PMQ Pizza Magazine April 2012

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Online at PMQ.com April 2012 PIZZA TV: RECENT VIDEOS

PIZZA RADIO Pizza Radio hosts ask the questions and you get the answers during interviews with industry experts.

Ask the Experts Jonathan Porter Jonathan Porter, founder of Chicago Pizza Tours, explains how locals define authentic Chicago-style pizza.

The Los Angeles Pizza Festival

This Week in Pizza: PizzaTV.com

Clubbin’ Productions and HIH Studios visit the 2011 Los Angeles Pizza Festival for a chat with actor Joe Pesci, a survey of the latest selection of beers and wines, and a little dough spinning entertainment by the U.S. Pizza Team.

Catch up on the latest pizza industry news every Wednesday with Pizza TV’s weekly online broadcast, This Week in Pizza, hosted by Chris Green.

PMQ’s TOP SOCIAL MEDIA PICKS Social media is more than just Web-based chatter— it’s a marketing revolution! Whether running a “Big Three” franchisee or a mom-and-pop operation, operators generate sales from steadfast Facebook and Twitter campaigns. PMQ editors monitor how industry professionals embrace social media and, in some ways, help write the rules for viral marketing. Here are some of our favorites this month:

Find PMQ at @pmqpizzamag.

MetroPizza Today is Nurse Appreciation Day. Show your registered nurse’s ID, and you’ll receive 25% off your dine-in bill! frankrestaurant You win a Prosciutto di Parma Sandwich if you’re the first to retweet! CassanosPizza Just spent a pizza-terrific morning with a special-needs group from Wayne High School. Tour and Pizza Party...lots of #PizzaFun!

Find PMQ at facebook.com/ pmqpizzamagazine.

Soda Creek Pizza FREE 14” PIZZA? Yep, right now. Call 871-1111, be the second caller to say, “Because Steve said so,” and have a free pie on us! Il Cane Rosso This weather is awesome! It is now safe for everyone to come out to our dog-friendly patio. All of the amateur diners have returned home until next Valentine’s Day! Come and check out our new space—and we will have some Snowmacocoageddon left! Pizza Ranch Explore the new pizzaranch.com and earn a chance to win a $10 Pizza Ranch gift card! Join the treasure hunt to find 6 pieces of information on the site, email your answers to social@pizzaranch.com by noon on Feb. 29, and be entered to win a $10 Pizza Ranch gift card! See contest instructions under “Contests & Promotions” on www.pizzaranch.com/fun, and let us know what you think of the new website! 6

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly



Table of Contents April 2012 ON THE COVER 26 High-Flying Wings Served with spicy sauces ranging from Buffalo to mango habanero, chicken wings are hotter than ever. By Walter Webb

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FEATURES 32 The Social Club Social media websites offer an effective—and free— way to expand your marketing reach and build traffic. By Andrew Abernathy

38 Grimaldi’s: Spinning Gold in the Sunshine State U.S. Pizza Team member Jamie Culliton helps Grimaldi’s Pizzeria bring New York-style pies to Florida. By Missy Green

44 The China Challenge Top chefs create winning pies with cuttlefish and boiled eggs at the recent Chinese Pizza Championship in Shanghai. By Yvonne Liu

46 Deal or No Deal? Potentially profitable but risky, deal-of-the-day programs draw mixed reviews from pizzeria operators. By Patrick Riordan

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Our Picks From NAPICS The PMQ staff reviews the best products from the 2012 North American Pizza & Ice Cream Show.

54 2012 Pizza Industry Census Take our annual census and enter a drawing to win 100 pounds of pepperoni.

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 10

Online at PMQ.com Editor’s Note

12 Letters to the Editor 14

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Pizza Press

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Product Spotlight

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Advertiser Index

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Industry Resource Guide

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Resource Guide Advertiser Index


DEPARTMENTS 18 In Lehmann’s Terms: House-Made and Bromated Flour Tom Lehmann answers some of your most common pizza making questions.

20 New York’s Finest: Paccheri per Mia Esposa Chef Bruno creates a special meal for his wife.

22 Accounting for Your Money: Donating Used Items to Charity Mike Rasmussen explains the ins and outs of donating used equipment and food to charities for tax purposes.

24 The Marketing Maven: Drive New Sales With Cross-Promotions Linda Duke shows how partnering with neighboring businesses can be a win-win proposition.

36 Pizza of the Month: Thai Innovative pizzerias serve up a slice of the Far East with Thai pies featuring curry sauces, lemongrass and chili oil.

60 Marketing Marvels: Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza Merchandising and cross-promotions help drive new and repeat business to this popular New Orleans pizzeria.

Coming Next Month Pizza of the Month: White Garlic: Roasted or raw, fresh or processed, garlic

82 Time Capsule: Aurelio’s Pizza This 53-year-old Illinois pizzeria keeps changing with the times— and has 10,000 Facebook fans to prove it.

makes every dish taste better and keeps customers coming back for more.

Patio Design: Learn how an attractive and guestfriendly outdoor dining area can help increase traffic and check averages.

Mobile Units: More and more pizza lovers today crave meals on wheels. Discover how operators are cashing in on this trend.

To view any of the videos accompanying this month’s issue, go to PizzaTV.com and type “April 2012” in the search field.

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Editor’s Note Liz Barrett Please Like Me A few years back, requests such as “friend me,” “like me” and “follow me” probably came across as sounding pretty desperate. In fact, unless I was caravanning somewhere, I can guarantee that I never asked anyone to follow me before the days of Twitter! I’m a little ashamed to admit that when I add up all of my work, personal and business social media accounts, I’m currently juggling five Facebook pages, four Twitter pages, two LinkedIn pages and an Urbanspoon profile. Granted, most of these are for PMQ Pizza Magazine and the U.S. Pizza Team, which we update on a regular basis. However, just like you, we sometimes struggle to think up creative ways to bring readers to our pages and encourage them to “like” us and spread the word to their friends, who can then like us, too. When you’re swimming in hundreds of thousands of social media postings, updates, tweets and feeds, how do you stay afloat, and how do you ensure that your business stands out? As the number of Facebook users nears the 1 billion mark, businesses across the nation have tried all types of tactics to grab consumer attention. Some of the more notable examples that have gotten people talking—and consumers clicking—include:

Find PMQ at @pmqpizzamag.

Pringles’ Dream Party: A competition launched on the company’s Australian Facebook page let users create their own virtual party—including band, venue and invites to 100 friends. The campaign was so successful that it catapulted the page to the top of Australia’s fan pages, with 266,000 fans. Skittles Fans vs. David Phoenix: In this campaign, fans clicked on Skittles to bury the character David Phoenix in candy. Fans could then watch their Skittles be poured on top of David via live streaming video. Kohl’s Cares: Kohl’s made headlines when it offered $500,000 each to the 20 schools that could get the most fan votes. The company gave away $10 million and gained more than 1.5 million new fans. Coke Zero Facial Profiler: This Facebook app allowed users to upload a photo or use their profile picture to match their face to complete strangers. The app attracted 150,000 users during the first month! Jack in the Box Rich Fan Sweepstakes: Starting with $2,000, the fast food company added a nickel to an imaginary jar for every new fan accrued over a one month period. At the end, a randomly selected fan won $11,533. While the examples above may be a bit extreme for your pizzeria, they’re meant to serve as a jumping-off point for your own ideas. Why not try a Facebook contest where fans create and name a new pizza for your menu, or give away free breadsticks to all new fans who join on a certain day of the week? The ideas are limited only by your imagination, so what are you waiting for? Get everyone on staff involved in the process; you never know who will come up with a winning idea. As for me, I recently took over the social media responsibilities here at PMQ, so keep an eye on our pages to see how I use some of the tips I’ve been learning to grow our fan base and keep readers informed and interested. And in the meantime, please like us, friend us and follow us! Best Pizza Wishes,

For more on social marketing, check out this month’s article “The Social Club” on page 32, where we discuss several social media platforms and how you can use them to boost your business.

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Liz Barrett Editor-in-chief PMQ Pizza Magazine

Find PMQ at facebook.com/ pmqpizzamagazine.



Letters to the Editor Rick Hynum An Aspiring Operator I just wanted to take a moment to let you know how much I love your magazine. I’m such a huge fan of pizza—I’m always trying and critiquing any new places I can find. Sometimes I’m a little too critical, I think, but I know what I like and what I believe is good. I have always thought about starting my own parlor, but until recently it was just a dream. Now I have begun researching costs and such, and I came across your site; honestly, I have been on it so much lately, reading and learning. I just wanted to thank you for all that you and your staff do. I look forward to reading more. Scott Atwood Via email Thank you for the kind words, Scott, and we look forward to helping your dream of pizzeria ownership come true!

Keeping Count In Mike Rasmussen’s article “On the Dock,” in the January/February issue of PMQ, he omitted something that I feel strongly about: Make sure that the driver delivering your supplies sees you counting everything! I believe that helps prevent short or bad counts, damaged cans and unsatisfactory merchandise. The drivers learn quickly that they can’t short me on a box of cheese, and then take it down the road and sell it to another operator. Actually check off each item individually in full view of

the driver as he brings product into the store. If you’re busy, make the driver wait—never take a delivery when you are busy. Dan Cutillo Cutillo, Inc. (Marco’s Pizza) Via email

— A Publication of PMQ, Inc. — Winner of 4 ASBPE Awards Winner of 4 GAMMA Awards ISSN 1937-5263 PMQ, Inc. Publisher Steve Green sg@pmq.com ext. 123

Co-Publisher Linda Green linda@pmq.com ext. 121 EDITORIAL

Help for Future Entrepreneurs Happy anniversary, PMQ! It’s great to come to a place where we can share our stories, our victories, our defeats, our problems and our great ideas with people who work just as hard as we do. This magazine and the Think Tank forum have really helped our small business over these past 15 years, and I’m sure it will help all of the other new pizza entrepreneurs who have pizza sauce running through their veins. Thank you, PMQ! HoustonPizza Via the PMQ Think Tank

15 Years of “Pizzamazing” The 15th anniversary issue is terrific! Congratulations to Liz, Steve, Linda and the entire PMQ team for 15 years of “pizzamazing!” Linda Duke CEO, Duke Marketing San Rafael CA

Editor-in-Chief Liz Barrett liz@pmq.com ext. 126 Managing Editor Rick Hynum rick@pmq.com ext. 130 Senior Copy Editor Tracy Morin tracy@pmq.com ext. 140 Assistant Editor Walter Webb walter@pmq.com ext. 133 Intern Katya Vlasenko katya@pmq.com ext. 124 DESIGN/PRODUCTION Art Director Ellen Kellum ellen@pmq.com ext. 135 IT Director Bernard Rueschhoff IT@pmq.com ext. 139 Video and Web Editor Daniel Morrow daniel@pmq.com ADVERTISING Sales Director Linda Green linda@pmq.com ext. 121 Account Executive Clifton Moody clifton@pmq.com ext. 138 Account Executive Dianna Seddon dianna@pmq.com ext. 127 ADMINISTRATION Chief Financial Officer Shawn Brown shawn@pmq.com Circulation Manager Sherlyn Clark sherlyn@pmq.com ext. 120 Director of Operations/ Event Coordinator Brian Hernandez brian@pmq.com ext. 129 Telemarketer Marie Johnson marie@pmq.com ext. 144 PMQ INTERNATIONAL PMQ China Yvonne Liu yvonne@pmq.com

Think Tank 2.0

PMQ Australia-NZ Tom Boyles tom@pmqaustralia.com

What’s the buzz? Log on to find out the latest industry buzz at PMQ.com/tt.

Pizza&Food Gabriele Ancona gabriele.ancona@pizzafood.it French Liaison Julien Panet jpanet@pizza.fr

Just starting our new POS...

EDITORIAL ADVISORS

Take-n-bake packaging...

Chef Santo Bruno Tom Lehmann Joey Todaro Ed Zimmerman

The specter of food poisoning...

CONTRIBUTORS

Do you use QR codes? Rising gas prices—fee for deliveries? Thank You to Our PMQ Think Tank Moderators Daddio: Member since June 2006 Tom Lehmann: Member since June 2006

Rockstar Pizza: Member since June 2006 ADpizzaguy: Member since January 2007

We want to hear from you! Have a complaint, compliment or suggestion about something you’ve read in the pages of PMQ? Send your letter via email to editor@pmq.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line, or mail to PMQ, ATTN: Letters to the Editor, 605 Edison St., Oxford, MS 38655. We look forward to hearing from you! Friend us on Facebook! Visit facebook.com/pmqpizzamagazine. Editor-in-chief Liz Barrett 12

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Andrew Abernathy Chef Santo Bruno Linda Duke Missy Green Tom Lehmann Yvonne Liu Mike Rasmussen Patrick Riordan Rudolph Waldner Volume 16, Issue 3 PMQ Pizza Magazine 605 Edison St. • Oxford, MS 38655 662.234.5481 • 662.234.0665 Fax • linda@pmq.com PMQ Pizza Magazine (ISSN #1937-5263) is published 10 times per year. Cost of U.S. subscription is $25 per year. International $35. Periodical postage pricing paid at Oxford, MS. Additional mailing offices at Bolingbrook, IL. Postmaster: Send address changes to: PMQ Pizza Magazine, PO Box 2015, Langhorne, PA 19047. Opinions expressed by the editors and contributing writers are strictly their own, and are not necessarily those of the advertisers. All rights reserved. No portion of PMQ may be reproduced in whole or part without written consent.



Pizza Press News and Views

New Mellow Mushroom Sprouts in Chattanooga PMQ and Pizza TV visited Chattanooga, Tennessee, recently for a preopening Friends and Family Night at a new Mellow Mushroom (mellowmushroom.com). Owners Samantha and Jason Jones opened their first location 10 years earlier in downtown Chattanooga, while their second store caters to customers in the eastern suburbs. Samantha told Pizza TV that this opening felt like a birthday party since it went much more smoothly than the first one. “We got to pick out a lot of our own art, with homages to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Alice in Wonderland, including a keyhole entry into the restaurant,” she says. Samantha started working for Mellow Mushroom in 1997 while attending Auburn University; she later moved to the Brookhaven store in Atlanta, where she met Jason, a bartender at the time. “The difference between opening our first store 10 years ago and opening now is like night and day,” she says. “We had to do everything ourselves back then, and now we have all of this help.” The help she’s referring to is David Danowitz, director of operations at Mellow Mushroom’s parent corporation, Home-Grown Industries, who was on hand to make sure the Friends and Family event ran smoothly. “We come in and help Mellow Mushroom owners from start to finish,” Danowitz says. “Every Mellow Mushroom is uniquely different, so we start from scratch with every restaurant that we open. Owners choose their own art and decor, and we bring in our training team, get everyone trained, and stay for a couple of weeks after opening to make sure everything is working correctly.” Samantha appreciates the fact that each store is different but also notes one way in which they’re all the same. “We all work really hard and have fun while we do it,” she says. Bradley Johnson, a U.S. Pizza Team member and a shift leader at Mellow Mushroom for the past three years, was recruited to the new Chattanooga location to help train the staff and ready the store for opening. Johnson regularly performs dough tossing tricks for customers and has created a pizza called The Spicy Mambo that’s featured on the new menu. “I work at the downtown location, but they’re hoping to keep me out here,” says Johnson. “I’ll probably end up back downtown, mainly because it’s closer to my house, but I do like it here—it’s nice and new.” While at the event, Pizza TV also ran into Jesse Ryan from Chatsworth, Georgia. He says he’s been Mellow Mushroom’s No. 1 fan for 14 years, visiting 72 locations and 10 openings. He even has a Facebook page (The #1 Mellow Mushroom Super Fan) chronicling his adventures. Ryan says he eats about three pizzas per week, while his daughter Kennedy says she’ll go anywhere the pizza is! Not surprisingly, they both chose the Mighty Meaty as their favorite Mellow Mushroom pizza. Like father, like daughter! —L.B.

Visit PizzaTV.com for exclusive footage from the opening. 14

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

(Clockwise from top) The new Mellow Mushroom location features a keyhole entryway reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland; kitchen staff members prepare pies during Friends and Family Night; Mellow Mushroom’s No. 1 Super Fan poses with his daughter in front of the PizzaTV van; PMQ editorin-chief Liz Barrett prepares for her first slice of Mellow Mushroom.


