PMQ Pizza Media - September 2023

• Savings up to $7,000 monthly per store

• Makes 100-300 pizzas per hour

• Supported pizza sizes: 8”–16”

• Makes a 16” pepperoni pie in under 50 seconds

• 15-minute installation

• No-pain training

• Quick, easy setup and cleaning

• Food-grade materials

This Bipartisan Bill Could Save You Money On Credit Card Fees

The Credit Card Competition Act would address the problem of “out-of-control” processing fees, according to the National Restaurant Association.

pmq.com/credit-card-competition-act

Barboncino Becomes New York’s First Unionized Pizzeria

In a historic move, employees at the acclaimed Brooklyn pizza shop, backed by Workers United, voted unanimously on July 26 to form a union.

pmq.com/barboncino-workers-union

How to Make a Better-Tasting Pizza Sauce

If you want to add more flavor to your pizza, a few tweaks to your tomato-based sauce will probably give you the biggest bang for your buck.

pmq.com/better-tasting-pizza-sauce

Pizza Hut AI Scanner Knows the Right Food for Your Mood

As part of a high-tech marketing campaign, Pizza Hut India is using a “mood detector” to recommend pizzas for customers at select locations.

pmq.com/pizza-hut-india-mood-detector

Registration Now Open for USPT’S Galbani

Professionale Pizza Cup

With a focus on Galbani cheese, the pizza making competition will take place November 8 to 9 at the Pizza Tomorrow Summit in Orlando, Florida.

pmq.com/galbani-cup-2023

CONTENT

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Rick Hynum rhynum@wtwhmedia.com

SENIOR EDITOR

Charlie Pogacar cpogacar@wtwhmedia.com

SENIOR COPY EDITOR

Tracy Morin tmorin@wtwhmedia.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR/USPT COORDINATOR

Brian Hernandez bhernandez@wtwhmedia.com

VP, ASSOCIATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Allison Dean adean@wtwhmedia.com

VP, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Greg Sanders gsanders@wtwhmedia.com

ART & PRODUCTION

ART DIRECTOR

Eric Summers esummers@wtwhmedia.com

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR

Tory Bartelt tbartelt@wtwhmedia.com

DIGITAL PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Blake Harris bharris@wtwhmedia.com

BRANDED CONTENT STUDIO

DIRECTOR, BRANDED CONTENT

Peggy Carouthers pcarouthers@wtwhmedia.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, BRANDED CONTENT

Kara Phelps kphelps@wtwhmedia.com

SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

PUBLISHER

Steve Green sgreen@wtwhmedia.com

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER

Linda Green lgreen@wtwhmedia.com

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Tom Boyles tboyles@wtwhmedia.com

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Ashley Cyprien acyprien@wtwhmedia.com

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Jerry Moschella jmoschella@wtwhmedia.com

NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR

Eugene Drezner edrezner@wtwhmedia.com

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

Brandy Pinion bpinion@wtwhmedia.com

EVENTS & PROMOTIONS

FALL 2023

Industry Events

QSR Evolution Conference

September 6-7

Produced by QSR magazine, this conference, taking place in Atlanta, is the only event focused solely on the needs of quick-service restaurant operators. Topics will include Fast-Casual Growth— Startup to Sustainability; Growth and Franchising; Labor, Leadership and a Changing Consumer; and Technology, Drive-Thru and an Omnichannel World. Keynote speakers include Andrew Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A, and other industry leaders.

Learn more at qsrevolutionconference.com

Food Service Technology Conference

September 13-15

Taking place at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, this year’s FSTEC event connects restaurant operators with the latest cutting-edge foodservice technologies. Eight forums feature industry experts and visionaries who are leading the way in implementing unique solutions to restaurants’ biggest challenges while speakers and keynoters provide insights to help attendees leverage technology to increase sales and profits.

Learn more at fstec.com

Pizza Tomorrow Summit

November 8-9

Movers and shakers of the pizza world will once again converge in Orlando, Florida, for the Pizza Tomorrow Summit, taking place in the Orange County Convention Center. Explore hundreds of exhibitors showcasing a wide range of products as well as a robust conference program, live cooking demos and a U.S. Pizza Team competition. The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show will be co-located with this year’s event, making it bigger and better than ever.

Learn more at pizzatomorrow.com

Restaurant Finance and Development Conference

November 13-15

Produced by Restaurant Finance Monitor, this event will be held at the Bellagio Las Vegas. It’s all about the business side of the restaurant business, offering an opportunity to get up to speed with what’s happening in the restaurant industry and capital markets. Attendees

gain key insights through expert-led educational sessions covering a wide variety of financial, economic, accounting, technology, strategy and restaurant operations topics. Learn more at restfinance.com/rfdc

Promote This!

September: National Family Meals Month

National Family Meals Month is all about bringing people together over food, and no food is more family-friendly than pizza. Celebrate it with strategically priced family deals and bundles for dine-in, carryout and delivery. Emphasize your kids menu or create a few specials (cheese pizza or spaghetti and meatballs) just for them. Better yet, turn a slow night into a moneymaker with a weekly kids-eat-free promotion.

DON’T FORGET THESE NATIONAL FOOD AND BEVERAGE DAYS IN SEPTEMBER 2023!

National Cheese Pizza Day

Tuesday, September 5

National Beer Lovers Day

Thursday, September 7

National Eat a Hoagie Day

Thursday, September 14

National Linguine Day

Friday, September 15

National Pepperoni Pizza Day

Wednesday, September 20

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POP STAR POP-UP IN PITTSBURGH

Fans of Ed Sheeran got the “shivers” when the superstar showed up at Caliente Pizza & Drafthouse in Crafton, Pennsylvania, on July 8. Sheeran, scheduled for a concert in Pittsburgh that night, was there to promote his new hot sauce, Tingly Ted’s, which Caliente’s pizza makers used to craft their Buffalo chicken pizzas that day. He also admitted to owner Nick Bogacz that his own homemade pizzas always turn out oval-shaped. Bogacz and his team taught him how to shape a round pie, and, in return, Sheeran gave away 100 concert tickets and 50 pizzas in carryout boxes bearing his famous face. How did Bogacz pull off this marketing feat? It helps that he has five pizza stands at Acrisure Stadium, where Sheeran was performing. “Back in March…they asked us if we could make a pizza for his Mathematics Tour and launch it for Pi Day,” Bogacz told TribLive.com. “So we did that. So, then, last Friday, they called and said, ‘Hey, Ed wants to come by, and would you host him for a pop-up at one of your locations?’” Wisely, Bogacz did not say no. Sheeran’s appearance—heralded by a post on his Instagram account—drew hordes of elated fans and made news across the state. “It was cool—wonderful guy,” Bogacz told TribLive.com. “[It was] very gracious of him to come here and bless a small business like he did today.”

