The Podcast

EPISODE #40
Pizza Pie Amore: Alison & Francesco Crovetti of Rione Pizza, Philadelphia, Part 2
We return to Phildelphia for pizza and amore with Alison & Francesco Crovetti of the Roman-style al taglia pizzeria, Rione. In this episode, they talk about how they’ve done all their marketing on their own, which includes using digital to get on the radar of influential food writers, both locally and nationally. They talk about working out the mutual decision making process, which can’t always happen quite the way one of them might like it to. (But should they be talking business in bed?) And what IS the most popular pizza at Rione? You might be surprised—or not.

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THE TRANSCRIPT

Blaine: 00:00 So how do you feel about living in an RV in the great state of Mississippi?

Honey: 00:03 We have not been living in the RV in Mississippi.

Blaine: 00:06 We did spend a night in the RV in Mississippi.

Honey: 00:10 One night.

Blaine: 00:11 Well, that's living isn't it?

Honey: 00:13 It was glorious.

Blaine: 00:15 Welcome to CoupleCo, working with your spouse for fun and profit.

Honey: 00:18 It's business, and it's personal.

Blaine: 00:20 I'm Blaine Parker.

Honey: 00:21 Which makes me Honey Parker.

Blaine: 00:22 And as a couple in business together, we are coming to you from The Couple Coach, our compact trans-American land yacht.

Honey: 00:28 We're navigating the nation in search of standout couples in business together.

Blaine: 00:32 And we're bringing them to you so you can hear their inspiring stories of crushing it in business without crushing each other.

Honey: 00:37 This show is also brought to you by a couple owned business.

Blaine: 00:40 Smokin' Mary Bloody Smoked Mary Mix.

Honey: 00:42 Made in small batches with no reconstituted tomatoes juice, only really wonderful perky, happy little tomatoes.

Blaine: 00:52 Happy little tomatoes?

Honey: 00:53 Yeah.

Blaine: 00:54 I just suddenly saw faces on those tomatoes.

Honey: 00:56 Well, they danced too.

Blaine: 00:58 Smokin' Mary Smoked Bloody Mary Mix. Hey, nice tomatoes! Online it's smokinmary.com. Are there any topics, issues, or special interviews you think you need to hear on this show?

Honey: 01:10 If so, we want to hear from you as we just heard from the wonderfully talented Trish McMillan.

Blaine: 01:16 We did.

Honey: 01:16 Who suggested a couple to us in Florida.

Blaine: 01:18 That's right. I forgot about that.

Honey: 01:20 So if you would like to suggest a couple to us, because we will be going to Florida to meet that couple.

Blaine: 01:24 We will be going to Florida. We're going to be all over Florida.

Honey: 01:26 Just send an email to [email protected].

Blaine: 01:29 We are interested in any and all input from you, so email us at [email protected]. Now, in this edition of CoupleCo, we are returning to Philadelphia for more pizza and amore.

Honey: 01:43 And who would not want more Rione pizza?

Blaine: 01:46 Or more amore, for that matter?

Honey: 01:48 Well, that's true. We continue our conversation with Alison and Francesco Crovetti of the Roman style pizzeria, Rione.

Blaine: 01:56 Their pizzeria, which has already won a Best of Philly honors is what they call al taglio or pizza-by-the-cut.

Honey: 02:03 Alison still works in an important day job and puts on her pizza business hat at night.

Blaine: 02:08 In this episode, they talk about how they've done all their marketing on their own.

Honey: 02:12 That includes using digital to get on the radar of influential food writers, both locally and nationally.

Blaine: 02:18 The talk about working out the mutual decision making process, which can't always happen quite the way one of them might like it to.

Honey: 02:25 But should they be talking business in bed?

Blaine: 02:27 And what is the most popular pizza at Rione? You might be surprised, or not. Here now, part two of Francesco and Alison Crovetti of Rione Pizza in Philadelphia.

Honey: 02:37 So have you been doing all of your marketing on your own?

Alison: 02:44 Yeah, yep. We've been doing all the marketing on our own. We have a loan through the Small Business Association, and so we do get some resources. We have an advisor that we work with, and then we also have some other resources from there that we're able to tap into and take advantage of. But really it's been the two of us.