Le 5 Stagioni Award winners were Twelve Swallows Pizzeria, first place (left); Pizzeria Lamericano, second place (top, right); and Pizza, third place (bottom).

Italian Design Contest Envisions Future of Pizzerias Seven projects were selected as winners in the recent Le 5 Stagioni Awards, an Italian pizzeria design contest sponsored by Agugiaro & Figna Mills in collaboration with Poli.design and the Politecnico di Milano. The Le 5 Stagioni Award establishes a dialogue between designers and those who produce raw materials for the pizzeria industry. “We believe that tradition and quality are essential points of reference, and research and willingness to innovate are key directions of thought and development, from production of materials, and the design and furnishing of space to the ability to communicate value, beauty and product,” says

George Agugiaro, president of Agugiaro & Figna Mills. First, second- and third-place honors were awarded in two categories: Openings, dedicated to locations already in existence, and Concepts, in honor of innovative project proposals. The first prize in Openings went to the design of Twelve Swallows Pizzeria in Foligno, located in a vaulted stone palace from the 16th century. The judges valued the organization of open space revolving around three stations for pizza preparation as well as the artwork behind the counter. Second prize went to Pizzeria Lamericano in Altamura for developing

“an area of luxury and chic.” A youthoriented pizzeria in Rome, simply called Pizza, earned third place. Grains & Embers pizzeria in Milan earned Honorable Mention for its innovative use of wood. In the Concepts category, first place went to a project called The Nanny, aimed at providing for the needs of families and featuring decor highlighted by sharp, intense yellow and green. A concept called A Slow Fire, the second-place winner, celebrates the history of pizza. Third place was awarded to ComeilBasiliko, which allows guests to create their own pizza and purchase raw materials and ingredients. —W.W.

Joplin Pizzerias Rebound from Tornado Destruction

TE

UPDA

Nearly a year after a deadly tornado plowed through Joplin, Missouri, leaving total destruction in its wake, residents and businesses say they see signs that life is returning to normal. After being closed for eight months, CheeZies Pizza (cheeziespizza. com) opened in a new location in February after the tornado rendered the previous location uninhabitable. “Business has been great,” says owner Joe Culp. “In some ways, Joplin is booming.” Woody’s Woodfire Pizza (woodiespizza.com) escaped damage from the tornado and has enjoyed ongoing business that’s increasing as more residents return to Joplin, says manager Austin Williams. However, the owner of the pizzeria lost his home in the storm. Meanwhile, JJ’s Woodfire Pizza reopened on January 20 in a new building, while the Pizza Hut (pizzahut.com) on Main Street has opened for carryout and delivery. A second Pizza Hut location began offering full service in March. —W.W.

After its original building (left) was rendered uninhabitable by last year’s tornado, CheeZies Pizza in Joplin, Missouri, is enjoying booming business in its new location.

April 2012 • pmq.com

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Pizza Press News and Views

E G R A L T A S R O T I D

E

While in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the opening of a new Mellow Mushroom (mellowmushroom.com; see page 14), PMQ’s editor-in-chief Liz Barrett and director of operations Brian Hernandez stopped into the downtown location of the popular Lupi’s Pizza Pies (lupi.com) for some slices. After a plate of homemade mozzarella and bread, Liz enjoyed a slice of the Hello Margarita and the Sticky Icky BBQ Chicken, with spicy chicken, red onion, jalapeño, cheddar and Sticky Fingers BBQ sauce. Meanwhile, Brian dove into the Hey Man…Cheeseburger, with ground beef, crumbled bacon, fresh tomato, red onion and cheddar. He also took on the Widow Maker, topped with pepperoni, smoked ham, crumbled bacon, ground beef and Italian sausage. The pizzeria stands out in Chattanooga for collaborating with local sustainable farms; offering a choice of whole pies or slices on traditional, whole-wheat or gluten-free dough; and for its take-and-bake menu, which includes pizzas, calzones, bruschetta, cookie dough and lasagna. —L.B.

On their way home from the National Pizza & Ice Cream Show (NAPICS) in Columbus, Ohio, PMQ’s Brian Hernandez joined Barrett and senior copy editor Tracy Morin for lunch at the Snappy Tomato Pizza (snappytomato.com) south location in Jackson, Tennessee. After numerous trips to the buffet bar for salad, Snappy Flatbread, pasta and an array of specialty pizzas (including a few made upon request), the team was well-fueled for the remainder of the drive home! —T.M.

While vacationing in London, Morin couldn’t help but sample a Neapolitan-style Margherita pizza at Rosso Pomodoro (rossopomodoro.com), the noted Naples, Italy-based chain that made its U.S. debut at Italian supercenter Eataly in New York and now has three locations in the States. Additionally, Morin’s trip to Hollywood, Florida, was made a lot more fun—and delicious—thanks to a visit to the city’s Pizza Rustica (pizza-rustica.com) location, headed up by franchisee Alex Terife. This swingin’ pizzeria stays open till the wee hours (5 a.m. every day) and entices late-night revelers with oversize slices, Beer Tubes and sidewalk seating. Morin nibbled on a square slice—the Con 3 Funghi, with portobello, shiitake and porcini mushrooms, diced tomato, roasted garlic and thyme—and a traditional cheese slice (an offering unique to Terife’s location—most Rusticas serve only square). —T.M.

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly



In Lehmann’s Terms Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann

Visit PizzaTV.com to see more tips from Tom Lehmann.

House-Made and Bromated Flour Tom Lehmann explains how different types of flour affect the dough making process. Question: We would like to begin offering pizzas made from wheat that we grind in-house. What changes to our dough formula will be required?

Answer: For starters, you will need to determine if you want to work with spring wheat or winter wheat, which depends on the area of the country in which it’s grown. The difference between the two wheat types lies in the protein content. Winter wheat varieties typically top out at about 12% to 12.5% protein content, while the protein content in spring wheat varieties can go as high as 15%. Either type of wheat should work well if you’re planning to make thin-crust pizzas. However, if your menu calls for thick-crust pizzas, winter wheat may make for a more tender crust. The good news is, you won’t need to make any changes to your dough formula. On the other hand, due to the bran content of the flour, you may want to think about using a soaker. Fortunately, this is easy to do. Simply mix the flour and water together until it looks like wet oatmeal. The total absorption will most likely be something close to 65% or 70% of the total flour weight. Allow the soaker to hydrate for an hour, and then add all of the other dough ingredients and mix for two minutes at low speed. After two minutes, continue to mix at a low or medium speed, just until the dough becomes somewhat smooth and elastic. The finished dough should be slightly soft and just a little wet, with a sticky feel. If it feels dry, add a little more water and mix it in at low speed. From this point on, you can manage the dough in your usual manner. Keep in mind that, because the high bran-particle content tends to weaken the dough, this dough normally won’t hold up very well after more than about 36 hours in the cooler.

Question: What is the difference between bromated and nonbromated flour?

(volume/height) during baking. Is bromate really needed? No, it isn’t. While bromate is a very effective and functional additive ingredient, it can be easily replaced in pizza production with proper temperature control and dough management procedures. For bread production in a large wholesale automated bakery, bromated flour helps to prevent the dough from collapsing as a result of rough handling by automated equipment. However, even in this application, more gentle automated handling and lower proofing temperatures have all but eliminated the need for bromated flour. Additionally, we have seen signs of unwanted dough memory (snap-back) after bromated-flour dough has stood in the cooler for only one day. Because of this, I typically recommend the use of nonbromated flour whenever possible. Additionally, consumers have voiced health concerns over potassium bromate, so the general public’s perception of bromate is not a positive one—all the more reason not to use it if possible.

Answer: Bromate (potassium bromate) is an additive that provides additional strength to the flour, especially after a period of fermentation, such as several days in the cooler. Its main benefit to the dough is to provide improved strength (resistance to collapse) as well as improved oven spring 18

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Tom Lehmann is the director of bakery assistance for the American Institute of Baking (AIB). Need more dough advice? Visit the Dough Information Center at PMQ.com/dough.



New York’s Finest Chef Santo Bruno See cooking demos by Chef Bruno on PizzaTV.com.

Paccheri per Mia Esposa Chef Bruno assembles an eclectic mix of ingredients in this easy-to-make pasta dish. While shopping with my wife recently, I was trying to think of a meal that would not be too expensive or complicated to prepare. Finally, I came upon some interesting pasta from Italy called paccheri. Similar to rigatoni but shorter and with a larger diameter, this extra-wide pasta was supposedly developed to smuggle Italian garlic cloves across the Alps to Prussia (modern-day Austria) in the early 1600s. I chose this pasta and surveyed the produce and seafood departments for ingredients that might go well with it. After settling on shrimp, red apples and spinach, I developed this recipe, which I dedicated to my wife for Valentine’s Day: “Paccheri per Mia Esposa.”

You’ll Need: 6 jumbo shrimp, deveined and clean 1 c. fresh mozzarella, cut in cubes ½ bag fresh spinach, washed 10-11 oz. paccheri pasta 10-11 oz. spaghetti sauce ¼ lemon ¼ red apple, unpeeled and cubed SLNY PRODUCTIONS

Pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper Pinch of red pepper flake (optional)

Directions:

SLNY PRODUCTIONS

Boil water and add the lemon. Add pasta. Meanwhile, warm the spaghetti sauce in a saucepan, then add the shrimp and cook until they’re pink. When the shrimp are cooked, remove from sauce and set aside. When the pasta is done, drain well and add it to the sauce, mixing gently so as not to break the noodles. Layer a spaghetti bowl/dish with the spinach. Pour the noodles on top of the spinach. Add fresh mozzarella cubes and mix slowly with the pasta. Place the jumbo shrimp on top of the pasta. Spread apple cubes all over the dish.

Chef Bruno shares his unique shrimp and pasta dish, Paccheri per Mia Esposa, with friend Sam Hasan. 20

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Mangia!

Chef Bruno is PMQ’s culinary advisor, with 40 years of international pizza experience. He is the corporate chef for Marsal & Sons, and the culinary coach of the U.S. Pizza Team.



Accounting for Your Money Michael J. Rasmussen, CPA

Donating Used Items to Charity Know the rules for claiming deductions on used equipment, food and vehicles. QUESTION: We’d like to do some general housecleaning around the pizzeria. Can we get a tax break for donating used equipment and other items to charity?

ANSWER: If the pizzeria operates as a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership or S corporation, the amount of the contribution deduction for which you’d qualify would be equal to the fair market value (FMV) of the donated item on the date of its contribution. Simply put, it will equal the estimated price on which a willing buyer and a willing seller would typically agree. However, if the value exceeds $5,000, you’ll need to get a qualified appraisal. According to IRS rules, when a partnership makes a charitable contribution of appreciated property, a partner reduces his tax basis in the partnership interest by the property’s adjusted basis rather than by the property’s FMV. For example, let’s say a pizzeria with two equal partners donates a five-year-old freezer that has a zero tax basis due to depreciation deductions over the past five years. If the freezer has an FMV of $500, each partner will receive a charitable deduction of $250. In that case, the appreciation is not recognized for tax purposes and doesn’t reduce their tax basis in the partnership since they had a zero tax basis in the freezer at the date of contribution. For contributions of food inventory made before January 1, 2012, any restaurateur (except in the case of a C corporation)

can claim an enhanced charitable deduction for donations of “apparently wholesome food” inventory. The total calculated deduction for donations of food inventory may not exceed 10% of the taxpayer’s net income for the year from all of his restaurant operations through which contributions of food are made. For instance, if you had a net income of $50,000 from your restaurant operations last year, your charitable deduction for tax year 2011 would be limited to $5,000. If your restaurant tax return hasn’t been filed yet, you may still be able to pursue this strategy, which was set to expire at the end of 2011. We hope the IRS will extend this provision into tax year 2012 and beyond. In general, the restaurateur’s entity records of the donation must include: 1) the name and address of the charity; 2) a detailed description of the donated property; 3) the date and location of donation; 4) the donation’s FMV, how it was determined, and a copy of the appraisal if one was obtained; 5) the property’s cost or tax basis; and 6) the terms or conditions attached to the gift, if any.

QUESTION: What are the rules if we want to donate a delivery van to a charity?

ANSWER: For charitable deductions of delivery vans or used trucks, the claimed charitable deduction for the donation is limited to the vehicle’s FMV at the time of donation. Deductions are not allowed for contributions for which the claimed value exceeds $500 unless the restaurant owner substantiates the contribution with a written acknowledgement—to be attached to the restaurant’s tax return—from the recipient. The charity receiving the contribution must provide the acknowledgement to the restaurateur and provide the IRS with the information. The charity must provide this information to the restaurateur within 30 days of the contribution if the charity retains the vehicle for its use. Again, the tax basis for the partners in the entity will be reduced by any remaining net tax basis still available to the delivery van or used truck that’s donated to the charity.

Have a question for Mike? Send it to editor@pmq.com.

Michael J. Rasmussen is the owner of Rasmussen Tax Group in Conway, Arkansas. Visit rasmussentaxgroup.com for additional insight into restaurant-specific tax strategies and technology programs. 22

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly



The Marketing Maven Linda Duke

Drive New Sales With Cross-Promotions Partnering with these 10 types of businesses can reap huge profits. Cross-promotions are a great way to build your brand and increase sales. By developing mutually beneficial relationships with key business partners in your city, you can design cross-promotions that will attract more customers and increase check averages, guest frequency and customer loyalty while also boosting awareness of your restaurant’s brand throughout the community. To get started, create a list of businesses and nonprofit organizations within a three- to five-mile radius of your restaurant. Among the most promising candidates would be apartment complexes, banks, car dealerships, hotels and salons. The list should include the names and phone numbers of the decision makers at these businesses. Keep this list in a binder at the restaurant for future reference. Now, it’s time to reach out to these new contacts with your cross-promotion ideas. Here’s a list of 10 potential partners: 1. Apartment complexes. Speak to the manager of a large apartment complex in the area and offer to provide a welcome kit for all new tenants. Create a “Welcome to the Neighborhood” flier that features a complimentary menu item to entice the new resident to visit your restaurant. Be sure to offer the apartment manager something complimentary as well. This could be the start of a great partnership. 2. Banks. Wouldn’t it be great if you received a free meal at a local restaurant instead of a complimentary pen when you opened a checking account? Visit your local bank and speak to the general manager. Offer to provide complimentary meal cards for new accounts, and, while you’re at it, discuss bringing in lunch for the bank employees on a specific day and time.

By turning bank employees and their customers into brand ambassadors, you can raise your restaurant’s profile and attract new guests that may turn into regulars. 3. Dry cleaners. A busy dry cleaner sees hundreds of customers a week. Create a complimentary certificate for $2 to $5 off a pizza, print 25 to 50 and pass them out to dry cleaners in your immediate trade area. Ask the owner to put the certificates on their customers’ orders—they can attach it right to the dry cleaning receipt or on the hanger. Be sure to take a complimentary lunch to the dry cleaner’s owner and/or manager. 4. Florists. One excellent way to partner with a local florist is to trade gift cards or certificates for flowers. Ask the florist to create beautiful flower arrangements for your tables or provide single red roses for your favorite female patrons on Mother’s Day. Additionally, you can offer the florist’s customers a complimentary appetizer or discounted pizzas when they purchase a dozen roses (or spend a certain amount of money) at the florist. Also consider creating free appetizer cards for the florist’s customers. 5. Hair salons. Salon stylists are great referrers—they often point their clients to the best restaurants and warn them about the bad ones. Select a popular local salon—whether for women or men—and show up there with a hot, freshly made pizza. That tantalizing aroma will weaken even the most determined dieter’s commitments, and when you throw in a batch of certificates for discounts of $2 to $5, the salon owner will be thrilled to give them out to customers. Be sure to visit the salon on a busy day (most salons are closed on Sunday and Monday) or before a holiday when a lot of customers are sure to be there. 6. Hotels and motels. If the local hotel managers don’t know about you or your restaurant, how can you expect to get referrals when their guests inevitably ask, “What’s good to eat around here?” Be sure to visit popular hotels and motels and bring

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menus and food to win over the manager and the staff at the front desk. Talk with the managers about opportunities for additional cross-promotions, especially if their hotels don’t serve food on the premises. Perhaps a direct-dial delivery line to your restaurant would be in order! Create a list of upcoming holidays and local events—such as festivals, major concerts and sports tournaments—that will likely fill up the hotels, then make a deal to provide door hangers with a special offer for their guests at these times. At minimum, be sure to drop by with menus and introduce yourself to the managers and their staff! 7. Kitchen remodelers. Remodeling a kitchen can be a very stressful process for families, especially those with children who need three meals a day. Homeowners who are dealing with kitchen remodels have little choice but to eat out frequently. Why not give them a break for choosing to eat at your restaurant? A great way to do this is to partner with kitchen remodeling companies in your area to offer their clients a special deal at your restaurant. Create a free appetizer card or a buy-one-get-one-free coupon, and ask contractors to give them out to their clients during the remodeling process. Do your research, and choose a company that’s well-respected and trusted. It’s very important to partner with a brand that offers the same quality and reliability associated with your brand. Also consider visiting local home supply stores to meet with the managers of the kitchen departments and offer the discount promotion to them.

