Dimo’s Pizza @ Wicker Park

IT’S A START.

The news from Ukraine is overwhelming. In fact, we are often overwhelmed these days. The Talmud teaches: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

What we know best is feeding people, and if we can help these brave volunteers feed the Ukrainian community while they need it most, then we will. When you order on dimospizza.com, you’ll see options everywhere to tack on a donation to World Central Kitchen. Any amount you donate, we’ll match. Let’s do this—let’s help.

The Dimo's Mission

Dimo's exists as a for-profit hospitality organization that champions unity, development and justice for our guests, our team and our communities in order to lead the charge in creating a positive, long-lasting impact.

The Dimo's Manifesto

We see pizza as our crispy, chewy, edible passion – a platform on which we can imagine all our culinary ambitions. And we believe that our pizza can only be as relevant, radical and creative as the people who make it, support it and love it. As a people-centric company, every decision we make comes from our employees and stakeholders. We believe that our values are the DNA of our company because they are the DNA of our employees. We hire our staff based on their alignment with these Core Values and a passion for community engagement. As a result, though we operate as a for-profit entity, we utilize tenets from not-for-profit businesses in our operations by combining profit maximization with a focus on societal improvement.

Specifically, we have three causes that we have identified based on the needs of our city as well as the collective interests of our stakeholders, which we call our Purposeful Passions. These three causes are education, the arts and bicycle advocacy. As our profits increase and our business expands, we are able to allocate more funds towards programming and partnerships that advocate for these causes at a hyperlocal level. This commitment to Hyperlocal Community Engagement ensures that we can integrate our brick and mortar storefronts into each neighborhood where they exist and better understand the history, people and changes that have shaped each locale. This approach allows us to connect more authentically with our customers, even as we continue to grow within the city as a whole. As a result, we can build long-term loyalty and a workforce that is aware and involved in our communities.

Another way we judge our success is based on the Triple Bottom Line, measuring our impact on the planet and achievements of our people in conjunction with the healthiness of our profits. The doctrines of Open Book Management help employees to understand this measure of success by using transparency and teaching to empower our employees to make financially intelligent decisions as stakeholders in our business. And this model goes hand in hand with another core philosophy, Servant Leadership, which is a style of management focused on teaching, listening, awareness, foresight and conceptualization. In this manner, we create an environment where our leaders seek to develop skills and harness strengths in employees, and we thereby attract employees who want to grow with the company. From day one, we allow our employees to play a role in creating a work environment that caters to their style of learning, interests and passions, and individual needs.

This also means that our employees are never micro-managed or made to blindly follow orders. Instead, we trust that our employees will make decisions that align with our mission and serve the greatest good. This ties directly to our final philosophy, Inspired Motivation, which postulates that if we provide autonomy, mastery, and a sense of purpose for our employees, they will thrive, seek new insights, be driven to find new solutions to old problems, and work passionately. By sharing our company vision and inviting all employees to be involved in the creation of goals and projects that help us achieve this vision, we open their eyes to where our company is going and how they can play a role in getting there. With these three components together we are able to establish highly driven employees and a workplace built on accountability.

These philosophies transcend beyond business decisions and hours of operation. They are the principles upon which we live our lives. When faced with a tough decision or a challenging obstacle, we use these philosophies as a compass to help us find the right path. We recognize that our company is constantly evolving, and we keep our policies and structure adaptable to meet our changing needs without losing sight of our mission. We stay focused on making this city better, not for those who rule it, but for those who call it home. That, in our minds, is the definition of true justice.