Ignite Pizzeria sparks a passion for immigrant entrepreneur
Turkish-born Umut Turnalí’s food business is growing, with a new location opening in Yaletown this summer
Umut Turnalí, founder of Ignite Pizzeria, came to Canada from Turkey with a single suitcase. Photo by Geneviève Paris-Griffiths Photography
WHEN UMUT TURNALI came to Vancouver from Istanbul in 2010 with a single suitcase, he had $1,214 to his name. He spoke little English and had few contacts. One of his first jobs was delivering pizza. By 2017, he had opened his own restaurant. Ignite Pizzeria is growing, with a third location set to open within a few months.
Soon after arriving on the West Coast, Turnalí borrowed $4,000 from a friend to buy a used Ford Focus so he could deliver pizza—and gain insight into the business. (He supplemented his six-day-a-week driving job with newspaper delivery and construction work.) In 2012, after saving some money, he invested in a local pizza franchise near a SkyTrain station in Burnaby. It was struggling, but by 2014, he had turned it around and went on to purchase another location at UBC.
His vision for the business, however, didn’t mesh with that of the company, so he sold both and branched out on his own. That’s when Ignite Pizzeria was born, launching on Main Street near Broadway four years ago.
Turnalí opened a second location six months later, Ignite Pizzeria Express at 408 West Cordova Street. He expects the doors to Ignite’s newest address to open in Yaletown this summer.
The dough-making process at Ignite Pizzeria draws from biga, a style of fermentation used in certain Italian breads.
His background in banking helped Turnalí go from working odd jobs to building a venture from the ground up out of pizza made from scratch. His years spent working in finance also proved invaluable, particularly when the pandemic hit. Offering dine-in, takeout, delivery, and pizza by the slice has proven to be a model that has served Ignite well throughout COVID-19; he hasn’t had to let go of any staff.
“Coming from a second world country, sometimes you can wake up and see the currency change,” Turnalí says. “Things can change quickly, and you have to be ready for something bad.
“We created a contingency in our budget,” he says. “No matter what you do, whether you are a local government or a restaurant or an individual, you put a contingency aside. If you don’t know what your numbers are, it’s like driving a car without being able to see through your windshield. It’s dangerous.”
Having grown up in a place where the cuisine is bold, home to ingredients like sun-soaked olives and subtle spices, Turnalí has always loved food. He zeroed in on pizza for his venture because it’s familiar and popular: “if you want to open your own business and you have just one shot, you have to be really careful,” he says. “Pizza is one of the safest; everybody knows it.”
It’s a crowded marketplace, however. To compete, Ignite does things its own way.
Turnalí saw a gap: there are plenty of places offering inexpensive pizza by the slice, and many that do high-end pies, with prices to match. He wanted something that was somewhere in between, high-quality but reasonably priced; casual dining with upscale design (by architect Rafael Santa Ana).
Drawing from a fermentation process known as biga that’s used in certain old-style Italian-bread recipes while incorporating modern techniques, it takes three to four days to make the dough, including time to rest. It has a light, open texture and a solid structure, meaning it stays crispy yet chewy even after being delivered. It’s hand-tossed and cooked in a stone-fired gas oven at 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
Among the varieties on Ignite’s menu is Smyrna, a Mediterranean mix of artichokes, kalamata olives, and sun-dried tomatoes with mozzarella; and Triple P, with pesto sauce, pancetta, and Padano along with cherry tomatoes, fior di latte, and mozza. There are four plant-based varieties, including Vegan the Greek, which has artichokes, kale, tomato sauce, kalamata olives, and ricotta; and Cheeky Chickpea, the beans cooked with cumin and topping a pie with red onions, kale, and olive oil.
Helping Turnalí with the original menu concept was Italian-born chef-consultant Giuseppe Cortinovis. In 2019, he won the title of Canadian pizza chef of the year, helping get Ignite off to a stellar start. As soon as news broke of Cortinovis’s win, Ignite was lined up around the block.
Ignite’s name is about more than firing up a pizza oven but about bringing passion and purpose to life.
The friend who had loaned him money for the car originally, Cihan Yanar, became his business partner at the Main Street location. His partner in life, Jennifer Wheeler, handles marketing and customer experience.
“I didn’t have any capital when I came here,” he says. “I wanted to change my life. When I came here, I realized I could work hard and make it happen.”
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