Versatile: A popular addition to a wide range of recipes across every daypart.
Save time:
Just warm and serve. Enjoy a 6-day refrigerated unopened shelf life, too.
Popular: 62% of customers love or like caramelized onions.1
Saves labor: 93% shorter prep time than scratch.
Vegan/vegetarian:
Nick Bogacz got into a car wreck on his first day as a pizza delivery driver and borrowed his mom’s car to finish his rounds. At 17, he’d already overcome his first challenge as a pizza professional. Today, he owns Caliente Pizza & Draft House, a Pittsburgh brand with seven stores, and he’s still solving problems every day. He also keeps learning from other operators’ mistakes. A common one, he says, is basing your prices on those of a competitor.
“You need to know what it costs you to make your pizza,” Bogacz says. “If you price it off of what your neighbors are doing, you may not know that the other guy’s in debt….He may be a week away from going out of business. You see a $10 one-topping pizza, and you think that’s how much you should charge. But what if it’s not enough to be able to operate your business?”
Another piece of advice: Whenever possible, consult with more experienced pizzeria operators, Bogacz says. “No matter what you want to do, somebody else has already done it. Why not ask them how they do it?”
CONTENT
EDITOR IN CHIEF Rick Hynum rhynum@wtwhmedia.com
SENIOR EDITOR Charlie Pogacar cpogacar@wtwhmedia.com
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Tracy Morin tmorin@wtwhmedia.com
ASSOCIATE EDITOR/USPT COORDINATOR Brian Hernandez bhernandez@wtwhmedia.com
VP, ASSOCIATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Allison Dean adean@wtwhmedia.com
VP, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Greg Sanders gsanders@wtwhmedia.com
ART & PRODUCTION
ART DIRECTOR Eric Summers esummers@wtwhmedia.com
SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Tory Bartelt tbartelt@wtwhmedia.com
DIGITAL PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Blake Harris bharris@wtwhmedia.com
A Publication of WTWH Media, LLC 662-234-5481
Volume 28, Issue 5
June/July 2024 ISSN 1937-5263
CONTENT STUDIO
VICE PRESIDENT Peggy Carouthers pcarouthers@wtwhmedia.com
WRITER Ya’el McCloud ymccloud@wtwhmedia.com
WRITER
Olivia Schuster oschuster@wtwhmedia.com
SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
VP, SALES
Lindsay Buck lbuck@wtwhmedia.com
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER
Tom Boyles tboyles@wtwhmedia.com
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Ashley Cyprien acyprien@wtwhmedia.com
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Jerry Moschella jmoschella@wtwhmedia.com
VP, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Eugene Drezner edrezner@wtwhmedia.com
CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
Brandy Pinion bpinion@wtwhmedia.com
FOUNDER Steve Green
PMQ PIZZA Issue 5 June/July 2024 (ISSN 1937-5263) is published monthly in January, March, April, May, June, August, September, October, November and December by WTWH Media, LLC, 1111 Superior Ave #2600, Cleveland, OH 44114-2560.
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Featuring eight sessions and 16 speakers, PMQ’s Pizza Power Forum, taking place September 4 to 5 in Atlanta, will help you build the pizza business of your dreams.
They might feel “sterile” or “too corporate,” but checklists will ensure clarity about expectations and create accountability for your staff.
Spicy and guaranteed to make customers thirsty, the hot oil bar pie, invented by Colony Grill, has become a prized delicacy in Connecticut and beyond.
Artificial intelligence can’t run a pizzeria entirely on its own—not yet, anyway. But what this “digital employee” can do is remarkable.
The owner of The Lamb & The Wolf discusses Greek-influenced pizza and why running a successful food truck is a lot harder than it looks.
Rigorous logic and systematic planning might not sound like a formula for a jolly good time, but ex-engineers Hengam and Matt Stanfield will prove you wrong at Mattenga’s Pizzeria in San Antonio.
BY RICK HYNUM
Browsing
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WHEN FRANK PEPE FIRST OPENED WHAT WOULD BECOME New Haven, Connecticut’s iconic Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, he famously drummed up business by walking around Wooster Square market with several pies perched on his head. Back in the 1920s, after all, not everyone knew what pizza was. Pepe’s heirs don’t have to go to that much trouble today, as customers travel from around the world to try the New Haven-style pizza shop and its satellite locations. But Jennifer Bimonte-Kelly,
Pepe’s granddaughter, has gotten Frank Pepe back on the streets again with its first catering van. In what BimonteKelly calls a “milestone for us,” Frank Pepe’s new catering program has two tiers: one for groups up to 30 people and another for groups up to 150 people. “We’re thrilled to extend our offerings beyond our pizzerias, allowing customers to experience the same Pepe’s favorites they love at their events, whether it’s a corporate luncheon or a family party,” Bimonte-Kelly says.
When the owners of Hawthorne’s NY Pizza & Bar in Charlotte, North Carolina, learned that one of their pizzas supposedly sends expectant moms into labor, they knew they’d hit upon a unique selling proposition like no other. “Pregnant women from all over Charlotte and surrounding areas are coming to get what people are now calling ‘The Inducer,’” the pizzeria’s website states. Customer Ali Aldrich was the first to claim that the pie sent her into labor. “She ate the spicy pizza for dinner, went to the hospital and gave birth to her daughter the next morning,” the website notes. Hawthorne’s owners say they’ve gotten more than 450 similar claims of pizza-induced labor since 2017. Healthcare professionals insist it’s a myth that spicy foods can hurry an unborn baby along when Mom is near or past her due date, and Hawthorne’s owners admit “there is no scientific proof” of The Inducer’s alleged powers. But desperate momsto-be will try anything when the baby’s running late. And the pizza does pack some heat: Along with Buffalo chicken wing meat and mozzarella, it features a medium-hot Buffalo sauce with just the right amount of kick. As Hawthorne’s co-owner Michael Adams once told The Charlotte Observer, “I bet my wife wished she had known about [The Inducer] when she had our two kids at nine pounds plus.”
Call it pie-in-the-sky thinking, but thanks to Zipline, which bills itself as the “world’s largest autonomous delivery system,” Detroit-based Jet’s Pizza has found a high-tech shortcut for getting food to off-premise customers. The Detroit-style brand, which has 400-plus locations in 22 states, plans to start offering drone delivery in the metro Motor City area, although a start date has not been announced. Each Zipline Platform 2 (P2) drone can reportedly carry two large pizzas, along with sides. Zipline also inked a deal with Pagliacci Pizza, a Seattle chain, last year and recently announced an agreement to deliver orders for Panera Bread in the metro Seattle area. On April 19, Zipline celebrated completing 1 million commercial drone deliveries to customers. “Having the best pizza in the world doesn’t matter if it doesn’t arrive fresh from the oven,” says Jet’s Pizza CEO John Jetts. When pies start floating down from the sky, he adds, “customers will get a magical and consistent end-to-end Jet’s experience, regardless of traffic or weather.”
Mike’s Hot Honey dip cups and squeeze packets make delivery and to-go a breeze. Use our free dip cup rack to maximize your sales. Contact us for samples and displays: wholesale@mikeshothoney.com
Taking place September 4 to 5 in Atlanta, PMQ’s Pizza Power Forum taps expert operators, pizza makers and innovators to help you build the pizza company of your dreams.
