PMQ Pizza Magazine September 2021 by PMQ Pizza Magazine

PIZZA MAGAZINE T H E W O R L D ' S A U T H O R I T Y O N P I Z Z A | P M Q . C O M | P I Z Z AT V. C O M

SEPTEMBER 2021

rise empire of an

With Via 313 in Austin, Texas, brothers Brandon and Zane Hunt have proven it’s hip to be square. PAGE 30

FIVE-STAR BATHROOMS 24

TEXT MARKETING 40

SANDWICH SECRETS 46

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THE BEST INGREDIENTS MAKE THE BEST PIZZA. PERIOD. YOU KNOW IT. I KNOW IT. AND YOU BETTER BELIEVE THE CUSTOMER KNOWS IT. 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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IN THIS ISSUE

SEPTEMBER 2021 FEATURES

ON COVTHE ER

RISE OF AN EMPIRE

With the backing of Savory Fund, brothers Zane and Brandon Hunt are gearing up for “explosive growth” for their Austin, Texas-based Detroit-style pizza concept. By Rick Hynum

Chef’s Corner Michael Kalanty

The Secret Message

Recipe of the Month

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

Sandwich Secrets

5-Star Bathrooms

WE PUT THE BEST INTO AN EDGE SO YOU GET THE BEST OUT OF IT The Best Technology + The Best Service = The Best Bake

FEATURES 3 Stackable up to three high 3 Sophisticated G2 control system technology 3 5-year parts and labor warranty 3 Proudly made in the USA

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PMQ ONLINE

A Publication of PMQ, Inc. 662-234-5481 Volume 25, Issue 7 September 2021 ISSN 1937-5263

PMQ.COM DIGITAL EXCLUSIVES

SOS to the World: Sting Opens a Pizzeria in Tuscany The former frontman of The Police announced on Instagram that he and his wife, Trudie Styler, will offer “fabulous pizza” at Il Palagio. pmq.com/sting-opens-pizzeria

Domino’s Still Dominates With 18,000th Store The world’s No. 1 pizza chain hit a “remarkable milestone” when franchisee Brian Bailey opened store No. 18,000 in La Junta, Colorado, in mid-July. pmq.com/dominos-18000-stores

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 ART DIRECTOR Eric Summers, eric@pmq.com SENIOR COPY EDITOR Tracy Morin, tracy@pmq.com IT DIRECTOR Cory Coward, cory@pmq.com ext. 133 DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH Blake Harris, blake@pmq.com ext. 136 TEST CHEF/USPT COORDINATOR Brian Hernandez, brian@pmq.com ext. 129

N.C. Pizzeria to Require Proof of Vaccination for Dine-In Guests Pizzeria Mercato, located in Carrboro, North Carolina, announced the policy on social media in early August, and the reaction was predictably mixed. pmq.com/pizzeria-mercato-vaccination

This Italian Restaurant Doesn’t Want Any Vaccinated Customers Basilico’s Pasta e Vino, owned by Tony Roman, says he will require “proof of being unvaccinated” to enter his restaurant. pmq.com/basilicos

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER David Fischer, david@pmq.com CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Shawn Brown, shawn@pmq.com ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Linda Green, linda.pmq@gmail.com ext. 121 SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Tom Boyles, tom@pmq.com ext. 122 SALES ASSISTANT Brandy Pinion, brandy@pmq.com ext. 127 PMQ INTERNATIONAL PMQ CHINA Yvonne Liu, yvonne@pmq.com

Stuffed Dolls Save the Day in Little Caesars’ TikTok Promo The pizza chain has enlisted several top social media influencers to advertise its stuffed-crust pizza in a series of humorous videos.

PMQ RUSSIA Vladimir Davydov, vladimir@pmq.com PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE 605 Edison St. • Oxford, MS 38655 662.234.5481 • 662.234.0665 Fax

pmq.com/little-caesars-tiktok

British Teens Turn Horse Trailer into a Mobile Pizzeria Four 19-year-olds from Solihull, England, grabbed the reins and founded Dirty Donkey Ltd. as a side business while attending university. pmq.com/dirty-donkey

IN EVERY ISSUE 10 Events & Promotions 20 Idea Zone 55 PMQ Bulletin Board

PMQ Pizza Magazine (ISSN #1937-5263) is published 10 times per year.

58 PMQ Resource Guide 66 Pizza Hall of Fame

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

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 9, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406-9953. 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.

EVENTS & PROMOTIONS SEPTEMBER 2021

Here’s a look at upcoming restaurant and foodservice events you won’t want to miss in September, plus some special food and beverage holidays and PMQ’s latest live interviews with industry leaders!

INDUSTRY EVENTS

PROMOTE THIS!

September 10-18 Denver Beer Week

September: National Mushroom Month

Presented by Visit Denver, this week-long celebration features events at restaurants, taverns and brewpubs—including Great Divide Brewing Company—throughout the Mile High City. Check out the beer-and-food pairings, rare beer tappings, tap takeovers, meet-the-brewer gatherings and more. Learn more at denver.org/denver-beer-week

September 12-14 FSTEC

Catch up on the latest foodservice technology at this event in Grapevine, Texas. Featured speakers include Jonathan Maze, editor-in-chief of Restaurant Business; Vincent Szwajkowski, chief marketing officer of Blaze Pizza; and Darien Bates, chief technology officer of &pizza. Learn more at fstec.com

September 19-20 Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show

Described as “a reinvented event serving a refocused foodservice industry,” this year’s show includes educational programming such as the Healthy Food Expo, the Independent Operator Summit and TechBytes, which highlights everything from ghost kitchens to AI and machine learning. Learn more at flrestaurantandlodgingshow.com

October 22-26 HostMilano International Hospitality Exposition

A 2021 survey by YouGov ranks mushrooms as the third most popular pizza topping. Celebrate this meaty, flavorful fungus all month long with specialty pizzas for vegetarians, vegans and ‘shroom aficionados.

September 5 National Cheese Pizza Day

Pay homage to one of your most important ingredients with a special deal highlighting a signature cheese blend or create a new cheese pizza just for this occasion. Promote it on social media and with text messages sent to your opt-in customers.

September 7 National Beer Lovers Day

Offer an all-day happy hour featuring your craft brews and beer buckets. Create a beer-and-pizza pairing menu that helps your customers choose the perfect brew for various pies, from meat lovers to Hawaiian.

LEARN AND EARN! 2 p.m. (CT), September 15 Marketing Masters: Pizza Crypto-Conference

Is cryptocurrency catching on in the pizza business? What changes can you make to begin accepting digital currency as a payment option? PMQ Publisher Steve Green talks to a panel of industry experts about how it works and how you can get started. Join us on Facebook Live!

HostMilano returns as a live, in-person event in Milan. With more than 1,000 exhibitors from 40 countries already signed up and 800plus events for restaurant and foodservice operators, this one is a worldwide can’t-miss!