A TASTE OF OLD POMPEII

The discovery of a still-life fresco that seemed to depict a pizza from ancient Pompeii garnered headlines around the world in June. Not to be outdone, renowned Italian pizza chef Gino Sorbillo made news of his own that same month when he recreated the 2,000-year-old food item at his newest restaurant, La Locanda della Canonica Pizzeria by Gino Sorbillo, on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. To be accurate, the “pizza” featured in the fresco is likely focaccia or flatbread, since pizza as we know it didn’t yet exist in 79 A.D. So what? Sorbillo made his own pizza version, combining Neapolitan pizza making techniques with ingredients from the Roman era, like spinach, pomegranate, anchovies, walnuts and olives. He even invited Gabriel Zuchtrigel, the director of archaeological excavations at the Pompeii site, to sample the pie. “The discovery represents an invaluable historical and cultural event,” Sorbillo said in a Facebook post. “The simple preparation [of the pizza] was emotional, too. And it’s so good!”

Famed Italian pizzaiolo Gino Sorbillo took inspiration from a 2,000-yearold fresco to create the Pompeii Pizza.

Caliente Pizza owner Nick Bogacz taught Sheeran how to make a round pizza before the pop star handed out pizzas to the restaurant’s elated customers.

USHERING IN THE AI AGE

Good social media interns are hard to find. So Cicis Pizza, with 277 locations around the country, turned to AI for its latest hire. Starting in July, the chain began employing ChatGPT-4 and Midjourney, a pair of cutting-edge AI tools, to create its Instagram and Facebook posts. “The visuals were created in Midjourney with an assist from the new Photoshop Beta,” Stephanie Hoppe, Cicis’ chief marketing officer, told PMQ. “The copy was crafted in ChatGPT-4. The team has played around with various tools but found Midjourney and ChatGPT to be the most robust and user-friendly.” AI-generated art leans towards the surreal; characters might sport six fingers or caveman eyebrows. In one post, a football player leaps triumphantly above a crowd of fans, mouth open wide to bite into a floating pizza—even though he’s still wearing his helmet. To ensure branding consistency, some posts featured Cicis’ mascot, C.C. Pazzini, and its 28” behemoth of a specialty pizza, the Piezilla. And each boasted a trio of hashtags: #CicisAITakeover, #MadeByAI and #AI. “AI is in its buzzy honeymoon phase right now, and it’s a great tool,” Hoppe says. “But that’s what it is, a tool, and it still requires creative ideas and input. So in that regard, we’ll likely find ourselves tapping into this and other emerging technologies moving forward, but this ‘intern’ isn’t taking anyone’s job anytime soon!”

WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU LEMONS

It’s been a long, hot summer, so the timing couldn’t have been better for the newest location of Song E’ Napule, on Houston Street in New York City, to open a lemonade stand. Wait, a lemonade stand? Yes—Neapolitan lemonade, to be exact.

Owner Ciro Iovine says he’s the first to bring “limonata a cosce aperte” (translated as “lemonade to drink with open thighs”) to the U.S. The cart, situated next to the outdoor dining tables, serves an ice-cold drink made with freshly squeezed lemon juice and sparkling water, plus a pinch of baking soda, which makes the lemonade bubble up and overflow—hence the need to gulp it down quickly with your legs spread apart so they don’t get wet. The Houston Street store is Iovine’s fourth Song E’ Napule location. “I feel like I have finally reached my goal,” he says. “I truly feel at home here, and I hope that people will see it the same way.”

The marketing team at Cicis Pizza used Midjourney to create the image for its first AI-generated post on Instagram and Facebook in July.

New Yorkers can cool off on a hot summer’s day at Song E’ Napule’s Neapolitan lemonade stand on Houston Street.

Founder Ciro Iovine and his wife, Austria, enjoy a tender moment after opening the fourth location of Song E’ Napule.

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GALBANI® SCRUMPTIOUS S’MORES PIZZA

INGREDIENTS

Pizza:

• 1 c. heavy whipping cream

• 1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract

• 1 c. confectioners’ sugar

• 1 tbsp. olive oil (for brushing)

• 12-14 oz. pizza dough (makes one 12” round pie)

• 16 oz. Galbani

Mascarpone, softened to room temperature

• 1 c. chocolate hazelnut spread, softened to room temperature

• 2 tbsp. melted unsalted butter (for brushing)

• 1 tbsp. crystalized raw sugar

• 1 c. large marshmallows

• Fresh mint leaves for garnish

• Chocolate hazelnut cigarette cookies (1 or 2, crushed) for garnish

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 500˚F.

2. Pour heavy cream and vanilla extract into a cold metal bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Then slowly add confectioners’ sugar while continuing to whip to soft peaks. Place in refrigerator.

3. Brush a 12” pizza pan with olive oil. Turn pizza dough onto pan and stretch out with your hands into an even thickness while making edges slightly thicker than the rest.

4. Bake pizza dough for about 10 minutes, until dough is slightly crisp at bottom and bakes through. Remove from oven and set aside.

5. Take whipped cream out of refrigerator and fold the Mascarpone into whipped cream until it is fully incorporated and the cream is slightly shiny. Place the Mascarpone cream mixture into the refrigerator.

6. Spread the pizza crust with chocolate hazelnut spread, leaving a 1” rim. Using a pastry brush, brush the pizza rim with melted butter and sprinkle crystalized raw sugar on top of the rim.

7. Place pizza back into the oven for 2 to 3 more minutes, until the pizza edges are golden and the chocolate hazelnut spread starts to melt.

8. Remove from the oven. With an offset spatula, carefully spread Mascarpone cream mixture on top of hazelnut spread, leaving a hazelnut spread border of about ¼”. Make sure to place Mascarpone cream on with a light hand, being careful to ensure the cream is floating on top of the chocolate hazelnut spread.

9. Place a mix of small and large marshmallows on top. Gently toast marshmallows in a wood-fired oven or under the broiler. Garnish with mint leaves and chocolate hazelnut cigarette cookie crumbs if desired. Serve immediately.

ABOUT THE PIZZA:

Celebrity chef Donatella Arpaia is giving your customers a way to enjoy a summertime classic all year long—no campfire needed! The sweet mix of chocolate hazelnut spread, along with the creamy, rich flavor of Galbani Mascarpone and the toasted goodness of gooey marshmallows, come together to make a delicious dessert pie that will keep ’em coming back for s’more!

DONATELLA’S TIP:

Add some drama to your dining room by using a handheld kitchen torch to toast the marshmallows tableside. Your guests will be amazed!

Recipe by Donatella Arpaia

A Positive Influence

In an exclusive Q&A on PMQ.com, Jim Mirabelli shares more marketing advice, describes the diversity of NEPA pizza styles and talks about his off-camera life as a leading industry influencer.

TRUE Influence 

As both a former pizzeria employee and the reviewer behind the NEPA Pizza Review website, Jim Mirabelli knows what your customers want—and how you can give it to them.

BY RICK HYNUM | PHOTOS BY KEITH PERKS, 1120 STUDIOS

Cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh get all the glory. But if you want to explore the real Pennsylvania, look to the northeast: the ski slopes of the Poconos, Triple-A baseball in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Houdini Museum, anthracite coal out the wazoo, not to mention some of the best pizza in the USA. And for the latter, let Jim Mirabelli and his website, NEPA Pizza Review, be your guide.

Jim Mirabelli founded the NEPA Pizza Review website to express himself creatively, never dreaming he’d become a leading pizza influencer.

