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16/06/2021
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How is everyone? Good I hope, or at the very least better? Sun and vaccinations abound must be an improvement.
Shop has been a proper sauna and the troops are keeping it together in fine style. I can barely wait for the first opportunity for some bass in these here old knees, not having had a proper dance since February of 2020. Dancing in a pizza shop is great and all but the system is still sub par, one of these days ill get the old Funktion One fam to send some gear my way….
So heres all the Pizza news fit to print:
In a relationship with an oven.
Our Pizzamaster933 is in! Check my post about it here Ill be doing some videos in the near future for the gear heads here to tell a bit more about this amazing machine and how to maintain a healthy romantic relationship with a hot love maker. But seriously, this thing is a beast and it's been an absolute joy. Not only do we have tripple the deck space which means no more pizza traffic jams… she’s just so pretty to look at.
More Detroit flavas comin at you very soon!!!
Love that caramelised Cheddar crust but missing our truffled ricotta & mushrooms? Need some olive madness to go with that fluffy deep dish? Finally adding some of those New York Slice toppings to the Detroit Deep Dish menu. We will go online with it first for delivery and pickup orders, once our new windows arrive in July we’ll have a larger display, we will then add these to our 'by the slice’ option in-house.
Pizza in the park.
In case you missed the post now delivering to V.P. Friedrichshain, Weinbergspark, Mauerpark & Monbiju - just order to the nearest address to where you are in the park and meet us there for your lovebox.
Show us your topping Magic!!
I’m constantly getting messages of 'can you do this or that topping' so I might as well let you all do it. Mondays as many of you know we’re closed for prep and team meetings, but im stealing one Monday this month for some fun. Namely seeing what great toppings you all come up with.
Goes like this: Send your topping idea to feedme@magicjohns.com we’ll pick 6 winners, you come over with two of your friends and toppings of choice, we'll make your pizza together, eat and have some beers. Monday the 27th will be our first run and if it’s fun ill make it a regular thing, please send in your ideas till 21.6, we’ll contact everyone on the 22.6.
Vanille Marille x MJ’s
The lovely crew at Vanilla Marille https://www.vanille-marille.de/unser-eis/eis-produktion came up with a great idea to trade some ice cream for slices. To offer their regulars who may not know us a chance for some pizza and vice versa. So the first 4 of you to send a mail to feedme@magicjohns.com with your mailing address will receive a voucher for some amazing ice cream…well then, get on with it.
Last but not least...
Apologies of the month - April/May madness
In case you had a bumpy experience with us in these last months I do apologise sincerely. It’s been a very challenging time. After an entire year managing to keep our house 100% Covid free, exactly for our 1st birthday, we had our first staff member test positive. This threw us into a proper tailspin putting half the team in quarantine for two weeks. We did not have the luxury to just shut down, authorities did not force us to do so and so insurance would not cover any costs. Once everyone returned, a mere two days later, another positive test was in our midst and another 6 crew were away for two weeks. Lets just say that dealing with the regular old hardships of this business has become a lighter load after that kind of marathon. Either way, im sorry if we didn’t do our usual (with sprinkles on top) but know that we did our absolute best.
Enjoy these glorious sunny days, we’ve earned them and then some.
xx
j
Newsletter
no.6
New Detroit Magic
Marille & Vanille X MJ’s
Your topping ideas
photo by @soul_food_photos
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Gearheads unite!
Before we get to the news bit of this newsletter, today is our 1st birthday and it’s gonna get mushy... it’s our party and we’ll tearjerk if we want to!
... here it goes:
First of all thank you.
Over the past year all your messages of encouragement, pictures, suggestions and criticisms have been an invaluable fuel to this fire of ours.
We are proud , honored and delighted to see you again and again, it validates all the hard work and attention to detail everyone on this team invests in what we do day in and day out. It’s extremely rewarding.... thank you, thank you, thank you!
It’s been a year. Today, 1 year ago we opened the door to this here pizza shop. I’m not gonna lie, it’s been an awesome year. We’ve established our own independent delivery service, our own DIY pizza product, our own version of a Detroit Deep Dish, all this in 1 short year.
And there’s so much more to come, from a whole new line of Detroits to our own jars of Magic Mushroom (Truffle Salsa :) or our own Pepperoni Jam, some new Focaccia and new sweet surprises around the corner as well :)
We opened the shop with 6 employees in the midst of the very first shutdown and we are now 24 strong (stopped counting shutdowns it’s not healthy).
