PMQ Pizza Magazine January/February 2014

January/February 2014 | www.pmq.com

HOW THESE THREE BROTHERS

make every night a

Sell More Pizza with Tom Feltenstein Page 58

Page

Friday Night 26 AT SLICE PIZZA & BREW

A Gourmet Experience Your Customers Will Never Forget Page 38

Preserving Tradition

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SOME MESSAGES REMAIN TIMELESS…

“Never before has your business depended more on the quality of the product you serve.”

John Candela, Chairman

W E S E E W H AT YOU S E E .®

©2014 Grande Cheese Company

For a new view on your business, visit www.grandecheese.com or call 1-800-8-GRANDE.

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DEPARTMENT online at pmq.com

PMQ Blogs ThePizzaInsider.PMQ.com

Recent Videos (pmq.com/video)

Liz Barrett, PMQ’s editor at large, brings you the inside scoop on the industry’s latest trends, marketing and technology.

Recently at The Pizza Insider: Liz shares advice from marketing guru Tom Feltenstein; possible menu labeling law revisions; and pretzel pizza crust tips from Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann.

PizzaWithoutBorders.PMQ.com From PMQ’s headquarters in Paris, Missy Green, PMQ’s international correspondent, reports on pizza events, trends and curiosities from around the world.

Recently at Pizza Without Borders: Missy discusses France’s sexy take on pizza; faux American chains in Iran; and the new ordering methods the French are using to save time.

Pizza TV: Pi2: A Documentary Faced with a customer theft problem, Tate Moore, owner of Square Pizza in Oxford, Mississippi, uses security videos and social media in the pursuit of justice—and a creative marketing advantage.

SliceofLife.PMQ.com PMQ’s social media director, Melanie Addington, brings you weekly posts on the latest trends and tips in social media.

Recently at Slice of Life: Melanie begins a series of case studies and kicks things off with a pizzeria that has 40,000 Facebook followers and an operator who has Facebook engagement down to a science.

Top Social Media Posts Highlights of some of the best social media posts we’ve seen recently: Borriello Brothers Real New York Pizza: Want to win FREE pizza, wings and soda? Here’s your chance! Be the first person to accurately predict (or come closest to) the total number of points scored by BOTH teams in today’s Broncos vs. Titans game. (20 likes, 180 comments) Pizza Man: For a chance to win a FREE PIE, tell us: “Hot” or “cold,” how do YOU enjoy your leftover pizza? (49 likes, 237 comments)

Pizza 360 PMQ’s This Week in Pizza video newscast has evolved into a new monthly format, Pizza 360.

Featuring in-depth analysis and interviews with pizza leaders, Pizza 360 examines the pizza industry from all angles. In the latest edition, host Daniel Lee Perea discusses the PiePal, a pushbutton pizza ordering system in development at iStrategy Labs in Washington, D.C.

This Week in Pizza (pmq.com/thisweekinpizza) PMQ’s weekly e-newsletter brings breaking industry news to your inbox every Wednesday. Receive it free by visiting pmq.com/subscribe.

@romanospizzeria: I’m a stress eater…pizza till the game is over! #tombrady #patriots #pizza #gottawin

Think Tank

INTERACT WITH THE INDUSTRY DAILY ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, Pinterest and PMQ’s THINK TANK FORUM PMQ Pizza Magazine 6

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CONTENTS January/February 2014

| January/Fe bruary 2014

Slice of the Deep South

JANUARY/FEBRUA

| Volume 18,

The Pizza Industry’s

Known for their deep community roots and unique specialty pizzas, the Bajalieh brothers, owners of Slice Pizza & Brew in Birmingham, are serious about their motto: “Eat Local. Drink Local. Be Local.”

By Rick Hynum Photos by Kara Hoffman

HOW THES E THRE E BROT HERS

Business Monthly | PMQ.com

M AK E EV N IG HT A ERY

FR IDAY NI Page GH T 26

AT SLIC E PIZZ A & BREW

features

38 The Gourmet Experience With the “better pizza” movement in full swing, many customers will pay more for gourmet toppings—think duck confit, hot honey, figs and clams—and leading operators are taking full advantage of the trend.

By Tracy Morin

48

Keeping It Hot Selecting the right hot bag for your precious pizza cargo is a decision that should not be taken lightly.

By Liz Barrett

52

Coming Clean Amazing state-of-the art technologies make restaurant sanitation as easy as pushing a button or flipping a switch.

By Tracy Morin

58

Think Local, Think Small Focus your marketing strategy on three key areas: within your pizzeria’s four walls, within four blocks and within four miles.

By Tom Feltenstein

62

The Olympic Spirit 2006 bronze medal winner Pete Fenson splits his time between Dave’s Pizza and the curling rink as he trains for another shot at Olympic glory.

By Melanie Addington

66

The Baker and the Pizza Maker A trend at the 2013 International Baking Industry Expo suggests a romance is blooming between pizzerias and bakeries, and a moneymaking marriage could follow.

By Melanie Addington

72

The Perfect Pair An expert guides you through the tricky process of matching the right wine with the right pizza.

By Ben Greene

76

Winning the Social Media Race Follow these expert tips to get ahead—and stay ahead—in the fast-paced and competitive world of social media.

By Sarah Carollo

8

PMQ Pizza Magazine

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RY 2014 | WWW.PM Q.COM

Issue 1

26

PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE

On the cover

The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Sell More Pizza with Tom Feltenstein

Page 58

A Gourmet Experience Your Custo mers Will Never Forge t

Page 38

CONTENTS January/February 2014

48 62

38 departments 18 In Lehmann’s Terms: The Perils of Mexican Flour Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann explains how flour with high starch damage can ruin a good batch of dough.

20 New York’s Finest: Deep-Fried Cauliflower Chef Bruno shows how the humble cauliflower can be transformed into a fun side dish or appetizer.

22 Accounting for Your Money: Boosting the Value

of Your Pizzeria Looking to sell your operation?

A turnkey operational system that can be duplicated anywhere will make your restaurant more attractive to potential buyers.

24 Marketing Maven: 10 Steps to Creating Enticing Menus Linda Duke explains how to develop a simple and concise, yet enticing, menu that enhances your brand and makes you more money.

36 Recipe of the Month: Signature Appetizers Unique appetizers, such as savory Pepperoni Parmesan Stuffed Rolls, generate buzz and offer new upsell opportunities.

78 Meet the Tank: Richard Ames Richard Ames, owner of Daddio’s Pizzeria, explains how PMQ’s Think Tank helped him improve his pizzeria’s pricing and business structure.

98 Time Capsule:

Grotto Pizza Click Here to view bonus video coverage of Slice Pizza & Brew Click Here to view PMQ Extra: Behind the Scenes at PMQ

Since opening in 1960, a tiny slice stand in a Delaware beach town has grown into a threestate powerhouse with 20 locations.

Click Here to view Pizza 360: The PiePal Pizza Ordering System Click Here to view the IBIE Show Highlights video 10 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Coming Next Month Bacon: Over the past decade, bacon has graduated from a humble breakfast staple to restaurants’ most frequently menued pork product and “the ultimate savory ingredient.”

Loyalty Programs: Successful operators offer five can’t-miss tips to make your customer rewards program a moneymaking success.

Instagram Marketing: Experts explain how to use Instagram, the popular photo sharing tool, to build a loyal fan base for your pizza brand.

in every issue 6

Online at PMQ.com

12

Editor’s Note

14

Letters to the Editor

16

Pizza Press

84

Product Spotlight

91

Advertiser Index

92

Pizza Industry Resource Guide

A Family Tradition.

Legendary Cheesemaking • Optimum Flavor • Unparalleled Consistency

Saputo Cheese USA Inc., Lincolnshire, Illinois 60069 (800) 824 -3373 • saputousafoodservice.com ©2013 Saputo Cheese USA Inc. All rights reserved. Saputo® is a registered trademark used by Saputo Cheese USA Inc.

EDITOR’S NOTE rick hynum

Your 2014 Fortune Cookie

PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | January/February 2014 | Volume 18, Issue 1

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 | WWW.PMQ.COM

The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly | PMQ.com

HOW THESE THREE BROTHERS

MAKE EVERY NIGHT A

Sell More Pizza with Tom Feltenstein Page 58

Page

FRIDAY NIGHT 26 AT SLICE PIZZA & BREW

A Gourmet Experience Your Customers Will Never Forget Page 38

On the cover: In less than three years, Slice Pizza & Brew, owned by the Bajalieh brothers, has become a Birmingham favorite, thanks to innovative menu fare and an aggressive neighborhood marketing strategy.

Subscribe to PMQ now!

Get your print, digital or mobile edition!

After eating dinner with a lady friend at an Asian restaurant back in my college days, I cracked open a fortune cookie and was dismayed to read the message on the little strip of paper: “The road to hell,” it said, “is paved with good intentions.” This was not a particularly encouraging fortune. Whatever happened to “A pleasant surprise awaits you!” or “Your smile brings happiness to everyone you meet”? Those are good fortunes, a nice way to cap off a meal. Luckily, the waitress had brought extra cookies, so I cracked open another one. It said, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” At this point, my date, a shy, sweet girl from a good Southern Baptist family, began to glance nervously around the dining area, no doubt wondering if she should find another ride home. God or the Buddha or somebody in the know up there was clearly trying to tell her something.

There was one last cookie on the plate, so, with a grim sense of foreboding, I cracked it open. This time the message appeared in all capital letters, as if to underscore the urgency of the situation: “THE ROAD TO HELL,” it screamed, “IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS.” My date began to fake a cough. “Gee, you know what? (cough cough) I don’t feel so good.” She touched a hand to her forehead. “Ooh, fever! Maybe I should turn in early.”

Heck, I thought it was pretty obvious that my intentions were, in fact, anything but good that night. I mean, what did she think all of those sake bombs were for, anyway?

But it was too late—clearly, the fortune cookie gods had pegged me for an ill-omened spirit, and my date wanted nothing to do with a guy who was obviously doomed and fated for the fiery pits of Hades.

If you’re wondering what this story has to do with the pizzeria business, well, that is a very good question. I actually set out to write about New Year’s resolutions—which are, of course, good intentions aimed at self-improvement—and how you, as a pizzeria operator, should resolve to develop powerful new marketing strategies for 2014 while aiming to better familiarize yourself with the latest tools, from POS applications to social media and mobile marketing. But that somehow reminded me of the fortune cookie story, and then I got carried away, and now I’m almost out of space.

In other words, my intentions were good, but we all know where that leads. So I’ll just tell you this: I generally don’t make New Year’s resolutions (because, frankly, I’m lazy), but I’ve come up with one for 2014—I hereby resolve that PMQ will enhance its focus on marketing-related content in the coming year, providing more expert articles crafted to help you attract new customers, ensure guest loyalty and improve your sales.

We’ll also continue to keep you up-to-date on the latest menu trends and state-of-the-art technologies to help you boost your profits and offer the best product in your market.

And you can expect more and better Pizza TV content, too, including how-to videos, pizzeria and operator profiles, plus our newest video feature, “Pizza 360,” the pizza industry’s only online talk show.

So, if PMQ had a fortune cookie for you, it would read, “2014 will be a year of growth and prosperity!” For my part, meanwhile, I’ve started sneaking my own tiny strips of paper into Asian restaurants and slipping them in my fortune cookies. They all say the same thing: “Your smile brings happiness to everyone you meet!”

scan to subscribe

12 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Rick Hynum Editor-in-chief PMQ Pizza Magazine

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR rick hynum Proud of Peels Here at Precinct Pizza (precinctpizza.com), we got tired of using a marker to mark our pizza peels—the marks always wore out—so we arranged to have our various pizza sizes laseretched onto a special peel. Our pizza makers love it, and now our pies are never the wrong size. We’d like to thank Greg at Portion PadL for helping create these cool peels for us! We just thought we’d share this idea with your readers!

Rick K. Drury Precinct Pizza Tampa, FL Neat idea, Rick! Thanks for illustrating it with a photo, too!

A Giveaway That Pays After reading that Tom Feltenstein will contribute articles to PMQ (“Tom Feltenstein Joins Pizza Industry,” November 2013), I wanted to share my story with your readers. I started as a CSR with Domino’s Pizza and worked my way up to become an operator with Papa John’s, where I was very successful.

My store had the highest growth in our 50-plus-store franchise group multiple years in a row. But when I started using the same marketing tactics for my own independent pizzeria, I was shocked by the dismal returns. I realized that people simply didn’t know me yet. At Papa John’s, my local marketing efforts worked not just because of deliberate and

consistent execution, but because I had a recognized brand behind me—people knew what they were getting before they ordered. As an independent, I didn’t have that advantage.

So I had an idea. I made up a flier with a coupon that said “Free Pizza” in big, bold letters. I told my employees that we would hand these coupons out each day to local businesses until we had covered the entire area. When someone asked, “What’s the catch?” we would say there was absolutely no catch.

We were so confident in our product, we knew they’d choose us for all of their future pizza purchases once they tried it.

During that first week, we were slammed with free pizza requests, as we knew we would be. Because we were staffed up in anticipation of the influx of coupons, we were able to make deliveries in a timely fashion, and I tried to deliver as many of them myself as possible. For the next several weeks we enjoyed some of the busiest lunches we’d ever had, while many new dinner customers explained that they’d first sampled our pizza at work and just had to buy it for their families. To date, it is one of the largest ROIs I’ve ever had on a marketing campaign!

Winner of 5 ASBPE Awards Winner of 4 GAMMA Awards ISSN 1937-5263

PMQ, Inc. Publisher Steve Green sg@pmq.com ext. 123 Co-Publisher Linda Green linda@pmq.com ext. 121 editorial Editor-in-Chief Rick Hynum rick@pmq.com ext. 130 Editor at Large Liz Barrett liz@pmq.com Senior Copy Editor Tracy Morin tracy@pmq.com International Correspondent Missy Green missy@pmq.com Design/Production Art Director Kara Hoffman kara@pmq.com ext. 135 Designer Eric Summers eric@pmq.com Media Producer Daniel Lee 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 Account Executive Anna Zemek anna@pmq.com ext 140 Sales Assistant Brandy Pinion brandy@pmq.com ext. 127 Marketing Social Media Director Melanie Addington melanie@pmq.com ext. 133 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 PMQ International PMQ China Yvonne Liu yvonne@pmq.com PMQ Australia-NZ Tom Boyles tom@pmqaustralia.com

Nick Wrasse Uncle Nick’s Pizza Port Charlotte, FL

France Pizza Julien Panet jpanet@francepizza.fr

This is a great example of what Tom Feltenstein calls “neighborhood marketing.”

Thanks for sharing your success story with us, Nick!

Brazil—Pizzas & Massas Michel Wankenne wankenne@insumos.com.br

Share your passion!

Have a complaint, compliment or suggestion about something you’ve read in the pages of PMQ? Send your letter via email to editor@pmq.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line, or mail to PMQ, ATTN: Letters to the Editor, 605 Edison St., Oxford, MS 38655. We look forward to hearing from you!

Friend us on Facebook! Visit facebook.com/pmqpizzamagazine.

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

A P u b lication of P M Q , I nc .

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

14 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Pizza e Pasta Italiana Massimo Puggina redazione@pizzaepastaitaliana.it Spain—pizzanet.es Eduard Jiménez info@pizzanet.es

editorial advisors Chef Santo Bruno Tom Feltenstein Tom Lehmann Joey Todaro Ed Zimmerman contributors Chef Santo Bruno Sarah Carollo Linda Duke Tom Feltenstein Ben Greene Tom Lehmann Michael J. Rasmussen Volume 18, 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.

Opinions expressed by the editors and contributing writers are strictly their own, and are not necessarily those of the advertisers. All rights reserved. No portion of PMQ may be reproduced in whole or part without written consent.

RockTenn Pizza Boxes are Held to the Highest Standard

Quality policies, safety guidelines, and continual testing ensure that only safe materials go into our food packaging products.

• Finished packaging meets FDA requirements for food contact, USDA’s Dairymen’s surface swab standard, and is certified by the American Institute of Baking (AIB) • Liner, medium, and finished products routinely tested by independent certified laboratories To learn more, contact us at 816.415.7359 or visit our website at RockTenn.com. © 2014 Rock-Tenn Shared Services, LLC. All rights reserved.

ROCKTENN and the stylized R are trademarks of Rock-Tenn Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates.

America’s Leading Pizza Box Maker

pizza press news & views

Seeing the Light Jerry Wilson, owner of Moddersville Store and Pizzeria (moddersvillestore.com) in Falmouth, Michigan, made headlines recently for installing solar panels that allow his entire operation to be run on solar energy. “We have an all-electric building, and our energy bills were skyrocketing,” he says. “Plus, here in a rural area, we had a lot of power interruptions, and solar power is a sturdier supply.”

Jerry Wilson installed 86 solar panels at his Moddersville Store and Pizzeria, saving $1,000 per month in electricity.

