• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Event Calendar
    • Submit Event
  • About Us
    • Our Contributors
    • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Arts & Entertainment
    • Comedy
    • Dayton Club Scene
    • On Screen Dayton
    • On Screen Dayton Reviews
    • Road Trippin’
      • Cincinnati
      • Columbus
      • Indianapolis
    • Spectator Sports
    • Street-Level Art
    • Visual Arts
  • Dayton Dining
    • DMM’s Brunch Guide
    • Restaurants with Private Dining Rooms
    • Dayton Food Trucks
    • Ten Questions
    • Food Adventures
  • Dayton Music
    • Music Calendar
  • On Stage Dayton
    • On Stage Dayton Reviews
  • Active Living
    • Canoeing/Kayaking
    • Cycling
    • Hiking/Backpacking
    • Runners
  • 19th Amendment

Dayton Most Metro

Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

food advenure

Secrets of Cassano’s and The Dough Plant

August 10, 2016 By The Food Adventures Crew 2 Comments

Chip Cassano inspects the hi-tech equipment in the dough plant

***** WIN A FREE PIZZA WITH THE FOOD ADVENTURES CREW ***** JUST COMMENT BELOW FOR A CHANCE TO WIN – winner will be chosen at random on Monday
For decades Daytonians have taken pizza for granted.  We don’t realize that Dayton, Ohio is one of the most important cities in the world when it comes to the history of pizza.  And it is all because of Vic Cassano and his mother-in-law Caroline “Mom” Donisi.

Now, 63 years later, The Cassano’s franchise is going strong, and not just in the pizza restaurants.  Cassano’s headquarters on Stroop Road in Kettering is also a facility for dough production.

Vic Cassano Sr. in his early Pizza Days during the 1950’s

— SECRET 1: What most Daytonians don’t know is their dough is produced here, and sold nationwide.  Whether balls of dough or sheeted pizza crusts, hundreds of restaurants serve products made with Cassano’s dough.  We are not allowed to name the companies, but let’s just say they are some big wig, national restaurants, that you definitely would recognize.  There are also hundreds of small restaurants that use Cassano’s, dough as a shortcut for great pizzas, calzones, breads and more.

After a year of preparation, Food Adventures is ready to tell you a story, much of which is unknown to Miami Valley residents.  It is the untold insight into the dough plant, the history and personal triumphs of the Cassano family.

Hand cutting hundreds of pounds of dough from the mixer

Before we get to secrets inside the dough plant lets get the scoop on Cassano’s history:

 

HERE’S THE SKINNY ON CASSANO’S

— JUNE 4th, 1953 – At the urging of a friend in New York, Vic Cassano decides to sell pizza at the Kettering grocery store of his in laws, Mom and Pop Donisi.  Using a thin crust recipe developed by Mom Donisi from her days in Italy, they make pizza available for the public.  It is a huge hit, and they sell 400 pies the first day on Schantz Avenue.  It is Dayton’s first introduction to pizza.  Needless to say the grocery store, soon became a

The Cutter presses 6 inch to 18 inch crusts for freezing

pizza shop.

— SECRET 2: THIS SUMMER DATE in 1953 ALSO MARKS THE INVENTION of THIN CRUST PIZZA in THE UNITED STATES.  Don’t let anyone tell you different, Dayton, Ohio is the center of that storm.  That would have been a hell of a day for a Food Adventure.   

Dough Balls are produced through a mostly automated system

— SECRET 3: Vic Cassano decides to cut the pieces in tiny squares.  WHY?  Because in 1953 it wasn’t “lady like” to be holding and handling big slices of pizza in your palm.  Cassano’s square slices were the polite and dainty way to enjoy the Italian treat.
— SECRET 4: Vic Cassano was not only a pizza genius, he was a mechanical genius.  He patented the first self cleaning oven.  To this day, his family  still finds dozens of papers in the office, detailing patented inventions from cooling and refrigeration systems to appliances.

