Blog

Our Buffalo Chicken pizza is back in Oakland and Berkeley! This spicy special has free range chicken breast marinated in a cayenne pepper “wing sauce”, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and a swirl of our house-made blue cheese dressing. It’s available stuffed or thin crust for a limited time only!

 

We are bringing back one of our most popular specials: Hawaiian Pizza!

This sweet and spicy pizza is packed with Canadian bacon, pineapple, green onion and pepper jack cheese. This pizza is available stuffed or thin crust in San Ramon and Pleasant Hill only.

Check it out soon! It will only be around for a couple of weeks!

Since 1983, Zachary’s has been making award-winning pizza in the San Francisco Bay Area. When Zachary’s founders, Zach Zachowski and Barbara Gabel, decided to retire, they sold the company to the employees via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). In 2010, Zachary’s became 100% employee owned.

Our employee owners are the mojo behind the madness. They make each of our restaurants unique, fun, and delicious. This month, we are turning our attention to Antonio and Adanely Beltran, a father/daughter duo who both work at our San Ramon location!

Interview**

**Antonio and Adanely were interviewed on March, 12th 2018 by Zachary’s Project Manager, Christina Souza. All photos are take by Zachary’s Regional Manager, Kate Erickson

Christina (C): What are your hire dates?

Antonio (AN): September 27^th, 2006

Adanely (AD): For me, I don’t know the exact date, but I think it was June 2015.

C: Okay, so you (Antonio) had already been here for nine and a half years before Adanely started?

AN: [Shakes head yes]

C: What’s your favorite pizza?

AN: Hawaiian with bacon and jalapenos, thin crust

C: [To Adanely] You?

AD: Whatever he makes! [Looks at Antonio, Laughs]

C: Do you make Adanely special pizzas?

AN: Yes, sometimes… Chicken, ranch, cheese, tomatoes, onions

C: Sounds delicious.

AN: Oh yes.

AD: And he adds some spices that he brings from home.

C: Oh! What are the spices? Or, is it your secret recipe?

AN: Yes, secret recipe.

[Laughter]

AN: I just do chicken, mixed cheese (Monterey Jack and cheddar), tomatoes on top, and green onions

AD: Red onions!

AN: Red onions, and ranch… [Makes motion of swirling the ranch on top of the pizza]

C: Sound good. And where are you both living right now? What city?

AD and AN: Tracy

C: Do you live together?

AD: Yeah

C: Great. [To Antonio] How did you discover Zachary’s?

AN: My friend. We were working together in another job and he told me. He told me they needed a lot of people. You know when this (San Ramon) opened, we needed a lot of people. I talked to Kevin (Kevin Suto is Zachary’s President and CFO). He gave me the job.

C: He interviewed you? Do you remember what he asked you?

AN: Oh my gosh… He asked me, “Where do you work?” “Do you work in a restaurant?” He asked me, “Have you made pizzas?” I said, “Never!” He said, “Do you know the (ingredients) pepperoni, pineapple, cheese, and salami?” He said, “It’s okay. You got the job!” And I started. On the same day.

C: You started on the same day that he interviewed you?

AN: Yes! There were too many people!

C: Oh, that’s right. It was crazy when San Ramon opened.

AN: Yeah… crazy. There were too many people! Crazy… Almost twelve years ago…

C: Did you start right when we opened?

AN: Two weeks after.

C: What was it like?

AN: [Makes huge eyes]  Very hard! Crazy! You know, I had never made pizzas. This was my first time, so it was very hard for me. The pan pizzas… my hands hurt. Oh my God… it was painful. Too many nights… In the night time, for a month, I had a lot of pain. [Motions to his hands aching].

C: Now your hands are probably really strong.

AN: Yeah! Look at that! [Motions to his arms]

AD: Look at his arm muscles right here! [Points to Antonio’s forearm]

C: That’s pretty cool! Why did you think that this would be a good job for Adanely?

AN: Because of professionalism, the environment, there was no bullying. And there was a lot of respect between people. Especially compared to other places, it’s very respectful among coworkers. Also because we were going to be working together. I had been working a lot of years for a long time and I was away from home. I liked the fact that we were going to be together, working.

