EVENTS & PROMOTIONS SPRING 2023

Industry Events

Food On Demand Conference: May 3-5

Taking place at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, this event brings together key restaurant and foodservice players in mobile ordering, native and third-party delivery, ghost kitchens, virtual restaurants, catering, AI, robotics and restaurant technology. They’ll share strategies for increasing off-premise efficiency and adding incremental sales.

Learn more at foodondemand.com

National Restaurant Association Show: May 20-23

Join your peers from across the foodservice industry at McCormick Place in Chicago. You’ll discover exciting new products and innovative new equipment, create business connections with key suppliers, access expert-led education sessions on today’s biggest topics, and make invaluable peer-to-peer networking connections. Learn more at nationalrestaurantshow.com

Canadian Pizza Summit: May 14-15

Taking place in Vancouver, this event brings together pizzeria owners and operators from across Canada to learn more about the art and business of making pizza. It features the latest ovens and equipment, competitions featuring dozens of pizzerias, networking opportunities and innovative ways to sell more pizza. Learn more at canadianpizzashow.ca

European Pizza & Pasta Show: June 21-22

Here’s your excuse for a summer vacation in London! This show is a one-stop shop for pizza and Italian restaurant owners and managers looking for Europe’s top products and services, from pizza, pasta and flour ingredients to kitchen equipment, plant-based foods, wines and beverages. It will also feature the European Pizza Championship. Learn more at pizzapastashow.com

Promote This!

National Salad Month

Since May brings National Pizza Party Day, International No Diet Day and National Eat What You Want Day, there will be plenty of pigging out. But you can also steer your customers to healthy—and high-profit—salads made with romaine lettuce, butter lettuce, kale, spinach, Swiss chard or arugula. Hit on as many flavor profiles as possible, including sweet, salty and savory, and add quality cheeses and nuts to the mix for more texture.

DON’T FORGET THESE NATIONAL FOOD AND BEVERAGE DAYS IN MAY 2023!

National Hoagie Day

Friday, May 5

Cinco de Mayo

Friday, May 5

International No Diet Day

Saturday, May 6

National Eat What You Want Day

Thursday, May 11

National Pizza Party Day

Friday, May 19

Tripping In The Motor City

Robert Garvey spent 20 years honing his recipe for the thincrust pizzas that have made Robert’s Pizza & Dough Co. a hit in Chicago since 2016. He moved a lot faster on his latest offering: a Detroit-style pizza created in a collaboration with Billy Zureikat, who was featured in PMQ’s March 2023 issue. Zureikat was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in March 2021 and found solace in making pizza. He has since earned kudos from pizzaioli around the Windy City for his signature pie, the Tripping Billy, featuring a creamy shishito pepper sauce, mozzarella, cheddar cheese, pickled jalapeños, roasted shishito peppers, corn and scallions. The pie has been adapted for various styles as limited-time specials at numerous Chicago pizzerias while raising funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In March, the Tripping Billy became the first Detroit-style pie, built on Garvey’s own housemade dough, offered at Robert’s, but it won’t be the last. Garvey continued offering a new Detroit-style special every Tuesday throughout April. These included the Cup & Char Pepperoni, the Grilled Sausage & Caramelized Onions, the Rita and the Roasted Veggie.

The Birthday Boy

Tracey and Chris Nowlin had little restaurant experience when they bought Bada Bing Pizzeria in League City, Texas, about two years ago. But they knew how to do one important thing: engage the local community. When Chris’ birthday rolls around on February 21, the Nowlins make the event all about people who do good works in League City. For every pizza sold on that day, Bada Bing Pizzeria donates a free pie to a first responder, teacher or nonprofit in the area. In the promotion’s first year, they gave away 46 pies, and that number climbed to 52 this year. To get everyone involved, the Nowlins ask their 3,000-plus Facebook followers to nominate recipients for the free pies, shining the spotlight on locals who make a difference in League City—instead of the birthday boy himself. “We love pizza, and it’s so rewarding to give what we love to this community,” Tracey told local website Community Impact.

An Addiction To Subscriptions

A pizza subscription program, launched on January 1, is generating a significant profit for Mamma Ramona’s in Ramona, California, according to owner Andrew Simmons. Simmons, who was featured on PMQ’s October 2022 cover, has been using technology, including the automated Picnic Pizza Station and TurboChef’s high-speed oven, and innovative marketing to reinvent his business and double his sales. Simmons offers an annual pizza subscription—one 12” pepperoni pizza per subscriber per week—and thus far has 299 subscribers. About 51% of subscribers actually redeem the offer each week on average, for a total of 26.52 pizzas per year, he says. His cost per pizza comes to about $2.65 or less—or around $70.28 per year per subscriber. With the subscription price at $99, he sees a profit of $28.72 per year per subscriber or a profit margin of 29.01%. The average customer who redeems the subscription offer also spends an additional $7 per order, Simmons says. “So the add-on additional revenue is $185.64 per customer per year,” he explains. “Total positive revenue, therefore, on 299 subscriptions is $64,093, assuming everything stays steady.” Simmons’ ultimate goal, he says, is “to build the world’s smallest pizzeria….Maximizing the revenue per square foot of space will be the next part of my experiment.”

Just A Scratch

It’s just a little scratch, but there’s free pizza at stake in a promotion that launched on March 29 at Columbus, Ohiobased Mikey’s Late Night Slice. With every purchase, customers receive a scratch-off card for a chance to win food. The big prize is free pizza for a year, but other possibilities include a free slice, a free whole pie or a buy-one-get-one-free offer. Moreover, a losing card doesn’t guarantee a loss. Customers can still post a video with their card on social media and tag Mikey’s for another chance to win. Meanwhile, the chain, which now has eight locations—including one in Cincinnati and a food truck—also holds a weekly “Name That Shop Giveaway.” Using Instagram, Mikey’s posts photos shot at a specific store’s location and asks customers to like the post, name the location and tag a friend to win free food. The posts often get more than 200 likes and up to 70 comments with guesses.