Yet Another Reason To Love Pizza: Helping Lost Dogs

BRADENTON, FL — The next time someone tells you that your waistline doesn't need another pizza, just say you're eating to help lost dogs and cats. Florida Nonprofit Lost Pet Services, Inc. teamed up with Brancato’s Brick Oven Pizza in Bradenton to reunite lost pets with their humans while delivering cheesy Brooklyn-style goodness to their customers.

A similar program launched in New Jersey earlier this month and one may be coming to a pizzeria near you faster than you can ask for extra cheese and pepperoni.

Brancato's is the first one to get on board with us so it's very new," explained Patty Giarrusso, president of Lost Pet Services, who came up with the idea of putting missing pet on top of pizza boxes in her Florida target area after reading about the program in New Jersey.

"For anybody that's lost or found a pet in their area can bring the fliers in there and drop them off," she said of the pizzeria. "They just attach them to the pizza boxes, so when the delivery drivers go out, they have it."

Much like her Facebook group, pizza boxes are yet another tool to help spread the word about animals who need help, she said.

That's exactly what John Sanfratello thought in Matawan, New Jersey earlier this month when he looked over a stack of about 400 pizza boxes and decided to start putting missing dog and cat fliers on them at his Angelo's Pizza. See also Matawan Pizzeria Puts Missing Pet Pics On Their Pizza Boxes

"We used to do this with kids on milk cartons," Sanfratello told Patch recently. "Why couldn't we put a photo of a missing pet on a pizza box?"

Paul Halvorsen, who opened Brancato’s with his brother-in-law, Alex Christianson, told Patch that he jumped at the chance to participate in the Florida version of the program. He has already sent out hundreds of fliers for a missing black and tan Chihuahua mix named "Princess" and a cat named "Patches."

"We were given two stacks of fliers — probably about 200 in each stack — for a missing dog and a missing cat," he explained. "I have about eight cat fliers left so they've been going out to my customers."

None of the customers have complained. In fact, the opposite has been true.

"Everybody has been very positive. We had a woman come in Friday who had never been in here before," Halvorsen recalled. "This woman came in and said 'Can I give you a hug?'"

Not only that. His voicemail has received dozens of messages from potential new customers, many of whom had never heard of Brancato's before the pizzeria started taping missing dog and cat fliers to pizza boxes last week.

"This morning when I came in, there were about 40 messages on my answering machine here at the restaurant," Halvorsen said Tuesday.

Retired from the New York City Fire Department, Halvorsen said he and his brother-in-law never had any formal training in running a pizzeria before they opened in December.

"We started making pizza off of old recipes from Brooklyn that we gathered through friends," he said. "We started playing with the formula in the recipe and we got this nice water filtration system installed. We figured out how to make pizza in Florida."

It's only a matter of time before a pizza-eating, animal lover finds a missing dog or cat as a result of the fliers while possibly experiencing Brancato's pizza for the first time.

"We haven't had any pets found yet," Halvorsen acknowledged. He said that he was invited to participate in the program by Bill Capobianco, a friend, who is married to one of the board members of Lost Pet Services.

Giarrusso said she wants more Florida pizza businesses to participate, particularly those in Sarasota and Bradenton Counties which her organization targets. She plans to slice up the lost pet fliers by zip code.

"All they have to do is give me a call or they can email me," she said of pizzeria owners. "The fliers are going to be supplied. If they need tape, I'll even give them tape."

This summer has been particularly concerning for lost dogs in Manatee County, she said.

"The shelter is overflowing right now," Giarrusso observed. "There's always strays. That's why I give out free microchips and free ID tags. Let's keep them out of the shelters. There is the issue too that people don't even know where to look for them."

If you represent a pizzeria interested in being part of the program, call Giarrusso at 941-330-3339. All services are provided free of charge. Her Facebook page has reunited more than 9,000 pets in the Sarasota and Manatee County area. More than 800 pets have been reunited so far in 2019.

Giarrusso said she started her Facebook group, Lost and Found Pets 941 (Lost Pet Services), about six years ago and now has more than 23,500 members.

"Six years ago, my husband left our gate open in our backyard while he was doing yard work and my two dogs got lost," she said. "They snuck out and he didn't know about it. I was lucky. I got them home. But there's many people that suffer the same consequences and don't get them home."

Her husband recently reminded Giarrusso of his contribution to what became a lifelong passion for his wife.

"He said, 'If I didn't leave that gate open, you would have never started this,'" she recalled. "I said 'You're right. It is your fault.'"

Her organization also helps injured strays with surgeries. Giarrusso said she tasted Brancato's pizza for the first time as a result of the lost pet initiative.

"They made me two pizzas and they were absolutely delicious," she said. "They won me over both ways — doing this for us and the good pizza."

For more information, contact Patty Giarrusso, President, at 941-330-3339 or email: Patty@941LostPets.com. You can also visit the website to report lost or found pets, view lost or found pet albums and find pet resources.

If you have a lost pet and you live in the Bradenton area, stop by Brancato's with fliers during regular business hours. Brancato's is also posting fliers in the store. The pizzeria is located at 5227 Manatee Avenue W. in Bradenton.

"Oh, we have the best pizza in Bradenton," Halvorsen added.