C: What is working together like?

AD: It’s fun. Uh, he helped me a lot when I first started. He told me what to do and guided me on the right track. We get to spend our breaks together sometimes, so he makes me food. Like he said, we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him when he was working both of his jobs. Here and his other other job. So, we were spending more time together.

C: Do you have other siblings?

AD: Yes

C: How many?

AD: I have a younger sister. Right now she’s 16. And then I have a brother who is 19.

C: [To Antonio] Would you want to work with them too?

AN: Are you kidding? Yeah, why not? Yeah, she (the younger sister) started another job as a busser. Two days, Saturday and Sunday…

AN: I would like her to work here. I would like it. I want to say thank you. I am very thankful for the opportunity that Zachary’s gave us. We are growing and learning every day. I am thankful for our future. And you are giving her [Glances at Adanely] an opportunity to grow.

C: Is there anything that is challenging about working together?

AN: Ah no. We are in different positions so we if we do something wrong, we have to take responsibility for it.

AD: Yes, like he takes his responsibility, I take mine. We’ve never had a moment.

C: It seems really cool to spend a lot of time together, but then if there were any conflict or drama outside of work, I can imagine, for me, that would carry over.

AD: Yeah, but we don’t. We don’t.

C: Do you talk about work when you are at home?

AN: Sometimes.

AD: Not really.

AN: We try not to.

C: You keep it separate?

AD: Yeah.

C: (To Antonio) What is your favorite thing about working at Zachary’s and/or working with Adanely?

AN: Everything for me. I like everything. That’s why I’ve been here for so many years. A lot of places have people for only two or three years and then they move on.  There are a lot of things… the managers, the people, it’s very different (than other restaurants). And the money! [Laughter]

C: You gotta make the money!

AN: Yeah, I know! [Laughter]

C: [To Adanely] What’s your favorite thing about working here?

AD: It’s very team oriented. So, if you are having trouble with something, especially serving, there is someone right there to help you all the time. We try to make it as least stressful as possible. Helping your coworkers out too… You help them and they help you. Um… everybody gets along. The managers are pretty cool. [Laughter] I talk to everybody, even in the kitchen. It’s just very friendly.

C: Do you all cook at home together?

AD: He cooks. [Laughter]

C: Do you (Antonio) do most of the cooking?

AN: [Shakes head] Yeah, yeah

C: What are your favorite things to make?

AD: He cooks everything!

AN: Yeah, everything… pasta… Well, I don’t make pizzas! [Laughter] Pasta and steaks, chicken… oh my God.

AD: I think steaks is what he makes the most.

C: [To Adanely] What is your favorite thing that he makes? Other than that pizza?

AN: Steaks, shrimp, your vegetables, mashed potatoes…

AD: Yeah, that’s my favorite thing.

AN: Oh yes.

AD: Everything that he makes is so good. It’s delicious.

AN: Pastas…

AD: We always have friends over and they are like, “Oh yum.”

C: Your house is a gathering space for people?

AD: Oh yeah.

C: Because you are producing all of that delicious food!

AN: In my morning job, you just have to learn everything in a week or two. They just throw you in there and you have to figure it out and deal with it. You have to do what you can. You have customers in front of you and you just have to figure it out. But here there is a process. You have two or three months and then you have to know.

C: What do you all do for fun outside of Zachary’s?

AN: For fun? [Laughter] When we take vacations, we try to go places. To Magic Mountain and Las Vegas! But the days that we have off, we have dinner at home and try to get together. We always try to eat together.

C: With your whole family?

AD and AN: Yeah…

C: If you could have your ideal work situation, would you keep working together? Do you see yourselves not working together in the future? If you could dream it, what would it be?

AN: We don’t know because Adanely is in school.

AD: Yeah, I’m in school and I have a career in mind, so we don’t know. But it would be nice to work together all the time.

C: Really?

AD: Yeah. We just have a good time together. We never argue. But, he’s going to stay here until who knows… but I’m going to school, so I don’t know what the future is.

C: What are you going to school for?

AD: For nursing.

C: What kind of nursing do you want to do?

AD: Labor and delivery

C: Fun. [To Antonio] So you are not interested in nursing?