8. Real estate agents. Partnering with real estate companies and agents can be a great way to build brand awareness with new residents and initiate trial in your community. Realtors are important to your restaurant because they use catering for open houses and have a personal connection with new residents. At the same time, you are important to realtors because catering gives them a competitive edge during their open-house promotions and gift cards provide a genuine thank-you to potential homebuyers. Select snacks or appetizers that won’t spoil after a few hours— such as chips and salsa, bread or cookies—and bring them to the real estate offices. Seek out the office manager and offer to cater their weekly breakfast or lunch meetings at a discounted price or even to provide free catering for the first meeting. This will give you an opportunity to speak to the agents briefly about your

planned promotion to new homeowners. Make sure to leave a business card along with regular menus and catering menus for the agents’ perusal. Also try to contact all agents individually about your offer—they are often responsible for providing a meal each week for the office meetings.

9. Taxi and bus drivers. Taxi and bus drivers serve as key sources of information to their customers—the drivers know their cities intimately and are often consulted about the best places to eat out. Provide the drivers with free food and menus, and ask them to recommend your restaurant to their fares. Let them sample your specialty menu items so they can tell their customers that your restaurant serves, for example, the best gluten-free pizzas or vegetarian pies in town. Let them know about special late-night or early-morning hours at your pizzeria. Do some research on tour buses that may visit your area and extend special offers to their drivers as well. 10. Wedding planners. Spring has arrived, and wedding and event planners will be very important people to know as the wedding season ramps up. They need large catering orders for celebrations that they plan for their clients, so building relationships with them is a valuable way to increase sales. Make a list and set up meetings with the wedding and event planners in your community. Bring appetizers and a few signature menu items—along with your catering menus—so they can try your food and make decisions based on what they have tasted. Make sure to mention if you offer full-service catering or if they will need to provide serving utensils, tables and staff. If you have a banquet room, invite the event planners to visit your restaurant and tour the space they would offer to their clients for the occasion. Host a sample menu tasting for all local event planners and wedding coordinators. As they’re leaving, hand out gift bags with catering menus and rental information. Additionally, wedding and event planners often help create tourist guides for visitors in the community. Even if your restaurant doesn’t offer wedding catering, they may list your restaurant as a tourist destination or as a recommended eating place for out-of-town guests.

Linda Duke is the CEO of Duke Marketing and author of Recipes for Restaurateurs (marketing-cookbook.com), a “cookbook” of marketing ideas for restaurant owners. She publishes a quarterly industry resource, Restaurant Marketing Magazine, and an educational program, LSM-U, Local Store Marketing University. Find out more at dukemarketing.com. April 2012 • pmq.com

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High-Flying

INGS W

Slathered in sauce and bursting with flavor, hot wings set sales ablaze in pizzerias. By Walter Webb

T

o your average barnyard chicken, wings are worthless—she’s got two of them, but, bless her heart, the poor critter still can’t fly. For hungry humans, though, wings make for a delightful delicacy—meaty, succulent and just plain finger-lickin’ good. They’re hotter than ever these days, and pizzerias around the country have responded to the ever-growing demand for chicken wings slathered in sauces that run the gamut from sweet to tripleatomic. After all, variety is the spice of life, and these juicy little appendages fit the bill with a plethora of options in varying degrees of heat (mild, hot or inferno), a range of sauce flavors (Buffalo, teriyaki, barbecue, garlic Parmesan, mango habanero or lemon pepper) and cooking methods (broiled, fried or barbecued). More than 76% of the top 500 pizza chains now offer hot wings on their menus, according to research by Technomic’s MenuMonitor. And eating wings has become a fun-food phenomenon—few football fans would throw a Super Bowl party without a couple of pizzas and a bucket of wings. Since PMQ’s last look at hot wings in the September 2010 issue (“Winging It”), customers have made wings the fastest-growing item on pizzeria menus. Mark’s Pizzeria (markspizzeria.com), a 45-store chain headquartered in Fairport, New York—the very heart of Buffalo wing country—has been serving wings since the first store opened in 1985. “We see a real demand. If you don’t have wings up here, you’re not a pizzeria,” says owner Mark Crane. “If somebody has

Georgia Pecan-Crusted Wings With Hatoula Peach Sauce (Provided by McIlhenny Company/Tabasco Brand Products) 12 chicken wings 1 c. pepper sauce 4 c. pecans, coarsely crushed 2 tbsp. habanero sauce 3 c. seasoned flour 3 eggs, beaten with 3 tbsp. water MCILHENNY COMPANY/TABASCO® BRAND PRODUCTS

Hatoula Peach Sauce 8 oz. peach marmalade, warmed 1 oz. pepper sauce Marinate the wings in pepper sauce for about 1 hour. Toss crushed pecans with habanero sauce. Dip the wings into flour, then egg wash and then pecans, coating evenly. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Mix Hatoula Peach Sauce ingredients and serve with hot wings. 26

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly


a pizzeria and doesn’t sell wings, they need to do it right away.” In fact, wings—available in bundles of up to 100 in a single pack—account for 25% of Mark’s Pizzeria’s sales. Indeed, despite price fluctuations, chicken wings are causing quite a flap in the restaurant business. “Bone-in wings continue to expand their presence, especially at certain times of the year, such as around the Super Bowl,” says Worth Sparkman, manager of public relations at Tyson Foods in Springdale, Arkansas. “When demand spikes, there are not enough wings to go around sometimes, and this, of course, can drive up the price due to limited supply. Also, more quick-serve chains have added wings to their menus, so more operations are buying wings than ever before.” Industry statistics prove Sparkman’s point. According to the National Chicken Council’s 2012 Wing Report, Americans consumed an estimated 1.25 billion-plus wing portions during Super Bowl weekend in 2012, totaling more than 100 million pounds of wings.

The Wonderful World of Wings Buffalo hot wings have been sold since 1964, when Teressa Bellissimo, owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York,

tossed some chicken wings into the fryer, whipped together a few ingredients—including cayenne pepper—to create what’s now known as Buffalo wing sauce, and added celery and blue cheese dressing on the side. Chickens around the country would have shuddered if they’d known what was coming next—history had been made, although only Buffalonians appreciated it at the time. By the mid-1980s, the popularity of Buffalo wings had begun to spread. In 1994, Joey Todaro III, a member of the family that operated the highly successful Buffalo-based La Nova Pizzeria (lanova.com), realized that pizza and wings went together like rock-and-roll. “We served hot wings in our pizzeria, and they were so successful that I got the idea to market them to other pizzerias,” Todaro says. “I booked a booth at a convention and showed operators that pizza and hot wings were a natural fit.” With his La Nova Wings distribution company, Todaro says he spread the gospel of hot wings and sauces to independent pizzerias in Buffalo—and, ultimately, throughout the United States and internationally. “Somebody else might have come up with it, but I made it easy for pizzerias to incorporate wings April 2012 • pmq.com

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on their menus,” Todaro says. Wings now constitute the most expensive part of the chicken, he adds. It was also in 1994 that executives at Domino’s (dominos. com) decided a chicken-wing experiment in a Buffalo store proved that customers were willing to spend a few extra bucks to buy wings with their pizza. Thanks to massive television advertising during NFL football games, the wings concept took flight nationally. “It was something people really enjoyed, and there was a market that grew exponentially during the mid-1990s,” says Diane Barrentine, owner of six Domino’s franchises in Mississippi. “Independent chains and other quick-service restaurants were already including wings on the menu or as an appetizer.” Wings now account for 20% of all sales in Barrentine’s stores, and most customers take advantage of coupons to have pizzaand-wings combos delivered to their doors. After preparing them with Cattleman’s sauces in the early days, Barrentine says Domino’s has since developed its own brand of sauces to top the precooked wings distributed to its franchisees.

Secret’s in the Sauce Independent pizzeria operators say that perfecting a special sauce and promoting wings in combination with pizza are the keys to success. “Before you offer wings on the menu, first develop a sauce that is yours,” says Florence Bertolucci, co-owner, along with David Gray, of Josie’s Pizza (josiespizza.com) in Orlando, Florida. “We have done that and have a very loyal following.” Although Josie’s Pizza is located near major tourist hotspots—five miles from Universal Studios and 12 miles from Disney World—local residents make up 99% of its business, Bertolucci says. Josie’s generates hundreds of wing orders per week in the 127-seat pizzeria, and wing sales account for 45% of revenue, Bertolucci says. But the profit margin has been affected by rising food costs and stiff competition. “The cost of wings has almost doubled since last spring, and we haven’t raised our prices in three years,” she notes. “But the competition hasn’t either.”

The Ultimate Wingman

However, Josie’s stands apart from local competitors with the promise of a sauce that’s “as close to the original Buffalo wing sauce...as you are going to get,” according to its website. If the secret to authentic wings is in the sauce, it’s not surprising that national companies are producing numerous Buffalo sauces, many based on the original cayenne pepper sauce. Frank’s Red Hot, which now produces a variety of Buffalo sauce flavors, is said to be the brand of pepper sauce used in Bellissimo’s original recipe. Today the Original Anchor Bar Buffalo Sauce can be purchased through Anchor Bar’s website, and other companies—such as Louisiana Hot Sauce, Texas Pete, Jim Beam and even Budweiser—have gotten into the competition. The wings craze has also spawned regional and specialty companies peddling sauces in a range of flavors, including Alliger’s House of Wings, Wing It and Wing Time. Buffalo Gill’s in Baltimore, has a long history of pairing wings and pizza. Owner Paul Gill once owned a chain of pizzerias on the East Coast. His technique of wing preparation and development of sauces evolved into a business that today markets 21 sauce flavors throughout the Mid-Atlantic region,

By Ryan Hohman

Ryan Hohman began 2011 with the resolution of eating 2,011 hot wings during the year. By the time he achieved that goal, we thought he’d have a pretty good idea about what goes into a tasty product.

What makes a good wing? I prefer a good, old-fashioned, medium-flavor wing that brings the heat and doesn’t ruin my evening. But since there are countless wing sauces and everybody has his own go-to flavor, it’s hard to actually distinguish a good wing from a bad wing because of sauce. Therefore, I measure a good wing by the way it’s cooked, its sauce level and its complements. The way it’s cooked: A good wing should present a challenge for its eater. It should require human effort, meaning I should have to apply force to pull the meat away from the bone. The meat should not slide off the bone without effort nor should it be overcooked and refuse to come off the bone. It should be somewhere right in the middle. Sauce level: Too much sauce can ruin a perfectly cooked wing, so it’s important to take your time and evenly distribute the sauce. Complements: All wings should be served with blue cheese, carrots and celery. The blue cheese should not be milky. It should have a layer of thickness to it—think mayonnaise. No Wet Naps is a major wing-related foul; lack of Wet Naps will cost you big points. 28

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly



specializing in sales to independent pizzerias. “These sauces are all my own,” Gill says. “A lot of businesses have based their wings on these flavors and have been very successful.” Even Tabasco jumped into the fray last March with its own Buffalo sauce. “We did not have a classic, thicker sauce specially formulated to be the right consistency and heat level that would add the unmistakable Buffalo flavor to a wide variety of foods, including wings, sandwiches, burgers and more,” says Paul McIlhenny, president and CEO of the McIlhenny Company, which produces Tabasco in Avery Island, Louisiana. McIlhenny served as the “chief taste tester” for the company’s new Buffalo Style Hot Sauce—made with red cayenne pepper, salt, water, distilled vinegar and garlic—during trials. “The thick and balanced sauce has just the right amount of heat for a classic Buffalo sauce flavor,” says Charlie Cheng, research and development director for McIlhenny Company. Actually, Tabasco’s Buffalo hot sauce isn’t that hot, rating 300 to 700 on the Scoville Heat Unit Scale. The original Tabasco sauce is rated 2500 to 5000.

Dipping Sauce Suppliers Ken’s Foods 508-485-7540, kensfoods.com

T. Marzetti Company 614-846-2232, marzetti.com

La Nova Wings 716-881-3355, lanova.com

A Bone to Pick In some consumers’ minds, the only problem with wings is the bone. Hence, so-called “boneless wings,” made with breast meat, have won over many customers. “Boneless wings offer the same flavor people love in bone-in wings, like Buffalo or teriyaki, but appeal to people who prefer not to eat the chicken off the bone,” Sparkman says. “In fact, we’ve found that operations which menu both boneless wings and bone-in wings can increase total wing sales by as much as 30% over operations that offer only bone-in wings.” In other words, consumers’ yen for hen seems to have no end. But what will be the breakthrough delicacy of the future? Could it be boneless ribs, such as those recently introduced by Domino’s in the U.K.? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure: Pizzeria operators will keep experimenting and looking for the next big moneymaking innovation. After all, you can’t run your business on a wing and a prayer. Walter Webb is PMQ’s assistant editor.

Wing Suppliers Americhicken

Buffalo Sauce Suppliers Alliger’s House of Wings

877-872-2442, americhicken.com

Bellissimo Foods

570-888-9805, houseofwings.com

Buffalo Gill’s

800-813-2974, bellissimofoods.com

The Broaster Company

866-535-2834, buffalogills.com

Conroy Foods

800-365-8278, broaster.com

Koch Foods

412-781-1446, conroyfoods.com

French’s Foodservice

800-837-2778, kochfoods.com

800-442-4733, frenchsfood service.com

La Nova Wings 716-881-3355, lanova.com

Hot Sauce Depot

Perdue Farms 800-473-7383, perdue.com

877-857-8752, hotsaucedepot.com

K.C. Masterpiece

Pierce Chicken 770-232-4423, poultry.com

913-345-2255, kcmasterpiece.com

Louisiana Hot Sauce

Tyson Foods 800-248-9766, tyson.com 30

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

337-365-8101, louisianapepper.com

Original Anchor Bar Buffalo Wing Sauce 800-248-9623, anchorbar.com

Paradise Tomato Kitchen 502-637-1700, paradisetomato.com

Tabasco 800-634-9599, tabasco.com

Texas Pete 333-661-1550, texaspete.com

Wing It 508-540-9860, wingit.com

Wing Time 970-871-1198, wingtime.com

Sweet Baby Ray’s 877-729-2229, sweetbabyrays.com



From Facebook to Foursquare, follow these tips to launch a moneymaking social media campaign. By Andrew Abernathy If your pizzeria still hasn’t embraced social media, you might reconsider for 2012. Time-tested brands and small businesses alike have learned that, with consistent and thoughtful approaches to social media, marketers can reach consumers and build awareness quickly and effectively through websites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. Successful case studies abound. In 2011, though late to social marketing, the 53-year-old, Homewood, Illinois-based chain Aurelio’s Pizza (aureliospizza.com), which has 43 stores in six states, managed to pull together 10,000 Facebook fans— more than half of them in the first three months of its social media program. “It caught on like wildfire,” says John Romans, Aurelio’s social media manager. “We had the strength of our brand helping us build awareness so rapidly.” According to Kirk Mauriello, Aurelio’s director of franchising, the chain promoted store openings in 2011 exclusively with social media. “Our Marietta, Georgia, franchisee created a Facebook page in accordance with the corporate page,” Mauriello says. “What was so interesting was that, in the first week, we only opened up the restaurant to our Facebook followers, and this one restaurant that seats 96 people served more than 2,000 people. It was unreal.” Other chains have found comparable results by hiring outside agencies to manage their social media. Last year, Bostonbased chain Sal’s Pizza (sals-pizza.com) increased walk-in traffic and boosted its Facebook following from 800 to 3,700 people in just a few months with an incentive campaign—which also included Facebook advertising bought with franchisee royalties—that gave away pizza for a year to one Facebook follower for every 800 fans. “I’m a one-person department, so I couldn’t have been happier to have an 32

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly


Tweet What?