When reviewing a pizza, Mirabelli rates the crust, sauce, cheese, flavor, bake and value. He then compares it to similar pizzas he’s tried before, which he tracks on a spreadsheet, before arriving at a final score.

Mirabelli will deny it—the man is exceedingly modest—but he’s pizza royalty in northeastern Pennsylvania, an influencer who can transform a restaurant’s business with a single review. And it’s hard to imagine that anyone knows more about the region’s pizza than he does. Remember that episode of The Office when Michael Scott orders from Pizza by Alfredo and Kevin compares the pie to a “hot circle of garbage”? Mirabelli would never make that mistake. If Pizza by Alfredo existed (which it doesn’t), he would have already tried it. And if Alfredo’s Pizza Café—recommended by most of the Dunder-Mifflin crew—existed, Mirabelli would have already reviewed it for his tens of thousands of followers. And his review would be incisive and detailed—none of that one-bite stuff for him. If the pizza’s good, Mirabelli tells you what makes it good, from the frico edge to the tang or sweetness of

the sauce. And if the pizza’s not good, well, he simply won’t review it. As the pizza industry’s goodwill ambassador of northeastern Pennsylvania, Mirabelli follows the old adage, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

The Accidental Influencer

Mirabelli didn’t set out to be a pizza influencer. He has a degree in accounting and an MBA, serving as the business administrator at Abington Heights School District in Clarks Summit. Throughout high school and college, Mirabelli toiled at pizza shops, washing dishes at first, then tossing dough and making pies. But “toiled”

isn’t quite the right term. He loved the work.

“I’ll just never forget how they treated me,” he reflects, fondly. “They never treated me like anything other than one of them. And they showed me everything I needed to know….We’re in the trenches together, and it’s just this love of the battle—Friday nights where you batten down the hatches and just churn out pizza. It was an amazing time with great camaraderie...and making people happy. I always treated every pizza I made as if I was making it for the president of the United States.”

Mirabelli loves his day job, too, and he always felt torn between pizza and number-crunching. The numbers won

“We need to start looking at our digital storefront as being more important than our physical storefront.”

out, but when his former co-workers at Dino and Francesco’s in Clarks Summit needed help, Mirabelli happily filled in. Then, in 2012, he founded NEPAPizzaReview.com, a blog that started out as a graduate school project. “It connected with me, so I turned in that assignment, but the urge to keep creating remained,” he recalls. “I never intended for anyone to read it. I didn’t have a goal other than to express myself creatively. I didn’t even tell my family or friends I was doing it.”

But the secret got out after Mirabelli gave a five-star review to a pizza shop and then heard from a buddy who was trying the place out. “He called me up and said, ‘Hey, man, I was just waiting in line at this pizza place, and the lady in front of me said there’s a guy who writes about pizza and he gave it five stars and that’s why she’s here to try it. You like pizza. You should check out the site.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s me.’ That was a cool moment where I said, ‘Oh, people are actually reading this thing.’ And to know I could send just one person to check out this pizza place was profound to me. It was just bizarre, because I never set out to do that.”

For nearly 10 years, though, Mirabelli still treated his blog as a hobby. “Early on, if I got seven clicks in a month, I was, like, ‘Whoa, somebody might have looked at that!’ But I always assumed it was a bot crawling my site. Today, I average about 10,000 unique visitors a month. So not bad. Not great, but not bad.”

But when his dad—a hard-working family man and truck driver—passed away last Christmas, Mirabelli’s mindset

shifted. “My dad would do anything for anybody,” he says. “You needed help with something, he was right there for you. He worked himself to the bone and sacrificed to make our lives better. So [NEPA Pizza Review] turned into a tribute to him and became a legacy project to build something that’s not just for me. I’m here to impact other folks’ lives in the way that my dad impacted ours.”

More Than Money

Like his dad, Mirabelli is a family man. First and foremost, he sees himself as a husband to his wife, Jaimie, and father to his daughter, Layla, and his son, Jack, soon to be 16 and 5, respectively. The kids have appeared in Mirabelli’s social media videos—Layla, in fact, is a natural in front of the camera. Mirabelli doesn’t feel quite so comfortable. “I don’t enjoy

“[NEPA Pizza Review] turned into a tribute to [my dad] and became a legacy project to build something that’s not just for me. I’m here to impact other folks’ lives in the way that my dad impacted ours.”

In a May 2023 collaboration with chef John Tabone, the co-owner of Bar Pazzo in Scranton, Mirabelli baked a pie on the rooftop of one of the city’s tallest buildings.

making videos,” he says. “I really don’t. But I know that’s the way to tell a story.”

And storytelling is what Mirabelli is all about. When he visits a pizzeria, he wants to know how they make their pizza—and, just as importantly, why. He doesn’t charge them a dime to review their shops. He pays for the pizza himself. He’s not in it for the money. But pizzeria owners need to make money, and, as an influencer, Mirabelli can help.

“I used to take a month off every year, usually in June or July,” he says. “But this year, instead of taking a month off, I ate a dozen different pizzas at different pizzerias. But I’m feeling a real impact. I’m hearing back from these pizzerias. One recently told me his pizza sales have doubled over the last two weeks after my review. And that just drives me to go find another great pizza and share it with people and keep getting those stories out there.”

A Customer’s Perspective

Mirabelli can teach pizzeria operators a thing or two as well. For starters, it’s mostly pizza lovers who follow him online. “I tell the restaurant owners: Read my threads, read the comments. It’s free pizza intel about what customers want. You don’t have to pay for it. If you could learn what 100 customers want you to do, it’s right there.”

But he’s also a pizzeria customer who dines out a lot. He sees what operators are doing right and what they’re doing wrong. So what’s his advice for you?

“I can vividly recall every pizza I've eaten in the last 10 years,” Mirabelli says. “I wish I could remember other things as well as I remember the pizza.”

Mirabelli focuses on the positive when he reviews restaurants like Armenti’s Pizzeria in Olyphant (top) and Rosario’s Pizzeria in Clarks Summit (bottom).

JIM MIRABELLI

• Think digitally. “We need to start looking at our digital storefront as being more important than our physical storefront. Your social media presence, your website, your Google listing, your Yelp—all of those need to stay updated. You invest so much in signage, in your dining room, in your people, and you should do that. But you are losing so many customers [without a strong digital presence]. There are so many places in my area that do not have a menu posted at all or, at least, not one from the past five years….People want to see your menu on Facebook. Literally, it takes 30 seconds. Take your menu off the holder, set it on the counter, take a picture of it, and hit post. That’s not the best way to do it, but it doesn’t cost you anything.”

• Think carefully about your social media posts. “If your only Facebook or Instagram photos are your daily specials, you’ve got yourself a problem. What are you known for? There’s no worse way to tell a story than to say, ‘I am Jim’s Pizzeria, I sell pizza, but here’s a photo of an omelet that I’m only going to sell one time in the existence of my menu.’ It’s more important to ask yourself, ‘What do I do best? What’s the long story?’ That’s what people are looking for online. When you see a post that gets one like or zero likes, it’s because it’s not engaging. It doesn’t tell any story. You’re just asking people to buy something. Tell them the story.”