Honey: 03:07 So what are you doing to promote the business?

Francesco: 03:10 Instagram.

Alison: 03:11 Yes.

Francesco: 03:11 Mainly social media. Instagram and Facebook are probably-

Blaine: 03:16 Are you finding Instagram is probably your number one-

Alison: 03:18 Absolutely.

Blaine: 03:19 ... social media outlet?

Francesco: 03:19 Number one.

Blaine: 03:20 It's interesting how that's taken over.

Alison: 03:21 Yeah. Especially for food outlets. I think people eat with their eyes and so it's all the pictures, yeah.

Francesco: 03:28 Pictures.

Blaine: 03:28 When you can take pictures with a phone and make it look good-

Alison: 03:31 Yeah, that's been incredibly helpful for us. We knew who the right people were to at least start writing about us. We didn't reach out to them directly, but we knew who they were. And so we started to see a chain of events happen when we first announced that we were opening. So we got a presence early on, invited some people to follow us or started following them and then starting a dialogue that way. Once one food writer writes about you, then another outlet will write about you, and so we got really, really good press in the beginning, and that certainly helped us. And so we've been fortunate to get on the radar of some of these food writers and outlets in Philadelphia and also nationally as well.

Blaine: 04:22 Nicely done.

Alison: 04:23 It's great. Thank you.

Blaine: 04:25 You seem very strategic and very tactical, and that's really good. Because a lot of people don't really think in terms of strategy and tactics, they just throw it out there and see what happens.

Honey: 04:37 If you build it, they will come.

Blaine: 04:38 Yeah, yeah.

Alison: 04:40 It's a bit of a mix, but yeah.

Blaine: 04:41 We've worked with people who started with an if you build it, they will come attitude, and we had to help them get past that. This is going to be an interesting one, since the two of you don't work together in the same space on a daily basis, but you're going to have a different answer and I think probably a useful one. When you're working with a spouse, what's a pitfall to avoid?

Francesco: 05:03 You know, sometimes I am here at the business, and I need a consultation, we do take decisions together. So sometimes I just need to reach Ali. I'll call her or I'll text her and I'll probably know it's not the right time to do it. But the hardest part is to reach her while she's working. So Ali's very, she makes sure that she dedicates her full dedication to her full time job in the morning. So I needed to make sure that I got better at how I communicate things.

Blaine: 05:39 Mm, communication.

Francesco: 05:40 A, communication-

Blaine: 05:42 The C word.

Francesco: 05:42 And finding the right ways, the right tools to do it, and then anticipating anything that you might know before the day starts or the day before you go into something. So it's just something you develop within time.

Alison: 05:55 Yeah, and I would say I think I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing. I think I have to be good at compartmentalizing. And I would say that that maybe is not Francesco's strength as much. We might be in bed, and ready to go to bed, and he brings up something about Rione, so that's never that fun to then be like, "Okay, now I have to think about this when I was just kind of winding down." But I think we've gotten a lot better at that through discussing it and kind of explaining that we really do need to have a bit of a separation of-

Blaine: 06:31 So can you ever just turn off work? Can you ever stop it from creeping into all your conversations in bed or wherever?

Francesco: 06:39 [crosstalk 00:06:39]

Alison: 06:42 It always finds its way in, but when there are really big things we need to talk about then it's around scheduling the time to do it. And when it's a comment in passing then it's a comment in passing, and we can move forward on it. But yeah, I think we talk about it a lot because there's a lot to talk about. And it's also, I ask Francesco, like how was your day? Did you meet anyone interesting? What sold the most? Because I'm curious because I think it's interesting. So there's always going to be that conversation, but at least those are kind of the fun things about the work versus the, you know-

Blaine: 07:14 Okay, let me guess, pepperoni?

Alison: 07:22 The Diavola, yep.

Francesco: 07:22 Yep, that's-

Blaine: 07:22 It's still the US.

Alison: 07:23 Yeah.

Francesco: 07:24 Yeah, people will even identify it even if you put a different name to it or you use the original type, we use the soppressata, spicy soppressata from [Columbia 00:07:34], it's just like nice and spicy. Obviously, resembles, looks just like pepperoni.

