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Lawrence Longo is certain about one thing: America needs a great national pizza brand.
Not just a chain that cranks out slices, but a name that stands for quality, heritage and the kind of flavor people will travel for. “Our goal is to be that premium slice shop in America,” he tells Restaurant Influencers host Shawn Walchef.
That mission is at the heart of his work growing Prince St. Pizza from a single shop into a brand with locations across the country.
The story started on a block in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood, where the original Prince St. Pizza has been drawing crowds for years. Its pepperoni square slice is an icon: crispy-edged, overflowing with curl and dripping with flavor.
Longo was a fan before he was a partner. “I used to go in as a customer,” he says. “I loved the pizza; I loved the energy in the shop. I could feel how much it meant to people.”
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That connection turned into conversations. Longo got to know the owners, learning not just about the recipes but about the pride and history behind them. “We started talking about what it could be,” he recalls. “I told them, ‘This isn’t just a slice shop. This is a brand that could mean something in every city.'”
Eventually, that dialogue became a partnership, grounded in a shared commitment to keep the product and culture intact. Now the expansion is real. This interview took place inside a new Prince St. Pizza in Las Vegas, just steps from the Strip.
The crowd here is a mix of locals and visitors, but the slice in their hands tastes just like it would in SoHo. “That’s the goal,” Longo says. “No matter where you are, when you bite into it, it should feel like you’re in New York.”
The Las Vegas shop is just one of several new locations, each chosen carefully. “We don’t just go anywhere,” he explains. “We look for cities where Prince St. can fit in and still stand out. And then we build the right team to protect what makes it special.”
For Longo, it is not simply about growing bigger. It is about creating a national pizza brand without losing the soul of the original.
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The next great American pizza brand
Prince St. Pizza’s footprint is getting bigger, and the momentum is real. New locations are opening in markets like Miami and Dallas. Each one matches the quality and culture of the original SoHo shop. Celebrity customers have become part of the story. Usher. Adam Sandler. Dave Portnoy. They aren’t there for photo ops. They come in because they like the pizza.
“They try, and they come back, and they like the brand,” Longo says. Being in cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago means crossing paths with people who live for good food, whether they are famous or not.
Growth also brings noise. “The bigger you get, the more haters you get,” Longo says. “You can’t listen to the noise. You want to listen to everybody, but you gotta just keep your head down, worry about yourself, do the best job you can and focus on your customers.”
That mindset is what allows Longo to keep expanding without losing the flavor and culture that made Prince St. Pizza a destination in the first place.
Every new store is another chance to prove that a premium slice shop can scale nationally without losing what made it special.
“Every time you open a new restaurant, you learn something new about your brand,” Longo says, “and we’re only getting better.”
It’s the same goal he set from the start — to take Prince St. Pizza from a single shop in New York to a true national brand. And for Longo, the recipe for getting there is simple: protect the product, protect the culture and keep serving slices worth traveling for.
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