Sal Lupoli, the entrepreneur behind Sal’s Pizza, is bullish on the economy — even if that means building 80 square feet at a time.
He said he believes in the power of the individual, including franchising a new pizza shop at a gas station that only employs two people.
“Small entrepreneurs are the backbone of our country. Without them, we are done,” he said this week from his new office in the Riverwalk complex in Lawrence. “They create jobs, but we’re strangling them.”
He’s proud of his Italian heritage and East Boston roots. He graduated from Chelmsford High and went to Northeastern University on a football scholarship, later earning a master’s degree at the MIT Sloan School of Management to keep growing. And that’s what he wants for Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
“We need New Hampshire and New Hampshire needs Massachusetts,” he said. “The way I look at it is if we don’t have each other, we’re in a lot of trouble.”
Sal Lupoli, CEO of Lupoli Companies and founder of Sal’s Pizza, knows what is working in the Bay State. This former nose tackle isn’t afraid of a challenge and knows how to pick himself up after getting knocked down. He has projects in Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Littleton and Hampton Beach, N.H., where he’s reimagining the famed Casino that draws thousands to the ice-cold surf in the summer.
Coach Cato
He first learned resilience from legendary high school football coach Tom Cato, who taught in Holliston and then Chelmsford.
“Coach Cato was one of the great influences of my life,” said Lupoli, who played for Cato his senior year. “Football teaches you loyalty, loyalty not only to the sport but to your teammates.”
Cato was unlike any coach you ever met. He inspired you to push for the best person you could possibly be — and never give up reaching for that goal. If you got knocked down along the way, there’s only one way to get up. It’s up to you, he’d say. Figure it out.
“I’ve transferred all that to business,” said Lupoli. “Place yourself behind the team and create jobs.” It’s all about having faith and commitment, he added.
Slice of life
Lupoli is launching a podcast, juggling projects and making pizza.
Sal’s Pizza has expanded to 130 locations across New England and is the official pizza provider for the New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox, along with providing pizza to the TD Garden for the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics.
Lupoli is also the second largest commercial real estate developers in New England, with more than $1.5 billion in local investments.
But he’s also thinking microeconomics. He backs hard-working employees with an entrepreneurial spirit to open Sal’s pizza outlets in gas stations and convenience stores. And those outlets only need 80 square feet to succeed. He calls it “hyper-local,” and it works.
He’s also got his pizza in Market Basket stores and sells his pizza in colleges and schools and just about any outlet that needs a quick slice.
His company employs 500 people, with 1,200 more “under our umbrella.”
“We create jobs,” he stressed. And, the two most important partners are his son, Sal Jr., and daughter, Mary.
“I’m the richest guy in the world because my children came to work at my business,” he said. “It’s the biggest gift I could ever receive.”
Field of dreams
He also gets that gateway cities — Lowell, Lawrence — need someone who believes in them. So he has set up his business in the old mill buildings of Lawrence, where his Riverwalk Innovation District is home to over 200 companies and 6,000 people who now live and work there.
Atop the parking garage is a full-sized, all-purpose field where the local teams have access to an Astroturf gem. When fields are often littered with the decay of city life, this field is pristine. The children can just play their hearts out and use the facilities inside.
“It’s our football field in the sky,” he said.
That’s the epitome of giving back to the community with pizazz.
Big city lesson
Lupoli struggled during the pandemic, like everybody else, but he adapted. He’s focused on mixed-use development where people can work and live.
He’s fighting against rent control to allow landlords to keep investing in their properties with a focus on the future. He has pivoted when others have not.
“Government has got to shift its thinking, and some communities have done that,” said Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Rooney. “They need to embrace the role economic development has in job creation.”
Business is not a bad word.
“We need new growth in Boston. This needs to be the focus,” Tamara Small, CEO of NAIOP Massachusetts, put it bluntly.
Rooney says big cities must develop a “new playbook” and roll it out quickly.
Which brings us back to Lupoli. When former Boston Mayor Tom Menino wanted someone to set up shop in the relatively dormant Seaport, Sal’s Pizza bit.
Lupoli immediately offered Herald employees a 10% discount, because journalists always need a quick meal on deadline. His employees didn’t treat us any less than full-paying customers. The opposite, in fact. We felt part of the new neighborhood that only had the Convention Center as a draw.
That’s all changed now. We’ve since moved out and the Seaport is the place to be.
Where will the next Seaport spring up? We have an idea: call Sal and see what he thinks.
“Boston needs to pivot,” Rooney added, so the cranes will come back to the skyline.
If you have a Sunday profile idea, email joed@bostonherald.com
Sal Lupoli next to a blown-up photo of his grandparents first pizza shop in Revere. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Sal Lupoli’s Riverwalk complex in a mural inside his Lawrence office. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Sal Lupoli said each job he creates matters. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
All the project’s in Sal’s office tell the story of a growing company. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)