Mark Massett was a senior at Kenmore East High School when he started baking pizzas at Bocce Club Pizza.

“Before I worked there, I didn’t realize Bocce’s was that big of a deal,” said Massett, 23.

Seven years later, he’s still baking away, spending shifts slipping unbaked pies into the 650-degree ovens that line the Bailey Avenue kitchen. While a full-time student working on a hospitality degree at Buffalo State College, he is putting in 30 to 35 hours a week at a pizza store that he now understands holds special memories for some customers.

At the counter, he hears people on their way to the airport for planes to Florida or California reminisce while waiting for a little slice of Buffalo to take home.

“You hear the older people come in and tell stories about when they were younger and Bocce’s was down on Hickory Street,” said Massett. “How they would come down and get a pizza, eat it on the hood of their car.”

“How much pizza do you eat yourself?”

My parents, my girlfriend, they blast me. I love pizza. I’ll eat it four or five times a week. What I eat at Bocce’s is the new chicken finger pizza.

“Do you ever get special requests?”

We try to help out the customer as much as possible. But it can get a little ridiculous, you know? When you’re getting as specific as you want your pepperoni to be a certain color, I mean, come on, man. Seriously.

“What’s the strangest pizza you’ve cooked?”

I had a guy come in there and put so much stuff on it, like nine different things. You had to double pan it because the bottom of it would burn because it’s so heavy. Like, pepperoni, sweet pepper, mushroom, double cheese, anchovies, green olive, black olive, et cetera, like that. The pie came out to like 40 bucks. For $42 you can get a party pizza and wings.

“Maybe their doctor told them they could only eat one pizza a month.”

Maybe. I don’t understand how you can even enjoy that.

“What’s stranger than ham and pineapple?”

Besides the nine toppings? I’ve seen garlic pineapple. Fruit with the meats? Pepperoni pineapple’s not that bad. Anchovies with pineapple, I’ve seen that.

“How far do you ship pizzas?”

We send pizzas everywhere. We have a UPS guy coming in for them every day.

In 2004-2005, they were sending them to Iraq, party pies cut into squares. Each square had to be vacuum sealed. I’ve heard stories of soldiers and Marines who would take a slice of pizza, and because it was so warm there, they’d just slap in on the hood of their Hummer to heat it up.