THERE’S A NEW PIZZA BOSS IN TOWN.
When Schlomo Buchler, formerly of FBI Pizza, tasked Community with branding his new pizza place, we knew it was an exciting opportunity.
Despite our expertise in the restaurant and hospitality industry, helping mold Toronto’s King and Queen West neighbourhoods into the lively destinations they are today, this was a project we knew would require its own kind of thought process.
“We were very familiar with FBI Pizza, and it’s a brand we greatly admired,” says Creative Director Art Mandalas. “It’s kind of an insider’s place and had a bit of a cult following. And more importantly, Schlomo’s pizza was known for one thing: the best damn pizza in a box. Period.”
As the team began to work and creative solutions began to roll, we noticed that one area of inspiration was constant, no matter the angle, perspective or direction.
“When it comes to our favourite food, more often than not, that food revolves around a memory,” Mandalas explains. “Opening a giant steaming box on the family coffee table when the Minnesota North Stars were on. Or skateboarding to your corner pizzeria for that highly anticipated slice of heaven. It’s all tied to a memory.”
And when we first laid eyes on the space – a baron, black-bricked building tucked away from the masses on Cameron Street – the vision was confirmed.
“The building and the space immediately took be back to my childhood,” Mandalas says. “Riding my BMX down Blake Street to get my favourite donut fresh from this donut factory, before they shipped out to the bakeries. I remember discovering it and feeling lucky. To be allowed a glimpse inside of the place. The source.”
The vision became a reality, and the result is not a pizza restaurant. It is a pizza factory. A manufacturer of perfect pie. “An unbeknownst-to-most pizza power plant that supplies the best pizza known to anyone.
This is Maker.
“The name encompasses purity, consistency, and dedication,” Mandalas says. “Not only the dedication [Buchler] has for his work, but the evangelism the customers feel towards the product.”
This is what Maker is about.
“Pizza places have become gimmicky and commercialized and the focus has gone astray,” says Buchler. “You lose the absolute attention to detail the product requires. And in my eyes, nothing takes precedence over the product.”
