Born and raised in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Kevin started his culinary and hospitality journey at age 19 making New York style pizza in a mall food court while attending the University of Pittburgh.  With a passion for the hospitality industry starting to take root, Kevin enrolled at Pennsylvania Culinary Institute le Cordon Bleu school for culinary arts as an aspiring chef.  He was first introduced to the craft of Neapolitan pizza while completing his culinary externship under the tutelage of Ron Molinaro at il Pizzaiolo in Mt. Lebanon Pa.

  “I wanted to be a chef.  I wanted to cook beautiful food for people.  They started scheduling me for shifts on the pizza line on busy weekends and my obsession for the artisan pizza craft began.  I got hooked.”

Upon graduation from culinary school, Kevin took a leap of faith and landed at, Vera Pizza Certified Via Tribunali, 3000 miles across the country in Seattle Washington under Master Pizzaiolo Dino Santoniccolo.  It was there that Kevin started to plant his flag as a future master Pizzaiolo.  The artisan pizza seed had been firmly planted and there was no looking back. 

Following his stint in Seattle, Kevin rejoined Ron Molinaro at il Pizzaiolo to become head Pizza Maker.  At this career point, the drive to understand the math and science involved with the dough making process began to take root.  The match of Kevin as an ambitious head pizza maker and Ron Molinaro as a pizza obsessed owner and mentor accelerated their comprehension of specs and techniques of pizza dough development.  The seed to research and develop new styles of pizza had been planted and the quest to learn from the masters of the industry had begun.

In collaboration with Manzo Foods in Miami, Kevin joined Team Polselli and all of its master pizza makers for demonstrations and competitions at the International Pizza Expos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.  From there networking with the masters accelerated as did the knowledge and comprehension of the craft.  And the introduction to Roman Style pizza began through the Roman Pizza Academy. 

“I was fortunate enough to be able to learn and train with some best pizza makers in the world.  I tried to stay humble and just learn everything I could from everyone that had been doing it longer than me.  I watched YouTube videos of famous pizza makers and attempted to mimic their styles until I was able to organically develop my own.” 

  With years of artisan pizza training and a growing national reputation as a “dough geek”, Kevin started Romulus Pizza al Taglio in Pittsburgh’s Strip District as a year long incubator in the Pennsylvania Market food hall.  Romulus was a Roman Pizza by the slice concept created to test and inundate the Pittsburgh and national market with the Roman Pizza style. 

  Following the Romulus project, Kevin took a “pizza sabbatical” and started working with Anthony Ambeliotis and his team of master bakers at Mediterra Bakehouse in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to hone his knowledge and training in the science of bread baking while helping build their Roman Pizza program. 

 “Working with the artisan bakers was the best move I could have made at that point in my career.  This helped me to increase my knowledge of bread dough and the science of mixing, shaping, and baking.  I took that knowledge and was able to translate that to my pizza making skill set. My confidence and my ability to control my dough mixes and techniques increased exponentially.”

  With 15 years of research and development into the science and mathematical aspects of pizza and pizza dough techniques, Kevin became a trainer and consultant with the Roman Pizza Academy in Miami.  The academy enabled Kevin develop a teaching skillset engineered to relay training and information to students and clients with little to no pizza experience in a clear and concise manner.

  “You can’t overload students with too much information in a small amount of time.  The retention level will be lacking.  Your more prone to make mistakes when you are focusing on too many aspects at one time.  You get scattered.  My teaching and training techniques enable the students to grasp the concepts by introducing “indicators” to watch for during the mixing and proofing process that are easy to spot with little to no knowledge of the concept.  This in turn will increase the students confidence levels exponentially and expedites the learning process without sacrificing quality or integrity.  The student will learn more organically.  Rather than showing the student the ultimate solutions, I show them the path and let them discover the solutions themselves.  The “lightbulb” moments tend to stick and stay better.  Thus increasing retention.”

  With 8 plus years of teaching and consulting mileage under his belt, Kevin continues his passion for educating students and clients in the craft of artisan pizza and its mathematical and scientific components.  Having taught and mentored a multitude of students from different backgrounds including James Beard nominated chefs, Hells Kitchen contestants, Hilton Hawaiian resorts, and roman pizza the the Chelsea Market in New York, Kevin created his own personal platform to consult, teach, and train both professionals and home pizza making enthusiasts alike.