BY RICK HYNUM
IF I’VE LEARNED ANYTHING AS PMQ’S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OVER THE PAST 13 YEARS, IT’S THAT EVERY PIZZERIA OWNER HAS A GREAT STORY TO TELL. I’VE ALSO LEARNED THAT YOU ALL HAVE PAIN POINTS, SOMETHING—OR SEVERAL THINGS— GETTING IN THE WAY OF BUILDING THE PIZZA BUSINESS OF YOUR DREAMS.
What’s keeping you up at night? Have you hit a brick wall in growing sales or scaling your brand? Is marketing your Achilles’ heel? Employees who don’t buy into your mission— or even show up for work? Or maybe you’re still trying to perfect your dough or build a menu that really sells? Could automation make your pizzeria run more smoothly?
It’s PMQ’s job to help you address those pain points. That’s why we’ve launched the Pizza Power Forum, taking place September 4 to 5 at the QSR Evolution Conference in Atlanta.
The Pizza Power Forum will be an intimate and relaxed gathering of pizza pros like yourself, and it’s packed with panel discussions led by 16 industry visionaries and operators who have gone through all the same struggles you’re experiencing. You got into this business because you love making pizza, and so did they. And, like you, they started with very little and went after the dream anyway.
Do you dream of a pizza business that can practically run itself—or at least with minimal staff? So did Andrew Simmons of Mamma Ramona’s/Pizza Roboto in California and Erica Barrett of Alabama-based Dough Boy Pizza. And they’ll tell you exactly how they’re finding success through technology.
Ready to scale your pizza business but don’t know how to start? Join us and learn from the founders of emerging chains, like Khanh Nguyen of Zalat Pizza and Brandon and Zane Hunt of Via 313, both in Texas, and veteran operators behind established brands such as Shahpour Nejad of Pizza Guys in California, Michael LaMarca of Ohio-based Master Pizza, and Joey Karvelas of Karvelas Pizza Co. in Georgia.
Other speakers are pizza making virtuosos, industry consultants and crackerjack marketers with just one or two units, and that’s the way they like it—at least for now. They include Alessio Lacco and Sofia Arango of Atlanta Pizza Truck; Wilhelm Rodriguez of Papa’s Pizza in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico; Alex Koons of Hot Tongue Pizza and Purgatory Pizza in Los Angeles; Bruce Hershey of Piper’s Scratch Pizza Shop in Palm Harbor, Florida; and Peyton Smith of Mission Pizza Napoletana. And then there are pop-up wizards like Alexandra Castro of Pizza With Ale in Atlanta and Louise Joseph of Dough Girls in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Best of all, every speaker knows your pain points and wants to help you solve them. You can learn more about them in the coming weeks at PMQ.com, in our e-newsletter (sign up at PMQ.com/ subscribe) and in next month’s issue of PMQ. Meanwhile, register today, join us in Atlanta and start building the pizza business of your dreams!
Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.
Scaling With Integrity: How to Maintain Your Brand’s Standards During Growth
Speakers: Brandon Hunt, Via 313; Khanh Nguyen, Zalat Pizza; Michael LaMarca, Master Pizza; Shahpour Nejad, Pizza Guys
Robots: The Present and Future of Automation in the Pizza Space
Speaker: Andrew Simmons, Mamma Ramona’s/ Pizza Roboto
Perfecting Your Dough: Tips and Tricks
Speakers: Wilhelm Rodriguez, Papa’s Pizza; Louise Joseph, Dough Girls; Joey Karvelas, Karvelas Pizza Co.; Alexandra Castro, Pizza With Ale
Leveraging Technology to Build the Pizzeria of the Future
Speakers: Erica Barrett, Dough Boy Pizza; Alessio Lacco, Atlanta Pizza Truck
Culture Is King: Attracting and Retaining Employees by Being Cooler Than the Competition
Speaker: Alex Koons, Hot Tongue Pizza and Purgatory Pizza
Marketing Masters: Making Your Brand Stand Out in a Crowded Field
Speakers: Sofia Arango, Atlanta Pizza Truck; Bruce Hershey, Piper’s Scratch Pizza Shop; Alex Koons, Hot Tongue Pizza and Purgatory Pizza
Pizza and Beyond: Developing a Menu That Really Performs
Speakers: Zane Hunt, Via 313; Alexandra Castro, Pizza With Ale; Alex Koons, Hot Tongue Pizza and Purgatory Pizza; Khanh Nguyen, Zalat Pizza
Working ON Your Pizza Business, Not in It
Speaker: Peyton Smith, Mission Pizza Napoletana
Khanh Nguyen ZALAT PIZZA Zane and Brandon Hunt VIA 313 Alexandra Castro PIZZA WITH ALE Michael LaMarca MASTER PIZZAAn ordinary laminator can be one of your most important tools for ensuring accountability and consistency in day-to-day operations.BY ALEX KOONS
IRECENTLY HAD A CONVERSATION WITH ANOTHER business owner about the key elements of running a restaurant. He emphasized the importance of having a reliable oven and a functional phone for social media, both vital tools in the restaurant industry. This discussion led me to ponder which tool, in my opinion, holds the greatest value in a restaurant. My conclusion? It’s a laminator.
OK, well, it’s what goes inside the laminator. I make it a practice to laminate all the checklists for the restaurant
and distribute them throughout the establishment. The significance of these checklists cannot be overstated. They promote accountability and provide clear guidance to everyone involved. Personally, I’ve found them to be incredibly beneficial. By establishing consistent guidelines, we ensure that everyone is on the same page and operating efficiently.
My pizza consulting approach revolves around two crucial aspects of a restaurant owner’s journey: getting into the restaurant business and ensuring a smooth exit strategy. Establishing consistent checklists, guidelines and policies that are clear and supportive can give you a significant advantage from the outset.
In my view, what distinguishes the pizza shop owner who gets to enjoy weekends off and the one who works every night is simply the presence of checklists. Whether it’s for training, pizza toppings, cleaning procedures, cheese portions or any other essential task, these checklists should be prominently displayed on the wall or readily accessible on an iPad for your team. This ensures that your employees have the understanding and tools necessary to succeed.
It took me a while to truly grasp the importance of checklists. In the past, I might have assumed that people could recall instructions after hearing them once. However, I’ve learned that this is rarely the case.
While some may argue that checklists feel “too corporate” or “sterile,” I believe they provide guidance rather than limitations. It’s not about dictating what to do, but, rather, ensuring clarity about expectations and creating accountability. The power of a checklist, along with its laminator, should never be underestimated.
Alex Koons is a pizza industry consultant, host of the podcast Pie.2.Pie, and owner of Hot Tongue Pizza and co-owner of Purgatory Pizza, both in Los Angeles.
Because if your phones and web ordering are down, you may as well send everyone home. We become your phone company and provide a backup Internet connection
Increase revenue and lower cost
• No Busy Signals
• Call Recording
• Call Queuing / Auto Answering
• Multiple (random) start of call upsell messages
• On hold music/message loops
• Detailed reports—hold times, lost calls etc
• Callerid delivered to POS system
• Auto attendants ”If you have arrived for curbside pickup press one”
• When your Internet fails our cellular backup router keeps your phones, credit card processing and web orders all working.
