The sounds of bustling business and ovens roaring echo all throughout the aged red brick walls. New flavor aromas fill the air with the new collaboration between INCubatoredu and Motor City Pizza.
The partnership launches March 4 and runs through March 14. It will include two new pizzas from each of INCubatoredu’s class periods. First period’s pizza, created by juniors Oscar Martinez and Larry Rico, is the “Larry Monster.” It includes mozzarella cheese, chicken tenders, barbecue sauce, red onion, cilantro, honey and jalapeños, with a small retailing for $17 and large for $24. Second period’s pizza is the “Sweet Jesus,” created by seniors Nathanial Carrell and Abigail Ranck. It includes caramelized carne asada, roasted jalapeños, smoked gouda and mozzarella mix, garlic sauce and chilaquiles, with a small costing $16.99 and $23.99 for a large. The students control all aspects of the pies, including costs, advertising and promotions.
“This has created a new goal for me to keep expanding my connections with those around me,” Rico said. “I believe making yourself a better entrepreneur includes working and collaborating with others as you never know where your connections could take you as a business owner.”
Motor City Pizza owner Greg Tierney said when creating the collaboration, he gave INCubatoredu teacher Nicole Franczvai suggestions on what students should steer away from when creating their pizzas, but otherwise left creative freedom to them.
“We have done something similar to this before, so I had a good idea of what works and what doesn’t on a pizza,” Tierney said. “I gave Ms. Franczvai a few parameters to be mindful of, but other than that, I was excited to see some creativity.”
The classes decided on whose slices would become real by allowing each period to form groups and pitch their ideas, then voting on a class favorite to become tangible pizzettas. The process has allowed the young entrepreneurs to practice business in a real world scenario.
“We had as much creative freedom as we wanted, and I got to see the ins and outs of a restaurant,” senior Joshua Chon said. “It’s not an industry I’m experienced with, so being able to see everything from [Tierney’s] profit margins, cost of goods sold, how he operates and the cost of employees, was a unique experience.”
The collaboration was brought about because of Franczvai’s position in the community, allowing her to get in touch with the restaurant, who had a desire to collaborate with the school.
“My class is all about furthering the entrepreneurial mindset so [this] is a perfect reflection of that,” Franczvai said. “I seek out opportunities like this. I wholeheartedly believe we have an amazingly rich community of people and businesses that want to embrace learning for students in new ways.”
The students went on a field trip to the restaurant on Feb. 6 to taste test their creations, receive critiques and make any last changes before they officially launch to the public. Following the tasting, the students locked in their recipes and began preparations for launch.
“I’m very excited,” Rico said. “Hopefully when they sell pizzas in March it helps spread awareness that young entrepreneurs want to show the community we are learning and seeing how things work when it comes to business.”
The pizzas have created strong buzz around them, being judged on Fox4 on Feb. 16. The collaboration has allowed for students in INCubatoredu to reach wider audiences.
“I find it personally rewarding to work with young, eager, intelligent students,” Tierney said. “I hope the students get an experience they will remember and can refer back to later in life. I hope once they have long graduated and are living in the real business world, this experience might be able to help them excel.”
The event has led participants to face various challenges along the way, eventually finding solutions to facilitate their pies’ success.
“The biggest challenge is time management,” Rico said. “You want to make sure your numbers are always right. The last couple days I’ve been deciding how much the pizza is going to cost, how much profit each pizza should make, and how to make promotions for this pizza.”
Motor City has done similar special limited time items including “The Cooper Flagg Pizza” and the Denton County Mayoral Pizza Challenge. The partnership has opened the door for conversations about future collaboration between the restaurant and class.
“So far, this has been very fun,” Tierney said. “Being our first time trying this type of program, I realized there will be some kinks to work out. [However], after all is said and done, I think it might be possible to make this an annual program.”
Carrell said partnering with a renowned business led him to push himself so he and his pizza could be successful.
“Because [the restaurant] was award winning, I felt like I had to hold myself to a higher standard,” Carrell said. “It shaped my goals by helping me want more and grow as a person and with my business. I’ve been working on [the pizza] for a minute, so I hope it will be successful.”
Rico said the collaboration has allowed him to learn valuable life lessons about business.
“The most valuable lesson I’ve learned from the collaboration that I couldn’t learn in a classroom is to have fun with this experience,” Rico said, “You only get experiences like this once in a lifetime.”