Vic Cassano Jr. streamlined operations efficiently

 — SECRET 5:  Cassano’s was the first franchised restaurant in Ohio and possibly the United States.  The early 50’s were a time of business and law challenges, as many scenarios were never seen before.  Cassano’s was instrumental in the development of what we know today as franchising laws.  This allowed Cassano’s to steadily grow in the 50’s and 60’s.

Heart Shaped Pizza option in February

— SECRET 6:  Vic Cassano’s company was the first to ever freeze dough on a large scale.  He experimented with recipes and developed a full Italian menu.

— Owners of the local iconic pizza places like Marion’s Pizza and Ron’s Pizza, originally had affiliations with Cassano’s.

— In the 60’s and 70’s,  Cassano’s added affiliated restaurants like Sandy’s Hamburgers and London Bobby’s Fish and Chips.  They now had over 100 stores in total.  They served pizza on a cardboard slate, and “to go” orders were slid into bags and crumpled at one end, while leaving a”puff” in the bag, so not to damage the pizza or its toppings.

Unforgettable Tour of the Dough Plant – and Dough Samples !!

 — Here comes THE BIG CHEESE: In the early 80’s Cassano’s introduced their masterpiece pizza, the Big Cheese Pizza.  This was their deluxe pizza with double the cheese on top.  This became a menu staple and you can still order the Big Cheese “Vic’s Way” (with black olives) or “Mom’s Way” (with green olives).   During this time, Cassano’s started serving their “to go” and delivery pizzas in boxes.

—  In 1986, Vic Cassano sold the business.  A year later Mom Donisi passed away.  As the family saw their former business struggle in other people’s hands, so Vic Jr. decided to buy it back in 1989.  It was a short hiatus and the pizza business atmosphere was saturated with saturated with national and local companies.  To say it was extremely competitive is an understatement.

Side view of a legendary Cassano’s Pizza in the making

— With Vic Cassano Jr. at the helm, the 90’s were the start of a new, efficient direction of cutting waste and streamlining the business.  It worked.

— Vic Cassano Sr passed away in 2002, at the time his son kept rebuilding the brand and would expand operations at the dough plant.

Sheeted Pizza Crusts, stacked and ready to be packaged

— The amazing strides and improvements in efficiency, allowed more investment in equipment.  A centralized call center was finished in 2003.  Vic Cassano Jr. had turned the corner and was working on bringing back some nostalgia back to Cassano’s like the Pizza King logo, the London Bobby Fish and Chips and more.  In, 2010, Vic Jr. unexpectedly passed away.  To his credit, he had prepared his children Lora, Chip (aka Vic the 3rd), and Chris over the past decades to take on the new leadership role.  They did just that, carrying on the vision of their father and adding even more to the legendary name.

An up close look at the one and only BIG CHEESE PIZZA !

— Today, under the management of the third generation Lora Cassano-Hammons, Vic Cassano III, and Chris Cassano, there are almost 40 pizza shops and over 600 employees.

— Product developments included bringing back “Pizza Packs to go” and a new “Home Edition” Frozen Pizza line found in stores and available to be shipped nationwide.   The Stroop Rd. location has gone back to carry the “London Bobby Fish and Chips” meals again.

London Bobby’s Fish and Chips available at the Stroop Rd. Cassano’s

— About 3 years ago, The Cassano’s Cares Foundation  was set up.  It is the charitable arm of Cassano’s set up in memory of Vic Cassano Jr.  Their purpose is to give back to local charities and organizations.  Memorable events included an evening with Pete Rose and a Corvette giveaway.  There is also an annual golf outing to support the foundation as well.  There is even a Vic Cassano Health Center on Edwin C Moses Blvd.

— In June 2016, almost 63 years to the day after the first pizza was sold, the Ohio Historical Connection declared the Cassano’s Stroop Rd. office a historical site.  Now your Food Adventures on Stroop Rd, can be truly historical !