• The backup kicks in automatically in seconds. So quickly you will not even drop calls in progress when your primary Internet goes down!
• The same router can be used to create chain wide virtual private network to connect your locations.
• SD WAN LTE/LTE A (4G/5G) modems.
We have launched our “A.I.”, virtual call center platform. Let our phone system literally answer the calls and take orders, answer questions and more.
Now offering SMS/Text message solutions Using your existing phone number!
On the PBX
“Press one to receive a text message with links to our onlne ordering”.
Manage bulk text message marketing from our system to drive increased revenue. As low as $0.01 per message.
Group text messaging to communicate with your employees (drivers, bartenders, all staff etc).
The hot oil bar pie is one “stinger”
of a success,
spreading from its Connecticut origins up and down the Eastern Seaboard and beyond.
BY TRACY MORINCOLONY GRILL, NOW BASED IN FAIRFIELD, Connecticut, started as a humble tavern serving Stamford’s Irish American community, an area known as the Colony. Open since 1935, the business added bar pies in the late 1940s as a way to feed drinking patrons. The pies were a smash hit, fueling the business’ growth in the decades since to nine units and three food trucks as far south as Florida.
Clocking in at 12”, Colony Grill’s bar pies were the perfect accompaniment to hold up amid revelry at the bar (literally—the stiff, thin crust is designed to be flopproof). But it wasn’t until decades later that Colony Grill would whip up a simple addition to bring the humble pie to new heights: hot oil. Ken Martin, current co-owner and COO, believes this signature topping was added in the 1970s, and it was a game changer. Spicy oil-drizzled pies would become a prized delicacy of the Connecticut region—and beyond.
“The bar style, tavern style, bar pie—I think it was unique to the Northeast and New England,” Martin says. “It’s served in one size, meant to sit on a bar top, and the thin crust won’t flop and burn your chin when you eat it. It’s almost like a chewy cracker, with a nice chew and crispness, and a unique texture. And it’s super-thin— probably the thinnest out there in terms of pizza styles.” With origins in dive bars of the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, the bar or tavern pizza style is perhaps lesser-known today, though Martin names some famous East-Coast purveyors, like Star Tavern in Orange, New Jersey (established in 1945), and Eddie’s Pizza in Long Island, New York (1941), that are still going strong. A key differentiation for Colony Grill, however, is the hot oil drizzled on top of the pie before baking. Hot oil is listed as a topping right alongside pepperoni and mushrooms, but for many customers, it’s not a choice—hot oil is the pie to order. For those who want an extra kick, they can order Stingers (hot peppers) to grace the pie as well.
Since the 1980s, pizzas and drinks have made up the entire menu at Colony Grill, and the dough formula is straightforward. “Our dough doesn’t rise too much; it’s a simple crust that sits a half-hour before going into the fridge to be ready for cooking,” Martin explains. “We
give it a double pass through the sheeter so it’s thin and cook it in a shallow pan for consistency.” The pans lend both flavor and texture to the pies, Martin notes. They not only help create a chewy, crispy crust, but, as they’re used, the pans get seasoned, adding flavor. The pies are then cooked at a high temperature in propane-fueled deck ovens.
“The word I’d use for our pies is balanced,” Martin says. “The acidity from the tomatoes gives a hint of sweetness to the sauce, which is not overly spiced. The mozzarella cheese is balanced with the sauce. Nothing is going to overwhelm you—it’s a simple enjoyment.”
Then, of course, there’s the key ingredient for many customers: the hot oil. “Our signature topping is a serrano pepper-infused oil you can put on any pizza, and it adds a nice depth of flavor and a nice spice,” Martin says. “That’s by far our biggest seller. We make the oil ourselves, and we make a lot of it! It creates a nice sizzle and gets into the pans, making a nice base for the crust.”
With so many passionate fans of the hot oil bar pie, it was only a matter of time before the style spread to other pizzerias, both in Connecticut and other states. Some of that growth has been orchestrated by Colony Grill itself, as it has opened two locations in Florida in recent years (St. Petersburg and Tampa) to complement its outposts in Connecticut, New York, Virginia and Maryland. Meanwhile, its three food trucks serve events, bringing the bar pie pizza style to wedding guests and corporate parties.
According to Martin, the Colony Grill team fields emails from dedicated fans every week, asking for store openings in their town or requesting shipping for a few pies. While there are no new locations currently in development, the team is not ruling out further expansion in existing markets. Part of the reason, Martin says, is to ensure that Colony’s team members have plentiful opportunities for growth.
But feeding more customers who are hungry for hot oil bar pies is a useful motivator, too. “It’s a style that has grown in the last decade, and we’ve helped it grow,” Martin says. “We’ve seen a lot of places pop up in Connecticut, New York and the Mid-Atlantic region. We’ve noticed that the style stays the same, but some places add more exotic toppings, like hot honey. Though we’ve seen a lot of hot oil places pop up, we like to think of ourselves as the original hot oil bar pie—and we think imitation is flattery.”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor. COLONY
Oa cost-effective option without deception. However, when olive oil is diluted without proper labeling, it deceives consumers, and they will pay a premium price for a low-quality blend.”
For nearly 90 years, Columbus Vegetable Oil, a fourth-generation family-owned business, has been delivering trustworthy and high-quality oils. Columbus Vegetable Oil ensures the quality of olive oil through testing protocols upon receipt and during packaging, focusing on freshness as peroxide value and industry-standard tests such as fatty acid profile and phytosterol content to maintain product integrity.
“From conventional to non-GMO and organic, we bring in over 200 different types of food-grade oils,” Cummisford says. “It gives us the strength to make any blend of oil that we and our customers can come up with.”
live oil is a staple ingredient in traditional Italian cuisine, including pizza. It brings a unique and rich flavor profile to crusts, sauces and toppings. Its fruity, slightly peppery taste can enhance the overall flavor of the pizza. Highlighting olive oil in pizza recipes can be a selling point for pizza restaurants, especially for customers who appreciate quality ingredients and authentic flavors.
One of the main issues pizza operators run into with authentic extra-virgin olive oil is price. According to YCHARTS, the price of olive oil has increased by 65.42% since March 2023. This increase is due to abnormally dry seasons in Mediterranean countries, making it tough for olive trees to thrive, resulting in fewer olives and higher prices.
While this premium product is still found on grocery shelves, the real challenge for pizza operators and other consumers lies not just in the cost but in ensuring the quality matches the high expectations associated with authentic olive oil.
“There are malicious players in the industry blending olive oil with cheaper oils like soybean or sunflower oil to increase profits,” says Rick Cummisford, director of quality at Columbus Vegetable Oil. “It compromises the quality and authenticity of the product. Genuine blends of olive oil with other oils exist and are labeled as such, offering consumers
Oil blends allow operators to use olive oil at a cheaper price and still benefit from the flavor. “The cost of extravirgin olive oil is so high right now,” Cummisford says. “It restricts pizzerias from using it how they want. Operators can get the best of both worlds by blending it with another inexpensive oil, with the blend being properly labeled and priced accordingly.”
