Poseidon's Pizza: Savannah's Recipe for Community and Connection

Join the heartwarming conversation with Savannah, the spirited force behind Poseidon's Pizza, and discover the delightful blend of Northern Kentucky charm and genuine care kneaded into each pie. In a tale that's as savory as the pizzas she creates, Savannah unfolds the story of her flourishing business and how it's deeply interwoven with community service. From sourcing top-notch local ingredients to crafting an inclusive menu that caters to food allergies, she's not just a business owner; she's a community caretaker. Revel in the anecdotes of her balancing act – running a successful pizzeria while nurturing her family, all with the grace of a mother whose vigilance extends beyond her own kids.

Beyond the mouthwatering aroma of baking dough, Savannah's tale continues as she passionately discusses the influence of her children on Poseidon's Pizza's future. It's more than a business; it's a legacy in the making, flavored with creativity and youthful insight. Get a taste of the exceptional customer service that makes each visit unforgettable, and learn about the VIP program that rewards the loyalty of pizza aficionados. Savannah's generosity slices through every aspect of her work, from feeding the hungry through GoPantry partnerships, to honoring local heroes with discounts. So settle in and prepare to be inspired by a woman whose dedication to her craft and her community is as evident as the golden crust on her signature pizzas.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Murphy.

Speaker 2: 0:14

Thank you, charlie. Yes, I am Mike Murphy, the host of the Good Neighbor podcast. With me today is a friend, a client, someone I've known for a while. She used to be a neighbor of mine. I've watched her grow in the business and it is nice that we've become friends Now. I'm so proud of what she's doing in the community. I wanted to make sure all of you got to spend a little time with Savannah from Poseidon's Pizza. Savannah, welcome to the show. How are you?

Speaker 3: 0:45

Good. How are you doing today, Mike?

Speaker 2: 0:47

Doing great. I want you, in your own words, just to tell the community what you want them to know about Poseidon's Pizza. Explain Poseidon's Pizza and just kind of explain to us your vision for the business, what it is you do.

Speaker 3: 1:01

Absolutely so. For those of you who don't know me, I am from Northern Kentucky. I was born and raised here, graduated from Ryall High School back in 2015. So this is my hometown. I was fortunate enough to have this opportunity, come up and be able to make pizza for everyone in my community. But for me, it's more than just pizza. Although I think we have some great pizza and I love what I do here, I love more giving back into the community. We partner with GoPantry. I do weekly outings to support people, whether it be the firefighters in this area, the police department. I just actually left the recruiting station over in Florence and dropped off some pizza to thank everyone for their service. I have always had a heart for giving. I wanted to be a nurse, actually, so it's funny that I wear gloves to make pizza and not gloves to take care of people, but that was something that I was always passionate about. I love taking care of people, helping people, so this is more than just pizza for me.

Speaker 2: 2:08

Okay. So they say that the way to a man's heart and the same could be said for women, I'm sure is through their stomach. So you get to love on people, the community, in a specific way. When I think of your pizza, I know there are some specialty pizzas. I've tried many of them, not all of them, I mean, I'm a boring guy.

Speaker 2: 2:30

I'm a pepperoni pizza dude, but you guys have so much more. So, just in general, though, when it comes to the product you're putting out into the community, your pizza, tell us about it in terms of the ingredients, and I like it because it's so fresh, so it really does come through in the text, so talk about that.

Speaker 3: 2:51

So my partner actually has really influenced a lot of the ingredients that we use here. So we're Kentucky proud. We use everything locally sourced, down to our down to our dough, so it's freshly made. Every day we get in here early. We started back to dough and we use the highest quality ingredients. We get olive oil from somebody we actually know here in Kentucky and you know we start off our day making dough. We come in, get a box of cheese out and they're all not shredded. We shredded all fresh in-house. So we chose all of the ingredients that we have because we would never serve anybody anything that we would not serve our own children. So everything is allergen free.

Speaker 3: 3:37

My son has a tree nut allergy so we take it extremely serious here. Just because you know I'm a mama that carries an epipen around and you know I'm always looking at the menus on. You know wherever we're out to eat and half the time we're scared to go anywhere because of you know what could happen. So here we make sure that everything is separate. We have a cross-contamination zone and everything for people who have gluten allergies, soy, dairy, everything like that. So sorry, back to the cheese. So we use 100% mozzarella cheese that actually is infused with buffalo's milk, so it's a very creamy texture, and I think that's what sets us apart, because we're actually one of the few places in Northern Kentucky that shreds their cheese by hand. So that's something that we really are proud of here. And then, you know, we make our sauce and house as well daily, and then all of our ingredients we chop up fresh, and so it's just something that we're really proud of to have here and just kind of set us apart.

Speaker 2: 4:34

So there's a lot of work that goes into it, behind the scenes, all that prep work that you just mentioned, to be able to put a fresh product out into the community. There's a lot of work that happens. Certainly, you must be able to take some time off. Is that recall? Is Monday your day off? Is that how it works?

