Pigging Out

BY TRACY MORIN

Everyoneknows that pepperoni is the king of pizza toppings in the United States—though, in some regions, sausage takes the top slot (looking at you, Chicago!). Both of these options will likely always be mainstays of your menu. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t branch out into different pork toppings as a way to create unforgettable specialty pies that help you stand out from the competition. Here, pizza chefs around the country share how they’re using a variety of less-expected pork products with memorable (and profitable) results. Prepare to be inspired!

Anna Crucitt, owner, Mercurio’s Artisan Gelato & Neapolitan Pizza, Pittsburgh, PA

We try to keep a pretty traditional menu, but hopefully we can encourage some pizza makers to try something new. One of my favorite pies we make is called the Porchetta. We use a savory and fatty porchetta roast that has a garlic, rosemary and slight fennel flavor. It’s a white pie, with the porchetta laid on the crust; then we lightly cover it with a homemade burrata cheese. We add a little mascarpone to make it creamy and sprinkle with oregano before it goes in the oven. Once the pizza is cooked, we add crushed peppercorn and a drizzle of olive oil.

We also use prosciutto cotto on our Romana pizza (with tomato sauce and our housemade mozzarella cheese) and inside of our calzone. We slice the meat a bit thicker than you would normally buy it, then chop it from there, so that the meat isn’t lost on the pie. I also think a thicker piece cooks better in the oven. For the Romana pizza, we write the description on the menu as “cooked Italian ham” to give our customers a better idea of what type of meat they’re getting. Our calzone has the prosciutto cotto, ricotta cheese, a little bit of tomato sauce, mozzarella and sauteed mushrooms. The cotto meat is perfect for cooking inside of the calzone.

Lee Hunzinger, owner, PizzaLee33

Consulting,

World Pizza Champions team member and Caputo Cup champion, Addison, TX

I like to use ’nduja, a spicy, spreadable pork sausage from the Calabria region in southern Italy. There are many ways to use or infuse it into any pizza, but I like to mix it with ricotta cheese—it lends an incredible smokiness. It will tint the color to beige, and the ricotta takes on an entirely different flavor. I also like to make jams/marmalades out of pork, which reimagines even traditional meats. Recently, at a trade show, I made some spicy pepperoni marmalade/jam. After making a classic New York-style white pizza, I added some of the jam post-bake. We do not want to “cook” the jam, which has sugar in it (as well as onions, garlic, roasted jalapeños, etc.) and could burn on a pizza with a longer bake. We received many compliments on this pizza over the three-day show!

Extra Credit

Anna Crucitt, owner of Pittsburgh-based Mercurio’s Artisan Gelato & Neapolitan Pizza, shares some additional tips for working with—and marketing— lesser-known pork toppings:

Cooking and texture: We offer the option of adding prosciutto crudo to any pizza after it is cooked, but one of our best-selling pies is called the Pizza del Re, which is made with a mascarpone truffle spread, sauteed mushrooms and our housemade mozzarella. After the pizza is cooked, we lay the prosciutto crudo on top. Some of our guests ask us to cook the prosciutto on the pizza to give it a crispy texture, and we will do that for them, but I prefer the prosciutto to be soft with this pizza. We generally like to pair these soft meats with a softer cheese, like burrata, ricotta or mascarpone. I just like how the texture pairs with our crust.

Marketing and sales: We add pictures of these pizzas to our online menu, on Google, and on our social media so that customers can see what the pie looks like. A quality picture will help sell the pizza. Also, if you use a quality meat that has a lot of flavor, you don’t generally need a lot of it. Pairing a quality meat with a high-margin ingredient helps the overall profit margin. But people shouldn’t be afraid to charge what the ingredients are worth. If they’re in a market that isn’t as familiar with these types of pork, maybe try doing a special pizza, to start educating their customers. Once people try it, it’s what they’ll come back for!

Blaine Parker, author, Free the Pizza!

For nontraditional pork toppings, one of my go-tos is smoked hog jowl. It’s the poor man’s guanciale. People always look at me like I’m crazy when I say this, but then they go and pay 30 times the price for imported guanciale. (The word “guanciale” literally translates as “jowl.” What more do you need to know?)