Operators have the flexibility to create unique flavors tailored to their restaurants—from economical options like soybean and sunflower oil, which have a neutral flavor, to more quality choices like olive and corn oil blends.
Columbus Vegetable Oil’s expertise ensures any blend of oil a client wants can be recreated. Its state-of-the-art facility thoroughly tests the blends to understand their composition and meticulously replicates them, ensuring an identical match for its customers.
Whether working with a large chain restaurant or a local pizzeria, Columbus Vegetable Oil provides consistent quality and service. “We’ll serve a customer who needs one pallet at a time or a full truckload,” Cummisford says. “We pride ourselves on service and being able to support every customer.”
Start using oil you can trust; visit cvoils.com for more information.
As engineers, Hengam and Matt Stanfield don’t mind breaking things, then fixing them.
It’s all part of the rigorous equation that’s made Mattenga’s Pizzeria a runaway success.
BY RICK HYNUM PHOTOS COURTESY MATTENGA’S PIZZERIA
MATTENGA’S PIZZERIA MIGHT SEEM, AT FIRST GLANCE, the unlikeliest of success stories.
Co-owners Hengam and Matt Stanfield are engineers by training (electrical and civil, respectively) and don’t have a drop of Italian blood between them. They had zero experience in the restaurant industry. They didn’t even know how to properly use a pizza cutter. But they took over a failing pizza shop in San Antonio and turned it into a powerhouse brand that has scaled to eight locations, plus a mobile unit, over the past 10 years— with more stores coming later in 2024.
Because if there’s one thing engineers are good at, it’s solving problems. They figure out how stuff works—or why it doesn’t work—and make it better. Then they put systems in place to ensure smoother operations for the future.
Along the way, of course, the Stanfields have made mistakes. But engineers know mistakes lead to better systems. As the company began to scale to multiple locations, Matt says, “We broke everything,” to which Hengam adds, “You just break everything and then rebuild.” Matt continues, “Because you don’t know that you’re an integral part of this or that particular system— say, sales or scheduling—until you get to five or six stores, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I can’t do that anymore. So what did I break now? OK, now I’ve gotta fix this part.’”
Chat with Hengam and Matt for a while, and you get the sense that they relish those challenges. It’s their idea of fun. “We’re nerdy,” Hengam says, grinning. “The pi symbol is right there in our logo. We’re all about that stuff.”
Logical analysis and systematic planning might not sound like a formula for a jolly good time, but the Stanfields will prove you wrong. It was Mattenga’s light-hearted, high-energy approach to marketing that first caught PMQ’s attention. If you judged their brand on social media alone, you’d probably never guess the owners were engineering brainiacs with a zeal for meticulous organization.
“I view social media as the tip of the iceberg. Underneath it is a lot of systems: emails, text messages that go out religiously to make sure we are turning those views into sales consistently.”Hengam Stanfield
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In addition to featuring their employees in Mattenga’s social media marketing, the Stanfields often showcase their own kids, including (top to bottom) Jack, Hannah and Luke.
Often showcasing the company’s teenage employees, every video feels spontaneous and off the cuff: A.J. and Marcus reviewing the new Hot Pretzel Rolls or Zeppoles with infectious enthusiasm; Aurora ringing a bell and calling out, in a singsong voice, “Tengadoodle Butter! Tengadoodle Butter! Get your hot and fresh Tengadoodle Butter!”; and Jasmin, the brand’s social media manager, following through on her “intrusive thought of the day” by unplugging the pizza oven (after which the screen goes blank).
Yet the seemingly impromptu merrymaking isn’t just about collecting likes. “I view social media as the tip of the iceberg,” Hengam says. “Underneath it is a lot of systems: emails, text messages that go out religiously to make sure we are turning those views into sales consistently. We don’t want to just have people in Russia viewing our posts. That does not translate into sales. We need to make sure it’s a marketing funnel.”
“Marketing
is a system. Management is a system. Training is a system. You’ve got to have a systematic approach to everything you do.”
Hengam Stanfield
The Stanfields maintain a spreadsheet for holidays and events, such as Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, the Super Bowl and Halloween, with special offers and deals for every occasion. The entire year is mapped out for marketing purposes. And most social media, tied in with loyalty program emails and texts, aims to drive traffic to the stores right away. The same goes for posts touting any special deal or new menu item. “If we’re highlighting our pizza rolls, it’s because we’re sharing a discount on pizza rolls in an email that’s only offered to people on that list,” Hengam says. “If we talk about calzones in an Instagram Story, there’s going to be a deal for that….From social we try to take people to our email, and from email we try to take people to social.”
But some of the content is, indeed, spur-of-the-moment stuff, and that’s why it helps to have a social media manager like Jasmin Mapalo on the team. “She does a
“The popular quote is, ‘The food should speak for itself, so I don’t have to talk about it.’ But the reality is, you have to talk about it. You can’t
not
talk about it. We’ve seen
multiple restaurants…fail
because they did not market themselves enough.”
Matt Stanfield
fantastic job of capturing those magical moments—a crazy thing happens, and everybody is laughing, or a stressful moment, or a birthday party in the dining room,” Hengam notes. “It’s important to be mindful of capturing those stories.”
The Stanfields use every marketing medium out there: TV spots, ads on Facebook, YouTube, even Google Maps. “We post in Facebook groups as well as within our own Facebook,” she says. “That’s a different market to reach.”
Too many pizzeria operators treat marketing as an afterthought, if they think about it at all. “The popular quote is, ‘The food should speak for itself, so I don’t have to talk about it,’” Matt says. “But the reality is, today, you have to talk about it. You can’t not talk about it because, otherwise, you have no control over that conversation [about your food]. You don’t even know if it’s happening. Since COVID, people are interacting differently. They’re more online, and more online is more negative. We’ve known that in the restaurant industry since Yelp was
Engineers love equations. Hengam and Matt Stanfield, who met as engineering students in college before marrying, starting a family and taking over the struggling pizza shop that became Mattenga’s Pizzeria, turned their four core values into an equation that drives success for the fast-growing brand. “We believe in 3xWin,” Hengam says, “and, in order for that to happen, the following values must all happen.”
TX Hospitality + Engineered + Always Invest = 3xWin
TX Hospitality = Warm and always respectful service
Engineered = System-driven, meticulous about numbers and cost control
Always Investing = Leadership development and investing in our people 3x Win = Guest wins, team wins, company wins
invented….We’ve seen multiple restaurants in our area fail because they did not market themselves enough, even though they had a good concept.”
Hengam agrees. “I think marketing has to be top priority for an owner. It doesn’t matter if you have the skill set or you don’t. Everything depends on marketing to bring in the money and the customers.”
Even with strong marketing, a good restaurant concept can still crash and burn without other crucial systems in place. The Stanfields didn’t write the book on that subject, but they have read every related book they could find, studying companies like Toyota, Starbucks and The Container Store and approaching Mattenga’s with a corporate mindset. “Systems, systems, systems,” Matt says.
