Our Story

Hi, we’re John and Tori - owners, operators and husband and wife duo!

John grew up in the pizza business as a kid in Syracuse and learned all the secret, delicious pizza recipes — the best of the old-world Italian taste with that special New York flair. He took a break from the pizza industry and the long upstate winters as a young man and moved to Florida to work in sales, but his heart always longed for the cheesy restaurant business. When his childhood friends wanted to open up their own shop in Colorado, John flew out to help them and got bit by the pizza bug again. He moved west to work with them, slinging pizzas and craft beers. As the company grew, they decided to open up an east coast location in Charlotte, NC in 2017, where he luckily hired Tori as a bartender.

We became fast friends and fell in love in dozens of restaurants and bars all over the city. Realizing that we loved the restaurant business almost as much as we loved each other, we began pursuing opportunities from Syracuse to West Palm and enjoyed our engagement eating our way through the Treasure Coast. Finally after a year of searching for that perfect fit, a pizza shop became available right in our neighborhood and we couldn’t pass it up!

Francesca’s is named after John’s late mother (Francesca Fuoco) and Tori’s late grandmother (Frances Rodriguez). Both of these magnificent women had huge impacts on our lives and left us so much better for having known them. They are the women who taught us to be kind, hospitable, gracious and loving towards everyone we encounter in life — strangers and dear friends alike. We’ve found that there’s no better place to pass along their warmth than in the restaurant business.

It’s our deepest wish that we can bring this kind of hospitality and love to Port Saint Lucie, one pizza at a time. We can’t wait meet each and every one of you along this cheesy journey!

Always made with love,

Tori & John