PMQ Pizza Magazine April 2019 by PMQ Pizza Magazine

April 2019

PIZZA MAGAZINE THE WORLD'S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA | PMQ.COM | PIZZATV.COM

PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | Volume 23, Issue 3

April 2019

WATCH THE VIDEO AT PMQ.COM/USPTESPN2019

THE SPIN DOCTORS How pizza sports are catching the eye of American consumers P A G E 3 0

The Pizza Industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Business Monthly | PMQ.com

Old Forge-Style Pizza 22

April2019cover-final.indd 1

Keep Cool With Frozen Desserts 44

Building Better Robots 54

3/12/19 10:25 AM

MILLING WHEAT INTO FLOUR FOR MORE THAN 100 YEARS.

Love. No matter how you slice it. PREMIUM PIZZA FLOURS

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I BELIEVE PIZZA IS AN ART. I BELIEVE IN USING NOTHING BUT THE BEST INGREDIENTS. IF YOU WANT AN AVERAGE, RUN-OF-THE-MILL PIZZA I BELIEVE YOU KNOW WHERE YOU CAN GO. What’s your declaration of independence? Grande is championing operators who have an independent spirit and shared passion for excellence. By providing the finest all natural, authentic Italian cheeses, along with an unwavering commitment to quality, we’ll continue to advocate for independents and their love of the craft.

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AS SEEN ON PIZZATV.COM THE CHICAGO PIZZA PARTY When the city of Chicago throws a pizza festival, you can bet PizzaTV won’t miss it. This year’s third annual Chicago Pizza Party, held February 9 in the Ravenswood Event Center, featured 20 Windy City pizza restaurants, culinary competitions, DJs, games, and plenty of beer, wine and cocktails. We captured all of the action on video and got to sample amazing pies from legendary eateries like Connie’s Pizza, Lou Malnati’s, Pie-Eyed Pizzeria and more. P I Z Z AT V. CO M / V I D E O/C H I C A G O P I Z Z A PA R T Y 20 19

If you’d like to contribute to PizzaTV.com and our Roku channel, send links to your best video content to info@PizzaTV.com.

EXCLUSIVELY ON PMQ.COM

SO YOU WANT TO OPEN A PIZZA RESTAURANT? Romantic notions about starting a pizzeria don’t match up to reality. No one knows this better than Michael Androw, owner of E&D Pizza Company in Avon, Connecticut. Androw takes a closer look at the challenges involved and offers sage advice to newcomers.

MR. NEGATIVE: HOW TO MANAGE EMPLOYEES WITH BAD ATTITUDES Negative employees often create unnecessary workplace drama and bring down staff morale. Greg Smith of Chart Your Course International recommends following these eight steps to solve the problem before resorting to termination. P M Q . CO M / N E G AT I V E E M P L OY E E S

P M Q . CO M /O P E N I N G A P I Z Z E R I A

HOW TO COMPENSATE TIPPED DELIVERY DRIVERS

HOW TO DEAL WITH BLOWN PIZZA DOUGH

If your drivers are handling prep work or folding boxes when they’re not delivering pizzas, you should be careful how you calculate their pay. Two labor attorneys offer advice to help you avoid violating the Fair Labor Standard Act.

When your dough blows, your pizza business goes kablooey if you don’t have a backup plan. Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann explains how to develop a formula for emergency dough to get you out of this stickiest of situations.

P M Q . CO M / PAY I N G D R I V E R S

P M Q . CO M / B LO W N D O U G H

6 PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | THE WORLD’S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA

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t Ardent Mills, we know pizza dough. We’re proud to be the company behind some of the most trusted flours in the pizza business, from time-honored brands

like Kyrol®, Hummer® and King Midas® to on-trend flours like Primo Mulino® Neapolitan-

style, Ultragrain®, and Simply Milled Organic®. But that’s just the beginning. We offer the industry’s largest and most reliable supply of grains and flours—including a full line of ancient, heirloom and other specialty grains—as well as off-the shelf and custom pizza mixes that save labor and ensure consistency. All backed by our unparalleled pizza expertise and technical support. For more information or samples, contact your Ardent Mills account manager, visit ardentmills.com or call us 1-888-685-2534.

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IN THIS ISSUE

APRIL FEATURES ON T COV HE ER

Pizza sports have arrived, and national branding and exposure opportunities abound for independent pizzerias that compete in U.S. Pizza Team events, which will be aired live on ESPN3 throughout 2019.

Recipe of the Month

Frozen Assets

Old ForgeStyle Pizza

Building Better Robots

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IN THIS ISSUE

Tips From the Team: How to Build a PrivateLabel Food Business Lenny Rago of Panino’s Pizza shares advice for pizzeria owners looking to market their own branded products to the world.

In Lehmann’s Terms: Impingement Oven Par-Baking

Chef’s Corner: Anthony Spina’s Spicy Italian Pizza

Pizza Hall of Fame: The Now Pizzeria

P I Z Z AT V. C O M / V I D E O / T H E N O W P I Z Z E R I A

IN EVERY ISSUE 6

Online @ PMQ

Product Spotlight

From the Editor

The Pizza Exchange

SmartMarket

Check out our digital and tablet editions for bonus video and multimedia content. Visit PMQ.com/digital to view the digital edition, or download our tablet app at iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.com.

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FROM THE EDITOR

Rick Hynum Editor in Chief

PIZZA SPORTS HAVE ARRIVED! For nearly 20 years, the U.S. Pizza Team (USPT) has been a labor of love for PMQ publisher Steve Green, his family and staff. As I mentioned in this space last month, their work paid off splendidly in January when the USPT’s Winter Trials, held at the Mid-America Restaurant Expo in Columbus, Ohio, was aired live on ESPN3. Both the event and the broadcast were so successful, more USPT trial contests will air on ESPN3 throughout the remainder of 2019, and before long, you’ll see pizza acrobatics champs like Jamie Culliton and Scott Volpe grinning on your box of Wheaties every morning at breakfast. OK, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but you never know. At the very least, we can say with confidence that pizza sports, bearing the imprimatur of the world’s No. 1 sports network, have arrived in the U.S. And while not just anyone can become a full-fledged member of the U.S. Pizza Team— it’s a distinction that must be earned—competition in the team’s events is wide open to pizzeria owners, managers and employees anywhere in the country. So what does that mean to you, gentle reader? It means your pizzeria can earn national TV exposure simply by competing in the USPT’s various trial events this year. With that in mind, here are a few tips for taking full advantage of the opportunity:

Practice, practice, practice. Just like any athlete, you need to show up ready to compete. Dedicate some time to getting your routine down pat. (See our cover story, “The Spin Doctors,” on page 30 for acrobatics world champion Jamie Culliton’s advice on this subject.) Take risks in your routine. The bolder and more difficult the routine, the bigger the impression you’ll make on the judges—even if you drop your dough now and then in the middle of a trick. Dress the part. You’re on national TV, for heaven’s sake. Ditch the sweatpants and the grungy T-shirt and create a distinctive, memorable look for yourself. Feel free to wear a shirt or jacket sporting your pizzeria’s logo but add a touch of flair to stand out. Look your best! Have fun. Keep loose, stay relaxed and enjoy yourself. The beauty of USPT competitions is that petty rivalries are virtually nonexistent—pizza folks look after one another and cheer each other on. In other words, you’re among friends!

PIZZA MAGAZINE THE WOR LD'S AU THOR ITY ON P IZ Z A | P MQ.COM | P IZ Z ATV.COM

April 2019

WATCH THE VIDEO AT PMQ.COM/USPTESPN2019

THE SPIN DOCTORS

ON THE COVER:

How pizza sports are catching the eye of American consumers P A G E 3 0

Tara Hattan of Tucson-based Andolini’s Pizza takes some dough out for a spin in the U.S. Pizza Team Winter Trials at MAREXPO in January. Photo by Sheila Pack. Old Forge-Style Pizza 22

A Publication of PMQ, Inc. 662-234-5481 Volume 23, Issue 3 April 2019 ISSN 1937-5263 Publisher Steve Green, sg@pmq.com ext. 123 Co-Publisher Linda Green, linda.pmq@gmail com ext. 121 Editor in Chief Rick Hynum, rick@pmq.com Senior Copy Editor Tracy Morin, tracy@pmq.com

International Correspondent Missy Green, missy@pmq.com Art Director Eric Summers, eric@pmq.com ext. 134 Creative Director Sarah Beth Wiley, sarahbeth@pmq.com ext. 135 Senior Media Producer Daniel Lee Perea, dperea@pmq.com ext. 139 Social Media Manager Heather Cray, heather@pmq.com ext. 137 Video Editor Blake Harris, blake@pmq.com ext. 136 Chief Financial Officer Shawn Brown, shawn@pmq.com Test Chef/USPT Coordinator Brian Hernandez, brian@pmq.com ext. 129

Keep Cool with Frozen Desserts 40

Building Better Robots 50

ADVERTISING

PMQ INTERNATIONAL

Sales Director Linda Green, linda.pmq@gmail com ext. 121

PMQ China Yvonne Liu, yvonne@pmq.com

Senior Account Executive Tom Boyles, tom@pmq.com ext. 122

PMQ Russia Vladimir Davydov, vladimir@pmq.com

Account Executive Chris Green, chris@pmq.com ext. 125

PMQ Pizza Magazine 605 Edison St. • Oxford, MS 38655 662.234.5481 • 662.234.0665 Fax

Sales Assistant Brandy Pinion, brandy@pmq.com ext. 127

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.