2 p.m. (CT) October 5 PMQ Live Update: Lee Hunzinger

Thunderbird Pies started out as a virtual brand specializing in Detroitstyle pizzas and now has a brick-and-mortar location in Fort Worth, Texas. Lee Hunzinger of PILF Restaurant Group (which owns Thunderbird, Zoli’s Pizza and Cane Rosso) talks about how ghost kitchens can create ancillary revenue without changing your existing menu or concept. Join us on Facebook Live!

HostMilano to Feature 1,100 Exhibitors and 800 Hospitality Events Hospitality professionals from around the world will gather in Milan for this can’t-miss event on October 22 to 26.

fter the difficulties of recent months, the time has finally come for the world of professional hospitality to turn a new page, starting at the HostMilano International Hospitality Exhibition, which returns as a live, in-person event in Milan, Italy, from October 22 through 26. This edition of HostMilano promises to be the ideal marketplace, starting with at least 1,100 exhibitors from 40 different countries, including Germany, France, Spain, the United States, Portugal, Holland, Greece and the United Kingdom. HostMilano has signed agreements with some of the most important international associations, including the New York City Hospitality Association; the Mexican Restaurant Association; Restaurants Canada; the Baking Association of Canada; Interior Designers of Canada; The Hospitality Industry Network; the Ontario Convenience Store Association; the Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association; the Supply and Equipment Foodservice Alliance; and the Argentine Federation of Hotel and Food Service Professionals, among many others. HostMilano and TUTTOFOOD, the leading agri-food ecosystem event, will be held simultaneously, creating a can’t-miss hospitality event. At a time like this, it is essential to see what’s new and “try it out” in the field while getting back in touch with traditional partners and meeting new ones. Holding the two events at the same time will make it possible to exploit synergies between two complementary sectors: agri-food and hospitality. HostMilano will also offer more than 800 events, including national and international competitions, show-cooking demos and in-depth seminars, all divided among the show’s macro-areas. The SMART Label-Host Innovation Award competition will be open to all innovative companies. This year’s contest features 79 candidates, with more than half coming from the foodservice equipment and bar/coffee machines/vending segments. The trends emerging from the contest range from energy savings and green materials and solutions to user-friendly hygiene technology, the renewed attention to customization and personalization, and the flexibility of product use. Additionally, the Specialty Coffee Association will hold the SCA 2021 Championships, including the World Barista Championship, the World Brewers Cup and the World Cup Tasters Championship. Other events not to be missed are the Panettone World Championship, organized by the Academy of Masters of Mother Yeast and Italian Panettone, and the Bakery Academy, hosted by the Confcommercio Bakers Association of Milan and Provence. Showcooking and tastings will also take place at the stand hosted by the Association of Small/ Medium Fresh Pasta Producers, while Pizza e Pasta Italiana will present a new format titled “Slices: Pizza Culture for Professionals.” 12 PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | THE WORLD’S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA

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THE CHEF’S CORNER

Michael Kalanty is the proud father of a sourdough yeast housed at the International Sourdough Library.

MICHAEL KALANTY The former executive bread baker for Le Cordon Bleu explains how to bring your sourdough starter to life. BY BRIAN HERNANDEZ

If you live long enough, you find that history is often cyclical. Trends, fads and fashions of one era tend to re-emerge decades later, captivating an entirely new audience. One long-overlooked art rose to prominence once again during last year’s lockdowns, although it never quite went away: the art of sourdough bread starters. During the pandemic, many home bakers took to the kitchen to figure out how to create the yeasty beast known as a fluffy, tasty sourdough loaf, known for its distinct aroma and array of flavors and textures. Michael Kalanty, author of How to Bake Bread and How to Bake More Bread, sat down in the Chef ’s Corner to go over some of the ins and outs of sourdough creation. He’s the former executive bread baker for Le Cordon Bleu, a network of culinary and hospitality schools, and is currently an independent product developer for the baking industry who works with Johnson & Wales University. He’s also the creator of a truly cosmopolitan piece of sourdough housed at the International Sourdough Library. In other words, Kalanty knows what it takes to bring your own starter to life.

PMQ: What do you need to make a sourdough starter? Kalanty: It’s actually a very simple 10-day process. Your starter will be equal parts, water and flour. Here’s how you do it: Day 1: Let’s start with 100g of water. You should use 80°F to 90°F water to kick-start the birth of your starter and give it a nice warm place to incubate for the first week of its life. If the temperature of the flour is warmer than that, use a little cooler water to get to that Goldilocks zone of 85°F (or vice versa if the flour is cooler). Now we need some kind of natural yeast ingredient to go in and start the process. You can find this on the outside of vegetables, fruits and grains. I like to use raisins—they have millions of wild yeast cells on their skins. So I put in a handful of raisins. Then you add 100g of flour. Stir it up, and there you go! Basically, we are giving wild yeast an environment in which to multiply. Then you put a lid on it and leave it at room temperature. Just stir it occasionally to get more air for the yeast and to help distribute everything in the starter.

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Michael Kalanty teaches a class at the Ramekins Cooking School in Sonoma, California.

Day 2: The next day, you should take out half of your starter. Let’s say we have 200g. Remove 100g of starter and add another 100g each of flour and water, giving you 300g of starter. You always match the amount of flour to the amount of starter left in the container. Then add that same amount of water. Mix it, then let it begin the process again. Days 3 to 10: Take out 200g from your starter, then add another 100g each of flour and water. Mix and refrigerate again. Repeat this step for about 10 to 12 days, and then you should have a nice, ripe, aromatic starter reminiscent of the days of old. After about five or six days at room temperature, you will start to see some bubbles forming. Don’t rush to refrigerate it just yet. Wait a day or so, until you see reliable bubbling. In other words, when you refeed it, make sure you see bubbles again the next day before you refrigerate it. Otherwise, you retard the whole process. Once it’s formed and growing reliably, make sure it stays refrigerated after that. PMQ: Now we have a starter. How do we use it? Kalanty: It partially becomes some of the yeast in your dough, but it also brings along the flavor and texture of sourdough. You can use as little or as much as you want. At this point, it’s more akin to an ingredient for your pizza.

