Another university that draws students from out of state will open in Connecticut and is sure to be the cheesiest of them all.
The popular New Haven Pizza School will open the University of Apizza (ah-beetz) in spring of 2027.
There won’t be any grades, papers or required reading, but the first class it offers is designed to lead to a career in pizza or pizzeria ownership.
“This is all about fun for me,” said school founder and owner Frank Zabski. “I wasn’t born into the pizza business. I’m not a Bimonte, not a Consiglio, not a Nuzzo. But I can work really hard to get people the right information.”
Plus, Zabski is considered one of the nation’s top pizza experts, with a specialty in New Haven-style pizza.
Zabski, who knows the field like he knows a good charred crust, said students will learn how to make New Haven-style pizza, how to shop for a location, inside layout, food suppliers, equipment, security, ordering, staff training, social media, signage, insurance and more.
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Zabski became enthralled with pizza as a 12-year-old making it for his church fair in West Haven, has become an expert in all facets of the food brought here from Italy in the 1900s. He also spent years on Wooster Street eating at Sally’s Apizza and Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana.
If pizza were a college major, Zabski would have a PhD.
He owns the popular school, co-hosts a radio show/podcast on pizza, founded a pizza parking lot group held in warmer months, co-runs a huge pizza and brew fest, produced a professional video on New Haven-style pizza, is making a movie about Connecticut pizza and even named his black Labrador retriever “Char” after the well-done crust characteristic of New Haven-style pizza.
When the New York Times or Wall Street Journal has a question about Connecticut’s famous pizza, they call Zabski, who also teaches at the industry’s biggest national gathering.
Long ago Zabski owned a pizza truck, “Fired Up,” but it was so popular he had to let it go because he had two other businesses to run.
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New Haven-style pizza expert Frank Zabski at Connecticut Pizza & Brew Fest, an event he co-sponsors every year. Zabski is creating another warm weather pizza activity valled, “Parking Lot Pizza,” which begins in Spring.
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New Haven-style pizza expert Frank Zabski at Connecticut Pizza & Brew Fest, an event he co-sponsors every year. Zabski is creating another warm weather pizza activity valled, “Parking Lot Pizza,” which begins in Spring.
He expects the new university to draw students from throughout the United States with a special schedule for those who will need hotel lodging. The course for local students will be over a month long, three to four hours a day, for about four to six days.
Zabski has the curriculum set and is now working out more details, including tuition.
He said there’s a “different mindset” when preparing pizza in a commercial setting than for the home oven, which has been the emphasis at the school so far.
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Zabski has started three to four businesses of his own and said no matter what the business “you have to be a business person or learn.”
He said important for pizzeria owners, for example, is to find a place that’s already been a restaurant so you have a grease trap and kitchen set up or “costs will double or triple.”
Connecticut in recent years was named the pizza capital of the United States.
He said people who want to go into the business “really have a passion for it,” and “really want to make other people happy,” through pizza.
State of Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont
This throne was designed and custom built as a gesture to U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of New Haven that dubbed her as the ‘Apizza Queen’ for her work proclaiming Connecticut as the ‘Pizza Capital of the United States’ in 2024.
It can be viewed at New Haven Pizza Club on James Street in the Elm City. ( Governor’s office)
“The pizzeria business is a tough, tough business,” he said, requiring many hours and “labor, food and electricity are through the roof,” he said
He already helps pizza places in Connecticut and out-of-state establish themselves with one-on-one consultations. The university model will make it much more affordable, he said.
How profitable is the pizza business in Connecticut?
“I think it’s spotty. Some places are doing really well some places are struggling,” he said.
For now, his only advertisement for the new endeavor is on Facebook:
“Introducing University of Apizza!
This will be a commercial off-shoot of New Haven Pizza School for pizzeria owners who want to learn the art and science of making apizza and for other men and women who want to work in the pizza industry in a pizzeria.”
