PMQ Pizza Magazine January/February 2013

Pass the

Pasta

Page

38

Jan/Feb 2013 www.PMQ.com

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| Page 32 franchising | Page 46 Equipping a pizzeria | Page 52 Cameron Mitchell | Page 64

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DEPARTMENT online at pmq.com Pizza TV: Recent Videos

Our Top Social Media Picks Social media is more than just Web-based chatter—it’s a marketing revolution! Whether running a “Big Three” franchise 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:

The 2012 Bluegrass Bakeoff: Twenty-three pizza makers from around Kentucky whipped up a smorgasbord of finger-lickin’ good pies during the 3rd Annual Bluegrass Bakeoff in Louisville, but only one took home the big prize: a coveted slot on the U.S. Pizza Team and a free trip to Parma, Italy, to compete in the World Pizza Championship in April. Check out the action at PizzaTV.com!

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Pizza Guys Our little Elf on the Shelf is eager to get himself into some mischief in our office and at our locations...but first we need to name him. Any suggestions for his name? If we pick your name, a free large three-topping pizza is all yours!

Il Cane Rosso Can we get to 10,000 likes by Dec. 31 (real likes, no fake profiles)? If we do, that means we have $1 pizzas on New Year’s Day! Tell your friends to like this page!

Catch up on the latest pizza industry news every Wednesday with Pizza TV’s weekly online broadcast, This Week in Pizza, with hosts Brian Hernandez, Michelle McAnally and Daniel Lee Perea.

Find us on Twitter: @pmqpizzamag facebook.com/pmqpizzamagazine

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CONTENTS january/february 2013 On the cover

38

Pass the Pasta!

Pasta is more than just a beloved comfort food—it’s the starting point for countless dishes that generate high profits and enhance menu versatility.

By Michelle McAnally

features

28 The Free Market Promotional giveaway items—from logoed pizza cutters and rolling pins to T-shirts, caps and tote bags—can work wonders for your store’s visibility and create repeated brand exposure opportunities.

By Linda Duke

32

Bringing Home the PIE Our 2013 PIE Award goes to Little Caesars for supporting millions in need, helping numerous veterans open their own businesses and organizing local youth programs, all while providing quality, value and convenience to its customers.

By Liz Barrett

46

The Fearless Franchisor Franchising your restaurant could make you a fortune, or it could bring all of your hard work to ruin.

Experts describe the pros and cons of this risky but potentially lucrative endeavor.

By Michelle McAnally

52

Equipping a Pizzeria Thinking of starting your own pizzeria? Industry consultants provide a list of the equipment you’ll need to make the leap from aspiring owner to pizza entrepreneur.

By Tracy Morin

58 Eyes On the Prize The U.S. Pizza Team looks forward to a year of growth, innovation and outreach while aiming for the biggest prize of all at the World Pizza Championship in Italy.

By Rick Hynum

64 From the Dish Room

to the Board Room

Acclaimed entrepreneur Cameron Mitchell explains how he created his own restaurant empire through aggressive marketing and following the “golden rule.”

By Liz Barrett

72

Special Idea Zone Section Learn about innovative new products and services that can help build your business and boost your bottom line.

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CONTENTS january/february 2013

20 98 in every issue

68 departments 20 In Lehmann’s Terms: A Pan for All Seasonings Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann offers tips on seasoning steel pans— and keeping them safe for continued use.

22 New York’s Finest: Focaccia Bread Chef Bruno explains how to make this popular bread in the Old-Country style.

24 Accounting for Your

Money: Setting Your

Own Salary

68 Pizza of the Month: Meatball Meatball pizzas have gained in popularity in recent years, with styles ranging from sweet and spicy Greek to hearty Tex-Mex.

98 Time Capsule: Borrelli’s

Italian Restaurant Customers become friends and friends become family at this East Meadow, New York, institution founded by a trio of brothers in 1955.

Mike Rasmussen looks into the complicated matter of determining “reasonable” compensation for owners of S corporation restaurants.

10 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

22

6

Online at PMQ.com

12

Editor’s Note

14

Letters to the Editor

16

Pizza Press

70

Product Spotlight

83

Advertiser Index

84

Industry Resource Guide

97

Resource Guide Advertiser Index

Coming Next Month Pizza of the Month: Cheese Sauces: For items from pizzas and wings to pasta dishes, success depends on the perfect sauce, so it pays to learn the sauce making secrets of the best in the business.

Vehicle Advertising: Join us for a wild ride as we explore the latest trends in automobile advertising and describe the traits of truly effective vehicle signage.

Interior/Exterior Signage: Learn how proper signage can solidify your brand, drive new traffic, enhance the customer experience and promote your business both inside and outside your four walls.

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©2011 Saputo Cheese USA Inc. Saputo® is a registered trademark used by Saputo Cheese USA Inc. All rights reserved.

EDITOR’S NOTE rick hynum

Particularly Partial to Pasta

On the cover: Americans love pasta nearly as much as Italians do, and it’s even more profitable than pizza. Check out this month’s cover story, “Pass the Pasta!” on page 38.

Like many Americans, I’m a genealogical mutt. We Hynums have lived in this country—right here in Mississippi, in fact—since at least the late 1700s, but no one in the family seems to have a clue how we got here, where we came from or, frankly, how we’ve managed to avoid mass arrest and deportation for more than two centuries.

My siblings—for the most part, a brown-eyed, dark-haired bunch—swear we’ve got a dose of Native American blood from our mother’s side, and I like to believe it’s true. I can picture my ancestors roaming the forests of the southeastern United States in full war paint, tomahawks at the ready, scaring the daylights out of palefaces and stealing away with their women and their firewater. On the other hand, blue-eyed, blondehaired Hynums—our decidedly pale-faced cousins—also abound, and a rumor that our ancestors were once pirates off the coast of Germany sounds pretty good, too.

Fierce and proud and free—that’s the mark of us Hynums, or so I’d like to believe.

(I’m not especially eager, on the other hand, to claim that one hapless Hynum fellow who, back in the Civil War days, got himself hung by Union troops for stealing a goat. If you’re going to shame the family by robbing the U.S. Army of its prized and priceless goat supply, you ought not shame them further by getting caught.)

If I weren’t the descendant of German pirates or Indian braves, then I’d like to be Italian. I must surely have Italian blood, because I’ll eat Italian food until I swell up like a tick on an old dog’s ear. I have seldom met an Italian pasta dish I didn’t like, even the fancy ones with names I can’t pronounce. Lasagna, carbonara, cannelloni, ravioli, ziti—you name it, I’ll eat it and hug your neck for making it for me. Chicken Parmigiana, Spaghetti Bolognese, Fettucine Alfredo, Shrimp Scampi, Chicken Marsala, even just a plain ol’ chilled pasta salad with garden veggies. Surely pasta is what God eats for dinner when he’s not eating pizza.

Along with pizza, pasta ranks high on Americans’ list of favorite foods. According to the National Pasta Association, 56% of Americans say pasta—not chocolate— is the one food they can’t live without. Younger people are particularly partial to pasta—59% of Americans ages 18 to 54 chose pasta over chocolate as the food they couldn’t live without, compared to 49% of people 55 and older. For restaurateurs, those should be compelling figures.

With that in mind, this month’s cover story by Michelle McAnally explores the many facets of pasta and how pizza restaurants can put it to customer-pleasing—and moneymaking—use (“Pass the Pasta,” page 38). As one expert explains, pasta is a highly profitable menu item; a full serving will cost you about a buck, but you can sell it for many times more than that.

Meanwhile, don’t miss Liz Barrett’s profile of Little Caesars, PMQ’s 2013 Pizza Industry Enterprise (PIE) Award winner (“Bringing Home the PIE,” page 32). And there’s plenty more to absorb and digest in this month’s issue—a full 100 pages of moneymaking ideas and information. Check it out, and then drop us a line and tell us what you think. Here’s to a terrific and prosperous 2013 for all of our readers!

Rick Hynum Editor-in-chief PMQ Pizza Magazine 12 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR rick hynum Rebuilding With Pizza In the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina, my business partners and I made an unusual promise to our customers, our city and ourselves. In an all-butdestroyed culinary mecca long famous for its boudin, beignets, po’boys and gumbo, we pledged to “rebuild New Orleans one pizza at a time.” Sure, it’s a catchy tagline, but, for us, it’s much more than that. It’s a challenging twist on our dream of bringing the crispy, cracker-thin pizzas we grew up on to the city we always wanted to live in. More importantly, it’s a mission statement—one that we’ve gladly dedicated ourselves to fulfilling for the better part of a decade now.

After Katrina, our uptown location [at 4218 Magazine St.] was among the very few restaurants that reopened for business the same day the city did. We proudly fed city leaders, first responders, policemen, firemen, National Guardsmen and hungry hurricane survivors alike. All we had to offer were slices of pepperoni and sausage, along with Coke, Diet Coke and Budweiser. But we happily served it, and the people working to save our city happily ate it.

Four years later—as the New Orleans Saints began their march to the Super Bowl and it started to look like our city was not only going to survive, but actually thrive—we opened a second location at 4024 Canal St. Soon we were feeding

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PMQ, Inc. Publisher Steve Green sg@pmq.com ext. 123 Co-Publisher Linda Green linda@pmq.com ext. 121

everyone from longtime locals and Saints players to musicians, artists and discerning foodies. Meanwhile, Gambit, The TimesPicayune and Zagat consistently listed us among New Orleans’ top pizza restaurants.

Now we are extremely excited to announce that, due to demand from customers in surrounding areas, we recently opened our third Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza location at 1212 S. Clearview Parkway in Harahan. I’d like to invite the PMQ staff to drop by our new location at your convenience. Let us pour you a frosty Abita draft or a nice glass of California cab and show you just how good rebuilding this great city can taste. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

James “Jammer” Orintas Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza New Orleans, LA Congrats on the new opening, Jammer. We’re glad to hear of Theo’s continued success in one of our favorite cities in the world. We will definitely drop by for a visit on our next trip to New Orleans!

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!

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Think Tank 2.0 • • • • •

Pizza Hut to ship pizza perfume...

12/12/12 anniversary Milk in pizza dough...

Ideas to speed up sandwich/sub toasting?

Food cost percentages...

Thank You to Our PMQ Think Tank Moderators Daddio: Member since June 2006 Tom Lehmann: Member since June 2006

Editor at Large Liz Barrett liz@pmq.com Senior Copy Editor Tracy Morin tracy@pmq.com Food Editor Michelle McAnally michelle@pmq.com ext. 133 Design/Production Art Director Kara Hoffman kara@pmq.com ext. 135 Designer Eric Summers eric@pmq.com ext. 140 Media Production Daniel Perea dperea@pmq.com ext.139 advertising Sales Director Linda Green linda@pmq.com ext. 121 Account Executive Clifton Moody clifton@pmq.com ext. 138 Account Executive Tom Boyles tom@pmq.com ext. 122 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 U.S. Pizza Team Director Missy Green missy@pmq.com ext. 125 PMQ International PMQ China Yvonne Liu yvonne@pmq.com PMQ Australia-NZ Tom Boyles tom@pmqaustralia.com Pizza&Food Gabriele Ancona gabriele.ancona@pizzafood.it French Liaison Julien Panet jpanet@pizza.fr editorial advisors Chef Santo Bruno Tom Lehmann Joey Todaro Ed Zimmerman

We want to hear from you!

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

editorial Editor-in-Chief Rick Hynum rick@pmq.com ext. 130

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

14 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

contributors Tom Lehmann Michael J. Rasmussen Santo Bruno Linda Duke

Volume 17, Issue 1 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.

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pizza press news & views

Stache Bash Raises Cash Farrelli’s Wood Fire Pizza (farrellispizza.com), based in Lacey, Washington, recently threw its customers a “kick-’stache” party to raise money for prostate and testicular cancer research.

Riding the wave of the “No Shave November” trend, Farrelli’s hosted a “Big Stache Bash” at each of its six locations.

The promotion was inspired by campaigns to combat breast cancer, notes Clayton Krueger, the director of marketing and communications for Farrelli’s. “We felt this cause was equally important and worthy, with the goal being for men to take control of their health by getting their regular physical checkups to prevent these types of cancer.”

Every Farrelli’s location was packed with men and women sporting magnificent mustaches, both fake and real. Crowd applause determined the winners, who received $60 gift cards and swag. “I was recognized as the male winner at our Lacey store for my own glorious mustache, although my wife would tell you it was hideous,” Krueger says. “I gladly donated my winnings to be raffled off to another lucky winner.”

Clayton Krueger, left, shows off the mustache that won him first prize in Farrelli’s Wood Fire Pizza Stache Bash contest benefitting men’s cancer research.

Wristband Promo Hits a Home Run

The Century High School girls softball team enjoys dinner at Pi Wood-Fired Pizza, which sold wristbands to help raise money for team uniforms.

Pi Wood-Fired Pizza (live4pi.com) in Rochester, Minnesota, recently went to bat for the local Century High School girls softball team, selling logoed wristbands for $5 apiece to raise funds for team uniforms. “All of the money goes directly to the team, and, in return, the customer gets a free fountain drink with the purchase of a pizza every time they come into Pi wearing the wristband for the next three months,” says owner Linda Becher.

Guests recoup their $5 donation in three visits to Pi while showing support for the home team. Meanwhile, the wristbands are emblazoned with Pi’s name, earning exposure for the pizzeria among young customers all over town. “Our goal is to raise at least $2,000, and, with the help of our customers, we’re already halfway there,” Becher says. “We’re confident that we’ll get there and look forward to working with other teams on similar fundraisers.”

The Sweet Smell of Success Imagine your sweetheart nuzzling up to you and saying, “Mmm, baby, you smell so good— just like pizza!” With the new Eau de Pizza Hut, that could really happen. Designed to evoke the aroma of freshly baked dough and seasonings, this limited-edition perfume began as a joke on Pizza Hut Canada’s Facebook page. A post in August invited fans to submit names for a fantasy scent inspired by “the smell of a box of Pizza Hut pizza being opened.” The response was so overwhelming that Pizza Hut actually commissioned the fragrance and sent bottles to the first 100 people to request them. The verdict? “Very positive,” says Doug Terfehr, director of public relations for Pizza Hut. “We’re considering options to make the scent more widely available, as well as the possibility of expanding the line.” For the time being, though, Eau de Pizza Hut remains a rare commodity. “There’s one on eBay right now, which is fine with us,” Terfehr says.

16 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Pizza Ranch Helps Build Ethiopian School Orange City, Iowa-based franchisor Pizza Ranch (pizzaranch. com) serves two million cups of coffee to its customers each year. Now the company has brewed up a partnership with Ethiopia Reads and the Tesfa Foundation to promote literacy in the African nation.

For each pound of roasted Ethiopian coffee it uses, Pizza Ranch will donate 50 cents toward a community library and five new learning centers in the Kembata Tembaro region of Ethiopia. “My wife and I adopted two boys from the region, and we discovered firsthand the need for education there,” COO Jon Moss says. “Some of the finest coffees in the world come from that region, so it just seemed natural that something we use every day in our restaurants could be part of the solution to improve the lives of the people who provide our coffee.”

Pizza Ranch franchisees, managers and support center staff donated the funds to help build the first school. The ongoing proceeds from the coffee program will go to support the school’s annual operation and additional schools. Moss says he and Pizza Ranch president Adrie Groeneweg visited a remote

Many children are able to attend school for the first time in Kololo, Ethiopia, thanks to Pizza Ranch’s coffee fundraiser for the education charity Ethiopia Reads.

Ethiopian village that would benefit from the program. “It opened this September to full capacity of 240 children and a waiting list. Many of the children are able to go to school for the first time.”

Cashing in On Crowdfunding Doug Brandt, owner of Chicago’s Pie Hole Pizza Joint (pieholepizzajoint. com), knew he’d found the perfect place to open a second location. Next, he wanted to find a new way to pay for it.

