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Mobile ovens fuel success of pizza enterprise by
Lisa Mackinder
Ken Paul, owner of Camzies Pizza, has an
Right: Pizza from the outside wood-burning oven at Kalamazoo Pizza Company. Opposite page: R.J. Saline, left, joined forces with Camzies Pizza owners Ken and Cassie Paul to open the Kalamazoo Pizza Company.
14 | Encore AUGUST 2016
Brian Powers
aptitude for two seemingly diverse interests: making pizza and constructing almost anything. Paul combined these talents to build two mobile wood-fired pizza ovens that serve up fresh, thin-crust pizzas at area festivals, fairs, farmers' markets and catering events. The idea for this business came from a history lesson. “Pizza sellers in Italy used to go around in wagons and sell pizza that way with horses and buggies and around castles,” Paul says. “I did research on it, and that’s kind of what inspired me. I’ve been a pizza enthusiast for the last 15 years.” In 2013, after Paul was laid off from his job, he and his wife, Cassie, launched Camzies Pizza (named for their two children Cameron and Mackenzie) with a mobile pizza oven built by Paul that they set up at Oshtemo Township Park and at Flesher Field. Soon Camzies was booking larger events, and business took off. Paul built a second mobile pizzeria. Ken and Cassie Paul now operate two mobile pizzerias, and business has been so brisk that they recently partnered with local business owner R.J. Saline to open a woodfired pizza drive-thru called the Kalamazoo Pizza Company, at 2120 S. Sprinkle Road. The drive-thru, which opened in June, serves Camzies pizzas. The Pauls plan to continue operating their mobile ovens across Southwest Michigan, taking them to events at the Gilmore Car Museum, the Paw Paw Wine and Harvest Festival, the Kalamazoo County Fair, and the Texas Corners Farmers' Market — to name a few. This season is already fully booked. “The scheduling part is the key to the mobile food business,” Paul says. “If you’re