MAKES A DOLLAR SLICE TASTE LIKE A MILLION BUCKS

Mike’s Hot Honey started out of a pizzeria in Brooklyn 11 years ago, creating a whole new category of pizza topping that has been called a ‘game changer’ by pizza fans and spawned best-selling menu items for pizzerias nationwide. Request a sample today to see what all the buzz is about: www.mikeshothoney.com/sample

Rounding Up A Pepperoni Posse

Marc Schechter and Danny Stoller, owners of Square Pie Guys in San Francisco and Oakland, wanted to make this year’s National Pepperoni Day more than an excuse to sell a few extra pepperoni pizzas. So they rounded up a posse—a Pepperoni Posse, to be specific—comprised of more than a dozen Bay Area pizzerias committed to feeding people in need. All of the participating pizzerias donated a portion of the day’s sales on Monday, September 20, to their favorite nonprofits focused on food insecurity. “We wanted to do something outside of the norm,” Schechter said. “Typically, national food holidays are always kind of ‘throwaway’ events. Maybe we’ll run a particular discount or make a funny post on social media, but that’s as far as we go.” To make the day more meaningful, Square Pie Guys enlisted area pizza shops like Pizzeria Delfina, Fiorella, Pizza Leah, Cellarmaker House of Pizza and others to join in the promotion. The initiative required “lots of emails, texts and direct messages on Instagram,” Schechter said. “It was a fun exercise indeed.” Read more about Square Pie Guys at PMQ.com/square-pie-guys.

SMELLS LIKE UP-DOG PIZZA

Adam Martinez, a culinary arts teacher at Odem High School in Odem, Texas, can’t back down from a double-dog dare. So when his students dared him to open a pizza restaurant, he did exactly that. He even gave it a dad-joke name: Updog Pizza. “I want customers, when they walk in, to say, ‘It smells like up-dog in here,’ and we have to respond, ‘What’s up, dog?’” Martinez told KRIS-TV. The pizza shop, located near the high school, offers real-world restaurant work experience for current students and graduates alike. Students in the school’s Social Media Marketing class are also contributing to the business. Updog Pizza offers a limited number of Detroit-style and traditional round pies for pickup only. Many of the pizza names are inspired by the school’s past and present coaches and athletes, including the Coach K (pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, bacon, red pepper flakes and Mike’s Hot Honey) and the Moose (pepperoni, bacon, Italian sausage and ham). “Everything I’m going to bring is going to revolve around building relationships with the students,” Martinez said in the KRIS-TV interview. “Some people might think we’re crazy, but I think we’re fun.”