Brandt opted to ditch traditional banks entirely and turned to LendSquare.com, an online community lending platform similar to the crowdfunding website Kickstarter but with a focus on private businesses. “The same day I looked at the space, I remembered someone dropping off information about business lending,” Brandt recalls.

“So I dug through the piles of paper on my desk, found the info and looked up the website.”

LendSquare.com hosts loan requests for small businesses and helps connect business owners with their friends, customers and fans, says Dayne Poshusta, the company’s director of marketing and outreach. “People visit LendSquare.com to fund parts of the total loan—anything from $1 to the entire amount requested,” he explains. “If the full amount is fund-

ed, the business owner gets the loan, and the lenders get paid back each month with interest.”

Brandt pushed his LendSquare project solely through social media and wordof-mouth and offered incentives to investors. For example, two people each pledged $5,000, which will earn each a pizza named in his honor. Other perks for pledging include T-shirts, free pizzas, even renaming the restaurant for a week in an investor’s honor.

LendSquare.com launched in June

and has provided loans for four businesses so far. “Pie Hole Pizza has been one of our biggest successes,” Poshusta says. “Doug is responsible for creating the buzz and energy for his campaign.

For years he has provided really delicious pizza and a unique space in his neighborhood. This meant that, when it came time for his loan request, his customers were able to learn about the campaign easily, and they were also excited to support his new venture.”

Brandt raised $30,000 in just two weeks, and the interest rate to all lenders was locked at the highest rate, after which the loan clears. “Honestly, everything has been happening so quickly, but the stars are aligning,” he says. “I’d rather pay interest to friends and fans than to a lending institution.”

Chicago’s Pie Hole Pizza Joint is able to open a new location thanks to LendSquare, a new crowdfunding loan resource.

January/February 2013

pmq.com 17

pizza press news & views

13-Year-Old Pizza Prodigy Keeps Family Business Going At the tender age of 13, Amato Bernardo III may be one of America’s youngest pizzaioli. And he’s been doing his part to keep his family business going through some pretty tough times.

Amato was born into a pizza making family—his parents, Amato Jr. and Kasia, ran a pizzeria in New Haven, Connecticut, for almost 20 years. “By working hard and using quality products, my father built a very successful business,” the eighth-grade chef says. “I started to learn how to make pizzas and stromboli for fun when I was seven years old.”

Two years ago, his parents sold their pizzeria and moved to sunny Hobe Sound, Florida, where they took over the ownership of another pizza shop, renaming it Amato’s Ristorante and Pizzeria. A small, laid-back beach town near Port St. Lucie, Hobe Sound is more like a quaint seaside village than a modern tourist trap, with small family-owned shops featuring handpainted signs and clapboard buildings lining the road near the ocean. The Bernardo family’s business fits right in, offering an intimate dining room, a small

bar, Italian-themed artwork and an outdoor patio that lets customers take advantage of the warm tropical breezes. In addition to pizza, Amato’s offers salads, subs, eggplant dishes and fresh, locally caught seafood.

But life hasn’t been perfect in the Bernardos’ paradise community. When Amato’s dad developed health problems that kept him from being able to work, Amato, then 12, stepped up and has since kept the family tradition—and livelihood—going strong. In the mornings before school, he goes into the shop and makes bread and returns at night to make pizza dough. While other kids his age spend their weekends playing video games or lazing on the beach, Amato creates pizzas, calzones and stromboli for his customers and keeps the cash register ringing. “When people find out that a 13-year-old boy made their pizza, they’re so amazed,” Amato notes. “People love to watch me make pizza because sometimes I will flip it in the air. And when they see that, they can’t believe that I’m only 13.”

Amato says he learned some tricks of the trade from his father. “My dad taught me that if you blow underneath the pizza on the pizza peel, the pizza will come off much easier. Also, he showed

Amato carries on the pizza tradition at his family’s shop in Hobe Sound, Florida.

Amato shows off his pizza tossing skills to the amazement of his customers, who can’t believe a 13-year-old is such a pie making expert.

18 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Amato, who learned the secret to making great dough from his dad, spends his free time helping out in the family pizzeria.

me how, if a pizza gets stuck to the peel, to get a pizza tray and flip the pizza on the tray, add more flour and flip the pizza back on the peel.”

But his father’s guidance extends beyond tips for making a great pizza. “My dad always told me that you should always have pride in what you do and that the customer is always right, so try to keep the customer happy all the time.”

Amato’s favorite pizza to make is a white tomato-and-basil pie. “I know I will take over the family business one day,” he declares. “This I something I really enjoy doing because I see my family work hard and do good in life, and that is exactly what I want to do when I grow up.”

In Lehmann’s Terms Tom “the dough doctor” Lehmann

A Pan for All Seasonings

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

Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann reveals the secrets—and the perils—of seasoning steel pans.

By Tom Lehmann

QUESTION: What are the keys to taking care of seasoned pans?

ANSWER: Pans come in two basic colors—bright finish and dark (green, gray or black)— and in two types of metal: steel and aluminum. Today we’ll talk about seasoning steel pans, and we’ll consider aluminum pans in my next column.

Bright finish. Bright-finish steel pans must be seasoned. This can be done by wiping oil on the interior and exterior surfaces of the pan and placing it in an oven at about 425°F to polymerize the oil. Seasoning is essential before using this particular pan, because it allows for improved dough release from the pan after baking, and the dark color boosts heat absorption during baking, imparting a superior bake compared to a bright/ silvery finish.

Made of pressed steel, these pans are quite durable, but they’re also prone to rusting with improper care. The applied seasoning may also change in color, going from the initial light amber color to dark black after extended use. During this period of adjustment, you may see a difference in the way a pizza bakes until the pan color settles down at a fairly dark hue. The applied seasoning itself can also be an issue; it’s easily damaged by the use of a knife or spatula when removing the baked pizza from the pan.

Also, allowing the pan to soak in hot, soapy water can loosen the seasoning, so take extreme care when washing these

pans. Instead of soaking, just dip the pan in soapy water, scrub gently with a soft plastic-bristle brush, rinse and sanitize. Finish by wiping it dry with a clean towel and force-drying it in a warm oven for a few minutes.

If you don’t follow these directions for washing a seasoned pan, the seasoning could peel off like skin with a bad sunburn, and you’ll need to strip all of the remaining seasoning from the pan and start over again. Worse, you may get stuck with an assortment of pans ranging from almost bright and shiny to dark (well-seasoned) in color—and the baking variations that accompany the differences in pan color.

Additionally, the dark color is nothing more than carbonized oil, and carbon has been said to be a potential carcinogen. So, if any seasoning goes missing from a pan, a health inspector may assume that a customer has consumed it as part of the pizza. The inspector may

20 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

order you to remove all of the seasoning from all of your pans before they can be reused. Worse, the seasoning on these pans, if not regularly used, can turn rancid, affecting a pie’s flavor.

Factory-applied, dark finish. Steel pans are available with a factory-applied, dark-color (usually green or gray) finish. Be aware that this is not a nonstick finish; it’s only a color finish intended to improve the pan’s baking properties. These pans still need to be oiled to achieve a nonstick release from the pan, but, if necessary, they can be soaked for a short time as part of the washing cycle without fear of damage to the seasoning.

However, you’ll still need to dry these pans promptly to prevent rusting.

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 Bruno

Focaccia Bread

Chef Bruno reveals the secrets of Old-Country focaccia.

Santo Bruno

By Chef Santo Bruno

You’ll Need:

Chef Bruno samples his focaccia bread with Christopher Ferrara.

½ oz. dried yeast 1 tsp. sugar 1 c. hot water 12 oz. flour 3 tsp. olive oil 12 Kalamata olives, halved 7 oz. Romano cheese, cubed ½ tbs. fennel seeds, minced 1 tsp. salt

H

ello, my readers! I thought I’d talk to you this month about focaccia bread. As you probably know, every restaurant makes focaccia bread differently. And people have been making some version of focaccia bread since ancient times.

In modern times, most people cover a thick crust with pizza sauce and add cheese, such as Romano, along with some oregano and olive oil. They bake it in the oven until it is cooked, then cut it into small slices and serve. People think this is the real deal. But they’re wrong.

With this month’s recipe, I’m going to reveal to you how we make focaccia bread in the Old Country—that’s right, you got it: Italy! We sometimes add other spices and herbs before we cook the bread, and we may even top it with Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted garlic. Now doesn’t that sound delicious? Of course, there are many ways to make authentic focaccia bread, but, for starters, I’ll share with you a more traditional and basic recipe. Enjoy, my friends!

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

22 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Preparation: Mix the yeast with sugar and 8 tbsp. of water. Ferment in a warm place for 15 minutes. Mix the flour, salt and 1 tbsp. of oil. Now add the yeast mixture and remaining water. Knead the dough until it’s smooth (approximately 4 minutes). Divide the dough into two equal portions, forming ½”-thick circles.

Now put one circle on a cookie sheet and scatter the cheese, olives and some fennel seeds evenly.

Place the second circle on top and squeeze the edges together to seal it closed and to prevent leaking while cooking. Use a sharp knife to make a few slits on top and brush with remaining olive oil. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and fennel seeds on top. Let rise for 20 to 30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 400° for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

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Accounting For your Money Michael J. Rasmussen, CPA

Setting Your Own Salary Owners must take care to determine a “reasonable”— and deductible—compensation for themselves and other shareholders.

By Michael J. Rasmussen

QUESTION: What’s the best way to set my salary from my S corporation restaurant entity?

ANSWER: As the owner of an incorporated business, you’re probably aware that there’s a tax advantage to taking money out of the corporation as compensation (salary and bonus) rather than as dividends. The reason is simple: A corporation can deduct the compensation that it pays, but it can’t deduct dividend payments. Thus, if funds are withdrawn as dividends, they’re taxed twice—once to the corporation and once to the recipient. Money paid out as compensation is taxed only once—to the employee who receives it.

However, there’s a limit on how much money you can take out of the corporation in this way. The law says that compensation can be deducted only to a reasonable extent. Any unreasonable portion is nondeductible and, if paid to a shareholder, may be taxed as if it were a dividend. As a practical matter, the IRS rarely raises the issue of unreasonable compensation unless the payments are made to someone “related” to the corporation, such as a shareholder or a member of a shareholder’s family.

How much compensation is considered “reasonable”? There’s no simple formula. The IRS tries to determine the amount that similar restaurants would pay for comparable services under like circumstances. Factors may include the employee’s duties; the amount of time required to perform those duties; the employee’s abilities and accomplishments; the complexities of the business; the gross and net income of the business; the employee’s compensation history; and the corporation’s salary policy for all of its employees.

There are a number of concrete steps you can take to make it more likely that the compensation you earn will be considered “reasonable” and, therefore, deductible by your corporation.

For example, you can: •

Use the minutes of the corporation’s board of directors to contemporaneously document the reasons for the amount

24 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

of compensation paid. For example, if compensation is being increased in the current year to make up for earlier years in which it was too low, be sure that the minutes reflect this change and the reason for it.

•

Avoid paying compensation in direct proportion to the stock owned by the corporation’s shareholders. This looks too much like a disguised dividend and will probably be treated as such by IRS.

•

Keep compensation in line with what similar restaurants are paying their waitstaff and managers. Hold on to any supporting evidence that you may acquire in case the IRS questions you about it later.

•

If the business is profitable, be sure to pay at least some dividends. This avoids creating the impression that the corporation is trying to pay out all of its profits as compensation.

Finally, be aware that Form 1120S, Line 7, reports compensation to officers received from your restaurant operations. The IRS scrutinizes all tax returns that have a zero amount on this line, and we are told that these returns are frequently selected for inspection. This may lead to an eventual audit, so make sure that you have paid yourself a reasonable compensation if you are the shareholder of your entity.

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.

“It’s the sauce that ties it all together.”

Martin Reyna Executive Chef, Vince’s on Harlem

When preparing signature dishes at Vince’s on Harlem, Chef Martin Reyna only trusts his menu to the very best—Escalon Premier Brands. Our canned tomatoes are packed fresh and steam peeled with no added citric acid to assure the BEST FLAVOR and CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE. To sample a better tomato today, call 1-888-ESCALON or visit www.Escalon.net.

January/February 2013

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©2012, Escalon Premier Brands.

Cane Rosso, an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria located in Dallas’ Deep Ellum district, boasts a number of clever T-shirt designs, including the popular #PILF slogan. “I still won’t tell my mother what it means,” says owner Jay Jerrier.

By Linda Duke

The Free Market Unique, pizza-related giveaway items can heighten your restaurant’s visibility at a minimal cost.

I

f you’re doing your job well, the merest mention of your pizzeria’s name or a glimpse of your logo likely has a Pavlovian effect—the customer’s mouth begins to water, an irresistible craving for your pizza kicks in, and, suddenly, he knows exactly what he wants for dinner. The only problem is, most of your customers may go all day long—or all week long—without hearing or seeing your restaurant’s name. Fortunately, there’s a simple and cost-effective technique for maintaining top-of-mind awareness with pizza lovers: promotional giveaway items that bear your restaurant’s logo, phone number and other key information.

These branded products can work wonders for your store’s visibility and create repeatable brand exposure opportunities.

And the more useful the items are, the better.

28 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Pizza-Themed Swag Logoed hats, T-shirts, key chains, stadium cups, refrigerator magnets and pens rank among the most popular promotional freebies for restaurants. But there are other unique, pizza-related giveaway items that can provide considerable marketing impact for your restaurant. These include: •

Pizza cutters. Have your logo imprinted on the handle or purchase a bunch of cutters from a local dollar store and tie a logoed bow around the handle.

•

Miniature rolling pins. Several suppliers carry this type of rolling pin. Simply add your restaurant’s logo, website URL and phone number for delivery, and whenever customers think of pizza, they’ll think of you!

Cane Rosso

feature story PromotionAl Gifts

Britt Chapman Nate Robinson

Cane Rosso in Dallas offers its loyal guests an ever-changing list of freebies, including the ultrahip pizza-and-crossbones T-shirts.

Toula’s House of Pizza, a popular Greek-style pizzeria in Virginia Beach, Virginia, gives away logoed fridge magnets and pens to its customers.

•

Cutting boards. A cutting board is an item that many customers will use every day in their kitchens. Inexpensive wooden or plastic boards can be purchased online or at most dollar stores.

•

Red pepper and Parmesan shakers. These shakers, which are relatively inexpensive, make great gifts for loyal customers during the holidays. Simply fill them with red pepper and Parmesan cheese and tie a ribbon around the top with a small card that says “Thank you for being our guest.” Your customers will appreciate the usefulness of these little gifts.

pizzeria’s information gets front-and-center placement.

And the design doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective; just make sure it always features your logo, address, phone number and website.

•

Magnets. Inexpensive and easy to customize, a quality magnet can last for years. Anyone who owns a refrigerator or a car will find a use for your magnet. Again, just make sure that it provides your pizzeria’s name, logo, phone number, address and website.

The Gift of Functionality Most giveaway items serve some function or another, but the ones that have everyday uses at home or in the workplace often deliver the best results. Examples include: •

•

Tote bags. Give a customer a tote bag bearing your logo, and it will often go where he goes—to the shopping mall, the supermarket, after-work softball games, even on outof-town trips—and your company logo will get viewed by all of the people that customer encounters along the way. Thus, large numbers of prospective guests will be constantly reminded of your restaurant—all for the cost of one inexpensive little tote bag.

Get the ultimate in recipe security.

