BELLISSIMO CHICKEN WINGS

IT’S WING SEASON!

Chicken wings are back on the menu, and with wing season right around the corner, it’s time to stock up!

Deep fried and deliciously crunchy, you can count on Bellissimo wings for a tender juicy bite every time. All Bellissimo chicken wing options have been perfectly seasoned giving you the quality and consistency you can count on to deliver superb taste to your customers at a generous margin for yourself.

Add any Bellissimo fully cooked, breaded, unbreaded, or steam cooked chicken wings to your menu and you will have customers coming back for more! Serve naked or with your favorite sauce, Bellissimo Wings are guaranteed to leave a lasting impression.

Visit Bellissimo.com to find your local source of our full line of chicken wing options and more great Bellissimo Italian favorites.

Usa Claims Two Pizza World Records

The Italians know pizza better than anyone, but leave it to Americans to go bigger. Two international records were set by the United States in the same week in January. Andolini’s Pizzeria, headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, threw the world’s largest pizza party on January 21, drawing 3,357 people to the University of Tulsa prior to a basketball game against Tulane University. That effort more than tripled the previous record of 1,046 attendees, set by a group of Italians in Rome in September 2019. A few days earlier, Pizza Hut teamed up with YouTube personality Airrack (Eric Decker) on January 18 to build the world’s largest pizza, which spanned 13,990 square feet. Spurred by Airrack, who was celebrating the achievement of reaching 10 million subscribers on YouTube, the Americans bested a group of pizzaioli from NIPfood in Rome, who set their record of 13,580 square feet in December 2012. Andolini’s record-breaking event is particularly impressive, since the chain has only five stores, proving that small pizza companies can accomplish big goals. “It was my dumb idea,” co-owner Mike Bausch told KTUL. “I think the beauty of life is doing things to do them and for the joy of accomplishment.”

ARE YOU AN INNIE OR AN OUTIE?

Lou Malnati’s, the beloved pizza institution in Chicago, started shipping its iconic thin-crust pizzas nationwide in mid-January with an attention-grabbing contest that posed a quirky question: “Are you an innie or an outie?” The chain’s owner, Marc Malnati, said customers have debated for years “whether their favorite piece of the square-cut thin-crust pizza is on the inside or the outside. We thought it’s time we invite the rest of America to choose their side as well.” It’s a tough choice: The “innie” pieces boast more toppings, while the “outies” tantalize taste buds with that buttery, flaky-edge crust. To encourage fans to weigh in, the chain gave away 3,000 free pizzas to consumers who took its “Innie vs. Outie” survey online. Whatever their preference, Lou Malnati’s fans can now order the pies through the chain’s Tastes of Chicago platform, which also offers Malnati’s deep-dish pizzas, Vienna Beef hot dog kits, desserts and more.

NO MAT TER WHERE YOU’RE FROM

Mike’s Hot Honey started out of a pizzeria in Brooklyn 12 years ago, creating a whole new category of pizza topping that has been called a gamechanger by pizza fans and spawned best-selling menu items for pizzerias nationwide. Request a sample today to see what all the buzz is about.

www.mikeshothoney.com/sample

Putting Trust In Crust

Pizza lovers in Miami have been putting their trust in Crust since 2015. But the restaurant, owned by Klime and Anita Kovaceski and featured on PMQ’s April 2018 cover, is more than a beloved local pizzeria. It has become a national phenomenon, recently landing on Yelp’s “Top 100 Places to Eat” list for the second year in a row. That’s in addition to being named to The Daily Meal’s “101 Best Pizzas in America” list in 2020 and OpenTable’s “Top 100 Restaurants in America” roster in 2019. How do they do it? It goes without saying that the food (Klime’s specialty) and service (Anita’s purview) are top-notch, but the Kovaceskis also reach out to and work with the news media. In 2017, they even landed a feature in The Wall Street Journal. They’re prescient, too. When the pandemic hit, they launched Crust2Go, a small, laid-back café-like space just for carryout customers, in late 2020. At the time, Klime, in an interview with the Miami New Times, predicted, “Even when this is all behind us, I believe that a big portion of the restaurant business will remain based on off-site dining experiences. People will get used to the convenience.” Most importantly, the Kovaceskis love what they do. “I graduated [from college] in restaurant and hotel management,” Klime tells PMQ. “So, for me, interaction with my guests, employees and suppliers is everything.” What’s his best piece of advice for other restaurateurs? “Always break your old habits,” he says. “Never think that you know everything. Go to work with one thing on your mind: What is it that I can learn today that I didn’t know yesterday?”

Return To Sender

California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) has been turning thank-you cards into repeat business with a promotion that started in mid-January and runs through April 23. Dine-in and carryout customers receive sealed envelopes with thank-you cards that also feature a secret prize that can be redeemed on a future visit. But there’s a catch: The envelopes have to be returned, unopened, to a CPK restaurant, where a manager unseals them and reveals the prize. The prizes include discounts off a meal, free pizza for a year, a trip for two to California, and cash awards from $500 to $50,000. As a bonus, guests who sign up to join CPK’s loyalty program during the promotion receive a $5 award and a free small plate. CPK welcomed a new CEO, Jeff Warne, last December, and is gearing up for its next phase of growth, with special attention paid to building up its CPK Rewards program and opening new stores overseas.