Of course, the $1,000 per month in savings is a huge benefit—especially because he received the panels for no money down by partnering with a local energy-saving organization. “The system is leased by the state, but after five years I’ll own it—and these panels last 30 years, so that was a no-brainer,” Wilson says. “We just make all the changes we can to be more efficient so we don’t have to keep raising prices for our customers.”

Like Father, Like Son Atlanta-based Your Pie (yourpie.com), with 18 locations in four states, recently named Paul Childers and Michael Childers, the father-son team that owns the company’s two Savannah, Georgia, locations, as its official Craft Beer Specialists.

The two will work with other Your Pie owners to help them build relationships with local breweries and offer recommended pizza-beer pairings.

“Craft beer drinkers are very knowledgeable when it comes to beer styles and properties, so it’s important to be educated yourself—and make sure your staff is educated,” notes Drew French, Your Pie’s founder. Paul Childers agrees, adding, “Local or regional craft beer makers are artisans just like those who create pizza from scratch. When the two are paired together and done well, the relationship supports the local community as well as the local pizzeria and brewery.”

Thinking of adding craft beers to your menu? Get started by tasting local brews and find the ones that appeal to you, Childers suggests. Ask other staff members for input and take suggestions from knowledgeable customers. Once you’ve made your selections, monitor sales closely for a couple of months and adjust accordingly.

(Clockwise from top) Paul and Michael Childers bring a love of craft brews to their position as Craft Beer Specialists for Your Pie; the pizzeria's hand-tossed dough, wood-fired cooking methods and specialty pizzas pair well with local beers at Your Pie's 18 locations.

16 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Freeman’s Tips for Success When we heard that the San Francisco Business Times named Patxi’s (patxispizza.com) CEO Bill Freeman among the 2013 Most-Admired CEOs in the Bay Area, we tapped him for his secrets.

Here are his top five tips for being an exemplary leader: • Develop a purpose and live it with enthusiasm daily.

• Make sure your value system supports your purpose.

• Give people the autonomy to be creative.

• Develop people so that they can experience mastery.

• Always choose better before cheaper and revenue before cost.

Editors at Large

On a recent visit to Varasano’s Pizzeria (varasanos.com) in Atlanta, PMQ editors Liz Barrett and Tracy Morin sat down with owner Jeff Varasano to talk (and eat) pizza—specifically, his newest endeavor, a second location in the bustling Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

So what are the advantages and disadvantages of an airport location?

“The upside is pretty obvious: a constant flow of consumers who are looking for great food,” Varasano says. “And, of course, people from all over the world will see your brand and talk about it, so this is a great way to step into the process of expansion. Airport and airline employees will drive much of your business—they recommend restaurants to travelers constantly—and there will also be many frequent flyers who will become regulars if they know they can get the same quality every time."

But there are downsides to consider, he adds. “There’s never enough space, so you will have to be creative to squeeze it all in. Did I mention that airport security requires that all knives—yes, even pizza wheels—must be chained to the wall so they don’t walk off? Also, it takes several weeks for each employee to pass a background check.

Since airports are going from early morning until late at night, 365 days of the year, you’ll have a lot of shifts to cover while experiencing a lot of roadblocks to bringing in new hires.”

Hiring new employees isn’t the only challenge. “Suppliers must also get security clearance, and smaller vendors may find it’s not costeffective to go through the process,” Varasano points out. “We miraculously managed to get every ingredient we needed with no recipe changes, but it wasn’t easy. All of that aside, if you plan well and build a strong organization, an airport location will make for a very successful venture and expose you to the world!”

(Top to bottom) PMQ editor at large Liz Barrett and senior copy editor Tracy Morin meet with Jeff Varasano (middle) at his original Atlanta location; specialty pies at Varasano's focus on fresh ingredients, from arugula to prosciutto.

January/February 2014

pmq.com 17

in lehmann’s terms tom “the dough doctor” lehmann

The Perils of Mexican Flour Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann explains why flour with high levels of starch damage can lead to wet, soupy dough batches.

By Tom Lehmann

QUESTION: I recently experimented with some flour that was imported from Mexico, but I soon realized something was dreadfully wrong. When we brought the dough out of the cooler after only 18 hours, it was very wet and almost soupy. Assuming we’d made a scaling error, we tried again, but the next batch came out the same way. What happened?

ANSWER: Retail bakers in many areas of Mexico still use no-time doughs to make their bread and roll products. With this in mind, some Mexican flour millers make a habit of milling their flour to a much higher level of starch damage than you’ll find in flour milled in the United States.

This higher level of starch damage lets the bakers put more water in their dough, thus increasing formula and batch yields for supposedly greater economies of production. When the flour is milled to a higher level of starch damage, it exhibits an unusually high absorption rate compared to the same flour milled to a lower starch damage level.

In the United States, our typical flour has about 6% to 8% damaged starch, while some flours milled to higher levels of starch damage will have about twice that much and therefore exhibit a much higher rate of absorption than

the nondamaged starch. Therefore, the flours themselves have higher absorption properties, but the damaged starch is also the first to be broken down (hydrolyzed) into sugars for the yeast to feed upon during the fermentation process. That’s why we see these flours used only in conjunction with very short time or no-time (fermentation) dough making processes.

With your Mexican flour, the problem was most likely the result of the damaged starch being hydrolyzed by enzymes in the yeast during the overnight refrigerated fermentation process; the starch gave up the water it was carrying, resulting in a significantly overabsorbed dough.

To use flour that exhibits high levels of starch damage, it is imperative that you get the dough into the oven for baking within about two hours of mixing it. Additionally, you should never add malted ingredients, such as malted barley flour or amylase enzyme, to a dough made

18 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

with high-starch-damage flour. That will only speed up the breakdown of the starch, resulting in a dough that’s virtually impossible to manage—it’s just too wet and sticky.

If you should ever find yourself in a situation where you must use flour with a high level of starch damage, develop a dough management procedure that will allow you to get the dough from the mixer into the oven as quickly as possible—ideally within two hours. Or, better yet, open the dough balls into pizza skins and par-bake them to better manage the dough over a period of several hours; once the dough has been baked, the damaged starch ceases to be an issue.

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

Deep-Fried Cauliflower

Fried to a golden-brown hue, this cauliflower dish makes a perfect side dish or appetizer.

By Chef Santo Bruno

H

ello, my readers! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I started thinking about this recipe for deep-fried cauliflower in December because it happens to be a very popular dish around the holidays for Italians and for some pizza shops. The holidays have passed now, but it’s delicious any time of the year. People often associate cauliflower with the standard cheese sauce; however, there are many ways to prepare this tasty veggie. Some chefs have been known to make pizza crusts using cauliflower, eggs and goat’s cream cheese.

Cauliflower is a popular vegetable around the country because it’s so versatile and highly nutritious—it’s a great source of potassium and vitamin C. Deep-frying is one of the most common ways to prepare cauliflower, and people love it. It also can be served over pasta, as a side dish or an appetizer, and in antipasto. So eat up and enjoy! Mangia!

You’ll Need: 1 large cauliflower 1 egg 1 c. flour ¾ c. dry wine Salt and pepper to taste Cooking oil (enough to deep-fry) Directions: Soak the cauliflower in a bowl of salted water. In a mixing bowl, beat the flour, egg, salt and pepper. The mixture will be very thick, so add the wine, if necessary, to make it runny. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes.

Steam the cauliflower until just tender. Do not overcook. Let it cool, then cut into small florets. Dip the cauliflower in the flour mixture. Heat the cooking oil in a deep fryer and drop in one floret to test the heat level.

Once the oil has heated up, set the fryer to 360°F, then deep-fry the cauliflower florets until they turn goldenbrown. Remove the florets from the hot oil with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Serve hot.

20 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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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.

Quality Italian Style Meats, From Our Family to Yours.

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Quality, Selection, and Value.

That’s the beauty of Bellissimo. From handcrafted, hand-pinched sausage toppings to traditional italian meatballs, our full line of artisan recipe meats will make the meal. delivered by our family of locally owned distributors, Bellissimo meat toppings will be the perfect addition to your signature pizza or pasta. made from all natural ingredients, Bellissimo quality italian style meats, from our family to yours.

To l o c a t e y o u r l o c a l B e l l i s s i m o d i s t r i b u t o r, v i s i t B e l l i s s i m o F o o d s . c o m o r c a l l 8 0 0 - 8 1 3 - 2 9 7 4.

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© 2013 Bellissimo Foods Company

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Accounting For your Money Michael J. Rasmussen, CPA

Boosting the Value of Your Pizzeria To attract potential buyers, develop a turnkey operational system that can be easily duplicated in any location.

By Michael J. Rasmussen

QUESTION: I’m thinking about selling my pizzeria. What can I do to increase its value to a potential buyer?

ANSWER: If you’ve been following my articles over the past several years, you’ve noticed a recurring theme: Your business will consume you unless you develop a system that anyone can successfully duplicate, whether you’re there or not. Otherwise, you’re not running your restaurant—your restaurant is running you.

This is especially important if you’re looking to sell your operation. Before trying to find a buyer, you should take a close look at your restaurant. Consider all the details of the operation that you personally handle during any given day, week or month, and ask yourself, “Would a buyer want to duplicate my system?” If no orderly process is in place—for managing paperwork, generating supplier orders, scheduling employees, filling in when waitstaff doesn’t show up, etc.— then the answer is probably no.

Buyers want simple operations that can be easily duplicated anywhere. They are typically younger, and they’re accustomed to using the latest technologies to operate a business. They’re not looking for another job—they’re seeking an idiot-proof operation with turnkey systems in place that can generate a profit in any location.

When a potential buyer asks me to check out a restaurant for sale, I’ve been known to approach the owner’s spouse and ask, “Would you advise a close friend to open a restaurant like yours?” If the answer is no, that probably means the owner works 18 hours a day, seven days a week; has limited time with his family; and struggles to pay his personal bills due to inconsistent cash flow. Why would a buyer want to jump out of his own frying pan into your fire?

With that in mind, grab a notebook and start writing down all of the tasks that you perform. Take detailed notes about how these tasks must be done and who can get them done. Start with 22 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

the simplest tasks—such as maintaining clean bathrooms—and add to the list until all tasks have been written down and you have identified an individual that can take your place when you’re not present. The list may take a year to complete, so get started now! When a buyer knocks on your door, you can simply hand them your notebook. You’ll be able to get top dollar, and you won’t have to stick around and train the new buyer!

QUESTION: What is the current valuation model for restaurants?

ANSWER: Most franchise restaurant operations, which usually already have proven systems in place, use a “weekly gross” model.

For example, if a restaurant generates an average of $10,000 per week and the market is paying 30 times weekly gross revenue, then the initial starting point for this restaurant is typically $300,000.

For operations that do not have established systems in place, the revenue model for buyers is a multiple, such as three to five times, of average net income generated over the past several years. Since the NRA states that the average independent restaurant generates a 3.9% net income at $520,000 in annual sales, the estimated net income from operations would be $20,280 annually, and the restaurant would be valued at between $60,840 and $101,400.

So, if you put a system in place that a buyer can follow once you’re gone, you can move towards the “weekly gross” model in the event of a future sale. I’d take that option!

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.

Marketing Maven Linda Duke

10 Steps to Creating Enticing Menus Follow these expert tips to design a menu that reflects your brand and generates bigger sales.

By Linda Duke

A

n enticing menu is essential to any pizzeria’s success.

Developing a menu that’s simple, concise and yet descriptive—even eloquent—can be a tricky process, but all it really takes is some serious brainstorming and planning. Here are my 10 steps to creating an enticing pizzeria menu: 1. Get focused. Before you start writing your menu, have a clear idea of what kind of pizzas your restaurant offers and which ones sell the best. Make sure that the items on the menu make sense for your pizzeria’s theme and cuisine. It’s fine to throw in some unusual selections for more adventurous customers, but don’t stray too far from your theme or you’ll confuse your guests.

2. Start brainstorming. Review your menu items and determine which ones can be promoted as signature pizzas or dishes. Look for items that you make particularly well and that have been consistently popular with your customers. You’ll want to feature these dishes prominently on the menu.

3. Test everything. Once you’ve settled on a number of pies that work well with your concept, invite friends, family members and/or employees to sample them and offer their honest, no-holds-barred opinions. What do they like about these items? What should you be doing differently?

Listen to these folks with an open mind, and be prepared for a little criticism. If no one seems enthralled with your signature pie, you’ll need to change the recipe or remove it from the menu.

4. Check out your competition. Compare their food to your own and look for ways to make yours better. Offer a few items on your menu that are completely different from your competition, such as pizzas that create a unique personal experience for the customer or desserts that show off your chef ’s expertise.

24 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

5. Think carefully about pricing. How you price your menu items reflects your brand and position. Your customers usually know what other pizzerias in the area are charging, so your pricing should be competitive yet reasonably comparable. Don’t aim too low—that could suggest that your food is not high-quality fare. Signature items should never be discounted or underpriced. If your dish is unique, diners will pay more for it!

6. Choose your words carefully. Create a tantalizing description for every item. The goal is to get customers’ mouths watering. Use your adjectives wisely, however, and make sure that every word means what you think it means. Keep the language consumer-friendly, and avoid overly complex descriptions that may turn off less sophisticated customers.

Before finalizing, show your descriptions to a test group

and get their reactions. Most importantly, make sure that every pizza or dish lives up to its description!

7. Focus on design. Your menu should be well-organized and easy to read. Avoid clutter, keep the background clean and free of distracting patterns, and don’t go overboard with pictures (especially stock photography that doesn’t necessarily represent your restaurant’s fare). Colors and fonts should represent your overall style—a familyfriendly restaurant, for example, should use bright, fun colors and fonts. Arrange menu items sequentially from appetizers to desserts in just one or two columns so that the menu doesn’t look too busy. Highlight your signature items and specials by using markers, photos, labels and logos and position them to draw maximum attention.

Even better, make sure your most profitable items get the most prominent placement!

got a high-quality printer of your own, you can print your own menus as you need them. This is especially helpful if you need to make frequent changes to your menu.

9. Educate your staff. Once you’ve finalized your menu and written the descriptions, train your cooks to prepare every item consistently. Educate your servers about the ingredients and preparation of each item so they can speak knowledgeably and sell them to guests. Be flexible—if something’s not working, be ready to change the recipe, modify the description or toss out an item altogether.

10. Analyze and make adjustments. After a period of time, perform a profitability analysis to determine which items are selling and which ones are duds. Then make changes accordingly.

8. Find the right printing company. It’s possible—but more expensive—to order specialty menus from companies that offer catalogs from which you can choose any font, color or paper. It may be cheaper to order your menus from a local printing company. In that case, look for a company that has its own affordable in-house design team. If you’ve

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, as well as The LSM Diet: Improve Your Bottom Line, Not Your Waistline (lsmdiet.com), a self-help guide to local store marketing. 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 Specialty Toppings

Co-owned by the Bajalieh brothers—Jason, Chris and Jeff—Slice Pizza & Brew appeals to “adventurous” eaters with its innovative menu and beer selection.

Click here to view bonus video coverage of Slice Pizza & Brew.

The

of the

Deep South

Slice Pizza & Brew has become a Birmingham favorite with boldly original pies and a local marketing strategy that makes every night a Friday night. By Rick Hynum Photos by Kara Hoffman

S

outherners love their black-eyed peas and turnip greens. They’re pretty fond of pizza, too. But a pizza topped with black-eyed peas and turnip greens—well, that dog, as folks down South like to say, won’t hunt. Or so you might assume, until you try the Soul Pie at Slice Pizza & Brew (slicebirmingham.com), a Birmingham, Alabama, pizzeria that specializes in gourmet pizzas, craft brews and old-fashioned Deep South hospitality.

The Soul Pie, which also features smoked sausage from Conecuh Sausage Company in southern Alabama, bacon, grilled red onions and pepper jack and cheddar cheeses, has become one of the most popular items on Slice’s menu. It’s the brainchild of Slice’s genial chef Terrill Brazelton, who has become known throughout the region for his boldly original pizzas, and it’s a testament to Slice’s owners, the broadminded Bajalieh brothers—Chris, Jeff and Jason—that such an unusual pizza ever made it onto the menu in the first place.

“It’s very good, but it doesn’t sound that good,” Chris says.

“Terrill didn’t think people would be receptive to it, so he would tell them, ‘This pizza comes with a money-back guarantee.’ He has yet to have to give anyone his money back. In fact, he no longer has to give that guarantee. It’s probably our fourth most popular pizza.”

The Soul Pie is also a notable example of what makes Slice stand out in a city that’s known for its discerning culinary tastes, thanks to the influence of famed chef Frank Stitt III, who owns the Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega Restaurant and Chez Fon Fon in Birmingham. The Bajalieh brothers have taken the classic pizza-and-beer concept and raised the ante, focusing on gourmet ingredients and local beers and packaging the enterprise in a cozy, rustic bungalow—complete with

Created by Slice chef Terrill Brazelton, the Soul Pie, featuring blackeyed peas and collard greens, is one of the most popular specialty pizzas on the menu.

