The basics:

• Razza debuts Spicy Vegan Vodka Pizza using Violife dairy-free products
• Pizza available for a limited time in Jersey City
• Hackensack-based Violife continues partnerships promoting plant-based menu options

Dan Richer, the owner of one of New Jersey’s most popular pizzerias, is teaming up with leading vegan cheese maker Violife to offer a pizza that is 100% dairy free.

Available at Razza in Jersey City through May, the Spicy Vegan Vodka Pizza features the brand’s plant-based heavy cream and grated parmesan along with the restaurant’s signature tomato sauce and custom red chili blend.

Richer is the only chef from New Jersey named as a finalist for a 2025 James Beard Award. He created the limited-time offering as a way to introduce more inclusive and flavorful menu options.

“At Razza, we’re constantly exploring how to create delicious, thoughtful food that everyone can enjoy. Partnering with Violife allowed us to develop a vegan pizza that delivers the flavor and quality we’re known for. The Spicy Vegan Vodka Pizza is a fresh take on a classic, and I’m excited to offer it to guests,” he told NJBIZ.

A Razza spokesperson said the Spicy Vegan Vodka Pizza could potentially stay on the menu beyond May. They added that Richer is working on additional limited-time offerings with Violife; however, there are no further details to share just yet.

When Richer opened Razza in 2012, the Grove Street eatery quickly became popular for its wood-fried pizzas made with fresh, local ingredients. Besides running a restaurant consistently ranked among the best pizzerias in the U.S., the Matawan native authored the New York Times bestseller “The Joy of Pizza.”

Say [dairy-free] cheese

After spending years searching for dairy-free ingredients worthy of his menu, Richer told trade publication PMQ Pizza that he “fell in love” with Violife because the products are delicious and allergen-friendly.

“We could always make any of our pies vegan, it’s just that we’re doing it without cheese. And I would say for about five years or so it’s really been on my radar trying to find a better product that’s vegan and dairy-free,” he said.

Richer went on to say that he thinks some dairy-free products “still have a long way to go, especially when it comes to plant-based melting cheeses.” He added that it’s a category “still at the infancy stage of what they’re going to become.”

“I’m really excited to watch it change and grow as these products really develop. But the [Violife] heavy cream and the Parmesan cheese are really good—they don’t need to be tweaked. I don’t think they can get better,” he said.

Richer also said he believes pizzerias “absolutely need to focus on being allergen-friendly in some way … because the prevalence of allergies among our population has increased dramatically, and it’s not slowing down.”

Earlier this month, the James Beard Foundation named Richer as one of five finalists for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic. The organization will reveal winners during a June 16 ceremony at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

This isn’t the first acclaimed chef that Violife has partnered with to promote plant-based and dairy-free options.

The Hackensack-based Upfield US Inc. subsidiary has also worked with other culinary experts to show how easy it is to swap dairy for Violife’s range of cheeses and spreads. Past collaborators include James Beard Award winner Michael Solomonov as well as New York City pizza restauranteur Jon Gabel.