Patty Phillips, President and founder of Patty’s Pizza, is a daring innovator and leading provider in gourmet pizzas.Her early innovations included the take-and-bake pizza,(before home meal replacement was mainstream, one of the first restaurants to offer curbside pick-up (a full decade before most) and a pizza and flatbread crust formula that does not require the heat of industrial-level ovens. This allowed home cooks and small professional kitchen to prepare her products with a finished food quality that is unrivaled.
Growing up in Santa Monica, Patty’s parents made her a firm believer that hard work and dedication would take her anywhere she wanted. After a family tragedy, she packed her bags and traveled the world. Before discovering she had a talent for all things pizza, she excelled at several careers, including ad agency executive, design firm partner and commercial real estate agent.
Patty opened her first Patty’s Presto Pizza restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1988, in the pre-Gulf recession. Committed to success, she emptied her savings account, pouring everything she owned into the business. Included during this period were two years of non-stop 16 hour days. Patty’s Presto Pizza won critical acclaim, with over sixteen feature articles, the praise from tough California restaurant critics and several nominations for the U.S. Small Business Administration person of the year. With her take-and-bake concept, as well as innovative dough formulations spurring her continued success, she opened her second store in 1991, followed by two more store openings within the next three years.
Recognizing the top quality and superiority of the dough, in particular, regional chefs were impressed with Patty and her pizzas. she worked rigorously to develop a par (partially) baked pizza crust that could be frozen, topped and used in a wide variety of applications such as room service, restaurants, bars, catering. A new line of products was developed to meet the needs of her foodservice clients, including pizza shells, flatbreads and custom designed pizzas. Soon after, Patty’s Pizza branched into retail grocery chains with brands like Lil Dev’s whole-wheat crust mini pizzas and Patty’s Chicago-style deep dish pizzas.
Patty has since established a wholesale manufacturing facility to provide products for her commercial, non-commercial and retail clients in 30 states. Patty’s husband and business partner, James Sarantinos directs the wholesale manufacturing facility located in Marina Del Rey, CA, overseeing all production and distribution aspects of the business, while Patty focuses on the sales and marketing efforts.
Community involvement has always been an intrinsic part of her business philosophy. She is the past president of the California Restaurant Association, Westside Chapter and currently sits on the State Board. She is a member of both the National Association of Women Business Owners (NWBOC) Corporation. Patty founded Girlfriends 4 Girlfriends in 2007 to honor and celebrate women who are true role models that support their families, friends, and community; especially during times of personal, financial, emotional and/or medical duress. G4G is instilling hope in the lives of these special women, letting them know that they are appreciated and not forgotten.
Patty’s Pizza sponsors and contributes to underprivileged children by way of Mending Kids International, The Society of St. Vincent De Paul, The Painted Turtle Children’s Charity and The Boys & Girls Club of America and founded G4G (Girlfriends for Girlfriends) in 2007.
She and her husband James live in Malibu, CA with their son Devin, various dogs, cats and a lizard.