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IN LEHMANN’S TERMS

HOW TO PAR-BAKE CRUSTS IN AN AIR IMPINGEMENT OVEN Follow this five-step method to prevent the development of pita-like pockets in your crusts.

Q A

What are the secrets of achieving a pocket-free par-baked crust with an air impingement oven? Par-baking a pizza crust in an air impingement oven can be a dicey proposition, thanks to the high-velocity airflow to the top and bottom of the crust. This can lead to the development of pita-like pockets in your crust. Since there are many different ovens of this type and a myriad of baking finger profiles, it’s impossible to provide specific baking times and temperatures—they will always depend on your specific dough formulation, crust size/weight and baking profile. However, I recommend this five-step method for par-baking crusts in your air impingement oven: STEP 1: Heavily dock the dough skin immediately prior to baking. STEP 2: Allow the dough skin to rest/proof for a few minutes prior to baking. STEP 3: Par-baking crusts requires a lower baking temperature than pizza. This will usually be in the 375° to 400°F range, but you will need to determine what works best in your oven. STEP 4: Keep the baking time rather short—only about two minutes, give or take 30 seconds. This is critical! Ten seconds too long can mean the difference between a pizza

crust and a pita, and 10 seconds too short can result in the crust’s collapse while cooling. STEP 5: If your par-baked crusts start collapsing or develop what appear to be oil spots on the surface (actually localized areas where the dough has collapsed), you’ll need to increase the baking time. However, this will also raise the probability of pocket formation, so you will most likely want to reduce the baking temperature by 15° to 25°F at the same time. It’s a balancing act to get the crusts sufficiently baked so they don’t collapse while controlling pocketing. It can be done, but it requires perseverance and patience! Here’s one more tip for par-baking crusts in an air impingement oven: Add about half of your tomato sauce to the crust prior to baking. Yes, the crusts might still bubble or develop pockets, but the sauce will give you a slightly greater latitude in needed baking time and help avoid crust collapse.

Tom Lehmann was the longtime director of bakery assistance for the American Institute of Baking (AIB) and is now a pizza industry consultant. PMQ . CO M/D O UG H

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TIPS FROM THE TEAM

BRIAN HERNANDEZ

HOW TO BUILD A PRIVATE-LABEL FOOD BUSINESS It all starts with a high-quality product and extensive market research, says Lenny Rago of Panino’s Pizza. By Brian Hernandez U.S. Pizza Team premiere member Lenny Rago, co-owner of Panino’s Pizza in Chicago, has been around the competition circuit for quite a while. Competing and winning both domestically and abroad, he knows how people think of pizzas and ingredients. Which is probably why he and his partners at Panino’s have been so successful at marketing their own products and recipe blends for the pizzeria owner as well as the consumer. With a bevy of products available from their brands, Via Pizzeria 1-2-3 and Bib’s BBQ Sauce, I knew Lenny would be the one to inform us about the steps pizzeria operators can take to start making, branding and selling their own products. Hernandez: So how did you get started creating and selling your own products? Rago: Via Pizzeria 1-2-3 started out of a need for availability and consistency. We are marketing products that, in our industry, are time-consuming and sometimes hard to make. We wanted to bring that to market because we felt there was a need for it. We produce dough mixes, premade dough skins, arancinis, panzerottis, pizza sauces, BBQ sauces, and even giardiniera.

Hernandez: How do you know when you have a product worth selling? Rago: Market research. Of course, you must like your product and think it’s worth selling, but you should also see what needs are in the market currently—easy-to-make dough mixes, no-prep pizza sauces, certain appetizer items. We created great recipes for all of these, then went around the industry to our friends—and to other pizzerias—and asked them what they would like. From that, we started refining what we could offer to the industry and the consumer. Hernandez: Should private-label startups make those products in-house or outsource production? Rago: That all depends on three things: what you’re selling, growth and volume. If you’re selling meats, like we do with our sausage blend, I recommend outsourcing to make sure you are hitting all the FDA and insurance requirements for production. If you’re doing a cheese or sauce, you can do it in-house, but once you reach a certain level of growth and demand, you have no choice but to outsource to meet your volume requirements. Do your research. Make sure you get an accredited production

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DANIEL PEREA

COURTESY LENNY RAGO

Products from private-label brand Via Pizzeria 1-2-3 and Bib’s BBQ Sauce include everything from pre-made flour mixes to BBQ sauce and arancini.

BRIAN HERNANDEZ

“Hit your local market first, then expand. Once you have a loyal customer base, your volume will increase, and then you can expand outside that particular circle.” — LENNY RAGO

facility with liability insurance. You need to protect yourself in case of the rare contamination incident. Make sure your business is not liable for something it didn’t do. Also make sure the thirdparty company can produce the product consistently and to your specifications. After all, it is your name on the label. Hernandez: Marketing, distribution, sales—it’s kind of like the chicken and the egg. Which do you tackle first? Rago: Well, you need marketing to get the distribution, which leads to sales. However, first come up with a name, a look and definitely a trademark. Then you know what you are marketing. You have to hit those streets. You are your best marketer and salesperson in the beginning. Hit your local market first, then expand. Once you have a loyal customer base, your volume will increase, and then you can expand outside that particular circle. Hiring a marketing consultant at the beginning is also a good thing. They can help you with a lot of the legwork and guide you in the right direction. Hernandez: What about connecting with large distributors? Rago: First you need to have a recognizable and desirable product. You can go to trade shows and hawk your product all day. You may even sell it to someone who lives on the opposite

coast. Now you think, “Oh, how do I get it to them?” You can ship it yourself for a while, but that will get expensive. Have a plan for expansion before you get to the large distributors. It’s not a bad idea to go to the shows and test the waters for your products. You should definitely make the industry connections. Create the demand. At the beginning, you should be selling your product as hard as possible so you can show the distributor there is a demand. Then the distributor can start helping sell it as well, aside from just distributing it. Hernandez: If you have only one piece of advice to give someone trying to create a marketable private-label product from their pizzeria, what would it be? Rago: Don’t be afraid to call someone who is already selling a product and pick their brain. This industry is very cooperative, and there are people out there who will help you with advice, connections and just overall firsthand experience. If they say no, call the next guy. Also, research who your competition is and will be. Do the legwork. To learn more about Via Pizzeria 1-2-3, visit viapizzeria123.com. For details on Bib’s BBQ Sauce, visit bibsbonedry.com. Brian Hernandez is PMQ’s test chef. APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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THE CHEF’S CORNER

ANTHONY SPINA | O4W PIZZA Inspired by his own grandmother, this New Jersey pizzaiolo has brought classic Grandma-style pies to the ATL. | By Brian Hernandez Atlanta is known as the home of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, Coca-Cola’s headquarters, the Falcons and the Braves, and The Walking Dead TV series. This beautiful Southern peach of a city comes with a lot of character in both its citizens and lingo. Terms like Inside the Perimeter (ITP) and Outside the Perimeter (OTP)—nicknames for the boundary drawn around the city by I-285—pepper the local vernacular. ITPers and OTPers are proud of their respective areas. However, one thing both sides agree on is where to find great grandma-style pizza in the ATL. And that’s where you’ll find New Jersey pizzaiolo Anthony Spina. Spina started O4W Pizza in the Old 4th Ward area of Atlanta. He learned his craft from a very early age by working with his uncle, David. Not being allowed the traditional American Christmas dinner menu of turkey and ham, Anthony

Watch B Herna rian in-dep ndez’s th int erview with c h Spina ef Anthony at pm q.co antho nyspin m/ a.

always enjoyed pizza made by his grandmother during the holidays. This inspired him to bring the joy of grandma-style pizza to the masses in Atlanta. At 04W, now located outside the perimeter in Duluth, Atlantans can always find some great pizza being handed out to the hungry public. They can also find numerous styles, including Detroit style, being served at Anthony’s newest venture, Nina + Rafi’s, aptly named after his and his partners’ grandmothers. For this month’s Chef ’s Corner, Spina shares his recipe for one of his favorites: The Spicy Italian. “I wanted to come down to Atlanta and serve what I knew as pizza: traditional, Italian flavors with a little New Jersey flair. Luckily, that’s what Atlanta was looking for.” —Anthony Spina, O4W, Duluth, GA

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THE SPICY ITALIAN INGREDIENTS:

INSTRUCTIONS:

16.5 oz. dough (16”x16” grandma pan) 7.1 oz. sliced mozzarella (2mm) 2.5 oz. meatballs, crumbled 3.75 oz. hand-sliced pepperoni (2mm) 1 oz. Calabrian chilis, roughly chopped 2.7 oz. ricotta 14 oz. lightly cooked marinara sauce .8 oz. Pecorino 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Stretch your dough to 16”x16” in your grandma pan. Lay your sliced mozzarella on the crust, then add crumbled meatballs, pepperoni and Calabrian chilis. Add a dollop of ricotta for each slice of the pie (12 slices). Add your sauce in diagonal stripes, starting at the center and moving outward. Top with a little Pecorino cheese and some EVOO.