[Laughter]

C: Great. I think that’s all of my questions. Do you want to say anything else about working together? Or working at Zachary’s?

AN: I am very thankful because these past eight years, we were in a very difficult situation together. But this job keeps us together.

C: I think it’s really unique and special that you want to work together and that you are able to make it work with your schedules and all of the other stuff going on in your lives. It’s really special that you can enjoy the time that you have working together. It’s really sweet.

AN: Thank you, thank you. And many thanks to Kevin and Leandra (Leandra is Zachary’s Vice President and General Manager).

C: What was Kevin like in 2006?

AN: Kevin?

C: Was he different?

AN: No, he was the same. He is always a friendly person. He always says hi. A lot of people get nervous around him, but I think he is a friendly guy. I think because we are the same age, it’s a different type of vibe.

C: You can relate to each other.

AD: Yeah

AN: And I’m thankful that he gave me this job.

C: Do you have any pictures of yourselves when you were younger cooking together?

AD: Cooking? Uh…

AN: [Laughs] Cooking? Uhhh

AD: My mom took pictures of him cooking… but not us together. I don’t know. I’ll see.  She’s gonna be like… she never cooks.

C: [To Adanely] You never cook?

AD: No, he always cooks. Laughs.

AN: [Laughs]

C: What do you do when he is not there?

AD: I’m always working. We’re always working. Or my Mom cooks. I never cook.

AN: [Laughs]

C: What are you going to do if you’re living along?

AD: I’ll just take him with me.

C: Awww, that’s pretty sweet that she wants to take you with her wherever she goes.

AN: When she gets married, she will learn. [Laughs]

Last Friday, we hosted a plant swap at the beautiful parklet in front of our Solano Avenue location in North Berkeley. We had a blast sharing clippings, seeds, gardening books, and plants (of course!) with our community.

Zachary’s is an employee owned company via our ESOP. We have an ESOP Committee that is comprised of nine employee owners from all locations. Our ESOP Committee has a two part mission: One, educate our crew and our customers about employee ownership at Zachary’s, and two, create space for employee owners to build community and grow together. The plant swap was one event in a series of workshops based on our employee owners’ interests.

 

We are thrilled and honored to be 2017’s Business of the Year in Pleasant Hill!!! The City of Pleasant Hill sponsored it’s Community Awards Night on March 27th. Awards were given out in the categories of Citizens of the Year, Educator of the Year, Teen of the Year, Green Business, and a few other community-oriented categories. Zachary’s President and CFO Kevin Suto, was on hand to accept the award on behalf of our employee owners.

In February of this year, we celebrated our 5th anniversary in Pleasant Hill. The Pleasant Hill community has opened their arms to us and we feel like we could not have chosen a better spot. We are incredibly grateful for all of the love we have received from the Pleasant Hill community in the last five years. We can’t wait for five (+++) more!

Our super yummy Chorizo con Papas pizza special is back in San Ramon and Pleasant Hill! This pie is loaded with Mexican Chorizo sausage, roasted red potatoes, green onions, and Monterey Jack cheese. It’s available stuffed or thin crust for a limited time only. Check out our before and after shots!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Oakland and Berkeley, we are bringing back our Za-Curry’s Chicken Pizza! This pizza is available thin crust only. It’s packed with curry spiced chicken and onions, golden raisins, and mozzarella cheese. GO DUBS!!!

Two of our fantastic employee owners, Nic Crocker and Tyler Wood, know A LOT about beer. They brew, they indulge (responsibly, of course!), and they’ve spent hours and hours learning all they can about this special beverage! Since our customers frequently have questions about beer, we wanted to create an opportunity for Crocker and Woods to share their knowledge with the rest of our crew. What better way to do this than a beer tasting class!

 

 

 

We are super excited to announce that we won Reader’s Choice BEST PIZZA in Oakland Magazine’s Best of Oakland and the East Bay edition. This is a huge honor! We are keenly aware of the number of fantastic restaurants in the East Bay and we are truly thrilled to be acknowledged for our contribution to the pizza scene!

 

We’ll post a link as soon as the online version is available so you can check out all of the other fantastic Oakland and East Bay joints that won awards too!