Compiled by Liz Barrett

To the uninitiated, Twitter can seem to have its own language. If you find yourself confused when it comes to social terms and symbols, use this Twitter glossary to play catch-up. Tweet: A “tweet” is a message or update that you post to tell people what you’re doing or thinking or to promote upcoming specials, a new menu item and other newsworthy events. Many users say they are “tweeting.” Following: When you “follow” someone on Twitter, you subscribe to that person’s tweets. That person’s tweets will show up in your timeline as they’re posted. Other users who follow you (your “followers”) will be able to view your tweets. Timeline: This is a running list of tweets posted by the users you follow. The most recent tweets appear at the top, and it’s constantly updated.

Direct Message (DM): Found under the Messages tab at the top of your homepage, these private messages can be sent only between users who are following each other. You can send a follower a brief email using the Message tab, or you can post the message as a tweet on your home page with the letter “d” and the recipient’s user name (d username). Hashtag (#): Since you can’t categorize Twitter messages, the hashtag (# followed by a topic, such as “Pizza Delivery”) was created. This approach allows you to search for hashtags, and any tweet related to that topic will show up, whether you follow the user who posted it or not.

@username: By putting the @ symbol before someone’s username in a tweet, you can direct your post to that user’s attention. This is also called a “mention” or, if it’s in response to a tweet directed at you, it’s known as a “reply.”

Shortened URLs: Because Twitter limits all tweets to 140 characters, link shrinkers come in handy when you want to post a tweet that includes a lengthy URL. A number of website tools will shorten your URLs for Tweets. TinyUrl. com and Goo.gl are the most common and easy to use.

Retweet (RT): Retweeting is when you share an interesting tweet from another user with your followers. Click the “Retweet” button under the original tweet, and it will instantly be tweeted by you. When followers retweet your posts, consider it a tip of the hat to your social media efforts.

Trending Topics: These are the 10 most searched terms on Twitter at any given time. You can find the list under the Trends tab on your home page. Some people use these terms as a guide for posting new info so more people will notice and follow them.

agency,” says Jayne Minigell, the director of marketing for Sal’s. “We’ve discovered that social media is about more than just putting out a post. It’s about creating a dialogue with your customers. We’re a small brand so, for us, it’s a big deal.” For 2012, Sal’s is redesigning its loyalty plan to use social network Foursquare in another incentive-based plan for its New England stores. Customers who “check in” at a number of Sal’s locations could receive a gift. “People are checking in on Foursquare anyway,” Minigell says. “We’re definitely interested in bringing our marketing efforts to that group.”

Statistics for Thought Marketing professionals have found success with several major social media sites, from established players like Facebook and Twitter to the up-and-coming Google+. A review of industry statistics proves that these sites have a vast reach, allowing marketers to get their message out to millions of potential customers at virtually no cost and with a minimum of labor. The big five include: Facebook—According to the online magazine Social Media Examiner, there are now more than 800 million active

Facebook users worldwide, with 25% of those active users added in 2011. In addition, the average Facebook user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 pages, events and groups. According to Hub Spot.com, there are more than 3.5 billion pieces of information (such as links, news, blogs and photos) shared every week on Facebook. Mashable.com reports that 56% of consumers say they are more likely to recommend a brand to a friend after “liking” it on Facebook. Twitter—According to eMarketer. com, there will be nearly 21 million Twitter users in the United States by the end of 2012. Currently, there are more than 100 million worldwide. Fortune magazine reports that 40% of Twitter users don’t typically tweet; instead, they use Twitter to follow friends, public figures and businesses, and 55% of those users do so with a mobile device. Retweeting is an effective way to build followers, and a recent survey by Ogden, Utah-based marketing firm WhiteFireSEO found that 92% of Twitter users prefer to retweet interesting content; 84% of them retweet humor, 66% retweet friends, 32% retweet incentivebased messages and 21% retweet celebrity information.

Google+—Similar in concept to Facebook, Google+ may be an up-and-comer, but business statistics remain scarce for the social network made public in June 2011. However, the latest figures from Google show there are currently more than 2.3 million U.S. users with 31 million worldwide. Foursquare—This location-based social networking site targets users of mobile devices such as smartphones. Users “check in” at various venues— from boutique shops to restaurants and bars—via mobile websites, text messaging or a device-specific application. Each check-in nets points and sometimes “badges” for the user. As of June 2011, Foursquare reported that it had 10 million registered users, about half of them in the United States. Pinterest—Listed on Time magazine’s “50 Best Websites of 2011,” Pinterest is one of the Internet’s fastest-growing social networking sites and boasts a largely female user base. Pinterest allows users to create and manage a themed virtual pinboard that highlights subjects of personal interest, ranging from recipes and clothing to high-tech gadgets and “favorite places and spaces,” including restaurants, April 2012 • pmq.com

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bars and vacation spots. According to comScore, an Internet marketing research and data tracking firm, Pinterest currently has 11.7 million unique users.

Facebook 101

People Helping People No matter what social networks you favor, influence isn’t strictly a numbers game—you also must cultivate a network of high-quality followers. Some experts say you should think of social marketing as the digital equivalent of word of mouth: The right followers can drive your message for you. “The truth about social media is that a lot of people like to throw their thoughts out there, but that doesn’t mean they’re reading anything,” says Ben Smith, a Los Angeles-based social media consultant and former YouTube executive. “Some businesses don’t think about needing to know who is following them and who needs to be following them. Once you identify a market, you can figure out where they are and get near them. If I own a gluten-free pizzeria and there is gluten content on the Web, I need to figure out how to get my brand as close to that content as possible. That means advertising, commenting on articles, and sharing that content on my network page.” However, experts recommend patience when launching a social media campaign. “Your business may not change overnight, but it will be the first crucial step to get on other people’s radar screens,” says Maciej Fita, founder of Boston search engine optimization firm Brandignity. “With other important efforts, like blog post writing, you should always consider targeting certain keywords as you are writing posts. Once you identify which keywords are right for your business, the

goal is to put together social content surrounding those keywords. Over time, inbound traffic will be generated.”

Consistency and Measurability One of the most common errors operators make with social media is a lack of consistency. Experts recommend setting a regular time for posts and giving the job to a reliable—and preferably experienced—person. “When it comes to strategy and execution, you ideally give that responsibility to someone with Web marketing experience,” says Fita. “In some cases, you might have a small business that can’t afford to either outsource or hire a new social media marketing employee, so you might have to see which person at the company likes to engage online in his personal time. You might just find that there is a social media nut lurking around your company that would love to help grow the business in that way and you didn’t even know it.” Finally, if you’re taking your social media efforts seriously, everything must be measurable. Facebook’s analytics provide weekly insight into your business’ page performance. Additionally, there are social media dashboards out there that can help you save time by posting to multiple social networks at once, scheduling posts around the clock and measuring clickthrough rates on individual messages. HootSuite.com is a commonly used service with free analytics for users. Ultimately, operators will simply need to dive in and start posting and tweeting. Over time, they may make mistakes, but they’ll also learn from trial and error and begin to see progress as they build their network of friends and followers. “When you can see what works for your company, then you can grow and build on that,” says Smith. Andrew Abernathy is a freelance writer based in Oxford, Mississippi.

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Your Facebook page should be courteous, interesting and professional. In order to increase “likes” and inspire loyalty, follow these simple dos and don’ts:

Do: • Answer questions and follow up with comments left on your page as soon as possible. • Send online birthday greetings when you see alerts. • Post comments or news at least once per day—three or four times is better. • Create photo albums related to your restaurant, such as new menu items or highlights from recent fundraisers. • Offer incentives to visit your page, such as a weekly contest where one customer can receive a free pizza for answering a trivia question or posting a picture of himself in your shop. • Post greetings and comments on pages of clients, manufacturers and experts. • Join groups related to the pizza business and your community. • Share useful articles to establish credibility. • Be social!

Don’t: • Post derogatory comments toward or about other pizzerias or competing businesses. • Use the page just to advertise your shop—try to be three parts fun, one part business. • Post unprofessional photos of yourself or employees. • Update constantly. Limit your posts to three or four a day. Focus on quality, not quantity.



Seafood

Thai

CHARLES SCHILLER

Pizza of the Month:

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The Thai Pong Gari

A Taste of Thailand

Recipe courtesy of Craig W. Priebe, Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas 1 grilled pizza crust 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 1 tbsp. Parmesan, grated 1 c. mozzarella, shredded ½ c. tomato sauce 1 6-oz. grilled chicken breast, torn into chunks

Peanut Sauce: 4 tbsp. smooth peanut butter ½ tsp. fresh ginger, minced ¼ tsp. chili paste 2 tbsp. soy sauce 4 tbsp. water Salad: ½ c. red peppers, thinly sliced 1 c. bean sprouts 1 tbsp. scallions, sliced 1 tbsp. roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped 1 tbsp. cilantro, coarsely chopped Combine all of the curry glaze ingredients in a small bowl. In another small bowl, combine all of the peanut sauce ingredients. Brush the grilled side of the pizza crust with the olive oil. Dust with the Parmesan and sprinkle the mozzarella on top. Drop spoonfuls of the tomato sauce onto the pizza. Add the chicken and drizzle the curry glaze over all. Return the pizza to the grill and check it after 4 minutes. Remove the pizza after it has cooked for 5 to 8 minutes. Just before serving, top the pizza with the salad ingredients. Drizzle the peanut sauce over the salad.

Thai Pie Twist Attract fans of Asian fare to your restaurant with these promotional ideas: •

Pair your Thai pies with any number of complementary Thai beers, such as Singha, Chang, Archa and Phuket brands, or with a light Belgian ale or a Gose (pronounced GO-suh) from Germany.

Create a Thai-themed promotion for the Chinese New Year (February 10 to 24, 2013) built around Thai pizzas, beers and customized fortune cookies.

If your pizzeria is near a college, reach out to the university’s Thai Student Association and develop a promotion to raise funds for the organization or to welcome new members to the campus and town.

PANDORA’S PIES

Curry Glaze: ¼ c. honey 2 tsp. curry powder Pinch red pepper flakes Pinch salt Exotic, piquant and teeming with chili peppers and spice-laden curries that fire the blood and rouse the sweat glands, Thai cuisine has become a booming business in the United States. Now pizzaioli have begun to capitalize on the trend, creating savory Asian pies with hints of lemongrass, cilantro and Kaffir lime leaves. In Elon, North Carolina, the Simply Thai Chicken Pie is a collaboration between Pandora’s Pies (pictured above) and Simply Thai restaurant. “I get Simply Thai to make about five quarts of massaman curry, after which we thicken it up a little bit, spread it on the pizza and add our signature pulled chicken with a homemade mozzarella and fontina blend, caramelized onions and fresh basil,” says Pandora’s owner Peter Ustach. “Then we drizzle sriracha hot sauce on top of it. The coolest thing is, we both get publicity out of it. People recognize the name Simply Thai and love their food, so both establishments are getting a good deal.” Here are more examples of how Thai fare has influenced the American pizza market: Thai Pizza Co., part of the St. Louis-based Pat’s Thai Restaurants chain (patsthairestaurants.com), serves up a smorgasbord of Thai pies, including the Thom Yum Goong, made with fresh shrimp, lemongrass, mushroom, coconut milk, lime juice, chili paste, lime leaves and mozzarella, and the Gra Ree Curry, with chicken, potatoes, green peas, carrots, onion, bell pepper and mozzarella. Top That! Pizza (topthatpizza.com), headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, pioneered the build-your-own-pizza franchise concept, but owners Jeff and Lori Walderich also serve up several signature pies for their patrons. Their Thai Breaker is made with Thai peanut sauce, a blend of five cheeses, marinated chicken, roasted garlic, caramelized onions, chopped scallions, julienned carrots, sharp cheddar and roasted peanuts. Rubicon Pizza Company (rubiconpizzaco.com), in Lake Tahoe, California, turns up the heat for shivering skiers with the Thai Red Curry Chicken pie, prepared with a sweet curry sauce, chicken, yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, red onion and mascarpone cheese, topped off with fresh lime, basil and cilantro. In addition to the standard Thai chicken recipe, Truckee Pizza (truckeepizzadelivery.com) in Truckee, California, offers a seafood option with its Thai Shrimp pie, a concoction of shrimp, maple onion, roasted garlic, carrots and a chili oil drizzle. April 2012 • pmq.com

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Grimaldi’s: Spinning Gold in the Sunshine State Stat U.S. Pizza Team member Jamie Culliton keeps sales booming for this Brooklyn-style pizzeria. By Missy Green

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nternational pizza star Jamie Culliton has won consecutive gold medals in culinary and acrobatic events at home and around the world, but his Midas touch doesn’t end at pizza competitions. As district kitchen supervisor for the New York-based Grimaldi’s Pizzeria (grimaldis pizzeria.com) concept, Culliton has helped bring the best of Brooklyn pizza to the western United States and Florida. And after nearly two decades in the business, his enthusiasm hasn’t waned a bit. Culliton works out of Grimaldi’s Downtown at the Gardens location in sunny Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The store reels in about $10,000 a day, Culliton says. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been in the industry for 17 years,” he adds. “We don’t take reservations simply because we’re always full.” Situated in a thriving upscale shopping center, the Downtown at the Gardens location draws in families and older customers alike. Many of them are “snowbirds,” retirees who moved to Florida from colder climes in the Northeast. “You can pick the New Yorkers out of a crowd,” Culliton says. “You can see it on their faces when they walk in.” Those relocated New Yorkers are particularly eager to check out the make line—they often ask to see the oven, Culliton says, and reminisce fondly over the black-and-white photos of the Big Apple framed along the walls. Grimaldi’s is perhaps best known for its original location in Brooklyn, where it has served working folks and celebritites alike, including Frank Sinatra and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The renowned coal-fired pizzeria was first opened by Patsy Grimaldi and then

sold to Frank Ciolli in 1998; the latter’s son Joe Ciolli later took the concept and began expanding the company across the United States. Since 2003, Grimaldi’s has opened 25 locations in Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Florida and has been featured prominently on the Food Network and the Travel Channel. Culliton first got involved with Grimaldi’s five years ago when the company took over the Neapolitan pizzeria where he had been working in Tucson, Arizona. Culliton knew all about the original shop in Brooklyn and was eager to try his hand at a coal-fired oven. Within the first week he became kitchen manager, and he brought his wife, Brooke, and their two children to Florida last year so he could supervise new stores and train employees. Culliton began working in the pizza industry at the age of 17. “The first pizzeria I worked at had horrible pizza,” he recalls. “But it’s the people and the atmosphere that make you fall in love with the industry.” Since then, Culliton has worked with conveyor, deck, stone and brick ovens to perfect wood-fired, Neapolitan and coalfired pizza styles. His culinary experience shone at its brightest last September at the American Pizza Championships in Orlando, where he took home the firstplace award using a simple Grimaldi’s Margherita recipe.

Grimaldi’s in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, offers a family-friendly atmosphere—including occasional dough tossing displays for the kids—that appeals to locals and transplanted retirees alike.

An Authentic Pie So how do you guarantee authentic New York-style pizza in the Sunshine State? Grimaldi’s goes to great lengths to recreate the very same pie that made the company famous in New York. “If the ingredient’s not imported from Italy, it’s

THE STATS: Grimaldi’s Pizzeria Website: grimaldispizzeria.com Headquarters: Scottsdale, AZ President: Joseph Ciolli Total units: 26 POS system: Aloha Enterprise Oven: Custom-made, hand-built coal-fired oven Dine-in, takeout Number of employees: 1,500+

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imported from New York,” Culliton says. Grimaldi’s water filtration system mimics Brooklyn’s water through reverse osmosis and adjustment of the mineral content. This customized water system is installed in every Grimaldi’s Pizzeria location to ensure consistent New York-style quality and authenticity in the dough. Additionally, Grimaldi’s fresh mozzarella is always hand-sliced, and roasted red peppers are constantly shuffling out of the oven. Like the original Grimaldi’s, all stores use San Marzano tomatoes and Filippo Berio olive oil along with flour and pepperoni produced exclusively for Grimaldi’s. Staff prepares the dough fresh on-site, and each Grimaldi’s oven is built brick by brick and serves as the very heart of the restaurant’s layout.