Blaine: 07:40 Pepperoni.

Francesco: 07:40 And people love it. It is our top seller.

Blaine: 07:44 Man, I shouldn't be surprised by that, but I was thinking if you change the name are people going to go, "Ah?"

Honey: 07:50 Apparently not, a rose by any other name.

Blaine: 07:50 Yeah, I guess not.

Francesco: 07:52 They just go down the line, and they're like, "Where is it? Oh, right there."

Blaine: 07:56 It's here somewhere.

Alison: 07:58 [inaudible 00:07:58]

Blaine: 07:58 So you're saying Instagram is probably your single most effective marketing effort. Has there been any other kind of marketing that you've done or has it all been social media?

Alison: 08:10 Well, we've done events as well.

Blaine: 08:12 Oh, cool, event market.

Alison: 08:14 So we've participated in certain events throughout the year, last year. It was our first year last year, but basically whatever event we got invited to, we always considered. And we were able to participate in quite a few, so that's been a huge uplift. I think those are challenging to do, but definitely worth the exposure.

Blaine: 08:39 So what would you say your single biggest marketing effort has been in terms of effectiveness? Is it events, is it Instagram, is it something else?

Francesco: 08:46 It's gotta be events.

Alison: 08:46 Yeah, I would say events.

Blaine: 08:49 And then your regular efforts, Instagram is your monster killer?

Alison: 08:52 Yep.

Blaine: 08:52 Very cool.

Honey: 08:53 So if you're doing an event, are you cooking on the premises?

Francesco: 08:57 It's probably one of the hardest challenges, to bring your food somewhere else just because you don't have your kitchen with you. And yet we don't have a portable oven for reheating our pizza. That's kind of like our concept. We do like a prebake for lunch, mid-afternoon, and then dinner. And then the pizza, it's held in our counter and then warmed in our reheating oven, which is like right behind the counter, the space where all the pizza is displayed.

Since we can't bring that, we have to find creative ways on how to reheat the pizza and how to serve it and which types of pizza to serve. So we did make use of the hotplate, which usually is used for making pancakes in the morning, but it came in handy, and it still was able to get that nice crunch in the bottom.

Blaine: 09:50 You gotta have that crunch. Right on.

Francesco: 09:54 Having printed material at these events has obviously helped because people were able to bring the information home.

Blaine: 10:02 And it's really interesting because social media is so considered the god marketing now, like that's it, that's everything. And this is so the opposite of social media. This is one of the oldest kinds of marketing [inaudible 00:10:14].

Honey: 10:14 But with your product, experience has got to be a huge sell. And it's interesting, we just interviewed Dandelion Catering in Maine. And they're doing a lot of weddings on islands in Maine. So they have to figure out, okay, we're getting all of everything to the island and then we have to cook it. And one of the things I found interesting about them is they're definitely two very different personality types, but both of them really got excited about how do we solve this nightmare? That's their joy, and go figure.

Alison: 10:49 I know, get to that. That's crazy.

Honey: 10:52 They're like, "Wasn't that great? We almost exploded."

Blaine: 10:57 Alison, how does Francesco make you better?

Alison: 11:01 How does he make me better? I think Francesco is very patient and very action oriented type person. So he's definitely not a procrastinator. He has something on his to-do list, he does it. And I think that's been something that I've tried to hold myself accountable to as well. He's amazing around the house. He's a great cook, even at home. He cooks for me, so I'm very lucky.

Blaine: 11:30 You've got an Italian chef at home.

Alison: 11:30 It's really not how he's making me better, it's just how he's making my life better. No, but I think he's ... We've been together now for nine years, and I think we've kind of grown up a bit together, and I think he's taught me patience and how to communicate more effectively. Because I have a tendency to be very direct and sometimes forceful, and so I've had to soften in that aspect.

Honey: 12:02 Well then I have to ... Since you asked her that, Francesco, I have to ask you how Alison makes you better?

Francesco: 12:10 It's funny that Ali mentioned the communication aspect of this just because I feel like I always use it as an excuse, the fact that I've got a mix of languages in my head. So sometimes I have a hard time getting my thoughts through to people.