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Managing Social Media From touting local high school and college sports to showing off their specialty pizzas and latest brews on tap, Slice Pizza & Brew in Birmingham has made social media a key component of its local marketing strategy. As of presstime, its Facebook page had 5,378 likes, and its Twitter account boasted 3,726 followers. Krista Conlin, principal of KC Projects and Slice’s PR guru, offers several tips for managing social media:

Beau Gustafson, The Big Swede Photography

Slice’s patio, porch and side deck allow for ample outdoor seating on a nice spring day in Birmingham.

a front porch and a side deck—in the city’s Lakeview district.

“We consider ourselves a boutique pizza place with fine-dining overtones,” Jeff says. “We offer fine-dining flair, but you’re not paying fine-dining prices. We’re taking an everyday product and stepping it up a notch. This is not a pizza from Little Caesars or Domino’s—this is something to be proud of.”

Like Father, Like Sons Not that Jeff and Jason haven’t learned a thing or two from Domino’s. Before opening Slice in June 2011, they were partners in a Domino’s franchise for 10 years, but the restaurant business was already in their blood. As kids, they watched their father, Sol, slice cold cuts and bake bread in the family-owned sandwich shop every day. A Palestinian Christian from Jerusalem, Sol Bajalieh immigrated to the United States in 1965, set up his diner in the basement of a downtown high-rise and put down roots in the Deep South town that he loved—and which adored him in return.

“He was a very hardworking man, a family man,” Jeff recalls, fondly. “He stayed on course as far as operating his business.

He felt that being there from open to close was a necessity for success. He treated it like a family atmosphere—he got to know his customers and knew them by their names. They became his friends, not just his customers. And he wasn’t one to take orders down on a guest check. He had it all registered in his head. We learned a lot from him.”

The three brothers worked for their dad after school, washing dishes, mopping floors and running the cash register, until they eventually learned every aspect of the business. Sol ran the shop from 1968 until 1993, finally closing it down due to problems with asbestos in the building. Seven years after he passed away, his sons paid tribute to him by reopening the store, now called Sol’s Sandwich Shop & Deli, across the street from its original location. Their mother, Nadia, a Jacksonville, Florida, native, runs the shop, but her sons take an active hand in its operations as well.

28 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Timing is everything. Pay attention to how your guests make their lunch and dinner plans. “A lot of studies show that, around 9:30 or 10:30 a.m., people are wondering what they’re going to eat for lunch,” Conlin says. “If that post comes out then, showing an amazing slice of pizza or a batch of baked wings, and it hits their senses, it’s like, ‘That’s what I now want.’ You’ll also want to hit the happy hour crowd around 3 or 4 p.m., when people have a lull in their work schedule and they’re surfing the Web or on the phone.”

Show, don’t tell. A mouthwatering picture of a pizza paints a thousand words. “With restaurants, it’s about the visuals,” Conlin says. “What we have here is a product that’s so appealing visually. But it’s also about showcasing the personalities, the operations and everything that’s happening here. It might be a matter of showing someone picking fresh tomatoes from a local farmer or cutting up the housemade sausage for the day to show what goes into the final product or showing the new brew on tap.”

Know your audience. Facebook is still the No. 1 tool for reaching the masses, while Twitter users may be more specialized, Conlin says. “Twitter isn’t so much your everyday customer. It’s people who are food industry-related—writers, bloggers and foodies. They’re not even necessarily in our area, but they’re interested in what Slice is doing.” Keep an eye on Instagram, too—it’s a visual medium with a fast-growing user base.

SLICE PIZZA & BREW

Sol Bajalieh founded his own sandwich shop in downtown Birmingham in the 1960s, inspiring his three sons to continue the family’s restaurant tradition into the 21st century.

Creative signage (above) conveys Slice’s key marketing messages throughout the building, even in the restrooms; Chef Terrill Brazelton prefers to source local ingredients whenever possible, including the collard greens for his famous Soul Pie.

“Whether it’s beer on draft or arugula from that farmer around the corner, we try to buy everything we can locally. Support local people, and locals will support you as well.”

—Jeff Bajalieh, Slice Pizza & Brew

After Jeff and Jason’s stint with Domino’s, Chris joined up with them to launch Slice, and at least one of the brothers is on duty in the pizzeria at all times. The restaurant business, it seems, is their first and only true love. “You have to be a lifer,” Jeff says. “When you open a restaurant, you’re married to it. It’s yours, and you take it with you wherever you go.

It’s hard to date a person when you’re at work on a Friday or Saturday night, so none of us are married, and none of us have children.”

“We’ve got a 50-person family inside these walls,” Jason adds, referring to Slice’s staff. “That’s our family.”

“It’s hard work,” Brazelton admits. “It’s hard to get the farmers to work with you and bring product to you. So we’re very flexible with our growers. We source things like collard greens locally, and our goat cheese is local. We had local beets, so we created a dates-and-beets salad (the Rockin’ Moroccan). Our goal is to do as much local produce as we can.”

Meanwhile, the Bajaliehs have a simple, if lofty, strategy for boosting profitability: Make every night a Friday night. The pizzeria serves between 600 and 700 guests on a typical weekend night, but even an average weeknight draws between 200 and 250 guests, Jason says. That’s due in large part to Slice’s local outreach effort, which targets specific groups on specific

Every Night’s a Friday Night As native sons of Birmingham, the Bajaliehs’ lifelong ties with the city provide a key marketing advantage, notes Krista Conlin, principal at KC Projects, Slice’s local PR firm. “Their dad was instrumental in the community, so a lot of people here want to support them,” Conlin notes. But the brothers aren’t content to coast on good will and the family name. They’re very serious about Slice’s motto—“Eat Local. Drink Local. Be Local.”—and go out of their way to live up to it.

“Whether it’s beer on draft or arugula from that farmer around the corner, we try to buy everything that we can locally,” Jeff says. “Support local people, and locals will support you as well.”

30 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Housemade dough and high-quality ingredients, including Molinari & Sons pepperoni ($7 per pound), beef tenderloin ($8 per pound) and housemade Italian sausage, set Slice’s pizzas apart from standard local fare.

Slice’s bartenders serve up 10 local craft brews on tap; Slice’s managerial staff includes (from left) co-owners Jeff Bajalieh and Jason Bajalieh; executive chef Terrill Brazelton; front-of-house manager Jessica Kuklo; and co-owner Chris Bajalieh.

nights, from executives in business suits to nurses in scrubs.

Located near St. Vincent’s Hospital, Slice hosts a weekly Medical Monday promotion, offering 25% off the total bill for all hospital employees who present proper identification. Monday is also College Night, with a 25% discount for college students from nearby University of Alabama-Birmingham, and Banker Nights offer similar specials to bank employees on Wednesdays.

The Bajaliehs keep things friendly with competing restaurants and bars, too. Slice is the place to be on Sundays for

employees of the service industry, with 25% discounts on all regularly priced menu items, plus mimosas for $3, Bloody Marys for $5 and other specials on cocktails and shots. “That’s now our third-biggest day of the week,” Jeff notes.

But if you really want to see community spirit in action, drop in on a Tuesday night. That’s when Slice hosts its weekly Raise Some Dough promotion, in which local groups receive 10% of the night’s sales. “Every Tuesday for the past 22 months, Slice has designated a nonprofit or school as the recipient of 10% of that day’s sales, excluding alcohol,” Conlin says. “The selected

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To help customers make well-informed ordering decisions, Slice’s waitstaff is trained to speak knowledgeably about the beer menu and to offer tips for pairing beers with pizzas.

organizations promote their night in the weeks leading up to the event to encourage donors to eat at Slice, then set up onsite on the day of the event to spread the word about their cause.

They also connect with Slice on social media to further their reach and encourage participation.”

Since the concept’s inception, nonprofits and school groups have participated in 94 Dough Raisers and generated more than $40,000. “We’re already booked through 2014,” Jeff says.

“It’s not necessarily about making money for us on that Tuesday; we’re just trying to build a rapport with our customers so that, hopefully, they’ll come eat with us on a Friday night.”

The brothers also know how to throw a party. In 2012, Jason created SliceFest, a food and music festival held every summer in the pizzeria’s spacious parking lot. In its second year, the event drew more than 2,000 people for live bands, moon bounces and face painting for kids, and samples of local brews and unique pizzas dreamed up by Brazelton just for the occasion. Proceeds from the 2013 event benefited two local charities—Alabama Forever and Suki Foundation. SliceFest generates enormous buzz and media coverage every year, Jeff says. “It’s a matter of fostering community spirit, building your brand and showing appreciation for your customers.”

Deep South Gourmet Ultimately, though, the Slice experience is all about delicious gourmet pizza and expertly crafted local beers. Brazelton and the Bajaliehs are notoriously picky about their ingredients, and it shows in the quality of the pies. This Little Piggy features premium pepperoni from San Francisco’s Molinari & Sons, which Brazelton considers “the perfect pepperoni.” A slice of This Little Piggy, which also includes housemade Italian sausage, bacon, capicola ham, prosciutto, roasted cherry tomatoes and basil, explodes with salty, savory goodness. “We tasted 40 different types of pepperoni before we finally decided on 32 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

“It’s not just about a pizza and a beer. It’s about the right pizza and the right beer. That changes the entire experience for you.”

—Jason Bajalieh, Slice Pizza & Brew Molinari,” Brazelton says. “It was everything we were looking for—it was well-seasoned and cured correctly; it doesn’t oil up on you; it’s not too fat, it’s not too lean.”

The Molinari pepperoni also steals the show on the Old School, Slice’s best-selling specialty pie, along with house sausage, fresh mushrooms and grilled red onions. The Lakeview is made with braised beef short ribs, caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, Asiago cheese, arugula, red onions and horseradish sauce, while the Wing and a Prayer comes loaded with smoked chicken, bacon, green onions, red onions, tomatoes, blue cheese crumbs, ranch dressing and hot sauce.

Slice’s menu recommends a craft brew for every specialty pizza, with an emphasis on local and regional brands, including Good People, Straight to Ale and Back Forty. The brewers themselves help determine the pairing choices by sampling the various pies and beers until they find the perfect match. Slice also offers beer flights to let customers sample the beers and choose their favorites. “It’s not just about a pizza and a beer,” Jason says. “It’s about the right pizza and the right beer. That changes the entire experience for you.”

Room to Grow Slice’s high-end ingredients make for a more expensive pie than you’d find at your average pizza joint, but customers don’t balk at the higher prices, Jeff notes. After all, diners may end up spending $200 or $300 at a fine-dining restaurant. “Here, they’re spending $70 or $80 while getting close to the same experience,” he says. “We’re not looking for the coupon shopper. Our beers are $7, and our pizzas are $20. We don’t ever hear complaints about our prices.”

What the Bajaliehs often hear, though, is a question that’s music to any independent operator’s ears: “When is Slice coming to my town?” The brothers have considered adding locations in other cities—Tuscaloosa is one possibility—but

Slice offers beer flights to help customers sample its beer selection; the company also provides employees with logoed attire to reinforce its branding message.

they’re in no hurry to expand. “I don’t see this as a 15- or 20-store operation,” Jeff says. “I see it as a maximum of five stores spread out around the Southeast.”

In fact, their next big move might not be pizza-related at all.

“We want to take everyday food and step it up a notch—a hot dog with a sriracha drizzle and cole slaw, a unique burger,” Jeff says. A fine-dining sports bar or an Arabic-Lebanese restaurant are other possibilities. “You can get a gyro and hummus anywhere,” he adds, “but you can’t get a gyro and hummus like we can make it.”

Meanwhile, the brothers believe the Birmingham store still hasn’t reached its full potential. “Our sales haven’t plateaued, which shows that we’re still growing,” Chris says. “During the

first three or four months [after opening], everybody tries you.

Here we are at almost year three, and our sales are still climbing, which lets you know that there are still so many people who haven’t tried us yet and are trying us now.”

The brothers also know that the Slice brand is about more than great pizza and beer—it’s about the Bajalieh family, about their roots and their sense of place. Duplicating all of that in another city will be a challenge. “That’s not to say it wouldn’t be successful,” Jason adds, “but we wouldn’t have fun doing it if it’s not exactly how we want to do it. And once you take the fun out of it, it’s all downhill from there.”

Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor-in-chief.

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Recipe of the Month Signature Appetizers

SMALL TRIM

Sponsored by

Recipe Month:

of the

Pepperoni Parmesan Stuffed Rolls Ingredients: 12” by 16” sheeted dough 14 oz. pork and beef spicy pepperoni, sliced (48 slices) ½ tbsp. light olive oil 2 oz. Parmesan cheese, shredded 5 oz. pizza cheese (blend of 80% skim mozzarella and 20% Parmesan cheese), shredded 8 oz. marinara sauce ½ oz. Parmesan cheese, grated Instructions: Brush dough with ½ tbsp. olive oil. Sprinkle 2 oz. shredded Parmesan cheese evenly over the top side of the dough. Arrange pepperoni slices evenly over the cheese. Beginning at the 12” side, tightly roll up the dough in a cinnamon roll-style, ending seamside-down.

Using a sharp knife, slice 1 stuffed roll into 20 ½”-wide pieces. Arrange pieces in a tight 10”-wide circular pattern on an oiled mesh screen over a parchment-lined sheet pan. Top evenly with 2 oz. of shredded pizza cheese, 8 oz. of marinara sauce and 3 oz. of additional pizza cheese. Bake the rolls in a 375°F preheated convection oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. After baking, sprinkle ½ oz. grated Parmesan cheese evenly over the top.

36 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Love at First Bite

Outback Steakhouse has the Bloomin’ Onion. Sonic has tater tots. What’s your signature appetizer? Sure, fried calamari and bruschetta are well-known standards, but do they really set your pizzeria apart from your competitors (many of whom also offer fried calamari and bruschetta)? Maybe it’s time to expand your horizons and look for some unique alternatives that will leap off your menu, grab your guests by the taste buds and never let go. Here are a few ideas from pizzerias and Italian restaurants around the country: Regina Pizzeria (reginapizzeria.com), with locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, offers a smorgasbord of starters, including the Italian Sausage Appetizer, featuring two brick oven-baked sweet sausages with roasted onions and peppers and served with Polcari’s garlic bread.

Located in North Muskegon, Michigan, The Handsome Hobo Pizzeria (handsomehobopizzeria.com) has more than a memorable name; its Steak Rollotini is equally unforgettable.

It consists of sautéed mushrooms and green onions wrapped in a marinated flank steak and served with a housemade spicy teriyaki sauce and garlic chips.

At Petrillo’s Restaurant and Pizzeria (petrillosmenu.com), a family-owned eatery in Indialantic, Florida, the owners know that ethnic fusions are creating buzz these days. They created the Italiano Quesadilla, made with sausage, mozzarella cheese, sautéed onions and peppers and served with sour cream and fra diablo sauce.

Otto Tomotto’s (ottotomottos.com) in Victor, New York, blends sweet and salty flavors to create its Bacon Dates appetizer, a serving of six dates topped with smoked bacon and garlic slices in a sauce made with white wine, brown sugar and butter.

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feature story Specialty Toppings

KARA HOFFMAN

ourmet G The

Experience

Unique, unusual and gourmet toppings are an unforgettable way to separate your specialty pizzas from the pack.

By Tracy Morin

S

ure, there will always be those hardcore pizza traditionalists who think it’s nothing short of sinful to adorn a crust with Buffalo chicken or pineapple.

But to appease the growing masses of jaded, tried-it-all customers who are

By Liz Barrett constantly seeking what’s new, next and unusual, it’s often a good idea to think a bit outside the box. By offering toppings that aren’t available at every other pizzeria in town, operators can create a gourmet experience for pizza lovers with trendy tastes. “People want something different—other than pineapple,” laughs Michael Dene, owner and managing director of Michael’s Pizzeria (michaelspizzeria.com), with three locations in Southern California. “It’s much more acceptable now to IA ER Z Z use all kinds of unusual ingredients, and anything pairs well with the breadlike PI L’S nature of pizza!”

HAE IC M Studies by research firm Technomic prove Dene’s point. In a 2012 survey, Technomic found that 34% of respondents were willing to pay more for gourmet pizza ingredients, compared to 26% in a similar survey taken in 2010. Additionally, 33% Michael’s Pizzeria takes a seasonal said they were interested in trying “highly innovative toppings,” a big jump from approach to menu items, incorporating unique toppings at their peak of freshness.

2010’s figure of 13%. In other words, many pizza lovers are getting pickier, and

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Wild game meats—such as sausage made from wild boar, buffalo or elk, and pepperoni made from buffalo or ostrich—are often free of antibiotics and lower in fat, so they appeal to the health-conscious as well as to the adventurous.

