Anything goes

The pizza toppings of the twenty-first century are increasingly reflecting not only consumer demand for their go-to favourites (such as pepperoni), but operator desire to compete well and attract customers who might have their heads turned by other options, as well as the wider interest in a food product’s health credentials and environmental impact.

RESEARCH REVEALS

“According to recent research (Future Market Insights data), bacon has entered the list of top five most popular pizza toppings, alongside pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, and extra cheese. Unique and more unusual toppings are becoming more commonplace, and sustainability is increasingly important following the rise of free-from and plant-based toppings,” reports Richard Cooper, senior brand manager at Chicago Town, Dr. Oetker Professional.

“Last year, researchers, Kantar, found that pizza sausage has seen strongest growth over recent months, although still not beating out pepperoni. Vegetarian toppings are also doing exceptionally well, Kantar data also reveals, as consumers become more health conscious and environmentally aware.

“Dietary requirements also remain a big trend, particularly with the resurgence of Veganuary, with 39% of people eating less meat than they did a year ago (Bidfood & CGA by Nielsen IQ, 2023 Trends Consumer Survey, sample size 2,003 (UK adults)) and over 30% of consumers identifying as flexitarian, the same survey reveals. As a result, it is crucial for operators to have both vegetarian and vegan offerings within their grab and go fixtures to tap into this market sector.”

PUNK’D UP PIZZA

“At Pizza Punks, we serve a wild range of toppings, from the more typically Italian toppings such as pepperoni and red onion, to punk’d toppings such as our Salt & Chilli Chicken, Rum Ham Hock and Sriracha Caramel Pork Belly - all of which have been very popular with our customers,” reports Brad Stevens of Pizza Punks.

Indeed, Pizza Punks have made a ‘thing’ out of becoming well known for their diverse range of pizza toppings. Hence their marketing theme of “punk’d up”, and which applies to their pizza, and their pasta dishes.

“We also offer a number of tasty vegan toppings such as Vegan ‘Nduja and Vegan Tuscan Sausage which have been going down really well,” Brad Stevens continues.

“In fact, we like to offer a distinctive pizza and pasta experience which allows customers to create their own pizza or pasta dish with 35 unlimited toppings to choose from, all made from scratch in the Pizza Punks kitchens. Guests can create their own personalised punk’d up pizza or pasta, and all for one flat fee with no extra costs.”

So how can outlets make sure they are staying in touch with their customers likes and dislikes when it comes to offering the right flavours/toppings? Are there any particular trends the outlet notice, and then feel they have to follow?

“At Pizza Punks, our menu is split between classic items and specials. Our classics such as the Margherita, Salami and Prosciutto pizzas continually sell really well for us, but we like to experiment with specials so we can continually push boundaries when it comes to our offering,” says Brad Stevens.

“For our specials, we tend to look at foodie and street-food trends for inspiration. Combining sweet and savoury flavours is really popular at the moment - we’ve started offering Candied Jalapenos to cater for this, for instance. We’re also going to launch a Cheese-Steak topping, similar to the New York Sandwich.”

And what kind of toppings do they see becoming more popular in the future?

“We have found that some of the more ‘out there’ toppings on our menu are the best performers at Pizza Punks,” notes Brad Stevens.

“Combining a sweet and savoury taste is certainly very popular at the moment, but I think customers are always looking to try something a little bit different. Basically, at Pizza Punks there are no rules, we’re adventurous and love coming up with crazy topping ideas or mixing up the flavour of our pizza bases! We’re advocates of freedom and expression and like to break away from the norm with new and interesting flavours.”

With ingredients supply issues and inflationary pressures currently to the fore as well, it might not always be possible for operators to source what’s needed at the right time, and at the right price. At Pizza Punks, however, they counteract this by focusing on their defining features, of which homemade is a big aspect in conjunction with their pizza topping creativity and flexibility.

“At the helm of Pizza Punks is our handcrafted San Franciscan pizza dough - a unique dough that’s proofed for 48-hours and finished with San Marzano tomato, basil and garlic sauce and mozzarella before the house-toppings are added. Although our base is sourdough, we make our pizzas in the same way as they do in Naples, using the best Italian ingredients,” says Brad Stevens.

