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“We weren’t going to call the dough organic and then quietly leave the garlic knots out of it,” a Tomato Shack representative said. “They come from the same dough, so that would’ve been a strange line to draw. The flour costs us more, no question. But the crust is the part people actually remember, and cutting the corner right there felt wrong. If we’re doing it, we’re doing it across the board.”

Philadelphia, PA – September 24, 2026 – Organic gets thrown around a lot on menus, usually stuck to one salad or a house special. At The Tomato Shack on Rector Street, it starts with the dough. The Manayunk kitchen moved its whole dough program over to organic flour, and that one change reaches further than the pizza. The same dough makes the garlic knots and the breadsticks, so the standard the shop sets for its crust carries through the rest of the basket. Nothing on the bread side quietly swaps to something cheaper once the oven gets busy.

The reasoning is simple enough. Dough is the base of most of what leaves that kitchen, so if you’re going to get picky about one ingredient, that’s the one worth picking. People arguing over the best pizza in Manayunk usually talk about toppings and char, but the crust is what you taste first and what you’re left with at the end. The Tomato Shack figured better flour at the start would show up in the finished slice, and in the knots and sticks pulled from the same batch.

“We weren’t going to call the dough organic and then quietly leave the garlic knots out of it,” a Tomato Shack representative said. “They come from the same dough, so that would’ve been a strange line to draw. The flour costs us more, no question. But the crust is the part people actually remember, and cutting the corner right there felt wrong. If we’re doing it, we’re doing it across the board.”

The organic flour goes into the regular pizza crust, the garlic knots, and the breadsticks, with no separate shortcut recipe held back for the rush. Dough still gets mixed in-house and left to rest instead of getting hurried to the line. The gluten-free crust stays its own thing, since it’s built on a different base, and the vegan and gluten-free options run right alongside everything else, as they always have. Nobody has to choose between eating organic and eating what they walked in for.

The organic dough is on the menu now at the Rector Street shop, in every pizza, knot, and breadstick coming out of the standard oven. Anyone who wants to taste the difference can order in, take out, or stop by and watch a batch get stretched.

About The Tomato Shack

The Tomato Shack salad & pizza co. cooks from scratch on Rector Street in Manayunk. Artisan pizza, salads you build yourself, homemade soups, sandwiches, and panini. It opened in 2003 as the Couch Tomato Cafe, started by two college friends, and still makes every sauce, spread, and dressing in-house. Those recipes landed a Top 5 spot in USA Today’s Best Of. The Manayunk shop offers full table service and a bar, and plenty of vegan and gluten-free picks sit right next to the rest, so the whole table orders from one menu.

Media Contact
Company Name: The Tomato Shack
Contact Person: The Tomato Shack
Email: Send Email
Phone: +12154832233
Address:102 Rector St
City: Philadelphia
State: PA 19127
Country: United States
Website: https://www.thetomatoshack.com/