{"id":23032,"date":"2019-11-04T11:28:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T19:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=23032"},"modified":"2019-11-04T11:28:54","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T19:28:54","slug":"san-diego-madre-gina-marsaglia-of-pizza-port-brewing-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2019\/11\/04\/san-diego-madre-gina-marsaglia-of-pizza-port-brewing-company\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego Madre: Gina Marsaglia of Pizza Port Brewing Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Meeting a celebrity in real life is fraught with uncertainty. Will my mental picture match reality, or are they actually a pompous airhead? I\u2019ve had mixed success; Donald Faison was as charming as his character Turk on the show Scrubs<\/em>, but Mark Wahlberg (excuse me, Marky Mark) was kind of a butt, although admittedly a funky one. Win some, lose some. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local celebrities are a different breed. Some eternally chase more widespread recognition. Others, like Gina Marsaglia, are content to ignore the legendary aura that surrounds their name, focusing solely on the work yet to be done. She\u2019s the CEO, president, and co-founder of Pizza Port Brewing Company\u2014an unpretentious giant among giants completely unashamed of her extreme devotion for all-you-can-drink party buses. \u201cPeople that know me know that is right up my alley,\u201d laughs Marsaglia. \u201cI just love it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Gina Marsaglia at Pizza Port Bressi Ranch, the company’s newest location<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

A Brew Is Born<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pizza Port was established in 1987 as a hole-in-the-wall pizza shop-slash-crash pad for her and her brother Vince. Stories from those early days read like any startup: work, eat, sleep, repeat. \u201cIt got a little crazy,\u201d she admits, but Vince still managed to find time to nurse a burgeoning homebrew hobby. With some unused square footage in the original Solana Beach location, the duo added a small homebrew setup and even a DIY surfboard repair station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt got a little out of control,\u201d grins Marsaglia. \u201cThe health department came in and they’re like, \u2018What is this? You cannot be doing this!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Gina, with her Mustang in the foreground, on the day Pizza Port Solana Beach opened<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a long time, Vince\u2019s brewing hobby was just that: a hobby. But when the Marsaglias tried to get financing for their second location in Carlsbad in order to officially launch a brewing component to their business, the Small Business Association said they had to prove themselves as brewers before they\u2019d give them additional funds. \u201cSo that\u2019s what we did,\u201d says Marsaglia. In 1992, Pizza Port became one of the first official breweries\/brewpubs in San Diego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marsaglia\u2019s success is part right place, right time, part early to market, and part absolute drive. \u201cWhen I do something, I try not to just half ass it,\u201d she says. She also credits having three children in four years\u2014all while expanding Pizza Port into the empire it is today\u2014with keeping her organized. \u201cI didn’t have time to work on it later, because I had other things that I was doing or other commitments with the kids. So [parenting] really did help me with time management more and [how to] delegate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Gina and Vince Marsaglia at Pizza Port Carlsbad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Any parent who has started their own business knows their kids are going to be a part of it. Marsaglia\u2019s are no exception, tagging along every step of the way. Sometimes they even unwittingly participated in beer history; she recounts the time the legendary beer writer Michael Jackson attended a tasting at Pizza Port Solana Beach. \u201cI have a cool picture with Michael Jackson and [my daughter] is on my lap. He\u2019s holding her finger and I\u2019m just like, \u2018You don\u2019t even know how cool that is.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure how she navigates business ownership, parenting her actual children as well as their pet mini pig (!), and the beer world like such a pro. If it\u2019s drinking Swami\u2019s IPA (Marsaglia\u2019s favorite), then clearly I need to up my intake. And maybe get a mini pig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Stop, Collaborate and Listen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a trailblazer in what\u2019s now one of the best beer scenes in the world positioned Pizza Port to take advantage of the uniquely collaborative industry. Marsaglia admits there have been too many collaborations to pick a favorite, but she chuckles when she recalls some of the early ones with other pioneers like Stone Brewing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did BFF: Beer Friends Forever\u2026 Greg [Koch, Executive Chairman and co-founder of Stone Brewing] was so funny. He was like, \u2018We look really good on the can, but we should probably put Vince and Steve [Wagner, co-founder of Stone] somewhere\u2019. And I said \u2018No, that\u2019s my brother and I on the can\u2014you and Steve are in the background!\u2019\u201d She laughs again. \u201cI\u2019ve known Greg for so long that we can just give each other a hard time. That\u2019s when it gets fun, when it gets past the point of the business relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Koch is one of the few people with a moniker bestowed upon him by the beer community: the Beer Jesus. Marsaglia is another, often referred to as the Godmother of San Diego Craft Beer. I ask her how the unofficial, but pervasive title makes her feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh my gosh, it makes me feel old,\u201d she says, laughing. (Side note: we laughed a lot during the interview. It\u2019s awesome when beer royalty has a sense of humor.) \u201cBut I\u2019m honored, to be honest. It\u2019s an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Pizza Port 2020: The Future<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pizza Port now has five locations across Southern California, as well as partnerships with Petco Park and Pechanga Arena San Diego (a.k.a. Sports Arena). Brewpub number six is coming soon to Imperial Beach, and while Marsaglia doesn\u2019t discount the possibility of more after that, she asserts they\u2019ll never stray far from San Diego. \u201cExpanding into new markets doesn\u2019t really make sense, because people want local\u2026 and I just love the sleepy little beach towns,\u201d she muses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Marsaglia makes more top-level decisions than day-to-day operations. But she\u2019s always game to get her hands dirty. \u201cMy favorite thing is still making pizzas,\u201d she says. Sounds like a pretty cool mom to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know someone who deserves to be featured in an upcoming column? Nominate them by emailing\u00a0<\/em>beth@bethdemmon.com<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meeting a celebrity in real life is fraught with uncertainty. Will my mental picture match reality, or are they actually a pompous airhead? I\u2019ve had mixed success; Donald Faison was as charming as his character Turk on the show Scrubs, but Mark Wahlberg (excuse me, Marky Mark) was kind of a butt, although admittedly a funky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":23038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Gina-Vince-bar-under-construction.jpeg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-5Zu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}