Mattenga’s Pizzeria is basically a system of systems, engineered for scaling the brand over time. “Marketing is a system,” Hengam says. “Management is a system. Training is a system. You’ve got to have a systematic approach to everything you do. There is a system for all the different meetings we have. We’ve been working on that for 10 years, but we tweak constantly. A systematic approach removes a lot of friction, because you manage expectations up front. So, when somebody becomes a manager, they already know they need to report on these particular things. We have systems to reduce labor, manage sales projections, inventory systems. It’s a machine, right? A car ultimately has all these micro
systems that work together to move and operate the car. Our training system feeds into our management system, and our marketing system is designed to systematically drive sales.”
What a “system” largely comes down to, Matt explains, is a protocol for doing just about everything in the restaurant, knowing exactly how to do it and how long it should take to do it right. “It’s a checklist of things that need to get done either on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual basis. We have a checklist, for example, for our cash management system. It’s two pages. You staple the receipts here, you write in the information here, you sign at the bottom, another person signs, so we know that both of you counted the cash, and you put the deposit-slip copy here. There’s a system for it, a checklist, and you’ve got to do it at the end of every night.”
And manuals. Don’t forget the manuals. “We have training manuals as well as training videos,” Matt says. “We also have our manager ops manual that includes all the checklists: closing checklists, opening checklists, deep-cleaning checklists.”
Training manuals and videos are just the start when it comes to building teams for Mattenga’s various stores. The training really never stops. For example, after 30 days on the job, a pizza maker should be able to stretch the dough for a 16” pizza within 30 seconds. “Otherwise,” Hengam says, “it’s not going to be a good fit. Or if you
don’t know our menu and don’t pass the menu quiz at 98% within 30 days, sorry, this is not a good fit.”
Not only that, team members should get better and faster at every task with more experience.
“Time trials, yes,” Hengam says, nodding emphatically. “That’s one of my obsessions. I’m very obsessed with speed and accuracy.” An employee needs to be able to slice 15 tomatoes to standard thickness in under 20 seconds—a pace established by a former employee who was just 16. There are time requirements for slicing bell peppers, onions, mushrooms—you name it. Employees who can’t cut the mustard, so to speak, probably won’t last. They certainly won’t get raises. “We have training videos showing you the techniques so you can be fast at everything,” Hengam says. “We have posters on the wall so everyone can see the standards to be met. If you want to reach level 1 or level 2, these are the skill sets you need.
“I tell our people, I can bring my six-year-old over here, and she can top a pizza,” Hengam adds. “That’s not enough. It’s about doing things masterfully, and it’s all measurable.”
The Stanfields might sound like perfectionists, but, with four young kids to raise, plus eight restaurants and a mobile operation, perfectionism is a must. They haven’t brought in investors. At the end of the day, they’re a twoperson show. And they will readily admit to past mistakes that have cost them big bucks—they have a long list, in fact—and they still “break things.”
“Time trials, yes. That’s one of my obsessions. I’m very obsessed with speed and accuracy.”
Hengam Stanfield
But before 2024 wraps up, they plan to have 10 stores in operation and are shooting for 70 units in the next decade. The next step? “Probably franchising,” Hengam says. “We’d love to help somebody who might not have the restaurant experience, the systems or the brand that we have. If they bring in their own capital, that means skin in the game. At any point you can lose a manager that oversees a location, but if they have skin in the game, they’re not going to just quit on a bad day. [We’d want] more of a partnership so we can help someone else who has a passion for our industry.”
And the Stanfields know there’s still more they can learn themselves. “We’ve been at it for 10 years, and we still have a lot of problems,” Hengam admits. “People quit; we get bad customer reviews like everybody else. We are far from perfect. But [a brand with] 70 units or 100 units or just one or two, they’re not all that different. They all have problems. You might as well just go bigger and faster.”
Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.
N E W T H I S Y E A R !
T H E P I Z Z A T O M O R R O W
S U M M I T P A V I L I O N
Ali Ghassabian is the head of IT at Pizza Guys, a growing pizza franchise with 90 locations. Ali experienced terrible labor problems. No matter how much he paid or whom he hired, he could not get enough people to answer the phone. Often, employees provide poor customer service, get orders wrong or fail to upsell items.
Ghassabian decided to implement AI ordering. After talking to multiple companies, he realized none worked effectively for pizza restaurants, or they were priced way too high. This led him to explore alternative solutions, and seven years ago, he made a pivotal decision to integrate PizzaCloud into his operations at Pizza Guys.
“The big problem with most AI ordering products out there is the companies don’t understand the industry,” says PizzaCloud founder and president John Scully. “Pizza is complicated. There are so many options. People order in so many different ways and constantly make changes while talking. Most people are only building these platforms for generic food ordering. The application works when ordering a sandwich but does not work well for pizza.”
Additionally, many systems fail to integrate with POS systems, limiting the ability to use customer history and preferences to enhance service and streamline operations.
With years of experience in the pizza industry, Scully and his team created an AI ordering platform specifically designed for pizza restaurants. “We realized the pizza industry had a profound need for the features we offer,” Scully says. “We understand the needs of the pizza industry, and that shaped what we’re building.”
PizzaCloud provides advanced hosted PBX services with call recording, call queuing, cellular backup and POS integration. When customers call the restaurant, they are routed to PizzaCloud’s AI platform. The digital assistant greets the customer and takes the order just as an employee would. The order is then sent to the POS system exactly as it would from a third-party ordering platform.
With PizzaCloud, operators don’t have to worry about employees missing phone calls, making mistakes, or having a bad attitude that reflects badly on the overall business over the phone. PizzaCloud’s AI assistant always upsells in an intelligent way, a task that busy employees often overlook. Operators can also save on labor costs. There is no need to have an extra employee on the floor to answer calls.
PizzaCloud charges a flat fee per order and nothing for non-order calls.
PizzaCloud understands and recognizes all menu items by integrating with existing POS systems. “Through caller ID and past orders, it knows exactly who is ordering and what they might want,” Scully says, “including combos, specials, coupons and reward system points.”
Looking to the future, Scully sees AI continuing to play an expanding role in the restaurant industry, especially given labor challenges. “It is an unfortunate fact that, moving forward, labor is going to be more and more of an issue. Therefore, AI in the front and back of the house will become a larger part of the business.”
If PizzaCloud sounds right for your restaurant, visit pizzacloud.net
What is an “ A.I.” or virtual call center?
In the simplest form, think of it as a high end third party web ordering service, but your customer is speaking to it instead of on a web page.
The phone system itself answers the phone and interacts with the customer —a “digital assistant” taking orders and pushing them into the POS system, as well as answering questions.
How is the PizzaCloud solution different?
After talking to every A.I. ordering company, PizzaCloud chose to partner with Voicify.com. Voicify has the best conversational A.I. technology available and partnered with PizzaCloud to build a voice ordering system engineered for the complexity of pizza restaurant menus.
PizzaCloud knows...you, and your needs as a pizza restaurant owner. Serving thousands of pizza restaurants with cloud phone service, cellular backup Internet and text messaging since 2014, we know this industry.