So here’s to all of you again for supporting and here’s to the next year of Magic ahead, happy birthday to us :)
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Heart transplant incoming!
The last bit was mushy, now it gets geeky... enter at your own risk, this is a gear newsletter.
I was always a gear head. Whatever medium I was working with, it was important to have great tools and working environment, be it acoustics and a soundsystem for my club or building a shop for my production company. Not to say that I haven’t had to make the best at times with less than great gear, that makes you appreciate it all that much more when you finally can afford an upgrade.
A pizzeria has two ‘hearts’, a mixer and an oven. In May we finally will receive our brand new other heart, our PizzaMaster 933 oven. Our current PizzaMaster is an old 733 I snatched up on eBay in 2019 and is still, at its advanced age, an amazing and reliable workhorse, it’s just gotten too small.
I got turned onto PizzaMaster back in 2015 when researching deck ovens and I saw this video series with Jeff Varasano and it was an eye opener.
Granted Varasanos makes completely different pizza than what I had in mind, I was really turned on by how passionate Jeff was about pizza making and understanding how to use this amazing tool. Things like stone recovery time and temperature distribution weren’t things I was at all aware of. Jeff is my kinda geek.
I kept reading about these ovens and everything about the design made sense to me, they are simply just so much better than the traditional deck ovens I had seen in the states.
By sheer luck I found our 733 second hand. The fact you don’t see many of these on the second hand market attests to their durability as well as to who is buying them. Since buying mine in 2019 I’ve seen 2 smaller units on the second hand market in Germany.
We are now the proud owners of three of these amazing ovens! Our old 733 will be fitted back with its steamer unit, which I disconnected for space and weight reasons in 2019 and will be used for baking in our new space next door to Magic John´s (more suprises coming) once our 933 arrives in May. Just in time for our birthday we received our new slice oven, a double version of the oven you may have seen at Sironi in Markthalle 9.
Be ready to get better pizza, faster! Geek Magic over and out!
Xx
John
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Newsletter
no.5
20/04/2021
A year in the life
of a pizza shop.
photo by Tom Bitter@einszwei.berlin
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I have a love hate relationship with this year. On the one hand I built this place that I really love, with an amazing crew of people that I love coming to work with every day. On the other I lost pretty much all my other business, I barely see anyone from my life BC anymore and projects that I was very excited about have all been cancelled.
I finally get to make pizza every day like I dreamed of for so long but I no longer get to throw parties with my friends or dance in my favourite clubs. I finally get to have a place to call home since my last adventure Tape Club RIP. At the same time I see many neighbours having to shutter their business for good… it’s an emotional rollercoaster. I at least have highs in this rollercoaster of mine, I feel lucky for that and grateful, not everyone at the moment can say that. So at the risk of saying this too often, thank you all for making this place shine, crew and patrons alike, you are amazing.
I’m delighted as I’m sure many of you are to leave this year in the rear view mirror, there’s a lot exciting on the horizon, here´s what we’re cooking
at the Magic farm:
DIY Kits
Another little adventure that started out from necessity. Giving dough, sauce and toppings to friends who were coming to eat at MJ’s from far away lands (Neukölln :) and couldn’t bring hot pizza back with them to their friends - I offered they try to make it themselves. Of course this is a very different pizza from our New York Slice you get out of our hands and oven, nonetheless, everyone was really excited about making their own versions of our pizza with such great dough, so we got to work! Starting in January we’ll be taking orders and delivering Berlin-wide one day per week. Our DIY pizza kits can be used for up to 48 hours from delivery, hopefully soon you can invite friends over for a pizza party! Stay tuned!
Rumblings next door
If you’ve been by the shop you may have noticed the space next door is now occupied... that’s us, we are very happy to say :) Expect some sweet things in the spring and some breakfasty things in the the fall of 2021… you expats are gonna love this one.
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A quick reminder that our opening days for the rest of 2020 are as follows:
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Newsletter
no.4
21/12/2020
2020
We love u
but you´re bringing
us down.
photo by Tom Bitter@einszwei.berlin
photo by Tom Bitter@einszwei.berlin
In January we will close again on Mondays to sleep.
Remember to pre-order for deliveries on New Years Eve and New Years Day, as we expect to be very busy, especially for orders over 5 pies.
I thank you again for all the support you’ve given us since opening, it’s amazing to be part of this community and I look forward to seeing everyone dancing with pizza in their hands in front of the shop again.
See you on the other side of this crazy year,
much love
J