Notepads. Notepads are another cost-effective—and extremely useful—item. A logoed notepad will prove useful for both work-related and personal business. Whenever your customer makes a grocery list, takes notes in a meeting or simply scribbles down a little reminder note and affixes it to his computer screen or refrigerator, your

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In addition to the freebies listed above, look for unique items that will serve as conversation starters. Imagine how potential customers would react if a co-worker pulled a miniature rolling pin—bearing your pizzeria’s logo—out of her purse. A pen in the shape of a pizza slice would also draw attention and create a lasting impression. Is your restaurant located in an area known for its harsh winters? What about a logoed ice scraper? That customer will see your logo—and think about your pizza— every morning before driving to work!

Britt Chapman

Customers come to Cane Rosso in Dallas for the authentic Neapolitan pizzas, but the fashionable freebies are a big draw, too.

The San Rafael, California-based Red Boy Pizza chain promoted its Tomato Festival last year with a custom-made coloring sheet for kids. One franchisee even held an art contest and placed the children’s pieces on its walls.

air and give away the T-shirts to callers for the remainder of his shift.

•

Canvas the campus. One terrific way to get your promotional items into the hands of college students is to host a homecoming event and give out megaphones designed with the school’s colors and, of course, your pizzeria’s logo. Finals week also offers a great opportunity to host a contest and give away your promotional items as prizes.

College students love beer koozies, for example, and will use them for months or even years to come. You can also host a pizza eating contest for sororities and fraternities, awarding your T-shirts to the winning teams. Make sure to provide these Greek groups with promotional flyers that can be passed out to their friends to ensure maximum turnout.

•

Show your true colors. Kids love to color! Fortunately, coloring sheets are inexpensive and can brighten any child’s day. The seven-unit Red Boy Pizza chain (redboypizza. com), headquartered in San Rafael, California, held a Tomato Festival recently and, while spotlighting its Margherita pizza with fresh tomatoes, also introduced a new coloring sheet. The sheet taught kids about tomatoes and allowed them to color in a small tomato plant. The kids

Spreading the Wealth Your promotional items exist to be given away, so how do you get them in customers’ hands and make sure they see the light of day as often as possible? For starters, you could offer logoed T-shirts, hats, mugs and other items as prizes for a weekly or daily trivia contest, held online or in the store. This approach allows you to turn Facebook fans into brand ambassadors. But that’s just one idea. Here are some others: •

•

Show your gratitude. Send a few promotional items— such as T-shirts, refrigerator magnets or key chains—along with every large to-go order, accompanied by a thank-you note. Your customers will love the freebies and will feel appreciated in the bargain—and that means they’ll be more likely to wear or use these items.

Turn on the radio. Tried-and-true, old-school techniques can still reap big dividends. Imagine, if you will, taking four extra-large pizzas and 10 logoed T-shirts to your favorite DJ at a local radio station just in time for lunch. The grateful DJ will very likely brag about your pizza on the

30 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Bear Country Pizza

loved it, and one of the franchisees even held an art contest, placing the children’s finished pieces on the wall. (Most pizzeria operators use the same coloring sheets for years and years. I recommend changing these sheets regularly.

Between the low costs of black-and-white printing and all of the clip art and illustrations available for free on the Internet, you can create new coloring sheets each month without paying a fortune.)

•

Owner Eric Delia proudly displays a T-shirt bearing the motto of his Chittenango, New York, pizzeria, Bear Country Pizza.

Consistently consistent consistency.

Create a kid’s tour. Invite a class from your local elementary school to tour your pizza restaurant. Teach the kids how to make their own pizzas, let them try their skills with dough balls and serve them pies before they leave. At the end of the tour, give each child a miniature rolling pin and tie a coupon for a free kids pizza to the pin. The child will be sure to remember your restaurant and will come back again with the entire family.

With the proper design, slogan and execution, giveaway T-shirts and caps can become the latest fashion rage on a college or high school campus. Even if that doesn’t happen, logoed merchandise of all types provide high visibility for your pizzeria and serve as free advertising to the customers who own the products as well as to their friends, co-workers and even passersby. It’s nearly always money well-spent and, when freebies are used wisely as part of a broader, carefully planned marketing campaign, even the smallest pizzeria won’t stay small for long!

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.

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feature story 2013 pie award winner

32 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Bringing Home

the PIE

Little Caesars has built an empire around its carryout offering, helping it to win PMQ’s 2013 PIE Award.

By Liz Barrett | Photos courtesy of Little Caesars

L

ast month, we announced Little Caesars Pizza (littlecaesars.com) as the winner of PMQ’s annual Pizza Industry Enterprise (PIE) Award. We’ve been observing the company for years as it supported millions in need, helped veterans open their own businesses and organized local youth programs, all while providing quality, value and convenience to its customers. Additionally, our Annual Reader Census this year revealed a trend that is uniquely tied to this ever-growing chain. Reader statistics showed that the carryout segment enjoyed the largest sales increase in 2012 compared to other dining options, including dine-in and delivery, with 37% of respondents reporting an increase in carryout orders. Little Caesars’ leadership role in this important industry trend, coupled with its willingness to look beyond sales and unit growth, has earned the company the 2013 PIE award.

In PMQ’s Annual Reader Census, 37% reported an increase in carryout pizza orders in 2012, proving that customers want their pizza when it’s convenient for them. Savvy pizzeria operators will cater to this growing consumer need.

Humble Beginnings In 1959, Michael and Marian Ilitch invested their life savings to open a pizzeria in Garden City, Michigan. “Mike liked the name ‘Pizza Treat,’ but Marian didn’t think the name suited Mike since he was so fun-loving,” says Little Caesars president and CEO David Scrivano. “Marian saw Mike as a hero or a ‘Caesar’ in her eyes. However, since he was just starting out in business, she said he was a ‘little’ Caesar. So the couple compromised and named the first store Little Caesars Pizza Treat.”

Since opening in 1959, the Ilitches have given thousands of individuals the opportunity to own their own business through franchising. By successfully franchising the brand, the Ilitches have been able to purchase other successful businesses as well, including the Fox Theater in Detroit, the Detroit Red Wings and Olympia Entertainment. Additionally, Mike owns the Detroit Tigers, and Marian owns Motor City Casino Hotel. “All of their businesses, similar to Little Caesars, are synonymous with fun,” Scrivano notes.

Keep your dough secure.

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“I was in the Army Special Forces and did two tours in Iraq. Owning a pizzeria allows me to get my entire family involved and, after not seeing them for so long, it means everything to see them every day.”

—Lloyd Allard, Little Caesars franchise owner

Giving Back

Little Caesars has received accolades for its Veterans Program, which has helped to open 200 new stores for veterans. Lloyd Allard (above), who owns three Little Caesars stores near Clarksville, Tennessee, has been a part of the Veterans Program since 2007.

Pizza! Pizza!

According to Scrivano, research has shown that 86% of Americans associate the words “Pizza! Pizza!” with Little Caesars. Not many companies can boast about that kind of brand recognition. “The phrase was coined in 1979 and was originally used to promote our ‘buy one, get one free’ promotions,” he says.

“Over the years, it just stuck. In fact, when I walk through airports with the Little Caesars logo on my shirt, people will say, ‘Pizza! Pizza!’”

Little Caesars has also made a name for itself with popular promotions, such as its Hot-N-Ready pizza, a large 14”, always-ready pepperoni pizza, and Crazy Bread, eight sticks of freshly baked bread topped with the flavors of butter and garlic and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. These three specialty products stand out most in consumers’ minds when they think of Little Caesars, Scrivano says.

Value, Quality and Convenience Innovation and fun have given Little Caesars a unique position in the pizza industry, according to Scrivano. But, most importantly, he adds, it’s the value, quality and convenience that form the backbone of the company. “Some of the things that make us unique are our ingredients,” says Scrivano. “Our pizzas are topped with freshly shredded real mozzarella cheese that’s never frozen; our sauce is made from fresh, California vine-ripened tomatoes; and our dough is made fresh daily. We’re the only national pizza chain that makes our dough fresh every day in every location.

“Our customers also really appreciate the value we provide,” Scrivano says. “For the fifth year in a row, Little Caesars was named ‘Best Value in America’ among all major quickservice restaurants by Sandelman & Associates, which includes restaurants serving burgers and sandwiches.”

34 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Giving back has always been a part of the Little Caesars culture, and over the years the company has created several unique programs to help in its charitable endeavors, including the Little Caesars Amateur Hockey Program, which has sent more than 100 players on to the NHL; the Love Kitchen; the Little Caesars Veterans Program; and franchisees’ individual community projects. “These programs have made a difference in millions of lives over the years,” Scrivano observes.

“One of the most significant corporate programs we’ve ever created is the Love Kitchen,” says Scrivano. “It’s an awardwinning, nationally recognized pizza kitchen on wheels that has fed more than two million people in 48 states and four Canadian provinces. In addition to its daily routine of feeding the homeless and the hungry, it also responds to disasters, such as the floods in North Dakota, hurricanes in the Gulf Coast, the attack on the World Trade Center and, recently, an area affected by Hurricane Sandy. It’s very rewarding.”

Franchisee Support It has been said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This may be why Little Caesars works so hard to support its franchisees—and why those franchisees feel so inclined to support the company in return. Vicki Dunn-Marshall started working for Little Caesars in 1976 when she was 16 years old.

She became a franchisee in 1983 and now owns 24 stores in West Virginia, Southern Ohio and Eastern Kentucky. “Pizza is my passion,” Dunn-Marshall says. “The leadership team at Little Caesars and the culture they create is a big reason they are so successful. The best part about owning my stores is the opportunity I have to help develop other people and see them grow. I’ve helped four other people become business owners themselves.”

Serving Those Who Serve Us Little Caesars has also received accolades for its Veterans Program, which has helped to open 200 new stores for veterans.

“It was introduced in 2006 as a way to thank our veterans for the service that they—and their families—have given to our country,” says Scrivano. “The program provides business opportunities to qualified, honorably discharged veterans that are transitioning to civilian life or seeking a career change. We offer

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honorably discharged disabled veterans up to Ford Field in Detroit, and the teams were $68,000 toward their first store.”

Central Michigan and Western Kentucky.”

Lloyd Allard, who owns three Little CaeAs you’d expect at a game called the Pizza sars stores near Clarksville, Tennessee, has Bowl, Little Caesars served plenty of Little been a part of the Veterans Program since Caesars pizza, branded the midfield and end 2007. “I was in the Army Special Forces and zones areas and ran its commercials on the did two tours in Iraq,” Allard says. “I always big screen. “It’s an exciting endeavor,” Scrivwanted to be my own boss. Owning a pizano says. “Between quarters, we do some fun zeria allows me to get my entire family inthings, such as throwing a football through volved, and, after not seeing them for so long, the mouth of a cardboard Little Caesar to it means everything to see them every day.” win free pizza.”

Little Caesars CEO David Scrivano Allard likens running a franchise to being What’s Next? in the Army. “You receive your training and support, and then you go out and do your So with steady and significant growth over mission,” he says. Allard’s competitive nature also makes him the past 10 years, what does the future hold for Little Caestrive to be the best at what he does. “Opening three stores in sars and the Ilitches? Scrivano says that the company is wellthree years was one of my biggest successes,” he says. “Most of positioned for continued growth, both in the United States all, I enjoy the challenge of running a business and interacting and internationally, including Latin American countries, the with young employees and keeping them motivated.”

Middle East and Canada.

While further expansion and other projects unfold behind Pizza and Football the scenes, Little Caesars will continue to encourage consumers Pizza has long been synonymous with football and Super Bowl to partake in one of America’s favorite meals using the phrase parties, so college football fans got a treat in 2009 when Little they’ve now become so familiar with: Pizza! Pizza!

Caesars debuted as the Pizza Bowl title sponsor. “The Pizza Bowl is the Midwest’s only major college bowl game,” Scrivano Liz Barrett is PMQ’s editor at large. says. “This past year, the game was played on December 26 at

36 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

feature Pasta

38 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Pass the

Pasta!

From spaghetti and meatballs to veal tortellini, pasta dishes yield high profits, enhance menus and help create a true Italian dining experience.

By Michelle McAnally

I

t’s hard to imagine, but not everyone loves pizza. And even the most ardent pizza lover gets a little burned out on it now and then. That’s why pasta should be considered for most pizzeria menus. From spaghetti to lasagna, from linguine to rigatoni, pasta is more than just a quintessential comfort food—it’s the starting point for countless dishes, from kid-pleasing mac and cheese to high-dollar specialty entrees such as veal tortellini and baked ravioli Bolognese.

Americans love pasta nearly as much as Italians do, according to Phil Casamento, owner of Utica, New York-based Casa Imports. “Per capita consumption of pasta in the United States is second in the world, behind Italy. It’s also a very profitable item, more profitable than pizza. A full serving will cost only about $1, but it can be sold for $8.99 or $9.99. And it’s a relatively easy item to produce. A few options of cuts and sauces can yield a lot of customer choice.”

And customer choice is what it’s all about. “We’ve discovered that we’ll get a group of folks in and sell nine slices of pizza and one pasta dish. However, they would not have come in if that

pasta dish wasn’t available,” says Rick Glenn, president of the Salem, Oregon-based Pizza Schmizza (schmizza.com) chain.

“Out of a group of potential diners, everyone has veto power in terms of where they go. So we offer some options besides pizza, and it gets us that last vote.”

Executive chef Micah Windham from Pele’s Wood Fire Pizza (peleswoodfire.com), an upscale Italian-American restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida, agrees. Pele’s offers a variety of seasonal pasta dishes for a more well-rounded menu. “As a restaurant, it’s important to cater to the whole body every day of the week.

The market tells us that there are some days when people crave something light and simple and other days when they want something slow-cooked and hearty.”

With hundreds of types of pasta and a vast array of sauces and toppings, chefs can stick with time-honored recipes or venture out on a creative limb—they’re limited only by their imaginations. “The tried-and-true preparations are always in demand and can be successfully sold if they’re prepared in ways that address the primary elements of cooking and eating— taste, texture, portion size, temperature and presentation,”

January/February 2013

pmq.com 39

“

It’s all about recipes. Create a signature pasta dish as a daily special or menu addition so customers can try something new and break the routine. Create a special house pasta to add to the menu as well. Another good idea that we are seeing more of is operators creating a pizza that features pasta on it—these are really gaining in popularity.

—Rob Persaud, vice president of marketing and innovation, American Italian Pasta Company

”

says chef John Terczak, host of The Seasoned Cook, an online culinary course offered on YouTube, and owner of The Kitchen at the Creek in Evergreen, Colorado. “But operators should always keep their concept and market in mind. They should be careful about straying too far from what their customers’ expectations might be.”

In the Beginning

nique, we have our base dishes; now we just have to top them.

Fresh herbs are a must but should reflect what was used in the dish. Cheese is great but really not necessary on all pastas. I find extra-virgin olive oil or infused oils are a great partner to all pastas.”

The family-oriented Esposito’s Pizza and Pasta (espositopizza.com) in Matawan, New Jersey, serves pasta dishes from the traditional to the creative. Owner James Esposito’s young daughter, Isabella, inspired one of the menu’s most popular selections in a bid to get her to eat broccoli. “Our Pasta Bella consists of chicken breast and broccoli sautéed with fresh handcrushed plum tomato and white wine, finished with freshly grated pecorino Romano and served with rigatoni, which holds the sauce in its ridges,” Esposito says. “As far as other pasta dishes, we sell a ton. Bolognese and Sunday sauces are two of our best-sellers.” The Bolognese is a traditional meat sauce with a touch of heavy cream, and the Sunday sauce is cooked low and slow for hours using pork shoulder as the base; it’s served with angel hair pasta, homemade pork and beef meatballs and a sausage link.

