In 2023 BoomBozz Pizza & Watch Bar celebrates its 25th anniversary. Since its inception in 1998, BoomBozz has grown from a single carry out delivery pizzeria in Louisville to multiple locations across Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee. We’ll have more to to say about the 25th anniversary celebration, but first this excerpt from my 2017 F&D magazine profile, explaining how it all began for BoomBozz.
—
In 1994, Tony Palombino was out of school, young and restless, and unsure what to do next. After all, first-generation children don’t always remain in their immigrant parents’ small shops and stores.
Abruptly, a game-changing opportunity arose.
“I’d been in the restaurant business all my life up to that point, with my family,” Palombino remembered. “I got into the banking business, then I got a call from my mentor in Kansas City. He wanted to open a wood-fired pizza concept, which was unique for the time.”
Palombino went to Kansas City, and in 1995 he entered a specialty pizza into a contest sponsored by Pizza Today magazine.
Called the Pollotate, this pizza had marinated chicken, roasted potatoes and red onions on a crust brushed with oil and garlic –...Read more
