Grain Craft and Shepherd’s Grain have proudly come together to offer a wide selection of premium pizza flours. With a focus on quality and consistencyalong with a commitment to the long-term health of our land - your pizza will always rise above the rest.
A shared passion for positive change.
graincraft.com
shepherdsgrain.com
IT FEELS GOOD KNOWING
ONE INGREDIENT ISN’T DEBATABLE.
JUST GO WITH THE BEST. END OF DISCUSSION.
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.
In accepting the Outstanding Restaurateur Award in June, the legendary Pizzeria Bianco founder made it about “we” instead of me. PMQ.com/chris-bianco-james-beard-award
The 50 Top Pizza online guide dispatched Italian pizzaioli—dubbed “pizza inspectors”—across America to rank the nation’s best pizzerias for 2022.
PMQ.com/best-pizzeria-in-america
A “hub-and-spoke” model prevents many of the challenges other brands face and has accelerated Oath Pizza’s post-pandemic comeback.
PMQ.com/oath-pizza-supply-chain
Employee retention is more important than ever during the busy summer period. These best practices will help reduce team members’ stress.
PMQ.com/keeping-employees-happy
As consumer visits to pizza chains keep rising, Little Caesars is the first choice for consumers in 16 states, according to a TOP Data study.
PMQ.com/most-popular-pizza-chains
Eric Summers, eric@pmq.com
SENIOR COPY EDITOR
Tracy Morin, tracy@pmq.com
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH
Blake Harris, blake@pmq.com ext. 136
TEST CHEF/USPT COORDINATOR
Brian Hernandez, brian@pmq.com ext. 129
REPORTER
Chris Green, chris@pmq.com
FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER
David Fischer, david@pmq.com
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Shawn Truss, shawn@pmq.com
ADVERTISING
SALES DIRECTOR
Linda Green, linda.pmq@gmail.com ext. 121
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Tom Boyles, tom@pmq.com ext. 122
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Jerry Moschella, jerry@pmq.com ext. 137
SALES ASSISTANT
Brandy Pinion, brandy@pmq.com ext. 127
INTERNATIONAL PIZZA MARKET
Italy: Enrico Fama Fama.Enrico@gmail.com
Russia: Vladimir Davydov Vladimir@pmq.com
China: Yvonne Liu Yvonne@pmq.com
Invent a Greener Pizza Box
PIZZycle is a stackable and reusable pizza box that can be easily carried, cleaned in a dishwasher and used again and again.
PMQ.com/pizzycle
PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE 605 Edison St. • Oxford, MS 38655 662.234.5481 • 662.234.0665 Fax
PMQ
Bring the sweet taste of Italy to your menus by offering Bellissimo specialty desserts. Bellissimo’s signature recipe Gelato, Cannoli Cake, Limoncello Cheesecake, and Tiramisu are made using the finest traditional Italian ingredients and guaranteed to leave a lasting impression on your customers.
Bellissimo’s creamy rich Gelato, available in 12 classic flavors, is hand made in small batches to provide robust true flavors. Bellissimo cakes are available in single-serve or whole tray and are an easy way to escalate your dining profile and increase your bottom line. Build your business with Bellissimo and serve authentic Italian to attract new customers and keep dessert lovers coming for more.
Visit Bellissimo.com to contact a representative to request samples and pricing.
National Pizza & Pasta Show
August 23-25
Packed with hundreds of exhibits, hottopic seminars and live demos, this show, taking place in Rosemont, Illinois, brings together some of the industry’s biggest names. Educational topics include maximizing delivery profits, digital strategies for higher sales, hiring/retaining employees and turning POS data into dollars, plus a boot camp for deep-dish, stuffed-crust and tavern-style pizzas. Learn more at nationalpizzashow.com.
Check out our special National Pizza & Pasta Show guide on pages 35-43!
Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo
August 28-30
Join 9,000 of your restaurant industry peers at this annual event, taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center and featuring 450 industry-leading exhibitors. Here’s your chance to catch up on the latest menu trends, state-of-the-art design and decor, marketing and social media practices, bar and beverage products and more. Learn more at westernfoodexpo.com.
IBIE: International Baking Industry Exposition
September 17-21
Held every two years, this baking industry extravaganza is produced by the American Bakers Association. The 2019 event featured 939 exhibitors and attracted 21,000 baking professionals. This year’s workshops cover topics like supply chain strategies, understanding leavening functionality, and running a sustainable bakery. Learn more at bakingexpo.com.
Pizza Tomorrow Summit
November 9-10
Find out what’s next in the industry at the Pizza Tomorrow Summit in Orlando. This inaugural event offers hundreds of exhibitors with a wide range of products, educational sessions and pizza competitions and demonstrations. You’ll discover the new companies, products and initiatives that will propel our evolving industry into the future. Learn more at pizzatomorrow.com.
The kiddos are heading back to class! Create family-deal specials and digital coupons to help ease parents and students back into the school-day grind. This is also a good time to create a school fundraiser program and demonstrate your commitment to the community.
National Sandwich Month
Want to boost sales in the dog days of summer? Start slinging sandwiches. Cross-utilize your pizza ingredients to create a selection of hot and cold sandwiches and make sure to showcase locally grown ingredients and artisan breads from popular local bakeries.
• National IPA Day
Wednesday, August 3
• International Beer Day
Monday, August 8
• National Pinot Noir Day
Thursday, August 18
• National Bacon Lovers Day
Saturday, August 20
• National Burger Day
Thursday, August 25
• National Red Wine Day
Sunday, August 28
YOU DON’T NEED A BIG BREWERY TO MAKE A BIG IMPACT. Old Town Pizza’s brewery component Slice Beer Company knows a few things about making big beers in a small space. Slice and BrewBilt teamed up to customize a system that perfectly fits both their brewing style and 1,100-SF production area.
The pandemic had one salutary effect on Americans’ eating habits: Folks working from home started giving more thought to breakfast, supposedly the most important meal of the day. Noble Pie Parlor, with two locations in Reno, Nevada, tested that trend this summer with a new brunch menu featuring a slew of artisanal treats. Offered on weekends at Noble Pie’s Summit Mall store, the menu showcases goodies like the Sweet-Cinn Ricotta Knots (fried dough filled with ricotta, a cinnamon-sugar blend and agave nectar, all topped with powdered sugar) and the PieFace Brunch Slice, boasting a bianco base (ricotta whipped with roasted garlic olive oil, fresh garlic and Italian herbs) and piled with prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, caramelized onions, a fry-basted egg and a spicy hollandaise sauce. Also on the menu: Fry Bread Pizza (deep-fried dough topped with Southern-style, slow-scrambled eggs, bell peppers, onions, grape tomatoes, mozzarella and the guest’s choice of protein) and the Country Fried Bacon BLT, served with a side order of fritte hash and hollandaise.
With their 1975 hit song, “Squeeze Box,” The Who made accordions sexy—sort of. But there’s no dirty-minded double meaning behind the name of SQZBX Brewery & Pizza Joint in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Cheryl Roorda, who owns the eatery with her husband, Zac Smith, plays the accordion herself. And the historic building that now houses their business was once a piano repair shop. The couple, known across central Arkansas for their traveling accordion-and-tuba musical act (yes, you read that right), built SQZBX’s theme and design around the broken instruments left behind by the building’s previous tenants. Accordions and drums double as decorative elements, and the bar was even built using large sections of old pianos. In addition to craft beers brewed by Smith using local spring water, SQZBX offers pizzas, subs and appetizers like Pepperoni Chips—baked pepperoni served with a side of marinara. And, true to its musical roots, SQZBX is home to Hot Springs’ only solar-powered radio station, KUHS. But why did the owners name their restaurant after the accordion? As Smith told Arkansas.com, “Tuba’s just didn’t have the right ring to it.”
A new limited-time pie hit the menu at a Pizza Joe’s location in North Lima, Ohio, this summer, and it’s all thanks to a bunch of sixth-graders—the Bacon Bunch, that is. To win the 2022 Innovation Challenge, held this spring by Pizza Joe’s and Junior Achievement of Mahoning Valley, teams of students from six area middle schools had to develop an original pizza recipe, pitch the idea and market it to their peers. Forty-four flavors were submitted, but the Bacon Bunch team from Heartland Christian School— including Abby Ellis, Lila Hendershott, Brennan Murray and Gabriella McDowell—topped them all with their Mac N’ Cheese Supreme pizza and the tagline, “Let’s get mac ’n’ cheesy!” The pizza featured mac and cheese, crispy bacon bits, a mozzarella/cheddar blend and garlic butter sauce on Pizza Joe’s own crust. Pizza Joe’s, which has more than 40 locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania, sold the pie at the North Lima store on June 27, with a portion of every sale going to the school. In addition to developing their pizza concepts, the teams pitched their ideas to Pizza Joe’s executives and franchisees in a one-minute video. The JA Innovation Challenge teaches entrepreneurial thinking, problem solving and workforce readiness skills. “We were proud that the spirit of the competition inspired such great ideas,” says Katie Seminara-DeToro, Pizza Joe’s chief marketing officer.
Chef Bobby Saritsoglou, co-owner of Stina Pizzeria, doesn’t just give back to his South Philadelphia community—he brings in fellow chefs from other local eateries to make a difference as well. Every month, Saritsoglou invites a Philly restaurateur to prepare a special prix fixe menu, with 20% of the proceeds benefiting the guest chef’s favorite cause. In April, Kurt Evans, a chef and advocate for the rights of the formerly incarcerated, dished up a soulful menu that included barbecue quail and a curated wine flight, while raising funds for a nonprofit that helps low-income individuals clear their criminal records. In May, French chef Christopher Kearse of Forsythia offered Wellfleet oysters and escargot, among other items, to help an urban farm that provides locally grown foods to people in need. And for Pride Month in June, Diana Widjojo, co-owner of the Indonesian-themed Hardena, served a multicourse dinner—including slow-cooked goat in coconut milk and Balinese chicken—that benefited a nonprofit for LGBTQ youth. In a Philly Voice article about the event, Widjojo said Pride Month is “my favorite month of the year because, as the ‘B’ in LGBT, I have a lot to be happy about, celebrating through food and being my authentic self.”
Sponsored by:
INGREDIENTS:
1 18” New York-style pizza crust, ready-to-use (RTU)
1 c. Butterfinger®, chopped into ½” pieces
1 c. Baby Ruth®, chopped into ½” pieces
1 c. Buncha Crunch®
6 shortbread cookies, chopped
1 c. fresh strawberries, sliced
1 c. caramel spread
DIRECTIONS:
Place the RTU pizza crust on a sheet pan and bake according to instructions. Remove from the oven to cool slightly. With a pastry knife, spread pizza crust with a thin layer of caramel spread, and top pizza with each type of chocolate, making a three-way design with each candy having its own section. Apply the strawberries and shortbread cookie pieces over the top of entire pizza crust. Cut pizza into 12 equal slices and dust with powdered sugar.
prices are through the roof, and that’s messing with our pizza deliveries. Two and a half years ago, you could find a lot of drivers who were willing to deliver pizza, because they could make money doing so. Now, they’re spending $300 a week in gas and would rather sit in their basement and mooch off their parents than get in the car and drive anywhere. Even Domino’s has gotten to the point where they’re essentially paying their customers three bucks to pick up their pizza. They can’t find delivery drivers, either.
So where does that leave us? Most of us can’t give every carryout customer $3 off or compete with those Domino’s national advertising campaigns. But there are strategies you can try to get customers off their couches and walking through your doors again. It’s time to get creative.
