true mance

He

might be known as the bad boy of The Bachelorette, but pizzaiolo

Peter Izzo, owner of Peter’s Pizzeria in South Florida, brings a laser-sharp focus to his craft.

BY RICK HYNUM | PHOTOS COURTESY OF PETER’S PIZZERIA

eter Izzo has famously looked for romance on reality TV shows—specifically, ABC’s The Bachelorette and —but he never had much luck. No big deal. After all, the Long Island, New York, native has already found his one true love: pizza.

As the co-owner/chef of Peter’s Pizzeria in Florida—one in Port St. Joe and another in Boca Raton—Izzo cultivated a “bad boy” image for TV. He’s the guy who threw a rival’s prized jacket into the swimming pool in The Bachelorette in 2021 and last year called bachelorette Brittany Galvin—with whom he went on an awkward date on Bachelor in Paradise—a “clout chaser.”

Izzo’s stints on both shows were short-lived, but that’s likely by design. Every good reality TV show needs a villain. And it’s a role Izzo played to the hilt. But, in an interview with PMQ, the young pizzaiolo came across as goodnatured, friendly, smart—and highly knowledgeable about pizza. If you want to see him get excited, ask him about his dough. Ask him about his Sicilian pie or his sandwiches. He’s all smiles and positive, upbeat energy.

And it’s doubtful this young Italian stallion needs to go on TV to get a date. Besides, his two pizza shops keep him plenty busy. “I’m very happy with the relationship I’m in with Peter’s Pizzeria,” Izzo says, with a chuckle. “She’s always really good to me. There’s no fighting going on.

“I’m not just doing this to make money,” he adds. “I really am passionate about what I do. I tell my guests all the time, if I could do this for free and not have to worry about paying bills, I’d do it for free.”

Long Island Roots

Izzo’s father moved to the U.S. from Italy in 1969. Once settled on Long Island, the Izzo family became regulars at the legendary Umberto’s Pizzeria, owned by Umberto Corteo. “Every family party or celebration, pretty much every Sunday, we spent going to Umberto’s,” Izzo recalls. “That was like a second home to me. His son was like a big brother to me.” On his 13th birthday, Izzo’s parents pulled him out of school for the afternoon, finalized some paperwork that would allow him to work part-time, and drove him to Umberto’s. “Umberto put the apron on me—my first one— and it’s a really emotional story,” Izzo says. “To this day, I still put my apron on like he taught me, and every time I put it on, I think of Umberto.”

Izzo started out washing dishes, moved up to busboy and, at 15, began working the counter. But Corteo had bigger plans for the youngster. “I remember Umberto telling me to stand in the corner and just watch,” Izzo says. “For three months he kept me on the payroll to literally stay in the corner, not touch anything and just watch.”

There was a lot to take in: eight pizza makers plying their craft with 10 ovens, pounding out pies, making mozzarella, sausage, breads and meatballs, and chopping meats and veggies. So Izzo watched and learned. When he was 18, he helped the Corteo family open its second Umberto’s store. While attending the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) in Manhattan, he also worked at the company’s Garden City and Wantagh locations. Then, in 2016, he studied abroad in Italy, where he learned even more about the restaurant business and ran the floor at a high-end Florence eatery that sold tickets to fill up its 25 seats every day.

After graduating top of his class from NYIT in hospitality management, Izzo managed an American-dining restaurant and catering hall. “It was, like, a 110-hour work week,” he remembers. “Just grind the kid until he blows up! You know, making $600 a week, which was fine—I didn’t know any different. Six hundred bucks a week! I thought I was making out, you know!”

Managing the Variables

But Izzo soon needed a break. He temporarily left the restaurant business and moved in with his brother, Bobby Pokora, in Miami. After returning to New York for a two-year stint at Patrizia’s, a multiunit restaurant company, he headed south to Florida again. There, he and Pokora took the plunge in 2019 and opened the first Peter’s Pizzeria location in Port St. Joe, under the HYD (How Ya Doin’?) Hospitality Group.

COVID-19 wasn’t a problem for them—Peter’s Pizzeria was practically tailor-made for the pandemic era, he says. “It turned out to be a godsend opportunity, because the whole concept of Peter’s was quick, to-go, delivery, curbside pickup, in and out. We just skyrocketed.”

Izzo put a lot of thought into his concept. Working with a company that specializes in creating the perfect water for chains like Starbucks and Chick-fil-A, he developed a proprietary water filtration system based on New York’s famous water. “I went online and got the water analysis on the top 10 pizzerias in New York and worked with that company to create a six-chamber reverse-osmosis water filtration system,” Izzo says. So the water he uses at Peter’s Pizzeria, he says, is identical to Long Island’s water, used to make dough for the pizzas he loved as a child.

“When you think about it, Starbucks is really a water-based company that sells