What’s up Pizza Lovers,
Welcome to The Dang Blog, our newest addition to the company where you will learn about Dang Brother Pizza! Let's start with the brothers and how the company started.
Founder and CE(BR)O Kevin Spenla, started the company in 2012. After a couple of drinks, he decided to bid on a vintage fire truck in West Virginia. After finding out he won the bidding, he began the process of importing an Italian oven and installing it into the back of the truck. In the first week of business Kevin, joined by his four brothers and his grandfather, followed the riders of RAGBRAI in Iowa and tried to feed them. This was the maiden voyage of Dang Brother. After this, Kevin shipped the truck from Iowa to Arizona. After a few events in Arizona, he shipped the truck to San Diego where the company began its expansion.
“I think one of the greatest things you can do in this country is creating a small business. That was the passion behind it and I think that small businesses are the heartbeat of this country. We have a lot of freedom to do a lot of different things,” Kevin explained.
CE(BR)O Kevin joined the Marines out of high school and served from 2004 to 2008. With the original intention of becoming a firefighter, he got “duped” and the Marines assigned him to aviation ordnance out of Miramar. After his service, Kevin got married to his wife Morgan and they have 3 girls, Olivia, Taylor, Marley, ages 10, 8, and 6 respectively. Kevin also as a little Dang Brother on the way! Kevin originally boot-strapped the company by forcing his brothers to work at events as necessary. After a few years in business, younger brothers Mark and Michael finally joined the company willingly.
Mark, General Manager, joined the company three and a half years ago. Born and raised in Arizona, Mark was delivering pizzas at a pizza shop when Kevin gave him a call asking if he wanted to come out to San Diego for the summer to work with Dang Brother. After just 10 minutes of thought, debating between another 117-degree summer in Arizona or summer in San Diego, Mark took his chance to experience something new. Immediately he put in his two weeks at work, moved out to San Diego, and hasn't looked back since.
“Part of what attracted me to Dang Brother is the fear of living a boring life. Working with Dang Brother immediately squashes that. Dang Brother has this sense of adventure where you’re always asking yourself ‘what crazy thing are we going to do next,’” explains Mark. (Stay tuned for a future blog post about crazy Dang Brother stories.)
Mark now devotes his time to his part-time dog (Olivia, Taylor, and Marley claim to be Iygritte’s new dog parents) and work, enjoys chasing sunsets, beach volleyball, camping, snowboarding, and is a HUGE Phoenix Suns fan just like his brothers. Some of his favorite national parks he's visited include Yosemite, Zion, and Glacier National Park in that order.
“Moving out here and working for Dang Brother was one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made in my life,” explains Michael, the youngest Spenla. “I think it's helped me grow a lot as a person. I think change is great and it was a scary decision to make since I never left home and I’m a Momma’s boy.”
After working with Dang Brother at its first RAGBRAI and throughout the years as needed, he always saw working for Dang Brother full time as a goal of his. After working a corporate sales job for two years and getting stuck in a routine doing the same thing day after day he got burnt out and quit. Kevin gave him a call shortly after asking if he wanted to come out to an event in Vegas. After working the event and meeting the crew, Michael thought about it and realized it was time to pull the cord. Michael joined the company in September of 2020 as the Sales and Event Coordinator.
Michael lives his life with no regret because of his teenage experience with cancer which has “shaped me and how I live. That's my attitude with a lot of things pushing through it. Someone else always has it worse than you do, and my situation sucked but a lot of other people have it worse. I walked out on the other side.”
After being diagnosed with cancer as a Junior in high school, going through two major surgeries, and four rounds of chemotherapy, Michael has been cancer-free for nine years now.
His hobbies now include working, golfing, and playing with his puppy named Bear. Mission trails is his favorite and most convenient driving range to visit when he has some free time during the workday.
With the addition of Kevin's favorite brothers (don’t tell the others) to the company, Dang Brother Pizza has never been more successful. What these DANGGG Brothers have planned for this company is exciting, and we can’t wait to share it with you in the coming months!
Tune back in next month to “Meet the Fleet” and get to know more about our vintage fire trucks!
Good Vibes Only,
DB