Despite having positive reviews, a Tacoma pizza truck has closed after just six months in business, following a debacle that emerged around the ownership of the vehicle itself, the parking lot it called home and a couple of well-watched TikTok videos.

On Aug. 11, Katrina and Cristian Conversano, the owners of Italy Paola Pizza Napoletana, sold a few dozen wood-fired pies from the gray food truck, stationed outside the 76 gas station at the corner of North 26th and Alder streets in the North End. A week later, they announced that their business — at least in that iteration — had shuttered.

“This was my husband’s dream,” Katrina said in a phone call. “One day everything was fine, and the next it was like, OK, well, that’s that.”

Added Cristian Conversano, “We just had to walk away because the situation was going sideways.”

A first-generation immigrant from Naples, Cristian had worked in kitchens around Tacoma for almost a decade. He landed a job at a resort in Arizona, where he met Katrina. They returned to Washington and had a daughter, now 2.

Amid his restaurant jobs, he had worked for Kulwinder Saroya, who owns the 76 at 3124 North 26th Street and attached convenience store, called Old Town Grocery. A Mexican food truck had been parked there for several years until its owners moved to a new location in 2022.

With his Italian roots and cooking experience, Cristian had an idea. He found the gray van, large enough to hold a modest wood-fired oven, was for sale, but the price was out of his reach.

Though food trucks are often viewed as a low-overhead alternative to brick-and-mortar restaurants, a newly outfitted vehicle can cost anywhere from $50,000 to upwards of $150,000, according to Toast, a payment merchant now widely used in the restaurant industry. Even a used truck already equipped for foodservice starts around $30,000 and can run to $70,000. Like any car, they are also prone to glitches and require regular maintenance.

Saroya agreed to buy the van Cristian had found and the necessary equipment. The Conversanos would run the restaurant.

Italy Paola Pizza Napoletana opened at the end of 2022 after a year of teasers on social media. North End neighbors were eager for the access to Neapolitan pies, and great feedback ensued. The menu grew to include a gooey calzone and homemade cannolis. On weekends especially, they often sold out before dinnertime.

A TIKTOK MISHAP

The dream came crashing down around Aug. 13, when two TikTok videos — the first amassing 3.3 million views and a second from an influencer account with 5 million followers — roped the Conversanos into controversy.

At the center of both videos was an LED ticker sign in the window of the convenience store. In between promotions for the pizzeria, the sign had been programmed with some unsavory text alleging that “the boss” was sleeping with his employees and pocketing their overtime wages.

It is not clear who typed the accusations into the ticker sign, which has since been removed. Reached by phone multiple times, Saroya deflected questions about the sign and the food truck, declining to comment. An employee behind the store counter said he did not know about the sign.

The Conversanos, who didn’t have any employees and had no hand in the operations of the 76 or convenience store, attempted to clear up the confusion on their Instagram and Facebook pages.

“There is a video going viral of the GAS STATION in which we park,” they wrote on Aug. 13. “The sign is saying some not great stuff that has NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR TRUCK.”

The two TikTok creators, as well as a third person who knows the couple, also posted corrective videos trying to clear the air.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR ITALY PAOLA?

The Conversanos said they had been reconsidering their partnership with Saroya, having watched employees come and go from the gas station, and wondered if there was a better situation out there for them.

They admitted that the TikTok tornado accelerated the untimely — and hopefully temporary demise — of Italy Paola. Elsewhere on social media, confused followers asked a deceivingly nuanced question: Can’t you just move the truck?

Food trucks operate in a knotty cross-section of local and state laws that govern how, where and when they can park. In Tacoma, regulations limit parking to certain public streets at select times, so many turn to private lots and events; the health department requires that they have access to running water and a bathroom, and in some cases request a special-event permit. Recurring events like farmers markets or posting up in the same place every Thursday, for instance, can streamline that process, as can having the truck “permanently” stationed in one location.

Mobile food businesses must also adhere to the same standards as restaurants, both on and off the vehicle: In addition to needing a permit to safely serve food from the truck, they must lease space in a licensed commercial kitchen. Those costs add up.

Unfortunately for the Conversanos, the gray van was simply not theirs to move.

Now they are trying to amicably end the business relationship with Saroya, in the hopes of recouping their investment to help finance the purchase of their own vehicle. They have also launched a crowdfunding campaign.