‘I Love Risk’

The owner of a legendary Philadelphia pizzeria decides to go big.

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:

• For a while there, the post-Covid environment brought women back into the workforce.

• An economist says guacamole will soon be a luxury item.

• The SBA is offering a hardship program to owners struggling with a Covid-era loan,

• Is the CEO tripping? A growing cottage industry is pitching psychedelics to business leaders.

GROWTH

A Philadelphia cheesesteak and pizza legend decides to go big: “'Five years in, [Danny] DiGiampietro — let’s call him Danny, because nobody bothers tripping over DiGiampietro — has embarked on an audacious expansion of Angelo’s. In October, he opened a ghost kitchen on Girard Avenue in North Philadelphia with UberEats to deliver Angelo’s pizzas, hoagies, cheesesteaks, and specialty sandwiches throughout much of the city. In November, he debuted Uncle Gus’ Steaks at Reading Terminal Market with market merchants Joe Nicolosi of DiNic’s and Dave Braunstein of Pearl’s Oyster Bar. The next stop is Manhattan, where Danny is opening Danny & Coop’s in partnership with actor Bradley Cooper.”

• “‘People who know me know what I went through and where I’ve been,’ Danny said one morning as he pulled rolls out of an oven in South Philly. ‘I’ve been high and I’ve been low and I’ve been really low.’”

• “Danny could have settled down with one successful pizzeria, but he chose to go all in — funding the expansion himself, with no outside investors. Why? ‘It’s a fair question,’ Danny said. ‘My therapist said that I have ADHD and I love risk. But I only like risk [when I’m] betting on myself.’”

• “The creative process delights him, as well. ‘I love taking an idea, sitting around a table and talking about it and throwing out ideas and the excitement of what it could be and the building of it when it starts,’ he said. ‘You get the place and you get the key and it’s a [dump] and you transform it into something beautiful and then …’ He paused. ‘Then it just comes to life.’”

• “‘Number two, I’m surrounded by good people and I don’t want to lose them,’ Danny said. ‘We all get along and have a common goal.’ He likened the atmosphere at Angelo’s to that of a pirate ship: a hotbed of eager cooks and bakers, with plenty of strong personalities. The expansion will allow him to promote his stars and keep his crew together. ‘We’re getting health benefits for everybody,’ he said. ‘We’re feeling like a real company.’” READ MORE