1 Change up your menus as needed. Many pizzeria owners don’t pay attention to how much they’re paying for things on a daily basis. That’s right, daily. Food is a commodity item, and commodity pricing is changing every day (and with diesel in New England at, like, $6.50 a gallon, it’s not changing for the better!). I may get a delivery on a Monday, and chicken breasts are $4 a pound. Then I’ll get another delivery on Thursday, and they’re $4.50 a pound. A week after that, they’re back to $4 a pound. I have to closely monitor what’s going in and out of my cash register. That’s why I no longer have any permanent menus in my restaurants. I have a paper menu that I can print in my office and adjust on the fly to protect margins. But a regularly changing menu is also a marketing opportunity! On social media and in store signage, you can announce, “Hey, we’ve changed up our menu! Come into the restaurant and check out what’s new!” You’ll pique the curiosity of potential customers and regulars alike.
feels special—dare I say, even more special than when they save three bucks off their Domino’s order—because it’s a more personalized touch.
3 Get involved with the community. School clubs and local organizations are always trying to raise money, and we like to partner with them. Have a Boy Scout Night at your restaurant, with 10% of every carryout order going to the local scouts. Work with the PTA, Kiwanis or Knights of Columbus on similar promotions. Customers love giving money to a good cause.
4 Cross-market with other local businesses. This is very popular right now. Even Domino’s got into this game: They began giving customers gift cards for other restaurants as a way to shine a light on the fees restaurants were paying to third-party delivery companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats. So if your friend or someone you know owns a Chinese restaurant two blocks down, give customers a $5 coupon for that restaurant when they pick up their pizza, and the Chinese restaurant will do the same for you. As a result, you’ll both get people through the door and widen your customer base.
2
Offer freebies. OK, this one is tried-and-true. People love free stuff. “Two for one when you pick up your order.” “Kids under 5 eat free in the restaurant after 4 p.m.” “Free dessert with every order over $50.” “Buy two, get one free on your next takeout order.” There are infinite possibilities. Sometimes, the freebie can be a spur-of-the-moment offer: The person manning our phones might say to a longtime customer, “Hey, come and pick up your pie, and I’ll buy you a beer when you get here.” The free house IPA costs us $1, and the customer
5 Hire a rotating group of kids within your community. The insurance industry is famous for this one, and so is the automobile industry. Car dealerships like having a rotating crop of salespeople because, when a new salesperson hits the floor, they bring new customers into that dealership—aunts, uncles, moms, dads and friends all come in to buy a car and lend their support. Same goes for your restaurant. New employees bring new opportunities.
To encourage customers to come into your restaurant, offer dine-in discounts to families with kids.
Let customers feel “lucky.” There’s a reason you see lots of advertising these days for DraftKings and other sports betting companies. People like to gamble. They like the chance for a big payoff. Use that to your advantage:
• Lottery tickets. When I owned a nightclub, I would give a free Powerball quick pick or scratch ticket with every order. I would go to the store and pick up a bunch of them for a buck apiece. Customers got a huge charge out of it. Most of them would start scratching immediately and say, “Oh, I didn’t hit it!” and we’d all get a laugh.
• Marble jar. We kept a big jar on the front counter that was filled with white marbles and three black marbles. For every pickup at your restaurant over $20 or $50 (your choice), you can have customers put their hand in the jar, and if they pull out a black marble, they can either get a percentage off or a free appetizer.
• A big, eye-popping giveaway. Like, say, for $500,000. “A half a million dollars? Billy, you must be nuts!” Not at all! There are companies that specialize in prize indemnity coverage for promotions, contests, games and more. These are the same companies that enable sports organizations to give a car to anyone who hits a hole-inone at a golf tournament or scores a free throw from halfcourt during halftime at a basketball game. I worked with such a company for a big promotion, and it was one of the best we had. We put a treasure chest (which was empty) front and center in our place, and when a customer placed a $50-minimum order for pickup or dine-in, they got the chance to try and open the treasure chest using a four-number combination. If they opened it, they won $500,000. Talk about excitement!
7 Create an Instagram trap. There’s a new generation of pop-up art experiences that are designed to look good not only in person but on social media feeds, and every small business owner should take advantage of that. All you need is a wall—near your restaurant’s entrance, near the bathroom, in the bathroom. On the wall, you can create any kind of design—pizza themes, neon signs, geometric shapes, or even just a pair of wings that customers can stand between. (There are even pop-up art museums with themed rooms that charge admission and sell out months in advance!) This makes the visit to your restaurant more immersive and interactive for customers, allowing them to snap selfie pics and post them on social media feeds, which is free marketing for your business. You can also take this idea a step further: When customers post photos of themselves in front of your Instagram trap and tag your restaurant, give them a $5 or $10 gift certificate good for their next visit. Then you can repost their post on your feed and gain even more visibility.
Really, the ideas are endless. Sure, we can’t compete with Domino’s dollar-for-dollar, but we have a massive opportunity to build relationships with a little creativity. In other words, Domino’s isn’t the only one with some tricks up its sleeve.
People like to gamble. They like the chance for a big payoff. Use that to your advantage.This boxing mural at Hard Knox Pizza in Knoxville, Tennessee, offers Instagram photo opportunities for employees and guests alike.
Janet
when
was a little
There’s a lot more to our interview with the remarkable Janet Duran of 550 Pizzeria. In a website exclusive, she shares tips for motivating young employees, explains why delivery doesn’t make sense for her and talks about her plans for expansion and growth.
Read more at PMQ.com/janet-duran.
Duran
girl
she decided she wanted to own a pizza shop. In 2020, she brought that dream to life with 550 Pizzeria.
For Janet Duran, owner of 550 Pizzeria in Laredo, Texas, faith is a verb—it’s taking action when the odds are against her, when her anxiety kicks in and that little voice keeps telling her she can’t possibly succeed. It’s closing down her first pizzeria after too many disagreements with an inflexible business partner. It’s making pizzas in her home kitchen and hoping someone will buy them. It’s opening a new store in the middle of a pandemic. And it’s shooting off emails and tagging PMQ in her social media posts, again and again, to get featured in the magazine.
And Duran’s faith keeps paying off. That’s her on this month’s cover. “You have to manifest your dreams and think, ‘You know what? I’m gonna do it.’ And it’s not if I’m going to do it, it’s when,” she says.
Duran recalls the exact moment when she learned she would be PMQ’s cover star. “I was sitting on the floor with my phone and noticed you had shared one of my pictures on Instagram,” she tells us. “And I said, ‘OK, PMQ, just call me already and tell me you want me on the cover!’ I said that super-loud, and my employees were, like, ‘Dude, it’s going to happen.’ And I’m, like, ‘Yes, in Jesus’ name, he hears you’…and then you messaged me.”
She immediately showed the message to her employees. “They all started clapping and were, like, ‘You see? You see?’ I was, like, ‘I’m here because of you guys—you have helped me so much.’ And, dude, they were all crying.”
Then, they told her to buy a lottery ticket. Maybe she could win $1 million? With faith like Duran’s, you never know.
Even as a little girl, Duran dreamed of owning a pizzeria. The idea came to her at an Olive Garden restaurant when she was six or seven years old. “I remember sitting there, listening to all the noise, the dishes clanking, people talking and laughing,
and I said, ‘Daddy, I want a restaurant.’ And he said, ‘OK, I want you to study hard so you can have the money to do that. What kind of restaurant would you like to have?’ And I’m, like, ‘I want a pizzeria.’”
As a teenager, she took a job as a cashier at a local CiCi’s store. “I hated it, because I hate math,” she recalls. After high school, she went to work for a local TV station—journalism was her other calling. But in the meantime, she hired on— again as a cashier—at a new independent pizzeria called Laredo Pizza Factory, co-owned by Jeff Trevino, who would become her pizza mentor.
She still hated being a cashier, but customers loved her. She’s warm, self-effacing and authentic—wholly incapable, it seems, of putting on airs. “People would ask me, ‘What are you doing [to win over customers]?’ And I was, like, ‘I don’t know!’ I just
“You have to manifest your dreams and think, ‘You know what? I’m gonna do it.’ And it’s not if I’m going to do it, it’s when.”
— Janet Duran, 550 Pizzeria
put myself out there. I’m a very giving person. If I meet you and find out your birthday’s on Friday, get ready. If you need help, I’m gonna help you. I don’t expect it back, because that’s not the point of helping somebody.”
But her male co-workers saw her as just a cashier. “I would watch the guys make pizza, and I was, like, ‘Hey, can I make a pizza?’ And they would say, ‘No, you’re a girl.’”
Trevino knew better. He’d taken note of Duran’s effortless charm and winsome ways—she’d become an ambassador for his store without even trying—so when Duran asked to make a pizza for him, he gave her a shot. “Jeff was, like, ‘Dude, what are you doing? You need to be on the line!’ So, little by little, I became a pizza maker. And because I loved that restaurant so much, I started improving it.”
Trevino’s impact on Duran’s life since then cannot be overstated. He ran with her marketing ideas—summertime coupons for a free 10” pizza for elementary school kids with the purchase of a large pizza; dyeing the dough black to celebrate the much-hyped “blood moon” of 2013; jazzing up the shop’s social media—and assured her she would own a shop herself one day. “He told me, ‘You’re ready for your own pizzeria.’ And my anxiety was, like, no, no, no, not at all! He said, ‘All you need to learn is the business part, and I’ll teach you. From now on, you’re gonna do everything I do every day.’ So he literally stepped back and let me do everything, and people would come in and say, ‘Is the owner here—that girl?’ And Jeff would be, like, ‘Yes, she’s over there.’”
“Jeff [Trevino] was, like, ‘Dude, what are you doing? You need to be on the line!’ So, little by little, I became a pizza maker. And because I loved that restaurant so much, I started improving it.”
— Janet Duran, 550 Pizzeria
Two Leaps of Faith in One
Trevino urged Duran to write down every idea she came up with for her own restaurant—knowing that day would be coming sooner than she realized. “He was, like, ‘Girl, manifest that stuff! Write it down in your book,’” Duran says. And when Trevino decided to move away and open a different restaurant in San Antonio, he sold his half of Laredo Pizza Factory to her. She’d been working there for seven years when she assumed co-ownership, but her new partner disliked change and fresh ideas. Frustrated, she consulted with Trevino. “He said, ‘Close it down. In a year or two, you’ll have your own shop.’ And I’m, like, ‘Yeah, right, dude—with what money?’”
Taking a huge leap of faith, she shuttered the pizzeria anyway, stayed with her TV job and pondered her next move. And that would be 550 Pizzeria, named for the temperature of the ovens at Laredo Pizza Factory—a number that Trevino emphasized repeatedly to every employee.
First, Duran made pizzas at home, using a Roccbox oven and later a pizza stone on a grill. Thanks to her popularity among Laredo Pizza Factory customers and her knack for shooting mouthwatering photos and videos, her following on Instagram and Facebook shot through the roof. Everyone in Laredo, it seemed, missed her pizzas. “Man, did that take off!” she recalls. “I had cop cars, border patrol, state troopers, all picking up pizzas at my house. My neighbor came over to ask me if I was selling drugs. I’m, like, ‘No, I sell pizza from home.’”
She also made and personally delivered hundreds of free pizzas for frontline workers during the pandemic, spreading goodwill and earning it in return. It was a big expense she couldn’t really afford, but, again, her faith was strong. “I told my husband, ‘I’m gonna provide food for these people,’ and he said, ‘No, no, no. Don’t do it!’ And I’m, like, ‘I have to. I feel it right here.’” She pointed to her heart. “He was, like, ‘No, no, not right there!’ I said, ‘You know what? God’s gonna give me more.’ And now my husband tells me, ‘I see what God has done for you, and I can only imagine what he will do for other people and what he will continue to do for you.’”
“I had cop cars, border patrol, state troopers, all picking up pizzas at my house. My neighbor came over to ask me if I was selling drugs. I’m, like, ‘No, I sell pizza from home.’”
