Celebrating 70 years in business, Buddy LaRosa talks vendettas, and what he does to pizza dough

At 93, Buddy LaRosa doesn't need to work much these days. But there he was last Monday at LaRosa's Pizzeria Westwood headquarters, which houses the Cincinnati pizza chain's call center.

LaRosa was pulling out of the parking lot when he saw a man walk out he didn't recognize. It was raining, so LaRosa told the man to hop in, he recounted.

LaRosa: "Hey, you know who I am?"

The employee: "Yeah, you're Mr. LaRosa, but I never met you."

It gave the two time to chat. That's just how LaRosa is and one of the reasons he cites for his success − caring for his employees.

On March 24, LaRosa and his family will celebrate 70 years in business.

LaRosa and his son, Mike, sat down with The Enquirer's "That's so Cincinnati" podcast to talk about their 70-year journey and the secrets of their success.

LaRosa's was among the first trio of pizzerias in Cincinnati when it opened as Papa Gino's, in 1954. But Buddy wasn't the only pizza guy in town back then. His competition included Capri Pizza, which opened in 1949, and a few years later, Pasquale's, which opened around the same time as LaRosa's. Now that LaRosa's is a $180 million company with 65 locations, it seems like Buddy, who was also a well-known boxing trainer, won the Cincinnati pizza fight by a knock-out.

While it was mostly good blood among the pizzerias, LaRosa didn't like being crossed. Years after he felt a friend double-crossed him by opening a Pizza Hut franchise, he spited him by switching to Coke products when Pizza Hut was purchased by Pepsi. "That was my vendetta," he said.

Vendettas aside, LaRosa tries to remain a friendly competitor. "If somebody opens up in my neighborhood I'll go in and introduce myself and say if you need anything other than my sauce and my dough, I'm happy to help. You might need lettuce, you might need tomatoes, you might run out of coins! I want to be a friendly competitor, but I want to keep them close to me. I want to know what the heck they're doing."

LaRosa, a devout Catholic, also credits the man above for some of his success. He still makes the sign of the cross and blesses the dough whenever he visits one of his pizzerias.

"Whenever there is a big pile of dough I always tell the dough boys, put the cross on it." Then there's his own little blessing.

"I go in there, of course, it's not sanitary, but I blow kisses at the dough."

Mike LaRosa said the real secret to LaRosa's success is caring.

"Dad's influence on all of us ... was we want to work harder, care more, do things better, out-compete the competitor, and it has been a 70-year journey because his good, better, best mindset is really in our company DNA," Mike LaRosa said.

Miss last week's episode? No problem. Listen here. Follow Cincinnati.com editor Beryl Love on X @beryllove and City Hall reporter Sharon Coolidge @SharonCoolidge.

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Buddy LaRosa celebrates 70 years in business and secret to his success