Serious Pie cures meat in-house to offer customers specialty pies that they can’t find anywhere else.

SERIOUS PIE

they don’t mind shelling out an extra buck or two to get what they like.

To get you started on your own path toward offering a greater range of specialty toppings, we chatted with industry experts who are getting major attention from customers for their creative experimentation and unique topping combinations.

Meaty Matters Meats will always be a staple for pizza—many customers couldn’t live without sausage, pepperoni or crumbled beef on a pie. But, chances are, you’re overlooking more exotic meats that can be added to your menu. For example, Tom Souran, president of Exchequer E Commerce in Cary, Illinois, points to the rise in popularity of wild game. Operators can now obtain sausage made from wild boar, buffalo or elk, and pepperoni made from buffalo or ostrich. “We’ve tested these pizzas on people, and they’ve been very responsive,” Souran says. “They taste the product and come back for more—and they’re also willing to pay more for something so unusual.”

Additionally, wild game meats are often free of antibiotics and lower in fat, so they appeal to the health-conscious as well as to the adventurous.

PIZZERIA RUSTICA

The beef bresaola pizza at Pizzeria Rustica is a top seller thanks to meat cured in-house.

40 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Similarly, some pizzeria owners take the farm-to-table movement as inspiration, curing their meats in-house as a way to make their meat toppings stand out. Dave Brackett, proprietor/pizzaiolo at Pizzeria Rustica (pizzeriarustica.com) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for example, makes bresaola (air-dried cured beef ) in-house. “One of our most popular gourmet pizzas is our beef bresaola pizza,” he notes. “We top the pizza with Fontina, sharp provolone and Pecorino Romano cheeses, plus ricotta soprafina cheese mixed with lemon zest, horseradish and black pepper. After the four-cheese pizza is baked in the woodfired oven, we top it with the shaved bresaola, baby arugula and our house truffle oil.”

Curing your own meats in-house does require additional work, but for some pizzerias, it makes all the difference. At Serious Pie (tomdouglas.com), with two locations in Seattle, all house-cured meat is displayed behind glass doors, allowing customers to peruse what’s curing and, in a sense, to know where their food comes from. “We use an experimental pizza process, and we focus on and showcase our efforts because that’s why we cost more and taste better,” owner Tom Douglas says. “Curing meats can be a long process—our guanciale takes 45 days to cure—but it’s so fun, and customers love the playfulness of our chefs.”

A chef-driven focus also propels the creativity displayed at Michael’s Pizzeria, where the Anatra e Provola pie features duck confit, tomato, smoked house-made mozzarella and caramelized onions. “Duck pairs well with cheese, so we like to use it on white pizzas rather than red-sauce pizzas,” Dene explains.

The duck confit does double duty on the menu as a small plate—the Anatra dish is made in a cast-iron skillet, featuring confit duck roasted in a wood-fired oven with farro and figs.

The lesson: If you’re looking to add a unique topping that might require a bit of prep to make, why not utilize it for other menu items or specialty pies? Also, think seasonally: Michael’s changes up its menu at least three times per year, so in the fall the duck pizza may receive a garnish of chopped kale for a different twist. By maximizing—and leveraging the freshness of—ingredients, it can be easy to wow customers all year long and keep them excited about what’s next.

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PAULIE GEE’S

PAULIE GEE’S

(Left to right) At Paulie Gee’s, the Anise and Anephew and the Cherry Jones incorporate outside-the-box ingredients, including anisette cream and dried bing cherries.

Crazy About Condiments Many pizzeria chefs tend to think of specialty pizzas in terms of solid toppings, but liquid elements in the form of condiments, creams and sweet drizzles can pack a serious punch. Paul Giannone, owner of Paulie Gee’s (pauliegee.com) in Brooklyn, New York, is a former backyard pizza chef who opened his own pizzeria in 2010, but his penchant for experimentation has never waned since those days of home cooking for friends. For

42 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

example, while Giannone was developing his menu, he came across a swordfish dish with anisette cream sauce—it became the inspiration behind his Anise and Anephew pie, with fresh mozzarella, braised fennel, an anisette cream drizzle, Berkshire guanciale and fennel fronds. “I like sweet and savory flavors combined on a pie, and anise and fennel have the same flavors, so it works!” he says.

But Giannone’s most popular pie gets help from a different condiment: Mike’s Hot Honey. A Paulie Gee’s employee,

“We put the clams on a pizza and put them into the oven, where they open up. The seawater from the clams spills on the pizza, creating a great flavor; it’s almost like a spaghetti and clam sauce dish, with a nice peppery taste.”

-Michael Dene, Michael’s Pizzeria

Chefs at Serious Pie make their pizzas stand out with the addition of in-season local produce and flavorful herbs.

SERIOUS PIE

who also made honey, had discovered a type of hot honey while hiking in the Amazon. When Giannone learned that the employee had been working on replicating the honey in the States, he knew it’d be perfect on a Paulie Gee’s pie called the Delboy. Soon, the Hellboy was born, with fresh mozzarella, Italian tomatoes, Berkshire sopressata piccante, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Mike’s Hot Honey. “This has been our most popular pie for years,” Giannone says. Another pie with the spicy condiment: the Hellified Porkpie White, with fresh mozzarella, Berkshire sopressata piccante, sweet Italian

fennel sausage, sliced red onion, garlic, fresh basil and Mike’s Hot Honey.

But Giannone doesn’t stop there—he also offers the Monte Cristo pie, based on the famous sandwich, with mild Gouda and thinly sliced Canadian bacon, finished with a drizzle of maple syrup. He showcases a locally made bacon marmalade on the Becca’s Bacon Marmalade Picante, with fresh mozzarella, sliced red onions and Becca’s Bacon Jam. Best of all, supporting these local suppliers has created symbiotic relationships that benefit everyone. “To make the health department happy, I

January/February 2014

pmq.com 43

MICHAEL’S PIZZERIA

MICHAEL’S PIZZERIA

Michael’s Pizzeria adds a variety of specialty toppings to pizzas, including pistachios and Manila clams.

invited our bacon marmalade and hot honey suppliers to use our restaurant and make the products in my kitchen instead of in their homes,” Giannone says. “They make it here on a day we’re closed, and I get all the product I need.”

Fruits, Nuts and Clams Many operators have added pineapple to the menu as a topping option, but there’s a whole world of fruits at your fingertips.

At Michael’s, figs have become a centerpiece of a sweet-andsavory fall-season pie that also incorporates a drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction, mozzarella, light tomato sauce and basil. Meanwhile, Giannone created the Cherry Jones, with fresh mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Prosciutto di Parma, dried bing cherries and orange blossom honey—combining sweetness, tang and saltiness on one standout pie.

On the other hand, don’t be afraid to go a little nuts. Dene used the Italian cold cut mortadella, made with pistachios, for pizza inspiration. “We put on pulled mozzarella cheese, which is stringy, and place baked pistachios—browned in the oven and crushed—on top,” says Dene. “The intense flavors and textures of hot, cold and crunch are amazing.”

How about thinking like a sea explorer when scouting out new toppings? Clam pies might be considered staples in New Haven, Connecticut, but these mollusks are still somewhat of a novelty on a pizza. At Michael’s, Manila clams are paired with parsley, spicy Calabrian peppercorn and tomato. “We put the clams on a pizza and put them into the oven, where they open up,” explains Dene. “The seawater from the clams spills onto the pizza, creating a great flavor; it’s almost like a spaghetti and clam sauce dish, with a nice peppery taste. Even though toppings like this are interesting, they also have a traditional flair.”

Serious Pie serves a pizza made with Penn Cove clams, pancetta tesa and lemon thyme. The gourmet pie showcases the versatility of seafood while introducing another way to make pizzas stand out: fresh and unique herbs. Douglas freely uses marjoram, Greek oregano (the “most floral” type, he notes), sage and lemon thyme on pizzas. Meanwhile, he obtains seasonal 44 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

produce from local farmers, inspiring pizzas made with delicata squash, caramelized onion and anchovy, or green-tomato pizzas topped with aged provolone. “It’s all about the balance of flavors when you experiment—like the tartness of green tomatoes vs. the heaviness of a cheese,” Douglas explains.

Meanwhile, other pizza makers are passionate about whipping up unique toppings for customers with dietary restrictions. Paulie Gee’s offers a full vegan menu, complete with vegan sausage that’s made in-house. “I knew about the demand for this topping when we were using storebought vegan sausage, but that wasn’t cutting it,” Giannone says. “One of our dishwashers came in with vegan turkey, so I added some fennel seed and pulled it all together. People love it.”

Another Paulie Gee’s pie, called In Ricotta Da Vita, also begged for the vegan treatment; it combined Italian tomatoes, fennel sausage, Pecorino Romano, plus (added after cooking) ricotta dollops, baby arugula and extra-virgin olive oil. However, making the pizza without ricotta for vegans “wasn’t the same,” Giannone remembers. “I went to a restaurant that had a cashew ricotta pie on the menu, and they explained to me that the ricotta was made solely from cashews. I found a bunch of recipes online and said, ‘Let’s start using it!’” Of course, the new vegan version of the pie had a virtually built-in name: In Ricotta Da Vegan.

If there’s anything to be learned from these fearless chefs and operators around the country, it’s that nearly anything can taste great on a pizza. Using the right flavor combinations, balancing sweet and savory, playing with texture and thinking outside the box are all great basic tenets to keep in mind, but ultimately, pizza is limited only by your imagination. Don’t be afraid to start experimenting and asking your employees and customers for specialty-pie recommendations. Once you’ve developed a winner, offer samples to take the fear out of ordering your latest great creation. With a little boldness and a healthy dose of trialand-error, you too can create the pie of your customers’ dreams... one that they probably never even dreamed was possible.

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

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feature story hot bags

With proper maintenance and handling, your hot bags will keep working for you longer than some of the drivers who carry them.

By Liz Barrett

I

f you offer delivery, there’s a pretty good chance you also have a collection of hot bags on hand. You may not think too much about them—you just know you need them for keeping pizza hot on the way to a customer’s home. But, by choosing durable bags and handling them with a little care, you can keep those bags on the job longer than some of the drivers who carry them.

While there are several types of hot bags to choose from— including disk-heated, induction-heated and internally heated options—many in the industry prefer thermal insulated bags.

“A well-insulated thermal bag is more than adequate for keeping the average pizza—delivered in 30 minutes or less—hot,” says Jenny Sanios, vice president of Bag Solutions in Yorkville, Illinois. If a bag with a heating element/disk is more up your alley, Al Roma, president of Livonia, Michigan-based National Marketing, says heating elements usually warm up in 10 to 15 minutes and can retain heat for about 30 minutes. This type 48 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

M PRODUCTIONS

of bag may be helpful in event catering situations or in cases where you have a lot of deliveries in one run or have to travel a longer distance.

The most important feature of any hot bag is its ability to keep a pizza hot and dry on the way to a delivery. Insufficient or moisture-inducing lining can cause a soggy pizza. When selecting a hot bag, Sanios says, operators should ask about moisture-free insulation and lining that help to prevent the dreaded sogginess. Finding bags that are as close in size to your own pizza boxes will also help ensure a hot and dry pizza upon arrival. Too much extra room around a pizza can spell disaster, causing a pizza to shift around in the box and never make full contact with all of the heating elements at the same time.

Keeping pizza hot is a special challenge for the delivery crew at Great Scott’s Pizza in cold, snowy Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin.

Choices Aplenty In most cases, you won’t need different types of bags if you offer different types of pizzas. However, because you may offer different sizes of pizzas, plus side items and possibly catering, there are a number of sizes to choose from when purchasing hot bags. Most manufacturers suggest that pizzerias should stay fully prepared by keeping a mix of bag sizes for accommodating pizza, sides and large catering orders. Every pizzeria will have different needs, of course, but a good rule of thumb is to start off with two bags per driver. “We suggest starting out with a couple of regular bags for each driver and a couple of highquantity bags that hold six to 10 boxes,” Sanios says. “Then you’re set if you have a big event pop up.”

Romo’s Pizzeria (romospizzany.com) in Glenmont, New York, makes about 100 deliveries per week. Owner Brittany Ruede says her pizzeria uses three hot bags for pizza and a deeper, sturdier one for sides. Spring, Texas-based Pizza Zone (pizzazone.cc), on the other hand, does a booming delivery

“Operators need to know the number of pizzas in their typical delivery order and use it as a guide for determining bag sizes. Consider buying a larger size bag to accommodate pizzas, wings, subs and other offerings.” - Dave Breen, RediHEAT

January/February 2014

pmq.com 49

Delivery drivers at Chic Alors! in Quebec, Canada, prepare to hit the road on a chilly winter’s night.

“Cleanliness is very important. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. If they see a filthy bag, chances are they are not going to order from you again, even if they don’t say anything.” -Dave Breen, RediHEAT

CHIC ALORS!

Hot Bag Wish List Here are some future innovations that operators would like to see from hot bag manufacturers. What would you like to see? Let us know at editor@pmq.com.

“I’d like to see hot bags with a sturdier form, maybe a plastic insert or cardboard insert in the bottom to keep it flat. This would alleviate some crushing of the boxes when stacking multiple bags on top of each other, and eliminate the need to put pizza tables in the boxes.”

—Debbie Taggart Gainor, Pizza Zone, Spring, TX “I wish more of the bags had shelves or dividers so pizzas are not stacked directly on top of each other.”

—Dennis Sheil, Rio Vista Pizza Factory, Rio Vista, CA

business, averaging between 650 and 700 deliveries per week.

“We have approximately 35 of the regular thermal pizza delivery bags, and we also have approximately six sandwichtype thermal delivery bags to use if the delivery includes minipizzas, pastas or wings,” says Pizza Zone co-owner Debbie Taggart Gainor.

Rio Vista Pizza Factory (orderpizzafactory.com), located in Rio Vista, California, makes about 125 deliveries per week and uses 15 thermal insulated hot bags, according to owner Dennis Sheil. “When I’m purchasing a hot bag, I will look at price, quality and features, such as tag window, pockets for cheese and peppers, etc.,” Sheil says.

Handle With Care Many bags get lost before they ever have a chance to wear out, but if your bags stick around for a while, there are ways to extend their lives. Start by purchasing bags that have a sturdy construction, well-sewn handles and straps, and stain-resistant fabric.

Then make sure to clean them at least once every six months (see “Lather, Rinse, Repeat,” above). “Pizza bags are used several times every single night for most pizzerias,” Sanios notes. “With 50 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Lather, Rinse, Repeat Yes, your hot bags can be washed, but manufacturers warn against tossing them into the washing machine, where insulation can be damaged. Instead, handwash your soft-sided delivery bags by filling the sink with warm water and a mild disinfectant/detergent.

Scrub them down inside and out and hang them up overnight to dry.

regular cleaning and a little bit of care, you should be able to use a good bag for years. Buy an affordable, quality bag that you can replace when it starts looking dingy, because this is the first thing your customer sees when you make a delivery.”

So how long will a hot bag usually last? Rio Vista Pizza Factory’s bags normally last 18 to 24 months, according to Sheil.

Ruede says that Romo’s bags usually stay on the job for about a year. “The only problem is that they sometimes rip,” she says. “I think the quality of the bag has more to do with its durability than driver care.”

Gainor agrees. “We try to buy the best quality bag at the most reasonable price,” she says. “We also purchase dark green and black bags, which don’t show wear-and-tear or dirt as much as the red bags we used to buy in the past. Our delivery bags typically last between one-and-a-half and two years. We need them to be reasonably priced because somehow the drivers always seem to lose them—we still haven’t quite figured out how yet.”

Before purchasing any new bags, assess your needs, do your research and ask about money-back guarantees in case you find that the bags are not a good fit for your pizzeria. Choosing the hot bags that will carry the precious cargo that is your pizza should not be a decision that’s taken lightly.

Liz Barrett is PMQ’s editor at large.

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feature story Cheese Blends

COMING

CLEAN The future of restaurant sanitation looks bright—and utterly spotless—thanks to several amazing state-of-the-art technologies.

By Tracy Morin

W

hen research company Technomic surveyed restaurant customers on the most important factors of an enjoyable dining experience, the 18,000-plus responses placed cleanliness firmly at the top of the list. Diners ranked the cleanliness of dishware, glassware and silverware as No. 1, with 93% identifying it as their top concern, while a clean restaurant interior, bathrooms and visible kitchen/food prep areas were also ranked among the top 10.

Hence, it’s a no-brainer that any eating establishment would want to make cleanliness a top priority.

“Proper cleanliness is essential to any pizzeria or restaurant,” says Tom Lozano, executive director of Air Scrubber Plus in Petaluma, California. “The last thing a restaurant owner wants is for customers to question a restaurant’s commitment to cleanliness or get sick because of unsanitary conditions—this can destroy the reputation of a restaurant.”