— Janet Duran, 550 Pizzeria
One day, she noticed a vacant lot on Shiloh Drive and had a revelation: That would be the site of her new pizzeria. “It was just grass at the time, and I would pray, ‘I want my restaurant there. I want my restaurant there,’” she says. “Then, they started building a plaza in that spot, and I was, like, ‘This is it. I know this is it.’”
And it was. Duran opened 550 Pizzeria in June 2020. The pandemic was in full swing. And she didn’t even offer delivery, considered a must for restaurants at the time. That’s two leaps of faith in one. But it was the Laredo community’s love for her that sealed the deal.
As the 10 a.m. ceremony approached, she was “a nervous wreck.” But the cars kept pulling up, and the crowd kept growing—and not just family and friends. Her congressman was there, plus the county sheriff, the tax collector, and, of course, Trevino himself, the mentor who gave her the confidence to make it all happen.
By 7 p.m., Duran, who had made 400 doughs for the day, sold out—three hours before closing time—and racked up $7,000 in sales. She opened for a limited time the next day—Father’s Day—but sold out again in just a few hours. The pizza queen of Laredo was off to a promising start.
Today, Duran is set to expand 550 Pizzeria to make more room for customers who can’t get enough of her pies, made in the New York style with a strong Mexican-American influence. Favorites include the Chicken Chori-Queso, featuring a tomatillo sauce, chorizo, chicken, Roma tomatoes, onions and Gorgonzola cheese, and The Jefe, inspired by Trevino and topped with pepperoni, smoked ham, sausage, mushrooms and black olives. The Heatwave, meanwhile, features chorizo, Italian sausage, Tabasco sauce, jalapeños, crushed red pepper and marinated tomatoes.
Duran is in love with all things Laredo, so she buys her key ingredients exclusively from a local grocery store. “I go there every day and pick out my ingredients,” she says. “I buy chicken, bacon, ham, chorizo, sun-dried tomatoes, Gorgonzola. I make everything with love and the best ingredients.”
She’s also brought to life all of those ideas she used to jot down in her notebook, from the decor to the marketing. She uses a marketing agency—local, of course—to shoot professional-quality photos of the pizzas and build her brand. Her website spotlights the many glowing reviews she receives on Google. She features her employees in social media posts
because she is genuinely proud of them, and every post bears the #LareDough hashtag because, well, did we mention she loves her hometown?
And one more thing: The day after Duran learned she would be the star of PMQ’s August cover, she got more good news: Readers of the Laredo Morning Times had selected her as the city’s best chef and 550 Pizzeria as the city’s best restaurant. As usual, despite her strong faith, she was taken aback. “I was sitting there with a lady doing my nails when they told me, and I was, like, ‘What? What?’ I was in awe. It was super-surreal.”
Throughout her journey of faith and pizza entrepreneurship, Duran has continued to deal with anxiety and sees a therapist to cope with it. “It’s hard to believe in yourself all the time. Sometimes I don’t, and in the beginning, I didn’t,” she says. “But you have to remind yourself: Who else is gonna push you? Others can tell you and tell you, but you have to push yourself. Even when you don’t want to believe in yourself, you have to push yourself because anything is possible.
“I never thought I would have my own pizzeria,” she adds. “Never, never, never. It was just a thought when I was little and then in my teenage years...you know what I mean? Then, when I worked at Laredo Pizza Factory, I was like, ‘Man, this is just so cool. Man, if I had a restaurant, it would be like this and this.’ And now it’s like that.”
Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.
Tuesday, Aug. 23-Thursday, Aug. 25 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL
Tuesday, August 23rd—SEMINARS ONLY
Wednesday, August 24th—SEMINARS & EXHIBITS
Thursday, August 25th—SEMINARS & EXHIBITS
Tuesday, Aug. 23-Thursday, Aug. 25
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL
• Up to 2,000 pizza/foodservice operators and distributors
• Hundreds of exhibitors with cutting-edge products, services and equipment
• Special offers, new products/services and innovations
• Seminars and workshops featuring top industry experts
• Live cooking demos
• U.S. Pizza Team: 2022 Chicago U.S. Pizza Cup & Pizza Acrobatic Trials
• Guided tours of Chicago’s historic pizzerias
• Chicago Pizza Masters Certification Program
• Check nationalpizzashow.com for updates!
• Think and grow rich in the pizza business
• Turning employees into sales superstars
• Hiring and retaining employees
• Adapting to an evolving industry
• Turning data into dollars
• Making delivery more profitable
• Negotiating leases and lease renewals
• Preventing theft for increased profits
• Generating more revenue with text message marketing
• How to get your ERC credit
• Utilizing call centers for higher volume
• Proper staff training and service orientation
• Navigating different pizza styles in a big-city market
• Who really invented Chicago-style pizza?
5-9 p.m., Wednesday, August 24
Let’s make the rounds of the Chicago pizza scene, the birthplace of Chicago deep-dish, tavern and stuffed crust pizza! In this professionally guided tour by Chicago Pizza Tours, the city’s oldest established pizza tour operator, you’ll experience a taste of Chicago-style pizza and hear about its rich history with expert Jonathan Porter.
Pizzeria Uno - Schiller Park (deep dish)
Moretti’s (tavern-style)
Pizza Boy (tavern-style, Detroit-style and dessert)
Expo Media’s staff has more than 35 years of convention planning experience in various major markets and venues. Expo Media is the original producer of the National Pizza & Pasta Show, held in past years in Chicago, New York, Atlantic City and Los Angeles. The last National Pizza & Pasta Show, held at McCormick Place in Chicago, drew 7,000 pizzeria operators and 325 exhibitors. Expo Media has also produced the International Gourmet Show and the Florida Food Show. Altogether, the company has produced 300-plus expositions in the foodservice, travel, healthcare, marine services, adventure travel, computer technology, facility maintenance and special-event industries.
The following hotels will offer special rates for attendees of the National Pizza & Pasta Show.
DoubleTree by Hilton O’Hare—Rosemont 5460 North River Road, Rosemont
$149 per night (August 22-25) 847-292-9100
Hyatt Regency O’Hare—Chicago
9300 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Rosemont
$149 per night (August 22-25) 847-696-1234
Hilton Rosemont/Chicago O’Hare 5500 N. River Road, Rosemont $179 per night (August 22-25) 847-678-4488
The Rose Hotel Chicago O’Hare— by Hilton 5200 Pearl Street, Rosemont $169 per night (August 22-25) 847-260-4770
Comfort Inn—O’Hare/Convention Center
2175 E. Touhy Avenue Des Plaines, IL
$119 per night (August 21-25) 847-635-1300
Camp Hometown Heroes was created to provide children of fallen U.S. Military Heroes the chance to experience friendship, healing and growth...bringing together children who can understand, support and bond with each other, creating life-long relationships.
We offer traditional summer camp activities like canoeing, swimming,sports and archery. More importantly, we help campers learn skills to cope with their grief and build resilience in their lives. This is done through art therapy, discussion groups and many more activities. Throughout the year, opportunities are created for campers to stay connected.
Cost: FREE Ages: 7-17
Andrew Simmons is a pizza restaurant owner, founder of a San Diego restaurant delivery service (RDS), and president of the Restaurant Marketing and Delivery Association (RMDA). Simmons has seen firsthand how interactions and collaborations between pizzerias, customers, staff and third-party services can expedite pizza delivery and increase profits. During the last year the RMDA has generated $500 million in restaurant delivery sales through its national network of local mom-and-pop restaurant delivery services, and growth continues exponentially.
Kelly Grogan is another eyewitness to the ever-widening opportunities for restaurateurs made possible by recent technology. Virtual Dining Concepts knows how 20 million social media followers can be turned into a powerful force for the benefit of restaurants. Through virtual brands, pizza restaurant owners can become partners behind the scenes and earn real incremental income. Virtual brand partners currently include Mariah Carey, Barstool Sports, Robert Irvine and Mr. Beast. Grogan will tell us more about ghost kitchens, virtual brands and other new moneymaking opportunities for pizza restaurateurs.
Chad Horn has spent his career working with restaurants and restaurant technology. Last year he launched Devour.io, the first web3 project built to help restaurant owners delight customers, retain staff and grow their brands. It is now perhaps the foremost restaurant technology company for web3, a new iteration of the internet that’s “all about ownership of information,” Horn says. Currently, Facebook and Twitter own the content that its users create. With web3, real people own their content, their online identity and everything they create. Horn will explain how web3, NFTs and blockchain technology present new opportunities for restaurant operators.
How today’s technology has made the pizza business more profitable
Topic: Is Hospitality Dead? 5 Secrets to Unlocking the New Table
Speaker: Zack Oates, Founder, Ovation
With the off-premise boom and social distancing, how do you still connect with your customers? Oates will share the secrets to finding out how your customers feel on- and off-premises, getting happy customers to help market your pizzeria, fixing root issues, driving more revenue and unlocking the power of digital hospitality.
Topic: Slam-Dunk Selling for Pizza Operators: Turning Your People Into Sales Superstars
Speaker: Bill Guertin, Chief Enthusiasm Officer, The 800-Pound Gorilla Guertin will reveal the sales techniques used by professional sports teams’ ticket sales departments to sell out their stadiums and how pizzeria operators can adapt these techniques to produce higher checks, bigger tips and more profits.
Topic: Navigating Different Styles of Pizza in a Big-City Market
Speaker: Jonathan Porter, Chicago Pizza Tours
How do different pizza places properly brand and differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market? Porter founded Chicago Pizza Tours in 2009, becoming the first Chicago food tour company focusing solely on Chicago’s most defining food: pizza. This seminar includes a slideshow presentation on some famous Chicagoland pizzerias.
Topic: Who Really Invented Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza?
Speaker: Peter Regas, Blogger/Founder, pizzahistorybook.com
Take a historical, research-rich deep dive into the facts and conjecture behind the creation of one of America’s most famous food inventions. This panel discussion will include Steve Dolinsky, Peter Regas, Jonathan Porter, Drew Axelrod, Tim Samuelson, Marc Malnati and others.
Topic: Adapting to an Evolving Industry
Speaker: Bob Vergidis, Chief Vision Officer, The Point of Sale Cloud
Pizza used to be one of the few delivery foods, but that’s no longer the case. The industry must adapt to keep its slice of the pie. Vergidis will discuss technology trends, ideas and changes in the market and provide an exciting new perspective for the future.
Topic: Where Is My Money?
Speaker: Izzy Kharasch, President, Hospitality Works
Kharasch will explain how to uncover and prevent various types of theft that occur in restaurant operations and offer three real-life case studies where he identified and halted theft, increasing profits in under three weeks.
Topic: Think and Grow Rich in the Pizza Business
Speaker: Pasquale DiDiana, President, Bacci Pizzeria
Learn how Bacci Pizzeria’s Pasquale DiDiana went from one store grossing $300,000 per year to multiple locations grossing $5 million in under five years using principles from the classic Napoleon Hill book.
Topic: How to Use Text Message Marketing to Generate More Revenue
Speaker: Shane Murphy, CEO, Boostly Murphy will cover why text marketing is so effective, industry stats related to text messaging, and the dos and don’ts you should be aware of. You’ll walk away with a playbook to build an engaged audience and a profitable marketing engine through SMS.
Topic: Did You Receive Your ERC Credit?
Speaker: Joel Manning, CPA, Principal, Manning & Silverman P.A. Many businesses will qualify for ERC. Your restaurant can receive up to $26,000 per employee. Attend this seminar to learn more! Manning has 35-plus years of experience providing accounting services to his clients and can think outside the box to help them.
