Red Tractor Pizza on West Main Street in Bozeman operates on the philosophy that “the foundation to great communities starts with creating welcoming environments where people can come together.” This philosophy is cultivated in a warm and friendly space, where delicious pizzas and live, local music congregate. Founded in 2014, Red Tractor has cultivated relationships with local organic farmers and food producers to bring the best food to the people of Bozeman. An emphasis on reducing negative impacts on the environment is crucial to Red Tractor’s mission, as well as positively impacting the community through hosting local artists and musicians, family-friendly entertainment, and offering their space for community events and fundraisers.

Tasty pizzas with names like Creek to Pizza, Farmhand, Verdante, Big Red, The Hobbit, and many more line the menu, with classic and eclectic toppings mixed in unique combinations. The menu also touts a variety of salads, sides, pizza roses (cheesy stuffed rolls), desserts, and even Italian cream soda. Not only a restaurant, Red Tractor is also a venue for local musicians and bands. Music-themed nights take place every week at the restaurant. Monday is singer/songwriter night, Thursday is bluegrass night, Friday is jazz night, and Saturday is rock/funk night.

I sat down with Red Tractor’s owner, Adam Paccione, to talk about how the restaurant got started, his favorite dishes, and things to look forward to this summer.


Taylor Owens: How was Red Tractor Pizza conceptualized?

Adam Paccione: I guess it’s just a product of how I eat personally, and I guess a product of my environment growing up. It’s just a combination of my whole life. My dad was a restaurateur, a chef. So cooking food was really important to him. He taught us, my brother and me. That was the first thing he taught us to do when we were kids. Just to cook food. The way we grew food was also important to him and my mom. My mom was like the ex-hippie that turned Buddhist, vegan, all that good stuff. When we were growing up, we had 100 acres. They had huge gardens and grew a lot of our own food. And that’s just important to me. From a chef’s standpoint the food tastes better. Then you can go to like the economic value, keeping dollars in your community, and even bringing out-of-state dollars in through tourism. And then I just love music as well. That always had to be involved in the restaurant. Yeah, just how I walk through life, the culture in here. It’s an extension of myself.

TO: What would you like people to experience when they walk through your doors?

AP: Kindness, empathy, compassion. Laughter. And, obviously, great food and music.

TO: What do regulars keep coming back for?

AP: Music. We have the food and music that are obviously the prime reasoning for why you get these folks to come back, you know, a couple times a week, if not week after week. Genres are based off of nights. So Monday is singer/songwriter night, Thursday is bluegrass, Friday is jazz, etc. And those specific nights have a really strong following of folks that we’ve been seeing for, you know, five, six, seven, eight years now. That is probably the foremost, and the food as well. If it was bad food, no one would show up. The pizza; and then, I really do think we have people that enjoy seeing us, as well. We have folks who like to have their same server each week. Yeah, a little bit of everything.


TO: What is your personal favorite menu item?

AP: Cheese pizza. The test of a champion. If you can’t get cheese pizza right, then there’s no reason to even go into the menu at all. I’m just a simple dude when it comes right down to it.

TO: Does your menu rotate?

AP: We do specials, and we try to do them every other week, every other month or so. I’ve added new pizzas and taken them away through the years. There’s not really a timeline. It’s just whatever I feel like doing. I’m in the process of doing that right now. I want to go to Red Tractor 2.0 and show people we’ve been at it for ten years. We have all these great pizzas, and people are still loving them. But at the same time, we still have a lot left in the tank. We could create a new menu and have none of the pizzas anyone has seen for another ten years.

TO: What would you say makes you unique in the local food scene?

AP: I think just my determination, motivation, and direct New Yorker attitude. I guess my slightly aggressive ways. How I’ve gone past just being a restaurant or a music venue, and we’ve become part of the community. Every farm I use, I’m friends with the farmers, friends with the owners. I would go out there before we were busy, and I would volunteer once a week at a different farm just to stay connected with the food that I love, and with what is most important to me in life. We also fundraise nonstop. I really don’t see another restaurant getting as involved with the community as much as we are. We do fundraisers for nonprofits or some sort of organization once or twice a year. We’re really active on social media. I’m out and about all over town all the time. I feel like everyone knows me. I don’t think I see that here with other restauranteurs. And that’s just my style. I love people. I love being around everyone. I love being a part of things. I would have to say that, and the music, obviously. There’s not another venue doing as much local music as I am. So that’s pretty sweet, I think.


TO: What do you personally enjoy most about being part of the greater Bozeman community?

AP: It’s really cool to be part of such a quickly growing economy and quickly growing community. And, you know, you hear a lot of, I guess, naysayers, this and that. Growing too fast, too many Californians and New Yorkers. But I think, at the end of the day, it’s a pretty kind community. People are in it for each other. You know, we’re surrounded by billionaires, and people who live in trailer parks. You don’t really get that anywhere else. And if you do, there’s a lot of segregation. Obviously, you’re gonna get that here, too. But I don’t think it’s as prominent as in, say, a metropolitan area, right? Yeah, just being part of a community that cares, and cares about the environment. In the mountains, you know, we’re all like-minded.

TO: Do you have anything coming up at Red Tractor Pizza that you would like readers to know about?

AP: Yes, absolutely. June 24th is our first fundraiser of the year. It’s for Child Care Connections. They’re an organization that connects parents with daycare and childcare. So, we’ll have a party all day long. We’ll start music at 1pm and go to 9pm. We reach out to tons of awesome manufacturers and businesses in Bozeman. We reach out and we solicit for all these awesome products and then we do door prizes and auctions. It’s just a party. When we held our biggest fundraiser, we raised $13,000 in a day for Gallatin Valley Farm To School. So yeah, June 24th. Tell everyone to come and put their bids in for some silent auction prizes and raise some money for these folks.

Come check out all the delicious recipes and local, live music taking place every week at Red Tractor Pizza.