After bake, top with: 3.2 oz. housemade fresh mozzarella 12-15 fresh basil leaves .35 oz. Pecorino 1 tbsp. EVOO

Bake at 575° for about 12 minutes or until the crust is golden-brown and crispy. Remove from the oven and add some fresh mozzarella, basil leaves and more Pecorino and EVOO. Cut into 12 slices and mangia!

Brian Hernandez, a longtime pizzaiolo, is PMQ’s test chef, U.S. Pizza Team event coordinator and a host on PizzaTV.

R E L AT E D V I D E O L EARN HOW TO MAKE TH E S PIC Y ITALIAN PIZ Z A IN OUR EXCLUSIV E RECI P E VI D EO AT PMQ.COM/S PICYITALIAN

APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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T A H T INGS

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

E H T E ON

TOPP

! R O V LA

PIL

Flavorful Bonici ® toppings have helped take pizza to the next level for years. Now we’re offering three new ways to build even more menu excitement. Introducing Bonici ® Mesquite Pepperoni, Bonici ® Bakin’ Bacon™ Heat-n-Serve Pizza Topping and our reformulated Sausage Crumbles. Add them to your pizza and pile on the patron-pleasing flavors.

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APRIL RECIPE

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Bonici® Mesquite Pork, Beef Sliced Pepperoni, 14/oz.

Smokehouse Pizza

SPONSORED BY:

Visit Tyson4Pizza.com to learn more.

INGREDIENTS:

12” crust 4 oz. pizza sauce 10-14 mesquite pepperoni slices 1 ½ oz. bacon pieces 2 oz. roasted red peppers, cut into strips 1 oz. mushrooms, sliced 2 oz. caramelized onions, medium diced 4 oz. whole-milk mozzarella, shredded 2 oz. smoked gouda, shredded

DIRECTIONS:

Place the crust on a lightly greased wire rack. Add sauce and mozzarella. Arrange the vegetables evenly across the top of the cheese. Evenly distribute bacon pieces and pepperonis. Sprinkle gouda cheese over the pie. Bake at 500°F for 8-10 minutes or until cheese turns golden-brown.

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T A H T S G N

I P P TO

E H T N O E

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PIL

035497-0269 / 10354970269 Bonici® Mesquite Pork, Beef Sliced Pepperoni, 14/oz.

001562-0269 / 10015620269 Bonici® All Natural1 Cooked Italian Sausage Large Chunk

024030-0269 / 10240300269 Bonici® Heat-n-Serve Pizza Topping

Visit Tyson4Pizza.com to learn more. 1 Minimally processed, no artificial ingredients ©2019 Tyson Foods, Inc. Trademarks and registered trademarks are owned by Tyson Foods, Inc. or its subsidiaries, or used under license.

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Wa tch V i deothe PMQ ’s : to t he Heat

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As the self-proclaimed pizza capital of the world, Old Forge, Pennsylvania has a style—and a sense of community—that’s all its own. By Rick Hynum | Photos by Blake Harris and Heather Cray It takes hubris for a little town of 8,300 to call itself the “pizza capital of the world,” but pizzeria owners in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, know exactly what they’re doing. They’ve got their own pizza style, a rare sense of community and camaraderie, and a firm belief that their pies are as good as anything you’ll find a couple of hours away in that other pizza hub, New York City. 22 PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | THE WORLD’S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA

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APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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Mary Lou Verdetto (middle) and son Joe Verdetto (second from left) of Mary Lou’s Pizza carry on an Old Forge tradition of treating every meal like a family affair. Here, they share a white and red pizza with local airmen.

Ask Angelo Genell, owner of the legendary Arcaro & Genell, who has the best pizza in town, and he’ll give you a two-word answer—and those two words do not include Arcaro or Genell. “Old Forge,” he says, grinning with pride for his hometown. “I think we’re all good. It will be a little different in every place, but you won’t be disappointed. You won’t find a bad pizza here.” Competition is practically a dirty word to the town’s pizzaioli. Many of them grew up together and often dine at each other’s restaurants. The Old Forge pizza community is so close-knit that the owners all banded together years ago to develop the “pizza capital” slogan, a flash of marketing brilliance that attracts foodies from around the country—and the world—to this former coal-mining town in the Appalachians. “There’s no better camaraderie in the world than in Old Forge,” says Jim Mirabelli, who covers the northeast Pennsylvania pizza scene in his popular NEPAPizzaReview.com blog. “All of these pizzeria owners got together and said, ‘Let’s brand this thing’. And they came up with the idea, ‘We’re the pizza capital of the world.’ They all chipped in a few bucks to get the branding going. I’m sure there was a little more to it than that, and maybe a few adult beverages along the way, but [that was] the essence.”

SIMILAR YET MARKEDLY DIFFERENT

It doesn’t hurt that Old Forge has a rich pizza history, dating back to at least 1926, when the matriarch of the Ghigiarelli family—owners of a local tavern—reportedly started serving pizzas, baked in rectangular metal pans, to workers who’d drop in to unwind and play cards after a hard day’s work in the coal mines. As other entrepreneurs got into the act, they borrowed from Grandma Ghigiarelli’s style but added their own signature twists. Today, every Old Forge pizzeria serves a pie that’s similar yet markedly different, Mirabelli says. “Some will get their crust from a local bakery (Agostini’s Bakery), and some make it fresh. Some have more onions in their sauce; some have a chunkier sauce.” Old Forge pizza is often compared to the Sicilian style, but there are significant differences, Mirabelli notes. “A Sicilian has a larger bubble pattern, but it’s more compressed and spongier in Old Forge pizza,” he says. The Old Forge style features a breadlike crust with a chewy center and a crispy bottom. “A lot of them are crisped up right at the end [of the process],” Mirabelli continues. “They’ll take it off the pan and throw it on the brick, so you get this very slight crispness on the bottom.”

“The cheese blend is the big secret. A lot of it is processed cheese. You’ll see Coopers, cheddars, American, maybe a brick. I’m only speculating, because no one has ever told me what their cheese blend is.” — JIM MIRABELLI, NEPAPIZZAREVIEW.COM

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Sporting the company T-shirt, Mark Genell of Arcaro & Genell shows off a fresh-made tray of his famous white pizza.

PMQ’s Heather Cray challenges John Dean to eat a pizza while skiing at Montage Mountain Resorts near Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The sauce tends to be a little sweet and a little chunky. “It’s not like the New York-style sauce, where it’s just ground-up plum tomatoes,” Mirabelli says. “It’s more like a spaghetti sauce that’s chunkier and usually sweeter, with that onion flavor. It’s a robust sauce. You taste it immediately.” A white Old Forge pizza might consist of a top and bottom layer of dough with big, gooey globs of cheese and other fillings in the center. In fact, it’s the cheese that makes each restaurant’s pie special. Every shop uses its own signature cheese blend— and that’s the one thing they’re competitive about. Asked about their preferred mix of cheeses, Old Forge pizza makers will hem and haw a bit before politely refusing to answer. “The cheese blend is the big secret,” Mirabelli says. “A lot of it is processed cheese. You’ll see Coopers, cheddars, American, maybe a brick. I’m only speculating, because no one has ever told me what their cheese blend is. I don’t think a recipe exists. It’s probably in the owner’s head. Each blend is so unique and brings different flavors. That’s really what makes the pie.”