• Don’t just post pretty pictures. “You also need to share the story behind the photo, and you don’t have to be a literary genius. Tell us where the recipe came from. How many versions did it take to get it right? What staff member inspired it? Did a customer ask for it? The next

time that customer comes in, give that person the pizza for free in exchange for letting you post a photo of them holding the pizza. Give us a little bio of the customer. He’s going to share it with his friends, because that’s pretty cool. Everybody wins.”

• Tell your own story, too. “But you’ve got to be authentic. People can sniff out a fake a mile away. And if you’re not going to be authentic, you’d better be entertaining. But pizzeria owners are best just being themselves and telling their own real story. If you don’t know what your story is, listen to what your customers are telling you. If you’ve run a pizza shop for 20 years and you don’t know what your story is, you might not be listening to your customers enough. What does your pizzeria mean to people? Does the Little League team eat there after every game? Are you big into the church community? Did your dad teach you how to make the pizza? Did you immigrate here? You have something unique that you’re doing. You’ve done something interesting. You just have to tell me what it is. Or else find something interesting to do and tell people about it.”

• Invest in a good light source. “I use a Lume Cube. It doesn’t make your pizzas look better, but it makes the pizza look like it actually looks. So many pizzerias have these yellow halogen lights overhead. Everything in the photos looks flat and gross. Show them what your pizza actually looks like, not what it looks like under the worst possible lighting conditions. You can pick up a tiny light the size of a wallet for 50 bucks, and you can tune in the brightness and the color and make it look like your pizza actually looks.”

Angling for a partnership, Mirabelli caught Gozney's eye by donning a Batman costume for a funny social media video featuring their portable oven. "Lo and behold, I got an email back from Gozney," he says, "and I get to work with them now."

Find a Hook

Although Mirabelli sometimes reviews pizzerias outside of the NEPA region, he doesn’t travel for his blog. “That feels like work to me,” he says. So unless your pizzeria is located in Lackawanna or Luzerne Counties, chances are slim that he’ll review your pizza. But there are other influencers like him around the country. They’re just looking for a hook.

“The best way to get [an influencer] to come to your restaurant is not just ask us to come, but to create something special that makes us want to come—and it should also be something that creates excitement with your customers, so that they will tell us to come,” he says.

Some influencers charge a fee, and that’s OK. They have their own expenses, and it takes time and work to craft a strong, engaging video. “They provide a specific service,” Mirabelli says. “They come in and film and shoot photos, edit the video, feature it on their page. It’s more important to be on their page, because they’re big and they have the eyeballs, but they’ll also give you all the content. It’s like hiring a photographer on the cheap; you get to keep it and you have, like, two months’ worth of content to send out.”

But, for his part, Mirabelli is just happy to help promote great pizza restaurants in his neck of the woods. NEPA Pizza Review is a labor of love, not a moneymaker. He does it for all those pizzerias he cares about and for all those people who care about pizza. “That’s what I’m here for,” he says. “I’m giving back to the people that have given to me. People get into influencer roles for all sorts of reasons. I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t desire to be an influencer, but here I am. So now I take it very seriously.”

“I always treated every pizza I made as if I was making it for the president of the United States.”

Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.

When Mirabelli, a former pizzeria employee, isn't reviewing restaurants in his area, he's making his own pies, such as this Detroit-style beauty.

BELLISSIMO CHOCOLATE CHUNK PIZZA COOKIE

Part Pizza, Part Cookie…100% Delicious!

Introducing the Bellissimo Chocolate Chunk Pizza Cookie, a perfectly sweet, quick-to-serve dessert to satisfy your customer’s sweet tooth. This 8-inch Chocolate Chunk Cookie is loaded with premium chocolate chunks, and has a cracked, crinkly top to provide a home cooked, traditional appearance.

This versatile sweet can be easily incorporated into a dine-in or to-go menu favorite. Serve it alone or enhance with ice cream for a premium dessert option…either way, your customers will enjoy the perfect taste and consistency that comes from a Bellissimo product.

• Made with Baker’s Choice Ingredients

• Fully Baked, Shipped Frozen

• Ready in Under 3 Minutes in Any Deck or Conveyor Oven

Contact your local authorized Bellissimo brand distributor or visit Bellissimo.com to find a distributor near you.

From the conventional to the inventive, these five dessert pizza recipes offer up inspiration for satisfying any customer’s sugar-coated cravings.

BY TRACY MORIN

PROVIDED BY FABIO ERRANTE

Dessert pizzas repurpose an element you’ve already perfected— your crust—and add a sweet twist.

Pizzeria operators understandably focus their attention on the star product: delicious pizzas. But you can easily translate that know-how to your dessert menu, marrying your dough expertise and topping-combinations creativity for unforgettable post-meal pies.

“From fresh berries to apples with caramel or chocolate chips with coconut and pecans, it takes only a few simple toppings added to your favorite

crust to expand your menu with delicious dessert pizzas,” notes Curt Wagner, part of the Chefs of the Mills team at General Mills Foodservice, based in Minneapolis. “Another fun thing to do is customize a dessert pizza by decorating a baked crust like a birthday cake and adding writing in melted chocolate.” Read on for some more mouthwatering recipe ideas to get your sweettooth creativity flowing.

Coffee Dough

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo flour (I use 00 flour with 11.5% protein content)

• 600g water (60%)

• 4g instant coffee (0.4%)

• 50g caster sugar (5%)

• 25g fresh yeast (2.5%)

Note: Coffee dough is a simple 60% hydration direct dough, sweetened with caster sugar. The amount of yeast is high for a pizza dough because we need a quick rise—about 2 hours. For a dessert, we don’t want too much fermentation. Makes 10 dough balls of almost 170g each.

Mascarpone Cream

Ingredients:

• 500g mascarpone

• 4 eggs

• 80g sugar

Directions:

Separate the yolks from the eggs and whip them with 40g sugar until foamy. Add mascarpone and continue whipping. In a separate bowl, whip the whites with 40g sugar and beat until stiff. Slowly add the whipped whites to the whipped yolks and mascarpone mixture, mixing from the bottom up. Makes enough cream for 10 Pizzamisùs. (Note: The amount of sugar can be changed according to taste.)

PROVIDED BY FABIO ERRANTE, PIZZA INSTRUCTOR AND FOUNDER OF YOUTUBE CHANNEL @FABIOULOUSPIZZA

PROVIDED BY OLD CHICAGO PIZZA + TAPROOM

Ingredients:

• 9 lb. butter, softened

• 6.5 lb. sugar

• 6.5 lb. brown sugar

• ½ c. vanilla extract

• 6 c. liquid eggs

• 12.5 lb. all-purpose flour

• 2 oz. baking soda

• ¼ c. salt, iodized

• 9 lb. chocolate chips, semisweet

Directions:

Place butter into the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom. Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom. Add both sugars. Mix on low speed for 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom. Add vanilla and liquid eggs. Mix on low for 2 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom.

Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix well with gloved hands or a wire whisk, making sure all lumps of baking soda and flour are broken up and blended. Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl. Mix on low for 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom. Add chocolate chips. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. Place into the appropriate storage container. Yields 47.25 lb.

