Our Team
Muhammad Abdul-Hadi, Founder & Owner
Muhammad Abdul-Hadi is the Founder and Owner of Down North Pizza, the mission-driven restaurant that exclusively hires formerly incarcerated individuals and serves up pies with a purpose in the Strawberry Mansion community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With a background rooted in entrepreneurship and rehabilitation centers, and first-hand experience of the prison industrial system’s effect on his community, Abdul-Hadi has turned his love for business and community building into a clear mission: reduce recidivism through economic opportunity, excellent food and quality customer service. (Read More)
Michael Carter, Executive Chef
Michael Carter better known as “Mike” is the Executive Chef at the mission-driven restaurant, Down North Pizza in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Inspired by family dinners and his Grandmother’s cooking, Carter followed the joy and creativity he found in food and turned it into a dedicated career. After stints at notable Philly restaurants (Porta, Booker’s and V Street) the culinary activist found a home at Down North Pizza where he benefits from the restaurant's mission of reducing recidivism through providing economic opportunities for the formerly incarcerated. (Read More)
Meet the Crew
Charles Thompson
Derrick Cobb
Myles Jackson
Jamar Johnson