“Adding a good sourdough starter to your dough will get you a longer, softer chew from your crust or breads.” — MICHAEL KALANTY

PMQ: Does sourdough have a big effect on the taste and texture of your pizza? Kalanty: Using sourdough in your pizza does change the flavor profile and the texture. It makes the dough more tart or “sour.” This could, of course, affect what items you put on your pie, but it definitely adds a layer of flavor. It also changes the texture. It lowers the crispiness of the crust after baking. Don’t get me wrong: It’s not like a supermarket dinner roll, but it’s not a crispy cracker either. Adding a good sourdough starter to your dough will get you a longer, softer chew from your crust or breads. PMQ: Is there a basic dough formula for how much starter to use? Kalanty: There is. Of course, you can use as much or as little as you like, but here’s a good starting formula for beginners. You want to take your current baker’s percent formula and add 20% starter. Since our starter addition is basically 10% each of our flour and water measurements, take equal amounts of flour and water out of your regular baker’s percent formula. So, for example, you would go from: Flour: 100% Water: 60% Yeast: 0.10% Salt: 1.5% To: Flour: 90% Water: 50% Starter: 20% Yeast: 0.10% Salt: 1.5%

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Say no to dry, stale pepper ﬂakes and seeds. Restaurateurs are seeing the beneﬁts of offering a spicy and savory condiment that their guests can squeeze on their favorite slice of pie. People just love to dip their pizza into a tangy sauce. Food and beverage sales are hot with Melinda’s one-of-a-kind Pizza Hot Sauce. Contact us for a free sample kit and taste for yourself.

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Basic Dough Formula Flour

100%

Water

60%

Yeast

0.10%

Salt

1.50% 20% Starter= 10% Water + 10% Flour

New Formula with Starter Flour

90%

Water

50%

Starter

20%

Yeast

0.10%

Salt

1.50%

“You can absolutely freeze your starter. They are quite easy to reactivate and start up again.” — MICHAEL KALANTY You can adjust the yeast and salt to get different rises and flavors, but, for now, this formula will be a great starting point for all of the rising artisan bakers out there. PMQ: How long does your dough need to proof if you are using a sourdough starter? Kalanty: A correlative line can be drawn between how much starter was used and fermentation time. The less sourdough starter, the longer you can ferment. The fermentation time goes down according to how much starter is used. If you use 50% starter, you can be ready to go in six hours. Forty percent can proof for 24 hours, 30% for 36 hours and so on. For every 10% of starter you use, you forgo 12 hours of proof time. The science behind the “less for longer” fermentation model is that, if you are using 50% starter, then you truly only have about 75% dry flour. The longer you proof, the more the yeast in the starter eats, eventually exhausting the flour supply. This leaves you with a giant colony of yeast and no dough.

process, and the creature will come back to life. It can live forever as long as you feed it and maintain it between uses. PMQ: I have to ask, what is Lucky Lady #99? Kalanty: It’s my sourdough starter in the Sourdough Library in St. Vith, Belgium. It was named after my faithful beagle, Lady, who came with me 27 years ago to San Francisco. It is also #99 in the library in Belgium. I went to Napa and got some organic grapes, put it in some water and added some flour, and that was 27 years ago. Don’t tell the Transportation Security Administration, but I would sneak her on a plane and add to her in places like Italy and Germany, where she would collect local bacteria and yeast. She is very much a worldly starter. It truly is an honor to have my work preserved for the ages. Brian Hernandez is PMQ’s test chef.

PMQ: What happens if someone has to go on a trip and can’t feed the starter? Kalanty: You can absolutely freeze your starter. They are quite easy to reactivate and start up again. Just thaw it out, then halve it and feed it for three days like in the beginning of the starter 18 PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | THE WORLD’S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA

Watch our full-length video interview with Michael Kalanty at PMQ.com/kalanty. Learn more about Michael Kalanty at michaelkalanty.com. And find out more about the International Sourdough Library at puratos.com.

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SEPTEMBER RECIPE

DIRECTIONS: Slice 9 oz. Grande Avorio into 9 slices. Pour 1½ oz. olive oil into a 12” x 12” pan to coat the inside of the pan with oil. Place dough in pan and coat dough with oil. Push dough out to the ends of the pan and let rest for one hour in a warm area. Gently re-push dough out to the corners of your pan. Lightly dimple the dough with your fingertips. Par-bake your pizza for 8 to 9 minutes at 500° to 550°F. Warm 5 oz. hand-crushed plum tomatoes and 3 oz. tomato sauce and set aside. Remove pizza from the oven and pour the remaining 1 oz. of olive oil around the sides of the pan. Top with Grande Avorio slices, leaving ½” border around the outer edge. Place pizza back into the oven and bake for 2 to 3 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden. Remove pizza from oven and pan, slice into 9 pieces and spread blended sauce diagonally across the pie. Finish with salt, pepper, oregano, Grande Romano, basil and garlic oil.

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LET YOUR CUSTOMERS BRING HOME A TASTE OF AUTHENTIC EAST COAST FLAVOR.

Introducing Grande Avorio ™ Fresh Mozzarella Loaf, a new cheese that will help you create East Coast specialty pies with a clean dairy flavor unlike anything else. Offering something new creates excitement for your customers. In fact, 79% of consumers are craving something new.* Avorio’s creamy, tender texture is sure to create new fans of your pizzeria and keep them coming back for more.

*Datassential Simply Smarter Webinar 8/20/20

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10 Tips for a

FIVE-STAR

BATHROOM ««««« A little “clean bacteria marketing” goes a long way in creating a positive customer experience at your restaurant. BY BILLY MANZO

How many times have you visited a restaurant bathroom and were so disgusted that you just walked right out? Be honest. It’s happened to me. I’m sure it’s happened to you. The bathroom is one of the most important parts of the customer experience. People use it for any number of reasons beyond the obvious—to wash their hands, to make a phone call, to enjoy some personal space—and they expect it to be clean. That’s especially true in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SEPTEMBER 2021 | PMQ.COM

Remember, if the public-facing rooms are not up to speed, your customers are wondering what’s happening in the kitchen or other rooms that nobody can see!

Billy Manzo, owner of Federal Hill Pizza, believes your restaurant's bathrooms should be as clean and hygienic as your kitchen.

According to a recent survey by the Bradley Corporation, which specializes in commercial washrooms, more than 60% of Americans—millennials and Gen Xers in particular—are willing to spend more at businesses that have clean, wellmaintained restrooms. The study also found that nearly three out of four Americans make it a point to visit a business because they know it has nice restrooms. Let’s also not forget that some of the best Instagram traps are restaurant bathrooms—think selfies in front of neon signs that say, “S--Happens.” Bathrooms are an extension of your brand. They tell part of your story. You call this crazy? I call this “clean bacteria marketing.” It’s like a common cold: You want everyone coming into your place to catch it—in a good way. Because when they do, they’ll tell two friends, and those friends will tell two friends, and that translates to more customers walking into your pizzeria and more dough in your pocket. MAKING CLEANLINESS PART OF YOUR CULTURE