The Nano Revolution Luckily, new technologies can help by making a pizzeria’s sanitary practices stand out. For Austin,

Texas-based K&N Management, which operates two foodservice chains, utilizing the latest cleaning technology has entailed installing hand-wash Jacuzzis, hands-free sinks and hand dryers, and foot pulls on doors. “Of course, there are cost considerations when determining which technologies to use for cleanliness, but we consider these technologies to be essential pieces of our operations,” says Marlis Oliver, executive director for K&N Management.

“We believe there’s a difference between providing a transaction and an experience, and attention to details, such as cleanliness, is what makes our guests have a truly memorable experience, tell their friends about us and come back.”

Hands-free systems have been around for some years (and are constantly being improved for greater efficiency and ease of use), but other new technologies in cleaning abound—and many sound downright futuristic. For example, some YMCAs have installed nanotechnology-powered self-cleaning surfaces that work 24/7 without chemicals or heavy metals. Amazingly, the surfaces harness the power of available light to oxidize microbes. Meanwhile, peel-and-stick skins

January/February 2014

pmq.com 53

Telling Your Clean Story Now that you’ve installed top-notch cleaning procedures and technologies in your pizzeria, it’s time to use them as a marketing advantage and clearly communicate your commitment to guests. Take these experts’ advice on talking up your sanitation standards:

NANOTOUCH

High-traffic businesses like the YMCA have begun to install nanotechnology-powered self-cleaning surfaces on often-touched areas such as door handles.

can wrap around handles, while other surfaces, such as counter mats, are portable for multiple uses. “You can place the touch points in high-traffic areas, and they don’t need replacement in 90 or 120 days; the nanotechnology is molecularly bonded to the mat,” explains Mark Sisson, partner at NanoTouch Materials in Forest, Virginia. “Plus, the surfaces don’t expire; they’re waterproof and washable; and they can be branded for restaurants.” Next up for this technology: sleeves for tablets and other handheld devices, plus static-cling screen skins that can be placed on POS systems—a constant point of contact for employees.

Cutting Back On Chemicals Another new technology involves clearing the air: a system that uses a combination of UV light, oxygen and water molecules that react together and pass through a honeycomb cell coated with a formulation of non-nano titanium dioxide and other highly reactive metals. This process produces superoxide ions, hydroxyls and hydrogen peroxide, which in turn clean the air and surfaces in an indoor environment. The result: a reduction by nearly 100% in Staphylococcus aureus, antibiotic-resistant Staph, E. coli, anthrax, black mold and more.

“The air is fresher and surfaces are cleaner, with a reduction in contaminants on surfaces, like kitchen or dining counters and toilet seats,” Lozano explains. “Dust, allergens, mildew and odor-causing bacteria are also significantly reduced. The added bonus for restaurant owners is that this system can reduce or eliminate many of the odors associated with cooking. After a Pizza Hut installed it, their customers remarked that the air felt cleaner and fresher, and they loved that the restaurant didn’t have bad odors.”

Another recently developed cleaning technology is actually based on the discoveries of past centuries. Electrical Chemical Activation (ECA) technology borrows from 1800s-era research that found charging salt water with electricity creates a form of chlorine. Now, this process has been automated to create two eco-friendly cleaning solutions: a mild cleaning agent and a nontoxic sanitizer/disinfectant. “You no longer need to buy chemical products, and you save money and the planet with a solution that’s just as effective,” notes Anselm Doering, president 54 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

“Restaurants should let consumers know about their use of cleaning technologies through employee training and education and by posting the information on their menus or other restaurant signage.”

—Tom Lozano, executive director, Air Scrubber Plus, Petaluma, CA

“If you’re using special technologies at touch points in your facility, they will visibly communicate an extra level of security in the environment. Plus, information on materials such as posters or table tents can communicate what you’re using to keep the pizzeria clean; simply put these on a front counter or in high-traffic areas. In some cases, you can also use your cleaning technology for promotional items, like giving away antibacterial travel mats to guests or selling them in your retail area. And, by branding these products with your logo, you can advertise your business every time customers travel with the product!”

—Mark Sisson, partner, NanoTouch Material, Forest, VA

“If you’re using solutions that are not standard chemicals and you incorporate other green practices, look into certification with the Green Restaurant Association or Green Seal. They can provide a plaque to put on the wall or stickers that inform customers and staff of your safe, green cleaning practices.”

—Anselm Doering, president/CEO, EcoLogic Solutions, Brooklyn, NY

and CEO of EcoLogic Solutions in Brooklyn, New York. “It can be used in many key areas of a restaurant: for dishes, cutting boards, sinks, to sanitize produce, to keep pathogens at bay in ice machines, in display cases and more.”

Making Training a Priority Ultimately, however, all of the cleaning technology in the world won’t do any good if your employees aren’t trained

ECOLOGIC SOLUTIONS

Anselm Doering promotes green cleaning methods without the use of chemicals for key restaurant areas, including sinks and ice machines.

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“The last thing a restaurant owner wants is for customers to question a restaurant’s commitment to cleanliness or get sick because of unsanitary conditions—this can destroy the reputation of a restaurant.”

—Tom Lozano, Air Scrubber Plus

in proper procedure. Operators must make sure that cleanliness remains a top priority during all training, and that training should be ongoing. At K&N outlets, team members are introduced to the cleanliness culture from

day one, and all new employees attend a foundations class before working in the restaurants, where they then learn standards and expectations. Detailed cleanliness processes take the guesswork out of practices for employees,

and an internal inspector regularly shows up unannounced to each location—deducting points for every errant crumb or window smudge.

Finally, surveillance cameras around the restaurants help ensure that procedures are being followed on a day-to-day basis. “We take health inspections to the next level with our processes,” Oliver says.

“This ensures that not only are we meeting the quality standards set for us, but we’re also delighting our guests by exceeding their expectations when it comes to cleanliness.”

And once you’ve created a spotlessly clean and safe foodservice environment, it never hurts to brag a little bit, Oliver says. Customers want to know about your efforts to protect their health, and K&N Management is happy to tell them. “Cleanliness is one of the most important factors to our guests, so we take every opportunity possible to let them know it’s important to us as well,” Oliver says. “Not only do we talk about our cleanliness standards in-store and on our social channels, we show our guests with small touches everywhere. Even our trash cans are immaculately clean, because we know that sends a message to our guests that it’s important. We frequently post updates on our health inspection scores via our social media channels, and we’re very open when it comes to our cleanliness practices. Our kitchens are open so guests know that we’re practicing the high cleanliness standards we preach. Finally, we’re extremely attentive when it comes to guest feedback and conversation. If guests ask about our cleanliness standards or processes, we’re more than happy to share information with them on what we’re doing.”

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

56 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

feature story Neighborhood Marketing

Think Local, Think Small Neighborhood marketing focuses on three areas of influence—within your pizzeria’s four walls, within four blocks and within four miles.

By Tom Feltenstein

A

ll marketing is local, and it begins inside the four walls of your pizzeria and extends to the real estate that’s a 10-minute drive or walk from your place of business. This is the idea behind the system that I call fourwalls branding and neighborhood marketing. You can tap into the true potential of your business by focusing your marketing efforts within your own trading area—the customer base that is right there in your backyard. Businesses, schools, churches, community events and even fellow retailers become your promotional allies in building cost-effective, tactical programs to capture consumer dollars within your reach. My philosophy is, think local, think small!

Start With Your Employees With four-walls branding and neighborhood marketing, your 58 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

marketing messages are conveyed on a one-to-one basis: first to your employees, then from your employees to your guests, and finally from your guests to their families, friends, neighbors and co-workers. This marketing approach is intimate and personal—it’s the polar opposite of slick and impersonal massmedia advertising. You start by hiring, training and motivating your employees, then leading them to go beyond the idea of service and embrace your own belief in hospitality. Here are some ideas to consider for your employees:  Solicit their opinions. Administer frequent internal customer surveys. Find out what they think, need, want and feel. The surveys must be self-administered, confidential and anonymous. You want your employees to know that their opinions matter.

Insist that cooks or chefs step out of the kitchen for meet-and-greets with the customers on a regular basis.

Drop in on neighboring businesses and bring business cards, menus, coupons and free samples.

You may even want to call the business in advance and offer to serve a free lunch to all of its employees.

 Make them feel special. Recognize their birthdays by sending them cards and gift certificates. Give them something special on their wedding anniversaries. Enclose inspirational messages or notes with their paychecks that express how much you appreciate them.  Offer rewards. For performing high-quality work, meeting schedules or simply for showing up consistently and on time, award staff members a “Get Out of Work Free” card that’s redeemable with seven days’ advance notice.

Learn From Your Customers Even if you serve the best pizza in town, offer the best value and provide top-notch service, keep in mind that your guests can eat anywhere. If they choose to eat at your pizzeria, you should value that relationship and work to build upon it. Treat your customers as authorities, as unpaid consultants. Don’t be afraid to ask their advice or their opinions about your operation, such as how you might change or improve it to meet their needs.

Feel free to share inside information with them, from recipes to marketing ideas. The more your customers understand your business, the more they’ll respect what you’re trying to do.

Above all, keep open the lines of communication with your customers. Mount a perpetual communication process with them to establish your pizzeria as a trusted business and a safe haven. After a new customer walks through the door and gives you his basic information—including name, email, address, birthday, etc.—follow up with that person in the next five days to one week via email (or, for those that prefer it, snail mail). This message should accomplish four things: 1) Thank them for their business; 2) Resell the value of your company; 3) Reassure them of the prudence of eating at your pizzeria by emphasizing, for example, the freshness and quality of your ingredients and presenting your pizzeria as a respected business in the community; and 4) Offer something unexpected and special to show your appreciation for their patronage.

Such a follow-up message essentially “programs” the customer to take another look at your pizzeria and make a second visit. After the second visit, perhaps send another email that includes an offer for a free appetizer or soft drink with his next visit. The goal is to continually reinforce the customer’s buying decisions. Make it clear to him that you genuinely care about him and that you see him as more than a walking dollar sign.

Face-to-Face Beats Facebook Everyone’s talking about social media these days, and with good reason. Social media is a cost-effective way to reach a large audience. But face-to-face marketing still beats Facebook marketing every time. With that in mind, you can do some specific things to boost your marketing reach within your own four walls and create a positive personal experience for every guest who walks through the doors. Here are some key factors to keep in mind:  Everything in your restaurant must be clean and well-kept, including the staff. A sparkling-clean bathroom is particularly important!  Recruit great people first. Skills can be taught. The No. 1 responsibility of a manager is to recruit top-notch employees with a positive attitude.  Staff should be trained to identify new customers and tell the manager about them.  Insist that cooks or chefs step out of the kitchen for meetand-greets with the customers on a regular basis.  Empower certain staff with extra pay and distinctive uniforms. Your front line is your bottom line.  Encourage employees to surprise customers with coupons for their next visit, such as a free order of buffalo wings or a free kid-size pizza for families.

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Want to draw attention to your restaurant on a slow day?

Set up a fake picketing line in front of your pizzeria, with employees and their friends holding up signs that read, “I love working here!” and “Our food is fantastic!”

and everyone who works in these businesses—as well as their customers—are potential guests for your store. You need to take the time to get to know them and give them a reason to visit your restaurant. Here are some ideas:  Introduce yourself to every business owner, manager and resident within 10 minutes of your location. Hand out your business cards, menus and coupons and let them know you want to serve them some pizza. In fact, I’d recommend calling the business in advance and offering to serve a full lunch to all of its employees.  Drop by a neighborhood block party with a hot bag filled with pizzas or appetizers.

Every inch of your restaurant, from prep counters to restrooms, should be spotlessly clean at all times, and the same goes for your servers.

 Recognize and reward long-time employees on their dateof-hire anniversary.  On Friday nights, have your servers wear a $10 bill with a pin that says, “If I’m not smiling, this Hamilton is yours.”

If the emplooyee still has it at the end of the night or shift, he gets to keep the $10.  Create personalized business cards for your employees with titles like “Server Extraordinaire” or “Craft Beer Guru.”  Send out an employee newsletter and acknowledge birthdays, accomplishments, new hire introductions, new store offerings, etc.  Use signage at the hostess stand for new menu items. Use the inside of the bathroom stall doors to promote in-house events or specials.  Create a “Worst Seat in the House” and give anybody who sits there 50% off their meal.

Around the Block The next step in your neighborhood and four-walls marketing campaign is to venture outside your restaurant and get out into the nearby community. Your pizzeria is likely surrounded by retail stores, office buildings and even other restaurants, 60 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

 Advertise your pizzeria at the nearest bus or train stops and include walking directions that will lead customers straight to your door.  Create a fake “parking ticket” to place on cars outside your restaurant, enticing potential customers into your pizzeria.  Set up a fake picketing line in front of your pizzeria, with employees and their friends holding up signs that read, “I love working here!” and “Our food is fantastic!”

Go the Extra Mile Finally, once you’ve built up your marketing efforts within your own four walls and within the surrounding four blocks, it’s time to spread out a little further—within four miles of your restaurant. Consider these tactics:  Hire 15 people to take samples of your pizzas to area businesses, along with a lot of menus and coupons.  Purchase a new residents list every month, and send each person on the list a coupon for a free pizza.  Welcome new businesses to the neighborhood with samples and/or coupons for a free one-topping pie or order of wings at lunchtime.  Give your delivery drivers magnetic business cards to hand out to customers. The cards should bear titles like “The Road Warrior” and “Have Pizza, Will Travel.”

Your pizzeria doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s most likely surrounded by other businesses, retail stores, schools and churches, and each one offers marketing opportunities.

 Announce new menu items via email to all of your customers and include a mouthwatering photograph.  Surprise a local doctor’s office with a free lunch and copies of your menu.  Rent a food booth at a local festival and give out slices of your most popular pies.  Take photos at local school sporting events, post them on your walls and host a “Find Your Face” promotion.

 Sponsor a discount day especially for local firefighters and police officers in your area. Encourage them to bring their families, and make everyone feel welcome.  Provide special coupons to nearby theaters and require guests to show their ticket stub when they come in to redeem the coupon.

Tom Feltenstein is a restaurant marketing consultant and the CEO/founder of Tom Feltenstein’s Power Marketing Academy. Visit tomfeltenstein.com.

January/February 2014

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feature story Dave’s Pizza

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THE

OLYMPIC

SPIRIT

When pizzaiolo Pete Fenson isn’t running Dave’s Pizza, the champion curler is training on the ice for another shot at Olympics glory.

By Melanie Addington

By Melanie Addington

Pete Fenson, a 2006 Olympic medalist and pizza maker, splits his time between Dave’s Pizza and the curling ice.

MATTHEW MCLAUGHLIN

R

unning a pizza shop doesn’t leave a lot of time for hobbies, but Pete Fenson has found a way to split his time between his passion for pizza and his Olympic dreams. A bronze medalist in curling in the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, Fenson spends his evenings with his wife and kids running Dave’s Pizza (davespizza.biz) in Bemidji, Minnesota, and his days in the curling rink. And although, “Team Fenson” didn’t qualify to compete in this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the squad still has competitions coming up: the National Championship in Philadelphia in March and the World Championship in China in April.

A competitive curler since 1993, Fenson, who grew up in Bemidji, has many fond memories of eating at Dave’s Pizza, which opened in 1958, as a kid. After college, he returned to

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“Curling is a family sort of game. If you didn’t come from a curling family, it was pretty tough to get started.”

—Pete Fenson, Dave’s Pizza

his hometown with his wife, Roxanne, and the couple soon learned that the pizzeria was up for sale and purchased it. “It just sort of happened,” Fenson says. “We had worked in a restaurant together, Roxanne and I, and we liked the speed and pace of the industry.”

They were both pretty fond of curling, too. The family that makes pizza together curls together, you might say. The Fensons’ sons, Alex and Graem, also split their time between the pizza store and the local curling league. “Curling is a family sort of game,” Fenson says. “At least it was where I grew up. But it didn’t get any national or international exposure, so if you didn’t come from a curling family, it was pretty tough to get started.”

Hitting the Ice Curling, a four-member team sport that began in Scotland, came to America in 1832. Blending skill with strategy and teamwork, players slide large, round stones—which weigh about 42 pounds—across a sheet of ice towards a target area.

They use curling brooms to sweep the surface of the ice in the path of the stone, thus controlling its speed and direction.

For the Fensons, the game has become a family tradition.

Fenson’s own parents took him and his brother, Eric, to league nights and taught them the ins and outs. His father, Bob Fenson, only recently retired from the game, but he still cheers for his two sons (former teammates who now compete separately) and his grandsons from the sidelines. Bob Fenson won the national championship when Pete was 11 and won the senior competition 10 years ago. Meanwhile, Pete’s son,

USA CURLING TEAM

Pete Fenson practices his curling technique on the ice.