Topic: Utilizing Call Centers for Higher Volume
Speaker: John Scully, CEO, Pizza Cloud
Scully’s company provides telephone/internet solutions to the pizza industry. In this seminar, you’ll learn how call centers can provide a better experience for your customers, make your restaurant more competitive and increase sales and profits.
Topic: Proper Staff Training and Service Orientation
Speaker: Brian Margulis, Professor of Hospitality Management, Roosevelt University
Learn how to create an orientation and training program. This seminar will cover behavior modeling and learner-controlled instruction, the characteristics of effective sellers/greeters, and handling guest complaints.
Topic: Negotiating Leases
Speaker: Dale Willerton, The Lease Coach
Facing a lease renewal or signing a new lease in the next 24 months? Willerton will discuss lease negotiations, midterm rent reductions, site selection, building acquisitions, and document
Topic: Hiring and Retaining Employees
Attorney, Laner Muchin P.A.
Bernstein is a labor lawyer for the restaurant industry. Hiring employees, general liability, insurance and retaining staff will be discussed in this session.
Topic: The Bright Future of Pizza
Speaker: Nicholas Upton, Technology Editor, Food On Demand
As former Restaurants editor for Franchise Times and Technology Editor of Food On Demand, Nick has his finger on the pulse of restaurants, technology and mobility.
Topic: The Food, the Myth, the Legend
Speaker: Stephanie Swane, Publisher/ Editorial Director, Modernist Cuisine
The history of pizza, arguably the world’s most popular food, is more complicated than you might think. What was early pizza like? How did different types of pizza evolve over the years? Where did the word “pizza” originate? Find out the real history behind common pizza myths and folklore as well as the stories of the people who helped pizza spread across the globe over the last century.
Topic: Ghost Kitchens & Virtual Restaurants: Why Your Restaurant Needs One and How to Start
Speaker: Kelly Grogan, Vice President, Virtual Dining Concepts
Learn more about the exciting industry of ghost kitchens and virtual restaurants to understand how your restaurant could benefit from adding one. Grogan, who coaches and develops the high-performing sales team at Virtual Dining Concepts, will provide operators with an understanding of how to maximize their kitchen space and add $500 in daily off-premise revenue.
Topic: Turning Your Data Into Dollars
Speaker: Ward Olgren, COO, Marketing Vitals
Discover how the data you’re sitting on can help solve your brand’s needs in areas like operations, marketing, brand affinity, employee performance, pricing and more. With the right software, you can track guest behavior down to each individual guest, understand causation and correlation, and use historic guest transactions to create better brand events, among other possibilities.
Topic: 5 Digital Strategies Proven to
Speaker: Tony Roy, CEO, PopMenu
Using real-life examples, Roy will discuss simple but highly impactful tech strategies pizzerias are using to grow their brand footprint and sales—and keep customers hungry for more. From interactive menus and digital remarketing to “always on” phone answering, this session covers how pizzerias are automating online and on-premise functions to navigate labor gaps and stay connected with guests 24/7. You’ll go home with tips you can quickly put into action to drive stronger financial outcomes.
Topic: Yeast 101
Speaker: Ralf Tschenscher, Baking Business Development Manager, Lesaffre Yeast Corp.
Yeast is a living organism—and a complex one. It’s also an ingredient you need to truly understand to make better pizzas. This seminar will give you a better understanding of the different types of yeast and how to use them in your pizza operation.
Speaker: Alex Vasilkin, CEO/Co-founder, Cartwheel
Why are some of the nation’s biggest chains segmenting deliveries between in-house and outsourced? Learn valuable insights about how brands like P.F. Chang’s, Portillo’s and Potbelly have optimized their delivery programs to increase repeat orders and decrease costs.
Allied Food Equipment Store 317-887-2020 alliedfoodquipment.com
AM Manufacturing Company 219-472-6784 ammfg.com
American Metalcraft 800-333-9133 amnow.com
Anichini Brothers 312-644-8004 anichinibrothers.com
Arrow POS 888-378-3338 arrowpos.com
Ask Chef Leo 630-392-0121 leospizzirri.com
Aspire Bakeries 844-992-7747 aspirebakeries.com
Battaglia Distributing 312-738-1111 battagliafoods.com
Boostly 800-720-7738 boostly.com
Box Top Buzz, Inc. 352-535-4802 boxtopbuzz.com
Buyers Edge Platform 617-275-8430 diningalliance.com
Camp Home Town Heroes 262-546-0421 camphometownheroes.com
Caputo Cheese 708-450-0074 caputocheese.com
Chase Paymentech 800-254-9556 chasepaymentech.com
Chef’s Kitchen 773-801-1600 ckfresh.com
Chicago Food Bank 773-843-2656 gcfd.org
Chicago Meat Grinders 773-248-2590 chicagopizzaandovengrinders.com
Chicago Pizza Systems 754-246-3515 chicagopizzasystems.com
Chicago Pizza Tours 312-221-8502 chicagopizzatours.com
Chicago Sweet Connection Bakery 773-283-4430 sweetconnectionbakery.com
Chicago Tribune 312-222-5995 chicagotribune.com
Columbus Vegetable Oils 847-257-8920 cvoils.com
Concklin Insurance Agency 630-268-1600 conklin.com
Data Source 703-748-7180 datasource.com
Delivery Concepts
574-294-4050 deliveryconcepts.com
Delivery Tech & POS Center 662-234-5481 pmq.com
Eagle Eye Network 512-473-0500 een.com
EZ Toppings Systems eztoppings.com
Fire Within 720-598-6978
firewithin.com
Food Industry News
847-699-3300 foodindustrynews.com
Foremost Farms
800-362-9196
foremostfarms.com
Franchise Marketing Systems 800-610-0292
fmsfranchise.com
GI METAL 630-553-9134
gimetalusa.com
GMA Trading gmatrading.com
Good Pizza Great Pizza 310 893-0882
goodpizzagreatpizza.com
Goose Island Brewery 800-466-7363 gooseisland.com
H+K International 443-370-7922 hki.com
HOODZ International 888-514-6639 hoodzinternational.com
HTH 407-629-0012 carsigns.com
IL Dept of Agriculture 2illinois.gov
Illinois Brewing illinoisbrewing.com
IMS Barter Systems 847-588-1818
imsbarter.com
Indoor Media 888-475-0993
indoormedia.com
See NationalPizzaShow.com for updated listings of exhibitors
Instant Whip Foods 773-235-5588 instantwhip.com
Irish American News 312-498-1337 irishamericanews.com
Ken’s Foods 508-485-7540 kensfoods.com
King Kong Printing 732-972-7716 kingkongprinting.com
La Milanese 877-657-4646 lamilanese.com
Larry Stein’s Pan Pizza Program 515-321-0954 chicagopizza.com
Liguria Foods 515-332-4121 liguriafoods.com
Manning & Silverman 847-459-8850 manningsilverman.com
Melinda’s Foods LLC 214-351-9061 melindas.com
Mike’s Hot Honey 212-655-0574 mikeshothoney.com
North American Pizza & Culinary Academy 630-395-9958 pizzaculinaryacademy.com
Omega Sign & Lighting 630-576-9167 omegasignchicago.com
OrderMyEats ordermyeats.com
PDQ Signature Systems 877-968-6430 pdqpos.com
Pizza City, USA Tours 312-342-0084 pizzacityusa.com
Pizza Cloud 866-511-5521 pizzacloud.net
Pizza Crisp 847-511-5521 pizzacrisp.com
Pizza Information Center 662-234-5481 pmq.com
Pizza Marketing Pros pizzamarketingpros.com
Pizza Me in 3 219-363-0831 pizzamein3.com
PMQ Pizza Media 662-234-5481 pmq.com
Practical Baker 815-943-8730 bakery.com
RDMA 737-263-2263 therdma.org
Red Gold 765-557-5500 redgoldfoodservice.com
Repco 800-234-7174 repcoworld.com
Robot Coupe 800-824-1646 robot-coupe.com
Roosevelt University 312-521-0016 roosevelt.edu
RX Music 866-495-8863 rxmusic.com
Science On Call 312-521-0016 scienceoncall.com
Small Business Administration 312-353-4528
sba.gov
Smithfield Culinary 800-486-6900 smithfieldfoods.com
Somerset 800-772-4404 smrset.com
The Lease Coach 800-738-9202 theleashcoach.com
TNT Crust 920-431-7240 tntcrust.com
Unified Office 603-427-9500 unifiedoffice.com
U.S. Pizza Team 662-234-5481 uspizzateam.com
V. Formusa Company 847-813-6040 marconi-foods.com
Vesta Precision 425-393-9397 vestaprecision.com
Villa Dolce Gelato 818-343-8400
villadolcegelato.com
Virtual Dining Concepts 888-958-1441
VirtualDiningConcepts.com
Watkins Label Solutions 816-641-2200
watkinslabel.com
From matching flavors to marketing and pricing, three very different pizza operations detail how they’ve found success adding plant-based proteins to the menu.
BY TRACY MORINPlant-based sales are positively blooming, and by now, they’re less an of-the-moment trend and more a long-term shift in Americans’ eating habits. If you’re thinking of adding some plant-based proteins to the menu, take notes from these three brands that have incorporated them in thoughtful ways—and reaped hordes of new customers in the process.
Plant-based pepperoni has come a long way, evolving into a versatile and flavorful topping that can go head-to-head with the meat-based variety. HAPPY LITTLE PLANTSWith 25 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Pizza My Heart jumped on adding plant-based toppings like Miyoko’s Creamery vegan mozz, Field Roast Plant-Based Pepperoni, and Beyond Meat Hot Italian Sausage.
Marketing messages: Pizza My Heart donated 25% of net proceeds from all Miyoko’s-topped pies during one week to the Humane Society Silicon Valley and SPCA Santa Cruz. It also offered, for nearly one month, $5 off a large, $4 off a medium, or $3 off a small Vegan Sur pizza (featuring plantbased pepperoni), or any build-your-own pizza topped with the pepperoni. “We branded our line of vegan pizzas as PB Pizza and created some dedicated specialty pies,” adds Chuck Hammers, owner and president. “We’ve done a number of sampling and discount events, and we mention our vegan options frequently in our standard communications, including social media, email blasts and in-store merchandising.”
Meat matchmaking: Both Hammers and executive chef Spencer Glenn agree that flavor is the first consideration when picking a plant-based protein. “There’s been so much progress in the last few years with vegan products,” Hammers notes. “We found great products that matched our goals for flavor and being easy to work with. Our restaurants are busy, so we couldn’t have products that had special cooking requirements or slowed service down.”
Pizza pairing: “We go bold with our vegan pizza options,” Glenn says. “Roasted garlic, spicy peppers, freshly sliced mushrooms and spice blends are ingredients that work great on vegan pizzas—probably because they also taste great on any pizza!”
Customer response: Vegan toppings aren’t just for vegans anymore. “A much bigger audience is the people looking to add
more plant-based options into their diet and mix things up,” Glenn notes. “We’re also seeing a substantial number of hybrid orders: vegetarians who are happy with dairy cheese but add a plant-based pepperoni, or lactose-intolerant customers who want the vegan cheese but still order traditional sausage, pepperoni or chicken.”
Pricing and profits: Vegan ingredients are priced the same as traditional ones, even though they cost more. “The gratitude from customers is worth the minor incremental cost—and we’ve also seen that most of our business for vegan products is incremental,” Hammers says. “Customers who previously wouldn’t have come to our restaurants now have become regulars. That’s a win for everyone.”
Words of wisdom: “Don’t just add a vegan cheese or topping to your menu and expect it to work,” Glenn advises. “Create some dedicated pizzas with interesting flavor profiles. There can be a mistaken impression that vegan means dull and flavorless. That’s no longer true, and we have a growing customer base who appreciate that. We recently entered our Mt. Diablo vegan pizza into a major pizza competition against traditional meat and dairy pizzas, and it did exceptionally well. When you make a pizza that tastes great, people will notice.”