Unfortunately, many bathrooms don’t get the attention they deserve. According to that same Bradley Corporation study, 67% of Americans have noticed more trash and paper towels littering countertops and floors recently. They also report seeing an increase in unflushed toilets. Plus, a whopping threefourths of Americans say they’ve had a “particularly unpleasant

experience” in a public restroom due to the condition of the facility—a number that’s crept up over the years. That’s troubling. After all of the hard work you put into running your business, the last thing you want is a one-star Yelp review because there was no toilet paper in the stall. Remember, if the public-facing rooms are not up to speed, your customers are wondering what’s happening in the kitchen or other rooms that nobody can see! Listen, I know that, on any given day, you have a lot on your plate, but your restrooms are one of the busiest—and most scrutinized—areas of your restaurant. Fortunately, while they can be expensive to furnish—can ceramic tile get any pricier?—they don’t cost a lot to clean. Whether you’re getting down on your hands and knees to do it yourself or hiring someone to do it for you, you need to find a way to work bathroom maintenance into your budget and schedule. When we developed our business plan for our Providence, Rhode Island, location of Federal Hill Pizza, I told my wife, “We need to hire a full-time cleaning person for the entire restaurant.” Every day, our cleaning person washes the floors, wipes down the tables and cleans the bathrooms. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, when we were shut down for indoor dining for months on end, the bathrooms were cleaned daily! Why? Because I’m type AAAA? Partly, yes, but also because I have made cleanliness part of our culture. And you can, too. Here’s how to do it. TOP 10 TIPS FOR A FIVE-STAR BATHROOM

Keep supplies handy. Toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags and other items should be readily available for restocking the bathroom. If a customer is forced to go to the bar or to a waiter and say, “Excuse, me, there’s no toilet paper in the bathroom,” that’s like a customer complaining that you ran out of pizza. Every day before your shift starts, you should go into your bathroom and check your paper towels and your toilet paper. You gotta have your head in the game.

Check the overall structure. Make sure there are no holes in the wall and no chipped or stained tiles, especially on the ceiling. I can’t tell you how many times I have gone into a restaurant bathroom and seen spots on ceiling tiles. There’s no reason for it. You had a leak? Okay, go to Home Depot, and change out the tile!

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Beyond The Dough Presented By

Remember the 5 simple rules to happiness: 1.

Free your heart from hatred. Forgive!

Free your mind from worries. Don’t let your thoughts paralyze you!

Live simply and appreciate what you have. Gratitude!

Give more. The more you give, the more you GET to give!

Expect less from people but more from yourself. Focus on a smaller circle and BIGGER GOALS!

You don’t want your customers eating off your bathroom floor, but you want your bathroom floors to look like they can.

Pay special attention to problem areas. These include windowsills, the area behind the sink spigots (where water tends to pool) and the corners of the room. Dust mites and garbage gather in floor corners, and cobwebs can form in ceiling corners. If I see a cobweb when I walk into a restaurant bathroom, I know for sure that bathroom hasn’t been cleaned in eons.

Clean and sanitize toilets and urinals daily. Keep toilet brushes and cleansers where you keep your restocking supplies. This way, if an accident happens during the day—and, as we all know, accidents happen—you can remedy the situation quickly.

To learn more about Perfect Crust’s pizza liners and other products, visit perfectcrust.com or email Eric Bam at Eric@perfectcrust.com.

About Eric Bam:

A Boston native now living in Tulsa, OK, Eric Bam is VP of sales and marketing for Perfect Crust, with 20 years of experience in the foodservice industry. A powerful force in the workplace, Bam uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. He has three children and loves helping the men and women of the pizza industry grow their businesses.

Empty garbage cans throughout the day as needed. We’ve all been to restaurants where the trash bins are overflowing, so the customers just toss their paper towels on top of the heap. That’s disgusting. It’s like washing your hands next to Mount Vesuvius.

Don’t forget about doorknobs and stall locks! These are some of the most germ-infested surfaces in commercial spaces. Run a disinfectant wipe along them at least once a day.

Sweep floors daily and mop after closing. You don’t want your customers eating off your bathroom floor, but you want your bathroom floors to look like they can.

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Monitor your hand soap dispensers. They should be as new as possible. If they get old, then ask your supplier for a new one. Remember, if you buy the soap, you get the hand dispenser for free, so there’s no excuse for shoddy dispensers.

Mirrors must be smudge- and streak-free. I don’t care if you wipe them in a tight S-pattern or go “paint the fence” style like the Karate Kid—just make sure your customers can see their reflections without having to squint.

Your bathroom should not only be clean but smell clean. And if you don’t like the smell of disinfectant, throw a few air fresheners into your shopping cart while you’re picking up the ceiling tiles. (Or, for a sweet touch, add a bouquet of fresh flowers to a mantel or tabletop.) Your restaurant’s territory starts from the sidewalk and stretches all the way from the dining room to the kitchen to the bathroom. That means the energy you put into every other area should be the same energy that you put into the bathroom. As restaurant owners, there are many things we don’t have control over—pandemics come to mind—but you can certainly control the quality of the food that you serve and the cleanliness of your bathroom.

One of our longtime customers recently came for dinner after we reopened the dining room when the pandemic restrictions were lifted. “I want you to know that I tell everyone to come here,” she told my wife and me. I figured she was going to tell me how much she loves the food. But she went on: “You guys have the cleanest bathroom….” A little “clean bacteria marketing” goes a long way. Billy Manzo is a veteran restaurant operator and the owner/chef of Federal Hill Pizza, with locations in Providence and Warren, Rhode Island.

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Zane Hunt (left) and Brandon Hunt have become Austin’s best-known pizza brothers, thanks to the success of Via 313. 30 PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | THE WORLD’S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA

To learn more ab out Zane an d Brand o n Hunt’s ris e to succ e and the challeng ss es o bringing Detroit- f sty pizza to Austin, w le atc the full v ideo inte h r vi at PMQ.c om/via-3 ew 13!

Roifsane Empire Motor City natives Brandon and Zane Hunt brought Detroit-style pizza to Austin with Via 313. Now they’re ready to conquer the West, thanks to new friends with deep pockets. BY RICK HYNUM AND BRIAN HERNAN

DEZ

the ideal Zane Hunt was just five years old when he met Brandon, business partner for Via 313: his baby brother, Hunt fresh from the womb. Raised by their mom, the a boys grew up near Detroit and ate a lot of pizz recalls. together—three or four times a week, as Zane ty well. And, unlike some brothers, they got along pret their They still do—so well, in fact, that they founded have first pizza trailer in Austin, Texas, in 2011 and tal since grown Via 313 to five locations in the capi r city, including three acclaimed brick-and-morta restaurants and two permanently placed trailers. in And they did it all with a product that most folks Austin had never heard of: Detroit-style pizza.

SEPTEMBER 2021 | PMQ.COM

Brandon and Zane Hunt brought Detroit-style pizza to Austin in 2011 and soon began winning best-pizza awards from the local news media.

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Via 313 is currently an Austin, Texas company but will expand to San Antonio and Utah by the end of the year.

