Interview by:
Mariko Krause, Senior Program Associate
What do pizza, the arts, and snacks have in common? Read more to find out! I had the opportunity to interview Derrick Moore, co-owner of Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria, where I learned about their mission, their drive to be part of the community, and more about their specialty items. Not only is there a dine-in and to-go option, but they also have walk-up windows for those that are on the go. Reader warning: you may be inclined to immediately crave pizza, cinnamon rolls, and head to Slim & Husky’s right after this!
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and the history of your business?
Yes, Memphis is the seventh location. From the beginning, my partners and I had a moving company from 2010 until 2017. We grew it and sold the company. We started working on Slim & Husky’s in 2015, finalized the concept, and opened in March 2017. I was one of the original founders. I’ve been in the thick of it from the beginning until now.
What attracted Slim & Husky’s to the Medical District – Edge District?
Memphis was #1 because it’s down the street from Nashville and we have close ties to the city. My family is from Memphis – my mom, grandma, aunts, and cousins are from here. As a kid and adult, I spent time down here. Memphis is familiar and feels like home. The people are just awesome. The culture of Memphis is to really embrace small and local brands, and they do it better than any city I’ve seen. We knew we’d have success in Memphis. We wanted to pour more hope into the city and provide jobs for those in our community. The Edge District was the perfect location. It wasn’t all the way Downtown but wasn’t far away from neighborhoods. It was the perfect place for us to open up. The opportunity presented itself and we jumped on it.
Have you ever received any business support from MMDC?
Yes – tons of it. Not just grants but also they helped pay for some outdoor seating. They have been a tremendous help with everything from top to bottom. Vonesha [Mitchell] has been great. If we needed employees, they were willing to help find employees. Everything that they could help us with, they either did it, or they offered it. It’s a great organization with really good people. It’s been dope working with them. And they didn’t just leave us at the open; they still keep in touch. It’s a good relationship.
Do you have any special or signature items? Most popular?
[As far as,] special items, we’ve got signature pizzas, vegan options, the “Nothin but a ‘V’ thang” – that’s a vegan option, all the way up to the “Cee no green” for the men and women who like to pile on the meats. We have specialty cinnamon rolls drizzles to die for. Everything is 100% authentic. We pour a lot into it and the reception has been awesome. Anything someone wants to put on a pizza, we got it – except for anchovies! We substituted anchovies with something with a little bit more taste. We’ve got salmon and shrimp for our pizzas.
What’s your favorite pizza topping?
I get the same pizza every single time. I do “Build my own” with red sauce, five cheese blend, my meats: beef, pepperoni, chicken sausage, and my vegetables are green olives, mushrooms, onion, and green peppers. I get that every single time.
This is “The Derrick” Pizza! Slim & Husky’s has a really prominent social media account and website. What’s the best way people can stay in touch with S&H?
Probably Instagram [fun fact: S&H has over 73K followers on IG!]
Do you have any recurring special events that happen here?
Before Covid-19, we used to do a scholarship for kids and movie nights. As a business, you have to be careful because people are looking at you to set an example. We just haven’t been able to right now. We used to do so much. We are looking forward to getting that back started; we don’t want to put people in danger so we’ll hold off [until we can gather again.]
How do you see S&H growing within the Medical District community?
We will grow within the Medical District for sure. We are looking forward to when things open up to produce events with the MMDC. Anything we can do with the community as a whole and our neighbors. I just love the Edge District, especially once [the Ravine] comes up. The only way is up with the Medical District right now!
I love the artwork and vibe in the space when you first walk in. Slim & Husky’s has worked with Quantavious “Toonky” Worship (@toonky_berry), Jamond Bullock (@alivepaint), and a couple of other Black artists that I saw are from Nashville. Why is that important, and can you speak about that experience?
It’s always important for us. Our thing is Pizza. Art. Music. We highlight the creativity with the pizza, the creativity with the music – you come in and might hear R&B, some hip hop from the 90s, 2000s, we’ll play it. The arts are very important to us. We love the exposure and continue to expose our community to the arts.
African Americans as a whole are very creative with the arts, music, food, and also business. Historically, to survive and make it in this country as a whole, we have to be creative. For the artists, we always want to tap into the local community and give exposure to them. It’s always fun [to work with those artists.]
Is there anything else you’d like the Memphis/Medical District community to know about your business?
I would like for people to know that we are a community-based business. If they don’t know, hopefully, we can show them based off by working with teachers, artists, and employing people from the community. When things really open back up, we can show them how we like to get our hands dirty and get involved with the community. I would like people to know that we appreciate the community we go in and when you make yourself part of the community, and not just move and say “Hey, I’m open, now come support.” [Instead,] we believe in really getting in there and getting after it with the people in the community.
I love it! That’s really inspiring and makes the business model so much more humanizing and engaging.
If you weren’t eating pizza, what other things would you be working on or eating? When I’m not eating pizza, I’m snackin’ for real – I’m a chips and fruit snack type dude. If I wasn’t working in the pizza sector, I’d like to be working on a bar or art gallery. I’m actually doing some of that stuff now in Nashville. I love it and we look forward to doing something like that in Memphis.
Slim and Husky’s is located at 634 Union Ave. Follow them on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter!