Hii Pie Pizza Pop Up with Greg Bird & Special Guests
Hii Pie Pizza Pop Up @ YardCity with Greg Bird & Special Guests
Greg, what is your background in Food/Hospitality/Pizza?
What began as a part time job soon became a full time passion as I worked my way through the culinary ranks ultimately becoming an Executive Chef for fine dining restaurants. After many years in the kitchen I moved into specialty food distribution. This was a dream job inspiring thousands of Chefs' including Michelin Starred and Celebrity / James Beard Foundation Chefs with awesome and seasonal ingredients.
My quest for pizza began about 8 years ago after some hands on training from World Champion Pizzaiolos and taking classes from Master Bakers. I’ve been attempting to make a better pizza ever since.
How did you become Pizza-famous in Lake Havasu?
Having a pizza oven and access to awesome ingredients, I started a pizza pop up at the beginning of the pandemic lock down; I wanted to feed people in my neighborhood and those who were out of work or just needed a meal during these very uncertain times. It started with a few homemade pizzas delivered by golf cart on Saturday evenings. It was a true contactless delivery where we would pull up, ring the doorbell and drive off. Sharing the Saturday evening deliveries on Instagram blossomed from there.
At first I was giving them away just trying to do some good during a bad time but people insisted on paying for them, which sparked the idea to donate to Slice Out Hunger’s Pizza vs Pandemic fundraiser. Donations from local Havasu deliveries were sent to Slice Out Hunger and pointed back to our local pizzeria's, who in turn made and delivered many pizzas to the frontline healthcare workers at Havasu Regional Medical Center summer of 2020.
Can you share a bit with us about the magic of the Pizza Community and how they help others?
I've worked in different facets of the hospitality / restaurant industry throughout my career and hands down the pizza community is very positive and transparent where everyone shares ideas, works together to help each other out, do good and be better. A great example is the current Slice of Summer campaign, which aims to unify home pizza makers across America to make pizza in their neighborhoods for donations. Our Lake Havasu City pizza pop up has raised over $1,000 this summer which points to Feeding America and No Kid Hungry. In total this campaign has raised over $9,000 nationally.
Who are your top 3 Pizzaiolo’s / Pizzeria's?
I will always give a nod to Chris Bianco. (Phoenix) - the first ever Pizzaiolo to receive the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest
Tony Gemignani @capopizza (Northern California) - 13 time World Pizza Champion
Justin De Leon Apollonia's Pizzeria (Los Angeles) - all around amazing pizza maker
What kind of flavors can we expect from your Pop Up @ YardCity?
In one word: FRESH
Expect organic wheat, organic tomato, high quality olive oil, fresh mozzarella, fresh herb pizzas made with a lot of love in a oak wood burning oven.
