ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – If a candidate wants to talk politics at Playa Pizza, they’ve got to get behind the counter, step up to the giant red oven and make a pizza.
On Wednesday night, Orange County School Board candidate Jake Petroski donned an apron and attempted to pull his pizza out of the oven, under the watchful eye and camera of Playa Pizza owner Stephen Facella.
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It wasn’t a perfect circle, but it looked like a pizza.
“Let’s take at the bottom,” Facella said to Petroski as he pulled off a slice ahead of an hourlong conversation with the candidate. “The bottom looks good, man, I don’t know if that’s you or the oven.”
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When Facella, a lifelong Central Floridian, opened Playa Pizza in the Horizon West area in 2022, he envisioned creating a place for community gatherings, where people could eat good pizza, discuss what is happening where they live, and maybe take in the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom (the restaurant is on Reams Road, across the street from Disney University).
So it made sense to him to extend that to the world of local politics. He reached out to 10 candidates on the Aug. 20 ballot vying to represent the area in local government — candidates for Orange County commission, school board and supervisor of elections.
Facella asked them to come to his restaurant, make a pizza, have a casual meet-and-greet with the community, and then sit down and discuss politics with him.
Playa Pizza held its first “Pizza and Politics” event last month with Orange County District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson. On Friday night, Wilson’s opponent, Austin Arthur, will get his turn at the pizza oven.
“I’m telling you, pizza is the best start because everyone calms down,” Facella said. “I say pizza is my therapy, because that tactile touch of the dough calms me, and maybe it’s calming them, too, because we’re having really open and honest communication.”
“Chill” is the word Facella uses to describe these events. He was very clear that he was not promoting or endorsing a candidate or party. Facella says Pizza and Politics is about letting Horizon West voters talk to the people who want to be their representatives and letting them decide for themselves.
The Pizza and Politics concept is not a novel one, but it is not something you see in Central Florida. At least not according to the people who attended the July 10 event with Orange County School Board candidate Jake Petroski. He also held an event with Petroski’s opponent, Kyle Goudy, on July 8.
“We’ve done events but not something that was hosted by the business, per se,” said Petroski, a former teacher and first-time candidate. “This is the first one that is that unique that I have seen, and I told him, ‘Congratulations,’ because I just think it’s great that he’s actively engaged the community this way.”
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Dena Reyes came out to support Petroski, and while she had been to events with school board candidates before, she’d never been to something like this.
“I think, sometimes, watching things on TV, you don’t necessarily get asked what you want to hear,” said Reyes. “So having the opportunity to talk to someone like that in a casual environment, it’s very warm and welcoming, I think it allows for open dialogue.”
But as much as Pizza and Politics is for the community, it also helps satisfy an itch for Facella. As a self-styled political nerd, he wants to see the politicians in the community, talking to the people and answering questions about the job they are doing.
“I’ve never seen my state representatives, (Florida) Senate or House,” Facella said. “Locally, they have no excuse. The State House works 60 days a year... they should be checking in, meeting people.”
Horizon West is one of the fastest-growing communities in Orange County. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, 58,101 people live in the community, compared to 14,000 in 2010. The growing pains that accompany that growth are enormous as the government struggles to keep up with the community’s needs.
For many years, developers in Orange County were able to build homes while paying a discount impact fee for transportation, which helps with needed roadwork. In 2020, the commission voted to reduce the discount, meaning more money. However, the project backlog is long, Facella said.
“(Reams Road) was supposed to be widened and handled like 10 years ago, and it still isn’t done,” he said. “So we have... backlogged funding, with a modern growth spurt for the highest growth area of Orange County.”
That’s why Facella has his videotaped conversations with each candidate where he gets to ask questions. They start by sampling the pizza the candidate made, then ease into the conversation with basic questions that lead to more probing ones.
“I let them talk, but I do want an answer to the question,” he said. “It’s not a stump speech, and what I’ve told all of them is that this is not a campaign event, this is a community event, so there is not going to be cheerleading here.”
Facella is taking those videotaped conversations and turning them into guides to help voters learn about their candidates. Those videos are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, Pizza and Politics is starting to catch on, at least among candidates. Facella said he had a candidate approach him about holding one. More events may come before the Aug. 20 primary, and Facella is definitely planning to have Pizza and Politics events before the November election. Facella wants to expand to bigger races, like the U.S. House race or the Florida Legislature races.
Reyes said she would definitely come again.
“For sure. Being able to see what’s going on in the community, I think it’s really important, and being able to support what’s happening locally,” Reyes said. “The more things we can do that bring people together I think is super important.”
You can find the latest events on Playa Pizza’s Facebook page.