St. Louis chef and entrepreneur Katie Lee, owner of Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria, has beaten the odds once again, this time bringing her homemade frozen pizzas to Target stores nationwide. Today marks a new chapter in the frozen pizza world. Long gone are the days of the only frozen pizzas options that are filled with processed, artificial ingredients. Katie is disrupting the competitive market, and redefining what it means by bringing fresh, real ingredients to the aisles into your home.
“As a busy working mom, it’s hard to find convenient, real food – so we made it ourselves. This is real food for the soul handcrafted with the best ingredients. There’s nothing else like it and we’re proud to stand behind that,” Lee said.
The process to get to this day has been no small feat. Katie and her team have been working around the clock to bring this vision to life. In a six-part video reel series, the Katie’s Pizza Instagram has been teasing this announcement showing viewers behind the scenes into this process. Within just 96 days, the team prepared 400,000 pizzas to be shipped out nationwide for launch day on Sept. 17.
When businesses started to shut down, and mass layoffs commenced during the pandemic, it put businesses like Katie’s Pizza at risk. But Katie and her team used the shutdown as a business growth opportunity. Instead of laying off dedicated staff, Katie’s pizza went into production mode, creating a line of frozen pizzas to be sold in stores. This idea took off and helped her business grow into what it is today.
The four varieties sold at Target nationwide include Katie’s burrata margherita, pepperoni-stracciatella, meatball and black garlic burrata.
Katie has overcome immense odds throughout her life. From dropping out of high school to facing homelessness and drug addiction. But that chapter did not define her future. Her career of creating a successful St. Louis restaurant chain, to now selling her products nationwide, is proof that anyone can achieve success if you’re passionate and hardworking.
“When I was homeless, everything I owned would have fit into one of their shopping bags, now I’ve made it to Target’s shelves with Katie’s pizzas. I’ve come a long way, and our team is always pushing, no matter the odds,” Lee said.