A version of this post originally appeared on July 23, 2025, in Eater and Punch’s newsletter Pre Shift, a biweekly newsletter for the industry pro that sources first-person accounts from the bar and restaurant world.
This send is the first in a three-part series on high-volume restaurants, presented by Square — the technology company that makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible.
L’Industrie Pizzeria, according to co-owners Massimo Laveglia and Nick Baglivo
Where: New York City
The backstory: Tuscany native Massimo Laveglia opened his New York-style slice shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2017, with Nick Baglivo joining in 2018 as general manager and co-owner. The staff went from the two of them and a dishwasher to about 80 people as business exploded during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading them to expand their original location twice, then add a second shop in Manhattan’s West Village in 2023. Here, the partners discuss their business strategy and managing the ever-present lines.
Laveglia: As much as people think that we love it, we hate lines. We’re trying to be as fast as we can. The problem is the capacity we have in the oven: We can only make eight pies at a time.
Baglivo: We can’t even get another oven because we’re low on electricity. We try not to think about the line too much. We’re saying the quality of the pizza’s got to be good. Somebody’s going to wait 30 minutes, 40 minutes at most. Then we’ve got to make sure that they’re getting an acceptable piece of pizza.
On keeping waiting customers happy
Baglivo: We have a great staff, a very charismatic staff. We hand out menus, we go down the line, we answer questions, we interact with the customers. We have the stationary [point-of-sale] system and then we have two handheld POS systems, so when we have a moment and we’re stacked up on some pies, we’ll have two or three people taking orders at a time. But just because you take the order fast, doesn’t mean it gets made faster. We’re doing our best to make sure people aren’t complaining about the line because that’s a big, big issue for some people. Nobody ever complained when Juliana’s had a line, or Grimaldi’s had a line. They only complain about us because we’re young.
Laveglia: The space next to the first pizzeria became available and our space was very tight, and the landlord [said,] “If you want to take it, I’ll give you a better deal.” We knocked down the wall and we were able to do more pizza. We changed some equipment; we introduced gelato to the shop.
Baglivo: We’re just being consistent in reinvesting in the products and getting better and better. When the pandemic hit, we were able to be consistently available for people in the neighborhood. When we closed for renovations, people really missed us. When we reopened right around spring, everybody was really excited to come back and see the new space and how much bigger we’d gotten. We’ve really succeeded as far as keeping the quality at such a high demand.
Laveglia: When we expanded in 2021, we had more space, but it wasn’t enough for all the customers. After COVID, we had to remove the patio structure. Now the patio is open from April to October. It’s good that we have extra space, but it didn’t really change the business.
Baglivo: It keeps the customers from loitering in front of the [neighborhood] residents’ apartments. When they don’t have a place to be, it’s a free-for-all and that creates more waste and more garbage. We’re able to contain it now to the front of the shop and be mindful and diligent. We try our best.
Baglivo: When we first started working, we had very janky equipment. I remember on a Friday night, a stone broke and we chipped a piece of brick from the building to wedge the stone in there so we could get through the night. [When we expanded,] we reinvested in the shop and we [wound] up getting better ovens. We were doing our diligence looking for the best equipment and figuring out how to work with it.
On customers placing orders with the wrong location
Laveglia: In the beginning, it was a drama. It happened probably once a week. We had to change the website. When you go to the website now, before you place the order, the website asks you four or five times if you are in the right location. It doesn’t happen anymore.