Is it safe to say they’re building a pizza empire? “It’s gonna be an empire,” Zane confidently says. After all, they now have the backing of Savory Fund, a Mercato Partners Fund that invests in food and beverage operations. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Savory Fund will help Via 313 open six additional locations by the end of 2021, taking the brothers’ award-winning concept to Round Rock, Cedar Park and San Antonio, Texas, as well as to Orem, Lehi and Murray, Utah. The Hunt brothers closed their deal with Savory Fund last year after fielding offers from several private equity firms. It’s the kind of deal many smaller pizzeria operators dream about. But it took a lot of hard work, savvy neighborhood marketing and some amazing pizza to make it happen.

“[Selling Detroit-style pizza] ended up being the greatest marketing strategy ever, because it sparked questions and conversations about what this pizza is. I think Austin prides itself on being the first to try Detroit-style pizza [outside of Detroit].” — BRANDON HUNT, VIA 313

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TAKING THE RISK

First things first: What’s it like to run a business with your brother, especially in the grueling pizza industry? “It ain’t too bad,” Brandon says. “I think we’ve been in one fight, and that was early on, when I didn’t know how to contain my emotions.” He laughs and adds, “Is this therapy or are we talking about pizza?” Easygoing and soft-spoken, Brandon and Zane josh and tease each other, as brothers do. But their mutual respect and fondness shine through in their conversations about Via 313’s origins and rapid expansion. “The hardest thing to remember is that we’re brothers first and business partners second,” Brandon says. “We’ll get together and just start talking about pizza and business the whole time. Sometimes you’ve gotta remember to talk about sports and family.”

SEPTEMBER 2021 | PMQ.COM

Zane was the first to relocate from Detroit to Austin. That was in 2009, and, upon arriving with his wife and kids, he immediately embarked on a quest for good pizza. “Being the pizza addict I am, I started trying to find things that reminded me of home, including different pizza styles,” he said. “It became apparent quickly that this wasn’t a strong pizza town. We have good pizza here, but there wasn’t a lot of it, and we didn’t have a lot of variety.” The brothers, both of whom had restaurant experience, stayed in touch by phone and mulled over the idea of starting a pizzeria that served the kind of pizza they grew up with. “It was something we’ve always talked about doing—this idea of owning a business together,” Zane says. “I just had to convince Brandon that it was a wise idea to give up everything he had going for himself in Detroit and move here.” “It was a risk, because I was managing a bar, making pretty good money and partying every night, so it was a ton of fun,” Brandon recalls. “But when you’re creeping into your 30s, it’s time to slow down and grow up. Well, I’m still trying to grow up….”

“We definitely had our guard up. I had all these preconceived notions about what people from the private equity world would be like….We’ve heard horror stories from friends in the industry.” — ZANE HUNT, VIA 313 Michigan’s long, cold winters helped Brandon make up his mind. At the same time, their mother was dying of brain cancer, and her end-of-life reflections gave them pause. “We had time to spend with her during those months,” Zane recalls. “She was feeling emotional [and] thought she still had unfinished business in her life. There was a bunch of ideas she had that she never took the time to pursue. That really struck a chord with me, and Brandon and I talked about it: ‘We can’t end up like that. We’ve got an opportunity to maybe open a business and

DECONSTRUCTING THE VIA 313 STYLE

The secret to delicious Detroit-style pizza isn’t really a secret at all, says Zane Hunt, who co-owns Via 313 with his brother, Brandon Hunt. “It’s the same for any good pizza: It’s just about balance, cheese-to-crust ratio, balanced heat from top to bottom.” For Brandon, the sauce immediately springs to mind. “Most places put way too much stuff in their sauce and don’t just let the tomatoes be tomatoes. We don’t do anything to our tomatoes. It became trendy, with Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Little Caesars, to use this really heavy, herbed sauce with garlic. It gives you heartburn and just wrecks the balance.…Don’t overspice your sauce. Less is more. Be real subtle.” What about choosing the right cheese for caramelization on those square edges? “I think it can be any cheese you like that doesn’t burn,” Zane notes. “Traditionally, [Detroit-style pizza] uses brick cheese, but that’s hard to find. I’ve seen it done with Gouda, cheddar, Muenster and mozzarella.” The Hunt brothers stick with white cheddar around the edges of the pizza and whole-milk mozzarella down the center.

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chase this idea. We have to do it. We can’t let anything stand in our way.’ So we used that for motivation.” TAKING DETROIT-STYLE TO AUSTIN

After Brandon packed up and headed south to Austin, the brothers built their first Via 313 trailer for $30,000 and opened for business in December 2011. (Via means “by way of ” and 313 is Detroit’s area code.) At first, Zane continued working his day job while helping Brandon run the trailer at night. “I was paying myself $250 a week,” Brandon says. “Zane didn’t pay himself for the first two years. We were reinvesting in the business nonstop. We were working 16 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s no exaggeration.” They made sure to pick the right spot to park their trailer: next to the Violet Crown Social Club, a hip watering hole on 6th Street that didn’t offer its own food. “It picked up steam as people would be drinking there, trying our pizza, and telling people around town about it,” Brandon says. The brothers also set out to earn new friends at surrounding businesses in the area. “We would just make pizzas and take them to anyone who would help spread the word—bartenders, servers, tattoo artists, hair salons, barber shops,” Brandon says. “They would be in front of people all day and talk about us.”

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Via 313 started out as a pizza trailer parked next to a popular local watering hole.

SEPTEMBER 2021 | PMQ.COM

Zane Hunt (left) and his brother, Brandon, grew up thinking of Detroitstyle pizza simply as “square pizza.”

But their pizza style itself was the biggest selling point. Although the brothers grew up thinking of Motor City pies simply as “square pizza”—nothing out of the ordinary— Austinites were drawn to the idea of a pizza in the Detroit style, which had not yet caught on nationwide. “It ended up being the greatest marketing strategy ever, because it sparked questions and conversations about what this pizza is,” Brandon says. “I think Austin prides itself on being the first to try Detroit-style pizza [outside of Detroit]. So it ended up working in our favor.” About a year after opening their first trailer, the brothers opened a second one in a different section of Austin. To ensure consistent product and service, they created an employee manual, started putting systems and processes into place, and committed their recipes to paper. Now they were off and running. They opened their first brick-and-mortar store in April 2015, a second one in 2016 and a third in 2018. “Then we started feeling stretched and needed to bring in some outside help,” Brandon says.

Brandon wasn’t sure either. “We’re pizza guys,” he says. “We didn’t know what our company was worth. We’re just existing. We’re just happy to be here.” Eventually, representatives from the Savory Fund, who knew the other investment pros, came to town and tried Via 313’s pizza. They realized the brothers were onto something and wanted to meet. “We hosted them in Spring 2019…and had a fantastic meeting with them,” Zane says. “We definitely had our guard up. I had all these preconceived notions about what people from the private equity world would be like—probably really stuffy, suits and ties….We’ve heard horror stories from friends in the industry.” “It’s about money, money, money, all the time,” Brandon adds. Some of his friends, Zane says, “were given a boatload of cash and told to go expand. That scares the hell out of us. We need to work with people who are better at what we do than we are. We were cautious. But we met the Savory group and hit it off with them. It was almost too good to be true. We still had our guard up….But they were the right fit for us.”