Voicify knows conversational A.I. Not the stilted, crude systems you have tested and rejected, but systems you can speak to “like a real person”.
Together, we have built the best platform available, and are working directly with POS vendors to tightly integrate to the POS systems. Imagine if the phones in your store stopped ringing, but sales went up! Call us today for a demo.
With the right data in place, AI will be the smartest—and hardest working—
employee you’ve ever had.BY RICK HYNUM
INSTEAD OF FIGHTING TO THE DEATH IN 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, what if astronaut Dave Bowman and HAL 9000 had partnered up on a high-tech interstellar pizzeria? The spaceship’s AI-powered supercomputer could have handled virtually all of the operations, from taking orders to marketing the restaurant, managing the customer database and loyalty program, even dispatching delivery pods to mining colonies on nearby moons. That would have kept HAL 9000 too busy to hatch murderous plots, while Bowman developed the recipes and bossed the pizza making bots around.
Conflict resolved—and nobody dies, gets unplugged or evolves into a gigantic fetus. Why didn’t Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke think of that?
It’s a silly idea, but not all that far-fetched in 2024. AI can’t run a pizzeria entirely on its own—not yet, anyway. What it can do, though, is remarkable. “AI can be thought of by restaurants as a digital employee,” says Vincent Chaglasyan, the COO of RestoGPT AI, a Los Angeles-based marketing and sales platform for smalland medium-size restaurants. And it could be the most efficient employee you’ve ever had—the kind that works smarter and harder.
“The tasks AI can now perform well independently are ones that involve automation, with the task parameters set by the restaurant, like accepting orders as soon as they arrive or finding a driver for delivery 20 minutes after an order is accepted,” Chaglasyan says. “Yet we’re now also entering times of autonomy, where, with time given to learn behavior, a restaurant’s AI employee could produce independent decision making, like generating a promo offer to be sent to a customer who last ordered two weeks ago.”
In fact, there is so much AI can do for a restaurant, many independent operators might better ask what it can’t do. And, more to the point, “When can I start using it?”
If you’re thinking AI is too complex a tool for an independent pizzeria, Chaglasyan will point you to Flintridge Pizza Kitchen in La Cañada, California. It’s owned and operated by RestoGPT AI itself. And, he says, “Yes, it’s a fully functioning pizzeria and a go-to gem for locals in the area.”
Chaglasyan and his team of AI wizards started Flintridge Pizza Kitchen to make sure RestoGPT’s advanced online ordering and delivery software is up to snuff for other smaller operators who want to adopt it. “Anything released by RestoGPT AI is first fully tested and actively used in our pizza shop, from integrations to automation,” Chaglasyan says.
Flintridge Pizza Kitchen is largely a carryout and delivery restaurant, but it has a few dine-in tables, too. And whatever RestoGPT AI can do at Flintridge, it can do for other independent pizzerias, Chaglasyan says. “We walk the walk,” he notes.
With RestoGPT’s PizzaBox ordering platform, Chaglasyan says indie pizzerias just need to provide a link to their menu, and they can start accepting AI-driven online orders within 24 hours via their own fully branded online storefront, also built automatically by RestoGPT AI. Using its high-powered software, he notes, RestoGPT automatically “converts sales data into a structured
Summer Thought: Our Teachers Are
Teachers, essential pillars of society, are often financially undervalued despite their pivotal role.
Their salaries do not adequately reflect their extensive education, ongoing professional development and the emotional labor they invest.
Beyond classroom hours, they dedicate significant time to planning, grading and supporting students.
This disparity in compensation discourages talented individuals from entering the profession and undermines the quality of education.
Adequate pay for teachers is crucial for ensuring a prosperous and welleducated society.
To learn more about Perfect Crust’s pizza liners and other products, visit perfectcrust.com or email Eric Bam at Eric@perfectcrust.com.
About Eric Bam:
Eric is the VP of Sales & Marketing for Perfect Crust Pizza Liners and Incrediblebags.com. Eric is a goal driven optimist that uses his positive attitude to lift up those around him. He’s a father to Nycholas, Alayna and Ruby. He’s a public speaker and show host. You can find him on all social media @TheEricBam.
“AI can be leveraged by smaller restaurants and chains. Many of the tools they use today are introducing AI features to help them make better, faster and more accurate decisions.”
Sue Pittacora, Wavicle Data Solutions
customer database and activates marketing campaigns to engage and improve customer retention plus the order frequency.”
With a system like RestoGPT’s, this AI “employee” can manage offpremise orders across all channels—direct storefront, third-party apps, phone answering, etc. Additionally, he says, “It dispatches [your own or third-party] drivers and builds customer profiles from these orders for loyalty marketing, resulting in newly generated orders.”
Whatever data you’ve collected for your store’s operation, AI can put it to optimal use. And the more you have, the more ways it can be used, says Sue Pittacora, chief strategy officer for Wavicle Data Solutions in Oak Brook, Illinois, which counts McDonald’s and other global chains as clients.
Pittacora offers a litany of AI use cases already being explored by major pizza brands: predictive sales forecasting and demand planning based on everything from historical sales data to weather patterns; tracking inventory; predicting staffing and scheduling needs, right down to individual shifts; chatbots and automated order taking; and personalizing digital marketing, including campaigns tailored to customers’ individual tastes and behaviors.
But there’s a catch, of course. “The restaurant, chain or parent company must have the right data, AI-ready data architecture and strategy in place to make these possibilities a reality,” Pittacora adds. “But AI can also be leveraged by smaller restaurants and chains. Many of the tools they use today are introducing AI features to help them make better, faster and more accurate decisions. Additionally, tools like ChatGPT can be used at little to no cost to help with everything from ad copy ideas for promotions and even crafting responses to reviews.”
Dynamic pricing is another option if you think your customers are ready for it. “This means that restaurants can seamlessly raise or lower their prices based on the cost of supplies or even the prices of local competition,” Pittacora says.
The rapid advance of AI can feel bewildering at times, but most of us are already familiar—and semi-comfortable— with conversational AI, which can field phone orders and book reservations. “We have all argued with a supposedly intelligent robot, finding that it only works if you know how to talk to it,” says John Scully, owner of PizzaCloud, a Granville, Ohio-based phone solutions provider that uses AI. “Conversational AI is different. You speak to the system exactly as you would a real person. You don’t have to say, ‘I want a LARGE…PEPPERONI…PIZZA.’ You
Fcan say, ‘Let me have a large pepperoni on thin crust… umm…add some black olives to that. No, make it an extra-large,’ and the AI gets it.”
But does it feel like a real conversation? “Well, the other day we had one caller apologize: ‘Hey, I’m sorry, I thought I was talking to a robot. But you’re a real person, right?’” Scully recalls. “The answer was, ‘I like to think of myself as an artificial person, but thank you.’”
Alex Sambvani, co-founder and CEO of Slang.ai in Brooklyn, New York, says booking a restaurant reservation with his company’s AI system “feels remarkably similar to speaking with a real person. [It’s] trained to understand and respond to customer inquiries in a natural and human-like manner.”
