Otto Pizza A Recent Arrival In Area

Among this year's influx of new eateries in Lynnfield was Otto Pizza, a Portland-based company that opened at MarketStreet Lynnfield this fall. 

In a recent conversation with Patch, Otto Pizza Co-Founder Anthony Allen reported that he and Mike Keon started the company in Portland back in June of 2009 in a 300 square foot space with one or two other part time workers. "We had no idea how far it would go," said Allen. "Pretty quickly we found out our thing had some resonance to it." The company has now reportedly grown to about 240 employees. 

With the recent openings in Lynnfield and in South Portland, Maine, the company has seven locations - four of them in the Boston area, the others in the Portland area. 

Before meeting and establishing Otto, the two co-founders ran their own separate businesses. Allen previously owned River City Billiards - which included wood-fired pizza ovens - in Haverhill, while Keon owned a restaurant. 

Allen also reported that he and Keon remain very much involved in day to day operations at the company, with a constant eye out for ways to move it that next bit further. 

Along with whole pizzas, Otto features a revolving selection of slices chosen from 24 different varieties, ranging from classic cheese or pepperoni to more ambitious creations like mashed potato, bacon and scallion, or sausage with vidalia onion.