“There’s been so much progress in the last few years with vegan products. We found great products that matched our goals for flavor and being easy to work with.”
— Chuck Hammers, Pizza My Heart
Sarpino’s, with nearly 50 units spread across the Midwest, launched its full vegan menu in May 2020 and now offers a range of plant-based additions (pepperoni, sausage, cheese and chicken), used for 13 specialty pizzas, four calzones, cheesy breads, pastas, sandwiches and chicken tenders, plus four new deep-dish pizzas.
Marketing messages: Sarpino’s supplements vegans’ and vegetarians’ word-of-mouth marketing with email, SMS and internet search campaigns, plus social media posts and third-party platforms. “We worked with our partners to do a ‘Pepperoni Challenge Pizza’ at the beginning of the year, creating a pizza that was half plant-based pepperoni and half regular at a discounted price to let our customers try it,” says David Chatkin, president. “The response was very positive, with the pizza being in the top 10 sold during the promotion, and we saw a sustained increase in plant-based pepperoni topping add-ons from the regular menu.”
Meat matchmaking: Spurred on by a vegan customer’s request in 2019, the brand started to explore vegan and flexitarian food trends and brought Beyond Meat and Daiya cheese on board. “We saw how fast that market was growing and what a tremendous opportunity this was, so we decided to create an entirely vegan menu—not just small additions—to have the same vast variety as we do with our regular menu,” Chatkin recalls. “We tested a range of plant-based proteins and went with products that were high-quality, complemented our flavor profiles, and, most importantly, that our vegan customers would love.”
Pizza pairing: Before adding plant-based products, the Sarpino’s team spent months creating processes for streamlining cooking and preparation. “With our hyperefficient operations design, we have a smaller staff than most, and we couldn’t overburden franchisees,” explains Scott Nelowet, director of franchise development. “We spent a lot of
time experimenting, because vegan done poorly will hurt not just vegan sales but also the complementary sales that come along with them.”
Customer response: Vegan and vegetarian customers, tired of the afterthought offerings of others, appreciate the brand’s dedication to plant-based cuisine and bring their friends and family, who may or may not be vegan—helping to secure the brand’s recent $150,000 boost in average store sales. “The customer reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, and it has become a very loyal fan base,” Nelowet notes.
Pricing and profits: Plant-based proteins are slightly more expensive than traditional proteins, but the brand engaged in months of refinement to ensure it could offer plant-based at a significant profit. The company now recommends that franchisees do not charge more than $1 or $2 extra for the vegan items or raise the topping charge for plant-based proteins on the regular menu.
Words of wisdom: “Listen to what the vegan community is asking for! If you approach this in a disingenuous way, they will know it, and you will never recover,” Chatkin advises. “They know when restaurants don’t really care and are just in it for the money. Instead, take the time to create recipes and offerings specifically for this audience. And, as always, thoroughly train your staff on the new items, including how to handle items properly.”
“We worked with our partners to do a ‘Pepperoni Challenge Pizza’…creating a pizza that was half plant-based pepperoni and half regular at a discounted price to let our customers try it.”
— David Chatkin, Sarpino’s USA
This Pittsburgh-based independent, now with seven locations, found success after adding vegan cheese in late 2020 and followed that success with plant-based pepperoni in early 2022.
Marketing messages: Rubbing elbows with a Pittsburgh-area vegan group has helped spread the word organically, helping advertise new menu items as soon as they’re released. “They have a Facebook page with thousands of followers,” marvels Nick Bogacz, president. “They’ve been our best source of marketing, and we’ve now become a destination for these options.”
Meat matchmaking: At a trade show in London in 2019, Bogacz noted the plethora of plant-based ingredients—and how great they tasted. Back home, he believed he could attract the sizable vegan presence in Pittsburgh with items made just for them. Adding vegan cheese went over “phenomenally,” so when Hormel sent over samples of its Happy Little Plants pepperoni, the taste-testing began. “On staff, we have a couple
of vegans, so they tried it—and the meat eaters did, too,” Bogacz remembers. “Everyone was surprised by the texture, taste and look. That’s what really stood out to me when we tried plant-based proteins: that they were actually really good!”
Pizza pairing: The Velma specialty pie is simple, featuring red sauce, basil, vegan pepperoni and vegan cheese. But Bogacz is considering adding more options to the menu, such as plant-based sausage and an Italian-style sub, done vegan, with the plant-based pepperoni. “The ingredients work just like the meat-based ones,” he says. “I think it’s a trend that’ll just keep growing.”
Customer response: Hybrid families love the options at Caliente. “What you often find is that the customer’s partner is vegan, and instead of ordering two separate pizzas, the nonvegan will try the plant-based pepperoni,” Bogacz says. “We make sure to put the plant-based pepperoni on the opposite end of the make line, so the two pepperonis don’t get confused.” Vegan and vegetarian customers appreciate this extra care.
Pricing and profits: Caliente charges a premium-topping price for the plant-based meat, but interested customers are more than willing to shell out for it, as long as the quality is up to snuff.
Words of wisdom: “Definitely taste-test the plant-based proteins and have someone who’s vegan as part of the tastetesting crew,” Bogacz recommends. “Also, cook it! You want to see what it looks like fresh and after it’s been sitting in a pizza box for 10 minutes.”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor and the editor of PizzaVegan.com.“What you often find is that the customer’s partner is vegan, and instead of ordering two separate pizzas, the nonvegan will try the plant-based pepperoni.”
— Nick Bogacz, Caliente Pizza & Draft House
Pizza making robots and vending machines are making headway, but their manufacturers still have some problems to solve.
BY RICK HYNUMBasil Street Pizza was once a promising startup in the restaurant automation field, but something, somewhere along the way, did not compute. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company touted its automated pizza kitchen—which used a three-element, non-microwave speed oven to fire up flash-frozen pies in three minutes—as “the future of pizza.” Now it looks to be history, with the company shutting down and selling its assets, as reported in late April by OttOmate, a digital business publication for the foodservice robotics industry.
For all of the skeptics who scoff at the notion of a machine making pizza for people, Basil Street’s demise might feel like validation. But Christopher Albrecht, OttOmate’s publisher, has his finger on the pizza robot’s pulse (so to speak). And he knows the issue is more nuanced than that.
“Basil Street is interesting, because it did a lot of things that you’d think would be correct,” Albrecht says. “It had 12 units in the field generating revenue. It had raised a round of institutional investment. It had a distribution deal with Prepango.”
So far, so good. But then Basil Street, which had piloted its kiosks in California, Nevada, Texas and North Carolina to apparent success, went the crowdfunding route to raise more equity. And that’s where they hit a brick wall, Albrecht believes. “This is a successful strategy for plenty of robotic startups—Blendid, all of Wavemaker Lab’s portfolio companies—but it’s
not the same as running a Kickstarter [campaign]. Equity crowdfunding takes a lot of work and requires more regulatory approval. Basil Street was hampered by the pandemic, which caused production delays out of China, and getting through all the financial regulatory work to crowdfund took longer than anticipated. So the company just ran out of runway.”
So what does this say about the future of pizzabots? Not much, really. For every startup that rockets to success in an emerging field, there will always be a few flame-outs. And
Basil Street had plenty of competitors that are still going strong. At this year’s National Restaurant Association Show, foodservice bots were everywhere, from Pepsi’s robotic server to RichTech Robotics’ ADAM, a dual-arm system that can mix coffee drinks and cocktails.
“We think this technology is still in its infancy stages, as right now it seems like capabilities are limited,” Nation’s Restaurant News reported, “but robots are less like gimmicks and more like crucial tools as the labor shortage continues.”
“Adding back-of-house robots, especially at the scale of Domino’s and Pizza Hut, would require pretty extensive testing. Dough, for example, is different from pizzeria to pizzeria, and not every dough plays well with robots.”
— Chris Albrecht, OttOmate
The Elon Musk Connection
Still, there are some naysayers on the consumer side. According to an April 2022 study by Big Red Rooster, 32% of restaurant customers said they’d be OK with robots making their food but don’t want to see them doing it. Forty-four percent said they’d feel “skeptical” if they saw “off-stage” bots in action, 18% would feel “sadness,” and 13% would be just plain scared.
Not surprisingly, Gen Z and millennials have a more positive attitude toward foodservice robots. And if a robot can make a pizza that tastes just as good as one fashioned with human hands—and make it more profitably, requiring less human labor and reducing food waste—a robot revolution will be hard to quell.
One thing’s for sure: Some of the country’s sharpest minds are working on it. Elon Musk might have other priorities, but several of his former SpaceX whiz kids have founded Los Angeles-based Stellar Pizza, a food truck powered by robots. Benson Tsai, a former SpaceX engineer, launched Stellar Pizza in 2019 with fellow ex-SpaceX brainiacs Brian Langone and James Wahawisan. “Working at SpaceX…was a blast,” Tsai recalls. “We designed batteries that powered rockets, spaceships and satellites. The best part of our days together was sharing meals and discovering new restaurants in Los Angeles. After five years at SpaceX, we decided to channel our skills into solving problems here on earth.”
Starting with a ball of fresh, raw dough, Stellar Pizza’s machine, which is housed in the truck, presses and shapes it into a round pizza crust, adds sauce and toppings, and pops the pie into one of four high-temperature, custom-designed ovens for baking. “We spent two years developing the machine
with a team of 26 ex-SpaceX engineers,” Tsai notes. “The SpaceX ethos is to fail fast and discover the most difficult challenges as soon as possible.”
And there are some challenges that even engineers can’t solve. “Dough, a living organism, and the handling of the dough proved to be one of the trickiest problems,” Tsai says. “Our team was able to quickly discover how difficult dough handling was and brought in a dough expert, Noel Brohner from [Los Angeles-based] Slow Rise Pizza, to assist our team of rocket scientists to make the best possible pizza.”
Philippe Goldman, the CEO of Pazzi, ran into a similar obstacle. With two pizzerias in Paris, Pazzi uses robots to cover the three Bs—building, baking and boxing the pies—and they need little help from their human overlords. But the dough proved tricky, Goldman explained in a webinar hosted by OttOmate last November. “Dough always changes,” he said. “It’s not a rigid product. We have two restaurants and follow the same process, but the dough doesn’t have the same behavior at the two restaurants. The best way to handle that is to have clever robots that can adapt to the behavior of the dough. We use computer vision to understand dough behavior and adapt the way the robot is going to press and deal with the dough.”
“We spent two years developing the [pizza making] machine with a team of 26 ex-SpaceX engineers. The SpaceX ethos is to fail fast and discover the most difficult challenges as soon as possible.”
— Benson Tsai, Stellar PizzaStellar X, a robot-powered food truck in Los Angeles, was founded by a trio of former SpaceX engineers.
Of course, not all pizza robots need to do everything a person can do. The xPizzaCube, a countertop system from San Francisco-based xRobotics, spreads sauce, sprinkles cheese and adds pepperoni slices on premade crusts for pies between 8” and 16”. These compact machines can be installed in any kitchen to reduce labor and fire up pepperoni pies in a hurry, according to Alena Tikhova, xRobotics’ chief marketing officer. “This is literally for everybody in the market,” Tikhova said in the OttOmate webinar. “The horizontal space in any pizza shop is very limited. If you don’t have a lot of space… you might want to look at something that uses vertical space instead of horizontal space. Once you bring in any new piece of equipment, you have to think of exactly where you’re going to place it and having enough space for your pizza maker to pass by—all of those little things that are actually not little. They’re very important.”
Tikhova, a former pizzeria operator herself, says a countertop robot can save time for any busy shop. “If you [think about] where your people are spending most of their time, I guarantee it’s not slapping the dough or bringing in ingredients,” she said. “It would be things like putting on sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Concentrate on those first and automate them, and you’ll see massive savings.”
