EVENTS & PROMOTIONS MAY 2022 AND BEYOND

Industry Events

Discover all the events impacting the pizza industry during the year at pmq.com/calendar. Have an event? Send your submissions to editor@pmq.com. pmq.com/calendar

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May—National Beef Month

Beef doesn’t exactly top the list of Americans’ favorite pizza ingredients, but it’s versatile and delicious. So explore your options— from corned beef to Korean beef, from roast beef to veal—and create weekly beef-topped specials throughout May.

National Restaurant Association Show

May 21-24

Taking place at McCormick Place in Chicago, this is the largest industry event of the year. From expert-led sessions unpacking new industry challenges and opportunities to top products and solutions for growth, the 2022 show gives restaurateurs from all segments— including pizza—everything they need to navigate today’s new business realities. Don’t forget to visit PMQ in the South Hall at Booth #2543!

Learn more at nationalrestaurantshow.com.

National Pizza & Pasta Show

August 23-25

Featuring 400 exhibits and 30 hot-topic seminars, this show, to be held in Rosemont, Illinois, is designed with pizzeria and Italian restaurant owners in mind. Join up to 6,000 operators and distributors to peruse the latest moneymaking products, services, technologies and equipment while checking out Chicago’s legendary pizza scene with guided tours. Learn more at nationalpizzashow.com.

Pizza Tomorrow Summit

November 9-10

Find out what’s next in the industry at the Pizza Tomorrow Summit in Orlando. It offers hundreds of exhibitors with a wide range of products, a robust conference program, and entertaining and informative 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.

Friday, May 20

National Pizza Party Day

Create high-value multi-pizza deals with sides and beverages for a single (and profitable) price. Got a mobile catering operation? Reach out now to your corporate clients with flyers highlighting pizza party offers and encourage them to reward their staff with a feast!

Saturday, May 21

National Waiters and Waitresses Day

Don’t just dedicate one day to your servers. Celebrate them all week long in social media posts, including videos and photos. It’s a great way to introduce guests to the team members they interact with the most and make your servers feel seen and appreciated.

Learn and Earn!

2 p.m. (CT), Tuesday, May 3

PMQ Live Update: Modernist Pizza Giveaway

Tune in to see if you’re the winner of a free copy of the new book Modernist Pizza in our May sweepstakes, brought to you by Modernist Cuisine and PMQ.

Join us on Facebook Live!

Power Of The Pizza Box

The team at Pizzeria Locale, with four locations in Denver, understands the power of the pizza box. It’s a container, a marketing tool, and even a weapon for good in your hometown. That’s the idea behind Pizzeria Locale’s Community Pizza Box series, in which the company leverages its tens of thousands of boxes to spotlight a local nonprofit that’s helping the underserved. The latest was Access Gallery, which provides creative, educational and economic opportunities for people with disabilities. Pizzeria Locale partnered with Be a Good Person, a Denverbased clothing brand, to print more than 45,000 pizza boxes created by Access Gallery artists AJ Kiel and Josiah Lee Lopez. The boxes went out with every order during March. Pizzeria Locale also held a fundraiser for Access Gallery on March 22, donating 33% of all sales from its four locations to the gallery. Earlier in March, Pizzeria Locale hosted an open-door pizza party at the gallery to debut the new boxes and honor the artists.

Ready For Takeoff

Was the first true airplane invented by Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian, rather than the Wright brothers? Maybe, maybe not—we won’t take sides in that debate. All we know is, Santos-Dumont’s plane, called the 14-bis, was the unlikely inspiration for a pizza chain with the same name in São Paulo. Now 14 Bis offers pies on the fly in Orlando, featuring a wonderfully odd aviation theme that includes flight information displays, airplane-like seating, and windows offering a view of computer-generated clouds. Servers dress like flight attendants and dash from table to table underneath a scaled-down replica of the original biplane that dangles from the pizzeria’s ceiling. True to São Paulo natives’ tastes, the pies at 14 Bis boast a sugar-sweetened crust and Catupiry, a Brazilian brand of soft, creamy, mildtasting cheese used to make cheese spreads. Also on the menu: a wide variety of sfihas, a rounded flatbread pizza originally from Lebanon and now a big deal in Brazil.

Standing With Ukraine

Pizza restaurateurs around the U.S. have rallied to support the people of Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February. Ukraine-focused food-andbeverage specials have raised funds for refugees while earning free media coverage for pizzerias like Malvagio’s Restaurant, which specializes in Neapolitan pizza and event catering in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Tony Boloney’s in Atlantic City and Hoboken, New Jersey; and Tutta Bella, with seven locations in Washington State. Tony Boloney’s owner Michael Hauke created a limited-time pizza boasting the colors of the Ukrainian flag—blue on one side and yellow on the other. The pizza was offered for nationwide shipping via Goldbelly, and Hauke donated his profits to World Central Kitchen, which has been feeding Ukrainian refugees in Poland since the war started. Meanwhile, Tutta Bella owner Joe Fugere has several Ukraine-born employees and, to show his support for them and their families, he created a cocktail—featuring Polish vodka—called the Peremoha, which means “victory.” Profits from the Peremoha were donated to Razom for Ukraine, a pro-democracy nonprofit. Finally, for Malvagio’s co-owner Svetlana Petersen, the war is deeply personal; she’s a Ukrainian native whose father is currently fighting the Russians back home. After her dad suffered a gunshot wound in battle, Petersen started raising money for Ukraine relief by selling hearty borscht soup for $10 per bowl. The promotion had raised $4,000 as of March 21.

Money For Meatballs

DiMaggio’s Pizzeria in Hicksville, New York, offered mucho moolah for meatballs in a promotion celebrating National Meatball Day on March 9. The restaurant held Long Island’s Best Homemade Meatballs contest with a prize of $1,000 on the line, and all proceeds went to the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine in the midst of the Russian invasion. Contestants were challenged to bring at least a half-dozen of their finest meatballs to the eatery. Actor and chef Joseph Gannascoli, who portrayed Vito Spatafore on The Sopranos, judged the competition along with food critic and digital media star Sal “The Grubfather” DiBenedetto. DiMaggio’s gave non-cooks a chance to win prizes as well with a meatball eating contest.