In-House Marketing First-time diners can count on the waitstaff to explain, in a well-rehearsed routine, what makes Grimaldi’s pizza unique. “Let me tell you about our wonderful pizza,” the waiter begins. “It’s a New York-style, thin-crust pizza, coal-fired in a hand-built brick oven, which makes for the best crust and the best pizza.” That approach to tableside marketing— which emphasizes the quality of the pizza and the basis of its price point—works better for Grimaldi’s than coupons and discounts. “If you’re not telling people how your pizza is unique, they don’t know why they’re paying 20 bucks for a pizza,” Culliton says. In fact, Grimaldi’s does relatively little marketing outside of the store. Aside from an occasional special offer on a pizza-andwine pairing, the majority of the pizzeria’s marketing takes place inside its four walls, as the customers see the impressive signature brick oven and hear about the New York tradition from the waitstaff. Culliton also uses dough tossing performances to keep customers entertained and coming back for more. When he notices a group of kids watching in fascination as the dough gets slapped out, he waits for a reprieve in the kitchen and dashes out to perform a show for the youngsters. “I love doing it. That’s the best part of the job,” he says. “If a table of 15 kids comes in, we give them kids’ dough to play with at the table. They love it; they just blow up. Then they’ll be back the next week and say something like, ‘Mr. Jamie! Remember me? I’m Sally. You did 40

a show for us!’ You build a relationship with your customers that way. That’s really what the acrobatics is about for me. It’s not about glory or fame. It’s about entertaining your guests. That’s why you do it. When it comes down to it, it’s about making your customers happy.” Community participation and good corporate citizenship are also important. Every Grimaldi’s location partners with a local charity to raise funds and build awareness. Kids are the focus of the Palm Beach Gardens shop, which teams up with the local Big Brothers Big Sisters organization to offer mentoring services to children in difficult circumstances.

“The Sky’s the Limit” Culliton clearly takes pride in working for Grimaldi’s and never misses a chance to brag about the food. “I’ve worked in a lot of pizza places and eaten in even more of them, and Grimaldi’s consistently produces the top four or five best pizzas I’ve ever had,” he says. “They’re better than 99% of the pizzas I’ve eaten. We’ve got

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

the pizza down. It’s written down; it’s a recipe. It’s been proven.” As for Culliton’s future in pizza competitions, his attitude remains upbeat. “The sky’s the limit,” he says. For starters, he will join the U.S. Pizza Team again at this month’s World Pizza Championship in Salsomaggiore, Italy, to defend the team’s No. 1 title. “Going to Italy, marching in the Macy’s Day Parade, and getting other guys involved in competing have been some of my greatest moments with the team,” Culliton says. Last year the U.S. Pizza Team returned home with the gold medal after a stunning routine choreographed to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Culliton looks forward to coaching the team to another victory while also taking Grimaldi’s to the next level as it opens additional locations across Florida. “I love to see young guys develop,” he says. “I want to show them there’s more to life than just working 60 hours per week.” Missy Green is a PMQ correspondent.



The U.S. Pizza Team 2011 Year-in-Review Video Available Now On PizzaTV.com

2011: A Year of Winning!

In 2011, the U.S. Pizza Team brought home the gold in Team Acrobatics from the World Pizza Championship in Salsomaggiore, Italy. Now you can see the events leading up to the team’s win in the exclusive U.S. Pizza Team 2011 Year-in-Review video.

To find out about becoming a sponsor of the current World Champions, contact Linda Green at 662-234-5481, ext. 121, or linda@pmq.com.

A Pizza TV Video Production

Wish the U.S. Pizza Team luck as they travel to Salsomaggiore, Italy, this month to compete for additional awards. THANKS TO OUR U.S. PIZZA TEAM GOLD SPONSORS:

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THANKS TO OUR U.S. PIZZA TEAM BRONZE SPONSOR: Off The Wall Magnetics



The China Challenge Top chefs compete in PMQ China’s Chinese Pizza Championship. By Yvonne Liu

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hen East meets West in the global kitchen, some marvelous recipes emerge, and nowhere was that more evident than at the 6th Annual Chinese Pizza Championship, held November 16 to 18, 2011, at FHC China, an international exhibition for the food, beverage, hospitality, foodservice, bakery and retail industries in Pudong, Shanghai. PMQ China hosted the event in the PMQ Pavilion with the support of Heinz, Le 5 Stagioni, Hormel Foods International, Beijing Jikang Food Company, the California Milk Advisory Board, Shanghai Intop Packaging Company, Thunderbird Food Machinery and The Middleby Corporation. The Chinese Pizza Championship spotlighted 13 contestants from Beijing, Shanghai, Zhoushan, Xiamen, Qingdao, Shenzhen and other cities. Three expert judges gave scores based on appearance, taste and marketability. The top three contestants and their winning pizzas were: 1st Place: Gui Shehui, Shanghai Gimlid Pizza, Signature Chicken Pizza

Unusual ingredients such as cuttlefish, boiled eggs and blueberries featured prominently in the winning recipes at the Chinese Pizza Championship.

2nd Place: Wu Jiakai, Qingdao JJ Pizza, Supreme Cuttlefish Pizza 3rd Place: Xu Wenlu, Shanghai Present Pizza, Golden Autumn Pizza The PMQ Pavilion also hosted a giant-pizza making demonstration presented by Kro’s Nest pizzerias, winner of the Best Pizza Cup in Beijing in 2011, and the California Milk Advisory Board. The huge 28” pizza, which featured California cheese, weighed seven kilograms (more than 15 pounds!). In addition, members of the Chinese Pizza Team presented dough spinning exhibitions throughout the three-day event. “Pizza is a relatively new industry in China, but it’s flourishing,” says Mark Handley, vice president of operations for the Kro’s Nest F&B Group in Beijing. “The big players are here— Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Papa John’s and an unbelievable number of homegrown Chinese and Korean pizza places.” Although Kro’s Nest adheres to “a strict American style,” Handley notes that Asian influences make for some interesting culinary twists on the classic pie. “The need to localize pizza and appeal to the tastes of the people here leads to ingredients that I personally would not choose to put on a pizza,” he says. “But the locals love it.” Kro’s Nest general manager Jing Wang says the competition “helps pizzerias in China build a reputation for themselves,” but added that various pizza making styles—both American and Chinese—lead to complications in judging these contests. “For American-based shops such as Pizza Hut, Mr. Pizza and the New York-style pizza shops, their major customers are Chinese, while pizza shops like Kro’s Nest, The Tree and Anne’s target foreign customers,” Wang says. “So it can be hard to 44

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

measure them by the same standards of pizza making. But all pizzas are made with dough and sauce and have a certain look after they’re cooked. The thickness of the dough must be uniform, the flavor of the sauce shouldn’t be too sweet or too sour, the final product shouldn’t be loaded at the center, and the cheese and sauce shouldn’t be spread on the edges.” Handley says the show was a big success that brought together pizza lovers from around the world. He especially enjoyed the pizza making demo—and the crowd’s reaction. “The reception was amazing. As we took the stage to make our signature 28” pizza, the small crowd turned into a huge gathering of hungry bystanders, all looking to get a picture or a piece of this giant creation we affectionately call ‘The Monster.’ Having been a chef for 25-plus years, I’ve never felt so much appreciation for doing what I normally do—making great pizza and helping make people happy while watching a pizza being prepared and cooked.” Yvonne Liu is the co-publisher of PMQ China.


Second Place - Wu Jiakai Qingdao JJ Pizza

Supreme Cuttlefish Pizza Ingredients: 350g blended cheese 50g onion 50g mushroom 500g cuttlefish 200g pineapple Vegetables (to taste)

First Place - Gui Shehui Shanghai Gimlid Pizza

Signature Chicken Pizza Ingredients: 150g chicken granules 6 slices boiled eggs Green pepper, chopped Red pepper, chopped Onion, chopped

Korean Chili Sauce (to taste)

Preheat the oven to 250°C. Stuff the edge of the crust with pineapple. Place cheese, onion and mushrooms evenly around the crust. Add the cuttlefish and Korean Chili Sauce. Place the blended cheese on top. Bake for 5½ minutes. Garnish with vegetables.

5g or 12 granules dried blueberry 90g spicy tomato pizza sauce 25g mayonnaise 25g tomato sauce 250g mozzarella Preheat the oven to 230°C. Stretch the dough to create a 14” crust. Place spicy tomato pizza sauce on the crust, sprinkle mozzarella evenly, then top with green pepper, red pepper and onion. Place boiled egg slices in the middle. Sprinkle the chicken granules over the pizza. Place the dried blueberry granules on the edge of the crust and brush the edge with oil. Place the pie in the oven and bake for about 5-6 minutes. Cut into 6 slices. Add mayonnaise and tomato sauce.

Third Place - Xu Wenlu Shanghai Present Pizza

Golden Autumn Pizza Ingredients: 20g fresh basil 150g deep-fried chicken breast, diced 8 slices orange 16 dollops pineapple, diced 1 lemon 260g mozzarella, diced 180g signature basil lemon sauce (180g) Olive oil Preheat the oven to 245°C. Marinate chicken breast with egg, starch and a pinch of salt for 30 minutes. Deep-fry to medium-done and set aside. Meanwhile, blend the fresh basil with a bit of olive oil in a processor and stir in fresh lemon juice. Place the basil lemon sauce on the pizza crust and top evenly with mozzarella. Place pineapple dollops along the inner edge of the crust, then place the orange slices alongside the pineapple. Sprinkle the fried chicken evenly on top. Bake for 5½ minutes. Cut into slices. Note: Each slice of pizza should have 2 dollops of pineapple and 1 orange slice.

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Deal or No Deal? Deal-of-the-day specials carry some risk along with potential for increased sales and traffic.

By Patrick Riordan

O

dds are that you’ve heard from them, probably more than once. A call, a pitch, then a decision. Some of you have agreed, some have said “not a chance,” and others still wonder if it’s worth a shot. Though Groupon and Living Social remain to deal-of-the-day (DOTD) websites what Xerox is to copiers, there has been an explosion of similar 46

services recently, from late-to-the-game giants (Google Offers) to regional and local spinoffs (the Chicago Reader’s Real Deal) and niche-market deal sites such as Pizzerias.com. The ubiquity of DOTD sites is probably evidence enough of consumer appeal—after all, what’s not to like about deep discounts in a down economy? But what about the other side of the

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

transaction? Should pizzeria operators participate in DOTD discounts? If so, when is the best time to make the offer?

Potential Pitfalls By now, the details of these deals have spread. Variations abound, but typically the deal runs something like this: The DOTD site sells consumers a voucher


for the business at half of the face value; the initial take is split 50-50 between the DOTD site and the business; the consumer has one year to redeem the voucher; and the business must take the vouchers as they come. From there, the fairy-tale version says it’s a win-win-win. The consumer gets a deal, the DOTD site gets its cut, and the business gets exposure and new customers who would have otherwise never come through the door. But some pizzeria operators tell nightmare versions of the tale, from the relatively tame—grazing flocks of tightpursed one-timers and post-discount tippers—to the tragic: unexpected hordes of “couponites” that descend upon the restaurant and drown it in red ink. One doesn’t have to look hard to find dramatic examples of retailers getting burned, and a number of DOTD skeptics have started speaking out. A London bakery recently lost $20,000 on a cupcake DOTD gone bad when a 75%-off deal triggered an overwhelming influx of orders. Meanwhile, in the United States, a small Portland, Oregon, café went about $8,000 in the hole on an uncapped $6for-$13 deal. While reviews from individual owners are mixed, pizzeria operators have expressed their own concerns about the DOTD model. Stories of bad experiences abound in PMQ’s Think Tank forum, but several common themes emerge. One is the cost: In addition to the basic economic issue of a 50%-of-50% proposition, some owners say they were caught off-guard when one DOTD site charged the credit card processing fees for coupon

sales to the business. In fact, Scott Chapman from Great Scott’s Pizza (greatscotts pizza.com) in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, was just about sold on doing a DOTD offer until he found out he’d be taking the hit on fees he saw as “their business expense, not mine.” Another concern relates to the types of customers often drawn in by coupon sites, from one-time visitors who order only the value of the voucher to scammers, bickerers and belligerents trying to use multiple coupons at once or failing to tip waitstaff. And don’t forget about the financial considerations—suddenly hundreds or thousands of little balance-sheet time bombs start ticking, waiting to go off, and there’s no telling exactly when they will. Perhaps most worrisome of all—and often overlooked—is the risk of alienating one’s existing customer base: After a popular DOTD coupon drops, that loyal family of five who orders every Friday night may suddenly find themselves muscled to the back of the line by a bunch of lower-paying newcomers and one-timers, perhaps causing their pizza to taste like it was prepared in too much of a rush.

The Positives While a review of stories on the Think Tank could leave you with the impression that pizzeria owners have been, on the whole, underwhelmed by the DOTD phenomenon, others have encouraging experiences to report. Patrick Cuezze, owner of Next Door Pizza & Pub (nextdoorpizza. com) in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, has offered Groupon deals twice and, despite some hiccups, describes the results as “very positive.” In an effort to keep tabs on several common DOTD concerns— that the deals might fail to generate new loyal customers or that DOTD customers wouldn’t order above the coupon price and wouldn’t tip—Cuezze tracked his store’s Groupon data. He found that 60% of those purchasing Groupons were new customers and that those using Groupons spent 14% more on average than other patrons. He also learned that, overall, skimpy tips were not an issue at Groupon tables. Surprisingly, the Groupon also turned out to be something of a friendly reminder for regular customers, who started coming in more frequently after the offer was launched. Furthermore, not everyone April 2012 • pmq.com

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who purchases a DOTD ends up using it, Cuezze found; he estimated his no-show percentage at close to 10%. In a position echoed by Cuezze, Ryan Roe from Greek’s Pizzeria (greeks pizzeria.com) in Indianapolis says that an owner needs to view the costs associated with DOTD offers as advertising dollars. While acknowledging some of its drawbacks, particularly an influx of “bargain shoppers,” Roe describes Groupon as “a useful tool if you use it in the correct manner.” Comparing it to other means of

advertising, he says, “While I break even on the food costs and incur a small increase in payroll during the initial Groupon week, that is no different than the costs I incur doing a 10,000-piece mailing and getting a 2% to 3% response rate.”

Weighing Your Options There is fairly wide consensus that DOTDs are not for everyone, but the question remains: Whom are they right for? A lot of factors come into play, but, in the world of pizzerias and beyond,

small businesses that are still growing are often well-positioned to benefit from a DOTD offering. “It allowed us to reach out across the metro area without the upfront and iffy cost of traditional advertising,” notes Cuezze. “I would recommend it to any business that is starting out or trying to grow substantially.” At the same time, Cuezze cautions that the large influx of customers after the deal goes live can seriously impact your cash flow. “If you’ve got a busy store running at 75% to 80% of your max capacity or even max out on the weekends, why bother?” adds Roe. “But for those that are still growing or are in a slow season and can handle the influx, I say go for it.” In a blog on its website, Nevada, Iowabased Burke Corporation shares a post about the pros and cons of social coupon sites for pizzerias. In addition to offering some general advice to pizzeria owners thinking about offering a DOTD coupon (e.g., considering caps and modified redemption windows to manage traffic), the Burke team recommends being prepared not just for the rush of foot traffic, but also for a big jump in website visitors (i.e., alert your Web hosting service ahead of time to make sure you can handle the increased flow). Additionally, the team points out that Groupon won’t share customer emails with its partners and suggests that operators try to get that information from the patron at the time of sale in order to promote future in-store specials. Burke also recommends pushing side items and desserts as a means of offsetting revenue losses associated with the deal. While there’s no doubt that DOTD programs have their downsides for pizzerias, Groupon, Living Social, Google Offers and other third-party deals can be a useful business tool. But just like a new oven, they will likely be an expensive investment that can scorch you if you’re not using them just right. Ultimately, they may or may not be worth the costs and the hassle—it all depends on your specific needs. However, between the various tweaks available now (such as total coupon caps and day-of-the-week redemption restrictions) and emerging trends (including same-day, softer discount deals from Groupon Now), those DOTDs could pay off for your business. Whatever you decide, one thing is for sure: These dealmakers will continue calling. Patrick Riordan is a freelance writer based in Chicago.

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Our Picks From NAPICS The 2012 North America Pizza & Ice Cream Show showcased a plethora of new and noteworthy products.

For video direct from the NAPICS show floor, visit PizzaTV.com.

