PIZZA BY PLU GOES BACK TO PARKING LOT DROPS
After perfecting his pizza dough during the pandemic, hospitality veteran Brian Plutoch, took his Detroit-style pizza direct to the people. In 2022, he started a weekly pre-order with 48 pizza slots on a Sign-Up Genius platform and clandestine parking lot drops four days a week, with the exact location provided on the day. By 2025, Pizza By Plu had won the Times Union’s Reader Poll for Best Pizza in the Capital Region after a successful customer write-in campaign the prior year.
After moving into a brick-and-mortar space in Guilderland earlier this year, Plu is going back to his roots. We talked about the change in plan.
- SDP
Pizza by Plu’s parking lot drops + famed pick up rules are back. Keeping his Guilderland location as a prep kitchen for his award-winning Detroit-style pizza, Brian Plutchok pivots to the original multi-town model.
Interview: Susie Davidson Powell
Photos: KDO Photography/The Dishing
Intel: April 2026
In January 2026, Plu ended his famed weekly parking lot drops as moved into a shared brick-and-mortar kitchen in Guilderland. The larger space gave him ample prep space and a coveted walk-in refrigerator, with goal of scaling up production. At the same time, he expanded the business to include Pasta By Plu, family-sized pasta dinners to-go with salads and sodas. We captured the changes in our tastemaker interview, but last month Brian cut Pasta By Plu and now—after 4 months—the town drops are back.
Hey, Plu. What convinced you to go back to the O.G. parking lot drop model?
BP: I gave this new method a solid few months, and it just isn't going the way it needs to… Sales weren’t the same. I had worked so hard to get customers from all over the region with my town drops and it just turned out they couldn’t get to the Guilderland shop, especially at that time of day. I hadn’t really thought about how the pick up time from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. would mean some would have to fight Northway traffic. Or even if they came and loved the pizza, saying it was better than ever, they’d hit traffic on their way home.
I knew I would love some customers but my model is different in the way I had a following in so many different towns. I don’t want to say I’m antiestablishment, but going to a more establishment, traditional pizzeria didn’t make sense to give so much to something I can’t be. I guess you can apply that to my life in general! [laughs]. So I decided to go back to what made me me.
SDP: In our interview earlier this year, you said, “While I loved the clandestine nature of how the drops went, the only way for me to grow the business was to spend more time in the kitchen. The only way to make that happen was to find a permanent kitchen that would allow pick ups.” With a return to town drops, do you feel like you can still scale?
BP: Yeah, I really can’t do any more than what I’m doing with the 48. Maybe at a time when I can get a more traditional pizza oven like Pizzeria Mari or West Ave, then I could scale up to 96, but right now it’s not physically possible to do more…
SDP: You posted on Instagram that you’re working on a Sicilian-style pizza… What’s the story with that?
BP: I'm working on an 18" x 12" Sicilian style pie that will only be available on Mondays with pick up at the storefront… But I’m still tweaking it. It’s going to have a 72-hour cold fermentation, trying to get a little more rise, I might cut down the yeast… And I also switched to a better quality flour. I mean you’re from England so you know there are some things that are just not allowed in Europe, and I’m not some super health guy but I don’t want to use any product that is known to cause cancer. I use unbleached and unbromated high gluten flour; US companies often bleach and bromate their flour to make it more white. This process is illegal in Europe as potassium bromate is a known carcinogen. Why anyone would want to intentionally use a product like that is beyond me…
For those who are new to the concept of the your area drops, what is the ordering method + what are The Rules?
BP: The number one rule of Pizza By Plu is that we don’t talk about the actual drop locations for two reasons: First, to maximize the safety of everyone involved. The only people that need to know where I'll be are those that order a pizza. Second, the locations change, so if you tell people where I'll be and I'm not there, problems occur.
I make 48 8"x10" Detroit style pizzas 4 days a week, which are made available via a drop-style system. Each week's drop schedule will most likely be announced on Friday afternoon. It's important to note that you don't have to live in each area to order. Just understand that's where the drop will be. If you live in Clifton Park and don't mind traveling to the Rotterdam drop, works for me. Trust me, the pizza is worth the ride.
Saturday at noon, I make a post on Facebook about what pizzas will be available. The post contains links to a SignUpGenius site which I use as a digital way to "RSVP" or claim your pie. I’m now adding a link in my Instagram bio too. There are 48 slots available and each pie must be claimed separately in it's own slot. If you're looking to order other items that are listed for sale, you need to write them in the same slot as your pizza claim.
On the day of the drop, I'll make those 48 pizzas fresh and head to the drop. The location will be revealed in an email I send around noon. If you don't see the email, check your spam as they often go there. The drops will occur between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. with 15-minute pick up intervals. You have a 5 minute grace period for each window from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. There is no automatic grace period for the 5:15 to 5:30 p.m. slot, as the drop ends at 5:30. So if you are going to be late, it is your responsibility to tell me. If I'm able to stay a couple of minutes past 5:30 p.m. I will, but not without notice. I've been burned too many times waiting for people that never show up. After that 5 minute grace period and no communication, your pizza is available for anyone else at the drop to claim, as I will not be going home with pizzas.
The prices for the pizzas are all featured at the top of the sign up page. You may need to turn your phone sideways and/or open the page in an external browser to be able to see everything…
