American Dreaming with Giovanni’s Pizza Owner Indras Govender 

Indras Govender is not Italian by heritage, nor was he born American. That makes him especially proud of running Giovanni’s Pizza, one of the oldest Italian-American restaurant empires in Santa Barbara. Today, 35 years since he first set foot in the pizza parlor, Govender owns the original location that started on State Street in 1979 and just opened a new location this year near the corner of Hollister and Storke in Goleta. 

“I’m so passionate about the business and what it’s done for me,” said Govender, whose family is originally from India but settled four generations ago near Durban, South Africa, where he was born and raised. “Imagine coming as a foreigner to a new country and, within four years, having the opportunity to own your own business. It sounds cliché, but I really am living the American dream.”

(The third Giovanni’s location in Carpinteria, opened in 1987, is still owned by the second generation of the Noormands that cofounded the brand with the Babai family. Other locations once existed on Coast Village Road and the Mesa, while Noormand descendants also own Crushcakes, Yellow Belly, and Pegaslice.) 

Govender’s own Santa Barbara saga starts in 1991, when he came to visit a friend, in part to escape the racism of apartheid. The combination of mountains and sea reminded him of the good parts of South Africa. “I felt at home,” said Govender, who decided to stay by getting a student visa to study at UCSB and become a CPA.

While he worked days at an accounting firm, he wanted to earn extra money by working nights as well. So Govender walked into the original Giovanni’s on State Street and got an entry-level job making salads and bussing tables. “Within three months,” he said, “I was managing the store.” 

Wanting more responsibility, Govender convinced the Giovanni’s owners to let him take over the failing Isla Vista location on Pardall Road. “Long story short, we worked something out, and I became the owner,” said Govender, who took over in May of 1995. “I turned the whole thing around. It was so much fun. We were doing so much pizza and beer.”

He smartly partnered with fraternities, sororities, intramural leagues, and UCSB teams while attracting countless college students who could afford the $5 pizza slice and big beer deals. He started hosting live music at night, becoming a launching pad for bands like ALO and Toad the Wet Sprocket, among many others. “There were a bunch of people who just needed a venue,” he said. “They were so grateful.”

One day, a famous college basketball coach named George Raveling called, saying that they wanted to buy pizzas for Michael Jordan’s basketball camp at UCSB. Govender thought it was a prank, but it was not, and the camp became a regular summer customer. Even more surprising was the day that Jordan came with Charles Barkley to rent out the I.V. restaurant for the evening. What Jordan ordered, with some suggestions from Govender, inspired Giovanni’s “Hot, Sweet, & Spicy” specialty pie, which remains a popular menu item. “That’s Jordan’s pizza!” Govender laughed. (I suggested he call it #23.)

With Isla Vista humming along, he opened a second location on Calle Real in Goleta in 2004, and ran them both until 2008. That’s when Govender sold the Isla Vista pizza business and converted the Calle Real location into Fresco Café North, as he was friends with the folks who owned the original Fresco in Five Points Shopping Center. Fresco North worked well until 2016, when the landlord jacked up the rent beyond profitability. 

Govender closed the restaurant and followed in the footsteps of his wife, Tilly Govender, to a job at UCSB. The faculty club had been rebuilt and rebranded as The Club and Guest House, and he ran its food and beverage program until COVID killed that job in 2020.

It wasn’t long before the owner of Giovanni’s on State Street gave Govender a call, offering him the business. “No way — I’m not gonna get back in the restaurant business,” thought Govender at first. “But I got reeled back in and love it now.” He took over in January 2021.  

Many of the people he worked with decades ago are still involved, including Tony Chavez, who works both locations as a manager, and Isaac Garcia, who is 72 years old but still shows up early for his two shifts a week. “It’s really a family business,” said Govender. “The employees are my team, and we really have good relationships. I’m very fortunate.”

He spent the past two years looking to expand the concept. “There were quite a bit of calls for Giovanni’s to be back in the Goleta area,” said Govender. “We waited until we found the ideal spot.” They opened in April of this year in the Target Shopping Center on Hollister, near the refurbished Cajun Kitchen and next to Sam’s to Go and the new Kyle’s Kitchen (owned by Silvergreens founder Jay Ferro). “It’s like a mini-I.V.,” said Govender. 

The biggest challenge was calibrating the new oven to ensure the pizzas taste exactly like the State Street ones, because Govender believes consistency is key to Giovanni’s continued success. “The pies have not changed. The dough recipe is exactly the same. The way we make the pizza sauce is exactly the same,” he said. “We make everything from scratch. I will never knock another pizza place, but I can say that mine is the best. I truly believe that.”

It’s not just pizza. Giovanni’s sells a range of salads, sandwiches, calzones, pastas, and appetizers like jalapeño poppers, mozzarella sticks, and chicken wings. Daily lunch specials are a large part of the business — slices start at $6 — and there are meatball sandos on Mondays and spaghetti plates on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for just $11.   

The hope is to franchise the Giovanni’s model elsewhere, using the streamlined Goleta location as a prototype. “That’s my long-term goal,” said Govender, who wouldn’t mind if his two adult daughters — Kimara and Navina, who both started working for him at age 14 — ever got back into the family business. 

Even if that doesn’t happen, Govender is happy enough seeing so many customers keep coming back over the decades. “I’m looking at the third generation of these families,” said Govender, who’s watched so many of them play the Pac-Man arcade game on State Street for 35 years now. “Kids would stand on the bench and ask for change. Now they’re grown adults and their kids are doing the same thing. It’s rewarding to see that.”

The Govender family’s Giovanni’s Pizzas are located at 3020 State St.; (805-682-3621) and 6831 B Hollister Ave, Goleta (805-699-6799). See giovannispizza805.com.