Joey Vanoni
Joey Vanoni owns and operates the Pizza di Joey food truck. A Navy veteran and current reservist, Joey returned from Afghanistan in 2013 and dreamed of opening his own pizza business. Rather than opening up a brick-and-mortar location, Joey envisioned a pizza food truck as a unique way to serve the diverse communities of Baltimore. Through hard work and the support of his friends, family and fellow veterans, Pizza di Joey opened for business in 2014.
Today, Pizza di Joey crisscrosses Baltimore providing authentic New York-style pizza from the truck’s nearly 4,000 pound brick oven. But the food truck is more than just a business to Joey. He sees it as an opportunity to give back to the community. Never forgetting the challenges he faced finding employment after his tours of duty, Joey now employs other veterans in need of work.
Joey is challenging Baltimore’s 300-foot rule because it threatens his lifelong dream of owning his own pizza business and because he believes that the city shouldn’t be limiting hungry Baltimoreans’ dining choices. Consumers, not government, should decide where and what they want to eat.