 

Now, let’s go from modern history to secrets inside the Dough Plant …..

These two flour silos hold 75,000 pounds of flour… EACH !

INSIDE THE DOUGH PLANT:

— SECRET 7:  The dough plant, located at 1700 East Stroop Rd.  produces approximately 50,000 – 70,0000 pounds of dough daily.  Only about 20 percent of that is for Cassano’s restaurants.  The remaining 80 percent is sold to other food establishments.

— SECRET 8:  The plant uses 30,000 pounds of flour each day.  The facility is equipped with 2 huge flour silos that each hold 75,000 pounds of flour.  WOW,  this place would make Willy Wonka proud.

Caroline “Mom” Donisi. Her recipe from Italy was the spark

— SECRET 9:  The plant has a capacity to produce about 8,000 pounds of dough in an hour.  Depending on the size, that can equate to 100-200 dough balls per minute during the morning shift.  In the afternoon shift, the plant switches gears to produce pizza crusts from 6 inches to 18 inches in diameter.  The crusts are shrink wrapped to prevent breakage and boxed and loaded into a freezer or  refrigerated delivery trucks.

The Chopped Steak Sub

— SECRET 10: The dough recipe has been tweaked slightly over the past 20 years.  When making pizzas these days they even “tack” the dough with a docker to control bubbling of the dough.  Remember those bubbles in the 70’s and 80’s on Cassano’s pies ?  You don’t see those anymore.

All this talk about dough has us a bit hungry.. may Food Adventures suggest some “Must Eats” from our decades of devouring Dayton’s original thin crust pizza?  CASSANOS !

Cassano’s Headquarters is named a Historical Site, June 3rd 2016

MUST EATS:

— THE BIG CHEESE “VIC’S WAY”:  Mounds of cheese, Pepperoni, Sausage, Mushrooms, Onions and Red & Green Peppers, Black Olives and more cheese!  This is it.  This is the Cadillac of the Cassano’s menu.  So good, it will make you sleepy afterwards.  A flavorful, filling, and unforgettable pie.  As Vic used to say.. “It’s one heck of a pizza!”

— THE CLUB CASSINI: Ham, Pepperoni, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Provolone Cheese and Italian dressing on a Mediterranean flat bread bun.  This was a great

Packaged Dough, ready for the freezer

surprise and has such a meaty and creamy, delicious flavor.  This is an unknown menu gem.

— PEPPERONI PIZZA WITH EXTRA SAUCE:  The Big Ragu has been using this trick since 1986.  He suggests you always order your Cassano’s pepperoni pizzas with extra sauce. They take their time and spend a little more time on your pizza.

— THE CHOPPED STEAK SUB:  Get your messy groove on with this Steak patty, topped Provolone Cheese, Pizza Sauce,  dripping with Mushroom Gravy, sprinkled with Onions and Banana Peppers.

Dough off the conveyor belt

— THE 30 INCH PARTY PIZZA:  Get it, you only live once.  Perfect for parties – birthday or super bowl.  $100 gets you a deluxe and 80 bucks gets you a one topping pizza pie.   This humongous pizza is a party in a box…. a pretty big box.

We are honored to be able to take a behind the scenes view at the Cassano’s pizza and dough plant.   The factory employees and management are always friendly and

Top it with sauce and you got something going….

accommodating.  Thank you for letting us see the legendary Dayton magic firsthand.  Congratulations to the Cassano family on all of their accomplishments.  They are a great family and we are lucky to consider them friends.  We are excited to see what the future holds for this Dayton original.

Honorable Mention: The Spaghetti Dinner:  Sometimes we just crave the simple pasta and sauce combo.  So pure, so peasant, so good….

Don’t forget to check out our weekly Food Adventure feature articles on MostMetro. com

For daily Food Adventure updates, hit us up on Facebook and LIKE US HERE….

