Morris Jackson and Andrew Roebuck both loved eating pizza as kids, but neither of them had aspirations of becoming pizzaiolos.
But when the pair met and hit it off at a catering gig in 2019, they quickly set their eyes on the pies. Roebuck started helping Jackson with his meal prep and pop-up service HD Prep, and encouraged him to start focusing on perfecting the one dish that was consistently a best-seller.
“We were doing various menus, but the pizza he was doing at the time stood out,” Roebuck said. “It was an item that was already great, but there was some room for improvement. We decided to partner up, put our heads together and fine-tune this.”
In 2023, Jackson and Roebuck launched pizza pop-up Ghost Pizza (instagram.com/ghostpizzaatl), named for the ghost kitchen-style commissary kitchen where they do much of their prep.
Credit: Courtesy of Ghost Pizza
Credit: Courtesy of Ghost Pizza
Though pizza is a relatively new focus for them, they have between them nearly 30 years of experience working in the kitchens of metro Atlanta restaurants (Gunshow, Bar Mercado, Iberian Pig and Noble Fin for Jackson; McKendrick’s Steak House, Eclipse de Luna, Hovan Mediterranean Gourmet and St. Cecilia for Roebuck).
They also grew up with parents who imparted their love of cooking onto their sons. Roebuck’s Colombian mother started having him help in the kitchen when he was 7. Jackson’s dad is known around their Gwinnett County neighborhood for his cheesecakes and his mother would regularly whip up Southern specialties.
An early experience while working at McKendrick’s foreshadowed Roebuck’s future pursuits: While preparing a meal for the restaurant’s other employees, he decided to try making pizza. “By accident, it came out so good tastewise. Lookwise, it was kind of embarrassing. But based off of that, people were telling me I should open a pizza place.”
For his part, Jackson said he “attended YouTube University” to learn how to make the pizza he first started serving as part of his meal prep business. “It was a lot of trial and error. I had so many batches of bad dough before I got to a point where I thought, ‘I can actually sell this.’”
Jackson describes Ghost Pizza pies as a “mix between Neapolitan-style and Detroit-style,” with a soft, thin center and crispy edges.
Credit: Courtesy of Ghost Pizza
Credit: Courtesy of Ghost Pizza
The pizzas are brushed with sundried tomato butter, sprinkled with cotija cheese and finished with a drizzle of basil oil to “implement a little originality,” Jackson said.
Another trick that differentiates Ghost Kitchen’s pies — dough includes a proprietary spice blend and either IPAs or lagers from whichever brewery the pop-up will be making an appearance at that week.
“It started out as a way to get breweries to call us back, but the beer actually provides a great flavor component, and reacts well with the yeast,” Jackson said of the dough, which the pop-up also prepackages for customers who want to make their own pizzas at home.
While Ghost Pizza’s uses nontraditional ingredients, the sauce is classic, with San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, salt and a touch of garlic and basil.
The 12-inch pies, all created onsite and cooked for 3-4 minutes in Gozney portable pizza ovens, include pepperoni, Margherita, vegetarian, the white sauce Bianca, carnivore and the signature, with pepperoni, tomatoes, ricotta cheese, onions and 14-day fermented japones peppers, a variety of hot, dry red chile peppers that have a flavor profile similar to Calabrian chile peppers.
“The fermentation tapers the heat profile,” Roebuck said. “It hits you with the heat, but it dies off quickly so you’re not left with a burning mouth. Even people who aren’t very keen on spicy foods, say they can’t stop eating it.”
Credit: Courtesy of Ghost Pizza
Credit: Courtesy of Ghost Pizza
Pop-ups also offer rotating specials, with recent options including the Con Fusion topped with barbacoa, pico, guacamole, Oaxaca cheese, cilantro, fermented chiles and cotija cheese and the dessert pie Shout Out to CiCi’s with caramelized apples, Cinnamon Toast Crunch streusel, caramel drizzle and brown sugar buttered crust. Ghost Pizza occassionally features a cheese-free pan con tomate with garlic confit, grated tomato and caramelized onions.
Specials, are often dictated by ingredient availability. Someone recently gave them some sheep’s cheese and they plan to use it as a topping with figs, caramelized onion and prosciutto. And Roebuck has created a cheesecake calzone with leftover cheesecake batter.
Though egos and creative differences can sometimes be roadblocks for two-person operations, Roebuck said their personalities make them well-suited business partners.
“We’re both such veterans in the industry, and we’re both mild-mannered,” he said. “It’s all about communication and execution. When we get to an event, it’s like, ‘OK, do you want to stretch dough or do you want to finish pizza? How’re we doing this today?’”
Ghost Pizza has developed a following at breweries around town, and, for the past three months, an appearance every Friday at Pontoon Brewing in Sandy Springs. Starting in August, the pop-up will expand its Pontoon residency to Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Though pop-ups can be a grind, the pair said they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“People don’t understand all the timing and effort that goes into it,” Roebuck said. “It’s not easy. It’s long days and long hours, but as Morris always says, we’ll sleep when we’re dead.”
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