“If you [think about] where your people are spending most of their time, I guarantee it’s not slapping the dough or bringing in ingredients. It would be things like putting on sauce, cheese and pepperoni.”
— Alena Tikhova, xRobotics
Middleby Corporation’s Lab2Fab (L2F) has engineered its own machine that will sauce, cheese and top pizzas. Lab2Fab’s PizzaBot 5000 (PB5K) has sensors and computer vision capabilities to dispense ingredients precisely, as well as robotic arms to move the prepped pie into the pizza oven. “A lot of people should be looking at this type of application and saying, ‘I can bring this in, start some automation [and] get consistency,’” said Lab2Fab president Shawn Lange in the OttOmate webinar. “It’s not necessarily about removing the humans—it’s about repurposing them….The labor challenge is very unlikely to get better. It’s very likely to get worse. If you don’t jump on attacking this issue today, you’re going to find yourself completely behind…in a few years.”
But what about stretching the dough before topping it? Ecor International has that covered, thanks to its automated dough stretcher called OperaPrima. “OperaPrima is designed to be a very user-friendly machine,” says Ecor International CEO Giovanna Lucietto. “You just need to take the dough, place it over the center of the dish and close the drawer. You may need some practice to configure OperaPrima, but the display is also very easy to use. The machine works for you while you’re carrying on other activities.”
Lucietto says the OperaPrima is “the one and only machine in the world that rolls out the dough imitating the hands of the pizza chef. The result is artisan—it does not stress the dough and creates a well-defined edge according to the set parameters.”
Automation isn’t limited to making pies. Domino’s has tested robotic delivery, and several foodservice automation companies have surfaced with their own tech to get food to a customer’s doorstep. Marco’s Pizza is testing voice-to-text technology for order taking and a pizza making robot to improve efficiency and accuracy at its high-traffic stores. And California chain Mountain Mike’s Pizza has been working with San Diego-based It’s Your AI to test a chatbot that can take complicated orders over the phone as smoothly as a live person. That system is so convincing, says It’s Your AI founder Jay Lacny, that one customer showed up in person at a Mountain Mike’s store and asked to meet “Shea,” the female chatbot who had previously taken his phone order. “Instead of using a computer-generated voice, we have a voice-over artist, a real person, recording everything,” Lacny says. “And
“It’s not necessarily about removing the humans—it’s about repurposing them….The labor challenge is very unlikely to get better. It’s very likely to get worse.”
— Shawn Lange, Lab2FabBear Robotics created the Ledo Bot 9000 for Ledo Pizza’s location in West Springfield, Maryland.
when we’re ready to offer services in, say, Mississippi, we’ll add a Southern accent. A Brooklyn accent, Ivy League accent, whatever it is, we can spin it up in, like, 20 hours.”
No one’s likely to develop a crush on a robotic food runner, but you never know. In June, Ledo Pizza, a Maryland-based brand, debuted its newest team member—dubbed Ledo Bot 9000—at a location in West Springfield. Manufactured by Bear Robotics, the Ledo Bot runs carryout orders to the counter so that flesh-and-blood team members can focus on other tasks and take better care of customers. “With Ledo Bot running carryout orders from the kitchen to the counter, there won’t be any barriers between the guest and employee during this repetitive task,” says Ledo Pizza president Jamie Beall, adding that the robot will be implemented in additional stores soon.
Just don’t expect the top chains to use pizza making robots right away. For starters, they’ll have to overcome the same problems Pazzi and Stellar Pizza encountered—but on a much larger scale. “Adding back-of-house robots, especially at the scale of Domino’s and Pizza Hut, would require pretty extensive testing,” Albrecht says. “Dough, for example, is different from pizzeria to pizzeria, and not every dough plays
well with robots. Automation needs to be attuned to particular dough types to prevent tearing and other mishaps.”
And there’s no reason to worry that robots will nudge talented pizzaioli out of the kitchen, Albrecht says. “Pizza robots aren’t meant for every pizzeria. Robots are best suited for high-volume locations where people might not care as much about getting an artisanal pizza. If I’m stuck at an airport at 11 a.m. after a series of delays and all the restaurants are closed, that vending machine pizza is going to taste pretty good.” Rick Hynum is
The Mountain Mike’s loyalty program helps collect data about guests— who they are and their ordering preferences and purchasing behavior—so the brand can deliver a more personalized experience.
Learn how to make more profitable use of data acquired through your loyalty program in Ward Olgren’s seminar, “Turning Your Data Into Dollars,” at this month’s National Pizza & Pasta Show. See page 41!
Two chains with stunning loyalty program success share their secrets for getting customers on board—and coming back for more.
BY TRACY MORINIt’s no small feat to land a spot on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best Loyalty Programs 2022, and Round Table Pizza graces the list twice: No. 1 in the pizza category and No. 3 in restaurants overall. The award, presented by Newsweek and Statista, is given to brands based on an independent survey taken by more than 4,000 U.S. customers who are members of loyalty programs of retailers or service providers. In total, about 20,000 evaluations were collected, and customers were given the opportunity to evaluate various loyalty programs based on six criteria: Likelihood of Recommendation, Ease & Enjoyment, Benefit, Overall Satisfaction, Customer Support, and Trust.
How would you stack up in those categories? If you fear your loyalty program is not yet up to snuff—or if you’ve never offered a loyalty program and are considering adding one—lean into these lessons from Round Table and another top-performing loyalty provider, Mountain Mike’s.
The Player: Round Table Pizza, Los Angeles, CA (410-plus locations)
Credentials: Since launching the Round Table Royal Rewards Program in 2019, customers have flocked to sign up to “receive the royal treatment.” From 2020 to 2021, loyalty membership grew by 90% and, as of the fourth quarter 2021, loyalty platform Punchh reported Round Table Pizza ranked in the 80th percentile of QSR brands and the 85th percentile among pizza brands in terms of participation of active members.
How it works: The value-driven rewards program welcomes guests from the start with an offer of a free order of Twists, a
Round Table Pizza signature item. Along with receiving points per purchase to redeem for rewards, fans regularly receive a slice of the pie with piping hot deals for the likes of National Pizza Day, Pi Day, Halloween and more. Consumer touchpoints are also a priority, with the program boasting an integrated experience across platforms and regular communication with guests to ensure they take advantage of their rewards.
Keys to success: “We attract customers to our loyalty program by staying true to the key pillars we built the rewards program around,” notes Warwick McLaren, vice president of omnichannel marketing at FAT Brands, which includes Round Table Pizza. Here, McLaren lists and explains these pillars in his own words:
• A strong/engaging signup offer. Our brand is built around providing value to our customers, so it’s only natural that we offer an incentive to drive our fans to sign up to become Round Table Royal Rewards member. To attract customers, the incentive must be thoughtful and have a high enough perceived value to encourage new member signup. We offer our customers six free Garlic Parmesan Twists—our No. 1 selling appetizer—upon registering. Rather than applying to a future order, guests can apply the free reward on the same transaction. We find that this user experience is what drives high repeatorder intent.
“It’s important to be strategic in [your brand messaging] so that it resonates with customers versus being overwhelming.”
— Warwick McLaren, FAT Brands
Something I think about often is my great grandkids! It’s funny since I don’t even have grandkids yet. Why do I think about that?
Our parents and grandparents really only had the opportunity to leave still pics for us to see. We have an opportunity to leave VIDEO that will live on forever!
Your grandkids, great grandkids and great GREAT grandkids can see you on VIDEO! They can see the way you smiled. The way you talked. Your mannerisms. How you carried yourself. Where you lived.
I know it feels silly at first, but you’ll get better at it. Create videos of big, important days and the “regular” days in your life.
Post the videos on social media and let them live forever. Trust me when I say that you won’t regret it AND future generations will thank you!
To learn more about Perfect Crust’s pizza liners and other products, visit perfectcrust.com or email Eric Bam at Eric@perfectcrust.com
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.
• Communication tailored to each loyalty member. Personalized communication allows our messaging to cut through the clutter of inboxes and newsfeeds on social media, so that members see relevant content with offers specific to their purchasing habits. With consumers being exposed to countless brands and their messaging every day, it’s important to be strategic in what you share so that it resonates with customers versus being overwhelming. Also, loyalty callouts/ upsells to our database via web, email and social are low-cost and are highly trackable so we can easily assess what type of offers are moving the needle.
• Promoting on the best real estate. While you don’t want to be too forceful with encouraging signup, take advantage of the best real estate that you have—the food. We have loyalty language incorporated on our pizza boxes and cups to make customers aware of the program while they are waiting for/ enjoying food. We also promote the program on our tables.
The Player: Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Newport Beach, CA (250-plus locations)
Credentials: In 2021, Mountain Mike’s introduced the Mountain Rewards mobile app and loyalty program, which was designed to reward loyal guests and build more meaningful connections with fans through personalized offers suited to their individual needs. Membership quickly grew after its mid-year introduction, and the company expects to have as many as 250,000 loyalty members by this year’s end.
How it works: “Consumers expect to be rewarded for their continued patronage and loyalty,” notes Carol DeNembo, vice president of marketing for Mountain Mike’s. “Additionally, you want to stay competitive—not just as a pizzeria, but being in the restaurant business in general. Having a loyalty program helps not only build brand loyalty, but it can also help fuel more frequent visits and higher average checks. It also helps us learn more about who our guests are, their ordering preferences and purchasing behavior, which allows us to deliver a more personal experience.” Mountain Mike’s also communicates its calendar and offers well in advance to all restaurant locations so the teams are engaged and ready for those redemptions.
Keys to success: In her own words below, DeNembo outlines the following as key practices to encourage signups:
Mountain Mike’s Pizza builds brand loyalty with its new loyalty program and app, introduced in 2021.
MOUNTAIN MIKE’S PIZZA
• Money talks. To help encourage guests to join our loyalty program, we award new members $5 just for downloading the app and registering. We include promotional signage in restaurants around this incentive, use team member suggestive selling scripts, highlight the loyalty program on our home page with a call to action to join, and promote on social media. We have also developed app-exclusive offers, which our guests find very appealing.
• Check out the competition. There was a full competitive analysis conducted that allowed us to understand what other brands offered to encourage downloads/subscriptions. Mountain Mike’s has a strong check average, and we wanted the incentive to be compelling relative to our brand and based on what we were seeing competitively.
• Try a sweepstakes. We leveraged a partnership with the San Francisco 49ers to reach a very strong demographic for Mountain Mike’s—sports and football fans—and introduced a Score Big Sweepstakes. If and when the 49ers scored exactly 49 points during a regular-season game, Mountain Mike’s would award three lucky Mountain Rewards app members $75,000 each.
• Serve notice. We highlight our $5 welcome offer through in-restaurant promotional signage and on our website, promote it on our social media platforms, run targeted CTV commercials, advertise through the app stores and on YouTube, and also include info through direct mail marketing. When we have app-exclusive offers, we tap into our eClub (non-loyalty members) database to help encourage them to download and join our loyalty club. Our guests and app members love exclusive in-app offers—when we’ve offered these, we always see a jump in not only membership but also engagement.
• Tie in special events. We tested our first app-exclusive offer during Cyber Monday 2021. At the time, it garnered our highest numbers of subscriptions for a single day. Then, in March, we celebrated National Pi Day with an exclusive in-app offer of a $3.14 small one-topping pizza, valid only on March 14. We saw a 140% single-day app download growth and saw total same-store sales grow by 13.52%! The signup offer is quite strong and continues to work for us a year into our launch. Additionally, from a point-of-purchase perspective, we’ve added QR codes to all guest-facing material that directs guests to the Apple or Google app stores to make downloading our app easy and convenient.