Barilla

For pizzeria operators looking to introduce pasta dishes to their Into the Mix menus, Terczak says utilizing products that are already on hand Once you’ve decided to add pasta to your menu—or expand is a cost-effective way to start. “A good example of a dish that an your current pasta selection—the next task is to incorporate it operator might be able to create without buying new products smoothly into your inventory and operational methods. Upwould be a pasta that features tomato sauce, sausage, pepperoni, scale pizza and pasta restaurants often choose to make their own olive oil, basil, mushrooms, green peppers and Parmesan cheese. pasta, an approach that certainly has its marketing advantages, This incorporates pizza flavors without the crust. Adding soft while other operators use dried pasta for cost and convenience. or crispy breadsticks as a garnish to the dish might satisfy the Windham makes his own pasta, for example, while Esposito texture requirements of the pizza lover without the operator uses high-quality dried pasta imported from Italy. “I see dried having to expand inventory.” pasta as preferable to fresh for both operators and customers,” Meanwhile, nontraditional pasta dishes allow the chef to Terczak notes. “It can be par-cooked and stored for a longer indulge his creative side. The Cajunator at Pizza Schmizza period of time without taking on any mushiness. Although features alligator sausage, a delicacy rarely found on menus outside of southern Louisiana, tossed in a light Cajun chipotle cream sauce. “Early on, our founder tried several exotic meats as a way of differentiating Pizza Schmizza from everyone else.

The gator stuck,” Glenn says. “My theory is that it doesn’t look so scary, and it’s fun to eat something that might eat you if the situation were different.” Less adventurous diners can choose a version of the Cajunator made with grilled chicken.

Windham is a farm-to-table cook, so Pele’s pasta offerings change with the seasons throughout the year. After he chooses his local ingredients, Windham picks the style of pasta that fits the topping and the season. He then decides on a cooking technique—baked, brothy, tomato-based, olive oil and garlic, slow-cooked ragu or creamy.

This whole-grain penne dish, made with cabbage, porcini mushrooms and shaved raschera “After a comparison of striking seasonal incheese, represents typical northern Italian cuisine. gredients and a selection of pasta and tech40 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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Pasta Perfection When it comes to pasta, no one can out-eat the Italians. According to the National Pasta Association, the average Italian scarfs down more than 51 pounds of pasta per year. The average American eats far less—just under 20 pounds annually—but pasta is still a very popular (and highly profitable) menu item for pizzerias. And since spaghetti is the most popular pasta shape in the United States, here are a couple of recipes (provided by Barilla) to get you started:

Barilla

Barilla

Spaghetti Carbonara You’ll Need: 8 lb. spaghetti 6 qt. heavy cream 4½ lb. Grana Padano cheese 2¼ lb. guanciale, rendered until crispy, chopped ½ c. guanciale fat, reserved from rendering 24 egg yolks Pepper, cracked Preparation: Cook the pasta for half the time indicated on the package. Drain the pasta and drizzle with some olive oil to prevent sticking. Place pasta flat on sheet trays or hotel pans and cool in a blast chiller or a walk-in cooler. Store in ziplock bags or a sealed plastic container; refrigerate and use within several hours.

For each serving, bring 1 c. cream and 1 tsp. guanciale fat to a simmer and stir in 2 oz. cheese. Reheat 2 2/3 cups pasta in simmering water. Drain and add to the cream. Stir to heat through. Plate the pasta and top it with 1½ oz. guanciale, 1 egg yolk cracked on top and a sprinkling of black pepper. Garnish with 1 oz. cheese.

Yields 24 servings.

42 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Thick Spaghetti with Eggplant, Cherry Tomatoes and Ricotta Salata Sauce You’ll Need: 3 lb. thick spaghetti 1½ lb. eggplant, diced Sea salt (as needed) ½ c. extra-virgin olive oil 1½ lb. yellow onion, diced 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour 30 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved Preparation: Cook the pasta for half the time indicated on the package; drain, store and cool. Season the eggplant with sea salt. Transfer to colanders or drip pans and place weights on top. Allow to drain for 1 hour. Rinse excess salt from from the eggplant. Sweat the onions and pepper flakes in oil until translucent. Toss the eggplant with flour and add to the onions. Cook until falling apart.

Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. (You can cook to this point and reheat later for service.)

For each serving, blister 1¼ oz. tomatoes in a little oil over high heat for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, add ½ c. eggplant sauce and heat until warm. Reheat 1 c. spaghetti in boiling salted water for 40 to 60 seconds. Drain and add it to the sauce. Add up to ¼ c. pasta water to reach the desired sauce consistency. Finish the pasta with ¾ oz. cheese and a drizzle of oil. Garnish with 1 basil leaf, torn into pieces. Yields 24 servings.

“

—Rob Persaud, vice president of marketing and innovation, American Italian Pasta Company

”

fresh pasta is good and very satisfying, it can never replace the built-in value of dried pasta for storage and economics.”

For additional time and labor savings, preprepared ingredients can be used to create homestyle pasta dishes, Terczak adds.

“Dressing them up is often the only choice for some operators,” he says. “If they’re starting out with a good and tasty product to begin with, beefing it up can be a very successful approach.

Frozen meatballs can be dressed up in a tuxedo if the operator knows how to do it with the right sauce. If you take a mediocre canned tomato sauce and add extra-virgin olive oil, fresh or dried oregano or basil, along with seasonings, onions, wine,

Barilla

Pasta creates larger amounts of food on the plates. It’s low-cost to make and has a high profit margin, which is good for owners and customers alike, because the owner can fill a plate at a reasonable price to the customer. Pasta expands the menu possibilities for consumers and makes guests think differently about your offerings—they’ll no longer consider you just a pizza place. This can drive customers to your restaurant more often because you have a variety of menu offerings and not just pizza and wings; it caters to those looking for something different when a group of people is trying to decide on a place that fits everyone.

The Pasta Bella at Esposito’s Pizza and Pasta, featuring chicken breast and broccoli, started as an experiment to get kids to eat their veggies and became one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes.

cream or bacon, you may end up with a great tomato sauce, regardless of what you started out with. Finally, when making a completely mixed pasta dish, I place something on top of it for garnish—such as grilled sliced chicken, tomato concassé, cheese, shrimp and herbs—to bring a two-part dimension to the eating experience.”

Marketing Pasta By promoting your pasta selection, you can introduce a new element to your customers’ dining experience and increase repeat business by bringing in those customers who simply don’t

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always want pizza. “We do not market the pasta as strongly as pizza in terms of media,” Glenn notes. “However, in the pizzeria, you’ll find pasta represented very well. Our servers do recommend or mention pasta. Often, we have promotional materials or samples in our pizza window.”

Esposito also makes sure his customers know about his pasta selection before they order. “Our servers ask tableside if the guest has any questions about any of our signature pasta dishes.”

The employees at Pele’s push their pasta more aggressively; they present it as an opportunity for their guests to experience an authentic multicourse Italian meal. “We like to give our servers as much information as possible to market the day’s selection and any specials that we might be running,” Windham says. “Our menu, website and social media do a phenomenal job of luring taste buds as well. We typically recommend a shared-style dining experience. For instance, an appetizer or fresh salad comes out first, house-made pasta comes out second, an artisan pizza comes out third, and, to finish, spun gelato for dessert. It’s a great meal for two.”

Meanwhile, if your restaurant caters to a family clientele, don’t forget the basics for kids. Mom and Dad may come in looking for a fancy Bolognese or a rich, creamy carbonara, but offer their tyke a heaping helping of spaghetti and meatballs, and you may have earned a customer for life!

Michelle McAnally is PMQ’s food editor.

44 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Pasta Suppliers American Italian Pasta Company, 877-EAT-PASTA, aipc.com Barilla, 800-922-7455, barilla.com Bellissimo Foods, 800-813-2974, bellissimofoods.com Caesar’s Pasta, 888-432-2372, caesarspasta.com Carso’s Pasta Company, 425-670-1302, carsospasta.com Divine Pasta, 818-559-7440, divinepasta.com Severino Pasta Company, 856-854-7666, severinopasta.com

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feature story franchising

46 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

The

Fearless

Franchisor If you like to dream big—and you’re not afraid to fail—franchising your pizzeria concept could be your meal ticket for life.

By Michelle McAnally

S

o you’ve got a successful pizzeria—maybe even several locations—with a winning menu and a concept that can grow. Are you ready to hit the big time and franchise your store? It’s a tough decision, one that few operators take lightly. Franchising could make you a fortune, or it could bring all of your hard work to utter ruin. The problem is, you never know for sure until you try it.

Before we explore the pros and cons of franchising, though, let’s first clarify our terms. Many people confuse chains and franchises, which are not, in fact, the same thing. In the case of a pizzeria chain, one company owns all of the locations. With a franchise, the franchisor provides a common trademarked brand and a system of operations and collects a fee and royalties from the franchisees, who own their locations. And, to ensure success, the franchisor must be prepared to exercise sufficient control to maintain consistently high brand standards across the board, at every store, in every state, no matter who owns or manages the shop.

A Different Kind of Business The good news is, the pizza industry is tailor-made for franchising. “Food concepts will always be the largest market in franchising, and, within the food industry, the pizza segment

“The biggest pitfalls in franchising are an undercapitalized concept and a concept that’s not ready for the growth that franchising may bring.” —Jania Bailey, FranNet is obviously quite large,” explains Adrianne Bibby from the Bibby Group in Shreveport, Louisiana. To distinguish themselves, Bibby says, pizza entrepreneurs first need to develop a concept that does not exist in their target market and then perform an honest self-evaluation of their business. “Have they secured a provable, repeatable system for their concept and for profitability? And do they have the demeanor to train others in making a living?”

Jania Bailey, president of FranNet, agrees. An operator may run a few successful pizzerias, she notes, but franchising is an entirely different kind of business. She recommends a little bit of soul-searching, asking yourself some key questions. “Am I available to leave the daily operations of my business and focus 100% on franchising, or can I hire someone who is?” she asks.

“Is the concept making at least an 8% to 10% profit? Is the concept a fluke, or does it have a solid track record of at least 18 to 24 months?”

After some critical analysis of your business concept, if you think you’re ready, experts say you should watch out for

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The co-owners of Piesanos Stone Fired Pizza, including (from left) Joel Mills, Laure Young, Melissa Akey and Mike Akey, spent years perfecting their business model before venturing into the franchise game.

Friends of the Franchisor

two major hazards. “The biggest pitfalls in franchising are an undercapitalized concept and a concept that’s not ready for the growth that franchising may bring,” Bailey says. “Many concepts have failed because they grew too quickly or weren’t properly capitalized to fund the growth.”

Paul Russo, president of the Orlando, Florida-based NYPD Pizzeria concept (nypdpizzeria.com), initially opened one pizzeria with the specific goal of franchising it once he had tested his recipes and model. Having worked in entertainment management and owned a yogurt shop franchise, he had a solid business background, but he was new to the pizza industry.

“We had to learn the basics of not only franchising, but running a pizza store,” Russo recalls. “I spent several years developing the concept, and then I knew that I had to get started with another unit. At that time, people said you had to have five to 15 units to get started, but I started with two.

“A serious pitfall is spreading yourself too thin,” he adds.

“For one thing, distribution costs are a major factor.” Russo also warns that, in the current economic environment, it’s very difficult to obtain loans for potential franchisees. “You have a very small pool of people who can actually get loans to build.

There is a lack of confidence from lenders, from those wanting to get into the business and from consumers.”

Piesanos Stone Fired Pizza (piesanostogo.com) in Gainesville, Florida, initially found success as a small chain. After co-owner Joel Mills and his associates spent many years of hard work and research in the pizza industry, the company recently expanded into franchising. “The franchise structure will allow 48 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Bibby Group, 318- 869-1800, bibbygroup.com Francorp, 708-481-2900, francorp.com FranFinders, 866-288-9404, franfinders.com FranNet, 877-372-6638, frannet.com IFranchise Group, 708-957-2300, ifranchisegroup.com National Franchise Consultants, 770-945-0660, nationalfranchise.com

us to partner with other like-minded, hard-working entrepreneurs and utilize our proven model to offer them a pathway to success,” Mills says. “The realization that your business is ready for the big time comes from consistent, proven results that can be replicated.

“I would advise any potential franchisors to thoroughly test their systems and be sure they can function efficiently among multiple units,” Mills adds. “Franchising is much different than just opening additional units. The franchisee is depending on you for systems that have been proven and for supply chains that are consistent. In the end, our success depends upon our franchisees’ success.”

Partnering Up The franchisor should carefully screen potential franchisees to protect his brand’s reputation, shield himself from liability and increase his chances of success, Russo says. But choosing the best candidates can be a shot in the dark, so he meets every potential partner personally, performs a background check and makes sure the partner is financially viable. Other than that, he admits, there are few hard and fast rules. “Some of my best franchisees had no retail experience whatsoever. The person

with no experience will listen the most to you. Somebody who has a lot of experience may think he can do it better,” Russo says. “At the same time, you do need to listen to your franchisees. We’ve had very knowledgeable people who gave us a lot of input and strengthened the brand—we don’t know everything.

The Big Mac and Filet-O-Fish were created by McDonald’s franchisees.”

NYPD holds a four-week training session for new partners in a corporate store and has someone on hand for follow-up training in new stores during the pre- and post-opening stages.

After that, the company continues to keep close tabs on its franchisees. “We send in secret shoppers, especially if we have had complaints, and conduct announced checkups periodically,” Russo says.

Consistency from one store to another is particularly important to a franchised concept. For example, most franchisors require all of their stores to use certain proprietary ingredients—such as sauce, cheese, flour mix and meats—to ensure dependable quality and taste from location to location. But they also may encourage the use of local, seasonal produce and the addition of ethnic dishes. Many franchises require a basic floor layout and select furnishings, but they may allow some flexibility in finishing touches to give each shop a mom-and-pop feel and to reflect the local culture (think Elvis-themed decor in Memphis or Buckeye souvenirs in Ohio).

“You need to listen to your franchisees. We’ve had very knowledgeable people who gave us a lot of input and strengthened the brand—we don’t know everything. The Big Mac and FiletO-Fish were created by McDonald’s franchisees.” —Paul Russo, NYPD Pizzeria

Small Numbers, Big Choices To get started as a franchisor, you will first need to create a legal Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), which states all of the information about your business and is presented to prospective franchise buyers. However, that sort of paperwork doesn’t come cheaply. “Just obtaining general counsel for the FDD and trademarking your logo can run six figures,” Russo explains. If, like Russo, you plan to handle the process by yourself, expect costs for franchising to run in the six -to seven-figure range.

“I did everything hard-core,” he recalls. “I hired a franchise attorney, a contract attorney, an intellectual property attorney and a general business attorney. I hired people in-house for marketing, artwork and public relations.”

In addition to an FDD and a trademarked logo, you’ll need a business plan, a marketing plan, an operations manual and

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NYPD Pizza presently has six locations in Florida, including the Metro West store (above) in Orlando, and one location in Arkansas.

The company offers two types of stores to franchisees: the Metro Unit for takeout and delivery only and the full-service Precinct Unit.

Running With the Big Dogs Not everyone has a marketable pizzeria concept—or even his own pizza shop. What if you’re a pizzeria employee looking to start your own franchise pizza business? Fortunately, options abound—if you’ve got plenty of money in the bank or the ability to raise the capital. Entrepreneur.com last year offered its list of the top 10 pizza franchises as measured by factors such as financial strength, stability, growth rate, breadth, experience and start-up costs: 1.