To bake, portion 15 oz. of the mixture into a 6” pizza pan for a large cookie (serves 2 to 3), or 5 oz. into a mini pizza pan for an individual serving. Bake at 295°F for 14 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cut in slices and serve with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Family Favorite Classic: Nutella, Strawberries & Banana

PROVIDED BY TURPONE

Ingredients:

• 230g crust, pinsa Romana-style

• Sliced strawberries

• Sliced bananas

• 1 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar

• 2 tbsp. Nutella spread

Directions:

Bake the pizza crust for 3 to 4 minutes. Spread on the Nutella, then top with sliced strawberries and bananas. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Dessert Pizza

PROVIDED BY GENERAL MILLS FOODSERVICE

Ingredients:

• 5 oz. (¾ c.) chocolate chips

• 2 oz. (½ c.) chopped pecans

• 2 oz. (2/3 c.) shredded coconut

• 1 pizza crust, 10” round, par-baked

• 4 oz. (½ c.) sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

Mix chocolate chips, pecans and coconut in a bowl until evenly mixed. Sprinkle over the top of the par-baked crust. Drizzle on sweetened condensed milk evenly. Bake in an impinger oven at 450°F for 3 to 4 minutes, or in a standard oven at 400°F for 2 to 3 minutes, and allow to cool slightly before portioning. Makes 8 servings.

Ricotta Pizza

PROVIDED BY BLAINE PARKER, AUTHOR OF FREE THE PIZZA!

Ingredients:

• 1 dough ball (12 oz./340g)

• 1 c. fresh blueberries

• 3 oz. whole-milk ricotta

• 3 oz. low-fat Greek yogurt

• 1 tbsp. sugar

Directions:

• 1 tsp. lemon juice

• ¼ tsp. vanilla

• ¼ c. roasted, salted almonds, chopped

• Mike’s Hot Honey, for drizzling

Whisk yogurt, ricotta, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla. Warm to about 80° so that it’s easily spreadable on a pizza. Stretch the dough ball to 14”. Spread on enough yogurt/ricotta mixture to create a thin, even layer. (There will be plenty left for a second pizza.) Top evenly with the blueberries, working out to the edge. (When moving to the oven, ensure proper peel technique so that the blueberries don’t roll off the dairy mixture.) Bake in a 550° oven for 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with chopped almonds. Drizzle with Mike’s Hot Honey. Slice and serve.

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

BRINGING THE HEAT

Opening a new location or seeking an oven upgrade?

Use these guidelines to choose a model that best suits your operation’s demands.

BY TRACY MORIN

Whether you’re opening a high-end full-service concept or pumping out large volumes of pies for the college-student crowd, the oven is a crucial piece of equipment to help meet your baking and business goals. Luckily, in today’s market, there are plenty of options—from a simple deck or conveyor type designed for multitasking on various menu items to an artisanal wood-fired model that doubles as a centerpiece of the restaurant’s dine-in decor.

Wood-fired pizza is on the menu at Piazza Pizza, nestled in the Hampton Inn Pensacola Beach in Pensacola, Florida.

PIAZZA PIZZA

But first, you’ll need to ask yourself some key questions: What’s your budget? Will you have skilled or entrylevel employees? Will your oven be powered by electric, gas, coal or wood? What menu items are you cooking?

What are your highest-volume, busiestnight production needs? To help you choose the right model, here’s a quick breakdown of the most popular pizzeria oven types and what they will (and won’t) offer your operation.

Hands On Deck

Deck ovens have been a mainstay in pizzerias for decades, and for good reasons: They are fairly easy to operate, don’t require much maintenance or upkeep, and cook a wide variety of items. You can toss in everything from full pies and slices to breadsticks, pasta dishes, main-course meats and chicken wings. And they can easily handle different types of crusts, if you offer multiple styles of pizza.

Keep in mind that these ovens will require some degree of employee knowledge and oversight, as workers

will need to know when to rotate pies and when to use any additional cooking equipment for best results (such as screens or containers with lids for certain items). Managing the ovens can get tricky at rush periods, but in-store customers tend to enjoy the visual of pizzaioli working with their food orders hands-on. In general, the necessary know-how is much less complicated than with a wood-fired model but requires a bit more involvement than a conveyor style.

Finally, deck ovens are available in gas or electric models, as well as in stone-hearth models with a thicker deck material, which can better retain heat and cook more pies per hour. You can also stack deck ovens, which is a great

way to create more production capacity without needing more floor space.

A Foolproof Format

Conveyor/air impingement ovens are great for high-volume operations, which means your rush periods require pumping out 50 pizzas or more per hour. If you want a no-brainer model that can be handled by an employee with zero pizza experience, this is an ideal choice. The worker simply places each menu item on one end of the conveyor belt, and it emerges on the other end fully cooked for serving. You’ll just need to make sure employees are assembling the food items consistently, so that everything bakes up exactly the same, every time.

Deck ovens require some degree of employee knowledge and oversight, as workers will need to know when to rotate pies and when to use any additional cooking equipment for best results.

Jim Carruth of Piazza Pizza fires up thin-crust pies for beachgoers in Pensacola, Florida.

PIAZZA PIZZA

On the front end, your oven will also require specific settings to best cook your products. For example, the oven’s fingers must be configured appropriately, and trial and error or adjustments may be needed if you switch ingredients (for example, if you’re trying out a new cheese that browns differently). If you’re making different crust styles, you might choose to stack more than one oven to allow for a couple of different baking temperatures. Generally, once these ovens are set, they’re set—so they’re designed to reliably crank out your most ordered items (in most cases, pizzas).

Maintenance-wise, you’ll have to disassemble the oven for finger cleaning two to four times per year. That means you’ll need to have an outline of the fingers’ configuration so that upon reassembly everything works the same as before. Otherwise, conveyor/ air impingement ovens are easily maintained, with service available through industrial parts suppliers and traditional electricians.

Fire It Up

Wood- or coal-burning ovens (sometimes used in combination with gas heat) can add significant eye appeal and a one-of-a-kind artisanal touch to menu items. But they’re also the most complicated to operate. They require a consistent supply of the specific wood or coal used, which must then be added as needed to maintain a consistent temperature in the oven. (Employees can use a hand-held infrared thermometer to monitor while cooking.) You must also make sure your local area, your building and your insurance provider allow these kinds of ovens—and if you need any special permit to operate one.

Another major consideration is finding a skilled oven tender, as this job can be as much of an art form as dough making. And, speaking of dough, this oven works best with a high-absorption formula (containing 70% or more water), which creates a light crust that

bubbles up in the high heat of the oven. Fired models are usually best for dine-in operations, though some experienced pizzaioli have tweaked their recipes to hold up better for delivery and takeout in a post-pandemic world.

On the plus side, maintenance is fairly straightforward: Simply scrape and sweep the deck periodically throughout the day, and regularly clean the oven’s ducts. In addition, these ovens’ high temperatures cook at very fast speeds, so a skilled employee can churn out many pies per hour. And, as an open flame was humankind’s first cooking method, you can make an endless array of foods in a coal- or wood-burning oven—pizzas, pastas, main courses, desserts and more. These types can also provide a lot of ambience and denote a certain expertise in your pizzeria, while adding a fired-up flavor that is irresistible for customers.

