Tucked away on Lyell Street, Smoko is one of the few places in Fyshwick open at night. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Mav, the man behind Fyshwick’s much-loved pizzeria Smoko, isn’t your average ‘pizza guy’.
Unlike the stereotype, there’s no theatrics, no over-the-top gloating about his pizzas and no pretensions. Mav is thoughtful in nature, quietly spoken and open with his emotions.
What’s so emotional about pizza, you may be wondering? Well, for Mav, the business and the people with whom he shares it, both customers and staff, are his life, and when talking about both, he does so with passion.
“I get emotional when I speak about my team; they’re amazing. They all have their own stories about how they came to work here, and I couldn’t do it without them,” Mav shares.
Smoko is Mav’s first bricks-and-mortar business, and taking that leap to buy it in 2022 came with great risk. He’s open about the fact that he didn’t come from wealth and that the asking price was more than he could imagine spending on anything. Luckily, it mattered to the seller who bought the business, and knowing of Mav’s reputation from his time managing Pizza Gusto in Braddon, he brought the asking price down to help Mav secure the business.
Mav (second from the left) says his business is built on his team and his community. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Taking on work weeks of up to 100 hours, it hasn’t been an easy road running his own pizzeria, but with the support of the Fyshwick community and customers who come from around the region to eat what are exceptional woodfired pizzas, the business has grown considerably.
“Now that we’ve been here three years, we’ve made it across that stat of businesses that either make it or they don’t.”
Having been in the pizza game for a number of years before buying Smoko, Mav had a clear vision for his own business; under no circumstances did he want to pretend to be Italian.
“What the Italians do is great, of course, but we don’t need to pretend to be that, and we shouldn’t be ashamed; it’s the food that should bring people in, not the marketing,” Mav explains in his usual thoughtful way.
“What I wanted to pioneer, and I feel like I have, is Canberra-style woodfired pizza. To make that happen, I asked myself what it means to be Canberran, what do the locals that I’m cooking for want?”
Mav makes pizzas for the people at Smoko in Fyshwick. Photo: Tenele Conway.
To gauge what Canberrans want, Mav pays close attention to custom pizza orders and actively encourages people to make alterations to the menu so they get their perfect pizza.
“These alterations give me great ideas for my next pizza. On our current menu, the spicy salami pizza came about from making custom pizza orders for customers.”
Mav takes the idea of a pizza shop moulded by the community to the next level with his decor. The shop came adorned with some impressive murals that Mav says set the previous owner back a considerable sum of money, and while Mav likes the vibe they bring to his shop, he also loves to display the artwork created by his customers while they dine. There’s also plenty of artwork created by his nieces and nephews who come to hang out in the holidays at Uncle Mav’s pizza shop.
“When my nieces and nephews first started making me art, it was a surreal feeling; it’s worth treasuring.”
Mav points to a collection of origami paper cranes sitting on a shelf and tells a story of the customer who makes one each time he comes in. When they caught the eye of a child with autism who regularly dines with them, the customer caught wind of it and now makes the cranes for him to take home, too.
Smoko is packed full of community-created charm. Photo: Tenele Conway.
There are examples of community dotted all over the pizzeria: couches donated by customers, potted plants brought in to make the place homely, and collections of board games from Mav’s own home. It all comes together in a melee of collective contribution that makes this place so much more than a pizzeria.
It’s easy to see why the community has thrown its support behind Mav and his pizza shop. There are few people with such a passion for people and community and a willingness to be so open about it.
I haven’t said a lot about the pizza here because Mav inspires so much more than the act of eating, but I’ve been coming here for years, and trust me, the pizzas are some of the best you’ll have.
Smoko Woodfired Pizza is located at 4/30 Lyell Street, Fyshwick, and is open 5 days a week, from Tuesday to Sunday, for lunch and dinner from 11 am to 9 pm.
Original Article published by Tenele Conway on Region Canberra.