Blaine: 12:30 How many languages do you speak?

Francesco: 12:32 Fluently, Italian, English, and Spanish.

Blaine: 12:36 Okay, so that's two more than most American, all right.

Francesco: 12:40 So it can be a challenge sometimes to make sure that my thought process is coming through. But at the same time, I feel Ali was able to definitely teach me how to make sure that I was able to communicate better. I had a very bad tendency of going out of subject and start talking about something else, so she definitely taught me on how to be a little more direct, which has helped me with customers walking in, and the communication with my staff to make sure that I don't get them confused just because, again, I can have a thousand thoughts in my head and they could all be coming at the same time, but I have to make sure that I'm always communicating the right way.

Ali loves to read books and listen to the news, and I feel like that's something that I don't do quite a bit. And I definitely feel inspired every day. And she definitely has given me the inspiration to become a better person like that and to listen more and communicate in a better way. And finally I think, Ali is a very caring person. She is always the one to send thank you notes on special occasions, or-

Blaine: 14:00 We're talking thank you notes on paper?

Alison: 14:01 Yeah.

Blaine: 14:02 Wow, okay. Thank you for being a throwback. That's good.

Francesco: 14:06 Yeah.

Alison: 14:08 It hasn't died completely.

Blaine: 14:10 No.

Honey: 14:11 It's a beautiful thing.

Blaine: 14:12 And that's what people remember.

Francesco: 14:14 The one thing, when Ali and I decided to find out the gender and open up the envelope, we did it together, and Ali put together some of the notes that we had exchanged on some of the cards. And the only note that I will say and suggestion that I have for everyone is to always mark the place and date of when you write that note because sometimes it can be very hard to remember when this was written.

Alison: 14:43 That's such a nice thing that you said, I don't when you saw that.

Blaine: 14:50 Okay, so nine years, and Rione is how old?

Alison: 14:55 One-and-a-half.

Francesco: 14:55 One-and-a-half, yeah.

Blaine: 14:57 So how long did you know, before you knew you were going to actually open a pizzeria? The idea of the pizzeria is how old?

Francesco: 15:07 I want to say like 13-

Alison: 15:10 2015.

Francesco: 15:11 When it became-

Alison: 15:12 Something real.

Francesco: 15:13 When I took the course, yeah.

Alison: 15:16 2015.

Francesco: 15:17 So it was just a dream-

Blaine: 15:18 So you've been thinking about this for ... Between thinking about it and the reality of it, it's been three years and change?

Alison: 15:25 Yeah.

Blaine: 15:25 Okay. So this might be a tough one to answer because you don't really work together in the same space, but do you ever say, "I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be working with this person?"

Alison: 15:42 I'll let Francesco answer that first.

Francesco: 15:49 Sometimes it can be a challenge, especially because we are both making decisions, and we have different opinions on different matters. And what it comes down to is just really trying to find like a compromise and accept that sometimes you may be wrong, but one thing for sure is that you can't make that decision on your own just because some of these decisions are very tough and I feel like it does help to make them together.

Blaine: 16:31 So this sounds like, "Oh, boy. This is tough. Thank God she's there."

Francesco: 16:35 Yes, for sure.

Blaine: 16:37 Okay. I know that feeling.

Alison: 16:42 And I would say it's also about kind of understanding your role and where you're going to be the most value at. So maybe in the beginning when we first opened, and I would be here on certain nights and weekends, it was maybe sending a mixed message to certain staff about who's in charge.

Honey: 17:03 Interesting.

Alison: 17:03 Since then, we've had a lot of conversations about where I fit in and kind of the behind the scenes nature of my role and just making sure that Francesco's the authority on these things especially externally. And then at home, we can talk about anything that we need to sort out. But I think that's been a huge help as well is mitigating those problems because we've been able to really kind of say, "Francesco's in charge. I'm just supporting," even if there are certain things that we need to decide together.

Honey: 17:35 I would think that on one hand that that's challenging initially to maybe bite your tongue in different situations where there needs to be a figurehead. But I would also think that once you get that pattern, it's also almost freeing.

