Welcome back to a new episode of The Pizza Story Podcast! This week, we're taking you to East Tennessee to meet the brilliant minds (and hands!) behind some truly incredible pizza: Jake and Holly Johnson of Patriot Wood Fired Pizza 🍕! If you love pizza made with passion, quality, and a touch of history, you are in for a treat. Jake and Holly share their wild journey from Florida to Jefferson City, Tennessee, and how a risky idea—putting a brick oven on the back of a trailer—turned into a thriving, community-favorite restaurant.

🎧 Episode Highlights: 

✅ The Food Truck Grind: Discover the challenges of operating a wood-fired oven in a tiny, high-heat food truck—a demanding path that ultimately perfected their craft.

✅ A Historic Home: Learn how they found their permanent location in a beautifully historic building that used to be the old fire station!

✅ Flavor-First Focus: Jake and Holly are obsessed with quality. They reveal how they make fresh mozzarella every morning and source special ingredients, including award-winning olive oil from the only olive farm east of the Mississippi!

✅ The Menu Magic: Get ready for some major food envy! They walk us through their rotating menu of innovative, feature pizzas inspired by your favorite foods—like the Thanksgiving Sandwich Pizza, the French Dip Pizza, and customer obsessions like The Big Dill pizza and their amazing Lolita pie.

✅ Beyond the Pie: Don't skip their brick-oven specialties, especially the Wood-Fired Chicken Wings (a massive seller) and the incredible, must-try dessert: the Cookie Skillet with ice cream and hot honey!

This episode is a testament to the fact that passion, quality ingredients, and a good story make the best kind of food. Jake and Holly’s journey is truly inspiring, and their pizza looks absolutely phenomenal 💫!

The Must-Hear Moments for Foodies!

✔️ How Jake convinced Holly to ditch the corporate life and launch a spontaneous wood-fired pizza business in East Tennessee.

✔️ The surprising menu item that exploded in popularity and is now one of their biggest sellers: brick-oven chicken wings!

✔️ The extreme challenges of the food truck life—including generator issues and the time Jake had to be treated in an ambulance due to the oven heat!

✔️ Focusing on flavor: How they elevated their game in the restaurant, starting with making fresh, high-quality mozzarella every day.

✔️ Dessert Alert! The mouthwatering details of their famous Double Chocolate Salted Caramel Cookie Skillet finished with olive oil and hot honey.

✔️ Deep dive into the most unique pizzas on their rotating menu, including sandwich-inspired pies and the famous Big Dill pizza.

✔️ The secret to their incredible flavor: Using high-quality ingredients like Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes and rare olive oil from Georgia.

✔️ The reality of running a high-pressure business with your spouse, and how pizza brought their family closer.

✔️ Hearing about the overwhelming demand that forces them to turn off their phones on Friday nights—a sure sign of truly great food!

🔗 Follow @patriotwoodfiredpizza and stop by and see them in Jefferson City, Tennessee 🎸

🎙Like, follow, and subscribe to The Pizza Story Podcast to watch Erica D’Arcangelo interview the people behind your favorite pizza 👱🏼‍♀️.

🇮🇹 A Story About Pizza

Website: https://www.astoryaboutpizza.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astoryaboutpizza/ 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@storyaboutpizza 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AStoryAboutPizza

A Story About Pizza Book: https://www.amazon.com/Story-About-Pizza-Erica-DArcangelo/dp/1917116993

Pietro’s Pizza Children’s Book: https://www.amazon.com/Pietros-Pizza-Story-About/dp/B0DTYZ15WB/

Pietro’s Pizza Toppings Children’s Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJM15W22/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

Pietro’s Italian Christmas: https://www.amazon.com/Pietros-Italian-Christmas-Erica-DArcangelo/dp/B0G2GQX78W/