An American Sign Language Pizza Parlor Expands

BY TAMARA PALMER

Communication Service for the Deaf announced that Mozzeria, an American Sign Language (ASL) centric pizza parlor, is the first business to join the organization’s Social Venture Fund incubator. CSD plans to help the San Francisco restaurant expand to as many as 12 locations around the United States, beginning with Austin and Washington, D.C. in 2020. A location has been secured in D.C. and will be staffed by deaf employees, while scouting continues in Texas.

Take it from this San Francisco citizen: Mozzeria is lovely! I’m already missing the Peking Duck pizza I ordered from them the other night — got so excited that I photographed it before I added the green onions, cucumber and extra hoisin sauce on top. Melody Stein, who owns Mozzeria with her husband Russ Stein, was born in Hong Kong, so this is reflective of her roots and her present in one pie.

Hopefully, Mozzeria’s business model (which also includes a food truck here in SF) will inspire other ASL-centric restaurants to develop and flourish.

Mozzeria, 3228 16th Street, San Francisco