This Pizza Joint Is On A Mission To Keep Crusts Crunchy

Their “pizza in a bag” is just one of many things that makes this place so unique.

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I’ve driven past Don’s Pizza in Imperial for years, not ever knowing about the backstory behind this quiet little shop on Steubenville Pike. 

In 1963, it began as a franchise of Campiti’s Pizzeria in Dormont, which is no longer there. The very next year, they became Don’s Pizza Inc. Ever since, it has been a family business that has spanned four generations.

I spoke to Shaylee, whose great grandfather bought the shop and whose great uncle ran it for the first 20 years or so. Shaylee’s dad and uncle have now been running the shop since the 80s, and she has been here on and off for 15 years. 

I asked Shaylee what their secret is as a local family business that’s been around for more than 60 years. 

Owning the property has allowed them to steer clear of rent costs. Additionally, due to their lack of indoor seating and delivery services, the pandemic actually did really well for them.

“We’ve seen a lot of pizza shops come and go, and we were blessed luckily,” she said. “We weren’t affected by it at all.”

However a large part of their success and timelessness is due to their adherence to simplicity and consistency. They rarely change anything.

There was a time when the usual cheese they use for the pizza was discontinued when the company that produced it went out of business. They were scrambling to find another cheese that was similar, but during their trial-and-error phase in search for the best alternative, their regular customers were savvy detectives and immediately knew something was different.

Don’s is perhaps most famous for their “pizza in a bag,” concept, which is something I had never heard about before. 

Yet, apparently, the idea that pizza boxes aren’t an ideal method of transportation isn’t a new one, having been featured in the Atlantic, the New York Times, and countless other online publications. 

“When you put the pizza in the cardboard box, all that steam soaks into the cardboard,” Shaylee told me,”so it takes all the crunch out of the crust.” 

With pizza in a bag, however, the airflow prevents steam from getting trapped, ensuring that the pizza won’t arrive soggy by the time you get home.

At Don’s, you can only get your pizza in a bag if it’s a large, I learned, and if you order two large pies, one of them will come in a box so it’s easier to carry. Although you used to be able to get a pizza of any size in a bag, the bags are harder to find nowadays, and not every bag is equal. They must be a certain size and weight, so Don’s gets them from a specific supply company out of Chicago.

Now, enough about bags already, let’s get to the good stuff. This unconventional pizza shop makes fresh sauce and dough every day. Their sausage is ground in house, and they’re also known for their curled pepperoni.

Their most popular toppings are pepperoni and sausage, but Shaylee’s favorite combination is the sausage, green pepper, and onion. They also do two different kinds of hoagies (Italian and steak), cheesy bread (made with their pizza dough), and garlic balls (pizza dough that’s cut up and tossed in garlic butter). 

“We keep it simple,” Shaylee said. “And that way you know everything's fresh all the time.”

Customers can also get a “take n’ bake” pizza, where you can freeze the pizza or bake it later, and during Valentine’s Day, Shaylee will make sure you get a heart-shaped pizza (it was her idea to start doing them a couple years ago). 

Don’s loyal customers come from all over, and some have been regulars for decades. Several Facebook users on their old page expressed sentiment over their pizza.

One Facebook user commented on his desire to fly to Pittsburgh and book a hotel simply to visit Don’s Pizza, as he hadn’t been there in over 34 years at the time. Several other now out-of-state customers also revealed that they always make sure to stop by Don’s whenever they visit home.

Some users even joked that Don’s should deliver or ship pizza as far as New Jersey, Virginia, and even South Carolina. 

Shaylee said it’s not like any other pizza in the area, and countless other customers confirmed on their page that Don’s pizza is the “best” around.

As I sat outside the little shop on one of the benches interviewing Shaylee, a customer sat nearby, at one point even offering me a slice of his pizza. He was stopping by Don’s right before his flight home to Florida and, like so many other steadfast customers, just had to get a taste before leaving town.

I find it so endearing that for so many people, even years after they’ve moved away, something calls them back to this place. Despite Don’s being a small business that relies primarily on word of mouth, they seem to have made a big impact.

If you enter the store as a first time customer who’s been living in the area your whole life, they just might ask you, “Well, where have you been?”