Alex, has taken on his dad’s Olympic dreams—he became the Minnesota Junior Champion in 2012 and the U.S. Junior National Champion in 2013 and 2014 and has placed 7th in the World Junior Championship. Pete serves as his own team’s skip, a sort of “on-ice quarterback,” focusing on strategy and shot selection and taking the last two shots for the team. “It is a bit of a leadership role, but every position has its own set of responsibilities,” he says.

Meanwhile, pizza is Fenson’s other love, which made competing at the 2006 Olympics in Italy a special treat. NBC found out he was a pizza maker and arranged for him to visit a pizzeria in Italy, he recalls. “They put me in the kitchen in this pizzeria and taught me how to make pizza their way. It was the Neapolitan style, which is now becoming a big industry in the States. It’s the old-world way, and I got to experience that early in 2006.”

While in Italy, Fenson made pizzas for his teammates and athletes from other countries, but the highlight of the trip was standing on the winners’ podium and accepting the bronze medal. “It was unbelievable and fantastic,” he says. “My family was there. We were on the medal stand right in the front, and it was pretty great.”

A Pizza Tradition

MATTHEW MCLAUGHLIN

Pete, Alex, Roxanne and Graem Fenson make pizza and curling a family affair at Dave’s Pizza.

64 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

After his Olympic triumph, Fenson returned to his regular schedule at Dave’s Pizza. “We have a really small place, and we love our customers,” he says. “We have a lot of regulars—some have eaten there far longer than we’ve owned it.” The store has 15 employees, some of whom have worked there for 10 or 15 years. After he and his wife bought the shop, Fenson says, “We made a real point not to change the things that were there. We didn’t buy Dave’s for an ego trip. It served what we thought was the best pizza in the area. It had been there since 1958, so we wanted to keep it going. I think some of our customers were nervous at first, not knowing for sure what we’d do with it.”

Over the years, the Fensons added a few salad options and a meatball recipe as well as some new toppings and combinations for their pizzas. “We still use these old recipes that started in the 1950s, and we make everything from scratch every day,”

MATTHEW MCLAUGHLIN

MATTHEW MCLAUGHLIN

The Fensons bought Dave’s Pizza from the previous owners but kept the original recipes that Pete Fenson enjoyed in his youth.

Fenson says. He meets with his staff frequently to make sure everyone stays focused on high-quality product and service. He says he doesn’t rely on specials or coupons to draw in customers, but he does have a Facebook page for Dave’s. Meanwhile, his shop gets a big boost in business from locals who have moved away—whenever they return to visit, they always make it a point to eat at Dave’s.

Dave’s offers only dinner service, freeing up Fenson’s time for workouts at the gym and practice on the ice. He says his staff

pitches in during the competition season so he doesn’t have to be in the store every day. After all, he says, curling satisfies his competitive nature, and it’s just plain fun. “We’ve taken our family to a lot of places, and the people we meet along the way at the local, national and international level have been great,” he says. “We’ve made a lot of friends.”

Melanie Addington is PMQ’s social media director.

Join the PMQ Entourage as we explore Italy.

Join the U.S. Pizza Team and PMQ as they compete in the World Pizza Championships and tour Parma, the food valley of Italy, April 4-11, 2014.

For more information on how you can join the PMQ Entourage please call Brian at 662-234-5481 ext 129 or brian@pmq.com.

January/February 2014

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feature story IBIE Bluegrass Show Wrap-up bakeoff

John Arena and Sam Facchini are cashing in on the baked goods trend at Metro Pizza in Las Vegas; Jason Samosky from Samosky’s Pizza holds up his winning entry, the Spinachi, in the Best Pie contest; and Leah Scurto from Pizza My Heart won second place in the Best Pie category with her Big Sur pizza.

Click here to view bonus video coverage of the IBIE Show

The Baker

and the

Pizza Maker A notable trend at this year’s IBIE show suggests that pizzas and baked goods may be a match made in marketing heaven.

Michael Amheiser of Pizza Dock holds up his competition pie.

By Melanie Addington

P

izza and baked goods have a lot more in common nowadays than just flour. In fact, a romance is blooming between bakeries and pizzerias, and a marriage could be in the making, according to industry leaders at the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE), held in Las Vegas October 5 to 9, 2013.

IBIE takes place every three years and brings together thousands of bakers to discover the latest in technology solutions, baking equipment, ingredients, and related products and services. For the first time in IBIE history, PMQ sponsored the Pizza Village, which hosted pizza industry vendors along with pizza making and dough spinning competitions, all while providing welcome relief from a show floor full of sweets by handing out free pizza to attendees who stopped by the booth.

Russ Belarus, president of Belleco in Biddeford, Maine, said representatives from both bakeries and pizzerias showed interest in his company’s products. “This expo, with its relationship with the baking industry, has really proven to be beneficial for us,” Belarus says. “It’s really the first time I’ve seen this happen—attendees are coming to the booth, saying they are with large bakeries but want to get into making pizzas. It seems to be a whole new market that we were not aware of.”

John Arena, owner of Metro Pizza (metropizza.com) in Las Vegas, spoke about this blossoming relationship at IBIE. Arena recently opened Lulu’s Bread & Breakfast at his first Metro Pizza location and has plans to expand it. The bakery required adding only a few new appliances to the kitchen and has boosted business, as customers now come in for breakfast, coffee, pastries or fresh bread throughout the day, Arena says.

Arena spent two years using a food truck to promote Lulu’s, testing the market before opening the bakery in his store. From his perspective, artisan bread making and pizza making are again merging. “The ovens in Pompeii were pizza ovens,” he says. “Bread makers learned that they could dress up bread and charge more. Garum was a popular condiment for bread in

Jason Samosky from Samosky’s Homestyle Pizzeria won first place in the American Pizza Championship’s Best Pie contest with the Spinachi, made with garlic butter, spinach, sausage, feta, dried cranberry, sunflower seeds and Asiago cheese.

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(Left to right) This year’s American Pizza Championship winners include Jason Samosky, Heather Zook and Michael Amheiser in the Gluten-Free category; and Michael Stevens, Jason Samosky and Leah Scurto in the Best Pizza contest.

Rome and was the forerunner of the anchovy pizza.”

In fact, bread making is nothing new for Arena—his father and uncle got their start in a bakery in New York before moving into the pizza business. “These two crafts go hand in hand,” he says, noting that pizza makers are becoming more like bread makers, while bread makers are becoming pizza makers. He shares the example of Nancy Silverton, who’s best known as the co-founder and head baker at La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles.

Silverton helped introduce artisan bread to grocery stores and now, after developing her own pizza dough recipe, runs Pizzeria Mozza (pizzeriamozza.com), with locations in Los Angeles; Newport Beach, California; and Singapore. Originally opened as a side project, Pizzeria Mozza, co-founded by chefs Mario

68 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Batali and Joseph Bastianich, has become renowned for its artisan pizzas, attracting celebrities such as Christina Aguilera and Jake Gyllenhaal.

For bread makers, moving into the pizza business is becoming a matter of necessity, Arena observes. As grocery stores and convenience stores have lowered regular bread prices, artisan loafs are a harder sale than they used to be. But add sauce, cheese and toppings, and people will pay a higher price.

Joining the Team Visitors to the Pizza Village also had the chance to try gourmet and gluten-free pizzas during the American Pizza Championship while being dazzled by dough spinning competitors in the U.S. Pizza Team’s Fall Trials. This year’s competitions attracted many first-time competitors, and pizzaioli went head to head in several categories, including Best Traditional Pizza and Best Gluten-Free Pizza in the culinary contest and Freestyle Acrobatics, Largest Dough Stretch, Fastest Pie Maker and Fastest Box Folder in the USPT trials.

The Midwest represented itself well in the American Pizza Championship, with a sweep of the Gluten-Free category by Ohio pizza makers. Heather Zook from Sinfully Gluten Free (sinfullygf.com) in Centerville, Ohio, took first place with her Three-Meat Pizza, made with a white-rice-and-millet-blend crust and topped with mozzarella and provolone cheeses, pepperoni, sausage, crumbled bacon and caramelized onion, lightly sprinkled with basil and oregano. Zook won a spot on the USPT and a free trip to compete in Italy at the World Pizza Championship. Second place went to Mike Amheiser from Pizza Dock in Fredericktown, Ohio, for his Mike’s Favorite Pie, featuring pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, bacon and hard salami, topped with Romano cheese, fresh basil and garlic. Jason Samosky from Samosky’s Homestyle Pizzeria (samoskyspizza.com) in Valley City, Ohio, placed third with his Spinachi pizza, with garlic butter, fresh spinach, sausage, feta, dried cranberry, sunflower seeds and Asiago cheese.

The competition was fierce in the Best Pie category, with a large number of West Coast competitors this year, but Ohio once again took the gold as Samosky won first place with his Spinachi pizza. Meanwhile, second place went to Leah Scurto from Pizza My Heart (pizzamyheart.com) in Los Gatos, Cali-

In the U.S. Pizza Team Trials, Dave Sommers (top, left) won first place in the Largest Dough Stretch, followed by Bradley Johnson and Rick Wheeler; Bradley Johnson took top honors in the Freestyle Acrobatics category, followed by Patt Miller and Dave Sommers.

fornia, for her Big Sur pizza, featuring a blend of herbs and spices in the crust, San Marzano tomato sauce, sautéed portabello mushrooms, uncured pepperoni, roasted garlic, Italian sausage and green onions. Michael Stevens from Palo Mesa Pizza (palomesapizza.com) in Arroyo Grande, California, took third place with his Michaela Pizza, featuring pepperoni, garlic, red onion, pineapple, jalapeño, bacon and cilantro.

The USPT’s Fall Trials challenged pizzathletes with a series of skill- and speedbased competitions. Dave Sommers from Mad Mushroom (madmushroom.com) in West Lafayette, Indiana, swept the first day of acrobatic competitions, successfully defending his title in the Fastest Pizza Maker and Fastest Box Folder categories. He also added a gold medal in the Largest Dough Stretch competition. The next day featured the Freestyle Acrobatics category, in which each competitor performed a dough spinning routine set to music. Bradley Johnson from Mellow Mushroom (mellowmushroom.com) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, took first place with a routine set to the funk classic “Play That Funky Music,” earning him a free trip to Italy to compete in the World Pizza Championship. Second place went to Patt Miller from A Slice of New York (osusliceofnewyork.com) in Columbus, Ohio, while Sommers grabbed the third-place spot.

Sponsors Picard Ovens and WP Bakery Group provided the ovens used for the culinary competitions. Flour was supplied by Bay State Milling, Primo Mulino and PFM Flour, and RockTenn supplied the pizza boxes.

Melanie Addington is PMQ’s social media director.

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Show Recap IBIE

The Best of IBIE

PMQ staff members discuss a few of their favorite products from the International Baking Industry Expo.

M Y PIC K S :

M Y PIC K S :

Tom Boyles

Linda Green

account executive

co-publisher

Univex Stone Deck Pizza Oven Univex, always known for its prep equipment including planetary and spiral mixers had the delicious smell of pizza coming from their booth, so I was drawn over there right away. Univex released its new stone deck pizza oven—produced in Italy by their sister company—at IBIE. It’s a game-changer—you are now able to go through the pizza process from start to finish with Univex. The well-baked pizza was delicious, with the stones providing perfectly even heating.

800-258-6358, www.univexcorp.com

KitchenAid Commercial Series Stand Mixer KitchenAid has always been known for its home edition stand mixers. Now the company has launched its Commercial Series 8-quart stand mixers specifically designed for foodservice. It’s great for mixing, and thanks to its numerous attachments, you can expand the creative choices you offer on your menus.

It comes with a 1.3 horsepower motor, 8-quart bowl, dough hook, beater and whip, all in a variety of colors.

269-923-5654, jan_y_kalinas@whirlpool.com

Little Toro Hot Pizza Press We did a cover story just recently on Project Pie (projectpie.com) in Las Vegas, and this is the equipment that they use. It provides a consistent dough every time. AM Manufacturing had it on display at the IBIE show, and I was very impressed with its many features. It saves on labor costs and eliminates those long hours of stretching, sheeting, tossing and trimming the crust. All metal, it’s such a beautiful and very efficient piece of equipment. It would be a great addition to any pizzeria that’s looking to create a consistent product. 800-342-6744, www.ammfg.com M Y PIC K :

Melanie Addington So cial M ed ia D i recto r

Waver Costumes The Pizza Slice mascot costumes were a big hit at IBIE. I think the Pizza Slice costume is a great way to get the attention of passing traffic, promote your pizzeria at sports events and entertain at pizza parties. At just $250, it’s a great marketing tool. You can even add your logo to “personalize” your pizza! They also have Beer and Ice Cream Waver costumes. 856-208-3195, wavercostumes.com

Belleco MGD-18 Digital Conveyor Oven I thought this new tabletop oven was perfect for smaller shops and for bakeries looking to add pizza to their menus. The oven is unique in that it will bake between 10 and 12 16” pizzas in less than an hour or between 90 and 110 5” personal pizzas, and it can be programmed for sandwiches, calzones and different types of pizzas. While it can’t run an entire pizzeria, it’s great for those who want to add pizza to their menus or for pizzerias that want to take sub sandwiches off their main ovens. 877-854-8006, bellecocooking.com

70 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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January/February 2014

feature story Wine & Pizza

72 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

The Perfect Pair

A wine expert offers pointers for helping your guests match the right pizza with the right wine. By Ben Greene

B

eer may still be the pizza lover’s go-to beverage, but more consumers today are beginning to give wine a second look. Unfortunately, they often don’t know how to select the right wine for their pizza. Educating your customer on this subject can lead to higher wine sales, but pairing wines and pizzas can be a tricky business.

For starters, pizzas come in a vast range of styles, from the light and thin examples inspired by Naples to the deep-filled Chicago style and everything in between. Pizzas also vary hugely in quality, and the variety of toppings is pretty much endless—any combination you settle on will introduce an entirely new set of flavors. That means there are no hard and fast rules for pairing pizzas with wines, but we can offer some pointers to keep in mind.

The New Yorker For starters, let’s talk about the New York style of pizza, with a thin, sourdough-type base, a bit of charring and a slightly chewy texture, plus tomato sauce and cheese. The classic match for this style of pizza is a fairly fresh, lighter-bodied wine with good acidity. Barbera or Chianti Classico would be ideal, but anything along those lines will do. Ideally, you’re looking for something with a savory edge that’s easy to drink—with all that good pizza saltiness, your customer will want to glug the vino and still feel refreshed rather than have to chew through a mouthful of heavy wine.

Once you move away from the standard New York style, though, things get a little more complicated—and challenging.

Let’s look at some more possibilities.

Matching by Style Earlier, we mentioned two extreme styles as examples: the hearty, robust Chicago style and the thinner Neapolitan crust.

A Chicago pizza, generally speaking, is a much richer, denser pie with a lot more of everything—cheese, tomato, base and so on. Accordingly, you’ll want to point your customers to a more full-bodied wine, but, at the same time, freshness and acidity are still important; otherwise, it will all become a bit too much for your guest. For this type of pizza, consider a Zinfandel, a Cabernet from a cooler climate or perhaps something from or inspired by the northern Rhône—a Syrah or Shiraz, perhaps, with a touch of Viognier.

With the thinner Neapolitan style, you’ll be looking for something more delicate. A fresh, crisp white wine, such as a Soave or Sauvignon Blanc, would be good, or you may want to think about a soft, fruity red wine such as Pinot Noir or Gamay. Of course, when the crust is thinner and the tomato sauce and cheese are layered on with less thickness, your guest’s chosen topping, whatever it may be, is the more dominant flavor. And that’s where matching wine with specific ingredients comes in.

Matching by Ingredient When your pizza is really just a vehicle for one or two star ingredients and you’re looking for a special wine match, it’s wise to think about what goes best with that particular topping’s flavor. We can’t cover every possibility in a single article, of course, but here are a few examples of common pizza toppings to get you started:

74 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

qq Anchovies—Strong and salty, an anchovy pizza needs to be paired with something robust, but it can be red, white or rosé. A Rioja Crianza would be ideal. qq Cheese (other than mozzarella)—Contrary to popular belief, in most cases you will probably be better off with a white wine than a red one. For creamy cheeses, look for something with good acidity—Sauvignon Blanc works very well with goat cheese, for example. For blue cheeses, try introducing a touch of sweetness. Depending on how dominant the cheese is, something medium or even sweet would be interesting. qq Ham or prosciutto—In the red department, go for something light and fruity, such as Beaujolais. However, the best choice here is a fuller, richer white, such as Pinot Gris from Alsace or Grüner Velliner. qq Mushrooms—For this kind of featured topping, you’ll want to go for something red and earthy. Burgundy or Reserva Rioja are the obvious choices. qq Pepperoni—This one can be tricky due to the spice level of the pepperoni. Something dry and white is probably best, such as a full-bodied, dry Riesling.

