Pizza Sleuthing - Clue’s to a “Hip” Vocelli’s Spin-Off?

Today I got a hot pizza tip from my pizza pal, Chad. He sent me this photo from a storefront in Downtown Pittsburgh:

V3 Pizza

Okay. Cool. We got a new pizza place opening up in Downtown Pittsburgh that’s eager to hire team members. Nothing wrong with supplying jobs! I love it. 

Nothing encourages a pizza culture like a new, original pizza entrepreneur opening up a restaurant service slices to the city.

But what is “V3 Pizza”? I did some Googling and found absolutely nothing.

Something was odd. There was no Facebook page, no social media, no website. Surely even an amateur pizza shop would have some web presence. Then I stumbled upon this trademark page for V3 Pizza. 

V3 Pizza Trademark

There wasn’t much information here, except for some lawyers, the fact that it’ll sell pizzas and the address of a holding company. The owner of the trademark is Ablak Holdings, LLC, located on South Bee street in Pittsburgh. 

And you know what else Ablak Holdings has trademarked? Vocelli’s. That’s how they got their start, actually. They do “brand management with style” which is something I can’t begin to comprehend.

But how is V3 and Vocelli’s connected? 

Vocelli’s Pizza Franchise support center is located on South Bee Street, the same place as the holding company and the same place that V3 is supposedly HQd according to the trademark page.

Other franchises owned by Ablak Holdings: Rock N’ Joe (which “Vocelli’s” purchased back in 2014) and Zafer Solutions, which doesn’t seem to have a web presence. 

All signs point to this being an experimental pizza brand for Vocelli’s.

So what is V3?

Outside of a pizza place, I don’t know what V3 Pizza is. It’s not unusual for a traditional pizza place to spinoff a brand as an experiment. Aiello’s did this with Pizza Sola before selling it off. 

So, heres my guess V3 Pizza:

  • Will sell slices.
  • May sell six packs as pizza places tend to do.
  • Takeout & delivery
  • Some artisan elements such as prosciutto. Really cashing in on the rise of decadents pizza.

I’ve reached out to Vocelli’s for a comment on this. Hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon.