Persona Neapolitan Pizzeria is a forward-thinking fast casual concept operating out of Santa Barbara, California, and specializing in build-your-own wood fired Neapolitan pizza. Persona was founded by Joseph Baumel (CEO) a graduate of the Greystone CIA academy in Napa County, California, and co-founder Glenn Cybulski (COO, Pizziaolo executive chef). The concept was opened in February 2013 and immediately began gaining popularity it was rated the #1 pizza restaurant in Santa Barbara by Yelp readers after being open only 100 days. The success Persona Neapolitan Pizzeria has attained in such a short period of time has inspired Baumel and Cybulski to roll out a full scale national expansion. Persona intends to have Revention technology installed in all future stores and is using Revention in the original Persona store currently.
“I have been a loyal Revention user for many years – there is no other technology I would want to associate the Persona brand with. We plan to deliver a Revention system with our complete menu installed to each new store we open,” Cybulski says. “The reliability of the system and Revention’s industry leading customer support gives us confidence that all our franchisees will be taken care of, quickly and professionally.”
The pizza industry, once dominated by delivery and take out concepts, is now in the midst of reinventing itself to fit into the fast casual mold. While there are a number of innovative pizzerias out there jumping on the fast casual trend, Persona is currently one of the only brands in this concept offering true Neapolitan wood-fired pizza that intends to nationally franchise. Persona is also the only brand to have a Certified Italian Pizziaolo as executive chef/COO (Cybulski) and a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (Baumel) behind the concept. CIA is one of the world’s most prestigious culinary colleges. A brand like Persona needs cutting edge technology to keep up with its unique needs, which is why Cybulski selected to partner with Revention POS.
“If you’re not on the cutting edge of advancement, your competition will pass you by. Revention is always seeking to improve on its products and service and that forward-thinking mentality is what keeps me happy in our business partnership,” Cybulski says. “The technology and programs in place add value to our brand on a daily basis, from tracking food cost and delivery mapping to live customer support 24/7/365. Revention’s customer service is the best in the industry.”
What sets Persona apart is the commitment to high quality standards of true Neapolitan Pizza, including using imported ingredients (00 Caputo Flour, imported Italian tomatoes, etc.), along with fresh produce,” Cybulski adds. “Persona also hand crafts its own sauces and dressings in house and cooks house made sausage, grilled chicken, and meatballs in wood fired ovens every day. “Collaborating on a new concept is very exciting and the result has been very happy guests loving our concept, quality and price point.”
“You cannot cut corners on quality, especially when others depend on your expertise,” Cybulski says. “At Persona we have a long term goal to provide a high level of quality support to our future franchisees and our partnership with Revention is a big part of our success.”