PMQ just added 100 additional pizza management and marketing technology partners to our online marketing help center at pmq.com/technology. Please peruse this updated resource of nearly 300 technology partners that are experienced in working with pizza restaurateurs. The technology that once belonged only to Domino’s and DoorDash is now available to you.
When PMQ launched its online technology directory in August 2019, operators had less need for features like curbside service, dynamic pricing or local delivery services to compete with DoorDash—but now, it’s time for an update. The pizza-friendly technology companies below will be added to the other technology partners already online at PMQ.com/technology. In the meantime, keep reading PMQ, and we’ll keep reporting on the ways in which technology is working as hard as you are.
• 7Shifts
• Ally
• Anubisid
• Apex Smart Lockers
• AppLova
• ArryVed
• Axial Shift
• Bbot
• Bikky
• Bite
• Boostly
• Branch
• Brizo Foodmetrics
• Burq Delivery Network
• Buzzy Booth
• Captain
• CardFree
• Cartwheel
• CheckPlease Invisible Payments
• Chetu
• Chowly
• Clear COGS
• Cloud POS Solutions
• Como
• Cuboh
• Curate
• Cyntra
• Dashing Delivery
• Deliverect
• DeliverLogic
• DeliverMe
• Devour
• EatStreet
• Electra Meccanica Vehicles
• Esper
• Everee (Paychex Oasis)
• EZ-Chow
• F1rst
• FalconVirtual
• Fastest Feedback
• Flip Dish
• Flybuy
• FounderShield.com
• Froogal
• Glyde
• Good Pizza Great Pizza
• Granbury/Thr!ve
• Hatco Corporation
• Hello Meter
• HungerRush
• INFI
• ItsaCheckmate
• Jolt
• Juicer
• Kwali
• Lavu
• Lunchbox
• Marketing Vitals
• Marqii
• Middleby
• Moduurn
• Nala Robotics
• Nash
• Nextbite
• NovaDine
• OLLO Restaurant Loyalty Specialists
• Omni Cart
• Ondo
• Order My Eats
• OrderPilot
• Orders.co
• Otter
• Ovation
• PAR/Punchh
• PayFare
• Penny
• PizzaCloud
• PopMenu
• Presto
• QSRai
• Qwick
• RestaurantGeofencing.com
• Revel
• RMDA
• Sauce Pricing
• Science On Call
• Segway Robotics
• sendbird
• Shipday
• Sinch
• SkipCart
• Slayr
• Slice
• Slingster
• Smart Pizza Marketing
• Smooth Commerce
• Snackpass
• Spoton
• Sprockets
• Stream
• stripe
• SundayApp
• TaskUs
• Tattle
• Thanx
• Turn
• UB Unlimited Biking
• Ueat
• Unified Office
• VestaBoard
• Virtual Dining Concepts
• Virtuant Brands
• VROMO
• Vyyer
• We Delivery Eats
• When I Work
• Woflow
• Woolpert
• Work Stream
• YumPingo
• Zoomo
• Zuppler
They may not shimmer with the same brand-new novelty as they did in the late ’00s, but mobile units are still popular today as a way to start a foodservice business on a smaller budget. “I’ve been working as a consultant for a few pizza restaurants in the Philadelphia area,” reports Stefano Velia, owner of the blog Pala Pizza, “and the majority of new clients are surprisingly going the mobile route.”
Of course, mobile operations offer a unique set of challenges. But if you’re looking to create your own version of the movable feast, some basics will help you get started off right—and help position you for success over the (literal) long haul.
The most basic piece of equipment for a mobile pizzeria is, of course, the oven. “The amazing thing now is that mobile pizzerias are no longer confined to a food truck with a single wood-fired oven in the back,” Velia says. “With the increase in portable pizza ovens, a few of my clients are packing up multiple ovens and then setting up in an outdoor space. This enables a lot more pizzas to be made, and in a shorter time— addressing what is often one of the biggest constraints of mobile pizzerias.”
Velia currently owns 13 portable pizza ovens that he has used to test and
review for his blog, then to help train his clients. He’s a fan of the Gozney and Ooni brands in this category, but you may choose to go with a more traditional mobile setup. Regardless, since this will be your No. 1 piece of equipment, take your time to research and, if possible, try out the oven for yourself before taking the plunge.
Aside from the oven, you’ll need a few basic kitchen components to pull off a fabulous mobile menu. Mark Moeller,
national restaurant consultant and owner of The Recipe of Success in Westport, Connecticut, recommends that owners obtain refrigeration, including a pizza prep table; a hand sink and three-compartment sink area; a hood; and a generator. “Access to a commercial kitchen for the preparation of dough and all ingredients that are needed for the day’s menu are also required,” he adds.
Velia, for example, likes to have a prep table with plenty of flour on hand and ample room to stretch and prep
“With the increase in portable pizza ovens, a few of my clients are packing up multiple ovens and then setting up in an outdoor space. This enables a lot more pizzas to be made, and in a shorter time.”
— Stefano Velia, Pala PizzaMobile units allow operators to pull up to local festivals and events to spread brand awareness.
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dough, plus a separate table for toppings. “You absolutely need organized toppings in order to be efficient, so you will want a few topping/condiment stations, depending on how intricate your menu is,” he says. “And don’t forget your tools: an oven brush to clean the stone between bakes, multiple pizza peels—I recommend having one for each oven, plus two additional spares—and plenty of fuel, either propane or wood, depending on your pizza oven.”
Mobile units may require extra permits and licensing, in addition to those applicable to all foodservice businesses. Moeller points out that mobile owners will need to tackle documentation including a business license, food permit, sales and use, Employer Identification Number (EIN), and employee health certification such as ServSafe. “Then you’ll need a website, social media accounts and a marketing plan or strategy,” Moeller adds. “The ability to process online orders would also be helpful, while signage and menus (including menu boards) will facilitate the ordering process and increase speed of service.”
In addition, Velia notes that extra supplies should include plenty of pizza boxes, napkins, utensils and a few drink choices for customers. “Also, payment can be the biggest hurdle for people new to operating a mobile business,” he says. “My clients typically require a lot of training in the POS area.”
Finally, Bob Vergidis, chief visionary officer for pointofsale.cloud in Cincinnati, notes that owners often overlook getting a kitchen display system (KDS). “Operators think of mobile kitchens as not needing the same level of sophistication when it comes to food production, but in a mobile kitchen, that’s even more important, since space
is limited,” he notes. “A KDS can prioritize orders and synchronize the food making process, so food comes out hot and on time. It also allows for the mobile pizzeria to keep things organized and maintain flow and communication between the staff.”
As Velia alludes to, payment processing is an obvious must for any business, but the nature of mobile makes things a little different. “A point of sale with credit card processing is vital,” Moeller stresses. “You also need WiFi or access to cellular service to process credit cards and connect with social mediagenerated posts and questions.”
Vergidis believes that technology is another easily forgotten facet among mobile owners, but it should remain at the forefront. “In today’s business environment, technology can mean the difference between an OK day and a great day,” he says. “Frequently, operators don’t think about dedicated
“Operators think of mobile kitchens as not needing the same level of sophistication when it comes to food production, but in a mobile kitchen, that’s even more important, since space is limited.”
— Bob Vergidis, pointofsale.cloud
Internet connectivity. There are other options, such as using your phone as an ad-hoc hot spot, but a dedicated mobile connection makes things so much easier. The internet is the lifeblood of any restaurant, especially a mobile one.”
After all, the internet at your mobile operation will be used for online ordering, third-party delivery services and for processing payments. Vergidis notes that, with 5G now available in most cities, it’s also affordable, with many plans at less than $100 a month and featuring very fast speeds that allow mobile pizzerias to set up shop anywhere.
“A 5G wireless router is a must-have; it can create an instant network that links all of your devices together,” Vergidis says. “Tablets make great lightweight terminals and can be used to process orders, track inventory and communicate with customers—and the battery life in most of them will easily last for a whole day. Finally, mobile contactless payment devices that connect over WiFi bring convenience to customers and make processing orders faster, which can allow for more throughput during peak revenue periods.” When you’re working on the go, tech is definitely your friend—use it wisely!
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor and the editor of PizzaVegan.com.
Discover how you can ramp up your delivery program for higher sales in Alex Vasilkin’s seminar, “Make Every Delivery Profitable With the Hybrid Delivery Model,” at this month’s National Pizza & Pasta Show. See page 41!
As the pandemic continues to shape-shift, and as the norm for many consumers has evolved to eating at home, smooth carryout and delivery services are necessities for pizzerias. According to a July 2021 survey by Vericast and its Valassis line of business, only 49% of millennials and 43% of Gen Z customers are comfortable with dining indoors at a restaurant, while 63% of consumers say they are much more comfortable ordering carryout or delivery than dining in.
and carryout remain crucial facets of any restaurant’s business. Experts share ways to keep it running smoothly in five key categories.
Fortunately, Katie Swett, product lead for San Francisco-based Square, points out that pizzerias can find plenty of ways to streamline their outgoing orders. “While delivery and carryout became popular during COVID, many diners will continue to prefer this method of eating, so it’s important that restaurants look to optimize,” Swett notes. “For restaurants that are looking to improve the efficiency and speed of their delivery and carryout options, there are many tools that can enable seamless operations.”
So you want to start streamlining your to-go orders. Where to start? Experts share some advice in five key operational areas to help ensure a smoother process for owners and customers alike:
Nail delivery details. In Austin, Texas, Show Me Pizza co-owner and operator Benjamin Demarchelier maximizes delivery efficiency in a plethora of ways. “Speed is the name of the game when it comes to having successful delivery,” he says. “Online ordering integration—we work through Toast POS— brings all of the third-party delivery companies into one hub, and having all of the companies, like Uber Eats and DoorDash, sending orders directly to our aggregator maximizes efficiency. People can order easily on any of their sites—or, preferably, on ours, which is the best for our margins.”
Swett adds that operators can utilize certain delivery software to dispatch couriers from companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats to fulfill online orders, without paying
marketplace fees or signing contracts. “The software can also enable businesses to integrate their loyalty program to let customers collect and redeem points on delivery orders, ensuring they’re rewarded for coming back, even when they’re not coming inside,” Swett says. “On-demand delivery from a restaurant’s own website allows them to own the direct relationship with their customers, instead of prioritizing fast, anonymous sales. Owning these relationships gives businesses the control and information to create more loyal customers and, in turn, long-term success.”
Simplify the menu. Menu optimization for delivery and carryout is a must. Not all of your dine-in menu will be suitable for takeout and delivery—some foods simply don’t travel well—so Swett recommends analyzing your menu and leaving out the items that don’t make sense for transportation. “This analysis will also make it easier for your kitchen staff to prepare meals and stay on top of delivery and takeout orders,” Swett adds. “When developing a specific menu for delivery and carryout orders, restaurants will want to be sure to include images and item descriptions so customers can quickly and easily comb through your menu without needing to call in with questions—which take up employees’ time and slows down operations.”
“One way we maximize efficiency in our carryout program . . . is through the use of our pickup windows—100 of our 168 current restaurant locations have a pickup window.”
— Tom Krouse, Donatos
Streamline the kitchen setup. Demarchelier points out that his kitchen is set up like an assembly line, and employees prepare as much as possible in advance to speed up operations once orders are placed. “Customers can even watch the process on twitch.tv/showmepizza,” Demarchelier says. “Portions are already separated for complicated pizzas, so we can prepare pizzas in minutes. Our ovens bake at 800°, so once a pizza hits the stone, it’s ready in 90 seconds. Drivers can come in, pick up their pies and leave without waiting.” Meanwhile, to more quickly fulfill liquid refreshments, Show Me Pizza sells only canned and bottled soft drinks—moving away from fountain sodas, which take longer to fill. Finally, salads are all made fresh daily but are prepackaged, so the kitchen doesn’t need to make them while juggling other items ordered.