Speaker 3: 4:53

Yeah, monday is my day off. Yes, monday is my day off. We're still open here at Poseidon's, but I have two lovely employees that actually went to Ryle as well. They're local and from here, they enjoy being here just as much as I do, I hope. But yes, monday is my days off and that's the day that we get to go on adventures with my kids. Those are the days when I get to take a step away from making pizza and enjoy my kiddos.

Speaker 2: 5:20

Good. What are your kid's names?

Speaker 3: 5:22

I have a five-year-old son named Leo and he is going to start urban back elementary kindergarten this year. So we're all a little nervous for that, but he's not, he's ready to go. Then my youngest son is Nash. He's three and he's my wild child. He always keeps us on our toes. Then my partner, brad. He has a son too, who's Vincent, and he's five years old and is already in kindergarten. So all three boys, we have our hands full every single day. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:51

Between raising kids and raising a business. That's a lot. I always tell people, when you are a business owner, you're not allowed to get sick.

Speaker 3: 6:01

Right, no, there's no sick days.

Speaker 2: 6:04

But you do have to take those days off for yourself, for your mental health. You work so hard, you deserve that time. So when you do take the kids out and you do things, when you go out in the wild and you have your adventures, what's your favorite thing to do?

Speaker 3: 6:22

Honestly, anywhere that I can be in the moment I don't like to sit in the house. I'm a busy body, so we're always trying to find new things to do. I think the zoo is one of my favorite places to go with them because it's just calming my youngest son. Actually. He has a sensory issues, so we have to be careful with where we go because some things are a little overstimulating for him. But the aquarium is his favorite place. He is a water baby, so I think we go maybe three times a week in total. I know every exhibit can tell you everything about it, but I love my obviously. This is the reason why I do this. I love my children so much and sometimes they're here with me. Sometimes we're sweeping up front or we're folding pizza boxes, and sometimes you have to do what you have to do. They actually love being here. They give me ideas and they inspire me more than anyone else on the face of theirs, so they're my reason why.

Speaker 2: 7:23

Well, that's good. We all need a why. Yes, our whys changed through the years, but I'll tell you, kids change very quickly too. So I'm glad that you're doing what you're doing with your kids now and taking advantage of being in the moment, as you say, because the moment is fleeting. Yes, so before you know it, if things go the way I think they may, one or both those boys might be operating Poseidon's on their own one day, and you'll be a part-timer.

Speaker 3: 7:56

Yes, that's the goal. My older son, leo, has really taken a liking and he calls restaurants restaurants. So he wants to be a restaurant owner and make pizza like mom. So that is enough to make my whole year.

Speaker 2: 8:10

That's very cute. So there's an exercise I go through with some of my guests where I say, if you could go door to door in the community, ring every doorbell and every resident is home and you've got 15, 20 seconds to tell them something about you or what you want them to know about your business. What do you think that would be? What would that sound like?

Speaker 3: 8:36

That's a great question, mike. If I was able to do that, I would tell them that, hey, my name is Savannah. I'm a local Northern Kentucky, resident here and born and raised. I own a pizza place in Florence, kentucky, and not only do we serve great food, but we serve it with a smile and it's beyond pizza. We do deep dish, kogi salads, brownies. Now we do all kinds of things now and we're constantly adding to our menu. I would love for you to just give me one opportunity to give it a try and when you over, I promise you'll never go anywhere else because you're never going to find service that's better than mine.

Speaker 2: 9:21

Well, I've experienced your customer service, your pizza many times, and I'm a fan. Pizza is one of those things that you just can't wait to order it, pick it up, eat it and then, 10 minutes after you're done, you're thinking oh my God, I'm never ordering pizza again.

Speaker 3: 9:37

Right.

Speaker 2: 9:38

Because it's so good. It's so good. I tend to overindulge, yes, but then you know, the following week I'm right back into it and thankfully you have such a wide variety of things on your menu, Nobody will ever get bored.

Speaker 3: 9:54

And why I say that the service that you get from me is different from anywhere else you're going to go is because I'm usually always here. I pretty much live here and I make it present that I walk up front when I hear that doorbell go off and I'm either going to shake your hand or give you a hug or ask you if it's your first time, and I'm going to give you the most memorable experience you can get at a takeout and delivery at Pizza Place. And I don't just do that because I want you to come back. I obviously want you to come back, but I truly care about every single person that walks in the store, because not only do you support my business, but you're supporting my whole family and allowing me to build this legacy for my kids, and I just, I really, truly appreciate every single person that walks in the store and gives me a chance.

Speaker 2: 10:38

So Well, you mentioned GoPantry earlier and you know I've been somebody that's supported GoPantry as well. You know they help feed kids in the community who you know they might own their own home. They only get one meal a day at school and then you know what do they do when they're out of school. So GoPantry helps to supplement that. They feed our kids. So that's such a great fit for you. When you walk into your lobby you see that that barrel where people can come into your location and actually donate food for GoPantry.

