Meet David and Connor Willing | Chef and Owner Dog Willing Pizza

We had the good fortune of connecting with David and Connor Willing and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David and Connor, how do you think about risk?
David; I’ve always loved change and new adventure and after meeting my now husband while traveling in Oaxaca we have moved our pizza pop up from my comfortable existence in the Bay Area where I owned a restaurant for 9 years (the Bull Valley Roadhouse in Port Costa, CA)

We started our business during lock down in 2020. Our small town was literally on lock down, we boarded up the 2 road entrances to town and the 200 of us were in isolation together. My restaurant (I was chef/partner at The Bull Valley Roadhouse since 2012) was, of course, closed so my husband Connor and I started making pizza with our neighbors in the restaurant kitchen.
After many Wednesday night pizza parties, we started telling the town we were selling about 20 or so pies each Wednesday. It worked and we sold out even increased numbers of pies.
When lock downs were lifted and the restaurant reopened we decided to part way with our full service spot and ordered a pizza oven so we may cook in the lot across the street from the Roadhouse. By that time it was spring/summer 2021, and the lot was converted to an out door marketplace for makers in town…and pizza. We had a great time and good business. We found that working together was good for our personal and professional lives giving us more time with each other, and our two Rhodesian Ridgebacks. In Winter 2021 we decided we should move to Los Angeles to be closer to David’s mom and dad. We stopped pizza in June of 2022 as running a business up in the Bay and loving in Los Angeles was not the kind of stress we wanted. Now, we are starting up here in LA with pop ups and private events. Another adventure in the making.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
my first restaurant job was in college on campus at UCLA. Was a love affair from he jump that I hid by getting into office work after graduation. I ended up getting a serving job after work, going to culinary school and then working my way up the ladders in both the kitchen and in front house management. Cooking is still my passion but I never shied away from a chat with tables as a server or manager. Ive learned that the way things “have always been done” is a trap and more often than not an excuse for horrible treatment of workers and yourself in the Restaurant industry. The angry chef and the hungover server are symptoms of a broken restaurant and it doesn’t have to be that way and I made conscious steps toward that end at my restaurant and will do the same for my next restaurants. I definitely believe that there is a way to strike balance between work-live happiness and a successful business. Money should be balanced/sustainable and not prioritized over people and product in our line of work. good quality means respect and love and repeat business and that has always been my driving motivation. Farmers and Ranchers I know and respect and trust to bring me the quality for my guests that I would eat myself

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Im again new to Long Beach. I lived here during college for a bit and wow has it changed. One of the afternoons would be taking my dogs to Rosie’s Dog Beach followed by a beer and smash burger at Green Cheek In Sunset beach. Then Dinner at Selva and drinks at The Ordinaire in the Evening. Wednesdays are farmers markets in Santa Monica so a West side day of it with Day Drinking and snacking on Abbot Kinney and a walk along Venice beach boardwalk and a sandwich at Bay cities for the out of towners.
Love to get to my home town of Alhambra to eat at Sichuan Impression.
otherwise, a cute trip to the OG farmers market is good for visitors and Id love to go to the Getty with visitors to experience it for the first time together

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Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Kramer Collins of Grain Bill PC and Quintessence Sorbet was one of our original “pizza party” crew when we were in lockdown drunken pizza research at my restaurant. He is an inspiring human, a expert level vegan sorbet maker and beer aficionado. He was a source of inspiration when I was Chef/owner at The Bull Valley Roadhouse and integral in the initial birth and shaping the Dog Willing Pizza idea.

Website: www.dogwillingpizza.com

Instagram: @dogwillingpizza or @farmtofacehole

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/farmtofacehole/

Twitter: @dogwillingpizza

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dogwillingpizza

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dog-willing-pizza-long-beach?osq=dog+willing+pizza

Other: https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2018/top-100-restaurants/bull-valley-roadhouse/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIt_pVTYi_c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaXJJfnvA4E https://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/diningout/article/Bull-Valley-Roadhouse-Port-Costa-old-time-vibe-4264416.php https://www.sfgate.com/food/slideshow/High-end-restaurants-in-the-Bay-Area-s-suburbs-144940.php https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/High-end-restaurants-in-the-Bay-Area-s-suburbs-11130855.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/Bull-Valley-Roadhouse-a-bridge-from-past-to-12738139.php