Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Anson. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Family business with a passion for Pizza Cipolla Rossa is a family run small business in the Washington DC area. The business is ran by Momma Rossa / Jaci who brings her life experiences, business expertise, and heart to Cipolla Rossa. After spending many years working in the culinary industry, Josh founded Cipolla Rossa to bring his unique blend of Neapolitan and New York style pizza to the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It all started when Josh would get pizza nightly after working a long restaurant shift as a cook. He studied these pizzerias and learned to love the craft.
Josh is a culinary veteran and has over 15 years of restaurant experience working for large corporations and small restaurants. What differentiates Cipolla Rossa is Josh’s extensive culinary background including graduating from The Culinary Institute of America and working in many different kitchens in New York City, Atlanta, Miami, New England, and Washington DC. Josh worked for traditional Italian restaurants and multiple pizzerias where he developed his own style of artisinal pizza.
Cipolla Rossa’s pizzas are created using fresh dough made from scratch (no preservatives), with local, sustainable, seasonal, bright ingredients. All pizzas are made to order by hand using fine organic flours and seasonal ingredients. Pizzas are cooked between 700-900 degrees Fahrenheit and are usually cooked within 3 to 4 min. Cipolla Rossa is compliant with all health codes, licensed, and insured.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Never a smooth road running a business, Lots of challenges financially, physically, and mentally. Getting up every Sunday morning at 5am for a Farmer’s Market after working until midnight on Saturday nights is exhausting. Working seven days a week for six months straight to get out of the red. I feel like these are common things for most business owners – lots of sacrifice, breakdowns with equipment, staff not showing up, running out of supplies from produces, no sleep, friends and family angry because you’re never around. Every day is a struggle with a business – if you’re not challenged, you don’t grow.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Cipolla Rossa is a Family Run Wood Fired Artisan Pizza Experience, on Wheels, for Special Events & Much More!
Proudly Serving Delicious Neapolitan/ NY Style Pizzas, Made with love by Hand using the Freshest Seasonal Ingredients Available.
We are using top industry ingredients and many ingredients from the three farmer’s markets we work on our hand made sourdough pizza that’s cooked in a wood burning oven.
Very proud of our pizza and the flavor that comes with it! We are a small family run business – with my Mom Jaci that is retired but has been working with me full time since 2015.
She has her secret recipes that she brings to the table like: Momma rossa’s spicy honey drizzle and Momma rossa’s hand-squeezed lemonade. She works every event still to this day and will give anyone a warm personal experience when they visit our food truck for pizza.
How do you think about luck?
I feel like if you treat people right and work extremely hard good things will happen. Never give up and chase your dreams!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cipollarossapizza.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cipollarossapizza/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cipollarossapizza