 

Huge thanks to Oakland Magazine!

Since 1983, Zachary’s has been making award-winning pizza in the San Francisco Bay Area. When Zachary’s founders, Zach Zachowski and Barbara Gabel decided to retire, they sold the company to the employees via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). In 2010, Zachary’s became 100% employee owned.

Our employee owners are the mojo behind the madness. They make each of our restaurants unique, fun, and delicious. In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (March 8th!) we are turning our employee owner spotlight on TSERING SANGMO, the first woman to work in a Zachary’s kitchen!

Snapshot

Name: Tsering Sangmo

Hire Date: 11/29/93

Fave Pizza: Spinach and Mushroom with chicken

Current Location: El Cerrito

Favorite Hiking Spot: Wildcat Canyon – It’s in her backyard!

Zachary’s Claim to Fame: Tsering is the first woman to work in a Zachary’s kitchen and was the ONLY woman to work in a Zachary’s kitchen for 6 and half years!

Interview**

**Tsering was interviewed on March, 5th 2018 by Zachary’s Project Manager, Christina Souza.

Christina: How did you discover Zachary’s?

Tsering: One of my friends was helping me.  I came here as a part of a resettlement project (Tibetan Resettlement Project of 1993). There was a guy who was helping us to find a job… He gave me the phone number of Zachary’s and I called. And I got the interview.

Christina: Who did you interview with?

Tsering: The General Manager. He interviewed me at Solano. He asked me a couple of questions. He said, “Have you ever worked in a restaurant?” and I said “No” and then he said, “Have you ever done dishes?” and I said “No” [Laughs]. And he said, “Do you think you can work in a kitchen with all those guys?” and I said “Yeah, I can work. I can try. I’ll do my best.” He said, “Okay, you can come work tomorrow.”

Christina: Tomorrow???

Tsering: Yeah. So, that’s how I started at Zachary’s. [Laughter]

Christina: What was the resettlement project?

Tsering: The USA brought 1,000 Tibetan people over. They did it as a lottery, so I was one of the 1,000.

Christina: Did that happen every year?

Tsering: No, that happened one time.

Christina: Were there a lot of more than 1,000 people who wanted to be in the lottery?

Tsering: Yeah, a lot of people applied, but they used a lottery. Thinley and Lodoy (two other current Zachary’s employee owners) were both in the lottery too.

Christina: Did a lot of people come to the Bay Area from Tibet or did they go all over the United States?

Tsering: All over the United States

Christina: So, we just got lucky that you landed here?

Tsering: [Laughs] Yeah.

Christina: When your interviewer asked if you thought you could work in the kitchen with “all those guys” how did that feel?

Tsering: I felt nervous. I’m the only woman with all guys! And my English was not that good. I understood (what people were saying), but speaking was a problem because we don’t speak English in India. We went to school, but it was not that good, so my English is not that good. And I was nervous! But I heard that there were two other Tibetans working, Thinley and Lodoy, so I said, okay, I’ll try. If I cannot do it, I’ll just quit. And it worked out. I’m still here.

Christina: What was it like on your first day?

Tsering: I was confident. It was okay. I thought I was going to be so nervous, but it was okay. It was not that bad. It was like housework, like dishes.

Christina: What did you think about Zachary’s when you first started?

Tsering: I liked it. The first thing I did, I came in and I was like, “This is my right place.” I felt so comfortable. I don’t know. Sometimes it just happens, right? Where you feel very easy going and comfortable? Some places you don’t like, but at Zachary’s, I felt like this was the right place to work. People were so nice. Everybody was nice to me.

Christina: How has your experience changed since you started?

Tsering: I don’t think there is a lot that is different. For me, it’s really the same. I mean, I was doing dishes for six or seven years. At that time, we didn’t hire that much so we stayed on the dishes for a long time. And I wanted to stay on the dishes because it was easier than the kitchen. I am so nervous when I do new stuff! I get nervous, so I just didn’t want to go in the kitchen. I wanted to stay on the dishes. And then they hired new people and they took me to the kitchen and I was a little nervous, but it went well. [Laughs] I was like, “Why did I get nervous? This is easy.”