Alison: 17:54 Yeah, that's a great way to put it. Yeah, I mean I think I do have a hard time biting my tongue because I do have certain opinions about certain things. But it takes a certain level of trust and experience to get to that point. And you're right that it has been kind of a bit liberating to know that Francesco's got it, and all I have to do is just kind of be in a consultative role for him.

Blaine: 18:23 What would you say to anyone who's thinking, "I need to go into business with my husband, my wife, my partner?"

Francesco: 18:31 Forget about it.

Honey: 18:32 You've been in Philly long enough.

Blaine: 18:35 Moving on.

Alison: 18:43 I mean, I think it's not only are you in business, you're in a very stressful business, so I think it's kind of compounded by that where you are kind of worried. The brick and mortar aspect, like you said, kind of adds an additional layer of stress because we have to constantly be worried about the infrastructure of this business. If we get a leak or if we get-

Blaine: 19:07 It's all your leak.

Alison: 19:08 Yeah, exactly.

Francesco: 19:10 We started the day without power.

Blaine: 19:13 Oh, man.

Honey: 19:14 What happened?

Francesco: 19:14 Our ovens are electric. Just an outage.

Alison: 19:17 Right, so anything could kind of disrupt that in that sense, so that's a challenge. But we feel like we're in a place where we can be supportive for each other. And I think if anyone does want to go into business with their spouse, I think they just have to not have any blinders on about the fact that you will talk about this and live it every single hour of the day, good and bad, right?

Honey: 19:17 Yeah.

Alison: 19:47 I think it's amazing to share a lot of the highs. The highs are very high. And so when we got Best of Philly, for example, we were ecstatic and felt so-

Honey: 19:59 That's pretty fantastic.

Alison: 20:02 Yeah, we were just over the moon about it. But the lows can be very low, and you're thinking about your cashflow and all that fun stuff that comes with the business.

Blaine: 20:15 Okay, it sounds like this is a 24/7 business existence.

Alison: 20:20 Maybe I'm being a bit hyperbolic.

Honey: 20:24 No.

Alison: 20:24 But I think also-

Blaine: 20:24 I think it's fair.

Alison: 20:24 Yeah. I mean, I think you live with the person you work with, so it's hard to-

Blaine: 20:31 So am I wrong in saying it's a lot like a diplomatic court?

Francesco: 20:38 When you choose to open a business, it means opening like a lifestyle. It's about choosing like a lifestyle. Your friends, your family are here to support you. They come and see you. I watch soccer. Being Italian, Soccer's my main sport, my only sport.

Blaine: 20:56 Yeah, [inaudible 00:20:56] football.

Francesco: 20:57 Football, exactly, so I have a couple of friends that come during the weekend, and we'll watch the games together. So it's very important that you know what is going to happen when you open the business and the way that it's going to affect your life. Because, yes, it can be 24/7, but then you need to find a way to find that time to detach and almost forget that it's there even though you're in it.

Honey: 21:26 It's definitely, I think, good to not go in with these rose colored glasses that, "Oh, we love each other so much-"

Blaine: 21:26 No, those colored glasses are bad.

Honey: 21:34 "We're going to start a business and it will be amazing." So you have to know it's not going to be hats and horns all the time, but I don't think you can ever know-

Blaine: 21:43 Rainbows and unicorns.

Honey: 21:44 Exactly, all of it, until you get in it and kind of what you're saying, Francesco, that you adjust as you go. It's like, "I need more of this. I need less of that. I need more friends in my life. I need time for that. I need more." You make those adjustments.

Alison: 22:00 Yeah.

Blaine: 22:01 All right. I think it's time.

Honey: 22:01 I think it's time too.

Blaine: 22:01 All right, you ready? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. It's the lightening round.

Alison: 22:01 Okay.

Blaine: 22:03 You ready? Quick answers to quick questions.

Alison: 22:11 Okay.

Blaine: 22:12 Francesco, what is her biggest pet peeve about you?

Francesco: 22:15 Um, pet peeve, hold on. What's the meaning of pet peeve again?

Blaine: 22:21 Pet peeve, what does she hate about you?

Honey: 22:23 Not hate.

Blaine: 22:24 What little thing-

Alison: 22:25 What thing do you do that irritates me?

