Milwaukee’s Palermo’s Surfer Boy Pizza Competes for ‘Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin’

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Palermo’s Pizza in Milwaukee has partnered with Netflix and Walmart to bring Surfer Boy Pizza, from hit Netflix Show “Stranger Things,” to the shelves. Launched in May of this year, it has seen wild success. So much so that Palermo’s Pizza has entered the product into the Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin Contest.

When thinking about entering The Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin Contest, John Leonardo, Palermo’s director of marketing said, “We thought it was a no-brainer entering it in the contest. We’ve been getting great reactions from folks that have tried the pizza and are fans of the show ... It went viral.”

Fans ran with the idea of bringing back one of their favorite show’s pizzas for dinner. “A lot of TikTok videos of people finding it in the store ... a lot of comments on our social media too. It’s been a very fun adventure for us and we’re just happy to share it with everyone in Wisconsin and around the country,” he says.

Surfer Boy Pizza is the pizza company featured in Season 4 of “Stranger Things.” The season was wildly successful, taking home five Creative Arts Emmys. In its debut weekend, Season 4 rallied 286 million hours of screen time, according to Netflix. It was the biggest series premiere for Netflix ever. Palermo’s is bringing that Hollywood touch to the table, and fans couldn’t be happier.

Palermo’s Pizza was founded in 1960 by Sicilian immigrants from Palermo. The Fallucca Family still owns it today, making Palermo’s a third-generation company.

Palermo’s began as a bakery on Milwaukee’s East Side before becoming a full-service Italian restaurant serving pizza and pasta dishes reminiscent of family recipes from Italy. In the late 1970s, Palermo’s saw a need in the market for quality frozen pizzas. Jump to present day: Palermo’s is now the official frozen pizza of the Milwaukee Bucks and Brewers. Their support for Milwaukee doesn’t stop there, as they are also known to donate their products to the Riverwest Food Pantry.

“Palermo’s is one of the largest frozen pizza manufacturers in the country, based in Menomonee Valley of Milwaukee,” Leonardo continues. Chances are, if you’re in Walmart looking for a frozen pizza for dinner, you’ll run into one of Palermo’s brands. “We have various different brands that we manufacture and that we market,” he continues, including Connie’s, Screaming Sicilian, Urban Pie, Palermo’s and now the Surfer Boy Pizza. All are loaded up with “The Good Stuff.” The manufacturing facility stopped offering tours of the Menominee Falls establishment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to prioritize the safety of their 1000+ employees.

The Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin Contest is put on annually by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC). Currently there are more than 100 nominees competing for the title. Palermo’s entered their Screaming Sicilian pizza in years prior and knew that Surfer Boy Pizza could be a contender. “It’s something that we were already familiar with and when this year’s contest was announced, we thought ‘Stranger Things’ Surfer Boy Pizza, that’s a no brainer for us,” Leonardo says.

“People probably don’t realize that it’s made in Wisconsin and when they hear that, they have a little bit of hometown pride,” he continues. “It’s your hometown, your home state, and to have that connection to the show is a pretty cool thing.”

The winner of the contest will be announced on October 19 at WMC’s Business Day in Madison. In the meantime, Surfer Boy Pizza will be available for purchase exclusively at Walmart.