Stone Hearth pizza's Klein oversees people, profits

It's unusual in the restaurant industry to have the same person keeping an eye on the money and on the people, but at Stone Hearth Pizza Co., a three-unit casual-dining chain based in Sudbury, Mass., Melissa Klein is director of both finance and front-of-the-house operations.

The Tutta Bella sells for $11.How do you handle managing both finance and human resources?Do you think you will be able to keep this dual position as the company grows?Goldsmith declined to reveal his oven investment, but clearly this is not a business to start on a shoestring. A ballpark price for a medium-sized wood-burning oven is $8,000 to $10,000, according to Peppe Miele, owner of Antica Pizzeria in Marina del Rey, Calif, and president of VPN's North American division. Estimates from manufacturers ranged from $5,000 to $13,000 for an oven alone. Freight, installation, exterior decoration, venting and electrostatic precipitators--anti-pollution devices that are required in some localities--can run thousands more. Operators also should figure in a tab for wood as high as $1,000 per month, Miele said.Not that every successful artisan pizzeria follows VPN doctrine. At Naples 45, a Patina Restaurant Group concept in New York City, a trio of gas-assisted wood-fired ovens does high-volume business. In each, the gas flame ignites the wood, bringing the oven to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. At that point, the gas shuts off and the wood burns alone, ultimately reaching 720 degrees.Establishments that offer wood-fired pizzas are surfacing in major cities with increasing frequency. Restaurant critic Frank Bruni, writing in The New York Times last month about the popular Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, noted "the spread of a certain kind of haute pizza culture across the country" was inspired at least partly by the pizza of Naples, Italy. Along with Mozza, a collaboration of celebrity chefs Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali, he cited examples like Una Pizza Napoletana in New York, Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix and Spacca Napoli in Chicago. In fact, Chicago in the past year has seen a spate of wood-fired pizzeria openings, including Gruppo di Amici, Frasca and Crust.Signature pies like the Tutta Bella, topped with San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, roasted onions, Italian sausage, herb mushrooms and Grana Padano cheese, cook in just 90 seconds in a Wood Stone oven heated to 800 to 950 degrees Fahrenheit with apple wood. After 45 seconds, the pie must be rotated halfway so that it cooks evenly, because the fire sits on one side of the oven, Fugere explained. Then the pie is momentarily hoisted with the peel to the ceiling of the oven where it's about 200 degrees hotter.

I may eventually give up the finance part. I like HR. It's a lot of fun. It can be a headache and stress, but it's the best feeling when you can work things out for people's benefit. Whether it's untangling an insurance issue, or promoting someone, the feeling of helping people reach their potential is huge.

Author: Dina Berta