When advising your guests about wine-and-pizza pairings, keep in mind that much of the dining experience comes from context, so the customer’s mood should be taken into con-

sideration. If it’s dark and rainy outside and the customer has ordered a carryout pie, a full-bodied red might be the most appropriate choice, regardless of the style or topping. On the other hand, a bright, warm, sunny day may be the perfect time for a nice glass of rosé!

The good news is that pizza is quite versatile, so there is no one right answer. And customers should be made to understand that it’s perfectly OK to watch their wallets when pairing wine with pizza. Unless you’re serving gourmet pizza, it’s not necessary to go the expensive route. Pizza is an everyday food, and it calls for an everyday wine!

Ben Greene is a wine professional at Roberson Wine (robersonwine.com). He loves working in the wine industry, and he enjoys nothing better than a cold glass of Manzanilla.

January/February 2014

pmq.com 75

feature story Social Media

Winning the

SOCIAL MEDIA Race

By Sarah Carollo

Follow these five strategies to optimize your pizzeria’s social media presence and expand your marketing reach.

W

ith more pizzerias using social media platforms to increase their visibility and gain an edge over competitors, getting ahead in the game isn’t just smart—it’s essential. But with each social media site offering its own array of bells and whistles, navigating the sites and learning how to use them to your advantage can leave operators feeling dizzy. Here are a few tips on how you can put your pizzeria on the online map and get the most out of your social media marketing experience.

1

Tweet About Local Sports. When using social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, it is important to understand your local audience and their interests. One way to do this is by showing support for your community every chance you get. Twitter, for example, can offer a venue for building a relationship with local high school and college sports fans—and nowadays, that’s almost everybody in town, male and female alike. Is your pizzeria screening the college football game? Consider tweeting your support for the team beforehand and live-tweeting updates on the game during the event. This strategy works equally well for a local

high school game—send an employee to every home game to tweet score updates and brag about star players’ performances.

You can utilize hashtags—e.g., #gotigers—to target those fans keeping up with the game and, at the same time, inform them of daily drink and food specials at your pizzeria.

2

Celebrate Your Customers. Remember the days of old when restaurants would tack pictures of their clientele to bulletin boards and proudly display customers’ smiling faces around the restaurant? Instead of putting up hard copies on the walls, you can create a virtual bulletin board through Pinterest or post a Facebook photo album celebrating your “Customers of the Week.” It may be the young professionals with a newborn baby or the cute pooch hanging out on your dog-friendly porch. Whoever it is, take a picture and pin it on Pinterest, post it to Facebook or share it with your Instagram followers. Adding your company’s logo to each picture can also be a cost-effective way of advertising. When proud parents download an image of their son’s Little League team eating pizza in your restaurant after the big game, they’re sure to print it out and hang it on their fridge where friends and family members can see it. (Keep in mind that you should always get the customer’s permission before posting their photos online.

This is especially true when it comes to children’s photos. Never post a child’s photo without first getting a parent’s permission, preferably in writing.)

3

Incentivize Check-Ins. With sites like Foursquare and Yelp, pizzeria operators can treat customers who check in online with special offers. Whether searching for a new restaurant in the city where they live or traveling with their families on summer vacation, potential customers will often perform searches for nearby restaurants through the mobile apps. By offering special deals online, you can attract these new customers while they are using their smart phones on the go. On Foursquare, for example, restaurants with special 76 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

offers are designated by colored flags that differentiate them from other locations. Yelp even allows users to filter their search options to show locations that have special check-in offers, as well as coupons that can be purchased through the site and redeemed at the location. Entice potential customers with a free or discounted appetizer for checking in. Over time, this strategy will bring these new guests through your door and spread awareness of your pizzeria online.

4

Continue the Conversation. The leading social media sites offer savvy pizzeria operators the ability to build a rapport with customers, get their feedback and engage in an ongoing conversation. Facebook, Google Plus, Yelp, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram serve as forums where customers can express their approval of your operation’s food and service, offer suggestions for improvement (yes, this may include some harsh criticism as well), ask you questions, and get to know your pizzeria through peers’ reviews. But it’s not enough to merely give your guests the opportunity to offer feedback. According to Edison Research, 42% of those who use social media for customer service expect a response within an hour. But 56% of customer tweets to companies are never acknowledged, according to Mediabistro.com’s AllTwitter site.

Being responsive to customers through social media outlets can help to increase your pizzeria’s reputation for quality customer service. By continuing the conversation online, you’re building your operation’s credibility with your guests and demonstrating a genuine interest in their opinions—after all, everyone wants to feel that their viewpoints matter. Soulshine Pizza Factory (soulshinepizza.com) in Nashville, Tennessee has a Twitter page on which company representatives perform a customer service follow-up with users who mention the restaurant in a tweet or check-in. But remember, these are social forums, not polling centers. Adopt a laid-back tone. Thank your customers for taking the time to check in online, and ask them how they liked your pizza. Don’t be afraid to be witty and playful or to let your business’s personality shine through.

you’re too busy to handle this component of your marketing strategy yourself, you can always hire a social media manager.

Look for someone with a strong knowledge of marketing as well as plenty of experience with various social media platforms. This doesn’t need to be a highly paid, fulltime position—it’s perfect for a local college student or current part-time employee looking to make some extra cash on the side. You don’t have to do everything yourself!

Sarah Carollo is a freelance writer and PMQ’s former social media director.

Want to win big with PMQ? Join our Mozo Shoes Leaderboard Facebook contest Enter by January 31, 2014

5

Do Your Research. Are more of your customers using Twitter or Pinterest? How many people are using Foursquare vs. Yelp near your pizzeria’s location?

Taking the time to ask questions beforehand can prevent Tweetafacebookpintrosis, a treatable syndrome brought on by over-exposure to social media. (Symptoms may include reduced attention span, carpal tunnel syndrome and perpetual duck-face!)

In all seriousness, managing a social media platform can take a lot of time and energy. Determining in advance where your efforts will make the most impact and concentrating on one or two sites can increase your chances for turning online connections into real customers. Social media monitoring sites like Google Analytics, Social Flow and HootSuite can help you keep track of how social media is affecting your business so that you can optimize your social media strategy. And remember, if

Here’s your chance to win one of six pairs of stylish comfortable Mozo shoes to give away to your top employees or to guests. The winners will be listed in the March issue of PMQ Pizza Magazine and promoted in our social media.

To enter the contest, go to the link below and follow the easy instructions.

Men’s Red Skull, style #3821

http://woobox.com/wh7dtu Like PMQ on Facebook

Women’s Sport Flat Leather, style #3733

January/February 2014 pmq.com 77

MEET THE TANK Liz Barrett

Meet the Tank:

Richard Ames, Daddio’s Pizzeria PMQ’s Think Tank (thinktank.pmq.com) is the only pizza industry forum on the Web, with 2,500 members who meet online regularly to discuss the pizza business. In this new column, we’ll introduce you to some of the Tank’s seasoned members who can show you the ropes and lend insights into how the forum has benefited their businesses.

Think Tank username: Daddio Real Name: Richard Ames Pizzeria: Daddio’s Pizzeria (daddios.ca), Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada Date Joined: June 13, 2006 Number of Posts: 2,310 PMQ: How long have you been in the pizza business?

Daddio (Richard): I started in the pizza industry as a parttime delivery driver 25 years ago. I’ve had my own store for nearly nine years.

Do you remember why you joined the Think Tank?

I found the Think Tank back in 2005 when I was searching for an answer to [why I found] moisture in the middle of my pizza. I was impressed by the openness and willingness of the members to help a newbie.

Why have you continued to return to the Think Tank over the years?

I felt that the help I received as a new operator needed to be paid forward. As I’ve gained experience, it only made sense to give back to the community.

Can you share an example of a business tip you picked up in the Tank that helped your business?

I’ve made a number of online friends through the Think Tank, so it’s a good place to keep in contact with them. I still learn a great deal about the business end of the pizza industry from the contributions of the other members.

What should a newbie know when first entering the Think Tank?

There is a search function and a sticky post with frequently asked questions. These are great first stops in the Think Tank.

If you ask a question after using these, please be as specific as possible. When you are looking for a detailed answer, you need to ask a detailed question. Think of how you would answer a customer that asks, “How much is a pizza?” The question doesn’t give you enough information to intelligently answer it.

Connect with fellow operators in the Think Tank!

Visit today at thinktank.pmq.com.

78 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

idea zone Wristband Connection

a d v e r t o r i a l

Show Your Community Support With Wristband Connection “What’s this about?” Ms. Johnson asks the waiter, pointing to a tabletop flyer with a picture of a silicone wristband. The waiter replies, “For a $1 donation, we give you one of those to wear to show that you are against the act of bullying. The idea is, the more people who show they are against it, the less bullying will occur.”

As a pizzeria owner, you know the power of being community-minded and how it can equate to more business, but it’s usually cost-prohibitive and time-consuming. Wristband Connection has created a way to make it free for you! The $1 donation goes back to the cost of the campaign so business owners can keep it going at no cost to themselves. Additionally, your pizzeria’s name or other strategic information is molded into a portion of the wristband that literally keeps your name in front of your customers and others. The $1 price is hard to pass up since similar wristbands command as much as $10 apiece!

Cause marketing has become massive in America, but until now, it appeared that only the “big guys” could be actively involved, says Victor Rey, president/founder of Wristband Connection. If you make consumers feel good about what you do to help the community, they will talk positively about your pizzeria and visit you more often.

80 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Wristband Connection has more than 100,000 clients, and tens of millions wear their products. There has never been a single incident of an allergic reaction that could harm instead of help your pizzeria’s reputation.

You can also have custom silicone wristbands made with any logo or design of your choice. These are great for grand openings, supporting a local school, customer rewards and loyalty programs, to name a few possibilities. A properly designed wristband can even be used to offer discounts on slow days. The uses are only limited by your imagination!

Wristband Connection is the only company that guarantees its wristbands are safe and nonallergenic. Their 100% silicone guarantee is molded inside every wristband they make. Cheaper wristbands that are not 100% silicone have been known to leak strange oils, crumble over time as a rubber band might, stick to surfaces and even cause rashes. But genuine 100% silicone wristbands last virtually forever. Imagine what giving away a wristband like that would do for your business!

Wristband Connection’s full-time staff is dedicated to your success and will be happy to discuss how their product will work for you. Their website is wristbandconnection.com, but don’t just visit them online. Call today at 800-451-9711!

idea zone Pizzas 4 Patriots

a d v e r t o r i a l

Your Super Bowl Delivery to Our Troops Overseas To date, Pizzas 4 Patriots—an Elk Grove, Illinois-based nonprofit organization—has delivered more than 14 shipments of pizza to United States servicemen and -women around the world, mainly in the Middle East at forward operating bases in combat zones. That’s more than 140,000 pizzas, equaling 1 million-plus “slices of home” for our troops. As you gather with friends and family this year to cheer on your favorite team in the Super Bowl, you can also help send a slice of home to our troops serving overseas.

Through the assistance of sponsors DHL and AT&T, Sergeant Mark Evans, the man behind Pizzas 4 Patriots, aims to deliver pizza to every U.S. soldier in foreign lands. Pizzas will be delivered to military bases where they will be trucked, flown, helicoptered and dropped hot and ready to eat directly to the troops for Super Bowl. But Pizzas 4 Patriots needs the support of pizzeria operators like PMQ’s readers.

The idea for Pizzas 4 Patriots came from Evans’ son, Kent, back in 2008. “The goal was to let our troops and wounded veterans know they were not forgotten,” Evans says. “Each time we deliver to soldiers, it is only through the support of contributors.

Our mission is to let these soldiers know they are not forgotten, but rather remembered and cherished.”

Pizzas 4 Patriots is seeking the pizza industry’s help to make this year’s Super Bowl an unforgettable experience for our troops. Any donations or portion of sales will be appreciated.

“In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, we are asking pizzerias across the States to commit a percentage or dollar amount of a day’s or week’s sales to help send a slice of home to our guys in forward combat areas,” Evans says. Meanwhile, supporting this noble and popular cause can boost your pizzeria’s visibility in the local market, he notes. “Contact your local news channel, radio station and/or newspaper and let them know that you are a part of a national pizza delivery mission to our troops overseas.

If you need logos or help with box toppers to promote your participation with this event, just call or email me.”

By donating any amount of money, you will receive a certificate of appreciation to display in your pizzeria, showing your customers how you—and they—have helped our troops. Corporate partnerships and individual donations are essential to keeping Pizzas 4 Patriots alive. To learn more or to arrange to be part of this year’s Super Bowl delivery overseas, contact Sergeant Evans at 847-357-0000 or email sgtevans@sbcglobal.net. You can learn more by visiting pizzas4patriots.com.

BE PART OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST PIZZA DELIVERY THIS SUPER BOWL “Your donations go 100% to sending a slice of home to our overseas troops.”

-SGT Mark Evans -

Show your support, drive sales and gain local publicity.

Be the Pizzas 4 Patriots spokesperson for your community this super bowl weekend

847-357-0000 • sgtevans@sbcglobal.net • www.pizzas4patriots.com BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

January/February 2014

pmq.com 81

Compete to Win a Trip to Italy The U.S. Pizza Team Acrobatic Trials will take place at the

2014 North America Pizza & Ice Cream Show (NAPICS), February 9-10 in Columbus, Ohio.

Compete for your chance to win a spot on the U.S. Pizza Team Acrobatic Squad and an all-expense paid trip to Parma, Italy, to compete in the World Pizza Championships in April 2014.

LAST CHANCE!

SIGN UP NOW AT USPIZZATEAM.COM

To register, visit USPizzaTeam.com or PMQ.com/trials.

Non-competitors may also accompany the team to Parma, Italy, to provide support and enjoy the cultural experience.

To sign up for the Parma trip or for more information about the U.S. Pizza Team or the World Pizza Championships, visit USPizzaTeam.com or WorldPizzaChampionship.com or contact Brian Hernandez at 662-234-5481 ext129 or at brian@pmq.com.

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

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

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The pizza exchange product spotlight

All Slices Created Equal

The Perfect Bake

With the No HandL Portion PadL, the first equal-slice cutting guide and display case serving platter, pizzeria operators can cut equally sized pizza slices every time. It’s simple to use—simply center the pizza inside the circle and cut through the grooves. Never again will you have to pull the slices apart with your hands. Even better, equal slices mean less food waste, more sales and higher profits.

330-608-5928, PortionPadL.com

Picard Ovens offers a perfect solution for your pizzeria’s production: The Spitfire Hybrid Pizza Oven. Newly updated, the Spitfire oven boasts seven baking stone shelves with 14- or 21-pizza capacity. Spitfire’s maximum temperature of 575°F and the gentle AeroMax aircirculating system assure superb top baking without drying. 800-668-1883, picardovens.com

The Superior Pizza Flour

Fantastic Flatbreads

Contadino Neapolitan Style Pizza Flour is made from select North American wheat with the optimal protein content milled to silky perfection. The resulting highly extensible dough is perfect for creating authentic Neapolitan-style or brick oven thin-crust pizza.

800-553-5687, baystatemilling.com

Hot and Ready RediHEAT manufactures high-quality and sturdy fiveand 10-pie bags, with each bag featuring a metal wire frame. A RediHEAT bag provides operators with extra confidence for large catering orders, and the heated bags are sold worldwide. 888-556-2024, rediheat.com 84 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

The new BONICI Flatbread is ideal for pizzas, sandwiches, salads, pastas, dips and appetizers. All BONICI products are a part of the Tyson Food Service portfolio; the company offers top-notch quality and value for operators to increase menu options—all from one trusted brand.

800-248-9766, tysonfoodservice.com

Building a Name Name building can be tricky and sometimes expensive, but Wristband Connection can help your pizzeria get the most exposure for the least amount of money in creative ways. The company’s top-quality, nonallergenic wristbands are worn by millions, and the company will even show you how to keep your campaign going and growing at no cost to you. 800-451-9711, wristbandconnection.com

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The Pizza exchange bulletin board

The Pizza exchange bulletin board

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According to: Scientific American Magazine: November 2013 Issue

www.mppmarketinggroup.com • 1.866.889.8745

Why the Brain Prefers Paper; The article reports on several studies that support what we already know: most people understand and remember text better when read on paper rather than a screen.

January/February 2014

pmq.com 87

The Pizza exchange bulletin board

Now available, from the creator of the

BEST PIZZA LINER in the World, our NEW

Bakeable Trays & Delivery Bags!

Your Pizza is Worth it!

Order Today!

Pizza Liner • Allows you to handle pizza with ease.

• Eliminates the cardboard taste.

• Absorbes grease and allows moisture to escape.

• Ensures a crisper crust every time.

• Keeps pizza 12-15 degrees warmer upon delivery.

NEW!

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Bakeable Tray • With Revolutionary ADVANCED BAKE TECHNOLOGY! • Prevents oven drips and spills.

