Two new sponsors bring portable pizza ovens and Italian-inspired hot honey.
Two Italian American moms made a hot honey they wanted to eat, decided they had something worth sharing and started building a business around it. Now, Bee Dolce Hot Honey is joining the U.S. Pizza Team as a Bronze sponsor, bringing its Italian roots and a little extra heat into the mix. Joining the sponsor family alongside Bee Dolce is Festa Pizza Co., whose founder would like pizza ovens to claim considerably more space in America’s backyards. Both companies are starting at Bronze with plans to grow their involvement, and we’re happy to make room at the table.
Elisabetta and Stefania, Bee Dolce’s founders, came to the business through something plenty of pizza operators understand: food has always been a big part of their lives. “Being Italian, food has always been a huge part of our upbringing,” they explain. “We both always loved spicy foods and we wanted to create a hot honey that really reflected our taste and our Italian roots.” Their woman-owned company grew from that shared interest, with both founders taking on the work of turning a recipe into a business.
That transition comes with its own education, whether you’re selling honey or opening a pizzeria. Developing the product is one job; figuring out everything required to get it into somebody else’s kitchen is another. “Once we realized we had created something special, we learned and have been growing every part of 
this business together,” the founders say. There are probably a few independent operators reading that sentence and nodding right now.
The recipe combines dark wildflower honey with Calabrian chili, habanero, garlic and red chili extract. Pizza makers already have plenty of hot honey options, so the useful question is what this particular bottle brings to a finished pie. “You get the sweetness of the honey, followed by a really nice, balanced heat with that Italian influence from the Calabrian Chili,” the founders say. “It complements the pizza instead of overpowering it.”
For a first taste, they suggest keeping things simple. A small drizzle on a cheese slice gives spice-hesitant customers a chance to try it, while pepperoni is their recommendation for a signature pairing. An operator can start with ingredients already in the kitchen and see what works before committing to a new specialty pizza. Nobody needs to order six additional toppings and convene a committee just to try some honey.
Their application advice is equally manageable: “We recommend a light even drizzle after the pizza comes out of the oven.” They add, “A little goes a long way, so starting with a consistent drizzle allows all the flavors to come together nicely.” From there, members can put their own recipes and preferences to work. Bee Dolce plans to build relationships with pizza makers and grow its presence in the industry, and the team offers plenty of people willing to talk ingredients until somebody finally tells us to go home.
Festa founder Jesse Pricer would like a pizza oven to become a backyard staple, and he’s happy to challenge the grill for its parking spot. “I’d start with the food you like to eat and work back from there,” he says. “If most Americans used that logic, I’d argue they’d buy a pizza oven before anything else, and they’d get more use out of it.” After more than a decade of making pizza at home, he developed Festa to address uneven heat, scorched tops and the constant turning that kept him stationed at the oven instead of enjoying the gathering.
The oven accommodates pizzas up to 16 inches, with independent burners for the firebox and stone and an automatically rotating stone. Separate top and bottom heat controls give experienced cooks room to adjust their bakes, while an included pizza screen helps beginners through their first launches. The larger format also reflects Pricer’s approach to hosting. “Festa means ‘celebratory feast’ in Italian, and you 
can’t have a feast if everyone is eating a personal pizza, one at a time, by themselves,” he says. “Pizza was meant to be shared.”
For pizzeria operators, the opportunity extends beyond their own patios. A portable oven can give an existing business another way to serve customers through outdoor catering, pop-ups, fundraisers or a small mobile setup. Pricer reports customers already using Festa for private chef work and community events, bringing pizza to places beyond a regular storefront. Professional input comes through Mike Pitera, Festa’s Chief Pizza Chef, owner of Pizzeria Modo Mio in Charleston and a USPT member. “The people who make pizza for a living are the toughest critics we could ask for, and that’s exactly why we want them cooking on Festa,” Pricer says.
Festa’s five-year sponsorship begins at Bronze, but advances all the way to gold by 2029. With that will come more involvement with theam ,the industry and pizza makers at large. The company hopes eventually to put an oven into every team member’s hands, with discounts as rewards for membership. “We wanted to make a long-term commitment rather than a one-off sponsorship,” Pricer says. “As Festa grows, we want our investment in the pizza community to grow with it.”
Members will get an early opportunity to explore the equipment when Festa supplies ovens for the Backyard Pizza Oven competition at the Galbani Professionale Pizza Cup in Orlando this October. A company representative will be on site to help competitors get familiar with the ovens. Whether members put one to work at an off-site event or use it to feed friends at home, that experience gives Festa practical feedback from people who know their way around a pizza.
For Bee Dolce, this is another step in the business two moms have been learning to build together. We’re glad to welcome them into a community where a conversation about one ingredient can turn into a recipe, a friendship or an afternoon nobody planned to spend talking about pizza. There’s room for all of that here, and we look forward to seeing their involvement grow. In the meantime, save them a slice. They brought the honey.
