Pizza's Proto-type: independent restaurant company builds on success with five locations.

• Author: Mitchell, Karen
• Position: Proto's Pizzeria Napoletana

Pam Proto arrived in Colorado on May 10, 1990 armed with two ingredients for success: She trusted her instincts and she was weaned on great pizza.

Born and raised in the kind of East Coast towns where going out for a thin crust "pie" is an evening, not an afterthought, Proto, 42, is now president of Proto's Pizzeria Napoletana. The company has 130 employees in five locations--Longmont, Lafayette, Boulder, Denver and Boise, Idaho--and grossed $4.5 million in 2006, placing it No. 50 in this issue's ranking of the state's top 100 women-owned companies.

Proto's close friend, Rayme Rossello, is an equal partner. A former manager of Jax Fish House in Boulder, Rossello handles front of house and office operations. Proto is ubiquitous, often found in the kitchens making pizzas. She also designs store layouts that Boulder architect Patrick Taylor then puts into scale.

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"A lot of people are making pizza, but no one does it like we do, with a full bar, full service and always with a patio," Proto says. "We make everything ourselves, and pizza is all we sell."

The Proto's recipe includes gas-fired stone pizza ovens, four imported from Italy, one made in the United States. The company also made a commitment to pay a living wage, with 100 percent paid health insurance.

"I like to think of myself as a benevolent dictator," Proto says. "We don't micromanage key people after training, and we have no disparity between front and back of house."

By 1998, Proto had operated and sold a Boulder flower shop and a balloon delivery service. She had thought about opening a pizzeria for years even though she had never even made a pizza. A serendipitous stroll through a suburban Longmont neighborhood in 1999 led her to a vacant retail space. Two days later, she signed a lease.

"I had two potential investors and I called them," she says. "I did most of the construction with a couple of friends, and we opened less than four months later for about $60,000."

Money was not a problem, but pizza dough was.

"Three days before opening, I realized I didn't have a pizza dough recipe," Proto says. "I made two batches, put them into the oven, and asked for a friend's opinion. He pointed to one, and that's been our recipe ever since. The Longmont store sold out of pizza every night for its first week."

It's very important for newer concepts to have initial successes, says Colorado...