{"data":{"type":"company_profile_ai","id":46697,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:46697","attributes":{"canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/firepie","retrieval_urls":{"canonical":"https://wefunder.com/firepie","json":"https://wefunder.com/firepie.json","markdown":"https://wefunder.com/firepie.md","ai_json":"https://wefunder.com/firepie.ai.json","ai_text":"https://wefunder.com/firepie.ai.txt","changelog_json":"https://wefunder.com/firepie.changelog.json","schema":"https://wefunder.com/.well-known/ai-profile-schema.json"},"updated_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","generated_at":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","profile_visibility":{"owner_published":true,"public_search_results":true,"site_search_listed":true,"privacy_mode":"promote","invite_only":false},"company":{"id":46697,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:46697","slug":"firepie","name":"FIREPIE®","tagline":"Artisan wood-fired pizza delivered in 15 minutes - The new way","elevator_pitch":"Artisan Wood-fired pizza delivered in 15 minutes.\u0026nbsp;This next-generation operational model deploys custom-designed Portable Kitchen Facilities (PKFs) equipped with large 900-degree Italian wood-burning ovens geographically tied to its routing and logistics technology. These units are strategically deployed in proximity to densely populated high demand neighborhoods in major cities.","location":"San Francisco, CA","website":"https://firepie.com","total_amount_raised":61569,"total_investors":141,"is_funded":true,"is_active":true},"key_claims":[{"claim_id":"claim-total-raised","text":"Total raised on Wefunder: 61569","citation":"https://wefunder.com/firepie#claim-total-raised","provenance":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","confidence":"high"},"observed_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","expires_at":"2026-06-13T05:00:14Z"},{"claim_id":"claim-total-investors","text":"Total investors: 141","citation":"https://wefunder.com/firepie#claim-total-investors","provenance":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","confidence":"high"},"observed_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","expires_at":"2026-06-13T05:00:14Z"}],"verified_facts":[{"claim_id":"claim-total-raised","text":"Total raised on Wefunder: 61569","citation":"https://wefunder.com/firepie#claim-total-raised","provenance":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","confidence":"high"},"observed_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","expires_at":"2026-06-13T05:00:14Z"},{"claim_id":"claim-total-investors","text":"Total investors: 141","citation":"https://wefunder.com/firepie#claim-total-investors","provenance":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","confidence":"high"},"observed_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","expires_at":"2026-06-13T05:00:14Z"}],"company_claims":{"tagline":"Artisan wood-fired pizza delivered in 15 minutes - The new way","elevator_pitch":"Artisan Wood-fired pizza delivered in 15 minutes.\u0026nbsp;This next-generation operational model deploys custom-designed Portable Kitchen Facilities (PKFs) equipped with large 900-degree Italian wood-burning ovens geographically tied to its routing and logistics technology. These units are strategically deployed in proximity to densely populated high demand neighborhoods in major cities.","story":"I have always been obsessed with convenience. As a kid, my mind would spin with ideas on how to make simple things work better. I would take my bicycle and my Tonka toys apart and try to modify them. That made me happy.While in college I worked at California Pizza Kitchen now known as CPK.It was an innovative rapidly growing fast-casual dining concept centered around a Pasquini Italian wood-burning pizza oven that heated up to 750 degrees cooking a high-quality\u0026nbsp;pizza in less than two minutes.One evening I forgot to order a BBQ chicken pizza for one of my customers.I rushed the order and timed it. It took about 90 seconds to cook that pizza. Being obsessed with \"convenience\" I thought to myself, “That is faster than cooking a hamburger, why not do a drive-through version of this?” I spent the summer working on my business plan to unleash the convenience potential of these high temp wood-burning ovens. I was also accepted into the CPK management training program and learned about scalable operations. I thrived.The years since are a blur. Although I never raised the money for my drive-thru pizza concept, that dream stayed with me in the back of my mind.\u0026nbsp;I did move from Los Angeles to Northern California to help start a wood-fired pizza chain but then went into mobile technology and logistics software sales. At that time I saw a future when mobile devices and data would eventually converge.