Tracy

TIPS FROM THE DOUGH DOC

Over the years, until his passing in 2020, PMQ’s resident dough expert, Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann, shared many helpful tips for optimal oven operation. Here are a few of the best:

• Ovens involve a lot more than just baking a pizza. Every oven has its own unique applications where it shines, so make sure your oven is the right fit for your store’s concept and menu.

• Before investing in an oven, ask the manufacturer if you must obtain parts directly through them—and, if so, what their response time is. Your oven is one piece of equipment you don’t want to be out of service for too long!

• If you’re buying used, make sure the oven is designed for cooking pizza. It may be a deck or conveyor model, but that doesn’t mean it’s a great pizza oven.

Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

If you want a no-brainer model that can be handled by an employee with zero pizza experience, a conveyor/air impingement oven is an ideal choice.

Delivery

For A New GENERATION

Want to launch your own restaurant delivery service? There are many working parts to keep in mind, but plenty of resources to help streamline the process.

BY TRACY MORIN

Not too long ago, services like DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats were barely a blip on the food delivery radar. In recent years—helped along by everything from technological advancements to COVID-19—third-party delivery has become a go-to service for millions of U.S. customers. This shift has taken place regardless of any disadvantages experienced by operators and customers—and, in fact, the third-party players themselves: New York magazine reported that, in the second quarter of 2020, Uber Eats lost $232 million in the course of its operations.

WHAT DRIVERS WANT

Everee, a payroll technology company, joined with the Restaurant Marketing Delivery Association (RMDA) to create The 2023 Gig Drivers Report, which examines the current state of gig drivers. Some key findings:

• Although the need for gig drivers is increasing, roughly 42% of drivers say it’s possible they will leave gig work within the next 12 months, due to low or unpredictable earnings (30%), lack of benefits (28%), and the rising cost of performing work tasks (27%).

• Nearly 40% of drivers are working less due to high gas prices, while 38% find themselves working more to try to combat the rising costs. When looking at inflation as a whole, 49% are doing more gig work to try and make ends meet.

• Although 68% prefer to remain 1099 contractors, 81% said they’d give up 1099 flexibility for more money, and 77% would become W-2 employees for healthcare benefits.

• 76% live paycheck to paycheck.

• 42% say they’ve declined a gig job because they had to wait too long to get paid, and 45% have removed themselves from a potential gig job because of long onboarding processes.

• 22% say that negative customer interactions remain a top concern, and 19% indicated they might leave gig work due to feeling unsafe while performing job duties.

“With driver satisfaction and retention, one of the immediate fixes is the ability to offer more predictable earnings, fair wages, and instant access to pay,” said RMDA president Andrew Simmons about the report. “Making conscious efforts in order to improve driver engagement can help companies stand out from the pack and compete with the established gig-economy giants like DoorDash and Uber.”

If you’re tired of relying on third-party services—and think you could do it better in your local area—you might consider starting your own delivery service. That’s what Andrew Simmons, founder of OrangeCrate and owner of Mamma Ramona’s in Ramona, California, did—though he started the delivery service before his pizzeria and recently sold his stake in the former to his partner, in order to focus more on the restaurant.

But times have changed since OrangeCrate’s beginnings in 2015, when Simmons was handling deliveries for Domino’s. “I saw a real opportunity for delivery of all restaurants—you could get pizza, but you couldn’t get Thai or Greek delivered,” he recalls. “It was hard to start back then, but today there are so many tools to launch your own delivery service.”

Getting Started

Some of those newer tools are based on old-fashioned people power, while others are on the technology side. For example, Simmons is president of the Restaurant Marketing Delivery Association (RMDA), which boasts a membership of 550-plus locally owned and operated restaurant delivery services in about 700 cities. This organization is a good first stop for a newcomer to this kind of business, even if you’re currently operating a restaurant and know delivery from the foodservice side.

“Join the RMDA and ask their advice on what would work in your market,” Simmons recommends. “They can run a research report to determine the number of restaurants in your area and what services they’re currently using, then share best practices.” He adds that more established members can even

“[The RMDA] can run a research report to determine the number of restaurants in your area and what services they’re currently using, then share best practices.”

— Andrew Simmons, Mamma Ramona’s and OrangeCrate

help mentor a newbie, so someone starting out can make fewer mistakes along the way.

The second most important component, Simmons says, is the right software—and, luckily, there are now many options. “I recommend Cartwheel delivery software to manage your own suite of drivers—or, if your drivers are not available, you can tap into their driver pool,” he explains. “Choosing a good software is crucial: to market to customers, track where the orders are going, hire drivers—there’s software to manage all of that for you. A company like DeliverLogic can find, recruit, dispatch and pay drivers, while Everee software also helps you pay drivers on time.” Driver-wise, you’ll have to determine if you want W-2 employees or 1099 contract workers. (For more insight on attracting drivers, see the sidebar on page 44.)

The Personal Touch

When you’re trying to compete with the big names, like DoorDash, how do you stand out to customers as a better option? Aside from making yourself known as a local alternative—which appeals to customers who want to support their communities—you can also differentiate yourself through better service.

Simmons, working in his own pizzeria, has seen firsthand the difference that can exist between drivers. “Using Cartwheel, I can track where the driver is and can communicate with him; using DoorDash, I have no idea where that driver is and can’t reach him,” Simmons notes. “Also, because I use DoorDash as well, in the last two months, I haven’t seen a single driver show up with a hot bag. But when you work with independent delivery drivers—on-demand, vetted drivers are now available across the U.S. through companies like dlivrd—they show up with bags.”

Another great way to set yourself apart is through embracing an attitude of togetherness. That’s been a driving force for one of RMDA’s members, Lisa Garman, who owns the delivery service Good2Go in Davenport, Iowa. She advises creating a mission statement that’s less about making tons

of money and more about helping your own restaurant and others in your area. “The margins on this side are not terribly better than restaurant ownership, so you want to have some kind of mission that’s bigger than yourself,” Garman says. “You need to earn people’s trust in this business, because their reputation rides with you. You want to be able to come to other restaurant owners and say, ‘I’m here to help us both. Your success is my success.’”

For Garman, that approach manifests through a variety of actions: increasing visibility for new and lesser-known local brands, promoting partner restaurants’ in-person events and promotional offers on social media, and helping restaurants develop a catering menu to land those big-spend corporate clients. Additionally, it’s been important to please customers with exceptional service—and take good care of the drivers who are delivering the goods.

Helpful Hints

Garman suggests starting a delivery service by talking to fellow restaurant owners that you know, before cold-calling. “Know the value of what you’re bringing to people,” she adds. “I recommend against adding restaurants who have said no to your service—some people just slap the restaurant’s menu online with big markups and deliver them anyway. Instead, build a small network first. If a customer comes to me and says, ‘I wish you had X restaurant,’ I tell them, ‘Great—you go there

“[Your clients’] reputation rides with you. You want to be able to come to other restaurant owners and say, ‘I’m here to help us both. Your success is my success.’”

