by Andrew Morrison | First time restaurateurs Heather Heron and Marco de Conciliis are opening a new Neapolitan-style pizzeria in Tofino this summer. The 20 seater is destined for the 1,066 sqft space in the brand new building currently under construction at 551 Campbell Street (between Shelter and Wolf In The Fog). It’s to be called Basic Goodness. The plan is for 8 wood-fired pizzas on the menu with a weekly special, plus a few antipasto plates, salads, and desserts. Amorita Adair, the opening sommelier at Savio Volpe, is doing the Italian wine program.
rendering courtesy Flo Design (building designer)
Both Heather and Marco are recent arrivals to Tofino, having recently left the United States and long careers in fashion and design. Heather – a Canadian by birth with family history in Tofino – operated her own product and interior design firm in Los Angeles for 20 years, her work being featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Wallpaper and The New York Times. Marco – a graduate from The Pizza Italian Academy in Italy who trained under a master Pizzaiolo in his hometown of Naples – spent the last 30 years working internationally for Ford Models as the face of campaigns for Calvin Klein, Versace, Guess, and Armani.
t for them, but what’s great for us is Basic Goodness potentially filling a hole. Legit, traditional Neapolitan pizza – to my knowledge – has yet to join the ranks of Tofino’s surprisingly deep bench of culinary assets. Granted, there’s already pizza in Tofino (eg. Tony’s, Sobo), but these pies sound like they’re going to be taken to a different, altogether loftier level. By no means am I predicting anything fancy (it’s pizza), but doing one thing exceedingly well in a small town is never a bad idea, and neither is pizza.
Heather and Marco launched a Kickstarter campaign this morning to help fund the wood-burning oven of their dreams. I wish them the best with it, and look forward to tasting the results this summer. Take a look…
Congrats on a nice video!
I don’t understand how businesses think it’s fair to ask people to pay for the restaurant start up cost. Why should people pay for a wood oven? Ask your friends, family or bank, privately. As a local of tofino, it puts a bad taste in my mouth that these entrepreneurs (that beside an aunt and uncle, have no connection locally) are already asking for money from strangers, for nothing in return. Usually these fundraisers are for sick people, pets or environmental misfortunes and not because you didn’t get a loan from a bank for a piece of equipment.
Hi #businessplan,
Sorry to hear we put a bad taste in your mouth, we’re actually trying to do the opposite with delicious “Mmmmm” worthy pizza!
We think you’re right about seeking out all resources before asking strangers for money. And actually, that’s what we’ve been doing! Our Kickstarter campaign is an easy way to share our project with friends, family, and acquaintances to ask for support. We also have received money from investors + invested our personal savings before starting this campaign. We also hope that along the way, this Kickstarter will help spread the word about our pizzeria to people who might never have heard of us otherwise, like this awesome article on Scout, which we are very grateful for and excited about!
We chose Kickstarter as a platform, instead of a site like GoFundMe, for the exact reason you mentioned. We wanted a platform that didn’t just ask for money without giving anything in return. On Kickstarter, we actually are able to offer rewards for the money contributed. While many of our friends and family are happy to give, we are hopeful that some of our rewards…like Free Pizza or Surf Bags, Hemp Beach Blankets or Tshirts will be enticing to people local in the area and get them excited about our opening this summer. We are excited to enter into the Tofino community and are hoping this campaign will be a fun way to reach out. We hope that you take a second look at our Kickstarter to see our good intentions and please do drop by to check us out once we are open!
Heather + Marco