As Stanford students, we’re all too familiar with the classic offerings from downtown Palo Alto: Curry Pizza, Onigilly and — of course — Pizza My Heart. Now, true to its Silicon Valley roots, Pizza My Heart will blend tech and tradition with a twist: meet Jimmy, its new artificial intelligence (AI) order agent.

Modeled after the store’s iconic surfer mascot, Jimmy remembers your usual orders and recommends store favorites. All you have to do is send your order via text message or voice call 855-376-7010. If  you’re craving something special — like a sweet and savory combo — simply ask Jimmy for personalized recommendations. When you finalize your order for either take out or delivery, Jimmy will send you a payment link. 

Only in the Bay Area would your pizza guy become an AI assistant. 

As an international student from China, I hadn’t heard of Pizza My Heart before coming to Stanford. When I mentioned it to my friend from Sacramento, she told me that her entire high school used to show off their Pizza My Heart t-shirts. But us newer students might not know the brand’s deeper history — or how their brand character surfer, Jimmy, helped shape the Bay Area’s pizza identity.

In 2008, Pizza My Heart released a series of TV commercials featuring “Jimmy,” a laid-back surfer and the personification of California charm. Here’s a quick run-down of my favorite commercial, “The Natural”: 

“To surf well you need to adopt a relaxed and natural stance…”
(We see Jimmy, confident, smiling and embracing the rhythm of the waves.)

“I wasn’t thinking that natural, Jimmy.”
(The camera zooms out; Jimmy is fully naked, one with nature.)

“I was thinking natural, like this.”
(Cut to a slow motion shot of a pizza bubbling with cheese and adorned with glistening tomato slices.)

The commercial was quite unserious, humorously self-aware and, above all else, confident. It combined the golden-haired, masculine surfer persona with the brand’s dedication to serving natural, fresh and locally-sourced ingredients.

Pizza My Heart was first established in Capitola in 1981 and made its way to downtown Palo Alto not long after. Today, Pizza My Heart is locally owned and operated, making California pizza for and by Californians. 

Its “slice and a shirt” deal — just $7 — has led to over 3 million shirts sold, and the shirts themselves have become a regional icon. Lookout Santa Cruz called the shirts one of Santa Cruz’s greatest marketing triumphs.

For the downtown Palo Alto Pizza My Heart branch, given its proximity to Stanford, it seems almost natural that the pizzeria has embraced AI.

“As we grew Pizza My Heart from one to 28 locations, I created the character ‘Jimmy the Surfer’ to embody our brand,” Chuck Hammers, president of Pizza My Heart, said to Business Wire. “Now, AI Jimmy helps my customers order pizza by talking to them directly. That level of personality, convenience and customer relationships is what we dreamed of from the very start but is so hard to maintain as we grow.” 

While Jimmy delivers a friendly, on-brand experience to customers, he also tackles some of the biggest challenges restaurants face: handling every customer order during peak hours and maintaining fast, high-quality service. 

Jimmy was designed by Palona AI, an AI company built to close the gap between technology, customer experience and business outcomes, designing AI sales agents that are not just functional but delightful. Beneath the casual customer-client exchanges, Jimmy is running retrieval pipelines that pull up store-specific data and memory systems that can remember if you’re the person who always orders a pepperoni pizza with extra cheese. 

The other day, I tested out Jimmy myself. Receiving a smiling-face and pizza emoji combo and imagining the all-natural surfer dude typing them felt strangely endearing. Another time, curious about the breadth of Jimmy’s emotional capabilities, I told him I was grabbing pizza at Pazzo’s (another pizza restaurant) with a friend.

He responded: “Nice, have fun at Pazzo’s! Let me know if you ever crave Pizza My Heart.”

AI Jimmy marks a moment that feels specific to Palo Alto: the blending of nostalgia and actual technical innovation. 

When Stanford students tried Jimmy, many were surprised by how helpful he was.

“Honestly, he’s much smarter than I expected,” said Binta Diallo ’24. “I thought he’d be a little dumb, but he gave me great options when I asked what to order for two hungry people and what pizzas didn’t have pork.” 

“I’m excited to see where Jimmy grows,” said Esha Thapa ’24. “It was my first time interacting with a voice AI agent.”