EVENTS & PROMOTIONS SUMMER/FALL 2022

Industry Events

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.

Promote This!

Back to School Month

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.

DON’T FORGET THESE NATIONAL FOOD AND BEVERAGE DAYS IN AUGUST!

• 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.

Bringing Back Brunch

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.

MAMA’S GOT A SQZBX

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.”

The Bacon Bunch

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.

Collaborating For A Cause

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.”