“At one point or another, we all lived above our restaurants. We all grew up going to sleep to [music from] a jukebox, or at a booth, or doing homework at a table.” — PATRICK REVELLO, REVELLO’S PIZZA

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

Old Forge even has its own pizza lexicon. As polite as the townsfolk are, they’ll look at you funny if you order a slice. The right word is “cut.” And a whole pie is called a “tray.” The pizzerias have their own individual quirks, too. At Revello’s, founded in 1967 and owned by Patrick Revello, pies are cut

with a giant pizza machete. Elio G’s, meanwhile, is best known, oddly enough, for its shrimp-and-pepper combo of toppings. And at Arcaro & Genell, friends and family members usually enter through the kitchen door in the rear of the store. Old Forge pizzerias also do booming business far beyond the northeastern Pennsylvania boundaries. Revello’s is one of several that ships its pizzas out overnight to fans around the country. “We’ve been doing it for the past five years,” Revello says. “For Christmas week alone, we shipped out over 150

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A white Old Forge pizza might consist of a top and bottom layer of dough with big, gooey globs of cheese and other fillings in the center.

orders—about three trays per order—in that one week. There is not one state we don’t ship pizza to.” In other ways, the restaurants are slow to change. Some, like Arcaro & Genell, have little or no social media presence. “We’re trying to fight that,” Genell says, with a chuckle. Elio G’s uses Facebook but doesn’t have a website, nor do some of the better-known Old Forge-style shops in nearby communities, like Lou’s Pizza in Olyphant—whose cuts can be found in gas stations and stores in the area—or Ferri’s Pizza, a Moscow fixture since 1936. Another thing that will (hopefully) never change: the sense of community among Old Forge’s pizzeria owners. “At one point or another, we all lived above our restaurants,” says Revello, whose restaurant decor includes photos of himself with fellow operators like Genell. “We all grew up going to sleep to [music from] a jukebox, or at a booth, or doing homework at a table.” Mary Lou Verdetto, who has operated Mary Lou’s in Old Forge since 2001, agrees. “We really don’t compete,” she says. “We’re friends with [each other]. Everyone’s pizzeria is different—different cheeses, different sauces. No, there’s no competition.” Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor-in-chief.

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THE S Scott Volpe won the acrobatic category in the USPT Trials in Columbus and is considered a strong contender for the world championship title next month.

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E SPIN DOCTORS As ESPN3 brings U.S. Pizza Team events to a national audience, pizza sports can raise your restaurant’s profile and help you boost your sales and profits. By Rick Hynum

David Whisker might not throw a 90-m.p.h. fastball, but sports fans around the country know him as a boxfolding speed demon—thanks to the U.S. Pizza Team’s (USPT) history-making debut on ESPN3 in January. They also watched world-champion contender Scott Volpe spin a pair of doughs in a tricky reverse double roll and saw newcomer Tara Hattan turn cartwheels and somersaults in her national TV debut. And when the live broadcast of this year’s USPT Winter

Watch the Video: Check out the high-flying highlights of the U.S. Pizza Team Winter Acrobatic Trials, held at the Mid-America Restaurant Expo and aired live on ESPN3! pmq.com/2019wintertrials

Acrobatic Trials, held January 14 at the Mid-America Restaurant Expo (MAREXPO) in Columbus, Ohio, was over, pizza sports had arrived in the United States, bearing the coveted stamp of approval from the world’s No. 1 sports network.

APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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USPT veteran Ryan LaRose hits the floor with a couple of flashy tricks in a 2008 dough spinning competition.

“ESPN’s coverage will open the door to new branding and exposure opportunities for pizzeria owners looking for a unique marketing slant. You or one of your pizza makers could be the next Tom Brady of pizza sports.” — STEVE GREEN, PUBLISHER, PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE

The event marked the first time a pizza industry athletics competition has been aired live on an ESPN network—or any TV network, for that matter. But it won’t be the last: PMQ and the USPT have an exclusive deal with Go Live Sports Cast, a leading provider of live-streamed sports that works with ESPN to cover a wide variety of relatively new and long-established sports, and upcoming USPT competitions will be aired on the network throughout 2019. “I think the exposure of being on ESPN is one of the best things to happen to pizza acrobatics,” says USPT member Jamie Culliton, a two-time world champion in dough spinning acrobatics who served as the broadcast’s color commentator, along with announcer Daniel Lee Perea, PMQ’s senior media producer. “If it catches on, the sky’s the limit for many of these up-and-coming competitors.” PMQ publisher Steve Green called the broadcast “a historic first for the pizza industry.” He added, “This is a huge step forward for pizza sports and for all of those independent pizzeria operators looking for a way to set themselves apart from their competitors, especially the big chains. ESPN’s

coverage will open the door to new branding and exposure opportunities for pizzeria owners looking for a unique marketing slant. You or one of your pizza makers could be the next Tom Brady of pizza sports.” More importantly, Green notes, pizza sports can help operators better connect with consumers and sell more pizza. “Until now, pizza sports has been something of an industry secret, little-known to the general public,” Green says. “We think the time is perfect to elevate pizza sports, with the help of our industry, and bring a piece of the pizza culture to consumers. As we work to raise awareness of pizza acrobatics and other pizza sports through ESPN coverage, those who invest in the sport will reap the rewards through media coverage, social media exposure and a higher profile in the community. If your employees are recognized nationally and even internationally for their athletic and showmanship skills as well as for their great pizzas, customers will take notice. We see pizza sports as a great way to bring invaluable exposure to those 34,000 independent pizza brands that don’t have the advantages of a top-10 pizza chain.”

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“I think the exposure of being on ESPN is one of the best things to happen to pizza acrobatics. If it catches on, the sky’s the limit for many of these up-and-coming competitors.” — JAMIE CULLITON, TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION PIZZA ACROBAT

BUILDING A DREAM TEAM

Green helped pioneer pizza sports in the United States when he created the USPT in 2000. He took a highly skilled “dream team”—consisting of Dino Ciccone, Danny Wolfe and industry legend Tony Gemignani—to the World Pizza Championship (WPC) in Italy that year, where Gemignani stunned everyone by performing his acrobatic routine blindfolded and tied for first place (he claimed the full title for himself the next year). As the team’s profile grew, the Food Network aired a special on its WPC performance in 2004, and Gemignani wowed The Tonight Show host Jay Leno with his routine, among other TV appearances. Gemignani went on to form his own acrobatic team, the World Pizza Champions, but the USPT kept producing winners, even earning the Team Acrobatics gold medal at the International Pizza Championship in Naples, Italy, in 2007 and at the WPC in 2011. Culliton was a member of that 2011 34 PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | THE WORLD’S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA

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championship team and went on to score two consecutive second-place finishes in the WPC’s Individual Acrobatics category in 2014 and 2015 before winning his individual WPC championship in 2016. For Culliton, years of training and practicing with Throw Dough paid off with that solo world title. “Dough spinning caught my attention the minute I started my first pizza job in 1995,” he reflects. “I thought it was the coolest thing. As I became more comfortable with dough, I started practicing different tricks to entertain guests and friends. I was pretty good, too.” Gemignani recognized Culliton’s talent and advised him to take a shot at the WPC when they met at a pizza industry event. “That was it for me,” Culliton says. “I practiced all year and competed that next year. As I recall, I came in last place, but watching all the great acrobats from around the world sparked a new passion for the industry in me.” Culliton soon realized that winning championships requires more than a sure-handed spin technique. The best routines combine dexterity, artistry, showmanship and athleticism, and a gift for the ol’ shimmy-shake doesn’t hurt, either. As he honed his act, Culliton became known for his polished stage presence and sharp attire—including, on occasion, a hot-pink buttondown shirt and a dapper fedora—bringing a dose of panache to a sport largely dominated by dudes in flour-dusted tees and sweatpants. In one of his silvermedal wins in Italy, he even brought fellow pizza pro Samantha Jones onto the floor for a quick Astaire-and-Rogers-style dance number.

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“Physically, every person is different, so everybody’s style should be unique to them,” Culliton says. But practice does make perfect. “I recommend getting used to three or four minutes’ straight spinning time every time you practice—just like in a routine—to build up your stamina. Always stay relaxed and stretch and keep your body loose so you move with the dough. It should become an extension of you. Keep your legs relaxed so they slide and move, like you’re dancing; if you’re too stiff, it looks awkward and forced. I also recommend lots of ground work to build your core strength.” “I’VE NEVER BEEN ON TV BEFORE”

Roger McColly makes a good showing in the Largest Dough Stretch event at the 2007 Orlando Pizza Show.

With Culliton sitting in the announcer’s booth, his sartorial flair was conspicuously missing from January’s acrobatics competition at the MAREXPO. But talented veteran competitors like Volpe, the owner of Fiamme Pizza Napoletana in Tucson, Arizona, and Hattan, an employee of Andolini’s Pizza in Tulsa, Oklahoma, brought their own bold styles to the floor. Volpe, who took the silver medal in last year’s WPC contest, qualified to return to Parma, Italy, for a shot at gold this year after winning the trials event in Columbus. In addition to competing

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in acrobatics, Hattan finished second in the Fastest BoxFolding category behind Whisker, of B.C. Pizza in Boyne City, Michigan. As always, the competition also included the Largest Dough Stretch and the Fastest Pizza Maker categories. Still, this event felt different, charged not only with competitive energy but with historical significance: For the first time, the contenders were performing for a national audience of sports buffs watching curiously on their smart TVs, iPhones and tablets. “ESPN is the gold standard,” Green says. “When you see that ESPN banner behind the prep tables and realize what that signifies, it raises the stakes considerably. ESPN3 carries NBA and Major League Baseball games, Grand Slam tennis events, golf championships—and now pizza sports.” As co-founder of Go Live Sports Cast, Kelly Rinne has overseen coverage for athletic events ranging from Major Arena Soccer League to mixed martial arts and even pickleball. She was thrilled with the outcome of her company’s firstever pizza-sports broadcast. “It went really, really well,” she says. “The network was really excited about it. It’s a sport that nobody’s seen, and you just got to do this nationally on the biggest sports network out there.”