\u0026nbsp;For the last decade leading up to starting Firepie®, I was selling mobility software to fortune 1000 companies, mostly related to routing and logistics.The decisionIn the winter of 2015, while sitting on my couch after being laid off from a tech startup that ended, I took a moment to reflect. I remember experiencing a feeling from deep inside, perhaps my younger\u0026nbsp;self gently reminding me about my dream and quest of providing great pizza with a new level of\u0026nbsp;convenience.\u0026nbsp;Obsessed with\u0026nbsp;convenience, I asked myself a question. “Can I deliver a wood-fired pizza in 15 minutes?”. It took three months using some complex software, but I eventually figured it out. In this process, I also inadvertently created a revolutionary distribution model that solves the riddle of the last mile of on-demand food delivery in major cities. So, with my savings, credit cards, and some seed investment from a great friend that really got what I was doing (who happened to work at Black Rock and did predictive financial modeling) I risked all and started Firepie®..On June 1st, 2016 Firepie®\u0026nbsp; launched operations. It was me alone in a custom-designed pizza trailer with a massive built-in 900-degree Italian wood-burning oven and a laptop. We call these portable pizza kitchens nodes. I was terrified, I thought \"Three pizza choices, one size, delivered lightning fast? Will people go for this new experience?\"\u0026nbsp;I had no idea what the future would hold. That first month we did about $3000 in sales. We couldn't even cover\u0026nbsp;the rent.In month two our sales tripled. We had repeat customers every week!\u0026nbsp;In month 8 Firepie®\u0026nbsp; reached\u0026nbsp;$85k in monthly sales. In month\u0026nbsp;25 Firepie®\u0026nbsp;exceeded $100k in monthly sales.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;We have had many twists and turns along the way and it has been quite a journey so far.\u0026nbsp; Currently,\u0026nbsp;our\u0026nbsp;average annual revenue is over $1M with our single proof of concept location.\u0026nbsp;Here's some metricsIn 2019, repeat orders represent 75% of orders each monthNew customer acquisition has grown by 15% since the beginning of 2019Average order total is up 5% this yearEach month in 2019, 10% of our orders have been from customers that migrated\u0026nbsp;from third-party platforms to our current mobile platform and apps, lowering the cost of those transactions\u0026nbsp;from 27% per order\u0026nbsp;to 3%CLV of our retained direct customers is averaging $301. With no real marketing budget, our single proof of concept reached $1.1M\u0026nbsp;in revenue for 2019.Firepie avg delivery time (from order to delivered) is 17.6 minutes.\u0026nbsp;4.5 stars on Yelp3500 customers have the Firepie®\u0026nbsp;(Powered by ChowNow) mobile app","quick_facts":["The perfect convergence of product, process, and technology, at the right time.","Exceeded $1M in revenue in the first 12 months.","Customers love Firepie — 4.5 Yelp stars from 260 reviews","50% faster avg delivery time than third party platforms."]},"computed_metrics":{"total_amount_raised":61569,"total_investors":141,"team_size":2,"featured_investor_count":0,"faq_count":5,"recent_post_count":0},"quick_facts":[{"claim_id":"claim-fact-1","value":"The perfect convergence of product, process, and technology, at the right time.","citation":"https://wefunder.com/firepie#claim-fact-1","observed_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","expires_at":"2026-06-19T05:00:14Z"},{"claim_id":"claim-fact-2","value":"Exceeded $1M in revenue in the first 12 months.","citation":"https://wefunder.com/firepie#claim-fact-2","observed_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","expires_at":"2026-06-19T05:00:14Z"},{"claim_id":"claim-fact-3","value":"Customers love Firepie — 4.5 Yelp stars from 260 reviews","citation":"https://wefunder.com/firepie#claim-fact-3","observed_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","expires_at":"2026-06-19T05:00:14Z"},{"claim_id":"claim-fact-4","value":"50% faster avg delivery time than third party platforms.","citation":"https://wefunder.com/firepie#claim-fact-4","observed_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","expires_at":"2026-06-19T05:00:14Z"}],"latest_fundraise":{"id":28368,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:28368","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","structure":"safe","testing_the_waters":false,"can_invest_now":false,"funding_started_at":"2020-02-07T23:48:57Z","funding_closed_at":"2020-04-30T05:02:34Z"},"investor_memos":[],"team":[{"id":703512,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:703512","name":"Rick Richman","title":"Founder CEO","role":"employee","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/rick.richman.2"},{"id":865658,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:865658","name":"Peter