Slice it thin, and it’s great. We also use andouille sausage, boudin and Tasso. We usually pair these with other Creoleor Cajun-friendly toppings. We like hot peppers, sometimes crawfish tails or shrimp, and fresh herbs and scallions as garnishes. The boudin is a head-turner when you put it on pizza with a vodka sauce and some fresh garlic.

Custom, native online ordering... Direct integration online ordering...

Enzo Algarme, co-founder, Pupatella (8 locations in Virginia and Washington, D.C.)

Pepperoni, sausage, bacon and ham are definitely the top meat options that Americans love, but in Italy, it’s all about cured meats and sausage. We’re an award-winning Neapolitan pizzeria (named in the “10 Best Pizza Places in the U.S.” by TODAY), and I personally love pizza with porchetta, brisket and even pulled pork. But you have to be really talented to pull it off, because these can often make the pizza too rich and heavy. You have to start with a well-executed product with great flavor and make sure to not overload the pizza. It’s also important to pair these toppings with something fresh and light, like balsamic glaze or fresh lemon or lime zest. Pickled red onions and/or pickled veggies can also be used to cut the grease of the meats, and a mild cheese is great to let the flavors of these unique meats really shine.

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor and the editor of PizzaVegan.com.

THE EVER-POPULAR PIG

If you’re not already a dork for pork, here’s a quick rundown of some of the classic Italian meats.

Capicola and Coppa: These are very similar dry-cured meats that hail from different regions of Italy and are taken from the neck muscle of a pig. Sometimes sweet and sometimes spicy, they’re versatile and great with anything from salads to cheese plates to sandwiches. (As fans of The Sopranos may recall, capicola is sometimes pronounced “gabagool.”)

Lardo: Taken from the fatback of a pig and cured with herbs and spices, lardo has a rich, creamy, fatty flavor and pairs well with other bold flavors on pizza or bruschetta.

Mortadella: Ground pork is mixed with lardon, pepper and often pistachios to make this popular Italian sandwich meat. Some call it Italy’s version of bologna.

Pancetta: Like bacon, but cured and not smoked, pancetta is taken from pork belly, seasoned with salt and pepper, and hung to cure within a casing. Unlike prosciutto, which is often served uncooked, pancetta requires cooking. It’s great cubed and served over salads and pastas and in soups.

Prosciutto: Taken from the hind leg of a pig (sometimes boar), prosciutto is dry-cured and can be served cooked (cotto) or uncooked (crudo). Due to its traditional Italian flavor, many restaurateurs recommend prosciutto di Parma for use on meat and cheese plates and as a pizza topping. Prosciutto di San Daniele is another favorite that’s a little sweeter and darker in color.

Sopressata: Made from pork that’s ground into sausage, the flavor of this dry-cured meat—hot or not—depends on where it originated in Italy.

Some major brands have installed food pickup lockers to allow for streamlined, contactless to-go orders. Would they benefit your pizzeria?

BY TRACY MORIN | PHOTOS COURTESY LITTLE CAESARS

While pizzeria owners pride themselves on providing the personal touch to customers— even when handling to-go orders—there are many people today who would rather not interact with human beings in the course of ordering and retrieving their food. And it’s these types of customers who are most likely to take advantage of food pickup lockers installed in pizzerias—technology that major brands like Detroit-based Little Caesars are investing in.

“Little Caesars has a legacy of innovation, and we are always focused on how to make customers’ lives easier,” explains Patrick Cunningham, vice president of U.S. development. “We revolutionized the pizza industry nearly 20 years ago with the introduction of Hot-N-Ready, and the Pizza Portal pickup—the first heated, self-service mobile order pickup station in the restaurant industry—was a natural next step.”

