Pizza bus services the ‘Boro
“We’ll be around!” is the slogan on the illuminated sign on the front of Shorty’s Pizza Bus, Murfreesboro’s first mobile pizza service. Shorty’s aims to please pizza lovers who are hungry at the peak hours of junk food binging in a college town– dusk to dawn.
The short, yellow school bus caters to anyone from Greek Row to the square, and anywhere they can manage in between. Inside the bus is a kitchen, complete with a linoleum floor, a pizza oven, refrigerated preparation station, dome lights and a triple sink.
“One bus with one oven,” said owner Daniel Rodenburg, a 26-year-old MTSU alumnus.
This is how it works: a customer calls Shorty’s with an order, and Rodenburg writes it down on a magnet and sticks it to the ceiling of the bus. While in the bus, he prepares the pizza and puts it in the oven. Shorty’s cooks the pizza en route so it is literally fresh out of the oven at arrival.
Shorty’s uses a spicy, New York-style thin crust, served one size—14 inches. A bakery in Nashville makes the crust from scratch. The price of a pie is always the same $10 flat, $11 after tax ($1 more for anchovies). Toppings are included, like cheese, mushrooms, three kinds of peppers, pineapple, olives, onions, pepperoni, chicken, sausage, bacon and ham.
“It’s a little crispier than most New York pizza, but that’s just our style… very crunchy, there’s a good little spice on there,” Rodenburg said as he sprinkled crushed red pepper, garlic, parsley and Parmesan cheese on an order.
Shorty’s Pizza Bus is Murfreesboro’s first mobile pizza service. Courtesy of Facebook
The idea of a mobile pizza service was born when Rodenburg met Michigan man Derick Robertson, 50, at a music festival called Rothbury. Robertson, a retired army veteran, sold busses and made custom concession carts. When Rodenburg mentioned the idea of a mobile food concept in Murfreesboro, Robertson geared the idea toward a pizza bus delivery service. They kept in touch.
In May 2010, the entrepreneurs kept up communication from Murfreesboro to Knoxville, where Robertson currently lives, and started planning the marketing scheme for Shorty’s and building the bus.
The name grew out of Rodenburg’s affectionate tendency to call Robertson “shorty,” an ironic play on Robertson’s height– 6’4”.
The logo, an Aerosmith-esque winged circle surrounding groovy ‘60s-style letters, was designed by a Murfreesboro man who won a logo contest sponsored by Rodenburg and Robertson.
“We’ve got a positive response from everyone. People seem to love the pizza,” Rodenburg said as he paced around the bus kitchen, moving a box of tie-dyed Shorty’s Pizza bus t-shirts into a cabinet.
Possible expansions for Shorty’s Pizza Bus include a taxi service that delivers pizza and people, or a drive-in movie theater/driving range that serves pizza. Since Robertson is still staying in Knoxville, Rodenburg is doing the labor of the business solo with some help from family and friends.
“We’re just looking forward to continuing to do it and at least get more efficient and more delicious as we go,” Rodenburg said.
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Kelsey Griffith | Staff Writer
7 Comments
Number??
A phone number please!!!!!!
we cannot post his number directly, but check out his Facebook page for contact info … http://www.facebook.com/shortys.pizzabus
This is a fantastic idea. Who doesn’t love pizza? Who doesn’t like having food bought to their door? Who doesn’t like food so literally out of the oven it couldn’t get any fresher? No one, that’s who. Shorty’s is a really cool concept. Similar to vehicles featured on the Food Network mobile eateries might be the way of the future. I say this because we as people are becoming lazier and lazier. I’ve never tried Shorty’s but I have several friends who have. They say the pizza is good, and really fresh. They also say that 14 inches isn’t as big of a pizza as one might think and that they are a little bigger than a Totino’s individual pizzas bought at Walmart or Kroger. I know at Walmart they usually sell for only a dollar, but that’s a frozen pizza compared to Shorty’s fresh out of the oven, fresh ingredient, handmade pizzas. I’d like to support Shorty’s more for the idea than the actual food itself. These two guys are chasing a dream that they have so why not help them out and get some delicious pizza in the process? You get a hot, fresh, handmade pizza and you help these guys keep their dream alive. Everyone wins. Best of luck Shorty’s, keep up the good work.
Over this past summer my boyfriend and I tried Shorty’s Pizza Bus for the first time. It had to have been around 2:00 A.M. when we called Shorty’s and Mr. Rodenburg answered the phone very politely. We ordered a meat lovers’ pizza and patiently waited for its arrival. In less than 30 minutes there was a knock on our door and a very tall man stood on the other side of the door. I claimed I wasn’t hungry and went back into my room to finish watching the movie we had put in, but the pizza’s smell lured me back into the kitchen.
The pizza wasn’t as big as I thought it would be—I guess 14” just sounds like it would be the size of a small dining room table—but it was just enough for two people. It was a thin crusted pizza, which I typically don’t like, covered in sausage, ham, hamburger, and cheese. When I bit into this pizza I fell in love. It was unlike anything I have ever tasted! They applied seasonings to the pizza which gave it a delicious spark and made me unable to settle for just one slice. The great customer service and tasty pizza now has me calling Shorty’s every night when I have the late night munchies!
make it easier to find info on how to order! i got tired of looking. Make it easy for us dumb folk! access access access. put phone # and a menu on top of facebook etc.
I think Shorty’s Pizza Bus is an awesome thing for Murfreesboro! I still haven’t had a chance to try it, but after reading this article I definitely will. I’m a big fan of going out in town, and I see this guy out everywhere! I’ll be at Whiskey Dix and he will be parked by the square, or at other places and see him drive by. It is such a catchy idea. We all love delivery services, especially pizza, but we all hate how long it takes. Places like Pizza Hut and Papa Johns are always so busy you may have to wait an hour for a pizza. With Shorty’s, you can just call him whenever you’re hungry and he is there in minutes with a fresh pizza! Or, if you are leaving a bar and he happens to be parked outside, you can just walk up, order a pizza and wait until it’s ready. What’s not to love? I have plenty of friends who have had the pizza before, and they can vouch for good taste as well as good service. I am a huge supporter of Shorty’s Pizza Bus, and wish them the best of luck! I will definitely be trying it soon.