To young entrepreneur Emiliano Munoz, owning his own business was a dream he said he aspired to accomplish at retirement age. However, when the opportunity to open his own pizza shop at the age of 23 came up, Munoz knew it was an opportunity he had to take on.
To honor his immigrant parents and business aspirations, Munoz opened Emiliano's Pizzeria in February 2025 along FM 2978 in The Woodlands, bordering Tomball and Magnolia.
What's special about it?
Crediting his love for cooking to his mother, Munoz said his business aspirations started at the age of 19 with his family's taco truck and catering business, Bucchia's, where he, along with his mother, sold Mexican bites from tacos to tamales.
“My mom's a great cook. So I get my love for cooking from her,” Munoz said. "My mother can make a tortilla and cheese taste like a 10-star gourmet meal.”
Further expanding his knowledge in the industry, Munoz worked at several pizzerias, including Brothers Pizza located on Grogan's Mill.
Emiliano Munoz holds the Emiliano Special, a pizza named after himself. (Jovanna Aguilar/Community Impact)
As a Spring area resident himself, Munoz said his favorite part about being a business owner is the job opportunities that he is able to give his employees, while also giving them the opportunity to build character development and networking skills.
“I'm huge on character development for myself and just everyone here. So whenever I hire people, it's really great being able to show people new things and techniques,” Munoz said.
From the oven
Fresh from the oven, Emiliano's Pizzeria offers scratch-made New York-style pizzas with dough fermented for up to 72 hours and baked in a natural gas brick oven, Munoz said.
“The best way I could describe a New York-style pizza would be, when you bite into it and it has a crunch, but it's not like a cracker, where it just falls and breaks apart on you. It still has that doughy texture,” Munoz said.”And it's also really light on the stomach, and obviously tastes phenomenal, not too cheesy, not too saucy. It's just this right combination of everything that makes it all kind of come together.”
At Emiliano's, customers can create their own calzone ($12.99) with a variety of toppings. (Jovanna Aguilar/Community Impact)
Freshly baked at 550 degrees, Munoz said each pizza is made with quality ingredients sourced to his standards to prevent some of the bloating and indigestion other mainstream pizzerias can cause.
“I'm really big on the ingredients we use. I know, like every pizzeria says they have the best ingredients, but when I say it, I mean it, the flour is one of the cleanest flours on the market,” Munoz said.
With dough made with flour with no carcinogens, salt, sugar, olive oil and yeast, Munoz said his recipe includes unprocessed ingredients.
Favorites from the menu range from the Emiliano Special, an enhanced version of the margherita pizza, which provides balanced ingredients with a base of garlic and basil olive oil, to the Hot Honey Buffalo Chicken made with the local Texas Hot Honey.
Another favorite includes the Texas Saddle, made with local brisket from Bar-A-BBQ in Montgomery.
