DeFazio's Pizzeria

What DeFazio's Pizzeria does

DeFazio's Pizzeria is a privately held, family-owned Italian restaurant group operating across New York's Capital Region, with three primary dine-in venues and one seasonal site. The original pizzeria at 264-266 4th Street in Troy anchors the business and offers wood-fired pizzas, handmade pasta, calzones, antipasti, and desserts. A second Troy location, DeFazio's at 216, operates as an upscale dining venue with a full bar program, cocktail service, wine pairings, and a private event space (Masher Room), while the Albany location is a pizza counter embedded inside the Albany Distilling Company (ADCo) Cocktail Bar. A fourth, weekend-only Pizza Garden operates seasonally at Indian Ladder Farms in Altamont. Supporting revenue lines include half- and full-tray catering, private dining reservations at the Import Store (8-20 guests), merchandise (children's book 'A Shepherd's Tale' and an 'Upstate of Mind' collaboration with Compas Life), and gift cards distributed through Square.

The underlying production capability is built around a wood-fired oven cooking method paired with proprietary specialty dough recipes (Traditional White, Whole Wheat, Multi-grain, Garlic & Herb, Spicy Red, Brown's Brown Ale) and daily preparation of homemade pasta, including gluten-free and vegan variants. The technology layer is intentionally thin: customer-facing ordering runs on Mealeo's white-labeled OrderEngine platform with iOS and Android apps, reservations are routed through Resy, payments are processed via PayPal/Braintree (plus Square for gift cards), and analytics via Google Analytics. There is no proprietary AI/ML, developer API, or enterprise software product; the business is a hospitality operation, not a technology company.

The revenue model is multi-stream but predominantly transactional and consumer-facing: dine-in sales at four venues, takeout and delivery orders through the online platform, event catering booked by direct email, private dining room reservations, and minor merchandise revenue. Pricing is pay-as-you-go a la carte with promotional overlays (Wine Wednesday at 30% off bottled wine, Date Night package at $60 per couple, 7-course wine pairing dinner at $150+ per person). The go-to-market motion is direct-to-consumer with regional earned media (NY Post, Thrillist, Barstool Sports, Edible Magazine) supplementing word-of-mouth. Customer concentration is low and the customer base spans individual diners, private event hosts, catering clients, and farm visitors at Indian Ladder. The company is bootstrapped, with no disclosed external funding, institutional investors, or parent company, and operates as a multi-generational family business headquartered in Troy, NY.

Name

DeFazio's Pizzeria

Legal name

DeFazio's Pizzeria

Website

https://defaziospizza.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1951

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

DeFazio's Pizzeria is a family-owned Italian restaurant group in New York's Capital Region operating wood-fired pizza and homemade pasta venues in Troy, Albany, and seasonally at Indian Ladder Farms, serving individual diners, catering clients, and private event guests.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Italian Restaurant / Pizzeria

NAICS

Limited-Service Restaurants (722513), Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Pizza QSR (THAFAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Brasseries, Bistros & Trattorias (THAFACAI), Family-Style Restaurants (THAFACAC)

Keywords

• Wood-fired pizza
• Homemade pasta
• Italian-American restaurant
• Catering services
• Private dining events

Headquarters

HQ city

Troy

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Dine-In Restaurant Sales: Revenue from customers dining at DeFazio's three restaurant locations (Troy, Albany, Indian Ladder Farms) offering wood-fired pizza, homemade pasta, appetizers, salads, and desserts
2. Takeout and Delivery: Online ordering through Mealeo-powered platform for pickup and delivery orders from Troy and Albany locations
3. Catering Services: Full catering menu including antipastos, pasta trays, specialty chicken dishes, and desserts in half and full tray sizes for events
4. Private Dining: Private Import Store dining room available for reservations (8-20 guests) with family-style menu for celebrations and special occasions
5. Merchandise Sales: Sale of branded merchandise including the children's book 'A Shepherd's Tale' by Rocco DeFazio and Upstate of Mind collaboration products

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

DeFazio's Pizzeria is a family-owned Italian-American restaurant group that operates four dining venues in New York's Capital Region, selling wood-fired pizza, homemade pasta, calzones, appetizers, salads, and desserts. The business also offers full-service catering (half and full trays), private dining in dedicated rooms, an online ordering platform for takeout and delivery, branded merchandise, and a children's book.

