PMQ Pizza Magazine: How Mici Italian’s Co-Founder Invented His Own Pizza Press

Co-founder and president of Mici Italian, a fast-casual franchise, Jeff Miceli’s desire to simplify complex family recipes led to creating a unique dough press. He was motivated by the challenging and time-consuming problem of forming fresh dough into the perfect pizza shape.

“I was determined to find a tool that would aid with shaping the dough and simplify the process so that anyone in the kitchen could do it,” says Mici Italian Co-founder Jeff Miceli. “The goal was to cut down on the time we spent making pizzas. It was an endless search to find the right technology that would do what we wanted without sacrificing how good the dough is, and it took a great deal of trial and error.”

After struggling to find equipment that operated to the standards of Mici Italian, Miceli decided to invent his own tool — an artisan dough press. Miceli says this press is the foundation of Mici Italian’s proprietary pizza-making process and has allowed the brand to make artisan, New York-style pizza consistently and efficiently.