Pizza Hut, Plano, TX Start-Up Costs: $320,000 to $2.2 million 2. Papa John’s International, Louisville, KY Start-Up Costs: $115,000 to $500,000 3. Hungry Howie’s Pizza & Subs, Madison Heights, MI Start-Up Costs: $225,000 to $358,000 4. Marco’s Pizza, Toledo, OH Start-Up Costs: $179,500 to $349,000 5. Jet’s Pizza, Sterling Heights, MI Start-Up Costs: $385,000 to $445,000 6. Villa Enterprises, Morristown, NJ Start-Up Costs: $296,000 to $572,000 7. Pizza Ranch, Orange City, IA Start-Up Costs: $800,000 to $1.9 million 8. Ledo Pizza System, Annapolis, MD Start-Up Costs: $115,250 to $419,000 9. Donato’s Pizza, Columbus, OH Start-Up Costs: $405,000 to $705,000 10. Straw Hat Pizza, San Ramon, CA Start-Up Costs: $182,000 to $416,000

50 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

a system for screening; and, if possible, you’ll need to help find financing for potential franchisees. All of these aspects of the business call for different types of attorneys and different specialists. “If you were to engage separate entities on your own, you would need to recruit an accounting firm, franchise attorneys, a marketing firm, and someone to create your training manuals, all of whom must be thoroughly skilled in the development of franchise concepts,” Bailey observes. “This phase is one of the most critical in the life span of a franchise. One wrong step during this due diligence phase could spell legal and financial disaster in the future.”

Some choices, in fact, might at first seem like minor ones, but, over time, they can turn out to be multimillion dollar decisions—for example, determining how much to charge in royalties. “Look at the difference between 5% and 6%,” says Mark Siebert, CEO of the iFranchise Group in Homewood, Illinois. “If you do the math, with 100 franchises over 10 years, you could be looking at a $5 million mistake. And if you try to sell your franchise later for 10 times earnings, it could be a $10 million mistake.”

Getting Help Many aspiring franchisors consider all of these bewildering options—and opportunities to screw up—and don’t want to risk going it alone. For them, hiring a franchise consultant makes more sense. “The first time you make a pizza, chances are it’s not your best—you are going to make mistakes,” Siebert observes. “Likewise, advice from a knowledgeable consultant can prevent fatal errors, improve your quality and structure and help you to sell more franchises to the right people.”

Limiting your liability is a good example of one of the trickier aspects of franchising. “The way in which you structure your contract and write your operations manual will have everything to do with whether you will be able to protect yourself from potential lawsuits,” Siebert points out. “Up to 27% of franchisors report litigation. A lawsuit can destroy you, so you need to make sure your operations manual, legal documents and marketing materials are bulletproof.”

In one example shared by Siebert, a franchisor dictated in its operations manual a specific type of safe that its franchisees had to use. When one franchise owner was beaten by a robber because he couldn’t open the time-lock safe, he sued the franchise and won. It’s these seemingly minor details that can spell disaster for an inexperienced franchisor.

Many would-be franchisors simply don’t have the time to attend to these small but crucial details. “A typical operations manual might take 2,000 hours to write and run four or five hundred pages,” Siebert says. “When you throw in all of the time and effort it takes to write, and you’re already running your own business at least 60 hours a week, trying to come up with even 500 hours to write a manual—you have to ask, what is your time worth?”

“If you were to engage separate entities on your own, you would need to recruit an accounting firm, franchise attorneys, a marketing firm, and someone to create your training manuals, all of whom must be thoroughly skilled in the development of franchise concepts.”

—Jania Bailey, FranNet If you’re still determined to franchise your own concept, just be prepared to take time away—maybe permanently—from your core pizzeria business and instead concentrate on the franchise business. When Mills and his partners took the leap, they hired a group of attorneys who specialized in franchise development, but it was still a lengthy and arduous process. “We are now to the point where the paperwork has been finalized and filed and we are beginning to market Piesanos franchise opportunities,” Mills says. “Getting to this point has definitely been challenging, but we believe it was time and effort well-spent in developing efficient operational models to ensure the success of our future franchise partners.”

Michelle McAnally is PMQ’s food editor.

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feature story equipping your pizzeria

Equipping a Pizzeria

From ovens and POS systems to sheeters and washware, experts explain what you’ll need to get your new operation working at peak levels. By Tracy Morin

I

f you’re thinking of opening your own pizzeria, you already have plenty to consider. Do you want to buy or lease a building? What will the menu

offer? How can you successfully market the business? But you’ll also have to think of other logistics— including what equipment you’ll need to get up and running. We spoke to industry experts and restaurant consultants to create a list of the basic equipment required for making the leap from aspiring owner to pizza entrepreneur.

52 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Know Your Concept On the subject of opening a pizzeria, experts agree on one crucial tenet: Know everything you can about your business before you think about equipment. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t have their menu put together but have already ordered equipment, and they often overbuy,” says “Pizza Paul” Nyland, a consultant based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who worked for Gordon Food Service for more than 30 years.

“Create your menu first, get together with your distributor and distributor’s salesperson, and then determine what equipment you’ll need.”

Danny Bendas, managing partner at Synergy Restaurant Consultants in Irvine, California, agrees that an owner must have a complete understanding of the brand before purchasing equipment. “What’s the size of your menu and the size of your pizzas?” he asks. “Will you have a build-your-own concept or offer a high-end menu with fewer choices? Determine the concept to develop and design a space plan. How much square footage is needed? Will you have seating or offer delivery only?” Bendas calls this first step the “discovery phase”—when future owners develop the concept to make way for more detailed plans on how everything will flow in the restaurant. “You can’t do anything until you have a complete understanding of the brand, including niche, concept and target demographic,” he says.

Generating Heat The type of pizza you’ll offer will influence your most major piece of equipment—the oven. “What is your style of pizza, and what capacity do you want?” asks Bendas, who notes that

popular pizzeria choices include deck ovens (sometimes with cement or stone decks) and easy-to-operate conveyor ovens.

“What’s the level of quality you want? What is the required throughput?”

Andre Neyrey, a former pizzeria owner and current owner of Manhattan Restaurant Consultants in New York, notes that conveyor ovens are quick and easy for staff because the timing is set and operation is a no-brainer. Deck ovens require more knowledge for working the oven and placing the pizzas, while wood-fired types require the most expertise. Hence, your staff members’ ability to operate the ovens will be a key factor.

You must also determine if you’ll offer thin-crust, thick-crust, deep-dish pizzas or a combination—not all ovens suit certain pizza styles.

Tom Lehmann, director of bakery assistance for the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kansas, often consults for aspiring pizzeria owners and emphasizes familiarity with concept and pizza style when choosing an oven. “Are you fine-dining or Joe Schmo?” he asks. “Is it casual, a slice operation, a grab-andgo? If you’re a grab-and-go, why have a wood-burning oven?

Maybe productivity is more important. Or maybe you want to have more toppings than anyone else—so why get a deck oven when an air impingement oven will create a pie without sogginess?” Location of your business will also matter—if you’re located in a strip mall, chances are you won’t be able to install a wood-burning oven. “Do some soul-searching, and ask what you want to be to your customers,” Lehmann advises.

A mix of ovens might be necessary for your particular combination of menu items. Nyland has seen some pizzerias make

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A pizza table as long as the oven (8’ to 9’), placed across from the oven—with all toppings, sauce and cheese needs laid out—will make prep a breeze.

“Are you fine-dining or Joe Schmo? Is it casual, a slice operation, a grab-and-go? If you’re a grab-and-go, why have a wood-burning oven? Maybe productivity is more important.

Or maybe you want to have more toppings than anyone else—so why get a deck oven when an air impingement oven will create a pie without sogginess?”

-Tom Lehmann their pizzas in deck ovens while cooking their breadsticks and sandwiches on conveyors. Lehmann points to a slice operation in his area that uses a deck oven to heat entire pies, but, when individual slices are topped to order, they’re finished in an impingement oven. Meanwhile, Nyland notes that a split conveyor may be useful; it has two sides that run at different speeds to accommodate different cooking times.

Dough On the Go The dough making process is a major consideration for operations that don’t buy premade. Again, knowing your concept will help you understand your needs—such as a mixer, a dough prep table, and perhaps a rounder, press or sheeter. Lehmann tells owners to buy a mixer no smaller than 60-quart, although most operators won’t need anything bigger than 80-quart. Nyland recommends nothing under 40-quart because a 40-quart will take a 25-pound bag of flour (in other words, think about the raw ingredients you’ll be buying when considering equipment needs). Nyland prefers horizontal mixers, but VCMs develop dough at lightning-fast speed—do some research to determine which is best for your dough and operation.

Sheeters can be useful for employees who can’t properly open a dough ball. “You can preopen with a sheeter (running a dough ball through to ⅔ or ¾ of the finished diameter) and finish by hand to keep the porosity and beautiful raised edge of a hand-tossed style,” Lehmann explains. “For truly minimum skill sets, look into a dough press—it requires the 54 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

employee only to put in a dough ball and press two buttons, then take it off.”

Neyrey adds that, for communities with poor-quality water, a water filtration system is crucial for great dough; a conditioning treatment, triple-filtering system or reverse-osmosis treatment can help prep one of your most basic dough ingredients.

Prep and Storage Neyrey recommends purchasing stainless-steel sheet pans or other dough storage containers; stainless-steel prep tables for work service; a prep sink; walk-in refrigeration (cooler and freezer); a reach-in refrigerator/freezer; and double-passthrough, stainless-steel shelving. A pizza table as long as the oven (8’ to 9’), placed across from the oven—with all toppings, sauce and cheese needs laid out—will make prep a breeze. “In a kitchen, you want everything within arm’s reach,” says Neyrey.

For refrigeration or other major-equipment needs, Bendas strongly advises against buying used equipment unless the operator is sure of the quality, as a lot of mechanical parts can go awry. “Ask if the refrigeration’s compressors are builtin or remote because that will affect the heat in the kitchen,” Bendas says. “But, in general, energy-efficient appliances of any type are important.” He recommends walk-ins, which are more space- and cost-efficient, over using several refrigerators for storage. Bendas also adds that fledgling operators should In any pizzeria, smallwares will also be necessary, including such items as rocker knives and rolling cutters, pizza peels (metal or wooden), pots and pans and cooking utensils.

consider whether they will be offering gluten-free products while in the planning stages; these will require separate areas for prepping, cooking, storing and related tasks.

Nyland recommends a three-door make table and a specialty rack for sheet pans that can hold dough balls of varying sizes. “A lot of people have two make tables—one for sandwiches and one for the pizza line,” he says. “Keep the dough underneath and the sauce/cheese/toppings on top, and keep that table close to the oven and the table where you’ll cut and finish.”

Start to Finish When equipping your pizzeria, think about the entire pizza making process— first, what’s needed in the before-oven steps, “from the dough to the sauce to the cheese/toppings to the oven,” Bendas says. “Then you need to think about the landing and cutting table as well as the plating/boxing/finishing area. How is everything going to flow?” He suggests working from the back forward—from

the supplies coming in the back door to the finishing and pickup/delivery station up front. Bendas also advises owners to think about what else will be prepped on-site. If you’re making your own sauce or grilling toppings, you’ll need an oven range or grill, for example. Also consider concept: Do you need serviceware and tables for dine-in customers, boxes for delivery/takeout, or display cases for grab-and-go items?

Running a Tech Check POS systems are must-haves for all but the most old-fashioned pizzerias, and they tend to come with plenty of bells and whistles. According to Bendas, the essentials include: a way to maintain a customer database with addresses (including the ability to do marketing with that database, such as through social media and email blasts); a GPS service for deliveries; and an option for mobile/ Internet ordering.

“You want a POS with a delivery module that offers ways of tracking guests; email and social networking programs; inventory tracking; sales information; and ways to balance out the register with credit card payments,” Neyrey suggests. Ask for demos from POS manufacturers as well as recommendations from pizzerias similar to yours in noncompeting areas.

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POS systems are must-haves for all but the most old-fashioned pizzerias, and they tend to come with plenty of bells and whistles.

Delivery and carryout operations also require a place to hold pies (such as heated cabinets), hot bags and boxes—all while maintaining top-notch pie quality—plus other packaging and disposable utensils, napkins and similar items, Bendas notes.

But dine-in has its own challenges, requiring equipment for warewashing (i.e., a three-compartment sink) and glassware. For dine-ins, Neyrey adds, “You need a sound system/music service and dine-in furniture—tables, chairs, barstools and patio furniture, plus baby chairs, high chairs and booster seats for kids.” In delivery and takeout operations, he advises branding items such as pizza boxes, hot bags and takeout equipment for marketing purposes. He also advises you to ask for samples from container/box manufacturers to see how well your products hold up over time in those containers.

In any pizzeria, smallwares will also be necessary—Neyrey mentions rocker knives and rolling cutters, pizza peels (metal or wooden), pots and pans, cooking utensils (such as spoons and tongs), food storage containers, a rolling dough rack and a can opener, to name a few. For deep-dish pizzas, Lehmann suggests pan grippers and long-blade spatulas (as opposed to knives) to avoid damaging pans when extracting the pizzas.

Additionally, Neyrey observes, you’ll need to satisfy health department requirements (i.e., restroom supplies and a mop sink) and take care of security needs (installing an alarm system, surveillance and a safe). Finally, don’t forget your beverage service—you may need a soda fountain, an ice machine or ice maker, a bottle cooler and/or a kegerator (which allows for two to three beers on draft without a complete draft system). Make a list of everything you’ll need to stock before you begin, and work with your distributor to determine your best options.

Ultimately, no matter how you plan for immediate concerns—getting your pizzeria up and running—you’ll also want to look a bit further into your future.

“Have a three- to five-year plan before you even think about equipment,” Lehmann urges. “If you don’t have room to grow, you can’t offset a rise in cost of ingredients unless you raise prices or lower your profit margin—either of which can put you out of business.”

Looking to open a new pizzeria? Check out PMQ’s Pizza Pages—a categorized listing of everything you’ll need for a successful operation—at ThePizzaPages.com.

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

56 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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feature story u.s. pizza team

Eyes Prize on the

Heading into a new year of growth and innovation, the U.S. Pizza Team has its sights set on getting the gold at the World Pizza Championship in Parma, Italy. By Rick Hynum

T

eam competition in most sports requires daily practice sessions, workouts in the gym and hours of studying film of opponents’ games. Squad members bond over hard-fought scrimmages and strained muscles, study complex playbooks for hours at a time, and sweat, grunt and struggle through grueling drills in freezing-cold rain or blistering heat.

It’s an exhausting and challenging regimen, but that’s how Super Bowls and World Series are won.

The “pizzathletes” of the U.S. Pizza Team (USPT) should be so lucky.

For them, there’s little time for practice, no state-of-the-art training facilities, no scholarships to pay the bills. They all live in far-flung cities and can get together to practice their routines only when their schedules allow. Some of them attend college while also working full-time jobs. They may go for months at a time without ever laying eyes on each other, much less running drills and refining their moves in coordinated rehearsals.

And, yet, when these “pizzathletes” finally do get together in the same room, well, sometimes it’s magic.

In 2011, they met up in Salsomaggiore, Italy, and managed to capture top acrobatic team honors at the World Pizza Championship (WPC), taking the gold cup home to the United States. And although USPT members participated only in

58 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

individual events in last year’s WPC, they plan to reunite for the team competition at the 2013 show, to be held April 15 to 17 in Parma, and reclaim that trophy.

Recapturing the gold cup will require “a lot of dedication,” says USPT assistant director Missy Green. “Being spread across the country as we are, we depend heavily on the first few days of meeting up in Italy to accomplish our goals. Of course, everyone is dying to sip wine, stroll around the ancient plazas and enjoy a relaxing vacation, but we have to spend those hours making dough, rolling it and coordinating our routine, and then it’s practice, practice, practice.”

USPT acrobatics coach Jamie Culliton says a WPC victory will require “dedicated people who believe in what we’re doing and are willing to work hard to learn the routine in the short time we have together. We have been communicating regularly about ideas for the routine and have certain moves worked out ahead of time.”

Ultimately, though, success in Parma comes down to “having a routine that grabs people’s attention from the start and doesn’t let go,” Culliton adds. “With our last win, there were people coming up to us days later, telling us how much they loved the theme. I still get comments about it—it was that memorable!”

