Pizza Today - January 2020 - 46

restrooms. "When people break away and
they come back to the table, it's something to
talk about. It's just a big standout."
Fine Folk's footprint is a tight 900 square
feet, with seating for 25. Storing pizza boxes
and flour in the front of house adds to the
pizzeria's cred.
Michael and Brie continue to share what
went into the space. "We came in and we had
a budget and we went way over," Michael
says. "So, what happened was we had a lot of
friends and family come through and help us
out with the promise of free pizza for life and
trades."
Fine Folk Pizza's abridged origin story
goes back to a 12-year old Michael, when
he began reading Pizza Today at his uncle's
pizzeria. Michael has worked in pizzerias since
he was 15. He opened a seasonal restaurant,
DeNunzio's, with his parents in Seas Isle City,
New Jersey. One off-season winter, Michael
moved to Fort Myers. "I fell in love with the
area," he says. "I fell in love with the girl. And
we decided to eventually open up a shop here."
Chris Batties, general manager, has been
with Fine Folk the whole way. Michael urged
him to move to Florida and help open and
4 6 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / J A N UA R Y 2 0 2 0

run the pizzeria.
With days until its soft open, Michael
and Batties were having such issues with the
adapted dough formula from New Jersey
that they delayed Fine Folk's opening, while
the two tweaked several dozen batches until
they came up a crust they were proud of. "We
really go for a chewier style of pizza," Michael
says. "There's a little crisp to it but it's not as
crispy as your New York-style pizza but that
is very intentional."
Fine Folk Pizza opened in the fall of
2015, serving up whole pies and slices for
dine-in, carryout and delivery, which have
an even split of sales. The shop has become
famous for its specialty pies, like the Yo
Paulie, a white pizza with a roasted garlic
olive oil base, pepperoni, fresh basil, a hot
honey drizzle, shredded mozzarella and
ricotta.
Earl Morris brought home a first-place win
in the non-traditional category at the 2019
Caputo Cup with The Squeeze, featuring
lemon garlic-herb cream cheese base,
mozzarella, sliced zucchini and squash, sliced
almonds and finished with fresh handpicked

squash blossoms. Last year, Batties captured
second place in non-traditional at the Caputo
Cup with The Secret Garden, which has a
butterfly pea flower tea-infused crust, Alfredo
sauce base, sharp cheddar, mozzarella, wineglazed mushroom medley and butter-fried
capers. The championship pizzas have become
limited-time offers.
Game Time, a Buffalo chicken pizza with
bacon and ranch, is most popular pizza with
the MLB's Boston Red Socks Fenway South
Park spring training stadium next door. The
swirl rolls, pepperoni pinwheel appetizers, are
also a hit and often sell out.
From its opening, Fine Folk positioned
itself as the community pizzeria. Inside of the
pizzeria, pizza makers show off their doughtossing skills at the table to the delight of
families and even get kids in on the action.
The pizzeria's dough tossing has appeared on
America's Funniest Home Videos twice.
"We do a ton of work with charities," Brie
says. "One of the biggest reasons we named it
Fine Folk Pizza is because we wanted to be
that pizza shop in the community and be that
pizza shop that you call for Brownies, Girl
Scouts, Boys and Girls Club..."
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Pizza Today - January 2020

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