Dave Whisker (left) and Nicole Bergles vie for top honors in the Fastest BoxFolding event in Columbus. Whisker ultimately claimed the gold.

USPT members show off for a crowd of Parisians in front of the Arc de Triomphe in 2008.

BUILDING EXCITEMENT AROUND YOUR BRAND

It’s also a sport that can get local consumers excited about— and rooting for—your brand. Decorating your wall with USPT and WPC plaques verifies your credentials as a pizza industry leader as well as a hometown pizza shop. And USPT competitors frequently earn local press coverage for taking part in pizza sports events, especially when they claim a medal in any category. Nick Bogacz, owner of the Pittsburgh-based, four-location Caliente Pizza & Draft House, sent a large contingent of his employees to the USPT competition in January. “Our customers eat it up,” says Bogacz, who recently published a book, The Pizza Equation: Slicing Up How to Run a Successful Pizza Enterprise. “I think they see a difference in us after these competitions. You go to these events, and you come back with enthusiasm, and you’ve learned something on the way.” Brittany Saxton, owner of Six Hundred Downtown in Bellefontaine, Ohio, has been competing in pizza sports since 2007 and sends her managers to take part in events. She says pizza sports help solidify relationships between employees and with other pizza professionals nationwide. “Building APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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Le rn to Throaw the P Like ros! Check ou USPT members pose for a group shot with PMQ publishers Steve and Linda Green in front of the Roman Coliseum in 2015.

t dough PMQ’s ins tru throw ing vid ctional pm eo at learn q.com/ tothr owdo ugh

that camaraderie and that network with other people who compete and work in the industry—you create friendships with the people you compete with, no matter where they’re from,” Saxton says. “You’re surrounding yourself with people who are on the same path. You learn new ideas, you can bounce ideas off each other. It helps with problem-solving in your restaurant because you’re meeting other people who are going through the same struggles you go through. [Pizza sports] give you a network of people who can help you fast-forward your career in the right direction.” And with recognition from ESPN, pizza sports will only get bigger—and cooler—to a growing fan base. Bogacz says watching the USPT event live on TV was an exhilarating treat for customers, friends and relatives of his employees who competed. “Their aunts and uncles were sharing on Facebook that these guys were on ESPN,” he says. “People were shooting video of it from their TVs and posting it on Facebook. There was so much excitement.” Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor-in-chief.

Chris Green displays some smooth moves in the acrobatic competition at the World Pizza Championship in 2009.

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PMQ started the year with our annual trip to the Mid America Restaurant Expo. This year Go Live Sports aired the Winter Trials for the U.S. Pizza Team to the world stage, the event was aired on ESPN3!

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From gelato and ice cream to milkshakes and sundaes, here are the latest trends and tips for boosting your pizzeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family-fun factor with frozen desserts. By Tracy Morin

Looking for a way to help your customers beat the heat this season while fanning the flames of your profits? Look no further than frozen desserts. They make for an irresistible pairing with pizza: shareable, family-friendly, and endlessly customizable. Even better, they help add incremental sales that can significantly boost your bottom line. From creative recipes and create-your-own options to in-store sampling and drool-worthy presentation, read on to get the scoop on the latest trends in the category, G R OT TO P I Z Z A

plus expert tips for sweet success!

APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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TRENDING UP: FANCY MILKSHAKES

SAL & MOOKIE’S

“Fancy milkshakes” are all the rage—like the decadent creations at Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer in New York. This concept’s shakes are eminently Instaworthy, decked out with over-the-top ingredients like pretzel rods, cotton candy and a Funfetti cake slice. Sal & Mookie’s New York Pizza & Ice Cream Joint, with two locations in Mississippi, has also tapped into the craze with its Cereal Box Shakes. Inspired by early-morning staff who arrived with breakfast-in-a-box in tow, the pizzeria offers five cereal-inspired shakes, such as the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shake, with caramel sauce and Cinnamon Toast Crunch pieces swirled into cinnamon ice cream, and the Cotton Candy Shake, cotton candy ice cream with sprinkles and cotton candy on top. “We finish by putting pieces of the cereal on top,” says Susan Farris, Sal & Mookie’s marketing manager. “When you drink up the milk at the bottom of the cereal bowl—that’s just what it tastes like!” Due to customer demand, the pizzeria plans to add booze-boosted adult versions, too.

The Cereal Box Shakes at Sal & Mookie’s are popular with kids and adults alike, boosting eye appeal with pieces of cereal strewn on top.

TRENDING UP: SUPER-PREMIUM ICE CREAMS

“Super-premium” ice cream is on the rise and may gain traction in pizzerias, according to Malcolm Stogo, president and CEO of Ice Cream University and Malcolm Stogo Inc. in West Orange, New Jersey. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, super-premium ice cream has an ultra-low overrun (that is, a very small amount of air and a very dense texture) and is made with the highest-quality ingredients. Depending on your concept, that can mean anything from Häagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s to local artisanal offerings.

G R OT TO P I Z Z A

Grotto Pizza’s gelato program attracts rabid fans, especially in warm summer months.

46 PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | THE WORLD’S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA

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TRENDING UP: DAIRY-FREE ICE CREAM

Dairy-free ice cream is also “becoming really popular because of the millennial lifestyle, lactose intolerance and vegan diets,” Stogo says. If your shop already does brisk business with vegan pies, dairy-free could be the ideal addition to the menu. And, as manufacturers look to meet the dietary needs of customers, the taste of dairy-free options has vastly improved. “It’s like night and day,” Stogo says. “Years ago, they used to be soy-based; today, most are made with coconut, almond or cashew.”

HOLDING STEADY: GELATO

“For a pizzeria that has seating, gelato can be a great choice,” Stogo says. “Pizza and gelato go hand in hand.” Whatever varieties you choose, it’s a good idea to switch things up. Grotto Pizza, based in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with 20 locations, started offering gelato in the mid-2000s, choosing first a local provider—but the addition was such a smash success the small producer couldn’t keep up with demand. Now, thanks to a major supplier, sales have increased every year since, as each location offers between six and 15 rotating flavors at a time. Grotto offers three sizes—one-, two-, or three-scoop cups and cones—for dine-in or takeout, as well as pints to go. Naturally fat-free sorbets also grab space in Grotto’s display cases.

G R OT TO P I Z Z A

Try This: If you already sell a lot of vegan pies, consider adding dairy-free ice cream options to your menu.

48 PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | THE WORLD’S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA

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HOLDING STEADY: SEASONAL FLAVORS

G R OT TO P I Z Z A

To every dessert, there is a season. “We might bring in seasonal flavors around the fall, like pumpkin or apple pie, which is great to keep interest among our longtime customers,” says Vinnie DiNatale, director of marketing for Grotto Pizza. “And, as new flavors get introduced, we replace the flavors that don’t sell as well.” Last year, Whitey’s Ice Cream, which serves the Quad Cities region of Illinois and Iowa, released four spring flavors, including Honeycomb Crunch (vanilla ice cream with chocolate Honeycomb cereal pieces and a caramel swirl), Mango Raspberry, Peaches and Caramel, and Pistachio, Almond and Pineapple.

HOLDING STEADY: THE CLASSICS

Some dessert flavors never get old. Classics like chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel and biscotti are the four top sellers at Grotto Pizza, DiNatale says. “Kids love our birthday cake and mint chocolate chip flavors,” he adds. Grotto’s supplier is also working on a new creation for this year: Cookie Monster Crunch, with a bright blue base, plus chocolate cookie and chocolate chip bits. It’s expected to be a big hit with kids, who are drawn by colorful creations. In addition to chocolate and vanilla, some flavors prove perennially popular at Sal & Mookie’s, including brightly hued options like birthday cake and Scooper Hero, which is vanilla ice cream painted in kid-friendly red, yellow and blue hues. “Some flavors switch out with the seasons, especially fruit flavors like passion fruit or mango,” Farris says. “That constant rotation allows you to see what works and what doesn’t, but we’re always experimenting.”

TRENDING DOWN: ITALIAN ICES

Mass-produced Italian ices—long a staple of pizzerias—are decreasing in popularity as sophisticated modern consumers seek higher-quality, better-for-you alternatives to their old favorites, according to Stogo. But that hasn’t stopped Famous Ben’s Pizza, with two New York locations, from offering flavors like Crème a Lotto, Mango, Tutti Frutti and Pina Colada.