Christina: How long did it take you to feel comfortable in the kitchen?

Tsering: Five or six months. You have to learn every single thing. We don’t use all of those ingredients in India. I had to learn everything from studying.

Christina: What are the ingredients here that you wouldn’t have seen in India?

Tsering: Um, most of the meats. For me, I don’t eat pork, so I didn’t know any of the pork meats – salami, pepperoni and stuff.

Christina: When you were working in 1993, did you think about being the only woman in the kitchen? Did it feel different to you?

Tsering: I didn’t even think about it. I just thought, I can do it like the guys.

Christina: Did you get any grief from people? Did people treat you differently?

Tsering: No. Because I worked hard. [Laughs]

Christina: So, you don’t think Zachary’s has changed in the last 25 years?

Tsering: No, it’s not much different. Some of the menu items have changed. The people have changed, especially the dining room. The kitchen is most of the same people. Maybe that’s why I don’t feel change. I worked with the same people for 25 years.

Christina: What’s that like?

Tsering: It feels like family now. I see my coworkers more than my family. Because they go to work and school, I see them for two or three hours, but here I see people for seven or eight hours, five days a week. They feel more like family than coworkers. [Laughs]

Christina: What do you like the most about your job?

Tsering: I like to train people. If they listen, I train them. If they are showing me some attitude, I say, “Okay, if you don’t like it, then I’m not gonna bother you.” If they listen, I give them 100%. I show them how to make the pizza, the right way, and how to put the right amount of ingredients on the pizza. All the stuff. I give 100% to Zachary’s. I do my best. Before, it was Zach and Barbara. Now it’s our company. For me, it’s the same. Before it was Zach and Barbara; I had to work and they paid me. Now it’s for me. It’s like the same. So, I give 100% to Zachary’s… as much as I can.

 

The walls of our restaurants are filled with one-of-a-kind Zachary’s Pizza Art. We held our first art contest in the late 1980′s and the tradition has continued every couple of years since. We love our art and the artists. We are excited to be able to use our blog as a medium for our community to get to know our artists better.

Meet Sophia Maria Brown!

My name is Sophia Brown. Zachary’s is by far my favorite restaurant. I remember the first time I walked into Zachary’s at the Solano location and loved the art on the walls. It brought such happiness to my six year old face.

For my first painting, which was called Cat Zachary’s, we took a poster home and picked up some paints at Blick’s art store. I started thinking about ideas, and thought about my favorite animal, cats. I started sketching in pencil and all of the ideas came together, with the banner, Zachary’s two miles away, and a cardboard cat on a leash being walked by a cat that had a Zachary’s dress on. And then, while painting, my cat walked all over it, and he shed a lot, so some of his hair ended up in the final painting.

Two years later, I entered again with two paintings because I had remembered that someone else had entered and won twice. We went again to Blick’s art store and bought lots of paints. The first one that year was titled Deep Dish.  I had a small meme going through my head that I could make a pun with the deep dish pizza. This became, “We deliver the deep dish deep!” I started sketching and drew a beautiful sign that said, “Not all cats hate water”, and a cat in SCUBA gear that came out a lot better than I had imagined it. There is also a turtle delivering pizza, having come out of a yellow submarine.

For my third poster, Pizza-Crazy Cats, which was the same year as SCUBA cat, I started off with a sketch of  cat standing on a table eating pizza. It’s supposed to represent my orange and white cat, Lazer. My other cat, Milo, is sitting down very properly. There are a series of signs over them that say: “Cats rule, dogs drool!”; “Cats live longer if they eat pizza”; “One cannot live well if one has not loved cats and eaten pizza”; “The first cat in space ate pizza”; “Cheese is Life!”

I’ve lived in the Bay Area since 2012, and was born in 2006. I used to live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands for several years, but I was born in New Hampshire in 2006. I love animals. I have eight pets including cats, fish, a snail, a bearded dragon, and mice. I’m planning to get more if my parents allow it. I’ve played the piano since I was six, and am in an advanced piano program. I’m into theater as well, and am currently performing in The Sound of Music.

Thank you so much, Zachary’s! You’ve been a big part of my life and I will always love your pizza and visit you, especially on my birthday.