Honey: 22:26 What quirky thing makes her nuts?

Alison: 22:28 Yeah.

Francesco: 22:32 She leaves her clothes on the floor.

Alison: 22:36 No.

Blaine: 22:36 No, what do you do that makes her crazy?

Alison: 22:39 What do you do that makes me crazy?

Francesco: 22:42 Oh, what I do, sorry.

Blaine: 22:45 You already answered for her.

Francesco: 22:46 Yes. What I do is-

Alison: 22:49 That was my answer actually.

Francesco: 22:51 I complain too much.

Blaine: 22:53 You complain too much. You're an Italian kvetcher.

Francesco: 22:57 Yeah. How do you say kvetching in Italian?

Honey: 22:59 I don't know. I can only say it in kvetchen.

Blaine: 23:01 In Yiddish, you're right.

Honey: 23:01 Yeah, that's-

Blaine: 23:01 And so Allison?

Alison: 23:05 Yeah, I'm a little sloppy and leave my clothes on the floor.

Honey: 23:09 That's interesting because you don't appear to be that person.

Alison: 23:09 It's a private-

Francesco: 23:09 All in disguise.

Blaine: 23:14 Francesco, what person, living or dead, would you hire if you could?

Francesco: 23:17 I think my grandfather.

Blaine: 23:20 Really, your grandfather? Okay. Is grand pop really good in business?

Francesco: 23:25 I think he was like a very important figure for me.

Blaine: 23:27 Okay.

Francesco: 23:28 So I didn't have much of, being abroad and everything, I didn't have much time to be with him, but I always felt like he had a lot of good advice and was one of the most handsome men on earth.

Blaine: 23:41 Oh, wow.

Honey: 23:42 That's great.

Francesco: 23:42 I know he would have been good for the business.

Blaine: 23:44 Say no more.

Honey: 23:45 All right, Ali, what single person, living or dead, would you hire for the business if you could?

Alison: 23:50 Oh, geez. I would probably hire some kind of venture capitalist that could-

Francesco: 23:56 [crosstalk 00:23:56]

Alison: 23:57 So he could make us rich.

Blaine: 23:59 Any VC guy in particular?

Alison: 24:00 Yeah, no, not really.

Blaine: 24:02 Just a good one.

Alison: 24:02 Yeah, just a good one.

Honey: 24:04 Okay, all right, VC person, if you're listening.

Blaine: 24:07 Yep.

Honey: 24:07 So Ali, I'll ask you this one first. What do you do just to get his goat?

Alison: 24:14 Oh, geez. I know these are supposed to be lightening, but there's a lot.

Blaine: 24:20 If it makes you feel any better, nobody's ever done this as lightening.

Alison: 24:24 Yeah, I can twist the knife a little bit when we're in a fight, maybe, of kind of saying certain things that I know are going to upset him. Yeah, we know each other pretty well, so, yeah.

Blaine: 24:35 So just stick the knife in and twist when it works. Okay.

Alison: 24:40 Yeah, I can be a little petty like that, not proud of it.

Blaine: 24:42 All right, Francesco?

Francesco: 24:46 What was the question again?

Blaine: 24:48 The question was what do you do just to get her goat?

Alison: 24:50 Like to piss me off.

Honey: 24:56 Could even be playfully.

Blaine: 24:58 Well, we hope it's playful, but you never know. There could be a knife involved.

Francesco: 25:05 Just stay silent.

Blaine: 25:09 That's a good one. All right, you guys can answer this together or separately.

Honey: 25:13 And by the way, the staying silent, that reminds we of Ryan and Crystal Waugh, he calls it long pause.

Blaine: 25:22 That's right, a long pause. Ryan and Crystal Waugh, they are vintners in Napa that we interviewed.

Francesco: 25:25 Must be a [inaudible 00:25:26], yeah.

Honey: 25:28 But he's so good at it, he's got a name for it. He's like, "I do the long pause."

Blaine: 25:30 The long pause.

Honey: 25:32 All right.

Alison: 25:33 Drives me crazy.

Blaine: 25:33 Okay, since starting the business together, what has been your best date night?

Francesco: 25:39 When we did like a stay-cation.

