Chef Daniele Uditi

The Pizza Innovations Powering Daniele Uditi’s Pizzana

7 Minute read

12 May 2026

Paul Feinstein

Journalist

Copy link

From custom pizza boxes to frozen pies and dough-to-go, the Pizzana founder is rethinking how artisanal pizza works beyond the dining room.

Daniele Uditi was watching Candace Nelson bake cookies when he started thinking about pizza boxes.

Fresh from the oven, the cookies rested on a perforated tray to keep the bottoms from turning soggy. Uditi immediately connected it to a problem that has plagued pizza forever, both in and out of the pizzeria: steam. “We should do that for a pizza,” he recalls thinking. The system, he says, “prevents the pizza from getting super wet, which is one of the things people don't like about Neapolitan pizza.”

The idea first led to the perforated metal trays Pizzana uses inside its restaurants, helping pies stay crisp and structurally intact throughout a meal. That innovation eventually evolved into Pizzana’s “Heat & Slice” system, a custom pizza box designed with airflow channels underneath the pie to preserve texture during delivery. They’re the kind of obsessive details that have defined Uditi’s approach since arriving in Los Angeles from Caserta with $300, a 64-year-old family starter, and an idea for a style of pizza that blended Naples with Southern California.

Over the last five years, Pizzana has expanded well beyond its original Brentwood location, adding restaurants across Los Angeles before moving into Texas with locations in Dallas and Houston. Another Houston outpost is already in the works. But for Uditi, expansion only works if the pizza still tastes handmade. “Maintain the quality,” he says. “Usually [people] find shortcuts on ingredients to make more money.”

That philosophy still traces back to the same dough starter Uditi carried from Italy nearly a decade ago. Passed down to him by his aunt in Caserta, near Naples, the naturally fermented starter became the foundation for Pizzana’s distinctive Neo-Neapolitan style: airy and blistered like traditional Neapolitan pizza, but structured enough to support heavier toppings. Even as the company grows, Uditi remains deeply involved in the day-to-day process, from testing dough fermentation to training staff across locations.

Part of that innovation has come from refusing to treat pizza as untouchable. Early on, Uditi became known for translating classic pasta flavors into pizza form, most famously with Pizzana’s cacio e pepe pie. More recently, he has continued experimenting through collaborations and limited specials designed to keep both customers and staff engaged. One recent example involved recreating the flavor of macaroni and cheese through texture. “I found a way to put the mac and cheese flavor into the pizza,” Uditi says. “I dehydrated, I cooked it through the fryer, so they became like chicharrones, like Mexican chips.”

Uditi’s experimentation extends far beyond toppings. Over the years, Pizzana has introduced a series of systems designed to maintain the texture and integrity of its pizzas outside the dining room. The company also expanded into nationally shipped frozen pizzas and “Dough-to-Go,” a program that lets customers bake Pizzana dough themselves.

Those kinds of experiments are also a way of maintaining energy inside a growing company. “At the end of the day, your routine can feel like a heavy job,” he says. “But if you know how to lift people up…” Rather than letting the menu become static, he continues introducing new ideas and collaborations across locations, pushing staff to approach pizza with the same curiosity he brings to it himself.

Even as Pizzana grows, Uditi insists on maintaining the small details that give the restaurants their handmade feel. Dough is still stretched and topped by hand, and the company continues using the same naturally fermented starter that first came with him from Italy. “That’s why they feel artisanal,” Uditi says.

For Uditi, innovation and tradition are not opposing ideas. The same chef who spent years studying fermentation and wood-fired cooking in Italy is now engineering pizza boxes, experimenting with frozen dough behavior, and building systems designed to preserve quality across multiple cities. But underneath all of it is the same goal that shaped Pizzana from the beginning: making pizza that feels personal, even as the business gets bigger.