“Since Brexit, we have experienced some difficulty in importing products and prices have also increased. We want to make sure our customers can still enjoy quality products but at a price that won’t break the bank. We balance off this cost by making our own in-house toppings from scratch to ensure everything is fresh with brilliant flavour and ensuring it’s still good value for money.”

CHANGING DEMANDS

On the supply side, the well known pizza topping supplier, Danish Crown, not only manufacture and supply their very popular, and widely used, Super Tops branded range, but they also have an assortment of bespoke products that top millions of pizzas every year.

“With a range of customers from global brands and industrial customers through to major distributors who service smaller individual stores, we need to ensure we can meet a variety of needs,” reports Kevin Peacock, Danish Crown’s commercial director UK and Ireland.

“With our own integrated supply of pork and dedicated production units we are specialists in the production of salami, pepperoni and ham. Similarly, our integrated supply of beef and procurement expertise enable us to offer several beef and poultry-based pizza toppings, as well as a range of Halal products. “Innovation is key, and we pay particular attention to consumer needs and market trends, ensuring that our products remain relevant.

Recent innovation has been very much focused on health and wellbeing, our environmental impact and most importantly ensuring we are cost effective.

“With new HFSS targets in mind, we have also been working closely with branded and retail-facing customers to provide products with reduced fat and salt content, whilst maintaining the characteristics and flavour our consumers expect.”

LATEST CHALLENGES

“If we listen to climate experts, meat production presents one of the biggest challenges to the planet, and the health of future generations. This is something we cannot ignore and isa challenge for all meat producers and a huge responsibility for our industry,” Kevin Peacock continues.

“At Danish Crown, we are focused on sustainable meat production, and a key part of our ‘feeding the future’ strategy is to achieve a 50% reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to become climate neutral by 2050. We aim to do this in an open and transparent way and carry out life cycle assessments on the carbon footprint of all our products, and have signed up to science-based targets.

“In today’s world where price is key, we are constantly challenging ourselves and our customers to think about things differently. Rather than seeing problems, we look at it as the opportunity to challenge existing procedures and find new and innovative solutions to product development and ways of working. This is an approach that our major customers have bought into and has delivered financial and operational value.”

A CONSISTENT BAKE

Blue Seal Commercial pizza ovens are traditional Italian style, stone base deck ovens, perfect for cooking deep-base or thin based pizzas, claim the firm. Designed for everyday professional use, these powerful electric ovens cook at high temperatures to ensure fast service and great cooking results, having become known as a good alternative too, to wood burning stoves or gas ovens, which are often higher in maintenance and require more specialist and costly extraction systems to take away smoke and fumes. These ovens accommodate 4 x 12” pizzas per deck, are compact, versatile and very operator friendly, feel Blue Seal, and have become popular with restaurants with outdoor seating areas, and who want to offer quick but delicious pizzas foral fresco dining to their guests, they report.

The company off er single deck and twin deck ovens, which operate up to 400˚C giving optimum cooking temperatures for decks of their size, Blue Seal point out. The single deck can be stacked onto the twin deck very easily creating a triple deck, maximising the output from the floor space. The BlueSeal oven chambers all function independently too, allowing the pizza chef to control temperatures and bake more types/sizes of pizzas at once, therefore reducing serving times for busy restaurants, and the fact these ovens are only single phase power supply makes them very versatile and suitable for dark kitchen takeaway sites and certain mobile kitchen operations, that may have limited power supplies.

“Due to the electric power supply, the ease of installation is simplified as there are no complex regulations regarding interlocks/ventilation and extraction requirements, as associated with gas powered or solid fuel type ovens. The ovens can be used in professional temporary and portable kitchens, as long as there is adequate air circulation and any vented heat/steam can be dissipated into the atmosphere or directed outside, to maintain healthy and comfortable HSE working environment tolerances. These portable kitchens can conveniently accommodate catering contractor needs, for supplying rapid efficient food offerings at a multitude of outdoor events,” says David Chesshire, Blue Seal’s national accounts manager.

“We appreciate that restaurants need un-compromised, consistent quality results from the equipment they use.That is Why Blue Seal Pizza ovens use accurate thermostatic temperature control, eco-compatible material for thermal insulation and high quality refractory stones which provide excellent heat retention. Each chamber has top and bottom temperature control, so the pizza chef can adjust the performance of the chamber to suit baking pizza either in pizza pans, or traditionally straight onto the stone.”