Pizza Oven on a Roll

Founded by Arin Finger earlier this year, in the very thick of COVID-19 closures, Dough Riders is a mobile wood-fired pizza company that “comes to you” to “deliver” fresh fired pizza, salads and desserts on demand. Using an 800-degree oven, Dough Riders provides a visual presentation with each order. Pizzas are served fresh in less than two minutes, and guests can enjoy watching their scratch-made pizza go from start to finish right before their eyes.

Finger is a franchise owner of youth sports organization i9 Sports who has successfully run his league for more than seven years and had been expecting his biggest spring season yet when COVID-19 hit the nation hard in March, abruptly shutting down business and entire industries.

“Dough Riders,” says Finger, “is a solution to a need that developed out of COVID-19 — providing families with wholesome food without leaving home — and we’re proud that we can do something during these times that reconnects neighborhoods and communities.” And he’s franchising his concept.

While it was happenstance that led Finger to switch from sports gloves to oven mitts, the transition happened naturally, and he knew immediately this concept was the recipe for success during his unexpected downtime from i9 Sports. He approached Codey Stetler, his lead soccer instructor with i9 Sports who also happened to have culinary experience making fresh dough from his own Italian family’s pizzeria background. Drawing on their mutual New York heritage, they built a menu featuring creative New York-style pizzas. Then, financing the endeavor with his own savings, Finger officially fired up Dough Riders Wood Fired Pizza Co., a mobile company specializing in made-to-order, fresh-out-of-the-oven pies for private, corporate and community events, outdoor concerts, farmers markets and any special occasion.

Dough Riders’ first customers were the Sky Crossing neighborhood, but social media is how Finger originally launched along with word of mouth through his neighborhood (having a network of youth and families to appeal to didn’t hurt, either).   

Photo courtesy of Dough Riders