PIZZA
COMPANY
Fresh Ingredients in a Fast Food Format BY RISA WILLIAMS MCMILLAN
Everybody loves pizza, right? How about pizza made to your own specifications that you do not even have to share? Nothing wrong with that. How about pizza made with the freshest ingredients like fresh picked basil, creamy mozzarella, and tomatoes right off the vine? Am I talking to your taste buds yet? Did you say that you are in a hurry and do not have time to wait for a pizza? Wrong. Brand new to the restaurant scene but with a seasoned restaurateur at its helm, Pizza Company brings you delicious pizza with fresh ingredients and is ready in two minutes. Just two! That is about the time it will take you to pay your bill and get your drink. Voilà! You are in pizza heaven. The concept for Pizza Company was born on a school road trip to Kennedy Space Center and the idea definitely took flight. Marshall Sampson and partner Sean Crosby, owner of 16
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PHOTOS BY ROB KAUFMAN
Island favorite Santa Fe Café, and Billy Watterson, owner of future bourbon and scotch distillery in downtown Bluffton, were talking shop while driving their daughters to the outing and Billy asked Marshall his thoughts on what work food-wise for his new distillery. “I told him that a Santa Fe Café style restaurant was just too much to do on top of a distillery. He mentioned pizza and I told him about a trip I had recently taken to Austin, TX where I visited a pizza place with minimal staff and great product,” said Marshall. “He thought about it a minute and said, ‘Do you want to do it?’ … and I said Yea!” Because Billy’s distillery will not open until the summer of 2020, they did not want their great idea to be grounded so decided to start up their first Pizza Company on the Island. “We looked at four locations and decided on the Main Street location because it