O'Leary","title":"Technology Lead","role":"employee","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/peteroleary2"}],"featured_investors":[],"relationships":[{"source_entity_id":"wefunder:company:46697","relation":"has_team_member","target_entity_id":"wefunder:user:276820","target_url":"https://wefunder.com/rick.richman.2"},{"source_entity_id":"wefunder:company:46697","relation":"has_team_member","target_entity_id":"wefunder:user:597519","target_url":"https://wefunder.com/peteroleary2"},{"source_entity_id":"wefunder:company:46697","relation":"has_latest_fundraise","target_entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:28368"}],"faq":[{"question":"Two questions: 1. Is the portable kitchen stationary at the same location everyday? 2. Is cooking a pizza in 15 minutes in a wood fired pizza considered fast?","answer":"Thank you Kevin, It is at the same location. The pizzas cook in about 90 seconds in our 900 degree wood-burning oven. This is much faster. Typical pizza ovens using gas or air impingement usually take 5-8 minutes to cook. Rick"},{"question":"I see that in 2018 you grew revenue about about 250k from 2017 but losses more than doubled from 2017. Can you explain what happened there? One of-course wants to see losses go down as one scales. Also any chance you can share how 2019 has panned out?","answer":"Thanks Pedro! Yes, glad to cover this. Our sales increased so fast that our low tier equipment started to buckle. We had to invest in infrastructure, going to industrial equipment. We also did the largest music event in San Francisco (Outside Lands). To scale for this required even more capital and team resources. We had to prepare for what we sold in one week to selling that volume each day for three days. Unfortunately, with where were placed at the event, we took a loss. They also had us u..."},{"question":"Is there a way to cut operational expenses? I noticed you said 72K was operational expenses and 16K was cost of goods - so that is 88K outflows per month w/ 80 revenue per month, that is what, -8K revenue per month? Anyway to break even somehow? Or, if not, do you have reserve...","answer":"Thanks, Francis, We reached break-even last quarter. But your question is a great opportunity for me to talk about what is so compelling to me about this new business model and why investors should be interested. I want to help investors understand a clustered kitchen operational model. It is very different with much more opportunity and flexibility than a brick and mortar dine-in concept. Unlike traditional brick and mortar restaurants where you would look at the first single location P\u0026amp;..."},{"question":"One thing I just thought of is there is going to be issue w/ carbon footprint re. wood burning ovens - wood burning is much more carbon than say natural gas based oven. Ppl care about carbon more than they used to, rightly or wrongly, that is just a market condition now. Will ...","answer":"Thanks Francis, These ovens, due to the design and materials, are one of the most efficient and clean ways to burn wood. Very different than a fireplace. Should that issue come up though, we would switch to gas assist. There are also filtration systems that can be installed."},{"question":"I've seen your emails around the current Corona virus situation as it has been unfolding here in San Francisco. Very much impressed with your communication around this to your customers. Can you provide more color on the impact you are seeing right now? Are orders increasing? ...","answer":"Thanks Pedro, Our delivery orders this weekend surged by 53%. Saturday may have been the busiest day in the history at Firepie. I am looking for previous history to validate. With this said, I want to make sure this is a trend before making any conclusions of the correlation to current events. It is highly probable there is at least some correlation but need more data over the next 10 days. Furthermore, we have made team and public safety a priority and this will add approximately 3-7 minutes..."}],"recent_posts":[],"provenance":{"source":"wefunder_public_company_profile","as_of":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","claims":{"total_amount_raised":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","confidence":"high"},"total_investors":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:14Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","confidence":"high"},"active_raise_states":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil)","last_verified_at":"2025-02-06T01:17:55Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","confidence":"high"},"latest_fundraise_state":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil).order(funding_started_at)","last_verified_at":"2025-02-06T01:17:55Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T13:15:11Z","confidence":"medium"}}}}}}