Teresa McIntyre

Winners at the U.S. Pizza Team Trials, held in September in Orlando, included (from left) Jamie Culliton (2nd place, Freestyle Acrobatics and 3rd place, Fastest Pizza Maker); Ryan LaRose (1st place, Freestyle Acrobatics and 1st place, Largest Dough Stretch); and Ryan Kubil (3rd place, Freestyle Acrobatics and 2nd place, Fastest Pizza Maker).

A Year to Remember Thanks to a number of successful competitions around the country and several individual success stories, 2012 turned out to be a good year for the U.S. Pizza Team, says team director Brian Hernandez. “I think the American Pizza Championship competition, held at NYPD Pizza in Orlando, Florida, was a great success and showed the competitors’ versatility—to be able to walk into an unfamiliar pizzeria and create masterpieces with ovens they’d never used before was impressive,” Hernandez says. “The USPT Acrobatic Trials, also in Orlando, was another one of my favorites. Despite some setbacks, all of the competitors came together as a team to help each other and the competition. I was very thankful for that.”

In addition to appearing on a lengthy segment aired by an Orlando morning news show, team members also organized flash mobs during their visit to that city. Members slipped discreetly into two local restaurants—Pizzeria Valdiano (pizzeriavaldiano.com) and Uno Chicago Grill (unos.com)— and took seats before suddenly launching into their dough spinning acts to thumping dance music played over the loudspeakers (all with permission from the restaurant managers, of course). Hernandez called it “a great experience with a very warm reception” from customers at both pizzerias.

Meanwhile, individual team members garnered positive press in 2012. Wilhelm Rodriguez, owner of Papa’s Pizza in San Juan, Puerto Rico, baked up a series of pizza portraits featuring iconic figures such as Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, and the Mona Lisa. His efforts earned him coverage on CNN and the Spanish-language network Telemundo.

Greg Spaulding, who manages three Puccini’s Smiling Teeth (puccinissmilingteeth.com) locations in Lexington, Kentucky, also earned major publicity for winning the Best of the U.S. Award for Classic Pizza in the 2012 World Pizza Championship. “I appeared live on WKYT’s Channel 27 News, and the Lexington Herald Leader ran an article about my trip to Italy, as did the Chevy Chaser and Southsider magazines,” Spaulding says. “I also attend the University of Kentucky and was featured in a nice article in the university’s newspaper. Puccini’s is proud of my accomplishments and of their own accomplishments, seeing as how thus far I have competed with Puccini’s recipes.”

Into the Mainstream As a newcomer to pizza acrobatics, college student Carleigh Condon barely has time for competitive spinning. She stays busy shuttling back and forth between her classes at Florida Atlantic University and her job as a pizza maker at Grimaldi’s

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The Year In Review Pizzeria (grimaldispizzeria.com) in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. But Condon makes room in her busy schedule for the USPT because, she says, it could offer her an opportunity to see the world.

“I originally became interested in the team when I met Jamie Culliton and saw how he was able to travel by spinning dough competitively,” Condon recalls. “That’s also what appealed to me—I’ve always wanted to travel, and this is a way to travel with a group of people sharing a common interest.”

Condon competed in the USPT Trials in Orlando last September, taking the starring role in a Madonna-inspired acrobatics routine that also featured other team members in supporting roles. “My first experience competing in the Pizza Team Trials was exhilarating,” Condon says. “It was a lot of fun meeting everyone and spinning dough with them, learning new tricks and practicing ones we already knew.”

Attracting female spinners and pizza makers such as Condon is a top goal for the USPT in 2013. Meanwhile, team organizers have also developed a game plan to raise awareness about the team, promote its activities across the country, boost overall membership and increase corporate and pizzeria sponsorships of team activities. “Our goal is to drive the U.S. Pizza Team brand into the mainstream,” Hernandez says.

Green agrees, adding, “We’d like to build a network of support and make it accessible to pizzeria owners around the country who want to become more involved in USPT events.”

In addition to helping send competitors to national and global events, independent pizzerias and chains with USPT ties will be encouraged to hold their own dough spinning events— for kids and adults alike—as promotions guaranteed to draw positive coverage from the news media. Contest winners could even earn a chance to compete at the regional or national level and work their way up to USPT membership.

“There are potential USPT members working in nearly every pizzeria kitchen, whether they’re culinary artists who make amazing original pizzas or born showmen with dazzling dough spinning skills,” Hernandez says. “Folks like that make great ambassadors for your pizzeria—they can help teach dough spinning workshops for local kids’ groups or offer pizza making lessons to adults. These workshops make great promotions that help drive traffic and draw media attention to your restaurant.”

Getting Pizzerias Involved Team organizers have also developed a U.S. Pizza Team Affiliate Member Program for pizzeria operators who want to involve their establishments with the squad. “This is a way for pizzerias to support the team through a small annual fee while receiving exclusive savings, easy-to-implement marketing tools and specialized resources for building a group of pizzathletes in your own community,” Green explains.

Designed for small- to medium-size pizza restaurants, the program offers discounts on a range of specialized services, such as credit card processing through Exclusive Merchants; 60 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

In addition to the World Pizza Championship held in Salsomaggiore, Italy last April, the U.S. Pizza Team sponsored or competed in a range of high-profile events in 2012, including: Event: Slice of the Northeast, April 10, Harrah’s Casino, Atlantic City, NJ Sponsor: US Foods Winner: Leonardo Giordano, Mona Lisa Pizzeria & Ristorante, Staten Island, NY Winning Entry: Pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, porcini mushroom cognac, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, shaved Parmesan cheese, walnuts and drizzled white truffle oil Event: Bluegrass Bakeoff, September 11, the Fifth Third Pavilion, Lexington, KY Sponsors: PizzaOvens.com and Presto Foods Winners: Bayram Vatansever and Osman Cagil Winning Entry: The Lexington Avenue, a 16” hand-tossed pizza with Alfredo sauce, fresh baby spinach, bacon, mushrooms and ricotta Event: American Pizza Championship, September 23, NYPD Pizza Metrowest, Orlando, FL Winner: Bradley Corbin, Sloopy’s Sports Café, Lakeside, OH Winning Entry: The Hibachi Pizza, with Japanese white sauce, chicken, shrimp, sautéed carrots, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, fried rice, oyster/soy sauce and sesame seeds Event: U.S. Pizza Team Acrobatic Trials, September 24, Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show, Orlando, FL Winners: Freestyle Acrobatics— Ryan LaRose, Backstreet Pizza, Oviedo, FL; Fastest Pie Maker— David Sommers, Mad Mushroom, West Lafayette, IN; Largest Dough Stretch—Ryan LaRose, Backstreet Pizza, Oviedo, FL

concise, customized promotional videos from Branding Shorts; direct mail services from Moving Targets; and food cost analyses by Eyenalize. Affiliate members also receive free listings on USPizzaTeam.com with their store logos and links to their websites along with free online ordering setup through MyPizza. com. For more information on the Affiliate Member Program and a full list of benefits, visit USPizzaTeam.com/membership.

No Easy Win Of course, the USPT’s ultimate goal is to promote and celebrate the American pizza industry and to create international ambassadors that serve on behalf of the world’s most popular food. Toward that end, the team continued to expand its global

reach last year. The U.S. Pizza Team International won 2nd place at the Italian Ultimate Pizza Championship, held May 14 to 16 in Fiumicino, Italy.

Additionally, the PMQ Chinese Pizza Championship took place November 14 to 16 at the FHC China event in Shanghai. Out of 16 culinary competitors, Jinfei Zhou emerged as the winner and, under the sponsorship of Le 5 Stagione, will accompany the U.S. Pizza Team to Italy and represent China in the WPC. Meanwhile, the USPT’s pizzathletes remain focused on the big WPC prize. “It will take a solid team performance to bring back the gold in Italy—a core group of pizza spinners with the camaraderie to work together from across the country and create and perfect a routine with very little face-to-face time,” Hernandez says. “It will take some strong leadership from Jamie Culliton as the acrobatics coach to smooth out the rough edges of the routine as well as coordinate practices. It will also take some really great culinary creations for the team to be competitive in the pizza making contests. It’s not easy to win in Italy.”

Even so, Green is optimistic. “This team is composed of the most creative and talented pizza makers and athletes in the country, all brought together by their love of pizza,” she notes.

Culliton agrees. “I love competing on the team because it gives me the opportunity to meet and work with the best pizza

Bradley Corbin took first place in the American Pizza Championship’s culinary competition held at NYPD Pizza in Orlando in September.

guys and gals in the country,” he says. “I love traveling to Italy and learning from the masters from around the world. Whether it’s new recipe ideas or tricks from my acrobatic routines, it’s a great way to experience the industry and better myself as a pizzaiolo.”

Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor-in-chief.

January/February 2013

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22 edition nd

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For more information on how you can join the U.S. Pizza Team in Italy to compete or how to become a sponsor contact Brian Hernandez at brian@pmq.com, or by phone at 662-234-5481 x129 or visit USPizzaTeam.com.

THANKS TO OUR U.S. PIZZA TEAM GOLD SPONSORS:

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feature story Cameron mitchell

From the

Dish Room

64 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

...to the

Board Room

Elegant furnishings and soft lighting create a lavish atmosphere for dining in the Blu Lounge of Mitchell’s Ocean Prime restaurant in Atlanta.

Ohio restaurateur Cameron Mitchell credits his success to aggressive marketing and following the “golden rule” in employee relations. By Liz Barrett

C

ameron Mitchell knew from a very young age that he was destined for the restaurant business, and once he had his plan in place, nothing could stop him. Today, Mitchell owns more than a dozen award-winning restaurant locations across the nation under the Cameron Mitchell Restaurants (cameronmitchell.com) umbrella and shows no signs of slowing down. His concepts include Marcella’s Italian Kitchen and Martini Modern Italian, both in Columbus, Ohio, along with Cameron’s American Bistro, Molly Woo’s Asian Bistro, Cap City Fine Diner & Bar and Ocean Prime.

His success can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the company’s dedication to its employees, Mitchell’s natural-born marketing instincts and a deep love for the restaurant business.

Mitchell recently sat down for an interview with PMQ Pizza Magazine to discuss the challenges of running multiple concepts, his most successful promotions, and one of the biggest mistakes he has seen restaurant marketers make.

How did you get started in the restaurant business?

I started washing dishes as a junior in high school 32 years ago, and I fell in love with the business. After high school, I was working at a local restaurant in Columbus and had an epiphany that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life—I wanted to be in the restaurant business. I went home and wrote out my goals and woke my mom up at 1:00 in the morning and told her my plans to attend the Culinary

“The brand image is everything, and that takes years to build and days to ruin.”

Institute of America, become executive chef, general manager, then regional manager, then VP of operations. But the ultimate goal was to be president of a restaurant company by the time I was 35. So that’s what I pursued. By the time I was in my late 20s, I got hired as a sous chef at a local restaurant company, which had one restaurant. They built a second restaurant, and I became executive chef. Then, after four or five more restaurants, I grew into the general manager [role] and oversaw operations of six restaurants. I eventually hit my head on the ceiling and decided it was time to start my own restaurant company. We opened my first restaurant (Cameron’s) in October 1993, when I was 29 years old.

How did you get the idea to develop several different concepts?

I saw Rich Melman with Lettuce Entertain You, Buckhead Life Restaurant Group in Atlanta, and other multiconcept operators around the country. That’s where I got the idea and decided to become a multiconcept operator here in Columbus.

What are the pros and cons of a multiconcept setup?

In all the restaurants I equate it to the chassis being the same— the accounting system, the cultural philosophy, the way we operate, etc. The window dressing is the body of the car, meaning

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Wood-fired pizzas are among the signature menu items at Marcella’s Italian Kitchen, a Cameron Mitchell restaurant with two locations in Columbus, Ohio.

that, with each different concept, the window dressing changes a little bit. But you don’t get to focus on the brand like you do with a singular brand. Maybe you don’t get some of the same economies of scale, [which are the] results of singular focus. But for us, it’s more of a labor of love. We love the restaurant business, and whether I’m doing a great cheeseburger or a soufflé or anything in between, it’s a lot of fun.

Your restaurants run like well-oiled machines.

To what do you attribute this success?

If there’s a secret at all, it’s our company values and culture.

One of our guiding principles is that our associates come first.

We don’t really have a direct relationship with the guest; we have a direct relationship with our associates. So I look at the guest relationship as a triangle. We take care of our people; our people take care of our guests; our guests take care of our company. So I think that’s unique. Most restaurant companies would probably say that the customer comes first. It’s not that we don’t care about great guest service—it’s paramount to any successful restaurant. But we achieve great guest service through taking care of our people and putting our people first. It’s all based on the “golden rule.” We’re not open on the major holidays because I don’t think our people want to work on those holidays. I don’t want to work on those holidays, so I don’t ask anyone else to work. People love working for our company, so they feel a duty to take care of the company. Also, making a profit is not our No. 1 goal. Our No. 1 goal is to maintain our culture and our values. I think the key to longterm success is to be a values-driven organization. Not that we don’t care about profit, but it’s job No. 1A, not job No. 1.

How are the menus chosen for your concepts?

We travel the country and look at what’s going on. We try to keep fresh and study the trade magazines. Our corporate chefs have been with the company for a lot of years and know what’s needed to keep the menus fresh and invigorated.

66 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

“For every one vegetarian dish we sell, we sell 10 gluten-free dishes. If you’re not doing gluten-free right now, you’re really behind the curve.”

What was your first experience with restaurant marketing?

I guess I’m a natural-born marketer. I’ve always believed in the shotgun approach. I equate our marketing programs to being up in the crow’s nest with a .50-caliber machine gun, shooting at everything, as opposed to having a laserlike focus. My goal is to have something in the press every week, whether it’s a special promotion or a radio drop. We’re very aggressive marketers, but we spend only about 1% of our revenue on marketing, because, ultimately, the best form of restaurant marketing is execution at the table and word-of-mouth. We’re very aggressive on the local-store marketing level and in ad campaigns and marketing campaigns, and we always make sure to have something to talk about in our restaurants.

What do you think is the most important aspect of marketing in the restaurant business today?

Staying top-of-mind more than anything and giving your staff and your guests something to talk about.

Do you handle marketing differently in today’s economic climate?

No, I just think we’re a little more sophisticated and have become better marketers over the years in deciding what works and what doesn’t work, which is hard to do.

What have been some of your more successful promotions?

We’ve done periodic discounting to generate trial of a restaurant, and then hopefully we’re able to maintain some of that business after the discount program. We do half-price wine nights on Mondays and Sunday spaghetti suppers. We like to reward our guests for being there.

Ocean Prime in Atlanta is one of a number of Mitchell’s popular concepts.

How do you accommodate gluten-free customers?

We were pioneering gluten-free years ago. All of our restaurants offer gluten-free menus. The response has really surprised us. It used to be that you always made sure that you had a vegetarian item on the menu. Now, for every one vegetarian dish we sell, we sell 10 gluten-free dishes. A lot of people come to our restaurants specifically for the gluten-free offerings. I’m not sure what’s happening to cause this shift, but I think that if you’re not doing gluten-free right now, you’re really behind the curve.

How do you focus on your community?

One of the pillars of our company culture is to support our community. We’re very charitable and have given millions of dollars over the years to our communities. We’re always involved in fundraisers and charity events. It’s the give-back that I think any responsible business would do. It’s a natural for us.

We have an off-premise catering company that handles a lot of that, which was also a natural evolution of the business.

How long have you had the catering company?

About 10 years. It made sense to be able to handle parties, charitable events, etc. It’s been a terrific business for us over the years.

What advice do you have for today’s restaurant marketers?

Be aggressive. Try just about anything: radio and TV demonstrations, charitable events, etc.

What’s one of the biggest marketing mistakes restaurateurs make?

