{"id":225812,"date":"2026-05-09T18:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T18:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/225812\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T18:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T18:08:10","slug":"fini-pizza-a-new-york-style-pizza-joint-makes-its-mark-in-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/225812\/","title":{"rendered":"Fini Pizza, a New York-style pizza joint, makes its mark in Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

The beloved Fini Pizza made quite the impact during its debut in Utah City.<\/p>\n

Just days after opening, the pizza joint sold out of everything by 5 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. The demand for the delicious New York-style pizza was higher than expected.<\/p>\n

Owner Sean Feeney and the rest of his team worked late into the night to prep for the week, building pizza boxes, slicing pepperonis and doing all they could to prevent that from happening again.<\/p>\n

Feeney said he has three goals with Fini Pizza:<\/p>\n

\u201cMake something that is excellent and delicious and cravable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo it in a way where you\u2019re making others feel like they matter and you want their days to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we then go outside of these doors and really show people how proud we are to be a part of this neighborhood?\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time, Fini Pizza also opened up Fini Cafe, a charming little cafe that serves up bagels, sandwiches, coffee and pastries.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can start your days with us,\u201d Feeney said. \u201cAnd we can start our day together on a good foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Choosing Utah\"Fini<\/p>\n

Customers enjoy their pizza on the patio at Fini Pizza in Vineyard during its grand opening on Saturday, May 2, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News<\/p>\n

This is the first location of Fini Pizza outside the New York City area. Why did Feeney choose Utah? It goes all the way back to his childhood.<\/p>\n

Feeney visited the Beehive State to participate in the AAU National Basketball Championship at 11 years old in Salt Lake City. During that trip, he met Jazz legend Frank Layden and former players, like Luther Wright and John Crotty. He also said he \u201cfell in love with Utah\u201d on his first visit.<\/p>\n

His family kept coming back to the state they fell in love with, and Feeney said he always wanted to plant some kind of roots in Utah.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just resonated with the family-first values-driven environment,\u201d Feeney said. \u201cWhen I visit Utah, I feel like there is a strong sense of family. There\u2019s a very values-driven environment that I just love. I think about the mountains. I think about the active lifestyle people live here.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when a friend showed him some renderings of plans for Utah City, an up-and-coming neighborhood in Vineyard, he figured this was how he could bring Fini Pizza to the state he loved so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the mountains, and I got very excited about building a community from the ground up. And we start with pizza,\u201d Feeney said.<\/p>\n

A history of Fini Pizza<\/p>\n

Plans for Fini Pizza started taking shape at the end of 2020.<\/p>\n

\"Fini<\/p>\n

Sunlight shines on a table at Fini Pizza during the grand opening of its first location outside of New York in Vineyard on Saturday, May 2, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved pizzerias,\u201d Feeney said. \u201cI grew up in New Jersey, and most of my greatest memories of meals and birthday parties, and after soccer practices or even after funerals and wakes, we would go to our local neighborhood pizzerias growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feeney had already found success with two Italian restaurants and decided it was time to try out his pizza dream. He noticed at the time that his neighborhood in Williamsburg in New York City was getting more and more polarized. He thought, why not open a pizza place to bring people together?<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, that would be an exciting thing to try to do and add a pizzeria that was really focused on bringing people together and delivering good days,\u201d Feeney said.<\/p>\n

He opened four more Fini Pizza establishments in Brooklyn over the span of six years.<\/p>\n

Now, in the Utah City cafe, illustrations of the four restaurants decorate the walls, reminding customers of the history of the place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the concept of Fini would resonate with just kind of what I love about Utah,\u201d Feeney said.<\/p>\n

\"Fini<\/p>\n

The bill from the first purchase during the grand opening of Fini Pizza in Vineyard is taped to the wall behind the service counter on Saturday, May 2, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News<\/p>\n

Growing up around food<\/p>\n

In New Jersey, Feeney grew up having the dinner table as an important part of his days. His mom is Italian and his dad is Irish, and he recalls having their entire families come down to their house on the Jersey Shore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would have these big Sunday suppers and cookouts,\u201d Feeney said. \u201cAnd I saw my Italian aunts and grandma and my mom and her sisters cooking all day and everybody else just having the best time. And I would get to see my dad be so proud to host everybody in his backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

His family also made the restaurant experience special for him and his siblings. His dad would make reservations for the family at \u201cincredible restaurants\u201d in New York City, and then he would study up on them and share the history of the restaurant and what to order.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all ingrained in me from an early age,\u201d Feeney said.<\/p>\n

In 2003, Feeney moved to New York City from New Jersey to work in finance. He loved trying out new restaurants after work, and he would take clients, friends and co-workers out almost every night of the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the course of 16 years doing that five nights a week, sometimes six, I started becoming just really great friends with people in the industry,\u201d Feeney said.<\/p>\n

