Customer of the Month: Joey Thompson

Pizza-making is an art, and a promising business venture.

Our customer of the month for February will tell us how he has sold 3,000 pizzas in just a year! Thanks to his Maximus Prime Arena Oven.

Read more about Joey Thompson of Moondog Makers & Bakers, and his journey from being a musician-turned head chef-turned boss of his own by creating different, specialty pizzas everyday.

Can you tell us about yourself?

My Name is Joey Thompson, and I live in Corinth, MS. I have a lovely wife, Kaylin, and 3 of the wildest, cutest kids you have ever met; Gordon, Elliott, and Adalyn.

I moved to Corinth to play music with some friends from college and ended up working at a couple of chain restaurants as a server, dishwasher, and what could scarcely be a cook when we weren't playing music. I eventually happened on a job at Pizza Grocery in Corinth (a gem of a hometown restaurant) that started becoming more important to me than being in a band.

Eventually, I learned to cook real food from Chef Andy Lipford, and most importantly, he taught me how to make pizza, which I have loved since the Book-It days when we would get coupons for free pizza at Pizza Hut for reading a book. 

Why did you choose an Authentic Pizza Oven?

When Andy left in 2010, I kind of assumed the head chef role and had several great years to experiment and cook food that I dreamed up. I started doing a little more cooking at home and got really into canning and preserving and eventually started Moondog Makers & Bakers in the Early Spring of 2015.

I would set up at small markets locally and sell my canned goods to anyone that would buy them. Mostly friends and family in those days. The next year I dabbled in a little on-site cooking for various events that didn't conflict with my other job, and we eventually just kept getting busier and busier. By 2016 we catered our first wedding and had several booked for 2017. I left Pizza Grocery in the Summer of 2019 to pursue Moondog full-time.

At first, like any big leap out on your own, I was terrified, but I started getting busy that fall. During the pandemic, I had a lot of time to read and kind of think about #whatismoondog which has been the hashtag we've used since starting. While I still don't know the answer (cause we're always changing), I knew that I wanted to make pizza.

3,000 pizzas sold using my Authentic Pizza Oven in just a year!

I ordered my Maximus Prime Arena Oven in August of 2020 and received it in mid-October. I had been looking at them for over a year. I called a fellow Authentic Pizza Oven Owner in Massachusetts to get some pointers, advice, and just a general opinion on the oven. After about 20 minutes, The Rolling Pizza Kitchen had sold me on that oven. The hardest decision I had now was whether I wanted the black or red model.

At our one-year mark, we had sold over 3,000 pizzas in our oven. We are well past that now and have created at least 30-40 specialty pies!

They range from White Barbecue Chicken w/ pickled red onion - to a green onion cream cheese-based pizza with *Moondust* Bacon, mozzarella, pineapple, jalapeno, and Captain Rodney's Boucan Glaze. Most are truly unique to Moondog, but not without some influence from my fellow pizza makers online and locally which is a community that is inspiring to no end.

I have tried to build a network of chefs and friends that use this oven. I have had someone call me just like I called the Rolling Pizza Kitchen about the oven. He was on the fence and when I got off the phone with him, he screenshot a picture of his Authentic Pizza Oven Order Confirmation. 

I love pizza and I really love this oven! It gets hot QUICK, it's small enough to transport, yet big enough for us to feed a wedding of 250 that is eating only pizza and salad without a single person waiting.

That is just as much a testament of the oven's awesomeness as it is to my friends, Zach, Bradley, Jason, and Wayne that help me often when the jobs are big. We pack up the whole operation and bring it on-site and there is not a single time that we don't get compliments on it or just downright offers to buy it! My friend Steve Sanders built me the most awesome table for my oven and that set up with the oven on it really is the centerpiece of any event we set up at. 

I love Authentic Pizza Ovens!

Follow Joey from Moondog Makers & Bakers:

Instagram - @moondogmakingandbaking
Facebook - Moondog Makers and Bakers
Website - www.moondogmakersandbakers.com

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING FEATURED AS CUSTOMER OF THE MONTH - please email Amber@authenticpizzaovens.com

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