Placing ads in newspapers or magazines when the ad doesn’t really say anything, doesn’t make people think, doesn’t have a call to action, doesn’t represent the restaurant well and doesn’t help drive the identity. In all of our ads, we’re always working our company image. We have a healthy, strong image as a very charitable company and as a great company to work for. If we win an award as one of the best places to work, that in itself is a great marketing piece. The brand image is everything, and that takes years to build and days to ruin. We handle all of that with kid gloves and tend to it like a farmer would tend to his crops.

Liz Barrett is PMQ’s editor at large.

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pizza Of the month meatball

68 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Pizza Month: Meatball of the

The Mighty Meatball Pie Recipe and photo provided by U.S. Pizza Team director Brian Hernandez 8 oz. dough 8 oz. pizza sauce 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. Italian seasoning ¼ c. Parmesan cheese, grated 1 c. (4 oz.) cheddar cheese, shredded ¼ c. green onions, chopped 12 fully cooked meatballs (1/2 oz.), halved 1 c. (4 oz.) mozzarella cheese, shredded Preheat oven to 425°. Place rolled-out dough on a pizza stone or a lightly oiled pizza pan. Spread your pizza sauce. Add mixture of Parmesan, garlic powder and Italian seasonings.

Sprinkle cheddar cheese and arrange meatballs. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and top with green onions. Bake at 425° for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes a 12” pie.

Meatball Marketing •

Offer a weekly Monday Night Meatballs or Meatball Madness promotion featuring your best meatball pizza recipes paired with a hearty beer.

•

Create attention-grabbing names for your meatball pizzas, such as the Meatball Monster, Great Meatballs of Fire (for spicy recipes) or the Mama Mia Meatball Pie.

•

Target kids with a Meatball Magic promotion spotlighting a magician who entertains from table to table and a menu featuring meatball pizzas, spaghetti and meatballs, and meatball subs.

The Magnificent Meatball Like pizza making, creating the perfect meatball is an art unto itself. Fried or baked, grilled or braised, made with beef, pork or turkey, meatballs can be served as a main course, in a hero sandwich or paired with spaghetti to the delight of children (and adults!) everywhere. But meatball pizzas have gained in popularity as well in recent years, with styles ranging from sweet and spicy Greek meatballs made with lamb to hearty Tex-Mex creations packed with meaty heat. Some adventurous types have even experimented with Swedish meatball pies. Just remember that large meatballs tend to weigh down the crust—many chefs prefer to cut their meatballs into smaller slices. Here are some examples of meatball pizzas in restaurants across the country: The Rock Wood Fired Pizza & Spirits (therockwfp.com), with locations in Colorado, Oregon and Washington, sampled The Who in naming its Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy meatball pie. It starts with a tomato sauce base and, in addition to meatballs, features a generous helping of pepperoni, sweet sausage, peppered bacon, ham and mozzarella.

Meats of all types reign supreme on the Godfather pie at Angelina’s Pizzeria (ginospasta.com/angelinaspizzeria. htm), located in Salinas, California. In addition to meatballs, the Godfather boasts pepperoni, salami, Canadian bacon and sausage.

Alaskans love their meatballs, too, particularly the Meatball Parmesan pizza at Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria (moosestooth.net) in Anchorage. It comes loaded with meatballs in marinara sauce, mushrooms, black olives and green peppers, plus mozzarella, provolone, Parmesan, fresh basil and garlic oil.

The Meatball Pomodoro Fresco comes highly recommended at Regina Pizzeria (reginapizzeria.com) in Boston.

In addition to Regina’s special meatball recipe, it’s prepared with marinated tomatoes and mozzarella, plus Romano and Parmesan cheeses, and finished with garlic sauce and fresh basil.

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The pizza exchange product spotlight

Pizza Party Planners Learn how to make six figures a year by planning 50 to 100 pizza parties per month with pizza party training offered by National Pizza Parties in Tucson, Arizona. Experienced instructors place an emphasis on preparation, presentation, and how to handle large groups and find more customers. 520-888-9359, nationalpizzaparties.com

Frozen Assets This healthy version of a slush drink comes in a variety of incredible flavors. At the same time, it provides a healthy alternative to soda and other sugary beverages. Healthy Chillers are made with 100% fruit and vegetable juices and contain no sugar, no additives and no high-fructose corn syrup.

Both delicious and nutritious, Healthy Chillers are perfect for pizzerias that cater to families with children. 800-572-2252, healthychillers.com

The Pizza Box of the Future Customers can convert the Table Box into an elevated “serving box,” saving room on the table and creating a better eating experience. Manufactured by RockTenn, it’s great for pizza parties at home, the office or anywhere else pizza is served. And because there’s no additional packaging, it’s easy for pizzerias to switch over to using the Table Box. 609-647-4466, tablepizzabox.com

The Moneymaking Connection Granbury Restaurant Solutions offers the technology your pizzeria needs to run efficiently. Start with a pizza-focused point-of-sale system, then add fully integrated online ordering and your own customized mobile ordering app for your customers’ smartphones.

Granbury’s self-serve kiosk app is perfect for your pizzeria lobby or tables. The company can also help with multistore automated marketing and loyalty programs. 800-750-3947, granburyrs.com 70 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

For Leftover-Lovers Pizza Pop-Ins make it easy as pie for customers to store leftover pizza slices. These triangular plastic bags offer a green solution to wasting aluminum foil and plastic wrap. Include Pizza Pop-Ins with each delivery, and customers can simply pop their leftover slices in the bags. They’ll appreciate both the convenience and your commitment to the environment. This value-added solution will increase your sales by exceeding customer expectations!

772-215-9912, pizzapopins.com

NO PARLOUR GAMES HERE! NAPICS ’13—IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF PIZZA AND ICE CREAM February 17-18, 2013 Greater Columbus Convention Center Columbus, Ohio

Don’t just look, taste! thousands of samples and expert advice on using them.

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Keynote speech: Darren Tristano, Technomic, Inc.,

Experienced Help: our pizza experts and peer-to-peer operators answer your questions about everything pizza.

“State of the Pizza and Ice Cream Industries.” expect this to be a fact-packed, eye-opening presentation about the national pizza and ice cream scenes by the authority on industry research.

Pizza Pizzazz battle: prove your pie’s the best and grab your share of $15,000 in cash!

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Michael Shepherd, owner Michael Angelo’s Pizza and Six Hundred Downtown Session 1: “run a Business, not a Kitchen!”

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idea zone plastic printers

Discover the Untapped Revenue and Marketing Potential of Gift Cards Are you ready to board the gift card boat? Gift cards from PlasticPrinters.com do more than market your store, increase loyalty and strengthen your brand; they represent an underutilized revenue stream that any mom-and-pop can easily tap into.

With an 80% redemption rate and void status until activated, gift cards are a lucrative and virtually risk-free investment.

Setup is easy, as PlasticPrinters.com gift cards easily integrate with almost every POS system and go through an activation process on the magnetic strip or bar code once the card is purchased. That means you can prominently display your cards at the register without risk of theft. A custom display featuring graphics and card holders makes a memorable impression on impulse buyers. But those won’t be your only customers.

Gift cards can also be used as promotional giveaways. Luke Lingle, owner of PlasticPrinters.com, suggests using a smallamount gift card as a reward for a large purchase. For example, with an order over $50, the customer could automatically receive a $5 gift card. This $5 may come to the same amount the customer would have saved using a coupon, but it’s plastic and therefore offers added value, and customers can apply their

72 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

savings to any combination of items they wish to buy. “When you sell a gift card, you sell more,” Lingle says.

Why plastic? Consumers are becoming more accustomed to using plastic as money. Plastic cards have a designated place in every purse or wallet. When a gift card from your store gets slipped in with the other cards used on a daily basis, customers always see your logo when searching for their credit cards.

To really make your card stand out, enhance your card with a unique die-cut card design, Lingle suggests. These cards can be cut into any shape to distinguish your brand from other cards in customers’ wallets and from your competition, too.

Why not get started today making more money with an additional revenue stream that will simultaneously promote your business? After 17 years in the plastic cards business, PlasticPrinters.com specializes in excellent customer service, and all operations from artwork to manufacturing are done in-house in Minnesota. PlasticPrinters.com also features plastic punch cards and business cards. Contact them today at 800808-7472, or visit PlasticPrinters.com and get your gift cards in as little as five days.

idea zone our town

Our Town Helps You Bring in New Residents More than 40 years ago, Michael Plummer owned a pizzeria in Iowa and was struggling to find the best way to get new customers through his doors. If he could just get them to try his pizza, he knew they would fall in love with it, but he needed to find the best way to get his message out to the community.

After trying various marketing approaches, Plummer decided to pursue a small but significant market segment—the new residents moving into his community. He was so impressed with the phenomenal results of his efforts that he started Our Town, the nation’s premier new-mover program that still reaches out to new movers today.

Our Town takes full advantage of technological and operational advances to provide pizzeria sponsors with the most affordable and profitable marketing venue for reaching this niche new-mover market while carrying on the age-old tradition of welcoming new residents to the community. “My goal is to continue to carry on the tradition my father started 40 years ago and help our pizzeria sponsors capture this significant market,” says Our Town president Michael Plummer Jr. Our Town delivers exceptional results that differentiate it from any other form of advertising by offering exclusivity,

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Our Town’s unique program not only brings new customers through the pizzeria’s doors, but helps operators solidify repeat visits and long-term customers. “We initially reach out to the new movers, then reach them again after they visit your pizzeria to help you establish long-term customers, not just a one-time service. This gives our pizzeria sponsors the very best chance at capturing this market before their competitors do,” Plummer says.

If you are looking to get new customers and keep them as loyal, long-term customers while enjoying a true return on a nominal investment, contact Our Town today. For more information on the company and its services, contact Imparato at 727-345-0811, extension 226, or at mimparato@ ourtownamerica.com. Be sure to visit the company online at OurTownAmerica.com and on Facebook.

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January/February 2013

pmq.com 73

idea zone pizzas 4 patriots

Pizzas 4 Patriots Offers “Slice of Home” to Soldiers in Combat As the founder of Pizzas 4 Patriots, veteran Mark Evans has been organizing the world’s biggest pizza parties since 2008.

The beneficiaries: thousands of American soldiers fighting in the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Evans got the idea from his son, a high school freshman at the time. “We were eating Chicago deep-dish pizza one night when he asked if we could send pizzas to the soldiers in Iraq,” he recalls. “It sounded crazy, but I was a master sergeant. We don’t take no for an answer. You do whatever you’ve got to do to get the job done.”

Evans managed to contact General David Petraeus, who loved the idea. With Petraeus’ blessing and full military support— plus some generous Chicago pizzerias and corporate sponsors, including DHL—Evans has since dispatched more than 100,000 pizzas to U.S. troops. He needs more corporate sponsors to keep the project alive, with plans to ship pies to every soldier in the Middle East for this year’s Super Bowl.

Evans has made numerous TV news appearances and earned global acclaim for his efforts—and for his corporate donors as well. “We’ve done pizza parties for every Super Bowl and Fourth of July since 2008,” he says. With the help of key

74 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

sponsors, Evans now has the ability to make his own pizzas.

But expenses are still daunting, especially since Pizzas 4 Patriots also now sends pies to veterans hospitals across the United States. “We get some of the stuff for free, but there’s still a lot we have to pay for, like the boxes, dry ice for shipping and so on,” he notes.

Corporate sponsors receive a wealth of positive publicity for their efforts, Evans says, plus the appreciation of a grateful nation. And the pizza parties provide young American troops a brief—but unforgettable—respite from the horrors of war.

“Three years ago, these kids were in high school playing soccer or football, and, when they did well, they got a pizza party,” Evans says. “So now, in these combat zones, when they get a slice of our pizza, it’s a profound thing. I’ve gotten letters from soldiers saying, ‘I’m living here in hell, and I just got a slice of pizza from you, and I started to cry.’ It’s a feel-good food for these kids, and it helps them know that they haven’t been forgotten.”

To learn how you can support Pizzas 4 Patriots and bolster troops’ spirits during wartime, visit Pizzas4Patriots.com or email pizzas4patriots@gmail.com.

The Pizza exchange bulletin board

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76 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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The Pizza exchange bulletin board

78 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

The Pizza exchange bulletin board Mailing March 1, 2013...just in time for Pizza Expo®!

PIZZA BUSINESS CARD PACK

Reach 50,000 customers with PMQ’s Pizza Business Card Pack for as low as 3¢ each!

Direct mail card packs are famous for impressive response rates, and the timing couldn’t be better.

WHO WILL GET IT? 50,000 PIZZA PROFESSIONALS • Every subscriber of PMQ Pizza Magazine (a BPA audited circulation) • Top officers of the 500 largest U.S. pizza chains • Pizza industry vendors and promoters

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YOUR COST INCLUDES: • Printing, packaging & delivery • Your ad will live online forever at www.pizzacardpack.com!

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SPACE IS LIMITED! CALL TO RESERVE YOUR CARD NOW!

Contact: Tom Boyles | tom@pmq.com | 662-234-5481 x122

Finding the perfect employeefor the perfect jobjust got easy!

PMQ, your source for all things pizza, has partnered with JobTarget, an industry leader in job board development and management, to create a new online career center.

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• Personal job alerts

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advertiser index jan/feb 2013 Display Advertiser

Phone

Website

Page

AM Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708-841-0959 . . . . . . ammfg.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Avantec Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-322-4374 . . . . . . . avantecovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Bacio Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855-222-4685 . . . . . . baciocheese.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26,27 Bag Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866-BAG-TO-GO . . . . deliverybags.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Bay State Milling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-553-5687 . . . . . . baystatemilling.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Bellissimo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-813-2974 . . . . . . . bellissimofoods.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Burke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-654-1152 . . . . . . burkecorp.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3 DeIorios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-649-7612 . . . . . . . deiorios.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 DoughMate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-501-2458 . . . . . . doughmate.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Escalon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-ESCALON . . . . . escalon.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 EZ Dine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-853-1263 . . . . . . ezdinepos.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Fontanini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708-485-4800 . . . . . . fontanini.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Forno Bravo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-407-5119 . . . . . . . fornobravo.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 GI Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630-553-9134 . . . . . . gimetalusa.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Grande Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-8-GRANDE . . . . . grandecheese.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 HTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-321-1850 . . . . . . hthsigns.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 La Nova . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716-881-3355 . . . . . . lanova.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4 Le 5 Stagioni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-780-2280 . . . . . . . le5stagioni.it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Lillsun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260-356-6514 . . . . . . lillsun.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Liguria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-765-1452 . . . . . . . liguriafood.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 MF&B Restaurant Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-480-EDGE . . . . . edgeovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Marsal & Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631-226-6688 . . . . . . marsalsons.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Meridian Star POS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855-853-6485 . . . . . . meridianstarmerchantservices.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Microworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-787-2068 . . . . . . . microworks.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Middleby Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-34-OVENS . . . . . . wowoven.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Moving Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-926-2451 . . . . . . movingtargets.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Napics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740-524-4123 . . . . . . . napics.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 National Pizza Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520-888-9359 . . . . . . nationalpizzaparties.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Our Town America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-497-8360 . . . . . . ourtownamerica.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 One Two 3 Print It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-800-4455 . . . . . . 123printit.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 PDQ Signature Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-968-6430 . . . . . . . pdqpos.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Peerless Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-548-4514 . . . . . . peerlessovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Perfect Crust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-783-5343 . . . . . . . perfectcrust.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Petra Molino Quaglia Flour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631-804-1879 . . . . . . . farinapetra.it/Benvenuto/Eng_Petra.html . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Picard Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-668-1883 . . . . . picardovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Pizza Blends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-826-1200 . . . . . pizzablends.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29,31,33,35 Pizza Equipment Warehouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-749-9237 . . . . . . pizzaequipmentwarehouse.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Pizza 4 Patriots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pizza4patriots.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Pizza World Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pizzaworldchampionship.it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 PlasticPrinters.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651-319-4741 . . . . . . . plasticprinters.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Praire View Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-554-7267 . . . . . . . pvifs.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Prox Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-310-7769 . . . . . . . proxprint.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Saputo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-824-3373 . . . . . . . saputousafoodservice.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Stanislaus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-327-7201 . . . . . . . stanislaus.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5 The Menu Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856-216-7777 . . . . . . . themenuexpress.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 XLT Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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.

