If the owners of Tievoli Pizza Bar in Palatine were planning to build a new vehicle to take their pizzas on the road, and they had a very specific aesthetic in mind.
“We wanted a sexy food truck,” said Adrianna Labbate.
If a food truck can be sexy, it’s this one.
Giovanni Labbate said their pizzeria on wheels is a cargo container on a flatbed truck that is about 30 feet long and 13 feet high.
“It’s a beast,” he said.
What makes it unique, besides its size, is the fact that the service side of the truck is completely glassed in, so you can see the wood-fired oven and pizza making.
The truck has been in use since February and is now fully booked for weddings, parties and events almost every weekend.
They’ve had food trucks in the past, but this one is different.
“We just wanted to stand out as a truck and make an impression,” Giovanni said. “When we arrive, it’s fun because even other food truck people want to look at it.”
Labbate said he saw a similar truck about 12 years ago, but he had a different idea for theirs. They wanted to bring the sleek look of their restaurant to the road.
“That’s why we have the gold oven, the black and white design like the restaurant, and glass and flames,” he said. “Plus, the glass provides a show because people can see all the action while you’re making these pizzas, which I thought was a really cool idea.”
The Tievoli Pizza Bar pizza truck has a wood-fired oven that can bake pizzas in about 90 seconds.
Rick West/[email protected]
The oven, which runs entirely on wood, burns at 1,000 degrees to bake the homemade pizzas in about 90 seconds. It holds 10 pizzas at a time and Giovanni said he has made up to 150 pizzas in an hour.
“People order at our window and ask if they should come back in about 15 minutes, but I just tell them to wait right there,” he said. “Usually my people listen to the order, and by the time they’re done paying, the order is already halfway done.”
The Tievoli Pizza Bar pizza truck has space for about five people and delivers up to 150 pizzas per hour.
Rick West/[email protected]
The size of the truck allows them to stock enough ingredients for about 700 pizzas. There’s room for five people, but three are usually enough to staff a large event.
The truck actually gets about 20 miles per gallon, and Labbate says it handles better and is far more comfortable than her old box truck.
“The only thing we have to worry about is the altitude,” he said.
The couple opened Tievoli, which means “I love it” spelled backwards, at 44 W. Palatine Road in early 2023. He said the food truck is a great way to get their name out there in the suburbs beyond Palatine.
“Ultimately, the truck is about getting people back into the restaurant and increasing our brand awareness,” he said. “It’s a marketing tool that can also make money.”
Giovanni said they recently got four catering orders just from people who saw the food truck somewhere. It has also become a very popular catering option for weddings. They have booked about 60 orders this year and are preparing for more.
“That’s why we do the breweries and the small events, to get known and to attract attention so that people think of us when they book weddings or parties,” he said.
