One pizza at a time: Former McDonald’s exec and family bring a lifetime of hospitality to Lantern Pizza Co.

After helping lead a company that boasts “billions and billions served,” a Naperville chef is happy to be back in a setting where he can make a connection with his guests one at time.

Former McDonald’s Executive Chef and Vice President of Culinary Innovation Dan Coudreaut and his family opened Lantern Pizza Co. in Downers Grove in 2022, in part to help him get back to his roots as a chef.

“I felt like I really needed to get back to making something and serving it to somebody and having that emotional connection,” he said. “I missed the immediacy of making food for people in front of me.”

The neo-Neapolitan-style fast-casual pizzeria at 1420 Ogden Ave. has developed such a following that they’re expanding this summer, enclosing a patio to add 65 more seats to the 38-seat eatery.

The restaurant keeps it simple, focusing on handcrafted 12-inch pizzas made with fresh ingredients cooked in a brick oven. While a build-your-own option makes combinations more or less limitless, chef-created menu favorites include the Pineapple + Bacon, Spinach + Artichoke White Pizza and The B-OG, made with fresh mozzarella, tomato basil sauce, Italian sausage, pepperoni, toasted garlic ricotta and finished with a drizzle of hot honey.

A proprietary gluten-free dough made in-house with dedicated equipment and procedures designed to minimize cross-contamination is also available. Pizza prices range from roughly $13 to $20.

Though Dan and his wife, Kim, have spent their careers in hospitality, they had never opened their own restaurant before deciding to start the family-run business.

Dan is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, who has worked in both fine dining and luxury hotels before his time at McDonald’s. Kim has nearly three decades in the industry, leading front-of-house operations for restaurants, country clubs and hotels.

Pizza had always been a passion for the family — Dan would make it from scratch for them nearly every week — and it had proved to be one sector of the restaurant industry that had been insulated from negative lingering effects of the pandemic.

So he traveled to Naples, Italy, to train under a master pizzaiolo.

“I wanted to immerse myself in the place where it was invented,” Dan said. “So I went to the source.”

He came back with an appreciation for not taking the easy way when it comes to ingredients.

Everything that can be made from scratch is at Lantern. The staff starts each morning before they open with a “dough party,” with music resonating through the kitchen as they make dough balls that will proof over a couple of days.

The mozzarella cheese is made in-house every day using cheese curds from Wisconsin. The tomato-basil sauce is made from California tomatoes. The neo-Neapolitan pies are baked at high temperatures in a gas-burning brick oven in about two minutes.

“Our pizza philosophy is to keep it simple but take no shortcuts and make it with care,” he said.

Pizzas are made in an open kitchen by a young staff largely made up of high school students who bring an energetic vibe to the space.

“We believe that if you can see what we’re doing, that just reinforces the authenticity of what we’re doing, the realness of the food, and it connects you to the food in a way,” Dan said.

Kim said they chose a fast-casual concept to allow people to control their time.

“We still want to give you full service, but you control it,” she said. “You leave when you want because you paid when you ordered, but we’re still going to watch over everything, make sure you have everything you need.”

While Dan and Kim are focusing on how to grow the business, their daughter Danielle, 25, co-manages the restaurant with her best friend Rachel Walden, 28.

Kim says that while she and Dan have the experience, “the girls bring the energy.”

“They’ve got the fresh eyes, and every day they bring a different perspective that we learn from,” she says. “It’s a really good partnership.”

Beyond managing the restaurant, Danielle Coudreaut and Walden are responsible for its lively social media presence, and will ultimately take over shaping the brand’s future.

“We want to create a pizza empire, is what I keep saying,” Danielle said with a laugh. “We want to have multiple locations with the same authenticity, the same vibe. It’s not that we want a ton of locations, we just want to create a business that stays true to our roots.”

The first step to growing the business is expanding the space they have now. Kim said they’re hoping the work on the addition will be done by mid-June, allowing for both more seating but also providing a space for private parties and events.

“We loved the patio. It was very charming even though it was in a parking lot,” Kim said. “But with the weather, it was only about 10% of the year that we were actually using it.”

The eatery is open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday and closed Monday and Tuesday.

Dan said the decision to open the restaurant came at a “if not now, when?” moment. Four years later he’s sure it was the right choice.

“I can’t think of anyplace I’d rather be,” Dan said. “We’ve been a lot of other places, done a lot of things and this just feels like not just the right progression of my career, but it feels right for our family.”