A Monmouth County pizzeria has found a fun, new way to help its customers combat coronavirus isolation boredom – take-home pizza kits.
It was an idea thought up by Erin Willett and Brendan Smith – co-owners of Julio’s Pizza Company in Atlantic Highlands.
Lori Youmans was one of the customers to try it out.
“Our theater tickets in the city were canceled. Everything went bye-bye and I thought, well, let’s pretend to be a kid again and come out and make pizzas,” she says.
The pizzeria owners thought up the idea Tuesday morning. It is as simple as packing a ball of dough, a pound of cheese and some tomato sauce in a box to go. It also comes with directions on how to cook it all.
“Whether you’re on the side of the business or whether you’re just at home trying to feed your family, so that’s what we were trying to provide everybody yesterday and now it’s’ kind of going to probably be on our menu forever,” says Willett.
Due to new social distancing guidelines, all restaurants in New Jersey are only able to offer takeout or delivery. Julio’s Pizza’s owners are still interacting with their customers on social media, asking parents to post pictures of their kids making the pizza at home, using #JuliosAtHome.
The owners say that after two days of sales, it is helping keep their business afloat.
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“To makes it as successful as we can for ourselves, our family, and for our employees and their families, it’s just really important to us,” Willet says.
The pizzeria is also hosting a contest for the most creative pizza made using the kits. The winning pizza will be featured on the menu for a month.