In Crust We Trust! Aurelio’s Has Proudly Served Quality Pizza for Nearly 60-Years

Allow us to go off on a tangent for a moment. Yes, it’s random story time on the Aurelio's Pizza blog. If you’re fans of the TV show The Office like we are (and love binge-watching Netflix like we do), you’ll be familiar with the episode where the main character, boss Michael Scott, orders his employees pizza from a local restaurant. Turns out, he ordered pizza from the wrong establishment, the one his employees hate. He asks them, “Would you rather have a lot of medium-good pizza, or would you rather have a little really good pizza?” They all instantly (and unanimously) answer “A little really good pizza.”

That got us thinking: how would you answer this question? Aurelio’s Pizza is 100% on the side of the employees of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company—it’s infinitely better to have a little bit of outstanding pizza than any serving of mediocre pizza.

What is it that makes great pizza great pizza? While people you ask may have a slightly different response to this question, to us, it’s all about homemade dough and savory sauce. Combine these two delicious components (and a whole lot of love), and you have a pie that all of the characters on The Office would cheer for.

Quality pizza is what we have been doing at Aurelio’s for nearly 60-years. The first Aurelio’s Pizza first opened its doors in 1959 in Homewood with nothing but a small storefront, four tables, a small kitchen, and a lot of hard work. While first customers initially came for the unbeatable Italian beef sandwiches, soon, alterations were made to the dough and sauce recipes. These changes, which included using fresh, homemade Italian sausage rather than pre-cooking it, made a big difference in sales.

Aurelio’s only began to expand and improve throughout the 1960s, and in 1974, a true milestone was reached. That was the year that Aurelio’s Pizza became the first Chicago pizzeria to franchise its concept, becoming just the fifth pizza franchise company in the United States. This franchise success only expanded throughout the 1980s and 1990s. If you think about it, this success might never have occurred if those original recipes weren’t slightly adjusted to better incorporate homemade, quality ingredients.

Thank you for letting us to rant—while we may have come across strongly, let’s face it; this is a subject we’re passionate about. And when you’re passionate about something, you have to speak up for it.

If you share our passionate opinion, that quality is just as key of an ingredient to pizza as sauce and dough, we hope you’ll come dine at Aurelio’s Pizza in the very near future and we’re pretty sure it will be love at first bite! Visit our website to contact us with questions about our specific locations.