Every task that AI can perform is one less task a pizzeria owner has to pay an employee to do. “AI has tremendous potential to improve operational efficiency
or independent pizzeria operators, phone solutions offer an easy and useful way to start tapping into AI’s potential. John Scully, owner of PizzaCloud, recommends asking any vendor the following questions:
1. Can your solution be directly integrated with my point-of-sales system? (“If not,” Scully says, “you will likely experience, let’s say, high frustration.”)
2. Can the vendor properly handle deliveryaddress validation via your POS system? (“It’s critical to avoid AI taking delivery orders that you cannot deliver,” Scully notes.)
3. Can the vendor handle real-time pricing and availability updates, or will you have to call them whenever something changes?
4. Does the vendor have existing pizzeria clients that use your POS system?
5. Will the vendor give you a live demo? Recorded calls don’t count, Scully says. “Many vendors will happily send you what they claim are random recorded calls from real people. But if you ask for a number that you can call to play with the system, the response is, ‘Umm…let me get back to you.’ If you cannot test it, does it really work?”
New AI programs can help independent pizzerias with complex operational tasks such as order-taking, staffing and tracking inventory. GETTY IMAGES/ANDRII YALANSKYI GETTY IMAGES/HISPANOLISTIC
for smaller independent restaurateurs,” Sambvani says. “By automating routine tasks such as reservation management, order processing and customer service inquiries, AI frees up valuable time for restaurant staff to focus on delivering exceptional dining experiences.”
AI can also be used to make better pizza—which is something even tech-averse pizzaioli can appreciate. In 2019, Domino’s started testing an AI-powered system, called the DOM Pizza Checker, in Australia and New Zealand to make sure every pie meets the chain’s standards for quality and consistency. Now, thanks to Hot Rocks, a manufacturer of pizza ovens in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, that kind of technology isn’t just for Domino’s franchisees Down Under.
Hot Rocks has equipped its Volcano oven with an AI camera from Kwali, a company that specializes in computer vision for foodservice and quick-service restaurants. Are you concerned that your pies are getting sauced or topped in a hurry or coming out burnt or underbaked? “It’s impossible to be in your stores checking every pizza before it goes into a box and out the door or to a table,” says Hot Rocks president Jason Bireta. “Often the owner or manager doesn’t know that lowquality product is being served until they see the negative review on social media. Subpar product will drive even loyal customers to your competition, either temporarily or forever.”
With the Volcano oven’s AI camera and analytic capability, Bireta says, the operator receives a “snapshot report” on their pies. Does it have the right amount of toppings? Too much cheese? Not enough? “The system can tell that it’s actually a pizza coming out of the oven, what type of pizza it is—maybe a deluxe or pepperoni—and then
“We have all argued with a supposedly intelligent robot, finding that it only works if you know how to talk to it. Conversational AI is different.”
John Scully, PizzaCloudWith Hot Rocks’ Volcano oven, computer vision can scan a pizza while it’s baking to ensure it meets your specifications every time.
grades it for you,” Bireta says. “You also receive a random sampling of product that comes out of the oven throughout the day or week.”
The AI tech is a “sales and quality tool” that’s especially valuable for multiunit operators. “The report ranks how well a store or shift is performing, both over time and versus each other,” Bireta says. “So you can see the quality of pizza from store to store and from shift to shift. If you address the issues properly, your product quality will increase, ultimately increasing sales.”
With its ability to streamline operations, reduce overhead costs and boost productivity, AI can also make it easier to open your first pizza shop and turn a profit faster, Sambvani points out. “For example, AI-powered inventory management systems can optimize ingredient ordering, minimizing waste and controlling expenses. Additionally, AI-driven marketing solutions can help attract and retain customers, boosting revenue and profitability.”
For an AI beginner, the best first step is to become acquainted with a generative AI tool like ChatGPT, Pittacora says. “While it can’t help to automate tasks
or tell you anything specific about your operations or customers, it can be a great way to spur ideas and create copy for signage, menu descriptions or more.” Try using it to create a list of specials, promotions or events to build traffic, she recommends, and go from there.
Sambvani predicts AI “will continue to play a significant role in transforming the restaurant sector by enhancing operational efficiency, improving guest experiences and driving revenue growth. We’ll see increased adoption of AI-powered solutions for tasks such as customer service, order management and personalized marketing. In the long term, AI has the potential to revolutionize every aspect of the restaurant industry, from kitchen operations to supply chain management, ushering in a new era of innovation and efficiency.”
Just remember: Aside from brainstorming, AI can’t do much for you without data. Get your data together first, and then get ready for one epic odyssey into the future.
Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.We placed identical orders on Slice and a delivery app. The result: Shops and customers paid less with Slice-powered ordering.
THE RECEIPTS
Start saving: Visit SliceLife.com/ChecktheReceipts or call (844) 880-2346, ext. 1.
APIZZA OPERATOR’S WORST NIGHTMARE IS A MIXER BREAKDOWN resulting in lost revenue if not immediately fixed. When pizza operators make in-house dough, the standing mixer is one of the most vital pieces of equipment. If broken, an operator may lose the ability to produce dough at the quality and quantity needed to serve all their customers.
With a leading warranty in the industry, at seven years, Precision Mixers stands out as a manufacturer that ensures every operator can avoid costly broken machinery. “We have more bowl height adjustments and clearances than most of the mixers in the industry, and three different style hooks so we can tailor the machine to the kind of pizza the operator is making,” says Ashton Macauley, vice president of Precision Mixers.
Precision offers many versatile #12 Hub attachments. The attachments can grate cheese and slice vegetables and meat. One mixer can replace multiple pieces of equipment and save square footage. Unlike many mixers on the market, Precision focuses on simplicity and dependability. Almost every part in the mixer can be replaced with locally sourced parts, saving operators time and money.
Customers, like Will Pouch, owner of Esperanto, agree that Precision Mixers stand the test of time. “We’ve been in business for 10 years. I can say without question that purchasing a mixer from Precision was one of the best equipment decisions I’ve made.”
To find out what mixer is best for you, visit precisionmixers.com
The Greek pizzaiolo behind The Lamb & The Wolf explains why running a pizza truck is a lot harder than you might think.BY BRIAN HERNANDEZ
HAILING FROM KORYDALLOS, GREECE, MICHAEL
ATHANASOPOULOS, known to his U.S. Pizza Team colleagues as The Wolf, prowls the streets of Southern Oklahoma, ready to pounce on the hungry and unsuspecting from his mobile truck, The Lamb & The Wolf, with his Greek-inspired flavors and pizza-fueled passion. Fluent in the language of pizza, both the Greek and Italian versions, The Wolf talked to PMQ about his menu and shared advice on starting your own pizza truck—and why it’s harder than it looks.
Brian Hernandez: Does your menu have a strong Greek influence?
