Fly Pie Pizza Takes Flight

BY STACEY GUALANDI

If you like your pizza delivered fast — and with a bit of entertainment on the side — then grab your boarding pass, and buckle your seatbelt because Fly Pie has officially landed in Henderson, Nevada.

Located in a hangar-like tunnel, Fly Pie is drive-thru pizza on the fly, an original culinary casual concept that comes complete with flight personnel, runway lights, and in-flight movies.

In the cockpit are two Las Vegas veterans: Born and Raised [“B.A.R.”] restaurant founder Scott Godino Jr. and Anthony E. Zuiker, the creator of the massively successful CSI television franchise. The duo first met two years ago at B.A.R. and partnered shortly after learning they both had similar ideas for a fly-pie franchise.

Scott Godino Jr.

Anthony E. Zuiker

Since its opening in June, Fly Pie not only serves artisan-style pizza in under three minutes but also immerses the “passenger” in family-friendly cartoons featuring animated characters created by Zuiker himself.

“You will enter the tunnel for your in-flight movie which you will watch for 65 seconds while your pizza is cooking,” says the award-winning storyteller.  “Then you grab your food that you’ve already paid for, take a right, and you’re out the door. It’s as simple as that.”

The gastropub menu (a.k.a. “boarding pass”) is a direct spin-off of B.A.R. Chef Aaron Raeder’s “Best of Las Vegas” top picks: Jumbo Jet Wings, Loaded Fries, Churro Tots, Deep Fried Oreos, and last but never forgotten: Garlic Knots.

“All we’ve added is the 10” pizza,” says Godino Jr. “We will have an original dough room, a New York water filtration system, and everything is made fresh, not frozen. The chef made a pizza in one minute.”

As their new venture takes off, co-pilots Zuiker and Godino Jr. will emphasize on-time pizza departures, but they believe the future of restaurants is also participatory.

“People want more value, so why not entertain them?” asks Godino Jr. “You want to get to a broader audience and make this the best part of a kid’s day.”

So included onboard are TikTok and Character Walls for shameless selfie-promotion (I took a pic with “Hot Wing”); a “Banksy Art Wall” that will rotate spray-painted murals quarterly; and a 4-D surround-smell experience.  Yup, just roll down your windows and enjoy the aroma of cinnamon as you watch “Lil’ Churro Tot,” or the hint of cookie when “Chomp” is on screen.

“Having these four canisters from ScentAir perfume every 15 seconds, the scent of the theme of the movie suddenly now really clicks,” adds Zuiker.

While there are a lot of bells and whistles, Fly Pie wants to be more than just another pizza place.  All 30 – 40 employees get to pick from over 3,000 individualized patches — everything from Mickey Mouse to LGBTQ Pride to Black Lives Matter —that they can proudly wear on their flight vest uniforms.

“We are a diverse and empowering company,” says Zuiker. “That’s what we’re about; it’s our mission statement. If you’re lost, you’re found here. You’ll always be found and loved here at Fly Pie.”

Right out of the gate, it doesn’t take a CSI forensics expert to see that this drive-thru contactless pizza theme isn’t some pie-in-the-sky operation.  Godino Jr. says their flight plan calls for a fleet of 10 to 12 more Fly Pies in the next three years.

“My greatest fortune in my professional life is meeting Anthony and what he’s taught me and shown me and pushed us to do and want and create,” says Godino Jr. “He said to me…I know how to win, and that’s what he’s shown us.”

Well, it looks like they’ve already earned their wings.

To learn more, please visit flypie.pizza