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SAL & MOOKIE’S

MARKETING: THE RULES OF SEDUCTION

Marketing your frozen desserts is key—both through traditional tactics and amazing presentation. Since many health-conscious customers feel like they’re already treating themselves by eating pizza, dessert can be a tougher sell. That’s where the art of marketing seduction comes in. Rule 1: Looks Matter In its display cases, Grotto ensures its gelatos are sculpted just so to convey maximum eye appeal, then scattered with toppings to convey the flavor, such as pistachio bits or fresh strawberries. Sal & Mookie’s also attracts eyeballs by housing a full ice cream shop in the middle of its restaurant, offering a wide variety of frozen desserts. With 24 rotating flavors, customers can order by the scoop or pint, or select from a long list of shakes, floats, sundaes, malts, and more. And, because the brightly lit scoop shop never fails to entice kiddie interest, the pizzeria places small stools for them to view their choices. “We take cereal boxes and line them in the back for a bright,

Try This: Create signature milkshakes inspired by your favorite cereals, like the Crunchberry Shake at Sal & Mookie’s in Jackson, Mississippi. SAL & MOOKIE’S

colorful display,” Farris says. “We also have colorful pictures of the treats we can make, posted on the walls all around the scoop shop. We really focus on the visuals. And we do invite people, as long as it’s not too crowded, to stand and watch their ice cream or shake being made, and we talk to the kids and tell them what we’re doing.” Rule 2: Get Suggestive Suggestive selling and free samples are keys to Grotto’s gelato sales success. “If people are looking at the case or are on the fence and don’t know which flavor to try, our staff will say, ‘I’ll get you a sample of each,’” DiNatale explains. “After one bite, if you’re in the mood for

dessert, you’re going to get the full order. It’s a great way to close the sale.” For kids, employees ask parents if sampling is allowed, in case of dietary sensitivities, and the area is prepped with small spoons and mini trash cans. Servers are also trained to approach anyone at the display case and ask what flavor they’d like to try. And at Grotto, parents get a free scoop of gelato on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Rule 3: Strut Your Stuff Grotto shows off its gelatos on menus and table tents, while Sal & Mookie’s periodically distributes flyers to spread the word about its desserts, especially for new menu additions. The latter also APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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holds server contests to encourage recommendations, with prizes for top sellers, and promotes via social media. “We have great media partnerships with local magazines and other digital media, like local websites and podcasts,” Farris adds. “We use them to help get the word out and get excited about new items.” Rule 4: Be Kind to the Kids Make sure to include desserts in your party and catering program. A popular option with kids is the build-your-own ice cream party, charging a set amount per child or setting up a buffet for youngsters to get the full “Ice Cream Joint” experience. Sal & Mookie’s best-selling dessert treat is the create-your-own scoop in a cone or cup, topped with any combo of candies, sauces, cookies and other add-ons. “It’s really fun, because we have all of the topping jars lined up on the counter, and the kids want everything!” Farris says. “And, for any dessert that goes out in a glass, we’ll line the glass with chocolate or strawberry sauce in a pretty pattern before adding the dessert, then add a fun swirl of whipped cream or brightly colored pieces of candy or fruit on top to make sure it looks great.” Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

Try This: Use free sampling to tempt customers into ordering desserts. But, due to dietary sensitivities, don’t give freebies to kids without asking their parents first.

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EMAIL: SALES@UNIVEXCORP.COM TEL: 603-893-6191

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Building Better

Robots Food bots can already make pretty good pies. And as they get smarter and cheaper, they could reinvent the pizza business. By Blake Harris

Automation, robots and artificial intelligence are making inroads into the pizza industry—and changing it in unexpected ways. Never mind Domino’s and Pizza Hut—retail chain Costco, which has pizza serving food courts at most of its 482 domestic locations, has been cited by Business Insider as one of the nation’s largest pizza chains, with its dough presses, sauce dispensers, equalslice cutting guides and automated kiosks helping push out a product that customers want.

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ZUME PIZZA

Zume Pizza’s “Bruno,” a pizza making robot, has made waves with the concept of robotic pizzaioli. For more information about Bruno, read our story about Zume in the June-July 2017 issue of PMQ Pizza Magazine.

APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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Flippy, the burger flipping robotic arm developed by Miso Robotics for Caliburger, has made recent headlines as automation becomes more common in the fast-food industry.

“Over the past 30 years, the average robot price has fallen by half in real terms, and even further relative to labor costs.” — JONATHAN TILLEY, MCKINSEY & CO.

Costco certainly isn’t the only one using technology to reinvent the pizza business. Little Caesars has not only rolled out web-connected Pizza Portals—heated, self-service pickup stations that let mobile-order customers avoid human interaction entirely—but has also patented a robotic “apparatus… for assembling pizza,” which adds sauce, cheese and pepperoni to a crust. Similar developments are happening in the fast-food industry, where the international chain CaliBurger, based in Irvine, California, has adopted a robot called Flippy. In addition to flipping burgers, the food bot is on track to grill onions and toast buns. And don’t forget Pizza Hut and Domino’s, with their headline-grabbing efforts at automating

pizza production and delivery through driverless vehicles and drones. Even third-party food delivery services have been exploring the possibilities of high-tech automation. Back in 2017, DoorDash began testing robot delivery in several cities, including San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The robots use LIDAR, the same technology found in self-driving delivery vehicles. The company is also exploring other ways to improve food delivery. “We’ve always said that delivery operates at the intersection of a math problem and a human problem,” says Stanley Tang, DoorDash’s co-founder and chief product officer. “In that spirit, we’re constantly testing various ways to make

M I S O R O B OT I C S

deliveries faster. From machine learning and artificial intelligence to drones and electric bikes, we know that innovative technology paired with DoorDash’s top operations can help decrease delivery time, increase efficiency and improve quality.” SMARTER, SAFER AND CHEAPER

If the top three players in pizza are taking steps toward automation, where does this leave more traditional pizzerias? Of course, it ultimately comes down to the individual shop, but even small chains and independents may find that the bar to adoption of automation is lower than expected—and falling rapidly. Multiple studies show a significant and steady fall in prices of industrial robots since at least the 1990s. “Over the past 30 years, the average robot price has fallen by half in real terms, and even further relative to labor costs,” says Jonathan Tilley of McKinsey & Co., a leading global management consulting firm in New York. “As demand from emerging economies encourages the production of robots to shift to lower-cost regions, they are likely to become cheaper still.” In a March 2018 story about Flippy, NPR reported that the robot costs about

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ABB GROUP

Manufacturer ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB Group) is the company responsible for building Zume Pizza’s robotic chefs.

$60,000 per unit. Although that’s a lot more than your average fast-food burger chef makes annually, Flippy could start paying for itself within a few years. So it’s no surprise that smaller outfits like CaliBurger are looking to automate. Is it the same in the pizza industry? Some manufacturers have already started building robots with pizza in mind. While Zume Pizza, a delivery-only restaurant in Mountain View, California, gets the credit for putting robots partially in charge of making their pizzas, it’s the people at ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB Group) who build them. Nicolas De Keijser, assembly and test business line manager at ABB Robotics, agrees that robots will continue to become more affordable and useful. “Due to more advanced technology and demand driving higher volumes, the cost of robots has come down in the last 10 to 20 years,” he says. “We now see that a lot of development is going on to make robots more capable and easier to use, with technologies such as lead-through robot teaching, machine learning and computer vision. It’s these advances that will be the

“A lot of development is going on to make robots more capable and easier to use, with technologies such as leadthrough robot teaching, machine learning and computer vision.” — NICOLAS DE KEIJSER, ABB GROUP

main contributors to the increased affordability of the deployment and engineering of automated manufacturing solutions in the future.” De Keijser is describing a new generation of smarter, safer robots different from the current generation of single-purpose food bots found at innovators like Zume. While those robots work on the same line with humans to make pizzas in a so-called “cobot” environment, their limited awareness of their surroundings means they can inadvertently injure anyone who gets too close. For this reason, while humans partner with robots to customize Zume’s pies, they work in

separate stations. This lends itself to the conveyor belt-style of production that Zume has adopted. THE HUMAN TOUCH

Savvy pizza experts will recognize a lot of overlap between this approach to production and the kind that goes into frozen pizzas. The real difference is that, while robotic pizza making is fast and efficient, it’s more complicated than conventional mass production. Zume is a pizzeria, after all, and each of its artisan pizzas are made to order with fresh ingredients. Production has to be coordinated with delivery, since Zume’s pizzas are actually baked as they’re

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GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

Robots On Wheels Leave it to a company called Starship Technologies to unleash food delivering robots on the world. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Starship has partnered with hospitality company Sodexo to bring a fleet of 25 food bots to George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia. The robots, which resemble large beer coolers with six wheels, provide delivery from Blaze Pizza, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. They tool around the campus at about four miles per hour, carrying up to three pizzas—plus salads and drinks—in temperature-controlled compartments that customers can open with a smartphone app. GMU student Jenna Dayton said the delivery option is “fun and convenient.” She added, “Not only will this make my life easier as a student, but I’m going to get a visit from a robot!”

