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You make careful choices about the ingredients in your food. WestRock makes careful choices about the ingredients in our boxes. We resource raw materials domestically and manufacture our boxes in North America to meet the highest quality and food safety standards.

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Barro’s Pizza presented a $10,000 check to Kaylee Kallas, the winner of last year’s Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway, in January.

Making The Grade

Scraping up money for college tuition is a challenge in this pandemicravaged economy, but your chances are slightly better if you’re a fan of the 40-store Barro’s Pizza chain in Arizona. As a corporate partner in the Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway, the family-owned company, which opened its first location in 1980 in Mesa, will award $10,000 to one lucky scholar for college expenses at the end of this year. Any Arizona resident over 18 can enter the contest once a day through December 14, and the winner will be selected at random. The Barro family takes philanthropy seriously, raising money through dedicated lunch specials for the Arizona Cancer Foundation for Children every June and donating all proceeds from store sales to St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance on the first Tuesday of every December. “Helping others in our community is the foundation of who we are as a company,” says co-owner Ken Barro.

Join The Beer Club

With more than 200 locations in 29 states, BJ’s Restaurants, headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, has been testing a beer subscription service at eight locations in Northern California. BJ’s Brewhouse Beer Club was created to boost off-premise sales during the pandemic. Members receive a special Intro Pack that includes one 750mL bottle of BJ’s Imperial White Ale; their choice of a 64-ounce growler or a six-pack of the company’s handcrafted signature beers; and a 2020 Founding Member beer glass. Additionally, members can purchase a fourpack of exclusively brewed beers, a large deep-dish pie, one appetizer and one dessert every two months for $30. They’re also automatically registered for BJ’s Premier Rewards PLUS loyalty program, earning one point for every dollar spent and a $10 reward for every 100 points. If the beer club program is successful, BJ’s Restaurants hopes to roll it out nationwide sometime next year.

Barro’s describes its pizza as “a combination of thick and fluffy crust paired with a perfected tangy and sweet, spiced sauce.”

Customer Satisfaction On The Rise For Two Top Pizza Chains

Domino’s and Pizza Hut have both seen rising same-store domestic sales in 2020, but that’s not the only good news for the two top chains. Customer satisfaction is also up for both companies, according to an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) study conducted from April 1 through September 30, 2020. Compared to the ACSI 2019-2020 Restaurant Report (which covered April 2019 through March 2020), Domino’s ACSI score rose by 1%, to a score of 80. That put Domino’s in the No. 2 spot among limited-service restaurants, trailing top-ranked Chik-fil-A. Pizza Hut fared even better, with a 3% ACSI jump, to a score of 79 and a tie for third place with fellow Yum! Brands franchise KFC. Papa John’s saw its score drop by 1%, to 77, while Little Caesars’ score also lost one point for a score of 75. Surprisingly, the ACSI study found that customer satisfaction with full-service restaurants increased by 1.3%, to an overall score of 80, despite dine-in shutdowns around the country. “Given the shutdowns and setbacks, it’s pretty remarkable that the restaurant industry was able to meet customer demand and, in many cases, go above and beyond,” says ACSI managing director David VanAmburg.

PIZZA INN DOES BUFFETS THE “RIGHT WAY”

Many restaurant customers, rattled by the pandemic, said no way to buffets in 2020. Pizza Inn has responded by shifting to a new concept called the Right-Way Buffet. Starting in May, the Dallas-based chain began offering table service at some locations, while team members served guests cafeteria-style at other stores. Some stores kept the standard buffet bar but allowed only one-way traffic to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Every store has a dedicated “Sanitizer Captain” who’s responsible for enforcing heightened cleaning and sanitation standards. Many locations also began offering pay-at-the-table options to limit touch points for guests. For customers who are still leery of dine-in, Pizza Inn added a new Contactless Buffet-to-Go option, offering takeout meals sized to feed two to six people. Starting in late October, Pizza Inn also offered three value-priced meal deals for delivery or carryout. Each deal, ranging in cost from $12.99 to $32.99, featured half-pizzas (medium pizzas with up to two toppings on each side) and side items, such as garlic rolls, cheese bread, salads or Cinnamon