The Pros

of Pickup

Lockers Cunningham notes that through this innovation, which was launched in 2018, Little Caesars execs wanted to combine the convenience of mobile ordering and pre-payment with heated self-service pickup to create a new experience for QSR customers, offering guests value, convenience and quality. “Through direct-to-consumer marketing, as well as in-store, digital and TV advertising, along with PR, we quickly spread the word, and our nationwide rollout was extremely successful,” Cunningham adds. “Our proprietary Pizza Portal pickup is now available at nearly all North American locations.”

Mary King, an independentrestaurant adviser and senior staff writer for restaurants at Fit Small Business in New York, believes that pickup lockers are helpful for pizzerias, too—and they’re not just for hurried customers who want to grab and go.

“They’re a great way for independent pizza shop owners to expand their sales without increasing labor costs,” King says. “And, as with any digital-enabled tool, most of these locker systems log data—so you can drill down to granular details like the average time orders sit in the locker, peak order times, and other data points that can help you streamline or grow your operation.”

For example, King says, your locker system might confirm that most of your orders come in a short window, such as the lunch-hour rush. So it might be worthwhile for you to spread out these orders, perhaps by offering a discount or complimentary item for orders that arrive before or after that window. “The lockers also hold your food at safe serving temperatures,” King adds. “So if you receive orders in advance, your team can get ahead on the pickup orders before your in-store rushes happen. This can also reduce food waste by extending the amount of time the food is safe to eat, before it ‘dies.’”

Cunningham points out that the Pizza Portal pickup option quickly emerged as one of the easiest ways for Little Caesars guests to access the brand. They simply order and pay ahead via the brand’s mobile app or website, then pick up their purchase in-store. “Once the order is placed, the app will notify guests when their order is ready,” Cunningham explains. “When guests arrive in-store, they can bypass the counter and go directly to the Pizza Portal pickup, where they’ll be asked to input a three-digit PIN or scan a QR code.”

The door on the secured compartment will then open, and they can leave with their hot, fresh order in seconds. “The convenience is vital to today’s guest—they want to be able to access a brand as easily and efficiently as possible, and leave with their food as quickly as possible,” Cunningham notes. “From an operations perspective, the Pizza Portal pickup allows us to streamline ordering and reduce wait time for in-store orders, while contributing to digital sales. The Pizza Portal pickup offers guests a seamless transaction process. We have had an overwhelmingly positive response.”

Improving the Experience

To ensure the pickup locker experience is the best it can be, King recommends that operators set aside a designated pickup space, just like you would for a service counter, ensuring that you leave enough room around the unit for customer flow in and out and for line-forming. “And don’t forget to account for the width of the open locker doors—you want other customers to be able to easily navigate around people who are picking up a locker order,” King says. “It’s a great idea to set up your locker system near a little-used building entrance, to spread the customer traffic around your shop. And if you have the budget, a digital menu board showing what orders are ready, along with their locker number, is a great way to keep waiting customers informed about their order status (and keep your cashiers from fielding a ton of ‘Can you check on my order?’ questions).”

Then, for your staff, you can streamline the pickup locker workflow by integrating your lockers with your POS and online ordering platforms. King notes that a lot of locker manufacturers will build a custom integration for you that assigns a locker number to orders as they arrive, reducing guesswork and user error.

Thus, the first thing an operator needs is the budget for the locker system and installation (which may require the help of a carpenter and/or electrician). “The main disadvantage to pickup lockers is the up-front cost—they can be pretty high, from around $5,000 for a simple heated holding shelf without lockers, up to more than $15,000 for a unit with heated lockers and a touchscreen to enter custom codes to unlock the individual lockers,” King explains. “If you don’t have the proper electrical outlets and a sturdy countertop or wall mount to secure the unit, you’ll need to budget for additional construction costs. It’s not unusual for a system like this to cost more than $20,000, all-in. But depending on where you source your unit, you may be able to finance some of the purchase or work out a plan to spread payments over several months.”

You’ll also need to budget for higher electric bills whenever you have the unit running, King adds—so the ongoing costs can definitely be prohibitive for some smaller operators. Ultimately, just like any other service or product you’re adding, do the math to determine when you might see a return on your investment, and make sure it’s an option that your customers are going to take full advantage of.