The new Spicy Italian Pizza and Spinach Genoa Pizza, which hit Aurelio’s chain wide August 1, are the newest pizza creations in its specialty series. Following the popular debuts of the Mac N’ Cheese and Cheeseburger Pizzas, these two new specialty pizzas are numbers three and four in a series of six, appearing two at a time and available for two-month periods.
The Spinach Genoa Pizza, created by 7-year Aurelio’s veteran and Joliet franchise location owner Luke Pascale, combines mozzarella cheese, Genoa salami, spinach, and fresh garlic on our Aurelio’s crispy thin crust brushed with olive oil. Pascale’s inspiration came through the request of a dear friend Theresa Lang. She had mentioned to Pascale that she was eating healthier and wanted a lighter pizza. He created the Spinach Genoa for her and it quickly became the ‘T-Lang’. Pascale offered this option on his weekly buffet and customers became raving fans.
"People love it because it’s delicious and light," says Luke Pascale, franchise location owner, Aurelio’s Joliet and creator of Aurelio’s Spinach Genoa Pizza. "When Aurelio’s announced the specialty pizza competition, I knew exactly which creation to enter and I predicted it would win. Not only did it win, it was the top vote getter."
The Spicy Italian Pizza, created by 6-year Aurelio’s veteran Marty Mikulich who worked in the Downtown location before transferring this year to Aurelio’s Corporate, mixes mozzarella cheese, sausage, meatball, onion, and pepperoni on Aurelio’s crispy thin crust brushed with olive oil, crushed red pepper and oregano. Mikulich’s creation was sparked by his love and passion for putting different flavors together whether on a pizza, or in a crock pot, grill, or casserole.
"People will really be surprised by this pizza. It’s deliciously light, so you don’t expect the hot little kick," says Marty Mikulich, quality control, Aurelio’s corporate and creator of the Spicy Italian Pizza. “We created this pizza at our Downtown store about four years ago, and it was one of our best-sellers. We knew it would be a tough pizza to beat when we entered it into the chain wide competition to pick the six best pizza creations to debut to all of our customers."
"Mac N’ Cheese Pizza and Cheeseburger Pizza were definite hits! Our customers raved about them. Now, we have two more to knock their socks off and showcase our passion for pizza – in all of its many delicious and imaginative forms," says Kirk Mauriello, director of franchising, Aurelio’s Pizza. "Our customers have really enjoyed trying the first few of the ingenious creations of our employees and franchisees, and we know they’ll love these."
Aurelio’s is family-owned and operated with franchisees that are like family. And, like any family, while everyone remains true to the famous family recipes and secrets, everyone also has their own special flair that builds on the original. To showcase the imaginations of its inventive and passionate employees and franchisees across its 41 stores in six states, Aurelio’s is debuting their creations until end of November with medium-sized, limited time only specialty pizzas. Bringing new and intriguing pies to its customers, the Mac & Cheese Pizza and the Cheeseburger Pizza were the first and second in the series of six to be introduced and the Spicy Italian and Spinach Genoa Pizzas are the third and fourth in the series.