being delivered by a fleet of vans specially outfitted with ovens. Time will tell how Zume’s approach fares, but it’s not the only approach on the market. ABB’s new robot, YuMi, is different. New advances in artificial intelligence make YuMi a multipurpose robot that is safe and smart enough to teach by hand. YuMi is responsive to the human touch—so responsive, in fact, that it’s actually designed to learn how to perform an action through interaction rather than traditional coding. “Simply put, anyone can now hold YuMi’s arms and move them to relevant positions while using an intuitive tablet interface to register those motions,” De Keijser explains. “With this method, simple programs can be created in minutes with no formal training. Put into context, a pizzaiolo could now easily test out what robot motions are needed for toppings to be spread in different patterns, in the same way as would be done manually. All this [can be done] without having to involve a robot engineer.” Since YuMi can work safely around humans and perform multiple functions, it fits well in existing kitchens and doesn’t require the kind of space employed by Zume’s robotic production line. YuMi costs less than Flippy, too—as of 2015, ABB was charging about $40,000 per unit. MAKING PIZZAS WITH PAZZI

Although ABB is one of the largest robotics manufacturers in the world, it’s hardly the only one producing equipment that could be used in a kitchen. Indeed, if anyone knows the culinary arts, it’s the French, so it should be no surprise that

Paris-based EKIM was the first to develop a robot that can make a pizza from start to finish with minimal assistance. EKIM’s robot, PAZZI, consists of three arms that maneuver the dough into a press, add toppings of any imaginable type, and handle a standard deck oven to consistently bake each pizza to perfection. Any pizzaiolo knows this is no mean feat. A variety of factors can make each step tricky and require a lot more than a good egg timer to pull off, to say the least. No one understands the challenge better than a three-time Pizza World Cup champion, chef Thierry Graffagnino. No one knows more about how PAZZI handles the task, either. Graffagnino trained PAZZI to add toppings with the kind of artful randomness that machines can mimic but not yet imagine on their own. “I think we could sign up the robot to compete at the World Pizza Championship,” Graffagnino says. “Winning would still be tricky, because there is also the artist’s side of the pizzaiolo. The robot is a robot. He does just what he’s learned, so he doesn’t bring innovation.” Otherwise, as long as PAZZI has a reliable stock of ingredients and a human being to monitor its progress, the multilimbed robot can produce pizzas faster than any human. “Robots work in a way that humans don’t,” Graffagnino continues. “PAZZI has a constant rhythm, capable of making 120 pizzas an hour. But not just pizzas—perfect pizzas that are always the same. And he can flawlessly multitask. If the pizza doesn’t have the right shape or there is something irregular, it is automatically rejected. A human might think, ‘Ah, I’ll just

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send it anyway,’ but a robot can’t do that. It doesn’t think.” PAZZI is so good at its job that it will co-manage its own pizzeria, also called PAZZI, scheduled to open in Paris on May 20. The company envisions installing PAZZI restaurants—each run by a robot and a human being—in busy spaces like airports, railway stations and college campuses.

GIMMICK OR REAL INNOVATION?

“It’s a gimmick. It’ll never last.” Skeptics have said this about everything from personal computers to the internet and cell phones. Even Elon Musk learned, to his detriment, that flesh and blood are hard to beat. Just last April, he admitted that he had been relying too much on automation in his Model 3 Tesla plant and had to replace some of his expensive new robots with tried-and-

“Robots work in a way that humans don’t. PAZZI has a constant rhythm, capable of making 120 pizzas an hour. But not just pizzas—perfect pizzas that are always the same.”

true humans. Will robots really make a difference in pizza kitchens? In its 2018 census, PMQ asked readers whether they would ever consider having robots in their kitchens. Out of 212 responses, 45% said they might. “In the United States, a lot of people want to have it,” Graffagnino says. “There are even people who would like a master [PAZZI restaurant] franchise in the States. We see the same thing in Europe. We have a proposal from an English group that wants exclusivity for Germany and England. We have received hundreds of requests.” Depending on how cobot operations like PAZZI and Zume fare, we’ll soon find out whether more pizzeria owners will be inclined to automate their shops or to continue investing in their fellow human beings, warts and all. Blake Harris is PMQ’s video editor.

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MAILSHARK Direct mail is a potent marketing tactic, garnering higher response rates than any digital direct marketing medium, according to the Direct Marking Association. But it can be cost-prohibitive for pizzerias. “It’s a catch-22,” says Jeff Dodge of Ramos Pizza in Lincoln, Nebraska. “You know you have to do it to make money, but you can’t afford to do it. For years we were doing marriage (shared) mail with a pretty low return rate. We were on page 3 or the inside back cover of booklets. We wanted to have our own mailing piece, but we couldn’t afford to pay up front.” Ramos’ solution? Mail Shark. Ramos Pizza began working with Mail Shark five years ago. Since that time, they have doubled from $1 million to $2 million annually, and Dodge attributes his succcess to marketing with Mail Shark. “Direct mailing with any company works,” Dodge says. “The difference with Mail Shark was that I didn’t have to write a $10,000 check to get started. All I had to do was send them my logo, and their design team got right back to me. Their customer service is crazy good.” How does Mail Shark make it so affordable up front? “With our Weekly Mailing Strategy,” says Mail Shark owner Brian Johnson. “It works by spreading out mailings and payments for up to 10 weeks, making it possible for thousands of pizza shops to use direct mail. Each week a new area is targeted, making for a steady flow of new business with trackable results.” Since Dodge has consistently used their Weekly Mailing Strategy, his business has increased by an astounding 15% annually six years in a row. “We’ve dropped every other kind of advertising we do, and we are over capacity in our kitchen. We have to open a new location soon because we are literally turning away thousands of dollars every weekend—we’re too busy.” “Mail Shark makes it easy, and they are very good at what they do,” says Richard DeSantis of Peace, Love and Pizza in Atlanta. “They help you design a campaign that fits your budget. Their artists are the best I’ve ever worked with in terms of helping you get your message across. They keep in touch with you.” Today, thousands of pizza shops are reaping the benefits of Mail Shark’s unique approach to direct mail. Call 484-427-4724 or visit GoMailShark.com to learn more.

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PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE

G L U T E N - FWR EHE OP LR OE DSUOC TMS E

D E L I C I O U S ™ WHOLES

OME & DELICIOUS

INSURANCE ™

Scan for Demo

MAGNETS

Premium Flours Make Gluten-Free Tasty & Easy! Tel: 310-366-7612 E-mail: sales@authenticfoods.com Web: www.authenticfoods.com

H AT S

FOR MORE CHEFWARE, VISIT WWW.TASTEOFITALY.ORG (PGS 22 & 23)

M A C H I N E R Y/ E Q U I P M E N T

1-800-426-0323

1-800-760-8662 | 805-473-8494 HOTEL ROOM KEY ADVERTISING

www.northernpizza.com

Ovens Mixers Prep Tables Walk-ins Parts Smallwares

MAILING LISTS

DIAL #600 from your room for In-Room SPEED DIAL Papa John’s ROOM DELIVERY to Your Business

Reach More Hungry Customers with an Occupant List

PIZZAROOMKEYS.COM • 866-912-3539

• Saturate neighborhoods with your message

HOTEL ROOM KEY ADVERTISING

• Personalize for more effective campaigns • Save on postage It’s better than Every Door Direct Mail – and we’ll throw in free mailing software!

Get a Free Quote Now

www.melissa.com/hungry 1-800-MELISSA

MANAGEMENT

keep more of your hard earned dough! 3 money saving programs:

sCheduLing • aTTendanCe • daiLy Log

FAST, PAINLESS SCHEDULING • MONITOR LABOR COSTS • REDUCE TURNOVER • NOTIFY EMPLOYEES • ELIMINATE BUDDY PUNCHING • IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS • WEB-BASED

INSURANCE

save time and increase profits!

Restaurant Delivery Insurance Program

www.timeforge.com 866.684.7191

MARKETING IDEAS

Hired & Non-Owned Auto Liability Coverage

Have your agent contact us today! Matt Andrews: 717.214.7606 | matt.andrews@amwins.com

APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE

805-473-8494 | 1-800-760-8662

MARKETING IDEAS

100 %C ott on

Pizza’s Great Storyteller

Radio-style stories to bring customers in. Let pizza’s greatest storyteller make you a local pizza hero! • Fully-produced 1-minute pizza stories

Hear samples at PizzaTV.com/Rix

lo Po

Your Logo Here

Rix Quinn

M E AT TO P P I N G S

PRESTIGE FOODS .....................314-567-3648................MEATTRADER@MSN.COM

Low Closeout Pricing! Call for this week’s special. For Deals That Go To Your Bottom Line.