He became friends with a neighbor who was a chef, and they ultimately decided to open a restaurant together \u2014 Lilia in Williamsburg. Two and a half years later, he left his day job to pursue the restaurant industry full time.<\/p>\n

Feeney said the hospitality industry \u201ckind of found me. I just kept feeding the passion for it. And then it turned out that the people I loved most were like, \u2018You should do this. You seem really happy, and you love it.\u2019 And I haven\u2019t really looked back since.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2018magic\u2019 of owning a restaurant\"Fini<\/p>\n

The first customers place their orders at Fini Pizza in Vineyard during its grand opening on Saturday, May 2, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News<\/p>\n

The best part of owning a restaurant is the people he gets to work with, according to Feeney.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve changed my life in a big way,\u201d Feeney said. \u201cThe people that I get to work with every day and having this amazingly awesome responsibility of being in their charge, I truly am grateful. I never thought I would be in that position ever. And it\u2019s just changed my life forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called what his employees do in the hospitality industry \u201cnoble\u201d and says when they help make a person\u2019s day better by serving up delicious food that they create \u201cmagic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they produce every single night, what we do together, it\u2019s bigger than the sum of its parts,\u201d Feeney said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I\u2019ve loved. And I\u2019ve loved being able to just witness people doing this for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fini Pizza giving back\"Fini<\/p>\n

A stack of pizza boxes line the wall as an employee places a slice into the warming oven at Fini Pizza in Vineyard on Saturday, May 2, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News<\/p>\n

Fini Pizza offers 25% discounts year-round to firefighters, police officers and educators. They also have a program where children under 17 can read three books, share the title and two sentences about the books, and then receive a free pizza for them and their family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to continue to find creative ways to invest in the community, make the neighborhood more together, more stronger, and more connected,\u201d Feeney said.<\/p>\n

Another way Fini Pizza is getting involved with the community is through a program called Fini Hoops.<\/p>\n

The Fini Hoops program hosts basketball teams on its own court \u2014 he tried it out in New York and loved it, so the Utah City location is also getting its own court, which is currently being built up. It will open up in June.<\/p>\n

At the court, Fini Hoops will host basketball tournaments, camps and clinics to get more kids playing ball, and then afterwards, they can enjoy some pizza. Winners of the Fini Hoops tournaments receive free pizza for life.<\/p>\n

\"Fini<\/p>\n

Utah Jazz forward Kevin Love, right, yells out names on orders as helps out during the grand opening of Fini Pizza in Vineyard on Saturday, May 2, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to create moments for youth in basketball and connect it to pizza as well,\u201d Feeney said.<\/p>\n

What I ordered<\/p>\n

When I stopped into Fini Pizza on a Wednesday night, I was greeted by smiles and friendly hellos from the staff. The aesthetic of the place is beautiful, with wood accents and a woodsy green color.<\/p>\n

\"Fini<\/p>\n

A slice of the NY White Pie and a Sicilian slice sit on a counter at Fini Pizza in Vineyard on Saturday, May 2, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I ordered:<\/p>\n

The Sicilian Pizza: I ordered a slice of the Sicilian pizza, which has a thicker crust, sweet crushed tomato sauce, chili oil, garlic breadcrumbs, freshly shaved parmigiano and pepperoni. There was a little heat that I really liked, maybe from the pepperoni and chili oil? This was a very good slice of pizza.<\/p>\n

The White Pizza: I ordered a whole box of this one to share with my sister, and I\u2019m glad I did. The crust is classic New York style crust. The pizza comes with three cheeses \u2014 fresh mozzarella, parmigiano and fontina \u2014 and on top is drizzled olive oil and lemon zest. I wasn\u2019t sure what I would think of the lemon, but it surprised and delighted me in the best way. It\u2019s refreshing and a beautiful final note to the overall taste.<\/p>\n

Storefront information<\/p>\n

Address: 875 N. Main St. Suite A, Vineyard, UT 84059<\/p>\n

Hours: Monday-Sunday, noon-10 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"Fini<\/p>\n

The first customers of the first Fini Pizza location outside of New York make their way into the pizzeria during the grand opening in Vineyard on Saturday, May 2, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The beloved Fini Pizza made quite the impact during its debut in Utah City. Just days after opening,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[37743,88805,8482,32662,9,24,11,10,88808,88810,88806,88807,9131,88809],"class_list":["post-225812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-deseret-news","tag-fini-pizza","tag-grand-opening","tag-kevin-love","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-pizza-boxes","tag-rio-giancarlo","tag-sean-feeney","tag-utah-city","tag-utah-jazz","tag-vineyard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}