January/February 2013

pmq.com 83

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

advertising

computer systems: point of sale bags

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

cheese

Foremost Farms USA: Your source for award-winning, soft, all-natural Italian cheeses.

Crafted by Wisconsin Master Cheese Makers® www.foremostfarms.com.....................................................................................(608) 355-8700

WE’RE IN TOUCH WITH YOUR POS NEEDS. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Integrated Inventory Management Marketing Systems Result Mapping Online Ordering System and much more!

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84 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide consulting

Simplify technology with a single source solution!

• • • • •

Point of Sale Systems Online & Smartphone Ordering Automated Customer Loyalty Self Serve Kiosk Ordering Enterprise Management

CALL TODAY!

800.750.3947 www.granburyrs.com

FREE POS SYSTEM Meridian Star offers a free POS system with no gimmicks.

Included in a low-cost processing account, merchants can enjoy an all-in-one touch screen, a thermal printer, a kitchen printer, an electronic cash drawer and PC America restaurant management software, all at no cost.

crusts As Seen in Product Spotlight!

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

cutting boards - equal slice

855-853-6485, meridianstarms.com

dough

January/February 2013

pmq.com 85

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide dough dividers/rounders

• Dough Trays – extremely durable and airtight!

Outlasts All Other Dough Trays • Dough Tray Covers – designed to fit!

• Plastic Dough Knives – two ergonomic designs!

• 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 25 years manufacturing in dough trays.

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

When Dough Matters!

Eliminate racks, lids and tins with our stackable, airtight and cost effective Dough Trays.

1-502-969-2305 www.DoughTrays.com COST EFFECTIVE

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4601 COMMERCE CROSSINGS DR., STE 300, LOUISVILLE, KY 40229 | p: 502-969-2305 | f: 502-810-0907

WWW.DOUGHTRAYS.COM

Financing/Equipment Lease

Business Credit Solutions

The pizza industry source for all your equipment lease financing needs.

dave@businesscreditsolutions.info www.businesscreditsolutions.info

dough presses, rollers

ext. 127

1-866-940-8637

flour, Gluten-free Bay State MIlling Gluten-free Pizza mix............................................ baystatemilling.com 68285 1x3.5 Pizza Ad outlined.pdf Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour, Custom-blends and Co-Packing 1 1/23/12 6:56 AM Dedicated production area for exceptional purity...........................................................800-55-FLOUR

flour

86 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide franchising 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.

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708-957-2300 • www.ifranchisegroup.com

FRANCHISE CONSULTANTS

gelato

(888) 316-1545 www.stefanosgelato.com

True Artisan Gelato

gluten-free products

W H O L E S O M E

food costing

&

D E L I C I O U S ™

hygiene Instant Off............................... Reduce water usage by 65% and prevent contamination 800-972-8348................................................................................................................. www.instant-off.com

insurance food distributors



 

     

1051 Amboy Avenue, Perth Amboy NJ

800-997-0887 or 732-346-0600 Fax:732-346-0882

Serving NY, NJ, PA, DE, CT

www.vesuviofoods.com

Pizzapro..............................................................Low cost pizza delivery insurance program Contact Julie Evans (717) 214-7616..............................................................www.pizzapro.amwins.com

machinery/ovens/equipment

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The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide magnets

meat toppings

mailing services

BURKE CORPORATION....................................................................................... www.BurkeCorp.com Italian, Mexican-Style and Specialty Fully Cooked Meats Contact: Liz Hertz.............................. sales_info@burkecorp.com.............................800-654-1152

management

Sugar Creek Packing Co.,............................... Private Label Precooked Meat Topping Specialists www.sugarcreek.com.......................................800-848-8205............................sales@sugarcreek.com 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!

www.timeforge.com 866.684.7191

marketing ideas LOCALGIFTCARDS.COM...........888-494-9760.....Your pizzas are mobile – why not try mobile gift cards? Sell e-gift cards and m-gift cards on your website. No upfront costs. Simple set up.

Visit LocalGiftCards.com to get started.

menuboards

mixers

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

January/February 2013

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online ordering

moisture absorbent toppings conditioner

pizza boxes

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

olives

pizza box liners

on hold marketing

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The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide pizza delivery thermal bags

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ELECTRIC HOTBAG

DELIVER GUARANTEED OVEN-HOT PIZZA • Heats and stays at 160-175° • Dry electric heat = no moisture • Removable heating elements • Made of rugged 1000 Denier nylon • Easily cleaned

pizza ovens 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

• Buy one bag or make a system • Wired with AC power • Heats all bags simultaneously • Quick release connectors, no hassle

800-927-6787

Made in the USA

www.HOTBAG.com

92 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide

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 Wood Stone CorporatioN.......................................Stone Hearth & Specialty Commercial Cooking Equipment..................................... 1801 W. Bakerview Rd.............Bellingham, WA 98226 TOLL Free 800-988-8103......................Fax: 360-650-1166............woodstone-corp.com

i feel pretty.

oh, so pretty!

pizza pans

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.

AMERICAN MADE

Pizza Screens • The Ultimate in Bake Disks Pizza Pans... Round, Square, & Rectangular Sauce/Cheese Rings • Pan Covers Pizza Cutters/Knives

P.A. PRODUCTS, Inc. BAKEWARE SPECIALISTS

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

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

33709 Schoolcraft • Livonia, Michigan 48150 (734) 421-1060 • FAX: (734) 421-1208 www.paprod.com

& sons, inc.

Pizza Ovens and Equipment

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AMERICAN MADE

pizza peels

Pizza Screens • The Ultimate in Bake Disks Pizza Pans... Round, Square, & Rectangular Sauce/Cheese Rings • Pan Covers Pizza Cutters/Knives

P.A. PRODUCTS, Inc. BAKEWARE SPECIALISTS

33709 Schoolcraft • Livonia, Michigan 48150 (734) 421-1060 • FAX: (734) 421-1208 www.paprod.com printing pizza supplies

• Pizza Preparation and Delivery Products •

National Marketing, Inc.

www.nminc.com 800-994-4664

734-266-2222

Fax: 734-266-2121

Manufacturers’ Direct Pricing • Call or order online • We export

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 Free Sample Available - $15 del/hand REBATED on first order. email us at: SunsetPlastics@aol.com

Call Vito:

718-200-1013 or Call Sid

516-546-7744

94 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide refrigeration

specialty foods Castella Imports, Inc. ................................................................................... www.castella.com 60 Davids Drive, Hauppauge, NY 11788.................................................................................866-Castella

spice formulation, blending & packaging Castella Imports, Inc. .................................................................................. www.castella.com 60 Davids Drive, Hauppauge, NY 11788.................................................................................866-Castella

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

McClancy Seasoning............................................................One Spice Road, Fort Mill, SC 29707 Contact: Dominic Damore 800-843-1968..........................................................................................................info@mcclancy.com

sticky notes

take & bake trays

telephone equipment/supplies/service Specializing in voice and data communications service, repair, installation, sequencers and on-hold messaging.

GUARANTEED LOWEST INDUSTRY PRICE!

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

tomato products

security

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ventilation

Water

96 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

wings

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide Resource advertiser 411eat.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ABC Mobile Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AFC Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Allied Metal Spinning . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AM Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

American Institute of Baking . . . . . . . .

American Wholesale . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antimo Caputo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Armanino Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Arrow POS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bacio Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bag Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Baker’s Quality Pizza Crusts . . . . . . .

Bay State Milling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Belissimo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Best Choice Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Best Point of Sale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Breakaway Restaurant Solutions . . . .

Burke Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Business Credit Solutions . . . . . . . . .

Caputo Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Castella Imports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Check Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chef Santo Bruno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CoverTex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Creative Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Crown Custom Metal Spinning . . . . .

Custom Foods, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Deiorio’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Delivery Bags USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Domata Living Flour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dough Xpress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DoughMate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dutchess Bakers’ Machinery . . . . . . .

Earthstone Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

EDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Epic Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Escalon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Erika Record Baking Equip . . . . . . . . .

Eyenalyze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fidelity Communications . . . . . . . . . . .

Fish Oven & Equipment . . . . . . . . . . .

Foremost Farms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fontanini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

GI. Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Granbury Restaurant Solutions . . . . .

Grande Cheese Company . . . . . . . . .

Hawkeye Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hojiblanca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hoodmart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hudson Refrig. Manufacturing . . . . . iFranchise Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Imperial Bag & Paper Co. . . . . . . . . . .

Incredible Bags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

J & G Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Krisp-It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

KY Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

La Nova . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Le 5 Stagioni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Liguria Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lillsun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lindsay Olives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lloyd Pans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LocalGiftCards.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

M.Press Packaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Magnetic Ad Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mario Camacho Foods . . . . . . . . . . . .

number Page 213-622-4247 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

877-258-5228 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-411-4144 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-615-2266 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-342-6904 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

785-537-4910 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

216-426-8882 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

201-368-9197 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

866-553-5611 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

888-378-3338 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

855-BACIO85 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

866-224-8646 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-846-6153 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-55-FLOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-813-2974 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-783-0990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

866-285-7613 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

817-299-4500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-654-1152 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

866-940-8637 ext 127 . . . . . . . . . .

708-450-0074 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

866-CASTELLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-927-6787 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

813-230-8108 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-968-2310 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

352-567-2200 ext 236 . . . . . . . . . .

800-750-1924 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

913-585-1900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-649-9212 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

888-501-BAGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

417-654-4010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-835-0606 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-501-2450 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-777-4498 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-840-4915 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

888-480-EDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

925-244-7719 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

888-ESCALON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

973-614-8500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

501-358-4292 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-683-5600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

877-526-8720 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

608-355-8700 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-331-MEAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

630-553-9134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-910-3947 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-8-GRANDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

877-420-2107 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

201-384-3007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-715-1014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-924-8687 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

708-957-2300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-794-7273 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

888-254-9453 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

734-469-4504 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-590-7908 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

502-969-2305 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-6-LANOVA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-780-2280 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-925-1452 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

260-356-6514 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-252-3557 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-840-8683 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

888-494-9760 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

541-548-9889 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-365-3351 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800-881-4534 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

90 84 87 93 86 84 95 87 95 84 84 91 85 86 87 94 84 84 89 86 84 95 92 85 92 96 94 85 85 91 86 86 86 86 93 93 87 95 86 87 95 93 84 89 91 85 84 95 90 96 88 87 84 91 88 90 86 96 86 89 94 90 93 89 95 89 90

Resource advertiser

number Page

Marsal & Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631-226-6688 . . . . . . . . . . 87, 92, 93 Max Balloons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-541-5961 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 McClancy Seasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-843-1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Melissa Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-635-4772 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Menu Powerhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-210-8189 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Meridian Star MS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855-853-6485 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Message On Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-392-4664 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 MFG Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-458-6050 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Microworks POS Solutions . . . . . . . . 800-787-2068 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Molino San Felice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201-368-9197 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Mountain Harvest Pizza Crust . . . . . . 800-342-6205 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Moving Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-926-2451 ext. 356 . . . . . . . . 84 Mr. Peel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-994-4664 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Musco Family Olive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-523-9828 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Mvix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886-310-4923 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Neil Jones Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-291-3862 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 NMI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-994-4664 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Northern Pizza Equipment . . . . . . . . . 800-426-0323 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 NoteAds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-309-9102 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Off the Wall Magnetics . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-337-2637 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 One Click Diner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-328-8040 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Pacific Coast Producers . . . . . . . . . . . 800-510-3706 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 P.A. Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884-421-1060 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93,94 PDQ Signature Systems . . . . . . . . . . . 877-968-6430 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Peel A Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-563-5654 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Peerless Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-548-4514 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Perfect Crust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-783-5343 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Perfect Pizza Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517-787-8716 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Picard Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-668-1883 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Pizza Equipment Warehouse . . . . . . . 888-749-9237 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Pizza Ovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-367-6836 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Pizzapro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717-214-7616 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Pizza Trailers of Canada . . . . . . . . . . . 204-297-7667 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 POSnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866-976-7638 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Portion Padl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-608-5928 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Presto Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-589-8604 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Proxprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-310-7769 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Raos Homemade Sauce . . . . . . . . . . . 800-466-3623 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Real NY Pizza Dough . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718-951-3555 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Red Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-908-9798 ext. 163 . . . . . . . . . . 95 Redi Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-556-2024 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Restaurant Depot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 RockTenn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816-415-7359 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Roto-Flex Oven Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-386-2279 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Ruxter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-923-1953 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Saputo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-824-3388 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Somerset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-772-4404 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 SpeedLine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-400-9185 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Stanislaus Food Products . . . . . . . . . . 800-327-7201 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Star Pizza Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-626-0828 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Stefano’s Gelato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-316-1545 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Sugar Creek Packing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-848-8205 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Sunset Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878-200-1013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Superior Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-464-2182 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89, 94 Taradel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-210-8189 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Tasti Grain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315-624-2748 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Thermal Bags by Ingrid . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-622-5560 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Thunderbird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-7-MIXERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Timeforge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866-684-8791 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Toscana Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201-617-1500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Ubons Sauce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917-751-5194 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Univex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-258-6358 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Ventilation Direct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866-433-8335 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Vesuvio Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-997-0887 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Wood Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-988-8103 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 XLT Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-443-2751 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

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.

January/February 2013

pmq.com 97

DEPARTMENT time capsule

Borrelli’s Italian Restaurant From hardscrabble beginnings to incredible success, this Long Island icon has remained a true family affair for more than 55 years.

I

n 1955, three brothers leased a small burger joint in East Meadow, New York, and Borrelli’s Italian Restaurant (borrellisrestaurant.com) was born. Al whipped up Italian cuisine, Phil made pizzas, and Frank waited tables. Though they struggled the first couple of years, they borrowed and scraped to buy the building—and by 1962, business was booming enough to expand to 7,000 square feet, including a 3,000-square-foot kitchen and seating for 180. “In the ’60s and ’70s, there were constant lines,” recalls current co-owner Frank Borrelli Jr. “I started working at the business at 10 years old, and by 13, I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. I just enjoyed it so much, working with my dad and uncles.”

Today, the family tradition continues. Frank Jr.’s sister Angela, wife Beth, two daughters and a son—plus his sister’s three sons—all work in the restaurant. “It’s important to have family with you running the place,” Frank Jr. says. “We never had to place ads for help; it’s always been friends and family.”

In some cases, friends become family at Borrelli’s. When Loreto Iacovino came over from Italy in 1968 with a suitcase and $60 to his name, Al gave him a job; at 72, Iacovino still makes pizzas and breads at the restaurant. Both Frank and Frank Jr. met their wives at Borrelli’s. Customers become regulars. Even strangers get welcomed into the circle when volunteers serve needy families at Christmas, a 20-year tradition at the Italian institution. “We have to turn volunteers away because so many people want to help,” Frank Jr. says. “The more you give, the more you receive.”

With a dream location near Nassau Coliseum, Hofstra University and the Nassau County Aquatic Center, the area around Borrelli’s has been built up, but Borrelli’s has also grown—from a remodeling two years ago to the Facebook presence and email blasts implemented by its third generation. “Instead of sitting and waiting for them to come in, you have to go get them now,” says Frank Jr. “But we’re proud of our great-quality product. We serve food people come back for.” –Tracy Morin

98 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

These photos show Borrelli’s during its opening week in 1955: (top to bottom) the exterior of the building, an already hopping parking lot and the main dining room.

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