In addition, Swett recommends using a kitchen-display system (KDS) in the back of the house, which allows restaurants to view, track and fulfill orders via digital tickets, replacing traditional paper and printers. “Restaurants can then see all orders on one screen, compiling orders placed through one’s POS, website or delivery apps, and everything is sent to and fulfilled directly from the kitchen,” Swett says. “The KDS also enables restaurants to route items to particular stations while getting notifications and tickets to keep orders moving. This creates an organized process for ordering that will improve efficiency and speed.”
Seek creative solutions. Scan your building for outsidethe-box ways you might be able to better serve your customers. For example, pickup windows have been saviors at many outposts of Donatos Pizza, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with 168 locations. “One way we maximize efficiency
in our carryout program and have a competitive advantage is through the use of our pickup windows—100 of our 168 current restaurant locations (61 franchise and 39 companyowned) have a pickup window,” explains Tom Krouse, CEO of Donatos. “The pandemic showed the importance of these, as our pickup sales increased by 47% from April 2019 to April 2020. In the first half of 2021, 52% of our business came from pickup. Customers love the convenience of not having to leave their vehicle in order to get their food.”
Others recommend the ease of QR codes—not a new technology, but one that certainly took off in the pandemic. “To reduce lines and wait times, QR codes offer a great way for customers to quickly scan your menu and place their order online without having to wait for staff to be available,” Swett notes. “A customer simply scans the code, browses your online menu, and places their order through your website.”
As demand for pizza delivery skyrockets, it’s more important than ever to understand the risks involved and how to manage them.
Read more at PMQ.com/delivery-driver-risks
Ready to add third-party delivery to your operation? Revisit our article from September 2020 about how to make food delivery aggregators work for your pizzeria.
Read more at pmq.com/third-party-candidates
Explore POS possibilities. Swett believes that a fully integrated POS system should operate as the heart of any restaurant—enabling in-person dining, delivery and carryout; a website; payment and sales insights; loyalty and marketing programs; back-of-house operations; and more. “With any POS system, it’s important to let customers pay in whatever way they feel most comfortable—whether that’s to prepay online through a website or to have a flexible POS system that allows customers to use contactless payments, which will help speed up lines,” Swett explains. “A portable payments terminal can serve as an extension of your existing POS and enables restaurant employees to quickly take payments at the countertop, roaming around the restaurant, or at someone’s car, should they wish to have food brought out to them.”
Additionally, POS systems can create real-time sales reports to inform future business decisions when it comes to delivery, carryout—and everything else. “From top-line summaries to granular daily stats, a smart POS system will help keep track of all of the insights a restaurant needs to run smoothly,” Swett says. “Restaurants can see sales by category, item or payment type. These reports determine which items are bestsellers and those that are ordered least, so you can be sure your inventory ordering matches exactly what you need.”
Finally, Swett adds, sales reports will help with staffing, so the pizzeria can better accommodate orders coming in via various channels. Because they identify busy and slow times of the day, pizzeria owners can properly staff for each shift and ensure they’re providing customers with optimal service—no matter what to-go method they choose.
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Join your fellow pizzaioli from the Chicagoland area and beyond to test your skill at one of the quintessential styles of American pizza—Chicago style—at the ’22 Chicago U.S. Pizza Cup, taking place at the National Pizza & Pasta Show.
This Chicago-style showdown of flavor will be followed by the visually stunning and energetic Pizza Acrobatic Trials, featuring events like Largest Dough Stretch, Fastest Pie Maker and the crowd favorite Freestyle Acrobatics.
REGISTER TODAY!!
www.uspizzateam.com/22cuspc
Aug. 23-25, Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL
EVENT SPONSORED BY:
The U.S. Pizza Team would like to welcome some of its newest members for 2022.
McKenna Carney
The Nona Slice House Safety Harbor, FL
Cristina Aceves Smith
State of Mind Public House & Pizzeria Los Altos, CA
Nicholas Harper
Piece of Pie On Hartwell Fair Play, SC
Melina Felix The Pizza Bandit Littleton, CO
Vittoria Trupiano
Mangia e Bevi Oceanside, CA
Patti Taylor
Taylors’ Pizza House
Endwell, NY
Kira & Mark Zabrowski
Much Ado About Pizza
Pleasanton, CA
McKenna Carney
Melina Felix
Patti Taylor
Kira Zabrowski
Mark Zabrowski
Vittoria Trupiano
Nicholas Harper
Christina Aceves Smith
Take your standard pepperoni pie to the next level with a drizzle of Mike’s Hot Honey. Whether you’re using ’roni cups or flat pepperoni, the combination of sweet heat and salty pepperoni is an experience your customers will want more of. For the best taste on delivery, always drizzle it on your pizza postoven and use single-serving dip cups or packets. Request a sample today at mikeshothoney.com/sample.
MIKESHOTHONEY.COM/SAMPLE
Grandé Fumella
Smoked Mozzarella is a one-of-a-kind lightly smoked part-skim mozzarella that will complement your other ingredients without overpowering them. It’s a flavor your customers will love! Nearly all people (93%) find smoked foods appealing, and four in five prefer a lighter smoke intensity, making Fumella a surefire hit for new menu ideas and repeat customer visits.
800-847-2633, GRANDECHEESE.COM
Billboard is leading the digital revolution with uniforms, offering customization on 100% of the garment. The longevity of Billboard’s process far surpasses that of silk screening and is more cost-effective than embroidery. The upgraded performance fabrics are breathable, moisture-wicking and anti-microbial. Their creative department will create cohesive design concepts for your brand that will also drive revenue.
844-416-4166, BILLBOARDUNIFORMS.COM
Greenleaf Foods touts Field Roast Pizza Shreds as “probably the best plant-based pizza shreds ever, if we do say so ourselves,” adding, “One bite, and we bet you’ll agree.” These nondairy pizza shreds look, taste and perform as they should: melting, bubbling and giving great coverage. Hot or cold, they will change how you craft plant-based pizza menus.
FOODSERVICE.GREENLEAFFOODS.COM/FIELD-ROAST/
What would you do with additional cash? Replace some equipment? Grow your marketing? Make overdue renovations? Expand your business? Everfund helps pizza operators and restaurants of all kinds obtain quick financing for almost any business need. Options include lines of credit, equipment loans, working capital loans and even commercial real estate loans to refinance or buy your building.
202-935-1315, EVERFUND.BIZ/PIZZA
With the ongoing labor issues, PizzaCloud has been busy turning up call centers for pizza restaurants. From small to large chains (five to hundreds of locations), they can assist you with a live human call center or a “virtual” call center (i.e., “the robot overlords are selling us pizza.”) These AI digital assistants have come a long way in just the last 18 months. Orders appear in your POS system just like web orders.
866-511-5521, PIZZACLOUD.NET
Scan to watch the video!
Here are some of the hottest new products and services PMQ’s Chris Green discovered at the Bar & Restaurant Expo, held March 21 to 23 in Las Vegas.
SLINGSTIR
Are your customers thirsty for connection? They can buy and send drinks instantaneously to themselves and their friends and acquaintances at bars, restaurants, nightclubs and events with SlingStir. Social commerce has never been more fun with real user profiles, drink favorites, full chat, group ordering and more. Help your guests break the ice, buy the next round or just skip the line with SlingStir. It’s now available on iPhone and coming soon to Android.
SLINGSTIR.COM
Watch the video at PMQ.com/slingstir
More than 3,000 restaurants use Marqii to save time, rank higher in search results, attract more guests, and learn what matters most to their customers. Through partnerships with 80-plus online publishers, including Google, Facebook, Amazon Alexa, Yelp and Tripadvisor, Marqii gives restaurants one easy place to manage their online information, menus, listings and reviews. Marqii saves operators time while making sure their restaurant’s hours, location, menus, pricing and more are accurate everywhere a guest might search.
MARQII.COM
Watch the video at PMQ.com/marqii
Orange Door Music Video is a content, service and system provider of music videos, entertainment (such as trivia, bingo and more), media and digital signage systems. As seen on Jon Taffer’s Bar Rescue TV show, the Orange Door Music Video System is a complete turnkey solution for entertainment venues of all kinds. The system comes preloaded with more than 25,000 high-definition music videos and the tools for entertainment and marketing.
ORANGEDOOR.COM
Watch the video at PMQ.com/orangedoor
Howler Head Kentucky Banana Bourbon is made with real 80-proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The whiskey is aged for two years in American oak barrels toasted with an aggressive #4 alligator char. It is then blended with natural banana flavor for a smooth banana finish. Howler Head holds the title of the official flavored whiskey partner of the UFC.
HOWLERHEAD.COM
Watch the video at PMQ.com/howlerhead
Polycade is a managed arcade gaming platform designed so that the hardware only has to be installed once and it will update with new games forever. With online updates, new features and games—such as the recently introduced Photobooth app—are automatically added on a regular basis. Polycade’s durable cabinets and easily swappable parts rarely fail, ensuring that your arcade machine will last for decades to come, even under harsh conditions. Polycade brings arcade gaming into the future.
POLYCADE.COM
Watch the video at PMQ.com/polycade
proof below and sign-off on the advertisement as shown or indicate changes in
» Outlasts plastic trays
» Won’t bend or dent
DOUGH
TRADE SHOWS
TRADE SHOWS
In 1961, Italian immigrant Mike Valerio and his wife, Helen, took a chance on opening Piece o’ Pizza in East Boston, Massachusetts. But when it was renamed Papa Gino’s in 1968, business really kicked into high gear, eventually expanding as Mike offered managers the opportunity to franchise their own locations. “They’d visit restaurants and say hi to everyone on the team,” recounts Deena McKinley, chief experience officer for New England Authentic Eats, the parent company that acquired Papa Gino’s in 2019. “We have people working today who have been with the company 50 years, and they still talk about Mike and Helen and the passion they had.”
Now grown to 81 company-owned locations (with more on the way in 2022) served by a central commissary, the company strives to maintain that personal touch, but it’s also charging full steam ahead on 21st-century advancements. To better serve customers, a revamped loyalty program and a new website and app will premiere in October. In recent years, digital marketing has emerged as a strong focus—utilizing its current customer database to drive in-store visits; investing in SEO, paid search and social media; and adding third-party delivery and text marketing.
Now, the company is eyeing further tech upgrades, like kiosks, QR code payment and voice ordering. “I was blown away by how deep of an emotional connection people have with this brand,” McKinley says. “Plus, we have an amazing data warehouse, and we want to make precise use of that data to focus on loyalty, segmentation and digital marketing. Even with social media, it’s about meeting the
guest where they are, making that emotional connection and driving frequency of visits.”
But Papa Gino’s also maintains its human touch, offering a “surprise and delight” factor for fans, like when it recently doled out more than 2 million free pizzas and sandwiches (with its sister brand, D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches, which features in Papa Gino’s co-branded locations) as consolation in the wake of the Boston Celtics’ loss in the NBA finals. Meanwhile, the Pizza My Heart program asks locals for nominations for free pizza deliveries, often given out to otherwise unheralded local heroes, like first responders and teachers.
Despite tech-savvy upgrades, connecting employees and communities with the brand remains a priority. “The key to our success has been the people, hands down,” McKinley says. “People have to love what they do and feel a passion for it; that comes through. You have to believe in the product and brand, and the Valerio family instilled that pride and that personal touch. Community relationships have been the ties that bind—when guests feel connected, they feel good about doing business with us.”
This 81-unit chain honors its original founders, who fostered a sense of family and community, while surging ahead with techbased advancements to spur lofty growth goals.
BY TRACY MORIN
