Pig Floyd’s owner to open pizza-barbecue place
When Thomas Ward was opening Pig Floyds, his popular barbecue joint on Mills Avenue, he had his eyes set on a different location.
But the deal did not go through. Eight years later, he was finally able to rent the spot, which he plans to turn into a new restaurant called Pigzza.
The concept, located on 1050 N. Mills Ave. just up the street from his original restaurant, will merge Pig Floyd’s barbacoa with pizza and other Italian flavors. The goal is to open by September or October, the Puerto Rican restaurateur said.
Ward is joining forces with Al Palo, co-owner of Stacios Italian Deli, and says that what is coming to Pigzza is the “perfect explosion of flavors, [with some] of the best recipes you will ever see.”
“For some years I’ve been wanting to do a pizza concept,’’ Ward said. “Obviously with the pandemic, things have changed for the restaurant industry. I was in the full process of expanding Pig Floyd’s, but I decided I would go a different route and open a different concept.”
Ward said his ultimate goal is to expand into other cities with two or three types of restaurants.
While he still has the vision of opening more Pig Floyd’s locations, even after having to shut down the one in Lake Nona during the hardest month of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said having a variety of restaurants has always been his plan.
In one of Ward’s recent podcasts called “Beyond the Smoke,” the partners discussed the new venture and how it all started.
“I kept bothering him about ‘I wanted to do a pizza place,’ and what happened?”
Ward asked Palo.
“We’re doing a pizza place,” Palo replied. Pigzza will offer more than just pizza. They are keeping it “simple” and not becoming a full Italian restaurant but will have other options such as brisket lasagna and dishes featuring smoked meats, Ward said.
“I want to do a smoked pepperoni pizza, I want to do a breakfast pizza. Al wants to bring other stuff from the traditional Italian side. It’s a good combination for the both of us,” Ward said.
During the pandemic, once the lockdowns were lifted, many restaurants had to reinvent how they were going to accommodate
people to be able to sit outside or ask for takeout orders.
“At Pig Floyd’s, even though we have a patio area, we had to turn more outdoor space into seating options,” Ward said.
At Pigzza, outdoor seating is greater than that available inside.
“We’ve prepared the building for COVID (scenarios) because we don’t want to repeat what just happened,” he said.
Ward is going to be focused on creating a “retro-looking building. We are bringing retro back with colors that are really current, and, I always want to say, “Instagramable,” he said.