Today we’d like to introduce you to Rich & Debb Pace.
Hi Rich & Debb, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
So our story really starts in Northeast Philly. That’s where we both grew up, and honestly, pizza was always a big part of our lives.
I spent over 10 years working at Tony’s Place in Mayfair which, if you know, you know. It wasn’t just a pizza spot, it was a community staple. That’s where I really learned everything: how to make a proper tomato pie, how to be consistent, and what it takes to run a place the right way.
And Debb’s roots are in it too. She worked in the pizza world as a counter girl at Renzi’s in Mayfair so she’s been around it just as long in her own way. It’s always kind of been part of both of our lives.
Eventually, we moved to Palmyra and started raising our family, but that passion never went away. So we decided to go for it. We started super small—literally out of our garage. It was kind of an underground thing and word spread fast. Before we knew it, we had a really solid following. That ran for about 12 weeks before we had to shut it down, but by then we knew we had something our community craved. It was actually good timing too because we had just welcomed our third child into the world.
From there, we got an opportunity to operate out of the VFW in Delran and that’s where we are now on Friday Nights.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of the biggest challenges early on was simply figuring out the system. When we started out of our garage, we didn’t have a blueprint because we were building it in real time. How many orders can we realistically handle? What happens if we take too many? How do we keep quality high without falling behind? There were definitely nights where we pushed it too far, and you learn quickly that once you lose control of the flow, everything suffers. So we had to dial it in and limit orders, stagger pickup times, and build a system that works for us instead of against us.
Another challenge has been perfecting the product itself. The style of pizza we make is rooted in what we’ve learned over the years, but it still took a lot of trial and error to make it our own. We were constantly tweaking—dough, sauce, bake time and making small adjustments every time we fired up the oven. We eventually got to a point where we truly fell in love with the product, but even now, we’re always looking for ways to make it just a little bit better.
On a bigger picture level, growth has also been a challenge. It’s tempting to move fast when things are going well, but we’ve been really intentional about not getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve made a conscious effort not to bite off more than we can chew, and instead take things step-by-step, making sure we outgrow each stage before moving to the next. That patience hasn’t always been easy, but it’s helped us build something more sustainable.
Honestly though, the biggest challenge is balancing it all. We’re raising three young kids. 7 months, 2 years old, and 8 years old all while both working full-time jobs, running the business, and trying to keep up with everyday life. There are days where it feels like a constant juggling act between parenting, work, laundry, the house… and even just figuring out what to eat for dinner that isn’t pizza.
At the end of the day, every obstacle has helped us refine what we’re doing and made us better because of it, both in business and at home.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Pace Family Pizza?
We’re making fresh pizzas at VFW Post 3020 at 1125 S. Fairview St Delran, NJ. We run it on weekends out of their kitchen and everything we do is built around quality. The pre-order link is posted on our Instagram on Wednesdays around 5pm for takeout pizzas on Friday. The time slots go quick, so set your alarms! You can also dine in and order when you arrive and this is on a first come, first served basis.
We keep the menu tight intentionally. Everything we offer is homemade from fresh dough to freshly sliced cheese and our delicious smooth tomato sauce.
We focus on our signature tomato pie and a few other variations including a thin crust traditional cheese pizza. No matter the variation, all of our pies are focused on that thin, crispy style that we grew up on. Think…cracker crust! No shortcuts, no overcomplicating it. Just doing pizza the right way and keeping it simple.
At the end of the day, this is more than just a side thing for us. We’re building toward something bigger. Our dream is a brick and mortar. A shop that our kids can grow up around and something that becomes part of the community.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something that might surprise people is that this isn’t our full-time job at least not yet. We’re both balancing our careers, raising our family, and then going all in on pizza every weekend. I work full time at Lockheed Martin and Debb is a registered nurse at Penn Medicine. We both take pride in our careers just as we do our pizza gig.
It makes for some long days, but it’s also what makes it so meaningful. We’re building this from the ground up, putting everything we have into it, and taking it one step at a time with the goal of eventually turning it into something we can do full-time.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/PaceFamilyPizza
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/PaceFamilyPizza
- Other: https://Jotform.com/PaceFamilyPizza/OrderPizza