Held January 29 to 30 in Columbus, Ohio’s Greater Columbus Convention Center, the North America Pizza & Ice Cream Show (NAPICS) attracted attendees with the nation’s only trade show focusing on—what else?—pizza and ice cream. This year’s show hosted more than 175 exhibitors and nearly 4,000 attendees scouting out the latest and greatest innovations for their operations. Meanwhile, the PMQ staff was hard at work looking for the hottest products to introduce to our readers. Read on for our roundup of what wowed us on the show floor.

CatchAttention.com Backpack Flags

Linda Green, co-publisher

My Pick:

These eye-catching designs make it easy for employees to stand outside and automatically become an advertisement for a pizzeria—it’s a foolproof idea! When an employee wears one of these and waves to traffic or holds a sign, they are likely to attract more attention and look more legitimate. The flags can be customized with a store’s logo for increased effectiveness. 866-438-8368, catchattention.com

That’s Different Chocolates

2PointO Concepts Menuscale

Tracy Morin, senior copy editor

My Picks:

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Anyone who’s ever had to go through a webmaster to alter his website content knows how frustrating it can be to wait on someone else when you could do it yourself in a minute. Menuscale solves that problem by allowing owners to manage their Web and mobile Web presences— meaning you can add, remove or edit content (such as prices or specials) through the Menuscale Platform 24/7. No waiting required! 888-786-1357, menuscale.com

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Chocolatier Mark Shaw ventures outside the box for his pizzeria-themed collection of chocolates—think Zesty Italian Slices (with milk chocolate, Italian spice, oregano, diced onion and tomato pesto), Chocolate Chicken Wings in flavors such as chipotle and sweet potato, and bacon-bit-and-potatochip-infused dark chocolate. These would be fun novelty items or dessert options in any pizzeria. 518-431-9716, chocolatebark@ aol.com


Smucker’s Foodservice PlateScapers These ready-to-use dessert sauces come in six flavors and are packaged in squeeze bottles with decorating nozzles. Perfect for adding personalized pizzazz to brownies, cakes or dessert pizzas, they’re easy to use and add a little extra flavor to desserts. Plus, they’re each a different color if you want to get really creative. 888-550-9555, smuckerfoodservice.com

Liz Barrett editor in chief

My Picks: Dyson Airblade There’s nothing worse than one of those oldschool hand dryers that take forever to dry your hands; you’re better off using your jeans! When I saw the futuristic-looking Dyson Airblade at NAPICS, which takes only 12 seconds to dry hands, uses 80% less electricity than traditional warmair hand dryers, and can dry 22 pairs of hands for the cost of one paper towel, I was in love. 866-693-9766, dyson.com

Ruggles Greek Frozen Yogurt

Wyckwyre.com This system was designed specifically for the restaurant industry to prescreen job applications, which I think would be especially handy for management positions. You can get your own employment page linked directly to your website and a searchable custom career site. Best of all, there are no signup fees—you simply pay per post. 888-633-6408, wyckwyre.com

This is the first Greek frozen yogurt I’ve seen, and it comes in different flavors, such as blueberry, strawberry, vanilla bean and more. Those who are used to eating regular Greek yogurt might not want to eat traditional frozen yogurt, so this would appeal to them. And it has more than two times the protein of regular frozen yogurt! 330-683-8710, rugglesusa.com

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Texas Legacy Brands Vintage Bottled Soda Pop

Steve Green, publisher

My Picks:

These beverages come from a guy who had his own restaurant and wanted old-style sodas in his store—the ones that are still made with real sugar. Pizzerias can sell these as a premium product while adding a hipness factor to their business. To me, it comes down to giving the customer something different, something they can’t find just anywhere. 806-745-1638, texaslegacybrands.com

Arvco Steam Pan Box and Steam Pan Carrier MoneyTree ATM Every pizzeria needs an ATM—research shows that customers, especially women, feel safer withdrawing large amounts of money from an ATM in a restaurant or pizzeria than they’d feel in a liquor store, a bar or on some street corner. And if you’re going to have an ATM in your restaurant, why not choose one that looks like it belongs there? This one, with its customized artwork, fits the bill. 800-566-0286, moneytreeatm.com

These items can help keep a pizzeria tidier and make a better impression during catering jobs. The nestable boxes are stable when stacked so they don’t tip over, and they help keep food warm. The carriers add credibility to a business while streamlining a catering operation. And, when used for customers’ carryout orders, the packaging prevents messes and accidents during the trip home and protects customers from hand burns. 800-968-9128, arvco.com

CoverTex That’s My Bag When you hand off a generic pizza bag to customers, others might not be sure what’s inside. This insulated carryout bag changes that with a pizza graphic on the bag’s exterior, ensuring that observers will know—and remember—what the customer is carrying. I’ve never seen this before, and I found it subtle but important—an advertisement to buy pizza and just to remind people of pizza! The bag is inexpensive but works to encourage repeat business. 800-968-2310, covertexcorp.com

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2012 Pizza Industry Census

Take it, for pizza’s sake! You have the power to affect change within the pizza industry through the simple act of answering the following 46 census survey questions. After compiling reader suggestions from last year’s survey, we’ve integrated fresh, reader-requested questions into the current census, helping to boost the value of this always insightful report. Please visit PMQ.com/census12 to complete the survey online. You can also tear out or copy the form included here and mail your responses to PMQ, 612 McLarty Rd., Oxford, MS 38655, or fax it to 662-234-0665. All responses must be received no later than May 31, 2012.

NOTE: If you work in the restaurant industry but don’t operate a restaurant, please answer only questions 1-6.

1.

Which of the following best describes your operation?

Independent operator Franchise operator Chain operator Manufacturer Distributor Future pizza operator Consultant Association member Other: ___________________

2. What is your current position?

Owner/partner/CEO Franchisee Manager Chef Marketing manager Industry/vendor Other: ___________________

3. Where do you go for industry advice (check all that apply)?

4. How often do you use your cell phone to access the Internet?

LAST CHANC E TO

TAKE T HE

CENSU S!

More than once daily Daily At least once per week At least once per month Less than once per month Never

5. Including business and personal use, which of the following social networking sites do you use on a regular basis (check all that apply)?

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Yelp Urbanspoon Where FohBoh Google Buzz Other: ___________________

Note: This is a reprint from the December 2011 issue. If you’ve already taken the census, thank you!

6. On which topics would you like to see more coverage by PMQ (choose your top three)?

Food Marketing Operations Management Equipment Pizzeria profiles Finance Trends Other: ___________________

WIN 100 Pounds of Pepperoni! A fully completed survey qualifies you to enter a drawing to win 100 pounds of pepperoni from Liguria. Completing the survey and including your email address guarantees your entry.

Magazines Web Consultant Books Food sales rep Other: ___________________

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly


15. In what area have you seen the highest increase in sales at your pizzeria?

7. What type of location do you own?

Stand-alone Inside a shopping center In a strip mall C-store Other: ___________________

8. How would you describe the town your store is located in?

Small town Medium-size town Large city 9. How long has your pizzeria been open?

Haven’t opened yet Less than 5 years 5-10 years 10-15 years 15-25 years 25-35 years 35-50 years More than 50 years

10. How many units do you own?

Less than 5 5-10 10-15 More than 15

13. During which daypart(s) is/ are your operation(s) open (check all that apply)?

Breakfast Lunch Dinner Late night 24/7 Other: ___________________

14. During which daypart have you seen the most growth during the past year?

Breakfast Lunch Dinner Late night 24/7 No growth Other: ___________________

Gourmet toppings Healthy options Sandwiches Appetizers Salads Pasta Sodas Other nonalcoholic beverages Alcohol Other: ___________________ No increase

16. In general, are your sales increasing, decreasing or about the same compared to last year?

Increasing Decreasing Same 17. Approximately, what are your sales percentage breakdowns?

Dine-in ____% Takeout ____% Take and bake ____% Delivery ____% Catering ____% Buffet ____%

18. Which segment of your sales, as reported above, has seen the most growth during the last year?

Dine-in Takeout Take and bake Delivery Catering

1 unit 2-3 units 4-10 units 11-20 units More than 20 units More than 50 units

11. Who are your primary customers (check one)?

College students Teens Families Professionals Seniors Other: ___________________

12. How many competitors do you have in your immediate area? April 2012 • pmq.com

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Buffet None

Yes (What percentage of your sales

19. What method do you use to track your food costs?

23. What is your most popular crust style?

Manually track Use stand-alone food

costing software

Use a program within my

comes from the Internet?) _____

Hand-tossed Deep-dish Thin Other: ___________________

POS system

Compare monthly profit and

24. Do you offer alternative crusts?

loss statements Other: __________________ I don’t track my food costs

20. How many food suppliers do you use on a regular basis?

1 2-3 4-6 7-9 More than 9

If you use multiple suppliers, what is the main reason you do so? ___________________________ ___________________________

Gluten-free Whole-wheat Low-carb Other: ___________________ Don’t offer

25. Do you sell pizza by the slice?

Yes No 26. Which of the following nonpizza items do you offer on your menu (check all that apply)?

Wings Sandwiches Pasta Salads Dessert None

27. What percentage of your ingredients are obtained from local farmers/producers?

None 1%-10% 11%-20% 21%-30% 31%-40% More than 40%

28. What type of oven do you use? 21. Do you have a POS system?

No Planning to get one Yes If yes, which system do you use? ___________________________

22. Do you receive orders through the Internet?

No Not now, but will in the next 6-12 months 56

Conveyor Deck Wood-fired Coal-fired Other: ___________________

29. How much do you charge for delivery?

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

$.25- $.50 $.50- $1.00 $1.00- $1.50 $1.50- $2.00 More than $2.00

No charge Don’t offer delivery 30. How many employees do you have per store?

Less than 5 5-15 15-25 25-35 35-45 45-55 More than 55

31. What is your average hourly pay rate for the following position:

Manager _________________ Assistant manager __________ Pizza maker _______________ Delivery driver _____________ Decline to answer

32. About your dough:

Make our own Use preformed crusts Buy frozen dough Fresh dough balls are delivered to our store Subcontract Other: ___________________ 33. Which method do you use to form dough in your store(s)?

Formed by hand Sheeter Dough press Other: ___________________ Not applicable

34. About your sauce:

Make our own Use canned sauce


Add ingredients to canned sauce Other: ___________________ 35. What form of cheese do you purchase?

Block Diced Shredded Sliced We make our own Other: ___________________

36. What types of cheese do you use (check all that apply)?

Mozzarella Provolone Cheddar Romano Parmesan Other: ___________________

37. How do you serve soda (check all that apply)?

Fountain Plastic bottles Glass bottles Cans Other: ___________________

38. What type of alcohol do you serve (check all that apply)?

Beer Wine Full-service bar None

39. What is your philosophy regarding the use of coupons?

Never use them Hooked on using coupons

Use them once in a while

None

40. Do you use door hangers?

44. What percentage of your budget is spent on advertising?

Never Occasionally Frequently 41. Do you use box toppers?

Never Occasionally Frequently 42. Do you use email marketing?

Yes No Not now, but will in the next 6-12 months 43. In how many charity/fundraiser events did your pizzeria participate this past year?

1-5 5-10 More than 10

Thank you

for participating in the 2012 PMQ Pizza Industry Census. To enter a drawing for 100 pounds of pepperoni, please complete the following information. A winner will be selected at random from all completed surveys.

Less than 2% 2%-5% 6%-7% 8%-10% More than 10% We don’t advertise

45. What marketing promotion in the past 12 months yielded the most dramatic results for you? __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ 46. What are the average yearly sales at each of your stores?

Less than $250,000 $250,000-$500,000 $500,000-$750,000 $750,000-$1 million $1 million-$2 million More than $2 million More than $5 million Decline to answer

If you have any questions you’d like to suggest for our next survey, please submit them here: ___________________________

Name ________________________________________________ Pizzeria ______________________________________________ City/State _____________________________________________ Phone ________________________________________________ Email _________________________________________________ Would you like to start/renew your free subscription to PMQ Pizza Magazine? Yes No

___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ April 2012 • pmq.com

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ADVERTORIAL

PMQ’S IDEA ZONE Menuscale

Websites for the Mobile Generation e

Most pizzeria operators know they need a website, but some still don’t know how to create one that really works. Too many sites fail to drive increased sales simply because they weren’t designed with today’s tech-savvy customers in mind—those who surf the Web with smartphones and tablets rather than clunky, old desktop computers or laptops. Pizzerias with an inadequate Web presence lose customers every day to chains like Domino’s and Pizza Hut, says Jason Raphael from 2PointO Concepts. That’s why his company developed Menuscale, a tablet-friendly website platform that levels the online playing field for small- and mid-size independents, making it easy to create and manage custom-designed, SMOoptimized websites that reach more customers, accept online orders, interact seamlessly with Facebook and Twitter, and, ultimately, sell more pizzas. “As these chains have moved forward with the latest technologies, a lot of independents have lagged behind, and they’re losing business,” Raphael says. “Menuscale gives independents the IT infrastructure of these much larger companies at a fraction of the cost. We’ll create for them a fresh, easy-to-manage website that’s fun to use on both ends.” Menuscale’s mobile package is designed to be easily accessible to mobile devices. When smartphone users arrive at the site,

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

they can bookmark it and automatically receive a mobile app for their home page. That app takes them straight to the online ordering component. After all, Raphael says, most smartphone users, ironically enough, rarely make phone calls—they prefer to do everything online. “You’ll see five people at a table in your restaurant, and they’re all staring at their phones,” he says. “They have no interest in talking to each other; they’re more interested in what they posted on Facebook.” They also don’t like dealing with slow-loading PDF menus. Menuscale foregoes PDFs entirely while allowing managers to make quick, easy updates to their online menus from anywhere at any time. The updates post instantly to the restaurant’s Facebook and Twitter pages as well. Finally, search engine optimization (SEO) is a key aspect of the Menuscale platform. The sites are carefully designed to earn a prominent place in online searches using Google and other search engines. Even better, Menuscale developed Search Menu Optimization (SMO). “People aren’t always searching for a restaurant; sometimes they search for a specific dish. If you have that dish on your menu, we’ll make it more visible to Google so it will come up more quickly in an online search.” For more information, call Jason Raphael at 888-786-1357 or visit menuscale.com.


ADVERTORIAL

PMQ’S IDEA ZONE Sunray Printing Solutions

Magnet Mailers Serve as Household Billboards From electric motors to computer disks and MRI scans, magnets make our lives easier in too many ways to count. They also help pizzerias sell more pies. In fact, more and more operators have begun using magnetized direct-mail pieces to get their message in front of potential customers—and keep it there for weeks at a time. “What’s so valuable about magnet mailers is that many of our pizzeria clients have been using them on a monthly or quarterly basis and have gotten double-digit returns,” says Bob Byers, vice president of operations for St. Cloud, Minnesotabased Sunray Printing Solutions, a national printing company that also provides direct-mail services to a wide variety of retailers and restaurants around the country. “I wouldn’t say that’s unheard of, but it’s certainly extraordinary.” Unlike standard direct-mail pieces that may end up in the trash can or locked away in a drawer and quickly forgotten, magnet mailers get slapped on the refrigerator door, serving as a veritable billboard in every potential customer’s kitchen, Byers notes. And for pizzerias that have more offers than can be printed on a regular mailer, Sunray even offers a customizable, jumbo-size, 6”-by-22” postcard, essentially a two-page piece that

can be used to promote multiple products and specials. “You can create a postcard with specials covering extended periods of time, with a ‘week-one’ special, a ‘week-two’ special and so on,” Byers says. “That means it can end up on the refrigerator for two or three months instead of one. And the postcard is perforated, so the customer can tear off the coupons and redeem them at the pizza restaurants.” “Now you’ve taken the most valuable piece of real estate, from a marketing perspective, in the home and placed your message there, front and center, for months at a time,” Byers adds. “You can’t ask for a better location.” Byers says Sunray Printing is fully approved by the U.S. Postal Service to mail the magnetized, jumbo-size postcards. “We print it for you, and we mail it, all for less than the price of a first-class stamp,” he says. “It’s easy to get your money back and make a profit from it. And you’ll never have to worry about the postcards getting rejected by the Postal Service.” For more information, contact Byers at 320-257-2612 or bbyers@sunrayprinting.com. Visit the company’s website at sunrayprinting.com.

