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Damiano Messineo didn’t go to culinary school. Instead, he earned what he calls a “PhD in pizza” by moving from Sicily to New York and eating his way through the city. Somewhere between Neapolitan crusts and deep-dish debates, he realized something was missing.

“I wanted to eat pizza every day,” Messineo said. “But traditional pizza is high in carbs and fat. So I set out to design the perfect nutritional label — then worked backward to build a pizza that still tastes great.”

That idea led to Loopini, a new frozen pizza line that’s as healthy as it is delicious. Made from just a handful of natural ingredients packed with protein, fiber and nutrients, Loopini is designed for young, health-conscious foodies who crave high-protein, low-carb meals without sacrificing authentic flavor.

The recipe took 13 months to perfect, with more than one failed partnership along the way. Eventually, Messineo took matters into his own hands. Armed with Excel spreadsheets and YouTube tutorials, he experimented with natural flours, fermentation techniques and macro-balancing until he landed on a crispy, thin crust.

Once the formula was set, production returned to Naples — the birthplace of pizza. All ingredients are sourced within five kilometers of the factory. Tomatoes grow in the volcanic soil of the Vesuvius region, giving them a naturally lower acidity. The mozzarella comes from Monti Lattari, known as the “Milky Mountains,” a dairy-rich area near the Amalfi Coast. Each pizza is flash-frozen at peak freshness and shipped to New York for distribution.

“It’s like a pizza you would eat in Italy,” Messineo said.

The startup has already won several pitch competitions, including the NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge Audience Choice Award, Naturally Rising’s CPG pitch competition and the All Food pitch-off. On the distribution front, Loopini originally aimed to reach 100 stores by year’s end but hit that milestone by June.

Messineo credits NYU’s Leslie eLab and Summer Launchpad for helping refine the company’s strategy and pinpoint its core audience. Encouraged by their mentors, the team tracked down customers, followed up on orders and offered free pizza in exchange for Zoom calls and interviews — all of which reaffirmed their prediction of a rising market.

“The new generation is realizing frozen food isn’t about convenience anymore. It’s about quality,” Messineo said. “People used to think it meant the opposite.”

For now, the company is phasing out direct-to-consumer orders to focus fully on retail, but the data gathered from early customers remains invaluable.

“We wanted that one-on-one feedback first,” Messineo said. “Now we’re ready to scale.”

That growth hasn’t come without hurdles. Producing in Italy means navigating long lead times and forecasting demand months in advance.

“You can’t just produce on the fly,” Messineo said. “If a store places an order, it takes at least three weeks to ship — we have to plan carefully to avoid selling out or overproducing.”

After all the spreadsheets, sourcing and supply chain logistics, the payoff is simple: one perfect bite.

“It’s the cheapest ticket you can buy to Italy,” he said.