The Wolf: Because I work the truck completely by myself, I wanted to keep it simple. My menu has five appetizers, two salads, seven different flavors of pizza, four different wraps and two Greek desserts. I also have specials, depending on the area I’m selling at. I do have a cheese and pepperoni, but that’s for the kids. As stated on my last menu, I deal in pizza for adults and “notorious” Mediterranean food, and you can take “notorious” to be bad or good. I do have a pizza for the Oklahoma crowd
Athanasopoulos puts a little spin on a Greek dessert with the Bougatsa Pizza. Featuring a semolina cream sauce made with blended phyllo, cinnamon and powdered sugar, this sweet treat is a bestseller. In his first year on the team, Michael “The Wolf” Athanasopoulos of The Lamb & The Wolf led the USPT pack at the 2019 World Pizza Championship in Parma, Italy.
called the Wild West, featuring Buffalo chicken, spicy feta and diced tomatoes. That’s the closest I have to U.S. flavors right now. The rest are on the Greek side.
Hernandez: Give us a couple of examples.
The Wolf: One of our best sellers is The Old Chicago. Basically, it’s everything you would find in a gyro wrap, but on a pizza. You can choose to have your tzatziki sauce on the pizza or on the side. For another flavor, which I just used at the Galbani Professionale Pizza Cup in Orlando, I transformed spanakopita into a mousse, a flaky phyllo dough filled with spinach and feta.
Hernandez: Do you think someone should always try to transform an ingredient or dish, or just straight-up throw it on a pizza?
The Wolf: There is always a way to make it interesting instead of just putting it on a pizza. The main thing to remember is, you don’t need to have a hundred things on your menu. You just need six or seven things that are amazing and that people will want to come back for. But whatever those seven things are, they need love and quality ingredients, and the results will come.
Hernandez: What are some general tips for anyone wanting to start a pizza truck?
The Wolf: It’s hard. Very hard. I know firsthand….Make sure [the food-truck business] is what you think it is and what you want to do. Be serious if you try it. So many people come in thinking it’s an easy way to make money. They jump in, but they actually create damage to the market. It’s way harder than a brick-and-mortar. You have to set up every day. You have to do all the cleaning every day, usually with little help or by yourself. I go through three times more inspections as any brick-and-mortar does.
When people go out and start losing money, they start bringing in low-quality foods and processes and give the rest of the food trucks in the area a bad name. That also drives away the limited customer base. So focus on doing one thing right to keep your customers coming back. The customer will pay for quality. Don’t buy frozen stuff. Do it all the right way with quality, fresh ingredients, and people will notice. They will come out in 100° weather or the snow to get that one thing they can only get from you. I make all my dough by hand now for this reason. I noticed how much better the dough behaves when it hasn’t been abused by a mixer. And my customers noticed, too. Now I do 50 doughs a day, and when I’m out, I’m done. But the quality makes it all worth it.
Hernandez: What is one piece of advice you would give to anyone who’s getting into pizza making competitions?
The Wolf: Have fun, but always try to stand out. If you don’t go to have fun or be extraordinary, then you’re just another one in the line. I read the rules, I ask my questions, and I try to do something outside of the box. Even if I don’t make it good, I try. And that’s the main thing in this business. It doesn’t matter if you’re going to win; it matters that you never give up.
In the full interview video, Michael Athanasopoulos talks about persevering after losing two food trucks to two fires in two different countries. Watch it at PMQ.com/thewolf
For more information about the U.S. Pizza Team, its members and sponsors, visit USPizzaTeam.com.
Athanasopoulos and teammate Pasquale Di Maio of Vesuvio’s Italian Catering sling pies at the International Pizza Challenge for USPT Platinum Team Sponsor Galbani Professionale US. Athanasopoulos lured judges in with edible flowers on his Classica submission for the World Pizza Championships.
Registration is now open for the The California Pizza Challenge, sponsored by Real California Milk
The California Restaurant Show and The Pizza Tomorrow Summit will become the new home of the U.S. Pizza Team’s California Pizza Challenge, August 25 to 27, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. With exciting event sponsors to be announced, three days of events, and a grand prize to compete in an international pizza competition in 2025, be ready to bring your entire squad of pizza makers and spinners!
For more information and rules and regulations, visit uspizzateam.com/cpc25 or email bhernandez@wtwhmedia.com
CATEGORIES TO INCLUDE:
• Non-Traditional
• Pan
• Best Traditional Pizza Sauce
• The Real California 3-Cheese Challenge
• Largest Dough Stretch
• Fastest Pizza Maker
• Fastest Box Folder
• Individual & Team Freestyle Acrobatics
Thank you to US Pizza Team Platinum Sponsor Galbani Professionale US!
With their support of the industry, pizzaioli like Galbani Professionale Cup Champion Niles Peacock of Niles Peacock Kitchen & Bar have the opportunity to represent United States pizza in international competitions.
The U.S. Pizza Team thanks you, from the bottom of our pizza pans.
BY TRACY MORIN
(Clockwise from left) Joe Aurelio III was born into the pizza business; his father, Joe Aurelio Jr., pulls a pie from the oven in the pizzeria’s early days; the Homewood, Illinois, location of Aurelio’s Pizza is known as the world’s largest pizzeria; Joe Jr. introduced pizza racks to maintain crust crispness after baking.
Aurelio’s Pizza was inducted into PMQ’s Pizza Hall of Fame in our April 2012 issue. Here, we revisit the still-thriving franchise as it celebrates 65 years this summer.
In 1959, Joe Aurelio Jr. borrowed $2,500 to open Aurelio’s Pizza in Homewood, Illinois, taking over a failing pizzeria with four tables and one oven. But it wasn’t pizza that initially kept him afloat—in Chicago’s south suburbs, customers were more interested in his Italian beef sandwiches. “He let people sample his pizza and, one slice at a time, the pizza became popular,” recounts his son, Joe Aurelio III, current president and CEO. “His goal was to do $200 in sales in a week.”
By 1961, sales were robust enough to justify moving to a nearby storefront, growing the space to 75 tables, with beer and wine sales and an expanded kitchen. In 1968, the pizzeria doubled, expanding to 150 seats. Finally, in 1976, Joe Jr. purchased a warehouse two blocks away, sinking a then-whopping $1 million into outfitting the 10,000-square-foot building (now expanded to 13,000, with seating for 650)—and lines still stretched down the block, with one-hour wait times. “We’re the largest pizzeria in the world,” Joe III says. “And we’ve been recognized as the fifth-oldest franchise in the country, starting in 1974. My dad was a pioneer in the business.”
Indeed, decades before robotics, Aurelio worked with the Pizzamatic company to design a sausage dispenser to top pies faster and more
consistently. He introduced a stainless steel lifting rack to elevate pizzas post-bake for maximum crispness. And the business still contracts a Wisconsin cheese maker to create a “no-burn” mozzarella that’s unique to Aurelio’s.
To celebrate the company’s 65th anniversary, Joe III is visiting all 37 locations in five states to film the people behind the pizza, sharing their stories and community contributions (a defining value of the brand). In a collaboration, Illinois-based Two Brothers Brewing Company crafted the 65th Anniversary Italian Pilsner, to be served at participating Aurelio’s locations. Social media and in-store giveaways will feature branded merchandise, sports and concert tickets, and autographed Chicago sports memorabilia.
Of course, giving back to numerous charities will be part of the anniversary fun. “We’re known for making people feel like part of the family,” Joe III says. “One of the secrets of our success has been letting people know: ‘We’re there for you.’ If we feel it’s the right thing to do, we do it.”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
Joey Todaro, III, Wing King
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