PREPARING FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH

The Hunt brothers had already proven they could round up equity funding for their expansion plans. According to the Austin Business Journal, they raised $480,000 in 2017 and $350,000 the previous year. But the Savory Fund partnership is a game changer. “It was another organic situation,” Zane says. “Some longtime customers of ours happened to be investment bankers who put together packages for restaurants to go to market and find funding and partners. They approached us to see if that’s something we would be interested in pursuing. I didn’t quite know what we were getting ourselves into, but I was open-minded.”

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READ MORE ABOUT DETROITSTYLE PIZZA AT PMQ.COM. Imitators abound, but Detroit-style pizza has some critical elements to keep in mind if you’re aiming for the real thing. PMQ.com/authentic-detroit-style-pizza Shawn Randazzo, the late, great Detroit-style pizza evangelist, shared his philosophy about the style and a recipe for the Detroit Twist in December 2018. PMQ.com/detroit-style-pizza-recipe

So why did the brothers choose Savory Fund? For one thing, the company’s staff knows the restaurant business inside and out. “There were more lucrative offers that felt soulless,” Brandon says. “With Savory, we get, like, 50 people in the corporate office who are really great at what they do: real estate selection, helping with training manuals and HR, tightening up everything to make it easier to scale so we can focus on growing.” “At the end of the day, it’s just about people,” Zane says. “When you’ve got this type of explosive growth, the number of people you need to pull that off is staggering. We’d just been maintaining [the business so far]. Now we’re like a toy car being pulled, with all this tension building up in the wheels, and you let it go, and it flies.”

“When you’ve got this type of explosive growth, the number of people you need to pull that off is staggering.…Now we’re like a toy car being pulled back, with all this tension building up in the wheels, and you let it go, and it flies.” — ZANE HUNT, VIA 313 A YIN-YANG THING

Fortunately, Detroit-style pizza is red-hot these days, and executives at Savory Fund see Via 313 as a good bet to take it further west, including their own backyard around Salt Lake City. “Over the past decade, there has been a lot of disruption with fast-casual pizza concepts and low-cost pizza options,” said Andrew K. Smith, managing director of Savory Fund. “None have been more interesting, nostalgic and quality-driven than Via 313. Detroit-style pizza is one of the best-kept secrets, and we can’t wait to bring it to more communities in Texas, Utah and additional states that will be announced soon.” Meanwhile, the Hunt brothers seem happily amazed—although not necessarily surprised—by their own success. They’ve been hailed by the Food Network for offering the “Top 5 Pizzas in America” and praised as “pizza gods” by Austin Food Magazine. They have also won The Austin Chronicle’s award for Best Pizza in 2018 and 2021, and the Best Food Truck award in 2017, while tying for Best Pizza in 2015. The newspaper has also bestowed its First Plate Award on Via 313 every year from 2013 to 2021. But all of that success hasn’t gone to the brothers’ heads. They know they face stiff challenges as the company expands and pressure mounts to live up to investors’ expectations. Regardless, Zane and Brandon plan to stick together for the long haul. “I don’t know that I’d want to be in business with anybody else,” Zane says. “We know each other so well, and we’ve been so tight for so long. We can read each other’s thoughts, and we know where the other is going before we get there. We fill in each other’s gaps. It’s like a yin-yang thing. It’s ideal.”

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Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief. Brian Hernandez is the U.S. Pizza Team coordinator and PMQ test chef. SEPTEMBER 2021 | PMQ.COM

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

The

Secret Message Use these 10 tips to craft a text marketing strategy that will make opt-in customers feel like true insiders. BY RICK HYNUM

We all know texting is a surefire way to get in touch with someone. In fact, a lot of people would rather text than talk on the phone, and this likely goes for your customers, too. According to Mobivity, a text marketing platform for restaurants, texting is the second most common use for a mobile phone (checking the time is No. 1). Eighty percent of customers use texting on a regular basis, and the open rate for text messages is a whopping 98%. And 90% of people read their texts within three minutes of receiving them.

SEPTEMBER 2021 | PMQ.COM

Use humor to engage your audience blabblabla lakdsjf laksjf lkaj flkja slfkj alskfj alksjf laksjf lkajs flkajs flkja sdflkja sdlfkj asf

Get Inspired Now here’s the best part: Mobivity also reports that text (or SMS) message marketing boosts restaurant visit frequency by 23% and increases consumer spend by 21%. So not only is your pizzeria’s text message likely to be seen and read, it will also get results that add to your bottom line. The challenge is crafting the right message and making your customers feel like they belong to an exclusive, top-secret pizza club. Here are 10 tips for creating a text marketing strategy that will engage customers and drive more traffic to your pizzeria.

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Use opt-in keywords to build up your database. You probably know this already, but you can’t send marketing texts to your customers unless they opt in to receive them. So the first step is to get them to sign up, and this starts with in-store and social media marketing. Create a simple, relevant keyword— such as PIZZA4ME—and promote it with signage, on your menus, table tents and pizza boxes, and in your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok posts. Invite customers to text PIZZA4ME to a designated number so they can start receiving special discounts, alerts and opportunities to participate in contests to win free food.

Make your opt-in customers feel like insiders. Many of us feel like outsiders but long for the opposite. To build up your text marketing database, reward your opt-in customers with exclusive deals that the regular walk-in customer can’t get. For example, they can receive exclusive alerts about new menu items and try them out at a discounted price if they show the text to the server. Or offer a free surprise appetizer—preferably something that doesn’t routinely appear on the menu—on Tuesday nights only.

Identify the target customer according to daypart and craft your message accordingly. Delivered around mid-morning, a text message advertising a lunch special, for example, will catch the customer at the right time. Consider promoting a lunchtime slice-and-salad offer or a personal-size pizza with a high-quality photograph. Or send a text in the afternoon about your family meal bundle for dinner. Make the deal exclusive to text message recipients (or “insiders”) and be clear about the price. Every text you send should emphasize value and exclusivity so your customers will want to keep hearing from you. 42 PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | THE WORLD’S AUTHORITY ON PIZZA

Keep the tone light and fun. Texts crafted with wit and personality will be remembered! The ideal marketing text should read as if it were sent by a friend, not a soulless corporation. Keep it short and to the point and consider adding relevant emojis to your message, such as a pizza slice or a mug of beer. At the same time, remember to include a clear call to action—you want your customer to know exactly what to do when they receive your text. If it’s a limited-time offer, make that clear in your message (but don’t be a jerk about it).