Alison: 25:43 Yeah, that was nice. Yeah, I would say the same. There's this amazing hotel called Lokal Hotel in Old City. Lokal, with a K, and it's a concierge free, kind of almost like a hybrid between an Airbnb and a hotel, designed beautifully, and you get your own kitchen and loft. And so we, for Fourth of July, we had closed, and so we rented a room for the night and went there, and just felt like we were away for the night.

Blaine: 26:14 That sounds good.

Honey: 26:16 Nice.

Alison: 26:17 Yeah, and we went to Fork, which is a really nice restaurant in Old City as well. And it was just, yeah, that was really, really special.

Blaine: 26:24 I mean, let's do it right after we leave here.

Honey: 26:27 No, we should definitely go back and stay at my parents'. It's way better.

Blaine: 26:32 All right, Ali, describe Francesco in one word.

Alison: 26:36 Passionate.

Blaine: 26:38 Good one.

Honey: 26:38 Ah, Francesco, describe Ali in one word.

Francesco: 26:41 It's got to be one, huh? I was going to say full of life.

Blaine: 26:45 If there's one Italian word you want to use, feel free.

Francesco: 26:50 [foreign 00:26:50], which live, I guess. So I think she's just always got energy, so definitely like that.

Honey: 26:58 All right.

Blaine: 27:00 Francesco and Alison Crovetti of Rione.

Honey: 27:01 In Philadelphia.

Blaine: 27:04 In Philadelphia, on ... I totally forgot the address.

Alison: 27:07 21st between Chestnut and [Sansom 00:27:09].

Blaine: 27:09 21st between Chestnut and what?

Honey: 27:11 Sansom.

Alison: 27:11 Sansom.

Blaine: 27:13 I'm not from around these parts, so these names. Honey, you know them.

Honey: 27:17 Actually when she said, "Chestnut and Sansom," in the beginning, I was like, "Oh," reminded of that.

Blaine: 27:24 All right, you guys, really appreciate ... This has been great. I'm looking forward to eating more pizza when we shut the microphones down.

Francesco: 27:30 Sounds good.

Alison: 27:31 Thank you so much.

Honey: 27:32 Thank you, you guys. That was so appreciated.

Blaine: 27:33 Oh, should we give the web address? Would that be good?

Francesco: 27:37 Yeah.

Alison: 27:38 Yeah, it's rionepizza.com.

Blaine: 27:39 Rione, R-I-O-N-E pizza.com.

Alison: 27:43 Yeah.

Blaine: 27:45 This has been part two of our conversation with Francesco and Alison Crovetti of Rione Pizza in Philadelphia.

Honey: 27:51 If you've enjoyed this podcast, and you think it would be useful or fun for other couple entrepreneurs, please go to iTunes and leave a star rating and a review to help them find it.

Blaine: 27:59 And join us next time for a really unusual CoupleCo recorded aboard a motor yacht. We'll be sitting down aboard the motor vessel, Why Not, with Cherie Ve Ard and Chris Dunphey of the Mobile Internet Resource Center.

Honey: 28:13 But they're probably known better around the world for their personal website technomadia.com.

Blaine: 28:18 Technically, after more than a decade together, they are still on their fourth date.

Honey: 28:22 Technically.

Blaine: 28:23 Technically.

Honey: 28:24 Chris and Cherie, along with their cat in charge Kiki, are technology geeks who help people with various levels of mobile internet connectivity.

Blaine: 28:32 But this show is epic, not so much for the technology, which can be really interesting, but for the extraordinary nature of their business, their relationship, and their nomadic lifestyle.

Honey: 28:41 Which includes half the year aboard the boat, and half the year living in a converted bus. They were seriously fascinating to us, and I know part of it is because there's so much overlap between their life and our life at the moment. But I think they are just genuinely fascinating.

Blaine: 28:57 Kind of like me.

Honey: 28:59 Exactly.

Blaine: 29:03 Maybe not. Next time, here on CoupleCo, working with your spouse for fun and profit.

Honey: 29:07 Copyright 2018, all rights reserved.

Blaine: 29:10 Love you, baby.

Honey: 29:10 Love you too.

Blaine: 29:11 CoupleCo out.