Competition is heating up in Thayer’s pizza ovens.
The Flatbread Company, with locations across New England and Hawaii, will open a restaurant on Cushing Street this November. Flatbread was first established in Amesbury, Mass., by friends Jay Gould P’17 and John Meehan, who sought to make pizza with organic ingredients. Using a clay oven, locally sourced foods and free-range meats, Flatbread promotes “sustainability,” “respect for the earth” and “community,” according to the company’s website.
Flatbread joins Nice Slice and Antonio’s Pizza as a third pizzeria in the Thayer Street area.
“We’ve looked at Providence before, in the Iron Yards,” Gould said. “It’s just a fun city to be a restaurant in.”
Flatbread’s Providence location will be its first restaurant next to a university as well as its first in a state capital. “It (will be) a fabulous location near campus as well as the culinary schools in the area,” Gould said. “If we do things right, we were hoping to draw not only Brown students but families from Providence.”
The company considers several important criteria in choosing its locations — “there’s a certain size we like, and a neighborhood that’s family-friendly,” Gould said. According to its website, Flatbread values access to locally-sourced, organic produce as much as a familial atmosphere. Though specific Providence sources are yet to be determined, a variety of producers provide Flatbread’s locations in New England with ingredients.
“We push for local food — always,” Gould said. “It’s the job of the kitchen people at each Flatbread to find those places.”
Flatbread, recalling its communal values, is not concerned about local competition from Antonio’s and Nice Slice.
“We’re unique in terms of our organic, locally-sourced category,” Gould said, and so compared to the other local pizzerias, “we’re like two different products.”
Gould said Flatbread will also stand apart in its community focus, “where families can play with the dough and sit in front of the fire.”
Antonio’s and Nice Slice do not seem concerned either. Ed Ramos, manager of Antonio’s, said he has never heard of Flatbread and added, “If we keep doing what we do best, there’s no need to pay attention.”
Eric Carrico, manager of Nice Slice, said he is confident Flatbread’s organic bent will not steal away customers, as Nice Slice also uses locally-sourced ingredients.
Flatbread does not plan on differentiating its Providence location from its other restaurants — it will retain a menu of pizzas, salads and desserts, as well as family-style seating surrounding a central hearth.
“We always try to honor the architecture of the building — put the history on the wall and give it a sense of place,” Gould said. The only differentiating factor will be the construction of a small library in the back of its restaurant to complement the local university scene.
Flatbread has considered other measures to accommodate the Brown clientele and has looked favorably on the possibility of allowing students to use their meal plans to pay. Flatbread further aims to attract Brown students through a weekly fundraiser, giving $3.50 from every flatbread pizza sold on Tuesdays to a local nonprofit.
“It’s a win-win. We’d rather give money to this than spend it on advertising funds elsewhere,” he said.
Flatbread plans a “soft opening” in conjunction with its “quiet, communal presence,” Gould added. The restaurant will also host a small party for contractors and those who helped with construction.
Though his daughter Carly Gould ’17 is a student at Brown, he said the decision to choose Providence was “purely coincidence” — the company had been investigating the area prior to her acceptance.
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