Don’t bombard them. Speaking of not being a jerk, we mentioned earlier that your guests already get more spam calls and texts than mere mortals can bear. So it’s important to get the frequency of your messaging right. One surefire way to turn them off is to hit them with messages every single day. Stick with one or two per week and make sure to send them at consistent times—when you’re getting the best engagement results.

Personalize the message. If you’re tracking guest data, you can personalize your text messages to reflect the customer’s preferences and types of orders they have placed in

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the past. For example, craft special offers for those customers who have frequently ordered vegan or vegetarian fare in the past. You can also develop a triggered campaign that sends out a special text offer on the customer’s birthday—maybe free breadsticks or a 20% discount on their order for that day only.

Conduct customer polls. If social media has taught us anything, it’s that people love to share their opinions. Use text marketing to get customers’ input and ideas for future specials or new additions to the menu. Example: “What should our next pizza of the week be? Help us decide between the Spicy Hawaiian or the Philly Cheesesteak. Text back SH or PC, and we’ll give you a free taste of the winner!”

Offer an exclusive preview of a new menu item. Ready to roll out a new calzone or sandwich? Send a text message to your entire database with an exclusive offer to try it for themselves before it appears on the menu. This is another way to make your customer feel like an “insider” at your restaurant. You can even help them show off a bit by letting them bring some friends for the exclusive advance tasting. The customer feels cool, and you get a chance to add their buddies to your list.

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Be spontaneous! Although it’s wise to create a schedule, every marketing text doesn’t have to be carefully planned weeks or months in advance. Maybe it’s a blistering-hot summer’s day, and you’ve got some great, refreshing cocktails or summer beers on your menu. Send a text out of the blue to remind customers that they can cool off with some friends at your pizzeria after work and enjoy special happy-hour prices on certain hot-weather drinks. Tell them this deal is for insiders only and they’ll need to show the text to the server to take advantage of it.

Incentivize customers to leave more reviews. Text messaging is a great way to remind recent customers to post a review on your Yelp, Google or Facebook page. Follow up after an opt-in customer’s visit with a text offering some kind of incentive—such as a discount or free wings or breadsticks with their next order —if they leave a review. Make sure they know where to place the review by including a link to the right page.

Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.

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

Sandwich SECRETS Sandwiches inspire endless creativity and combinations. Nail a winning formula every time by following these general guidelines from established sandwich pros. BY TRACY MORIN

Breads, cheeses, meats, toppings, condiments—brought to their barest bones, sandwiches seem basic. But creative sandwich makers across the country are showing that the best examples are anything but. Rather, they offer carefully crafted combinations of the most complementary elements, all in the perfect ready-to-chow, handheld format. Read on for some tips on nailing every last one of those elements, every time.

SEPTEMBER 2021 | PMQ.COM

The award-winning cheesesteak at Capriotti’s can be upgraded with American Wagyu beef from Snake River Farms. CAPRIOTTI’S

“We’ve created sandwiches that remind people of a sandwich from their childhood—just elevated to another level.”

UPGRADING THE CLASSICS

The Pros: Alex Phaneuf and Or Amsalam, chefs/owners, Lodge Bread Co. and Full Proof Pizza, Los Angeles, CA We think it’s best to keep the sandwich straightforward and simple, with high-quality, fresh ingredients. We don’t fuss around with too many toppings. We’ve created sandwiches that remind people of a sandwich from their childhood—just elevated to another level. Our best sellers are the Breakfast Sammie and Roasted Turkey Sammie. For the Breakfast Sammie, we use a sourdough brioche bun, mayo, Nueske’s bacon, cave-aged white cheddar, two fried farm-fresh eggs and fresh arugula. The brioche bun (or any sandwich bread) is very important, and ours is made fresh every day with coconut oil, freshly milled whole-grain flour, raw sugar and eggs. Nueske’s is the best bacon for a sandwich— you can taste the difference. The eggs are extremely fresh and rich. The cave-aged white cheddar cheese is very sharp and stands out nicely, and the arugula gives the sandwich a fresh and peppery bite. Unbeatable! Our turkey sandwich combines Diestel Ranch’s amazing Honey Roasted Turkey Breast, mixed greens, heirloom tomato, Fontina cheese and whole-grain mustard aioli. The sourdough flavor of our housemade country loaf complements this sandwich tremendously, while the honey-roasted turkey breast sets the sandwich apart from other classic turkey sandwiches. Next, it’s important to lather the turkey sandwich generously with whole-grain mustard aioli and add crisp flavor and texture with the heirloom tomatoes. This sandwich is nostalgic for most eaters—our guests have fallen in love with it.

— ALEX PHANEUF AND OR AMSALAM, LODGE BREAD CO. AND FULL PROOF PIZZA WORKING FROM SCRATCH

The Pro: David Bloom, chief development and operating officer, Capriotti’s, Las Vegas, NV Having products consumers really can’t get anyplace else is one way we raise the bar and differentiate ourselves. We’re preparing and cooking in-house from scratch every day and night. We hand-roll and roast our own meatballs, and our stuffing and coleslaw are made in-house each day by hand from our proprietary recipes. Butterball raises a line of turkeys just for us called the Capriotti’s Super Tom, which are then slow roasted in our deck ovens at a low temperature overnight, cooled down and pulled by hand each morning. Our American Wagyu Roast Beef is produced for us by Snake River Farms in Idaho. Our proprietary hot and sweet peppers are grown, picked and jarred just for us, and even our mayo is a custom recipe unlike anything you can buy. Capriotti’s sandwiches are stuffed with more meat and cheese than our national competitors, which ensures you get a mouth full of flavor in every bite. Subs can be customized with our sweet or hot peppers, pickles, onions, tomatoes, mayo,

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

mustard, oil and vinegar and/or spices. One interesting side note is that we probably have the broadest and best vegetarian offering in the sub sandwich category. Our vegetarian turkey, vegetarian chicken cheesesteaks and Impossible Cheesesteaks are incredible. They’re so good, some first-time customers cannot believe they are vegetarian—we have to show them the product to prove it to them! Also, all of our subs are still wrapped old-school, in newsprint, which keeps them fresh and cold, or hot and steamy. One hallmark of our subs is how well they travel. MIXING IT UP

CAPRIOTTI’S

The Pro: Stacey Krawczyk, president, FoodWell Strategies; consulting registered dietitian, Grain Foods Foundation, Washington, D.C. Making great sandwiches starts with the foundation—a crusty roll, whole-wheat bread, flavored flatbread or any other grain base. Great sandwiches have a mixture of textures (crunchy, creamy, crispy, tender) and tastes (salty, sweet, savory). Is your sandwich menu more of a basic bread, meat and cheese selection? Are you gourmet or budget-friendly? Do you cater to those with adventurous palates? Take all of these into consideration when building a better sandwich. The most important thing is to keep your layers balanced. For example, if you’re making an open-faced sandwich, start with the less colorful and/or heavier fillings on the bottom and keep the bright stuff on top. Finally, my best recommendation: Pile on the veggies! Adding not only the typical lettuce and tomato but also things like cucumbers, spinach and peppers will provide some of those craveable textures, adding pizzazz to the palate.

