HOME OF THE BEETERONI

Li’l Nonna’s co-founder Robbie Lordi hopes to own the vegan pizza niche in Austin, Texas.

BY TRACY MORIN

As a vegetarian since his teens, and following a years-long stint as dough maker and menu developer for Via 313 in Austin, Texas, Robbie Lordi, owner of the all-vegan Li’l Nonna’s, was ready to strike out on his own with a pizza concept. In 2016, his ownership dream came to fruition, with financial investment from his ex-employers at Via 313 to buy a trailer—but he didn’t want to start just another pizza spot.

“I’ve always been kind of put off by specifically vegetarian or vegan pizza places—it always felt like someone who’s vegan or vegetarian trying to make pizza,” Lordi explains. “So I approached it in the opposite way: As a pizza maker and baker first and foremost, how can I make pizza that isn’t just a vegan version of something? The concept from the beginning was to do stuff that’s familiar, but not necessarily just an analog of meats. So, for example, we make our own pepperoni from beets, called Beeteroni, in a 12-hour process—it’s not just a soy pepperoni.

“These days, people give up dairy before they give up meat; a lot of our customers are people who can’t—or choose not to—eat dairy,” Lordi continues. “And just as people will go out to eat Italian or Vietnamese, they go out to eat vegan, adding it to their weekly rotation. Probably half of our customers aren’t even vegetarian.”

Indeed, Lordi credits his dedication to a vegan-only menu as one key to the overall success of Li’l Nonna’s. Now he’s looking to expand outside of Texas, hopefully on the East Coast. “I think by going fully vegan, it got us out of that purgatory; we became more of a realized concept,” he says. “We realized that not only could we pull it off, but we’d actually grow as a company. There are 40 great pizzerias in Austin—even the worst Neapolitan here is good. I’m perfectly happy owning a niche market.”

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