Product overview

DeFazio's Pizzeria is a family-owned Italian restaurant group with multiple locations in the Troy/Albany, NY area. The core offering consists of wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizzas and homemade pasta dishes at four distinct venues: the original Troy pizzeria, the upscale DeFazio's at 216 (full bar service), the Albany location inside ADCo Cocktail Bar, and the seasonal Pizza Garden at Indian Ladder Farms. Supporting offerings include catering services with full and half trays, private dining at the Import Store, a comprehensive vegan menu, online ordering via Mealeo's OrderEngine platform, branded merchandise, and a children's book authored by Rocco DeFazio. The business positions itself as 'Home of Extraordinary Italian-American Pizza Pie.'

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DeFazio's at Indian Ladder Farms: Seasonal pizza garden location at Indian Ladder Farms in Altamont, NY serving wood-fired pizzas with gluten-free crust options.
• Import Store

Products and services

• Wood-Fired Pizza

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Albany Distilling Company / ADCo Cocktail BarcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeFazio's Albany location operates inside ADCo Cocktail Bar (Albany Distilling Company). This strategic partnership allows DeFazio's to serve dine-in pizza at the bar counter while ADCo provides the venue and cocktail service. Customers can place their dine-in pizza order at the DeFazio's counter while enjoying ADCo's cocktail menu.
• Indian Ladder FarmsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSeasonal Pizza Garden location at Indian Ladder Farms in Altamont, NY. DeFazio's operates a wood-fired pizza operation on the farm Fridays through Sundays during farm season. For private events at the Pizza Garden, customers must contact Indian Ladder Farms directly at [email protected].
• Mealeo, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationMealeo provides the white-labeled online ordering platform (OrderEngine) for defaziospizza.com. The platform handles pickup and delivery ordering, user accounts, payment processing via PayPal/Braintree, email marketing via Postmark, and analytics via Google Analytics. DeFazio's privacy policy and terms of service reference Mealeo's policies as applying to use of the ordering service.
• ResyminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorResy reservation platform is used for booking tables at DeFazio's at 216. The restaurant encourages guests looking for day-of reservations to call after 12:00pm, but Resy provides an online booking alternative.
• Square (Gift Cards)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDeFazio's sells gift cards through Square's gift card platform. Gift card link provided on website as https://squareup.com/gift/0GV93HWG4HRZY/order
• Compas Life (Upstate of Mind Collaboration)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerMerchandise collaboration with Compas Life for the 'Upstate of Mind' branded collaboration products. Link provided on DeFazio's website to compaslife.com/defazios-x-upstate-of-mind-collaboration

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Prince Street Pizza: NYC thin-crust pizza destination with multiple locations.Similar multi-location, family-owned New York pizza brand with strong earned media and a flagship that doubles as a destination venue.
• Joe's Pizza: NYC institution founded 1975 with multiple Manhattan locations and expansion to other cities.Comparable as a multi-location NY pizza brand with strong brand recognition and a mix of classic pizzeria and scaled retail formats.
• Roberta's: Brooklyn-based wood-fired pizza originator with multiple locations including a flagship in Bushwick. Shares the wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza concept, multi-format presence (pizzeria, upscale dining, delivery), and strong press recognition as a category-leading artisanal pizza brand.
• Tony's Pizza Napoletana: San Francisco-North Beach wood-fired pizza destination founded by Tony Gemignani.Comparable as a multi-format wood-fired pizza operator offering specialty doughs, pasta, and an upscale dining arm alongside the casual pizzeria.
• Lucali: Markey's Square (Brooklyn) and Miami wood-fired pizza destination.Comparable as a destination-style wood-fired pizzeria with strong press credentials, no-reservation/scarcity model, and high-end Italian-American positioning.
• Patsy Grimaldi's (Grimaldi's Pizzeria): Iconic NYC-area coal/wood-fired pizzeria with multiple locations. Directly comparable as a multi-location wood-fired pizza brand with strong regional identity and family heritage positioning.

Emerging players

• &pizza: East Coast fast-casual wood-fired pizza concept with multiple locations.Comparable as a fast-casual wood-fired pizza operator with strong digital ordering and a non-traditional venue strategy (including partnerships and non-traditional locations).

Regional players

• Il Buco / Il Buco Alimentari: Multi-location NYC Italian restaurant and gourmet market founded by the Bonding brothers.Comparable as a multi-format Italian restaurant group pairing a sit-down dining experience with private events and retail, but more upscale and NYC-focused.

Broad incumbents

• Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza: Multi-state coal-oven pizza chain with 60+ locations across the East Coast.Comparable as a scaled artisanal-cooking pizza brand, but operates a broader chain footprint rather than a single-region family operator.
• MOD Pizza: National fast-casual pizza chain with hundreds of locations.Comparable as a multi-format pizza operator with strong digital ordering and catering capabilities, but at meaningfully larger scale and with corporate ownership.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/defazios
• Facebookfacebook.com/defaziospizza

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about DeFazio's Pizzeria