By Stephanie Nguyen
“Respect the craft.”
Found on Slice House’s website, the slogan became a mantra that its many franchise owners live by, including Darci and Dean Stehlik, a pair of siblings who founded a location earlier this year in late March.
Slice House itself was started by Tony Gemignani, who grew up in Fremont, California, and had an unparalleled passion for pizza, winning several competitions for pizza throwing before he was named the World Champion Pizza Maker at the World Pizza Cup in Naples, Italy, in 2007. Two years later, he opened Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco, followed by Slice House in 2010. He also published a few books on the subject matter, most notably “The Pizza Bible” in 2014, amassing a huge and dedicated fanbase since then.
The Stehlik siblings’ story, however, started with Dean Stehlik, who was also passionate about pizza.
“One of his friends about two years ago called him and said, ‘Hey, there’s this new pizza place [which was a Slice House] that opened,’ and it was in Thousand Oaks, California,” Darci Stehlik said. “And so my brother traveled out there and tried it, and he’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is amazing.’ And from that point on, my brother looked into owning a franchise.”
After passing an interview and getting accepted, he asked her to be a co-owner.
“He wanted me to be involved, and I tasted the pizza and felt the same thing. And it all kind of went from there.”
As franchise owners–also known as franchisees–the Slice House they opened is independent from Gemignani and under their own names, but they are trained to ensure they are well-equipped and prepared to provide high-quality service.
“You get all [of] the ingredients, and they support you during opening day and every day [of operation] to make sure you’re putting out a good product and doing what’s right by the brand,” Darci Stehlik said.
Choosing to call Fountain Valley home, the fast-casual restaurant is right across the Medicare Medical Center in the busy Fountain Valley Plaza and off the 405 freeway. Being the only Slice House location within 20 miles, situating themselves near the well-traveled route was a strategic move that made access to the restaurant easier than ever. But they’ve also thought Fountain Valley was “a great community.”
“What we have found is how welcoming the community has been. They are known for having great restaurants and [you] get great food,” Darci Stehlik said. “They’ve really been growing that aspect of their community base and businesses, and it’s great to see, because a lot more people are foodies these days.”
The restaurant, however, has a customer base that expands beyond pizza connoisseurs and Tony Gemignani fans, who tell her that they are happy to find it outside of San Francisco. Some of the diners are tired, downtrodden locals or caregivers from the medical center, drawing great sympathy from both the siblings and their staff, who she emphasized on training to ensure they provide the best customer service possible.
“We say [to our team], ‘everyone who walks through that door today, you don’t know what’s going on in their life. This might be their only meal that they can afford for the year, and they’ve chosen Slice House,’” she said. “A lot of these people that come over, they’re caring for a sick [loved] one or their family members are dying.”
Yet regardless of whoever’s stopping by, they strive to make it a “memorable experience” every time.
“Do we always hit that?” Darci Stehlik said. “No, but that’s our North Star. The other thing we tell them [the team], ‘we don’t pay your paycheck, every guest that comes into our restaurant pays your paycheck.’ So I guess that’s been the biggest thing [as a franchisee], is trying to train people that every person who walks through that door is important, and we need to make them feel that way.”
Currently, they are increasing their involvement with the community, noting that the past summer had been “a bit slow” due to high attendance at the OC Fair and a sluggish economy, which particularly affected the food industry.
“My brother and I are really trying to not always be in the four walls of the restaurant,” she said. “We want to get out into the community to do more catering.”
So far, they’ve worked at events in nearby cities like Huntington Beach, promoting themselves to a wider audience who may be receptive to the new pizza chain, but they still have a couple of special occasions to look forward to.
“Of the two biggest days of the pizza world’s year is Halloween and the Super Bowl,” Darci Stehlik said. “Those are the two biggest days for pizza restaurants.”
Note: This article was updated to correct a spelling error. The name is “Stehlik,” not “Stelhik.”
