Fist of Flour – James Whitehead
#022 – Today we talk with Oakland Laurel District resident and restaurateur James Whitehead of Fist of Flour. James has loved pizza his entire life – it is his favorite food. He loves pizza so much he even scopes out the pizza scene whenever he travels to new cities.
When James arrived in Oakland 26 years ago, he realized East Oakland was yearning for better pizza options. He started messing around at home, making pizzas in his own kitchen and using friends and family as taste testers. After a couple of years a friend hit him with the same question so many food entrepreneurs get…
“wow, this is pretty good pizza. Did you ever think about selling it?”
At that moment, James was comfortable with his day gig and was not ready to give it up. Then one day while delivering proofs to a client in downtown Oakland, James noticed a guy on the street at the Old Oakland Farmers Market with a wood-fired pizza oven on a trailer.
“And I was like, huh, pretty interesting. So I sat and watched him for a good half an hour and I was like, just counting the dollars as he was making pizzas. And it was like, wow, okay. So maybe this is something I could do. I was immediately like, yes, this will be my next thing. This is what I’m going to do.”
In 2014, James noticed a pizza place up for sale at 4166 MacArthur Blvd. He approached the owner for his asking price. When he said $10k for all the equipment, James brought a check the next day. He went from having only a handful of people and very low overhead to a physical location and a growing team. He is very proud to 1) pay a living wage to his employees and 2) serve people in the neighborhood
“I think everybody that I employ lives in Oakland and most of them live within a couple miles of the restaurant. I’ve always tried to hire Oakland people and, you know, and support the city that I’ve lived in for so long.”
Be sure to stick around until the end to hear what you should do if you see his pizza oven trailer hauling down the freeway.
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