The restaurant is a collaboration between co-owners and partners in life and business, Hunter Rodgers and Geri Hormel. Hormel is the daughter of Wrigley Mansion owner Jamie Hormel and the founder of Almost There Rescue, an animal welfare organization that offers specialized care for large breeds, pregnant and nursing dogs and puppies. The non-profit shares a parking lot with the new pizza concept.
Before founding Almost There Rescue, Hormel says she was running a “dog casita” in her own backyard where she would “help moms and their puppies in need,” drawing on her hands-on experience at The Arizona Humane Society and Second Chance Hospital.
In 2013, Almost There Rescue was established as a 501(c)(3). For many years, it operated out of a converted home that was refitted with “mutternity suites” for pregnant dogs and enclosed outdoor space for the rescues and their pups. In 2018, Hormel packed up the pups and moved into the rescue’s current location on Indian School Road and 26th Street. Almost There Rescue acquired the neighboring building where Pizza to the Rescue now resides in 2019.
“We do have a very large number of homeless dogs in our state, especially our community,” Hormel says. “Even though it’s a heartbreaking subject, I love educating people about it.”
Complementing the educational and community-centered events like puppy yoga that Almost There Rescue offers, the new pizza concept raises awareness and provides fans of both puppies and pies the opportunity to adopt a new pet between bites of wood-fired slices.
Nightly around 6 p.m. (weather and volunteer staff permitting) a parade of adoptable puppies, with their cute wagging tails and adorable wet noses, pays a visit to Pizza to the Rescue’s dog-friendly patio. When the temperatures climb this summer, guests can cuddle with the pups inside of the Almost There Rescue lobby area next door.
Pizza to the Rescue donates 25% of proceeds from all pizza sales to Almost There Rescue.
Rodgers, who graduated from Brophy College Preparatory in 2008, says he discovered his passion for cooking after high school. 
Combining two passions
“I went to college back East and missed a lot of foods that I wanted from home,” he says. Rodgers adds he craved “grilling steaks” and "Mexican food” the most.
“I decided to make them myself,” he says.
Rodgers studied psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. During summer breaks, he returned to Arizona where he worked at Vincent’s on Camelback. For more than a decade, Rodgers has been “cooking obsessively” and in 2020, he and Hormel started getting serious about opening a restaurant.
“We had the building, Geri had been operating her rescue for a long time and during COVID I realized that what I wanted to do with my professional life, and just life in general, was to make food,” Rodgers recalls.
A pie sizzles inside of the restaurant's custom Stefano Ferrara Forni pizza oven.
Pizza to the Rescue
What's on the menu?
At the restaurant, Rodgers’ secret ingredient is a custom Soma pizza oven made by “the godfather” of Napoli pizza oven manufacturers, Stefano Ferrara Forni. About a year after putting in his order, Rodgers’ handmade Italian oven arrived in Arizona. And to say that the 10,000-pound pizza oven is big is an understatement.Today, the brawny teal and gold oven looms over the dining room from behind a wraparound bar. Other not-so-secret ingredients in Rodgers’ bag include an inventory of local products, like fresh produce from McClendon and Terra Farms and mushrooms from Hypha Foods.
“Everything that we don’t get from Arizona locally, we get from Italy,” he says.
Parmesan and other cheeses, cured meats, artichokes and olive oil are among the ingredients Rodgers imports from Italy. The kitchen churns out housemade pizza dough, pasta, bread and mozzarella for its Italian-influenced menu.
Pizza to the Rescue offers seven pies, which includes a build-your-own pizza that starts at $18, a veg-forward option called the Herbivore as well as meatier pies like the Chorizo 21 and the Wagyu-topped Carpaccio. Hormel’s favorite pie is the Testarossa, which is made with a tomato base and sprinkled with shaved garlic and bits of Sicilian oregano.
“People are always surprised because it doesn’t have cheese,” she says.
The menu encourages customers to add toppings such as anchovies or guanciale. The mozz-topped Margherita and Funghi Formaggi with seasonal mushrooms, two of Rodgers’ favorite pies, round out the pizza offerings.
In addition to its roster of pies, Pizza to the Rescue offers heartier dishes like a 40-layer short rib lasagna and wood-grilled Two Wash Ranch brick chicken served with broccoli and a chile lemon hot sauce. For lighter fare, look to Wendy’s Caesar or the lightly pickled charred beets.
The menu currently offers two dessert options; lemon custard and pistachio cheesecake. As a Certified Sommelier, Rodgers considers himself “a big wine guy.” His affinity for the juice has trickled into the cellar at Pizza to the Rescue, which offers 80 unique labels, most of which are of Italian origin. Rodgers has also stocked the bar with local and imported beer, cider, seltzer and spirits used in seasonal cocktails like the St. Germain spritz and the Arcadia Orange Crush with Espolon Blanco tequila, mandarin, and coconut.
Pizza to the Rescue is currently open for lunch, dinner, delivery and takeout. Catering options are available by request. The restaurant is closed on Sundays.
Pizza to the Rescue is a collaboration between co-owners Hunter Rodgers and Geri Hormel, who is the founder of Almost There Rescue.
Pizza to the Rescue
Want to get involved?
Almost There Rescue is always looking for volunteers to fill "matchmaker," "mother lover," and "puppy preschool teacher" roles. Hormel encourages potential volunteers over 18 to reach out online.If you’re thinking about adding a furry friend to your family, schedule a puppy meet-and-greet appointment online to get the adoption process started.
And at Pizza to the Rescue, you’ll always have a companion for pizza night — you might just have to share your leftover crust.