• Patented bi-diectional bumps allow for air flow and moisture release resulting in even baking.

• Eliminates “soggy crust” centers.

800.783.5343 88 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

•

Pizza Bags • Unsurpassed quality, durability, workmanship and performance!

• 3 wide Velcro strips for secure closure everytime.

• 600 denier heavy duty stain resistant imitation nylon.

• 210 PU coated lining ~ won’t crack or peel!

PerfectCrust.com

advertiser index January/February 2014 Advertiser

Phone Website

Page

AM Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708-841-0959 . . . . . . ammfg.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Bacio Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855-222-4685 . . . . . . baciocheese.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 35 Bag Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866-BAG-TO-GO . . . . deliverybags.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Bay State Milling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-553-5687 . . . . . . baystatemilling.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2 Bellissimo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-813-2974 . . . . . . . bellissimofoods.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Burke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-654-1152 . . . . . . burkecorp.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3 Deiorios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-649-7612 . . . . . . . deiorios.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Delivery Bags USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-501-2247 . . . . . . deliverybagsusa.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Doughmate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-501-2458 . . . . . . doughmate.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 EZ Dine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-853-1263 . . . . . . ezdinepos.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Fontanini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-331-6370 . . . . . . . fontanini.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 GI. Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630-553-9134 . . . . . . gimetalusa.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Grande Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-8-GRANDE . . . . . grandecheese.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 HTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-321-1850 . . . . . . hthsigns.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 La Nova . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716-881-3366 . . . . . . lanova.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4 Le 5 Stagioni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-780-2280 . . . . . . . le5stagioni.it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Liguria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-765-1452 . . . . . . . liguriafoods.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Lillsun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260-356-6514 . . . . . . lillsun.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 MF&B Restaurant Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-480-EDGE . . . . . edgeovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Marsal & Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631-226-6688 . . . . . . marsalsons.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Microworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-787-2068 . . . . . . . microworks.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Middleby Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-34-OVENS . . . . . . wowoven.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Moving Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-926-2451 . . . . . . movingtargets.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 MPP Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866-889-8745 . . . . . . . mppmarketinggroup.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Napics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . napics.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,46,47 Nightclub & Bar Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-966-2727 . . . . . . ncbshow.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 NJ Restaurant Equipment Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-770-4479 . . . . . . . njrecorp.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 One Two 3 Print It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-800-4455 . . . . . . 123printit.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Our Town America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-497-8360 . . . . . . ourtownamerica.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Perfect Crust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-783-5343 . . . . . . . perfectcrust.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Pendleton Flour Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855-809-9089 . . . . . . pfmills.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Picard Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-668-1883 . . . . . . picardovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Pizzas 4 Patriots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847-357-0000 . . . . . . . pizzas4patriots.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Pizza Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855-BUY-OVEN . . . . . pizzasolution.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Pizza Skool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517-395-4765 . . . . . . . traintogreatness.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 RockTenn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816-415-7359 . . . . . . . rocktenn.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Saputo Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-824-3373 . . . . . . . saputousafoodservice.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Stanislaus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-327-7201 . . . . . . . stanislaus.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5 Somerset Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978-667-3355 . . . . . . . smrset.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Sunray Printing Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320-492-3017 . . . . . . sunrayprinting.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Tyson Foods, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-248-9766 . . . . . . . tysonfoodservice.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Univex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-258-6358 . . . . . . univexcorp.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Wristband Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-451-9711 . . . . . . . wristbandconnection.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 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 2014

pmq.com 91

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

advertising

cheese Cont.

computer systems: point of sale

Apps

Redshift Backpage Ad (Draft 1).pdf

1

8/2/13

2:59 PM

Mobile Voice Recognition For Hands Free Ordering www.redshiftcompany.com (720) 884-6853 baking schools AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BAKING..........................................................Manhattan, KS 785-537-4750.................................................................................Fax: 785-537-1493

cheese

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

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

817.299.4500 sales@BreakawayPOS.com www.BreakawayPOS.com All The Tech Your Pizzeria Needs Tablet and Traditional Point-of-Sale • Integrated online & smartphone ordering •

• •

CALL FOR A DEMO TODAY!

92 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Self Serve Kiosk ordering Automated customer loyalty marketing

800.750.3947 www.granburyrs.com

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide computer systems: point of sale

crusts

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

dough

DeIorio Foods

@DeIorios

blog.DeIorios.com

DeIorios.com

consulting

pmq.com/Recipe-Bank/

January/February 2014

pmq.com 93

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide dough dividers/rounders

dough trays/proofing trays • 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

dough presses, rollers

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

STACKABLE

AIRTIGHT

DURABLE

ORDER DIRECT

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

WWW.DOUGHTRAYS.COM

800.835.0606 ext. 205 | www.doughxpress.com

dough presses, dough dividers/divider rounders, dough dockers, carts and accessories

flour, Gluten-free Bay State MIlling Gluten-free Pizza mix............................................ baystatemilling.com Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour, Custom-blends and Co-Packing Dedicated production area for exceptional purity...........................................................800-55-FLOUR

flour

94 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide flour Cont.

Frozen Yogurt

Frozen Yogurt = $ Add frozen yogurt as a profit center.

1-800-788-0808 www.nancis.com/pizza gelato

food distributors

True Artisan Gelato

(888) 316-1545 www.stefanosgelato.com

gluten-free products W H O L E S O

M E

&

D E L I C I O U S ™ WHOLES

OME & DELICIOUS

™

Industry Statistics

RESTAURANTDATA.COM Easy Access ■ Flexible Searches ■ Smart Results 1 Bridge St • PO Box 285 • Irvington NY 10533 • 914-591-4297

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

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

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

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

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

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.

708-957-2300 • www.ifranchisegroup.com

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FRANCHISE CONSULTANTS

January/February 2014

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The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide machinery/ovens/equipment

MIDDLEBY MARSHALL

OVENS MIXERS

RANDELL

PREP TABLES

AMERICAN RANGE

WALK-INS

SOMERSET

PARTS SMALLWARES

96 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

1-800-426-0323

www.northernpizza.com

IMPERIAL

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide meat toppings

magnets BURKE CORPORATION....................................................................................... www.BurkeCorp.com Italian, Mexican-Style and Specialty Fully Cooked Meats Contact: Liz Hertz.............................. sales_info@burkecorp.com.............................800-654-1152 Sugar Creek Packing Co.,............................... Private Label Precooked Meat Topping Specialists www.sugarcreek.com.......................................800-848-8205............................sales@sugarcreek.com

mailing services 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

American Baking Systems

319-373-5006 • www.abs1.net

• • • •

Spiral Mixers Planetary Mixers Dough Sheeters Deck Ovens and more!

60 Quart, Heavy Duty Pizza Mixer

management

Handles 50 lb. bag of flour • Direct gear drive transmission Rigid cast iron construction • Best warranty in its class

www.globemixers.com • 800-347-5423 keep more of your hard earned dough!

Mixing, Dividing, Rounding, and Spinning

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

www.univexcorp.com Tel. 800-258-6358 Fax. 603-893-1249

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.

January/February 2014

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The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide mobile catering trucks/units

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

Pizza Training

on hold marketing

98 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide pizza delivery thermal bags

January/February 2014

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The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide pizza delivery thermal bags

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 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

Keep Your Pizza HOT & DRY

Electric Pizza Delivery Bags 888-556-2024 • www.RediHeat.com Call or Order Online

CUSTOMERS CARE

HOW THEIR FOOD IS DELIVERED

EARTHSTONE OVENS, INC. ................6717 San Fernando Rd....................Glendale, CA 91201 800-840-4915........................Fax: 818-553-1133........................... www.earthstoneovens.com All units UI listed.

The Electric HOTBAG™ Heated Delivery System Heats and stays at 160-175°F Dry electric heat = No Moisture Removable heating elements 1000 Denier Nylon Construction Easy to clean

Any Quantity or Mix of bags Wired with AC Power Heat all bags simultaneously Quick release power connectors

www.hotbag.com 800-927-6787 Made in the USA

NO MORE COLD & SOGGY FOOD, NO MORE UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS! 100 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide pizza ovens Cont.

pizza pans

Inventor of

The Quik-Disk™

The best screen replacement since 1989.

LLOYD INDU STR IES ®

100’s OF SMART PIZZA PRODUCTS ONLINE!

Buy Direct and Save $$ • www.lloydpans.com • 1-800-748-6251

AMERICAN MADE

Stone Deck, Pizza Dome, and Bakery

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

www.univexcorp.com Tel. 800-258-6358 Fax. 603-893-1249

P.A. PRODUCTS, Inc. BAKEWARE SPECIALISTS

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

WWW.XLTOVENS.COM TO ORDER CALL (316) 943-2751 | TOLL-FREE: (888) 443-2751 | FAX: (316) 943-2769

pizza peels

pmq.com/Recipe-Bank/

January/February 2014

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The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide pizza supplies

printing

• 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

PIZZA BUSINESS CARD PACK

Get in on our Spring 2014 mailing!

Get your message into the hands of: • 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

View the pizza industry’s best deals online at www.pizzacardpack.com!

SPACE IS LIMITED! CALL TO RESERVE YOUR CARD NOW! Tom Boyles | tom@pmq.com | 662-234-5481 x122 Linda Green | linda@pmq.com | 662-234-5481 x121 Clifton Moody | clifton@pmq.com | 662-234-5481 x138

pmq.com/Recipe-Bank/ 102 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 printing Cont.

We will beat any advertised menu deal Full Color Glossy TakeouT Menus

11 x 17 ~ PrinTed Full Color on BoTh sides ~ 80 lB Glossy PaPer SPECIAL # 1 (everyday)

DESSERTS

PRSRT STD ECRWSS U.S. Postage PAID EDDM Retail

6 pcs. of Reg. pizza 7 - Boneless Wings 2 - Desserts and 1 - 2 liter of pop

INGREDIENTS...

$ 16.00

FULL SERVICE CATERING SUNDAY IS TRAY DAY AT G’s Mama PIZZA

ALL FOR ONLY

$ 19.95

(pick up only)

Local Postal Customer

Mama G’s Catering is a full line caterer that will come to your home, your business or you can come to us at the Greek Church ( Hellinic Steubenville where we cater. Hall ) in downtown

All food is homemade, just like Mama used to make, and we specializing in roast beef, all kinds of chicken, pork, pasta, are a full line caterer superb salads, and fantastic desserts just to name a few delicious side dishes, We can prepare anything you of our more popular items. want.

Weddings? Graduations? Baptisms?

Funerals? Business Meetings?

Parties? No matter what the Christmas occasion, let Mama do the cooking for you. From 30 over 300 people we will provide to the best of the best in food service to you at a price that can’t be beat.

THIS GOOD

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1 tray of Reg. Pizza (28 pieces) and 1 - 2 liter of pop

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Full Service Catering Available

ECRWSS

Our selection of delicious Sara Lee Bistro Collection Desserts vary, please ask your server for selections. $2.75 each or 3 for $7.50

14 pcs. of Reg. Pizza 1 order of Cheesy Garlic Bread and 1 - 2 liter of pop

...CAN MAKE A PIZZA

$ 16.00

ONLY THE FRESHEST

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SPECIAL #2 (everyday)

G’s MamaZA PIZ

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Phone Orders are

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Free Custom Design ~ Free Folding Free Trimming ~ Free Typeset ~ Free Setup Please Mention this Ad When You Order

1,000 Full Color Business Card sized Magnets ¢ each FREE DESIGN with any menu order

10

25 mil ~ 3½” x 2”

Top Quality Handsome & stylish Customizable w/ your logo Great for promotions!

Visit

www.PizzaUmbrella.com

We Design & Print & You Mail Your 11 x 17 Takeout Menu for only

16¢

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+s&h

P FREE (EDDM) mailing permit P FREE restaurant & mailing consultation P Low Cost ~ High Quality Printing P No Postage up front P No Contracts P Pay postage as you go !!!

Postage

per EDDM mailer

EvEry Door DirEct SEcrEtS rEvEalED !!!

Read it now at - www.takeoutprinting.com *Some restrictions may apply, limited time offers, call for details No shading/shadow Visit Our Website for Our Free Reports, Photo Library & Restaurant Marketing Ideas

www.takeoutprinting.com Gray, no shading 1 - 845 - 564 - 2609

for more information!

No shadow

1 - 877 - 25 - PRINT (77468)

One Color Solid Shadow

Actual 3D Non-Vector

January/February 2014

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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..................................................................... dominic.damore@mcclancy.com 800-843-1968..........................................................................................................info@mcclancy.com

sticky notes

security

Super Dough Bowls

SUPER DOUGH BOWLS Non Stick • Easy to Clean • FDA Approved Plastic Heavy Weight • Last 10X longer than metal!

Replace your dented ones TODAY !

Social Media !

Social Media / Online Reputation

WARNING Management Requires Professionals

Don’t Risk Trying It Yourself Call the experts 800.926.2451 ext. 318 movingtargets.com

MADE IN THE USA Manufacturer’s Direct Pricing Free Sample Available - $15 del/hand REBATED on first order. email us at: bhausen@aol.com

Call Sid

516-546-7744

104 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

The pizza exchange Pizza Industry Resource Guide telephone equipment/supplies/service

ventilation

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

Vinyl Repair

Restaurant Upholstery Experts RepaiR Remodeling Custom Build

561.981.6200

www.vinylrepairmaster.com

Web Apps

ventilation wings

PIZZA BUSINESS CARD PACK

Get in on our Spring 2014 mailing!

Get your message into the hands of: • 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 SPACE IS LIMITED! CALL TO RESERVE YOUR CARD NOW! Tom Boyles | tom@pmq.com | 662-234-5481 x122 Linda Green | linda@pmq.com | 662-234-5481 x121 Clifton Moody | clifton@pmq.com | 662-234-5481 x138

View the pizza industry’s best deals online at www.pizzacardpack.com!

January/February 2014

pmq.com 105

DEPARTMENT time capsule

Grotto Pizza From humble beginnings in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to 20 locations in three states, this Midatlantic powerhouse continues to grow, adapt and thrive.

After years of honing his skills as a teenager working at his brother-in-law’s pizzeria in Pennsylvania, Dominick Pulieri opened a tiny slice stand with his sister and brother-in-law, Joe and Mary Jean Paglianite, in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and Grotto Pizza (grottopizza.com) was born. The early days were challenging, as most locals weren’t familiar with the Italian staple—but, thankfully, an influx of D.C.-area tourists (plus constant sidewalk sampling) helped bring in business. “We had humble and primitive beginnings, with takeout only, no tables and a used oven,” recalls Pulieri. “We opened in June 1960, and business started picking up around the Fourth of July.” He made $99 on July 1 and broke $100 for the first time on July 2, his 18th birthday.

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At first, the pizzeria was seasonal, open only in summer; Pulieri, a biology major, taught school the rest of the year. Still, expansion was inevitable: In 1963, a boardwalk location opened, and the original takeout stand moved closer to the boardwalk in 1967.

Finally, in 1974, the restaurant became a year-round enterprise.

“Another pizzeria had opened up in town, and I saw customers lined up around the block,” says Pulieri. Lesson learned: “If you don’t serve your market, someone else is going to,” he laughs.

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Of course, growth necessitated minor tweaks, including switching to conveyor ovens (a must to keep up with high-volume demand) and establishing commissaries to maintain consistency.

Today, with 20 outposts in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland (plus another opening this spring), the pizzeria is a casual family restaurant with a full menu and sports bars at newer locations.

As his operation continues to grow, Pulieri’s next goal is to further formalize training systems, because his focus on employees has proven key to his success. “I always talk about Team Grotto,” he notes. “All of the employees are important, right down to the dishwashers. I’ll often pull them aside and thank them; they’re unsung heroes. I have people who have stayed with me for 25, 30 years.”

Another component of his longevity, however, involves an incessant passion for the pizza business and his mantra of winning “one customer at a time,” he says, which over the years has built multiple generations of fans. “I cherish seeing what it was and what it is now,” says Pulieri. “We’re not done growing; we haven’t even scratched the surface. The journey has been long, but it’s far from over!” —Tracy Morin

106 PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

(Top to bottom) Joe and Mary Jean Paglianite, Dominick Pulieri’s brother-in-law and sister, helped open the pizzeria; Mary Jean poses in front of the pizzeria in 1960; Grotto Pizza opened a boardwalk location in 1963; Dominick Pulieri mixes dough in 1963.

Has your pizzeria been in business for 50 or more years?

If so, contact us at tracy@pmq.com.

Stand Out.

Your flavor is your reputation. Make sure you’re noticed.

Our mouthwatering sausage, from our extensive line of fully cooked toppings or custom created by our experts, gives your pizzas exceptional flavor and your customers another reason to come back BurkeCorp.com Š2014 Burke Corporation. All rights reserved.

Links to Extra Content

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