“If you’re making an open-faced sandwich, start with the less colorful and/or heavier fillings on the bottom and keep the bright stuff on top.”

M RS. GOLDFARB’S UNREAL DELI

— STACEY KRAWCZYK, FOODWELL STRATEGIES

THE VEGAN TWIST

Jenny Goldfarb, CEO and founder of Mrs. Goldfarb’s Unreal Deli in Los Angeles, landed investments from Mark Cuban himself after she appeared on Shark Tank with her vegan-friendly plant-based deli slices, available in turkey, corned beef and steak varieties. Her advice for serving up premium sammies with faux meats: “Use two to three ounces of meat per sandwich, serve on your favorite bread (toasted for sure), and load up on your favorite toppings, like vegan cheese, kraut, slaw, tomato, onion and avocado,” she says. “Pile on your favorite sauces, like Russian dressing, mayo or mustard. If you want to step beyond the sandwich zone, these meats also help make awesome salads, appetizers, baked dishes and more.” For more vegan recipe ideas, visit PizzaVegan.com.

SEPTEMBER 2021 | PMQ.COM

IN-SEASON INSPIRATION

GRAIN FOODS FOUNDATION

“We probably have the broadest and best vegetarian offering in the sub sandwich category. Our vegetarian turkey, vegetarian chicken cheesesteaks and Impossible Cheesesteaks are incredible.” — DAVID BLOOM, CAPRIOTTI’S

The Pro: Sylvia Melendez-Klinger, founder of Hispanic Food Communications; member of Grain Foods Foundation Scientific Advisory Board, Washington, D.C. To suit a lacto-ovo vegetarian or vegan diet, get creative— add cucumber slices, top with cantaloupe ribbons, sprinkle on goat cheese or a vegan cheese alternative, and garnish with a bunch of arugula or fresh herbs. Healthy toppings and fillings can add flavor, texture and a bundle of nutrients. Spread avocado instead of mayo and add crunch with sliced veggies or even sliced nuts. Make your own patties with beans and veggies or serve them with a signature sauce. When pairing specific flavors and/or textures within the sandwich, the seasons are my guide. For summer, think of adding fruits and veggies that are in-season. Sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches and strawberries go well with many sandwich combinations—for example, adding cantaloupe slices to a grilled cheese sandwich or tomatoes and peaches to avocado toast. In fall, adding pears, Brie cheese and arugula to a turkey sandwich can bring a great crunch and flavor. Make it a complete meal with a salad or soup on the side. Also, you can make a big impression by using different kinds of bread. Wrap the sandwiches in parchment paper to provide an artisan, old-fashioned look that many people love. AN ARTISANAL APPROACH

The Pro: Michael Simhai, owner, HauteMess and Della Terra, Los Angeles, CA HauteMess is renowned for its sandwiches created with a variety of breads—including sourdough, rustic ciabatta and crusty or soft baguettes—baked throughout the day. With an emphasis on high-quality ingredients, we also offer unique imported cured meats, such as our popular flavorful prosciutto di Parma, aged 18 months, from Italy. Most of our sandwiches are also paired with a generous drizzle of our gourmet sauces, which we create daily. Every sandwich blends a mix of flavors: The Cosmopolitan e Rosati is made with prosciutto di Parma, burrata, fresh tomato, basil, arugula and a drizzle of pesto vinaigrette. The French Connection has prosciutto cotto ham, Brie cheese, cornichons, fresh tomato, lettuce and Dijon mustard. The Appletini di Spagna includes Serrano ham, Manchego cheese, sliced Granny Smith apple, arugula and our vinaigrette spread. As an extra perk, we also make our own potato chips for those who like extra crunch on the side. Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor and the editor of PizzaVegan.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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PIZZA HALL OF FAME

(Clockwise from top left:) Larry Aronson attends the My Pi grand opening in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1973; Tiffany lamps elevated the restaurant’s decor; Chicago’s Lincoln Park location featured stainedglass windows; the original cooks, formerly of Pizzeria Uno, worked at the original location from day one until it closed 25 years later; My Pi was known for its salad bar; the Lincoln Park location entrance welcomes diners, circa 1978.

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

MY PI PIZZA From accidental multistate franchise to national shipping success story, My Pi has rolled with the punches and persevered for 50 years as a Windy City original. BY TRACY MORIN In Larry Aronson’s youth, the Windy City pizza scene was still in its infancy. But his family’s roots in baking spanned generations, from his grandfather’s heyday in Belarus to his father’s Chicago bakery, just downstairs from his childhood home. After he and his now-wife frequented the new Pizzeria Uno, Larry experimented to create his own version. By 1971, the 35-year-old Larry was a member of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and still making pizza at home—so well-loved by friends that he decided to open his own place. First, he let others run My Pi, in Rogers Park on Chicago’s Far North Side, but after a couple of owners bailed, Larry decided to abandon brokering and run it himself. “We’d opened on a rainy Tuesday in 1971,” he recalls. “We didn’t have a sign for three years, but we had a line around the block. We were written up 30 times that first year by the Chicago news. That’s how we built the business.” Larry started to allow friends from the NYSE to build their own locations, and eventually the My Pi recipe and name stretched from Miami Beach to Colorado, Minnesota to New York—growing to 22 restaurants in nine states. “Without realizing it, I created a franchise,” Larry says. “We were the first to take deep-dish pizza out of Chicago to other states and were named the best in every city we went to. A pizza restaurant doesn’t

have to be a ‘joint’—we served on china. Our pizza is unique, but we wanted to be more than pizza.” Success was a double-edged sword for My Pi—multiple costly lawsuits waged with copycats slowed its trajectory. Larry’s son, Richard, now owns the single remaining location of My Pi, which opened in 2000 in Chicago’s Bucktown. Richard was baking with his father at four years old and later received formal education in restaurant management, then trained at The Culinary Institute of America. Fittingly, My Pi again became a national brand under his watch—this time, through shipping pizzas coast to coast, with demand now stretching the small shop’s capabilities to the literal max. Richard’s planning a move to a larger location in the near future, to expand shipping and enable full-service dining. “A lot has changed in 50 years, but people trust us—they know the food will be good, and our word is our bond,” Larry says. “You have to learn to roll with the punches. We could’ve had 200 locations by now and gone public for millions, but I never went into this for the money. I loved the restaurant business and the personal relationship with customers. That’s what the name My Pi means.” Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

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

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