SPECIAL SECTION: FOOD
Heat Wave
Riko’s Pizza plans to spread its hot-oil topping across the U.S.
W
by Rochelle Miller
hat’s your favorite pizza topping? Ask the average American, and it wouldn’t be surprising to hear meatballs, sausage, or even anchovies for some. How about hot oil? For those who have eaten at a Riko’s Pizza restaurant, that’s the most popular response. “Hot oil is a topping, just like sausage or pepperoni. It’s oil that’s infused with pepper,” explains Luigi Cardillo Jr., co-owner of the popular Connecticut-based pizza restaurant company that specializes in thin-crust pizza
50
FranchiseDictionaryMagazine.com
with the signature topping. Now Riko’s Pizza is on a quest to bring its thin-crust-pizza-with-a-kick to the rest of the country. The inspiration behind Riko’s stems from the childhood days of Cardillo and his partner, Rico Imbrogno Jr., who grew up sampling similar pizza topped with spicy hot oil in their area. While they loved the food, they were never impressed with the service. “You would wait an hour just to sit down and then another hour for your pizza,” Im-
