OUR STORY
Genio started with a simple question: Is it possible to produce a beautiful, truly handmade frozen pizza?
Anthony tried to find out the only way he knew how: with obsessive attention to detail and the highest standards for quality and authenticity. Armed with 30 years of experience, he spent three years in R&D until every detail – the dough recipe, the baking time, the ratio of sauce to cheese, the freshness of the ingredients — was just right. Then he kept trying to make it better.
As it turns out, frozen pizza can be so much more than a convenience food. It can bring joy to all the senses — from the smell of naturally leavened, wood fire-baked dough to the distinct hue of Italian tomatoes to the singular taste of buffalo mozzarella. It can be pure, healthy, and made with love and intention, and as accessible as the nearest grocery store. (We also work with various partners to distribute surplus pizzas to those who might need them, with the belief that everyone deserves access to quality food.)
Genio is here to raise the bar for frozen pizza. Anthony is involved in making every pizza, and he’s still determined to make each one better than the last. The word “artisan” gets thrown around a lot these days, but it can still mean something. Our story is true and transparent, and it begins with a pizza maker and his lifelong pursuit of excellence.
OUR FOUNDER
A native of New Jersey, Anthony grew up in a close-knit Italian-American family and developed a pizza obsession from a young age, persuading his mother to drive him to every well-known pizzeria in the tri-state area. This early fixation developed into a lifelong dedication to creating the perfect pizza.
In his early twenties in 1996, Anthony opened Una Pizza Napoletana in Point Pleasant, NJ. In 2004, he moved (himself and the restaurant) to New York, where his pizzas drew lines of customers and rave reviews. Since then, he’s brought Una to San Francisco and back again, to its current location on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Una continues to earn praise, claiming the #1 spot on 50 Top Pizza’s 2022 global ranking and the #12 spot on The New York Times’ list of the city’s 100 best restaurants. Since day one, in every iteration of Una, two things have remained true: there is only one location, and Anthony makes every ball of dough for every pizza served.
In 2022, after years of research and development, Anthony launched Genio Della Pizza. With a firm belief that every pizza can be better than the last, Anthony travels to Italy to work on the line for every production run, and is relentless in his aim to bring something beautiful into people’s homes that they can feel good about eating and sharing with their families.