When GWUOHS math teacher Jill Rodman isn’t teaching live classes or grading assignments, chances are, she’s flipping dough or hosting trivia night at her pizza restaurant. For nearly two years, Rodman and her family have been running a franchise of East Coast chain Vocelli Pizza in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.
Once Rodman’s children moved out, she and her husband began searching for a way to fill the emptiness they felt. After attending a franchise event in Georgia, they were immediately drawn to Vocelli Pizza and started the process of opening a location. Now, Rodman likes to think of her restaurant as one of her children.
“The pizza restaurant became our new child that we now spend our time on,” Rodman said. “Just like parents have to balance their time between their kids and their jobs, we treat the pizza restaurant like it’s our kid.”
One of Rodman’s fond memories as a restaurateur was meeting one of her former students at her pizza place. After hearing Rodman mention the restaurant during class, Grey Henry, who graduated from GWUOHS in 2024, was surprised that it was fewer than 30 minutes away from their house. Henry was curious about the food and excited about the opportunity to meet their teacher face-to-face.
“Being a virtual school, very few students and staff get to hang out with one another in person, so getting to meet her was a unique experience,” Henry said. “She was making pizza when I first arrived, so I spoke with her husband to place my order, and then she brought out the pizza, and we chatted for a while.”
As a math teacher, Rodman takes on the natural role of handling the restaurant’s finances. But her affinity for numbers is often useful in unexpected ways. A few months ago, when Vocelli Pizza launched a new app for online orders, Rodman quickly spotted that the transactions were not adding up correctly. She was one of the first to troubleshoot and report the root problem back to the corporate leaders.
“I kind of watched it for a couple weeks, and then I really dug into it when I saw that it was continuing to happen and started printing out all of these reports and going through and doing all of the math by hand, because I could see that something was not working right,” Rodman said. “It took me probably a week or so of just literally going through every single transaction and doing all of the math, but I finally found the error… and they were able to get it fixed.”
Aside from her math knowledge, Rodman finds that even her classroom management skills aid her restaurant responsibilities, especially when she has to train groups of new employees.
“When you have a lot of employees, it’s almost like having a bunch of students that you’re trying to manage, so it’s very similar to teaching in a live classroom,” Rodman said.
Using her restaurant as a platform, Rodman supports fellow teachers in the area. She offers discounts for anyone with a teacher ID and regularly sends out seasonal coupons to local schools. Her own role as a teacher also helps Rodman build credibility for the restaurant among the teacher community in the area.
“Teachers are a pretty close-knit group, so when we first opened, when it was time for the teachers to go back to work, and they were starting their pre-planning week… I went from school to school, delivering them free cookies, and then just taking them menus and talking about our spirit nights, and the fact that I was able to say, you know, ‘I’m a teacher too. I understand, like, where you guys are coming from,’” Rodman said.
As a franchise, Rodman’s restaurant is required to abide by Vocelli Pizza’s branding, recipes, and menu. Brand-specific dough, cheese, and sauce are regularly delivered to the location. However, as one of Vocelli Pizza’s few dine-in places, the restaurant offers some distinct features. For one, they make fresh salad croutons in the restaurant kitchen instead of using the company’s standard pre-packaged ones.
Looking ahead, Rodman and her family have secured a location for opening a second Vocelli Pizza place connected to a nearby apartment complex. At the new restaurant, she hopes to continue experimenting with more unique features.
“So there’s all these people in this apartment complex, so we’re going to test out the idea of doing some breakfast items, and so that’s definitely something that’s not on the normal menu,” Rodman said.