— Lisa Garman, Good2Go

three times a week to eat, tell them!’ You want to work with people who are excited to work with you.”

In addition, it can be a concern for those who have a pizzeria to start delivering others’ food—won’t that detract from your own sales? Thus, you might choose to start out by offering totally different kinds of cuisine. “You could offer delivery not from competitors, but complementary businesses,” Simmons says. “Not everyone wants to buy pizza every day. Customers like options. Plus, with other owners, you can work together on pricing—either setting up a co-op-type delivery service among six or eight restaurants, or starting an independent company that brings on every restaurant, even at the risk of cannibalizing your own sales. A lot of it depends on the city you’re in.”

For example, in some smaller areas, DoorDash might not even be available yet, giving you an immediate edge, while in large cities it might be an insurmountable task to go up against the big guys—unless the restaurants you work with are willing to cut ties with those well-known brands, and you all work to cross-promote. But Simmons admits that few operators are willing to do this, even if they keep more profits by avoiding the larger third-parties.

Finally, to market your delivery services, Simmons recommends starting by reaching out to your existing customer list, then using Facebook or social media ads, SMS/ push marketing, or, if it makes sense in your area, direct mailings or door hangers. “You have to touch the customer at least five times to get one order,” Simmons notes. “Then do a great job—great service, great content, and great food choices. OrangeCrate has been around eight years, and we still don’t get most orders. You can hit at every touchpoint, but you don’t have a billion-dollar budget like the big guys.”

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

“You have to touch the customer at least five times to get one order. Then do a great job— great service, great content and great food choices.”

— Andrew Simmons, Mamma Ramona’s and OrangeCrate

GRANDÉ CHEESE

When you choose all-natural Grandé Fior•di•Latte, you are ensuring an unforgettable dining experience for your customers. What sets this cheese apart? The secret lies in the flavor, beginning with the freshest, high-quality milk and time-honored cheese-making principles. The result is a clean, light and milky flavor and tender texture.

800-847-2633, GRANDECHEESE.COM

PEERLESS OVENS

Peerless Ovens manufactures highquality, space-saving and affordable deck ovens for pizzerias and food trucks. Whether powered by gas or electric, the flexibility of Peerless ovens makes them popular for all types of products. No hood? No problem! All electric ovens have a ventless hood option, eliminating the need for a costly traditional exhaust hood.

419-625-4514, PEERLESSOVENS.COM

MIYOKO’S CREAMERY

Miyoko’s new Pourable Plant Milk Mozzarella is designed for discerning pizzaioli. Unlike traditional vegan cheese substitutes made from shredded blocks of oil, starch and flavoring, it features a liquid blend with cultured plant milk, relying on the oven’s heat— not industrial processing—to work its magic. It goes on liquid and sets in the oven for the perfect melt.

MIYOKOS.COM

Hot Honey’s Heat Keeps Rising in the Pizza Industry

The love story between hot honey and pizza continues to grow and expand, becoming nearly ubiquitous at the country’s best pizzerias.

By now, many know that we have Mike Kurtz, founder of Mike’s Hot Honey, to thank for starting this national phenomenon. The brand’s unique origin story has become restaurant lore, beginning with Kurtz’s quest to duplicate a delicious sweet-heat flavor he had eaten on a pizza in Brazil to painstakingly creating and producing the product in his Brooklyn apartment to introducing it to the public at Paulie Gee’s, thus putting it on the map.

Mike’s Hot Honey, which uses only 100% pure honey infused with real chili peppers, literally took off like wildfire, becoming a word-of-mouth sensation. Today, Mike’s Hot Honey has more than 20,000 points of retail distribution and is on the menu in thousands of restaurants nationwide.

One of those restaurants is Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza and Wings, with locations in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland and Florida.

Anthony’s had such a successful limited-time offer with Mike’s Hot Honey that they decided to turn it into a permanent menu item.

“Not only do our guests crave Mike’s Hot Honey on pizza, but we’ve found that it is just as popular on our wings,” said Debbie Kilbride, director of purchasing for Anthony’s. “In fact, the sweet heat flavor is so much in demand that we’ve introduced a special Mike’s Hot Honey margarita for our summer menu.”

While it may be hard to beat the delicious pairing of pizza and hot honey, Kurtz is not surprised that pizzerias are featuring it on wings and in cocktails. “What’s so cool about our product is that it works with so many different types of foods, with a sweet note up front and then the heat kicking in. This flavor combination makes menu items stand out in a unique way and becomes a point of differentiation.”

Mike’s Hot Honey is an easy way to refresh your menu and gain new and loyal customers with one simple ingredient. To taste it for yourself, request a sample from Mike’s Hot Honey at mikeshothoney.com/sample

5 Ways Managed Video Software Can Help You Take Control of Your Business and Profits

As a pizzeria owner, keeping track of every aspect of your business can be a challenge. From managing inventory to quality assurance, it can be overwhelming to stay on top of everything. That’s where Envysion’s managed video software solution comes in. Here are five ways Envysion can help you take control of your business and profits:

1. Confirm Quality Assurance: With managed video software, you can view specific times of the recorded video footage to confirm quality assurance. For example, if a customer complains about a missing topping on their pizza, you can easily review the footage to see if the error was made during preparation. Be prepared with confidence to handle customer complaints.

2. Connect to POS System: By integrating managed video software with your POS system, you can point cameras toward your POS. When you generate reports that point out discrepancies like canceled orders, voided items or late-night adjustments, you can view the video alongside the transaction. This lets you clearly identify any issues and take corrective action to prevent future losses.

3. Review Employee Performance: With a managed video solution, you can review employee performance on the go with a mobile device to ensure they are following proper procedures and handling food correctly. This helps you identify areas where additional training may be necessary, improving overall efficiency and profitability. Plus, there is no need to spend time in the car for multilocation owners—every location can be seen in one application.

4. Prevent Theft: Unfortunately, theft can occur in any business. With managed video software, you have access to recorded video evidence. With proper camera placement, you have the ability to validate incidents such as time or inventory theft by accessing video during specific times of day.

5. Ensure Accurate Cost of Goods Sold: One major challenge for pizzeria owners is managing their cost of goods sold. With managed video software, you can ensure that all ingredients are being used correctly, reducing waste and maximizing profits.

Envysion understands the challenges that pizzeria owners face. Their managed video software solution helps you take control of your business and profits. Learn more at envysion.com/pizza

VITO RECCHIA, BELLA NAPOLI PIZZERIA & RESTAURANT

BY BRIAN HERNANDEZ

Vitangelo Recchia, owner of Bella Napoli Pizzeria & Restaurant in Port Charlotte, Florida, is one of the U.S. Pizza Team’s newest members. He showed up on the scene in November 2022 at the Galbani Professionale Pizza Cup, held at the Pizza Tomorrow Summit in Orlando. It was his first competition ever.

Recchia didn’t win there, but he immediately jumped onto the USPT’s contingent at the World Pizza Championship in Parma, Italy, the following April. He took what he’d learned, both in Orlando as well as at culinary school in Parma itself, and brought home a silver medal in Pizza in Teglia (Pizza in the Pan). Here, he shares his thoughts on achieving success as a pizzeria owner—and what the future might hold for the industry.

