When the delivery guy walks up the drive carrying a box printed with the words, "This pizza was lovingly made by Jeremy," that's a tip something is going to be different about that pie.

The pizza is made at Pizza Fusion, a Richland restaurant that serves organic and all-natural food in a environmentally friendly building.

Justin Lubecki is the perfect candidate to be general manager of the place -- he's all about living organic.

The 23-year-old who lives in Mars saw an ad on Craig's List for "tree huggers" looking for work at an environmentally friendly pizza shop. The former Slippery Rock University student already was making organic vegan pizzas out of his apartment for friends, and he thought that his passion for all things organic and for making pizza could be put to good use at Pizza Fusion.

He was raised on an organic lifestyle that he's always embraced. "I've completely dedicated myself to it since I was 17 or 18. It was a huge passion of mine," he said.

The restaurant, a branch of a Florida-based company, opened in April on Route 8 in Richland. A certificate on the wall proclaims that it is the first restaurant in the region to be LEED certified. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is the benchmark for green, or environmentally friendly, buildings.

"I love taking people for tours around here," Mr. Lubecki said. "This whole room is reclaimed, recycled or made of a sustainable resource."

The walls are painted with soy-based paints, the wooden tables and stone on the wall are reclaimed from other projects. The drywall and insulation are recycled, and even the floor is finished with a safe product and painted a dark color to absorb heat from the large, energy-efficient windows. When recycled woods are not available, the company uses material that's certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which promotes sustainable forestry. The company also supports clean energy by taking part in a program to purchase renewable wind energy certificates.

Even the cars that deliver the pizzas are hybrid vehicles.

"What I really like about this company is its level of integrity. What these guys did, they started from scratch to make it the highest standard for everything," Mr. Lubecki said.

Pizza Fusion was started in 2006 by Florida college buddies Michael Gordon and Vaughan Lazar. Now the company has restaurants in 13 states and continues to expand. The Richland restaurant is the only one in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Lubecki studied art at Slippery Rock and also was a runner for the school. As an athlete, he was interested in healthy foods as a way to improve performance.

"As I started eating organics, you start learning about it more and more and you learn the benefits from it."

He also believes that eating organic foods is part of something bigger for the environment. "Taking responsibility for the things that we're doing, where the food comes from, understanding the whole process was really important."

Mr. Lubecki also likes the way the company hires.

"One important thing to uphold our integrity is having people who work for us hold the same standards that we have," he said. "What we're looking for are lighthearted people who are caring and passionate about life."

This is not an everyday pizza shop: 75 percent of the ingredients are certified organic, other products are all-natural and all of the seafood is all caught in the wild. Multi-grain and gluten-free crusts are offered along with organic beer and wine and deli meats that are free of nitrates, antibiotics and preservatives. Just about everything is made from scratch on the premises, including the dough and sauce.

Because of the restaurant's commitment to its menu, Mr. Lubecki said, it's important to have people in the kitchen he trusts will follow procedures.

That's especially critical when serving vegan food and gluten-free recipes. For example, a designated pizza cutter must be used for vegan pies to ensure that the cutter wasn't run through a pepperoni pizza first. A separate area must be used for gluten-free preparation to ensure no cross-contamination with other products.

The first thing customers probably notice is that there are no round pizzas here. The pizzas are all shaped like skateboards from the small personal-size ones up to the 28-inch large size.

The menu is filled with surprises, such as pear and Gorgonzola salad, olive tapenade and a pesto and walnut pizza. The surf-and-turf pizza combines New York strip steak, Maine lobster and shrimp.

Mr. Lubecki stressed that the restaurant uses the freshest ingredients possible and finds them close to home.

"They look beautiful, they taste beautiful and they smell beautiful," he said with a boyish grin and then added, "organic food has so much more flavor."

The prices are comparable to other large chains.

The restaurant offers a free organic children's class the third Saturday of each month and allows local artists to hang their work.

The requirements for artists are not very stringent, according to Mr. Lubecki.

"Just show me your work, bring in some stuff for me to see and we'll chat about it for a while," he said.

The store is looking for local bands to play there.

Restaurant supervisor Jeremy Montgomery, of West Deer, made pizza one day last week for the lunch crowd, which included his mother, sister and infant nephew, who stopped in for their first taste of organic pizza. His sister, Tiffany Agonstino, of Slippery Rock, wasn't sure what an organic pizza was going to taste like.

"It's probably disgusting," she said with a laugh. She ended up enjoying it.

"It was good -- pepperoni and mushroom. To me, it tasted like normal pizza," she said.

Mr. Montgomery's mother, Linda Rihel, also of Slippery Rock, was complimentary, too.

"It's delicious, the first organic pizza I've ever eaten. Everything is all natural, It's healthy and that's what everybody is supposed to be looking out for now," she said.

But the real test was a table of parents and preteens who were taking a break from a basketball tournament. After eating, the kids were first to comment.

Justin Girasek, 12, of Ross, said he hadn't known what to expect when he learned he'd be eating organic food.

"I thought it was going to have a different taste, kind of 'vegetabley,' " he said.

Sitting next to him, Drew Johnson, 12, of Sewickley, nodded and added that he thought it might taste "weedy."

As Justin finished the last of the sausage from his pizza, he wiped his mouth and declared, "That's one of the best pizza's I've ever had."

Anthony Muscato, of Adams, sat at the head of the table and proclaimed, "That's the best sauce every created."

They might not know all the benefits of eating organic, but it's something that Mr. Lubecki thinks about often.

"It's a holistic kind of thing. What you put into your body is really important. It's going to impact how you act, how you feel, do your work, energy levels, mood. ... I think it's important that we learn to treat ourselves the best we possibly can."

He equated practicing the philosophy to a ripple in a pond. By eating organic, he said, you help yourself, but you also help the organic restaurant that in turn helps the organic farmer who helps the Earth.

"Giving yourself this gift of more energy, a lighter mood, feeling good you're influencing everything," he said.

Pizza Fusion has another message printed on every box.

"We say on our boxes, 'Saving the Earth one pizza at a time.' That's something that I really believe in."