American Gothic Pizza and Gelato | Our Story

American Gothic Pizza was born out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, Brian was working for the restaurants he helped found, an award-winning Neapolitan pizzeria with two locations. However, with the stress of the pandemic on the restaurant industry, he was displaced from his job which led to the inception of our business. The years of the pandemic stole a lot: a sense of normalcy, the ability to gather and share a meal with loved ones. We created American Gothic Pizza out of a desire to give some of that back to people. In a time when people couldn’t go to restaurants, we decided to bring the restaurant to them using personal pizza ovens to make fresh, delicious, artisan pizza at outdoor gatherings. With Brian’s experience in the food service industry, Cheryl’s twenty-plus years as a Church Director of Hospitality, and a shared passion for great food, this business fit us like a glove. We began by catering one small event for 40 people. From there, we booked more events, developed a social media presence, expanded our menu, and began to work occasional pizza pop-up events. Since that time, and with the return of some normalcy, the business has evolved and grown. In 2022 we decided to add a mobile pizza trailer. There was no blueprint for what we wanted to do: use small pizza ovens at a very low investment, in a very small space, to produce restaurant-standard pizza. When we got our trailer, we had to figure out how to make the space work in the most optimal way. We came up with the idea to put the pizza ovens on the outside of the trailer which is crucial to our pizza-making process and maximizing the small space we operate in. No one had done this before, so in that sense, we were charting our own path and truly pioneering new methods. That mobile pizza trailer still operates in Celina, Texas under the capable hands of our franchise partners, Tim and Callie Payne. Then in 2024 a remarkable thing happened. Wheeler District, a new vibrant community in the heart of Oklahoma City reached out to us to see if we would be interested in opening a brick-and-mortar location. So we moved (back!) to Oklahoma City to continue the adventure. We don't know where the journey will go from here, but we do know that it will be delicious!!