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Take Pizzaboy Pizzeria Italiano, a Chicago eatery opened by Carlo and Cristina Bertolli in late 2020. Virtually every post on their Instagram page is a Reel rather than a static photo. Maybe it’s a mouthwatering view of Pizzaboy’s Steak Fajita pizza spinning on a platter to a hip-hop beat or the Bertollis’ eight-year-old daughter gleefully introducing a pie she just sauced and cheesed. Likewise, John Arena, co-founder of Metro Pizza in Las Vegas, has turned his company’s Instagram account into a one-show TV network—all pizza, all the time. One recent Reel featured a delectable pineapple-and-meat pie and a child’s voice whispering, “Shhh! I can’t do negative today. Positive vibes, positive vibes.” In another Reel, someone runs a slicer across a pie loaded with toppings. That’s it— that’s the video. Watch it, though, and you’ll want that pizza now

Metro Pizza’s videos garner thousands of views—sometimes 50,000 or more. Think about that: Up to 50,000 Instagram users might see your video, which was shot in minutes and didn’t cost a dime to make. Who needs TV?

Pizza Princess G

Social media users may one day tire of scrolling through videos all day, but the booming popularity of TikTok and Twitch—which attract a younger crowd— suggests otherwise, at least for now.

With that in mind, Giuliana Calascibetta, district manager for Cam’s Pizzeria, with six stores in upstate New York, might be the pizzeria marketer of the future. In addition to running her family’s restaurants, Calascibetta has built a growing fan base on Twitch, where her PizzaPrincessG account has more than 40,000 followers. Throughout the week, you can log onto Twitch and watch her making pies, serving customers, chatting with employees or just goofing around, all live and close-up, for hours at a time. Her recent Twitch broadcasts have garnered more than 7,000 views each—and she’s just working at her job.

Calascibetta says she started streaming on Twitch during the pandemic. She often found herself working alone at her restaurant during the shutdown and longed for more human connection. “I didn’t really know how to use the platform and had never watched any streams before I downloaded the app,” she recalls. “I literally just swung it and pressed ‘Go Live’ and talked to whoever joined the