Speaker 3: 11:16

Yeah, absolutely I'm so grateful for the partnership because our bin fills up once a week and just to see them come and take it and just, you know, just knowing that it's helping local kids, and you know, any opportunity that I get to help kids, I'm, I'm signing up for it. So it's, it's a pleasure to be a partner with them.

Speaker 2: 11:36

Well, very good, I know that in terms of another experience that somebody could have with Poseidon's Pizza is your VIP program. I've seen that online and I'm curious if you could just kind of share with us what is your VIP program.

Speaker 3: 11:53

Every person that walks in the store. Encourage them to join our VIP program.

Speaker 3: 11:58

Sorry, I encourage everybody to join our VIP program because I send out weekly Coupons and also newsletters of just things that are going on, that we're gonna be doing like we have an Easter egg hunt coming up March 11th 30th. So if you order a pizza from us anytime between those dates and you find a golden egg in your pizza box, you've won a $50 gift card to Poseidon's. So I, if you join the program, you're just in the know. If you're not following us on social media, you know just kind of know what's going on, what kind of promotions we have going on deals the week and then we get first dibs on exclusive offers and and discounts through us.

Speaker 2: 12:40

Speaking of discounts, something that you started a gloss on earlier. We kind of went over it, but I want to make sure that everybody understands. It is the discount that you're giving to first responders and Other important people in the community. Tell us about that.

Speaker 3: 12:55

So I go beyond the senior citizens discount here. I of course do that, but it's fire, ems, police, teachers, nurses, anyone who can show me a badge. I am more than willing to give you a discount to thank you for what you do for us in the community. And we get so many people that come in and just don't even take the discount but just say you know, thank you for even offering it, and it's it's really just my pleasure, so I'm happy to do it.

Speaker 2: 13:22

So when I say I'm proud of you, I really am, for for that reason and just because I've kind of watched how hard you've worked at this business and You're very close and age to my daughter so you know, as it is a father, I kind of understand Probably how your father feels about you. So I'm really really really.

Speaker 3: 13:42

Talking about my dad. He is. He is honestly the biggest inspiration that I have in my life. He keeps me level-headed Every single day, is pushing me to be a better person, and he truly is my best friend. I love him so, so much. He comes in here once a weekend and gets pizza and he makes sure that he's a presence in my life and I don't I just don't really know what I would do without him. I love my dad.

Speaker 2: 14:07

Well, what a blessing. So I mean, if we're gonna talk about him, we need to make sure we give him a shout out. You know what's his name?

Speaker 3: 14:13

Yes, so my dad. His name is Rick Allen. He is the vice president at Jaguar Land Rover in Cincinnati and if you have the pleasure of knowing him, you know that his heart is just so, so big and so giving. And I just think him. For who I am today, I Would not be where I am without him. There's just no shot. So he's well great guy.

Speaker 2: 14:35

We'll leave it there. We won't. We won't make you cry. That just shows, I mean, what, what a what a blessing it is to have someone like that in your life, and that he's your father is a double blessing, so Good for him and good for you. Well, um, we're wrapping up our time together. I want to make sure that people understand where you're located, how they can reach you. How can they come and experience Poseidon's pizza for themselves if they haven't already?

Speaker 3: 15:03

Yes, so we've been called the hidden gem, and I think that people mean it literally, because we're kind of tucked away On the corner of 42 and Pleasant Valley, across the street from barley corns and Florence Union, if you know where that's at. So we're right across from UDF and then we have a full online ordering platform that you can go to at our website on Poseidon's pizza companycom. You can also order through Google. If you just type in like a search bar Poseidon's pizza. You can order direct through DoorDash for delivery on there as well, and then you can give us a call always. I'm literally always here, so you can always give us a call. It's 859-869-0056.

Speaker 2: 15:44

So saying that you're there all the time makes it sound like you have no life, but at the same time you have a very rich life. You have a very rich life, and so you're very blessed.

Speaker 3: 15:52

So yes, absolutely. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, so.

Speaker 2: 15:57

Well, savannah, that that was pretty quick, wasn't it?

Speaker 3: 16:01

Yes.

Speaker 2: 16:02

Time flies when you're having fun and when you're talking about something you're very proud of, and you should be very proud of what you're building there.

Speaker 3: 16:10

Thank you so much, Mike.

Speaker 2: 16:11

Well, so that wraps it up for now. I just want to let everyone in the community know, beside this pizza, if you haven't tried them, they're worth a try. Go meet Savannah in person, she'll give you a hug. Yeah, and that does it for this episode of the Good Neighbor podcast. Until till next time, everybody. Be good to your neighbor, bye, bye.

Speaker 1: 16:34

Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast union to nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to Gnp union calm. That's gmp union. Calm or cause it. 859 651 833 0.