Pizza Kings and the Hit King – Pete Rose

1970’s pic of Mario Andretti with the famous pizza pie in a bag – old school

Now available frozen – cooked 80% for you to finish cooking at home

Frozen Dough ready to go

Chip has given us a few tours of the plant,.

Stroop Rd Headquarters

Part of the Cassanos Call Center

Chicken Parm

Trimmed dough gets recylced

Sheet Pizza Dough

Dough cutters

Sauce it up

Compressing the Dough to crust thickness

Look at those pallets

True dat

Hungry Jax’s kids were Cassano kids for a day !

THE BIG CHEESE – VICS STYLE

Dough balls

Pepperoni pie

Chip, PIzza King and Chris Cassano

Pizza with Pete Rose

London Bobby Fish and Chips Dinner

Did you know Cassanos has hand tossed pizza ?

Our friend Mike explaining the dough process

sealed !

Shrunk wrapped to prevent breakage

All those pizza crusts …..

The Big Cheese is the way to go …

Cassanos ships these all over the USA

Into the freezer

The Pizza King, Lora Cassano and Big Ragu !

Chip talking about the automated processes of the plant

Ravioli app

Dough coming through

Cassanos – always testing the dough

A pepperoni Cassini – Ragu loves them….

Filed Under: Dayton Dining, Food Adventures, The Featured Articles Tagged With: 30 inch, big cheese, Big Ragu, caroline, Cassano, Cassano's, cassini, chef house, chip, Chris, crust, Dayton, Donisi, dough, food adventurees, food advenure, frozen, frozen pizza, historical, hoagie, hungry jax, Icon, klegendary, legend, Lora, mom, ohio, Party, pepperoni, pie, pizza, plant, site, steak, stroop, sub, thin crust, vic cassano, vic jr

Primary Sidebar

Featured Events

  • Thu
    05
  • Fri
    06
  • Sat
    07
  • Sun
    08
  • Mon
    09
  • Tue
    10
  • Wed
    11

Moraine Grand Opening Free Wash Week

7:00 am | Flying Ace Express Car Wash Moraine

Lumberjack night

1:00 pm | Wild Axe Throwing

DLM Culinary Center Holiday Open House

4:00 pm | Dorothy Lane Market Culinary Center

St. Ann the Tart Pop-up Pastry Shop

5:00 pm | The Contemporary Dayton (formerly DVAC)

True Nature Sober Lounge

6:00 pm | Glasz Bleu Oven

Sounds of the Season

6:00 pm | Kettering Recreation Complex

Angel Night

6:00 pm | Calvary Cemetery

Light UP the Shops of Oakwood

6:00 pm | Heart of Oakwood

Ales for Acres

7:00 pm | Yellow Springs Brewery

Music Bingo

7:00 pm | Dayton Beer Company

Moraine Grand Opening Free Wash Week

7:00 am | Flying Ace Express Car Wash Moraine

First Friday at Front Street

5:00 pm | Front Street

WinterFest

5:00 pm | Kings Island

Christmas in the Village

6:00 pm | Downtown Waynesville

Dinner in the Desert Kitchen IV: No Space like Home

6:00 pm | Front Street Buildings

Date Night Ornaments

6:00 pm | Mosaic Institute of Greater Dayton

TIPPECANOE CHRISTMAS IN THE VILLAGE HOME TOUR

6:30 pm | tippacanoe christmas village

Learn To Tango! With Ginger LeSnapps!

