This installment of The Axis Effect features Nick Bogacz, President of Caliente Pizza and author of the Pizza Equation. Worth over $190 billion as of 2021, the pizza industry continues to grow as one of the country’s (and world’s) most popular foods. For Bogacz, the journey of being a leader in an industry defined by small businesses starts from the very bottom, working as a delivery boy at the age of 17 over two decades ago. Fast forward to the pandemic in 2020, and it's clear to see how well Bogacz understands not only the importance of the business but how a leader treats their employees. Despite the hard hits all restaurants took from the pandemic, Bogacz chose to double down on taking care of his employees, raising salaries, and adding 401k’s and health benefits, among other programs to ensure positive well-being for his employees. From the economic changes of price increases, Bogacz opted to grow, creating new streams of income, as they are now preparing to release about 11 new products throughout retail stores in their local Pittsburgh area. Even as a brand, they’ve expanded in a variety of ways, including becoming the official pizza of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since the pandemic began and his team opted to focus on growth, Bogacz has grown Caliente Pizza’s number of locations from 5 to 12.   Bogacz discusses the importance of building a bigger brand, how he’s continuously working to do this for Caliente Pizza, the key to making an amazing pizza, and why growing a company’s internal infrastructure for employees is crucial to growing said company outside as well.  To learn more, tune in to “Freezing out the Competition.”