April 2012 • pmq.com 59


Marketing Marvels Rudolph Waldner

Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza A top-rated New Orleans pizzeria uses clever cross-promotions and merchandising to stand out in a highly competitive market. In a city renowned for its unique cuisine, Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza (theos pizza.com) in New Orleans draws crowds looking for an alternative to the ever-popular po’boys, gumbo and jambalaya. Theo’s has been dishing out exceptional pizzas for eight years on Magazine Street and added a second location on Canal Street two years ago— with a third in the works. Co-owner James “Jammer” Orintas shares some of the secrets behind the phenomenal success of Theo’s with PMQ. What is your pizzeria’s history? Theo’s has three owners—Greg Dietz, Ted Neikirk and myself. We grew up together in Little Rock, Arkansas. We were sick of working for someone else, so we decided to give pizzeria management a shot. We opened Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza in November 2004, less than a year before Hurricane Katrina. After the hurricane, we reopened on the same day that the city did, bringing in our own water and serving meals using disposable plates, cups and cutlery. What makes Theo’s unique? We offer more than 40 toppings and make our dough and sauce fresh every day. We use only the best ingredients and have fresh produce delivered daily. Our crust is thin and crispy—it’s almost a crackerlike crust. Who is your average customer? We cater to everyone with an appreciation for homemade, quality pizza, but most of our customers come from the neighborhood, and we get a lot of families. There’s something for everyone on the menu, and the daily specials, both lunch meals and drink deals, keep the kids happy and a smile on the moms’ and dads’ faces. 60

Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza in New Orleans often partners with area restaurants and food vendors—including a local barbecue joint and an organic farm—to create long-running cross-promotions.

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly


What are your most popular menu items? Our specialty pizzas are big sellers. We offer 17 different specialty pizzas plus a pizza of the month. Some of our most popular specialty pies are the Meathead—with tomato sauce, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, Italian sausage, Canadian bacon, hamburger and mozzarella—as well as The Expert, which features olive oil, minced garlic, spinach, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, purple onion and crumbled bacon. How do you market your business to new and existing customers? We have 2,800 followers on Facebook, and that has been the perfect vehicle to alert customers to specials and events. We’re proud that we have not offered coupons in more than six years—we feel there is no reason to drive down profit margin when you’re offering a superior product. I love giving out beer koozies, logoed beer cups and Theo’s T-shirts. It’s a classic and effective method to have your faithful followers evangelize your product for you. I also enjoy cross-promotions with other local businesses, trying to embed the Theo’s brand name firmly in the community. A recent partnership for our pizza of the month program was with The Joint, a local barbecue restaurant. We used 200 pounds of The Joint’s pulled pork for one month, and it was quite a success for both sides. In another pizza of the month partnership, we teamed up with Jacob’s World-Famous Andouille in LaPlace, Louisiana, and used 150 pounds of their andouille sausage. We also swapped email lists with The Joint; we emailed their customers, and The Joint emailed our customers. This was a great—and free—way to get the word out about our business to like-minded consumers. Our next pizza-of-the-month program will be with an organic mushroom farmer, Jack and Jake’s Organic Farms. We all look forward to the results—and the tasty pizza. Also, I’m working on a project with 10 other pizza restaurants in New Orleans. We are creating a “pizza war” between our restaurants. We’ve created a ballot, and you have to eat at all 10 restaurants before you vote. The different categories include Best Thin Crust, Best Deep Dish, Best Specialty Pizza, Best Beer Selection

With locations on Magazine Street and Canal Street in the heart of the Big Easy, Theo’s serves up specialty pizzas on crispy cracker-thin crusts and $10 bottles of wine.

and Best Atmosphere. After we receive all of the ballots, we will draw one at random, and that person wins two Brass Passes to Jazzfest. A second person gets a $25 gift certificate to each of the participating restaurants, and the third prize is a pizza party at your favorite pizza restaurant. The 10 pizza restaurants are going to join together again this summer for a second “pizza war,” which will actually be a fundraiser for a local children’s band program.

What’s your biggest challenge? Our expansion plans. We just signed a lease for our third location, which is a new construction. Our target to open is the summer of 2012. How does Theo’s manage to thrive in such a competitive market? We offer the best-quality product at a fair price combined with a great atmosphere. Also, we are always giving away koozies, cups, key chains and T-shirts to April 2012 • pmq.com

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our regular customers. In my mind, this is money well-spent. What is your most successful promotion? Without a doubt, it’s the drink specials. We don’t coupon, so consumers never view us as a discounter. But we do offer a drink special program with $1 longnecks on Mondays, $1 drafts on Tuesdays and $10 bottles of wine on Wednesdays. How do you get involved in your community? We’re big on donating gift certificates to local fundraisers and high schools. We also sponsor a birthday party once a month for the residents of the local Salvation Army, and we are involved in neighborhood associations. We donate to the N.O.P.D. Blues Fest. One program that went over remarkably well was when we treated volunteer playground workers to pizza. Do you offer online ordering or loyalty programs?

No. We would like to offer it, but, at this point, I can’t justify the cost. We’ll need to upgrade our POS system first. Our feeling is that what’s available out there now isn’t a fit for us yet. What has been your biggest accomplishment so far? Hands down, unequivocally, it was reopening after Katrina. Before the city had reopened, we were down here cleaning up so we could open on the same day as the city. We had a huge sign out front that said, “Rebuilding New Orleans, one pizza at a time.” We ran with a limited menu just to get open on time. It was exhausting, rewarding and exhilarating all at the same time. What’s your favorite pizza? Jammer’s Original, with tomato sauce, Canadian bacon, mushrooms, onions, banana peppers, goat cheese and mozzarella. But I also love just a simple pepperoni pizza! What do you like to do when you’re not making pizza?

I enjoy the music and food of New Orleans: oysters—raw, grilled and Rockefeller—the muffulettas, crawfish, jazz and blues, and so on. What awards has Theo’s won over the years? We’re proud to be rated the best pizza place in New Orleans by a local magazine called Gambit and the No. 1 pizza restaurant in New Orleans by Zagat.

Rudolph Waldner is the author of Marketing From the Trenches: Your Guide to Retail Success (trench marketer.com).

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 Don’t miss more than 100 vendors, informative seminars, Italian specialties and targeted savings! Come meet Bradley Johnson of the U.S. Pizza Team!

Stick around for The Slice of the Northeast Pizza Contest: the winner will earn a spot on the U.S. Pizza Team and join the team to compete internationally.

Email TriStatePizza@usfoods.com for more information. 62

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly


Product Spotlight What’s On the Market

CHICKEN CHUNKS La Nova Wings has expanded its product line with its newest appetizer, Chicken Breast Chunks. Available in Hot, BBQ and Savory flavors, they are fully cooked, seasoned, and ready to heat and eat. They can be served warm as an appetizer or sliced cold for salads, wraps and sandwiches. 716-881-3355, lanova.com

CHILLING OUT PanSaver Cook Chill products provide a full range of storage casings, filling pedestals and sealing tools to enable you to safely and cost-effectively prepare food in bulk quantities and maintain freshness in chilled storage. Once chilled, food quality remains fresh, and the taste stays consistent from the very first portion. Menu items can be placed into refrigerated storage for up to 28 days. Inspectors appreciate the quick-cooling and sanitary storage benefits. 877-726-7287, pansaver.com

BUILDING A BETTER OVEN Re-engineered with a higher capacity, Fish Oven Company’s popular P-Series ovens handle pizzas up to 20” in diameter as well as baked foods on standard 18”-by-26” bun pans. The new versions feature shelves that are 20”-by-38” deep and 60”-by- 80” wide. The company’s full-width Add-a-Tray essentially doubles the oven’s capacity. Fish Ovens feature superior heat retention, gentle operation and a consistent hearth bake. 847-526-8686, fishoven.com

HOT DELIVERY POS IN A SNAP Designed for quick-serve and fast-casual restaurants, Breakaway Restaurant Solutions Breakaway Vision is a full-featured POS management system that streamlines every aspect of your operation, including order taking, credit card processing, kitchen management, deliveries, inventory and marketing. The POS assists with everything from store operations and business management and analysis to customer relationship management and direct marketing. Breakaway IRIS, designed to integrate with the Vision system, makes online ordering management a snap. 817-299-4500, breakawaypos.com

RediHeat manufactures quality heated food and pizza delivery bags. Every thermal delivery bag comes with RediHeat’s patented electric heater, which ensures that food will always be delivered hot. Available in a range of sizes, the delivery systems have been sold in more than 30 countries on six continents, and every heater is backed by a one-year warranty. 888-556-2024, rediheat.com

April 2012 • pmq.com

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Businesss Monthly


PIZZA TRUCKS OF CANADA Custom Built Pizza Trailers With Your Logos and Corporate Colors

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Turn-key - Fully Equipped - Decaled Conveyor or Deck Ovens

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204-297-7667 April 2012 • pmq.com

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April 2012 • pmq.com

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Advertiser Index April 2012 Display Advertiser

Phone

Website

Page

AM Manufacturing ............................................. 708-841-0959 ............................................ ammfg.com ...................................... 49 Bellissimo .......................................................... 800-813-2974 ...................................... bellissimofoods.com ................................ 21 Best Choice Printing ........................................... 800-783-0990 ............................................... bcms.us.......................................... 65 Buffalo Gills ....................................................... 866-535-2834 ......................................... buffalogills.com .................................... 64 Celina Tent ........................................................ 866-438-8368 .......................................catchattention.com.................................. 41 CrustSaver ......................................................... 877-437-4743 .......................................... crustsaver.net ..................................... 64 EZ Dine .............................................................. 877-853-1263 .......................................... ezdinepos.com ..................................... 48 Fispal Food Service ............................................. 704-365-0041 .......................... btsinforma.com/br/credenciamento ..................... 68 Fontanini ........................................................... 708-485-4800 ........................................... fontanini.com ..................................... 19 Grande...............................................................800-8-GRANDE ....................................... grandecheese.com ................................... 3 HTH ................................................................... 800-321-1850 ........................................... hthsigns.com ...................................... 64 Impact Worldwide.............................................. 800-653-8837 .................................... impactworldwide.com............................... 67 La Nova.............................................................. 716-881-3355 ............................................. lanova.com ................................ Cover 4 Le 5 Stagioni ...................................................... 800-780-2280 ........................................... le5stagioni.it ...................................... 23 Liguria ............................................................... 800-765-1452 ......................................... liguriafood.com ............................ Cover 3 Lillsun................................................................ 260-356-6514 ............................................. lillsun.com ...................................... 47 MF&B Restaurant Systems .................................. 888-480-EDGE ......................................... edgeovens.com .................................... 53 Marsal & Sons .................................................... 631-226-6688 ......................................... marsalsons.com ................................... 29 Menuscale ......................................................... 888-786-1357 ..........................................menuscale.com..................................... 58 Microworks ........................................................ 800-787-2068 ......................................... microworks.com ................................... 11 Middleby Marshall ............................................. 877-34-OVENS .......................................... wowoven.com ...................................... 7 Moving Targets .................................................. 800-926-2451 ...................................... movingtargets.com ................................ 35 PanSaver ........................................................... 877-PAN-SAVR ........................................... pansaver.com...................................... 66 PDQ Signature Systems, Inc. ............................... 877-968-6430 ............................................ pdqpos.com ...................................... 31 Pierce Chicken ................................................... 800-336-9876 ............................................ poultry.com ............................... Cover 2 Pizza Packet ...................................................... 866-291-5455 ........................................ pizzapacket.com .................................. 43 Pizza Trucks of Canada ........................................ 204-297-7667 .................................. pizzatrucksofcanada.com ............................. 65 Restaurant Depot ........................................................................................................... restaurantdepot.com ................................ 53 Stanislaus .......................................................... 800-327-7201 .......................................... stanislaus.com ...................................4, 5 Sunray Printing .................................................. 320-257-2612 .......................................sunrayprinting.com.................................. 59 Sweet Baby Ray’s................................................ 877-729-2229 ....................................................................................................... 17 System Filtration ............................................... 877-508-0777 ..................................... systemfiltration.com ................................ 66 The Menu Express............................................... 877-250-2819 ..................................... themenuexpress.com ................................ 66 Univex ............................................................... 800-258-6358 ......................................... univexcorp.com ................................... 65 XLT .................................................................... 888-443-2751 ........................................... xltovens.com ...................................... 13

PMQ provides this information as a courtesy to our readers and will not be held responsible for errors or omissions. To report an error, call 662-234-5481 x127. April 2012 • pmq.com

69


Industry Resource Guide Grab a direct weblink to every advertiser in this guide at PMQ.com

ADVERTISING

CHEESE, CONT.

APPAREL

COMPUTER SYSTEMS: POINT OF SALE

BAKING SCHOOLS AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BAKING .............................................Manhattan, KS 785-537-4750 ....................................................................Fax: 785-537-1493

CHEESE Technology choices for every taste. p p p

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PMQ’sPizza PMQ PizzaMagazine Magazine– –The ThePizza PizzaIndustry’s Industry’sBusiness BusinessMonthly Magazine

p Loyalty Programs Point-of-Sale Online Ordering p Automated Marketing Smartphone Ordering


PMQ Industry Resource Guide COMPUTER SYSTEMS: POINT OF SALE, CONT.

CONSULTING

CRUSTS BAKER’S QUALITY PIZZA CRUSTS, INC. ..................................... Waukesha, WI Par-baked, Sheeted, Pressed and Self-Rising Crusts; Custom Crusts; All sizes. www.BakersQualityPizzaCrusts.com ......................................800-846-6153 MOUNTAIN HARVEST PIZZA CRUST CO.......................................... Billings, MT Contact: Eric LeCaptain ........... 800-342-6205.................... Fax: 406-248-7336 Sheeted Dough, Prebake Crusts, Dough Balls, Freezer to Oven, Self-Rising Crusts in Standard, Wheat and Nine Grain. ...eric@mountainharvestpizza.com

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WHY PAY FOR A POS SYSTEM? WHEN OURS IS

FREE! Call Now! 855.853.6485 (Toll Free)

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide DOUGH DIVIDERS/ROUNDERS

DOUGH TRAYS/PROOFING TRAYS DoughMate® by Madan Plastics Inc.

DoughMate

®

• Dough Trays – extremely durable and airtight! • Dough Tray Covers – designed to fit! The Leaders in • Plastic Dough Knives – two ergonomic designs! Dough Handling Products • Dough Tray Dollies – heavy duty! • Excellence in Customer service since 1955! The preferred dough tray of the largest pizza companies in the world. Buy direct from the manufacturer with over 20 years experience in dough trays.

Call 800-501-2458 ........... www.doughmate.com ......... fax: 908-276-9483

FLOUR, GLUTEN-FREE BAY STATE MILLING GLUTEN-FREE PIZZA MIX.............. baystatemilling.com Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour, Custom-blends and Co-Packing Dedicated production area for exceptional purity.........................800-55-FLOUR DAKOTA PRAIRIE is a dedicated manufaturer of Gluten-Free flours, 37 pre-mixes, custom-mixes and many packaging options. By far the best grinds and the highest standard of purity ..............dakota-prarie.com............ .............701-324-4330

DOUGH PRESSES, ROLLERS

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FLOUR


PMQ Industry Resource Guide FOOD DISTRIBUTORS

FRANCHISE Should You Franchise Your Restaurant? Call today to receive your free DVD on “How to Franchise Your Business� and learn about one of the most dynamic methods of expanding your business in today’s marketplace.

t XXX JGSBODIJTFHSPVQ DPN

ÂŽ

FRANCHISE CONSULTANTS

GELATO

True Artisan Gelato

(888) 316-1545 www.stefanosgelato.com

GLUTEN-FREE PRODUCTS

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide INSURANCE

MACHINERY/OVENS/EQUIPMENT, CONT.

MACHINERY/OVENS/EQUIPMENT, CONT.

MAGNETS

JUMBO PIZZA SLICE MAGNETS 399-2966 WE DELIVER

www.magneticadconcepts.com

977 Butternut Dr. Holland

MAILING SERVICES

MANAGEMENT

KEEP MORE OF YOUR HARD EARNED DOUGH! 3 MONEY SAVING PROGRAMS:

SCHEDULING • ATTENDANCE • DAILY LOG

FAST, PAINLESS SCHEDULING • MONITOR LABOR COSTS • REDUCE TURNOVER • NOTIFY EMPLOYEES • ELIMINATE BUDDY PUNCHING • IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS • WEB-BASED

SAVE TIME AND INCREASE PROFITS!