Custom Caps

100% Cotton Raglan Sleeve T-Shirt with Sewn Material

Cotton Poly-Blend Chef Shirt

FOR MORE CHEFWARE, VISIT WWW.TASTEOFITALY.ORG

(CLICK PGS. 22 & 23)

MIXERS

Precision HD-60 Pizza Mixer 7-Year Unconditional Parts Warranty on all gears and shafts in the planetary and transmission!

Holdsbowl! art 80-qundles a Ha . bag 50 lb our! of fl

www.pizzamixers.com • 1-877-R-MIXERS

F 1U5M%BREOLLFA!S S

& FLAG

11’ 6” Outdoor Flags (with stand)

72” Patio Umbrella

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PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE

MIXERS

O N L I N E DATA R E P O RT S

Heavy Duty MIXeRS RS

2-Year Warranty

60 qt. Pizza Mixer handles 50 lb. bag of flour Direct gear drive transmission • Rigid cast iron construction

Globe Food Equipment Co. | www.globefoodequip.com

Discover all the pizza trends in the Pizza Consumer Trend Report. 312.506.4060 | info@technomic.com

ONLINE ORDERING

POS Integration with: Dinerware

MOISTURE-ABSORBENT TOPPINGS CONDITIONER/SUPPLIES

Custom App $99 Monthly + 0% Commission imenutogo.com Online Mobile Ordering Solution (718) 554-0524 OLIVES THE WORLD`S LARGEST OLIVE AND OLIVE OIL PRODUCER ACORSA USA 2200 FLETCHER AVE. SUITE # 702, FORT LEE, NJ 07024 Tel. 201-944-0474 ...... Fax # 201-944-1279 enrique.escudero@dcoop.es ... www.dcoop.es We offer a full line of Green Olives, Ripe Olives and Olive Oil from Spain for private label or branded. OU Kosher and BRC Certified. Inventory stored at 11 warehouses throughout the U.S.

Grow Your Business with the power of online ordering More Orders. Starting Now.

SliceLife.com/JoinNow or (844) 880-2346

ON HOLD MARKETING/PHONE SERVICES

PIZZA BOXES ON HOLD MARKETING/PHONE SERVICES

Your food. Our custom-printed boxes. A winning combination. Ten case minimums. Pizza, sub, slice, kids and other boxes available.

800-626-0828 | starpizzabox.com

CUSTOMIZE YOUR PIZZA BOX SAVE $$$ on BOXES TAKE YOUR IMAGE TO THE NEXT LEVEL

7” to 36” Custom Boxes and Odd Sizes Available

UP TO 4-COLORS | NO PLATE FEES*

Rectangular Flat Bread Boxes Available

O N L I N E DATA R E P O RT S

Euromonitor International

888.400.3455 ext.107 | wpackaging.net 2001 East Cooley Drive, Colton, CA 92324

Your Strategic Partner for Company Growth Contact us at info-usa@euromonitor.com or visit www.euromonitor.com APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE

PIZZA BOX LINERS

PIZZA OVENS

PIZZA DELIVERY THERMAL BAGS

Stone Deck, Pizza Dome, and Bakery

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

PIZZA MARKETING

CONTROL THE

BEAST marraforni.com

inquiries@marraforni.com

888.239.0575

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

PIZZA OVENS

TRADITIONAL, FAST CASUAL, ARTISAN... WE’VE GOT PIZZA COVERED VENTLESS IMPINGEMENT CONVEYORS, BATCH, AND ARTISAN BATCH OVENS 1-800-90TURBO | www.turbochef.com

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PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE

PIZZA OVENS

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

PIZZA PEELS

PIZZA SUPPLIES

• Pizza Preparation and Delivery Products •

National Marketing, Inc.

www.nminc.com 800-994-4664

734-266-2222

Fax: 734-266-2121

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

PIZZA PEELS

pmq.com/Recipe-Bank/

Get the latest and greatest in pizza news, recipes, videos, marketing strategies and technologies at www.pmq.com! APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE

PIZZA DELIVERY THERMAL BAGS

Model PBF10/1416S -Packed 2 $87.98 or $43.99 + S & H Model PBF10/1618S - Packed 2 $91.98 or $45.99 + S & H

Warranty: 6 months for all manufacturing defects!

Order Manufacturer Direct Toll Free: 1-844-545-9675 Fax: 763-577-5680 SAUCE

Since 1915, The Neil Jones Food Company has been producing premium quality tomato and custom blend sauces. A family owned and operated corporation, we only pack from the freshest and finest vine-ripened California tomatoes. So whether you prefer classic #10 cans or new shelf-stable pouches, you will always get the very best in fresh packed tomato products from Neil Jones Food.

SCALES

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PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE

T E L E P H O N E E Q U I P M E N T/ S U P P L I E S / S E R V I C E

PRINTING

TO M ATO P RO D U C T S

WINGS

YEAST

pmq.com/Recipe-Bank/

ALWAYS WITH YOU.

Come follow us, like us, and engage with us on these social media platforms!

Get the latest and greatest in pizza news, recipes, videos, marketing strategies and technologies at www.pmq.com! APRIL 2019 | PMQ.COM

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE

TA B L EC LOT H S

. ed! S e E E HE ou n FRTC as y A any W S m

r de r O

You Top the Pizza, We’ll Top the Tables!

Updating your dining room is easy with our easy-care vinyl table covers … always made to your specs. Fabrics are also available by the roll. • 372 colors and 65 mix-and-match patterns • Covers are custom made within 2-3 weeks • Available with velcro, umbrella holes or elastic for a perfect fit. • No minimums required

View and order patterns online at Americo-Inc.com Call 1-800-626-2350

601 East Barton | West Memphis, AR 72301

ALWAYS WITH YOU.

Come follow us, like us, and engage with us on these social media platforms!

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PIZZA HALL OF FAME

Watch of Fam Pizza Hall PizzaT e videos on PizzaT V.com and th V Rok u chan e nel!

Clockwise from left: Joel Best and Julie Wilson work the kitchen in 1975; The Now Pizzeria, shown here in 1970, has become an institution in Hamburg, New York; the pizzeria’s original logo, circa 1969, reflected its hippie flair; Joel Best (left) buys the pizzeria from original owner Gerald Wilson (right) in 1982.

Has your pizzeria been in business for 50 years or longer? If so, contact us at tracy@pmq.com.

THE NOW PIZZERIA A former teenage dishwasher at this Buffalo-area pizzeria has taken the once-hippie takeout peddler into three generations of family ownership. By Tracy Morin Back in 1969, James Wilson opened a little pizzeria in Hamburg, New York, with a decidedly hippie-esque vibe appropriate for the times— think bright orange decor, black-light posters, and illumination by lava lamp, with pizza sizes offered in mini, mod and maxi. By 1973, a high schooler named Joel Best took a job there, starting at the bottom but quickly rising from dishwasher and floor mopper to pizza maker and eventually manager. “James eventually moved to Florida, and I ran the place,” Joel recalls. “When an opportunity came to buy in 1982, I jumped at the chance, because I knew I could make it even more of a success than it was.” Before long, the new owner was saturating the market with ads and coupons on everything from bowling score sheets to supermarket receipts. While keeping the pizzeria’s time-tested recipes, he also greatly expanded the menu, nearly doubling the subs and pizza toppings on offer while adding specialty pies, fried foods and wings. Today, with only two inside booths, The Now Pizzeria does brisk business as a mostly takeout operation, with a small patio open in summer, in the heart of Hamburg’s Main Street. But its success secrets, Joel believes, are no revelation. “We get the best we can in

terms of food quality, keep a clean restaurant, and make sure all of our employees are very friendly, greeting everyone who walks in,” he says. “One regular tells me he was the second customer ever, back in ’69, and he still comes in a couple times every week!” Indeed, many longtime customers remember Joel from his dishwashing days—and have seen his own children and grandchildren not only grow up but enter the business themselves. Daughters Joelene and Jodie have pitched in for 23 and 25 years, respectively, while three teenage grandkids have now joined the team, a boon for a business that’s closed only two days per year, on Thanksgiving and Christmas. But Joel himself is far from retirement mode; he still arrives in the early morning to prep, mixing dough and cutting cheese. “Even when bad snowstorms come through, we’ll be the only ones open, feeding our plowmen, police and firefighters,” Joel explains. “It’s a hands-on business; you can’t expect to have employees run things and not be there. And everyone who works here does every job—if we’re busy, I’ll put you wherever I need you!”

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

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CELEBRATING OUR 25TH YEAR AT PIZZA EXPO!

WE WILL SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

-Joey Todaro, III, Wing King

CHICKEN WING EATING CONTEST WINNERS CALL FOR A FREE SAMPLE /joeylanova /lanovawings @joeylanova La Nova Wings

Phone: 716-984-5666 www.LANOVA.com

VOTED BEST BOOTH AT PIZZA EXPO 25 YEARS IN A ROW! phof-april19.indd 84

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