Hernandez: What is one thing people overlook when deciding to open a pizzeria?

Recchia: Obviously there are many, but the main one for me is sacrifice. People don’t realize what they have to sacrifice when they open their own operation. And with the sacrifice has to come a tremendous amount of support from the people around you—your friends, family, staff, etc. Anyone can do

anything, we all learn from someone. To get that experience, you have to work with the right people, and you will know when you have that experience. But you have to take stock of what around you can be sacrificed. Choose wisely. A lot of people sacrifice the wrong things and regret it.

Hernandez: What is one thing you know now that you wish you’d known before you opened?

Recchia: Emotional intelligence. When you’re a young adult, you have the world in your hand, pretty much. Eventually it catches up to you. You wish you knew how to work better, harder, how to get an early start. As the cliché goes, if I knew then what I know now, I would have put my focus on what I’m doing today at the age of 18. My 20s would have been spent figuring out what styles of pizza I want to make. I would have gone to work at pizzerias in San Francisco, Miami or New York, just to gain that experience and knowledge. I would have gone to culinary school in Italy earlier. No one’s ever going to tell you anything unless you ask, and then they still might not tell you, so you have to find a way to get that information that’s beneficial to you.

A World Pizza Championship silver medalist reflects on the past and shares his concerns and hopes for the future of the pizza industry.

BRIAN HERNANDEZ

In an extended website Q&A, Vitangelo Recchia shares the lessons he has learned—about business and life—as a member of the U.S. Pizza Team. READ

Lenny and Gino Rago help Recchia celebrate his second-place win.

Hernandez: What are your thoughts on the labor issues today?

Recchia: We are seasonal here, so we are pretty well-staffed in the down time. Our labor shortages come in when we’re looking for young employees: people that want to get into the industry, learn restaurants and actually cook. My dad said there are three things guaranteed in life. 1) We’re all going to die. 2) You have to pay taxes. 3) People have to eat. If you do it well, you will be successful. But you have to be able to adapt and make it enticing enough for potential employees.

Thirty years ago, before all the technology and information at our fingertips, there were a lot of people jumping into businesses. There was no issue with labor, with people willing and wanting to work. There was a drive to succeed. Today, you don’t have to leave your house and you can still make money, you can still work. Down here, soon we will be hitting a $15 minimum wage, with some places starting pizza makers at $18 to $19 already. Soon it may be less an issue of whether we can find workers, but whether we can afford to pay them.

Hernandez: What are your biggest concerns about the industry today?

Recchia: Artificial intelligence. It’s going to be great when it comes to marketing and developing, but it’s going to be the demise of the pizza maker, the human touch in pizza. A robot can’t do all the styles with passion like a human can. I think people will still know the difference between a Roman-style pizza made by a robot or a real person.

Don’t

forget to register TODAY for the only U.S. Pizza Team-hosted competition remaining in 2023: The Galbani Professionale Pizza Cup & Acrobatic Trials at the Pizza Tomorrow Summit in Orlando, Nov. 8 to 9. Registration is open to all qualifying competitors!

The grand prize: a trip to Italy to compete with the USPT at the World Pizza Championship as the ’24 Galbani Professionale Cup Champion!

Register today at www.uspizzateam.com/23gppc.

For more information, email Brian Hernandez at bhernandez@wtwhmedia.com.

The Angels and Demons pizza is a tasty treat that came about from Recchia’s preparation for the Italian competition.

Brian Hernandez is PMQ’s test chef and USPT coordinator.

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DEDHAM HOUSE OF PIZZA

BY TRACY MORIN

When Dino and Maria Thomas opened Dino’s Restaurant in the 1960s, pizza did not yet grace the menu. Through a couple of changes of ownership and a move to Dedham Square in Dedham, Massachusetts, where it stands today, the business evolved into Dedham House of Pizza. Meanwhile, in a small village called Eleochorio, Greece, Andreas Panagopolous and his siblings farmed grapes and olives, making a humble living producing wine and olive oil. Andreas arrived in the U.S. in 1981 and by ’83 was working as an employee at the pizzeria. By ’91, he was managing the place, and when the owners were prepared to sell, Andreas and his wife, Maria, bought it in 1996.

“We make a Greek-style pizza, which the rest of the country classifies as a New England pan-style,” explains Andreas’ son, George, current owner and operator, who runs the business with Maria. “For many years, we had the whole family working here: my two sisters, Effie and Stacy, my mom, dad and me. We were very proud to all be in it together and have the drive and passion to succeed.” Fortunately, Effie may be rearing the business’ next generation—George notes that her 18-month-old already loves pizza.

Alongside dine-in seating for about 45 in the 1,800-square-foot location, takeout and delivery comprises 55% of business. George brought in three third-party delivery companies in 2018, when he couldn’t find enough drivers. But he’s also innovated in other ways:

online ordering, a rewards program, gluten-free pies, catering, social media, a mobile app and online specials. “We’re dealing with a lot of competition, from franchises as well as independents,” George says. “We also installed a self-ordering kiosk in early 2019, to give customers a better all-around experience. We were hesitant about kiosks, and after one year I wasn’t satisfied with the usage. Then we moved it to a new location in the pizzeria, and we’ve tripled users! Younger people like it, but elders, too, are evolving and using kiosks.”

George is also toying with the idea of opening a second spot with a totally different pizza style—Neapolitan—alongside more gourmet dishes. For him, pizza has become a lifelong love and a lifestyle. “Coming here in my early teens to help in summers, making salads and folding boxes—it was exciting,” George recalls. “Dedication, consistency, hard work and quality control were shown to me multiple times every day, and I carry that on today and try to teach the younger generations. It’s beautiful to see customers come in as children and now, as adults, come with their children. This has become a very family-oriented place.”

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

A Greek immigrant in search of the American dream takes over a beloved pizzeria and enlists his entire family to carry its legacy into the future.

(Clockwise from top left)

The original dining room of Dedham House of Pizza hosted customers until its 2004 renovation; George Panagopoulos stands outside the pizzeria; a Greek-style pepperoni pizza emerges from the oven; Andreas embraces son George and daughter Effie inside the store; Andreas Panagopoulos makes pizza during his first year in the pizzeria, circa 1983.

Expanded programs, competitions & demonstrations – all this November!

Register today to join your fellow pizza operators, franchise owners, and pizzaiolos from across the Eastern United States at the second annual Pizza Tomorrow Summit. Here you’ll have two full days to explore hundreds of exhibitors with a wide range of products, plus:

• Two days of competitions with the U.S. Pizza Team and the Galbani Cup.

• 30 Hours of Complimentary Education across 3 on-the-floor learning theaters

• Center Stage Culinary Demonstration Theater featuring renowned chefs

• Rapid-Fire Single Skillet Culinary Competition with a $1,000 prize to the winning chef

• Hip Sip Battle of the Bartender Competition sponsored by Savage & Cooke Whiskey

• Restaurant 201 ½ day workshop presented by Darren Dennington

And with our co-location with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show, you’ll be sure to find everything you are looking for this November!