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WWW.TIMEFORGE.COM 866.684.7191


PMQ Industry Resource Guide MARKETING IDEAS

MEAT TOPPINGS, CONT. BURKE CORPORATION .................................................. www.BurkeCorp.com Italian, Mexican-Style and Specialty Fully Cooked Meats Contact: Liz Hertz............ sales_info@burkecorp.com............. 800-654-1152 FONTANINI/CAPITOL WHOLESALE MEATS Contact: Gene Fontanini ......... www.fontanini.com ................. 800-331-MEAT Pizza toppings, Italian sausage, meatballs, sliced gyros and sliced beef SUGAR CREEK PACKING CO., Private Label Precooked Meat Topping Specialists www.sugarcreek.com .................. 800-848-8205 ............ sales@sugarcreek.com

MIXERS

MIXERS, USED USED HOBART 60 QT. MIXER FOR SALE AT US $4980.00 PLUS SHIPPING. Call Lynn at 214-552-3218........................................ or e-mail tbfm@tbfm.com

MOISTURE ABSORBENT TOPPINGS CONDITIONER KRISP-IT LTD. .............................................800-KRISP-IT (800-574-7748) Keep it Crisp with Krisp-It! www.krisp-it.com........................................................nick@krisp-it.com

OLIVES

MARKETING, MOBILE

Eighty-Six Slow Sales Mobilize your best customers with a free mobile website and low-cost texting.

...mobilize & connect

ruxter.com 800.763.1953

MEAT TOPPINGS

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide PIZZA DELIVERY THERMAL BAGS

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide ON HOLD MARKETING

PIZZA OVENS EARTHSTONE OVENS, INC. .. 6717 San Fernando Rd....Glendale, CA 91201 800-840-4915 .........Fax: 818-553-1133 ...... www.earthstoneovens.com All units UI listed. FISH OVEN & EQUIPMENT CORP. 120 W. Kent Ave........Wauconda, IL 60084 TOLL Free 877-526-8720 ....... Fax: 847-526-7447 ...... www.fishoven.com

ONLINE ORDERING

MARSAL & SONS, INC. ....................The new standard in the Pizza Industry Brick Lined Deck Ovens • Standard Deck Ovens • Prep Table Refrigeration 631-226-6688 .............. marsalsons.com ........... rich@marsalsons.com ROTO-FLEX OVEN CO. ........................................Contact Richard Dunfield 135 East Cevallos, San Antonio, TX 78204 PH 800-386-2279 ...... www.rotoflexoven.com .......... Fax 210-222-9007

PIZZA BOXES

PIZZA BOX LINERS

PIZZA SHAKER LIDS

PIZZA DELIVERY THERMAL BAGS BAG SOLUTIONS ................................................. Home of the Pizza Jacket Deliver that pie HOT and DRY! 866-Bag-To-Go (866-224-8646) ........................ www.deliverybags.com

Thermal Bags by Ingrid Best Selection of Pizza Delivery Bags Keep Pizza HOT! 800-622-5560 or 847 836-4400, 24/7 ordering ..... www.ThermalBags.com

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide PIZZA PANS

PIZZA OVENS, CONT.

i feel preƩy.

oh, so preƩy!

Bakeware Specialists

Manufacturer & Distributor of Pizza Smallwares www.paprod.com 734-421-1060

PIZZA SUPPLIES

The Marsal MB Series is designed to fit your restaurant’s specific needs. Not only is it equipped with our exclusive burner system and 2” thick brick cooking surface to ensure the most evenly baked crust, but it looks great too. You can customize the exterior decor of your MB Series oven easily either with our prebuilt finishing kits or your own brick of tile design. Attract customers with a great looking oven and a great tasting pizza.

Seƫng the new standard. visit us online at www.marsalsons.com

(631) 226-6688 FAX (631) 226-6890

& sons, inc. Pizza Ovens and Equipment

PLASTIC DOUGH CONTAINERS

Non Stick • Easy to Clean • FDA Approved Plastic Heavy Weight • Last 10X longer than metal! Replace your dented ones TODAY ! Manufacturers’ Direct Pricing For free* sample email us at:

SunsetPlastics@aol.com

(*Does NOT include postage & handling)

Call Vito:

718-200-1013

PIZZA PEELS PRINTING

BEST CHOICE PRINT & MARKETING EXPERTS ...................... For over 25 Years Best Prices & Quality: ..........................Menus, Flyers, Door hangers, Post Cards Print & Mail, Menus or Postcards .............................. Includes postage 27.5 ea WWW.bcms.US ............................................................. or call 800-783-0990 COMMERCIAL PRINTING • MAIL FULFILLMENT SERVICES

8999

$ www.colorvisionprint.com • 800-543-6299

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Per 1,000 Postcards, 5x7, 2-color


PMQ Industry Resource Guide PRINTING, CONT.

PRINTING, CONT.

REFRIGERATION

SPECIALTY FOODS CASTELLA IMPORTS, INC. ............................................... www.castella.com 60 Davids Drive, Hauppauge, NY 11788 ....................................... 866-Castella

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide SPICE FORMULATION, BLENDING & PACKAGING

TOMATO PRODUCTS

CALIFORNIA BLENDING, INC. ........ Confidential Custom Blending & Packaging. Bill Mooreheart, Jr. ....................... Serving Industiral Spice needs since 1976. 2603 Seaman, El Monte, CA 91733.............................................626-448-1918 CASTELLA IMPORTS, INC. ............................................... www.castella.com 60 Davids Drive, Hauppauge, NY 11788 ....................................... 866-Castella MCCLANCY SEASONING ........................... One Spice Road, Fort Mill, SC 29707 Contact: Dominic Damore 800-843-1968 .................................................................info@mcclancy.com

SAUCE ARMANINO FOODS ..............................................................Fine Italian Sauces 30588 San Antonio Street, Haywood, CA ..................................... 866-553-5611 Email: customerservice@armaninofoods.com ......... www.armaninofoods.com

TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES/SERVICE Specializing in voice and data communications service, repair, installation, sequencers and on-hold messaging.

GUARANTEED LOWEST INDUSTRY PRICE!

STICKY NOTES

www.fidelitycom.com.........................800-683-5600

VENTILATION

TAKE AND BAKE TRAYS

WINGS

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Resource Guide Advertiser Index April 2012 Resource Advertiser

Phone

Page

411eat.com..........................................................213-622-4247 ............................. 77 AFC Insurance ......................................................800-411-4144 ............................. 74 Allied Metal Spinning ...........................................800-615-2266 ............................. 78 AM Manufacturing ..............................................800-342-6904 ............................. 78 American Institute of Baking ................................785-537-4910 ............................. 70 American Wholesale.............................................216-426-8882 ............................. 79 Armanino Foods ...................................................866-553-5611 ............................. 80 Arrow POS ............................................................888-378-3338 ............................. 70 Bacio ................................................................... 855-BACIO85 .............................. 70 Bag Solutions.......................................................866-224-8646 ........................76, 77 Baker’s Quality Pizza Crusts ..................................800-846-6153 ............................. 71 Bay State Milling ..................................................800-55-FLOUR ............................. 72 Belissimo .............................................................800-813-2974 ............................. 73 Best Choice Print & Marketing Experts ..................800-783-0990 ........................78, 79 Best Point of Sale .................................................866-285-7613 ............................. 71 Burke Corporation ................................................800-654-1152 ............................. 75 California Blending ..............................................626-448-1918 ............................. 80 Campus Collection ................................................800-289-8904 ............................. 70 Caputo .................................................................868-450-0090 ............................. 70 Castella Imports ...................................................866-CASTELLA ............................. 79 Chef a la Mode .....................................................888-804-3375 ............................. 70 Chef Santo Bruno .................................................813-230-8108 ............................. 71 Color Vision ..........................................................800-543-6299 ........................75, 78 CoverTex ..............................................................800-968-2310 ........................77, 79 Crust Saver ...........................................................877-437-4903 ............................. 77 Dakota Prarie Flour ..............................................701-324-4330 ............................. 72 DeIorio’s...............................................................800-649-9212 ............................. 71 Domata Living Flour .............................................417-654-4010 ............................. 72 Dough Xpress .......................................................800-835-0606 ............................. 72 DoughMate ..........................................................800-501-2450 ............................. 72 Dutchess Bakers’ Machinery .................................800-777-4498 ............................. 72 Earthstone Ovens .................................................800-840-4915 ............................. 77 EDGE ....................................................................888-480-EDGE ............................. 77 Electric Hotbag.....................................................800-927-6787 ............................. 76 Escalon ................................................................ 888-ESCALON.............................. 80 Erica Record .........................................................973-614-8500 ............................. 72 Fidelity Communications ......................................800-683-5600 ............................. 80 Fish Oven & Equipment ........................................877-526-8720 ............................. 76 Fluid Media Group ................................................408-837-2346 ........................70, 72 Fontanini ............................................................ 800-331-MEAT ............................. 75 Forever Lids..........................................................815-494-1919 ............................. 77 FreePOSPlace.com ................................................800-856-5175 ............................. 71 GI. Metal ..............................................................630-553-9134 ............................. 76 Granbury Restaurant Solutions .............................800-910-3947 ............................. 70 Grande Cheese Company ..................................... 800-8-GRANDE ............................ 70 Hudson Refrigeration Manufacturing ...................800-924-8687 ............................ 74 iFranchise Group ..................................................708-957-2300 ............................. 73 Incredible Bags ....................................................888-254-9453 ............................. 76 J & G Mills ............................................................734-469-4504 ............................. 74 Krisp-It ................................................................800-590-7908 ............................. 75 Klondike Cheese ...................................................608-325-3021 ............................. 70 La Nova............................................................... 800-6-LANOVA............................. 80 Le 5 Stagioni ........................................................800-780-2280 ............................. 72 Liguria Foods .......................................................800-925-1452 ............................. 75 Lillsun..................................................................260-356-6514 ............................. 78 Lindsay ................................................................800-252-3557 ............................. 75 Lloyd Pans............................................................800-840-8683 ............................. 78

Resource Advertiser

Phone

Page

M.Press Packaging ...............................................541-548-9889 ............................. 80 Magnetic Ad Concepts ..........................................800-365-3351 ............................. 74 Mario Camacho Foods...........................................800-881-4534 ............................. 75 Marsal & Sons ......................................................631-226-6688 .................. 74, 77, 78 McClancy Seasoning .............................................800-843-1968 ............................. 80 Melissa Data ........................................................800-635-4772 ............................. 74 Menu Powerhouse ...............................................888-210-8189 ............................. 79 MenuPro ..............................................................800-907-3690 ............................. 71 Message On Hold..................................................800-392-4664 ............................. 77 MFG Tray ..............................................................800-458-6050 ............................. 72 Microworks POS Solutions.....................................800-787-2068 ............................. 71 Molino Caputo .....................................................201-368-9197 ............................. 72 Mountain Harvest Pizza Crust ...............................800-342-6205 ............................. 71 Moving Targets ............................................. 800-926-2451 ext. 356 ..................... 75 Mr. Peel ...............................................................888-994-4664 ............................. 78 Musco Family Olive ...............................................800-523-9828 ............................. 75 Neil Jones Food ....................................................800-291-3862 ............................. 80 NMI .....................................................................800-994-4664 ............................. 78 Northern Pizza Equipment....................................800-426-0323 ............................. 74 NoteAds ...............................................................800-309-9102 ............................. 80 Off the Wall Magnetics .........................................800-337-2637 ............................. 74 Pacific Coast Producers .........................................800-510-3706 ............................. 80 P.A. Products ........................................................884-421-1060 ............................. 78 PDQ Signature Systems ........................................877-968-6430 ............................. 71 Peel A Deal...........................................................877-563-5654 ............................. 75 Peerless Ovens .....................................................800-548-4514 ............................. 77 Picard ..................................................................800-668-1883 ............................. 77 Pizza Dough .........................................................718-951-3555 ............................. 71 Pizza Ovens.com...................................................877-367-6836 ............................. 77 POSnet ................................................................866-976-7638 ............................. 71 Portion Padl .........................................................330-608-5928 ............................. 71 Presto Foods ........................................................800-589-8604 ............................. 73 Proxprint .............................................................888-310-7769 ............................. 79 Red Gold ....................................................... 877-908-9798 ext. 163....................... 80 Redi Heat .............................................................888-556-2024 ............................. 77 Restaurant Depot .................................................................................................... 73 Ruxter .................................................................800-923-1953 ........................75, 76 Saputo .................................................................800-824-3388 ............................. 70 Somerset .............................................................800-772-4404 ............................. 72 SpeedLine ............................................................888-400-9185 ............................. 72 Stanislaus Food Products ......................................800-327-7201 ............................. 80 Star Pizza Box ......................................................800-626-0828 ............................. 77 Sugar Creek Packing .............................................800-848-8205 ............................. 75 Sunset Plastics .....................................................878-200-1013 ............................. 78 T&T Graphics .......................................................800-557-9914 ............................. 79 Tasti Grain............................................................315-624-2748 ............................. 73 Tasty Breads.........................................................888-352-7323 ............................. 71 The Pizza Maker ...................................................248-363-1887 ............................. 73 Thermal Bags by Ingrid.........................................800-622-5560 ............................. 76 Thunderbird .........................................................800-7-MIXERS ............................. 73 Timeforge ............................................................866-684-8791 ............................. 74 Univex .................................................................800-258-6358 ............................. 75 Ventilation Direct .................................................866-433-8335 ............................. 80 Vesuvio Foods ......................................................800-997-0887 ............................. 73 Wood Stone .........................................................800-988-8103 ............................. 77 World Wide Safe Brokers.......................................800-593-2893 ............................. 80 XLT.......................................................................888-443-3751 ............................. 78

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(

time capsule

)

Aurelio’s Pizza This once-modest operation evolved into the self-proclaimed world’s largest pizzeria—and a multistate franchise. After Joe Aurelio Jr. got a loan for $2,500 to buy a struggling four-seat pizzeria in Homewood, Illinois, in 1959, business was initially slow at Aurelio’s Pizza (aureliospizza.com). He kept afloat through sales of his beef sandwiches—only six or seven pizzas were usually sold in an evening—but made some adjustments to his pizza dough and sauce after a couple of years; and by the mid-1960s, business was swinging, with a line of customers frequently stretching outside the door. Aurelio’s soon expanded by taking over a second storefront, and by 1977 0 Meanwhile, Mea eanw nwhi hillee, the business had moved into a 12,000-square-foot building that seated 600. ns Joe Jr. began to sell franchises in 1974, a decision that has grown Aurelio’s to 43 locations in six states. “My dad did everything in those early days of the pizzeria,” recounts Joee Aurelio III, current president of Aurelio’s and Joe Jr.’s son. “He wanted to be an achiever.. He believed in keeping it simple and not doing more than what you’re good at.” But Joe Jr. was also an innovator. He helped develop a sausage dispenser that would take the manpower out of sausage prep, which proved especially handy at Aurelio’s since Joe III says 98% of all pizzas sold at the restaurant—which serves up to 8,000 customers per week—feature sausage. Today, the company guarantees both consistency and uniqueness by branding its main products, which are made to the Aurelio’s specifications by suppliers; making its own sausage; and distributing supplies out of a commissary, allowing the franchise to keep food costs low through bulk purchasing. Although the pizza may have remained essentially the same for 50-plus years—and pizza now makes up 75% to 80% of sales—efforts to evolve with the changing times have helped attract new generations of Aurelio’s fans. Kirk Mauriello, Aurelio’s director of franchising, has recently coordinated radio and billboard ads to increase brand re re recognition, and the company garnered more th 10,000 fans within a year of starting its th than F Facebook page. “Sales were up 6% last year,” Mauriello notes. “Our goal is s simply to price our product profitably and stay competitive.” Meanwhile, Joe III, after spending a lifetime in the pizza business, still lives b his dad’s creed: Stick to basics, offer top-notch food and customer service, by a give back to the community. “Believe in your product, and never skimp and o quality,” he advises. “And be a giver, not just a taker. When you give back on t the local community, you’ll feel the love in return.” –Tracy Morin to (Clockwise from top) Joe Aurelio poses in front of his first store; Joe shows off his famous sausage pizza; Joe’s aunt Eleanor serves up pasta at the original Aurelio’s location.

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Has your pizzeria been in business for 50 or more years? If so, contact us at tracy@pmq.com.




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