Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Harvey.
Hi steve, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
The entire journey began a few years ago during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of my tenants operated a brewery and taproom. Like many breweries at the time, they were not permitted to remain open during normal business hours because they did not serve food. Wanting to help a struggling tenant survive, we purchased a small food trailer and set it up on the property so customers could order food while enjoying the brewery.
What began as a taco trailer quickly evolved into a pizza trailer. After all, pizza and beer are about as natural a pairing as you can find.
COVID unexpectedly gave me something I rarely had before—time. With my background as a building contractor, fabricator, and product developer, I decided to build a wood-fired pizza oven completely from scratch. I studied traditional Neapolitan ovens, learned as I went, and fabricated what could only be described as a steel monstrosity using mostly materials I already had on hand.
Because Neapolitan pizza has always been my favorite, I designed the oven specifically to achieve the high temperatures and cooking characteristics required for authentic wood-fired pizza.
When we finally opened, the response was overwhelming. Customers weren’t just saying the pizza was good—they were telling us it was some of the best pizza they had ever eaten. Before long, people began asking an unexpected question:
“Can you build one of these ovens for me?”
That question changed everything.
Our ingredients weren’t secret. We bought them from the same suppliers used by countless other pizzerias. It became obvious that the difference wasn’t the flour, the tomatoes, or the cheese. The difference was the oven.
That realization launched a completely new journey. What started as a way to help a tenant survive during COVID evolved into a five-year product development effort focused on creating a better commercial pizza oven.
Today I am nearing the completion of our fourth-generation design. It is a true commercial pizzeria oven capable of cooking up to ten pizzas simultaneously while delivering the authentic characteristics of a traditional wood-fired Neapolitan oven. Every generation has incorporated lessons learned from real-world operation, making the oven more efficient, easier to use, and better suited for commercial kitchens.
Looking back, it’s remarkable that a small food trailer purchased simply to help a brewery stay open during the pandemic ultimately became the foundation for an entirely new business and what I believe is a unique innovation in commercial pizza ovens.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The journey certainly had its struggles.
Looking back, it probably would have helped to have years of experience in the pizza industry. But had I followed that traditional path, I might never have developed the fabrication, engineering, and construction skills that made this project possible. In many ways, I learned everything in reverse.
One of the first major challenges I encountered was sourcing consistently high-quality hardwood for cooking. Premium cooking wood is expensive, requires significant storage space, varies in moisture content, and isn’t always readily available. That challenge led to one of the most important engineering breakthroughs in our development.
We set out to create a hardwood pellet-fired system capable of producing authentic, wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. Developing that system was one of the most difficult aspects of the project, but it has become one of our greatest competitive advantages. Every oven we build is designed with the option of a hardwood pellet heating system that delivers authentic wood-fired flavor while dramatically reducing fuel costs, simplifying storage, and providing a more consistent cooking experience than traditional firewood.
Perhaps our biggest advantage is that every new generation of oven is proven in the real world before, we test in our own commercial kitchen. Every engineering change, every improvement is validated by making hundreds of pizzas under actual operating conditions. That process quickly exposes weaknesses, highlights opportunities for improvement, and shapes the next generation of ovens.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Work path.. I started out in the construction industry and. Became a very young. General contractor in California building. New construction and remodel work.. I’ve always been interested in product development and trying to innovate. Nearly anything I could put my hands on.. This led to me developing an electric lock. We used on our own work trucks. Primarily on their toolboxes. This started. A new. Industrial category I’ve continued building and product development. And have. Several successful patents. And I’ll still go out and pour concrete with my guys. I can’t get enough of building things.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Then there’s Austin, Texas.
I can’t say enough good things about this incredible place. First and foremost, it’s the people. They’re welcoming, friendly, genuine, and always willing to engage. There is an energy here that’s difficult to describe until you’ve experienced it.
Austin has also become one of the most business-friendly and innovative cities in America. It’s home to entrepreneurs, builders, engineers, artists, and visionaries who aren’t afraid to challenge conventional thinking. Every year, more groundbreaking companies choose to establish themselves here, bringing new ideas, new talent, and technologies that have the potential to change the world.
For someone like me—someone who loves building products and solving problems—there’s no better place to be. We have a front-row seat to one of the most exciting innovation ecosystems anywhere, and that spirit of creativity has influenced everything we’re building at Fired Pizzas and Vesuvius Pizza Ovens.
Pricing:
- Get back to ya
Contact Info:
- Website: https://firedpizzas.com
