Exploring Life & Business with Jeremy Long of Dispatch Pizza

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Long.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
I was born and raised in South KC. I grew up working at family restaurants from the age of 12. During high school and college, I worked every job you can have in a restaurant: busboy, dishwasher, prep cook, line cook, server, bartender, kitchen manager, and general manager. After college, I needed to see if the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. After a stint of snowboard instructing in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, I moved to Vancouver, BC, to start my career in sales, working for a large commercial printing company. I worked in that industry for about 8 years, with moves to Chicago and Los Angeles along the way. Around the time I turned 30, I’d had enough. I was not passionate about printing, and the corporate rigamarole had taken its toll. I was burnt out and ready to start a new adventure. So I did.

A friend in Chicago told me about his family’s restaurant in Barga, Tuscany, and said he would put in a good word for me if I wanted to go work there. I couldn’t get to Italy fast enough. I put in my two weeks and booked a one-way ticket. Arriving in Italy was a dream. A dream that, 10 years later, really hasn’t ended. I lived in a small apartment next to the wine cellar in the restaurant’s basement. The family that owned the restaurant quickly became my family. I was instantly immersed in the Italian lifestyle and found the happiness I’d sought. Then I met a woman, a Kansas City woman. We fell in love at a wedding in the hills near Cortona. I was cooking for the wedding, and she was a bridesmaid. When her flight was scheduled to leave 2 days after the wedding, neither of us wanted the adventure to end. So she stayed for a few weeks with me in Barga, and when I left Italy, I moved to Los Angeles to see if we could make this thing work. We now have 3 kiddos and moved back to our hometown together.

Over the years, I worked in dozens of restaurants, from luxury fine dining in Los Angeles to fried tacos in Springfield, MO. I knew I loved the service industry and dreamed of starting my brick-and-mortar restaurant. Then, 2020 happened, and opening a restaurant was a big risk. On a trip to the central coast of California wine country, I saw a new dining concept and was immediately astonished. The concept was a wood-fired pizza catering business centered around an antique truck. They didn’t run like a food truck but rather like a catering company, only servicing pre-booked events. Between the perfect pizza and the incredible aesthetic they created, I immediately knew that this was IT. I was going to build my pizza truck. Dispatch Pizza was born. And here we are, just coming up on our first anniversary, and I couldn’t love my job any more than I do!

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We started a business during COVID. Getting an SBA loan was the first major hurdle. Once we cleared that, the next step was building the truck. Not easy during the height of COVID. There were countless delays and issues during the build; every day we were delayed was one less revenue day. The challenges were myriad. But the real work started once the truck was completed and in our hands. And while we have challenges and obstacles every day, our crew has been phenomenal, and we’ve met all our goals for the first year.

Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Dispatch Pizza is a wood-fired pizza catering company specializing in perfect Neapolitan-style pizzas. Our style of service has been created to give each guest at an event the perfect pizza experience. We cook 6 – 8 pizzas at a time in our 1000° oven, and they cook in 60 -90 seconds. Every 10 or 20 seconds, we pull a fresh, hot, perfect pizza from the oven. We serve and slice them immediately, and guests can choose slices of all the varieties they want to try. This process allows every guest (even for large parties with 500+ guests) to try a perfect, fresh-oven Neapolitan pizza. We also serve fresh salads, tray-passed appetizers, beautiful charcuterie displays, and S’mores Nutella pizza for dessert. As a cook, I am very proud of the pizza we make. We spent 4 days making the perfect dough. Our mozzarella cheese and San Marzano tomatoes are the finest in the US. We are certainly on the list of the best slices you can find in the Midwest. We don’t compromise on any aspect of our services; you can taste that attention to detail. I’m also very proud of the aesthetic we have created for our brand. Our 1949 International Harvester KB7 truck is the backbone of our business and the driving force of our aesthetic. We call it “Pony Express Chic”. Vintage & elegant. We built the business to serve the highest-end clientele in Kansas City, and we are so grateful for the warm reception we have enjoyed this last year.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Whether discussing raising kids or starting a business, it takes a village. I’m a do-it-yourself kind of guy, but I’ve been humbled by my need for help and the support I’ve received from our family, friends, and community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dispatchpizza.com
• Instagram: @dispatchpizzakc
• Facebook: @dispatchpizzakc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dispatch-pizza/
• TikTok: @dispatchpizzakc

Image Credits
@melissaandbethphotography @angisart