to another town on the other side of the Rockies, Palisade Colorado would be the last stop. Between the wine and views, we would easily fill up the rest of the week.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Farmers, ranchers, and fishermen are the reason we do what we do day in and day out. Of all of the producers, we source our products from, Native Hill Farm in Fort Collins has been our number one supporter. Not only do they have highly respectable farming practices, but they also support other local small businesses. On the first day of launching Project Pizza, Native Hill farm open their property to us to sell pizzas. In turn, we also named a pizza after the farm where we use their products on a pizza. Without Native Hill Farm I doubt we would have ben as successful.

Website: www.projectpizzaco.org

Instagram: @projectpizzaco

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-pizza/

Facebook: facebook.com/projectpizzaco

Image Credits
Black Sparrow Media Spot Hopper