The Spark That Fueled Our Founders’ Culinary Dream
Much like all segments of the food industry, people come to the custom pizza oven sector from...
Marra Forni was recruited to participate in the 2023 Superbowl in Phoenix, Arizona. Francesco and Enzo Marra emigrated from Naples, Italy more than two decades ago. The brothers have realized another of their dreams, bringing Neapolitan Pizza to one of the world’s largest sporting events.
The Marra Brothers (Francesco, Enzo, and Emiliano) now reside in the Washington DC area, where they have built their families and their successful businesses. Francesco, the middle brother, and CEO of Marra Forni, followed a culinary path when he came to the US, serving as an Executive Chef in some of Washington D.C.’s higher-end Italian restaurants. Ten years later, Enzo Marra came to the U.S. with his younger brother Emiliano Marra to work with Francesco to create Euro Gourmet, a regional Italian food distributorship servicing the Maryland and D.C. area. Years later, they sold the business and entered the commercial food service equipment manufacturing industry as Marra Forni, supplying traditional artisan brick ovens on a global scale. Today, their business is flourishing and they are now one of the fastest-growing and most respected manufacturers in their category, promoting the brand as both Italian-inspired and US-Manufactured.
Francesco Marra was interviewed by Fox 5 DC on Saturday, February 18th, 2023.
With incredible support from the U.S. pizza community, the Marra Brothers were recently invited to the Superbowl and given an opportunity to help feature Neapolitan pizza for the first time at the sporting industry’s single-largest event. Two Marra Forni custom Rotator brick ovens were built just for the event and shipped to Phoenix to support the pre and post-game activities with more than 10,000 slices of pizza being served to event patrons.
The pair of Rotator ovens were customized to feature the individual logos of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles as well as On Location the host of the VIP events where the ovens were utilized. These two Marra Forni ovens, which are industry recognized for their quality, craftsmanship, and performance were given the ultimate test and passed with flying colors.
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Celebrity chefs were not only on hand to prepare the dough and make the pizzas but many were integral to Marra Forni being at the event. They include Chris Bianco, the 2003 winner of the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest was the first pizzaiolo to receive the honor. Guilio Adriani, a frequent winner of awards including the World Pizza Championship as well as a collaborator on the Guinness Book of World Records' largest pizza, prepared the dough. And Danielli Gagliotta, winner of multiple pizzas championships worldwide, including first place at the International Pizza Championship in 2021, was slinging pies with the local and Marra Forni chefs in attendance. Both Adriani and Gagliotta have worked as Master Instructors at Pizza University and Culinary Arts, another business the brothers started to train future pizzaiolo and home chefs in the art of making pizza.
Francesco Marra, says "The Marra Forni story began 27 years ago when our family emigrated from Santa Lucia to the capital Washington DC." Marra continues "It was all for love. Our mother Pina Dubbio married an Italian-American and chose the land of opportunity." The opportunity to bring the pizza the brothers grew up making with their mother to a venue symbolic of American success brought validation to their long efforts to succeed and to the belief that in America dreams really can come true.