7:00 pm | femme fatatle fitness

Vinyl Sunshine: A Very 60’s & 70’s Christmas Concert

7:30 pm | Historic Plaza Theatre

Icebergs

8:00 pm | Dayton Theatre Guild

Moraine Grand Opening Free Wash Week

7:00 am | Flying Ace Express Car Wash Moraine

Jingle Bell Run

8:00 am | Bellbrook High School

Santa Paws

9:00 am | Kettering Recreation Complex

The Arctic Dash

10:00 am | YMCA Camp Kern

THE TIKE’S SHOPPE

10:00 am | Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

Rosewood Centre Holiday Event

11:00 am | Rosewood Arts Centre

Free Yoga and Heartfulness Meditation

11:00 am | The Mall at Fairfield Commons

Christmas in the Village

12:00 pm | Downtown Waynesville

TIPPECANOE CHRISTMAS IN THE VILLAGE HOME TOUR

12:00 pm | tippacanoe christmas village

The Oakwood Historical Society’s 2nd Annual Holiday Home Tour

12:00 pm | Oakwood Historical Society

Gingerbread House Decorating

12:00 pm | Ele Cake Company

Oregon Historic District Grand Holiday Tour of Homes

12:45 pm | Oregon Historic District

Dayton Area Harp Ensemble Christmas Concerts

2:00 pm | The Salvation Army Kroc Center

Free Christmas Concert

2:00 pm | The Salvation Army Kroc Center

Home for the Holiday Santa Parade

4:00 pm | Downtown Middletown

WinterFest

5:00 pm | Kings Island

Icebergs

5:00 pm | Dayton Theatre Guild

Dayton Blues Society Winter Showcase & Christmas Party

7:00 pm | The Phone Booth Lounge

Moraine Grand Opening Free Wash Week

7:00 am | Flying Ace Express Car Wash Moraine

Open To Public Sunday Breakfeast

10:00 am | Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9936

Oregon Historic District Grand Holiday Tour of Homes

11:00 am | Oregon Historic District

Christmas in the Village

12:00 pm | Downtown Waynesville

Sundays with Santa | Golden Lamb

12:00 pm | The Golden Lamb

Holiday Wine Pairing

5:00 pm | Ele Cake Co Bistro & Wine Bar

WinterFest

5:00 pm | Kings Island

Sweet Sounds of the Holidays

7:30 pm | Kettering Adventist Church

2nd Monday Authors: Tim Gaffney

1:00 pm | Woodbourne Library

BREW & CHEW BEER TASTING

5:00 pm | Whole Foods Market

Indoor Cycling

6:00 pm | Up and Running

Feast of the Seven Fishes!

6:00 pm | Giovanni’s

FSB Gives Back: Dayton LGBT Center

6:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Introduction to Judaism

7:00 pm | Temple Israel

It’s Time to Decorate a Gingerbread House!

7:00 pm | DLM Culinary Center

YuleTide Yammering presented by Mayhem & Mystery

7:00 pm | Spaghetti Warehouse

Jackie O’s Beer Dinner

7:00 pm | Bourbon’s Kitchen

Normandy Elementary PTO

4:00 pm | Smashburger

Luv4K9s Pet Photos with Santa

4:00 pm | Voss Used Vehicles

Legendary Lights of Clifton Mill

6:00 pm | Clifton Mill

Author Event: “The Altruists” with Andrew Ridker

7:00 pm | Woodbourne Library

Drag Yourself to Toxic with The Rubi Girls

7:30 pm | Toxic Brew Company

Pop Punk with Frontside & Like Mike

8:00 pm | The Brightside Event & Music Venue

Backcountry Cooking

6:00 pm | Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark

Legendary Lights of Clifton Mill

6:00 pm | Clifton Mill

Free Yoga

6:00 pm | Dayton International Peace Museum

Dayton Artists United Gathering

6:00 pm | Wholly Grounds

Artisan Night at the Market

6:00 pm | 2nd Street Market

Mix, Mingle & Jingle at HVO!

6:30 pm | Hidden Valley Orchards

YuleTide Yammering presented by Mayhem & Mystery

7:00 pm | Spaghetti Warehouse

More Events…

DMM E-Newsletter


Give us your email address and we'll send you our DMM E-Newsletters
Email:  
For Email Marketing you can trust

[footer_backtotop href="#top"]

Copyright © 2019 Dayton Most Metro · Terms & Conditions · Log in