FEAST QUEEN
Lizz Aquarian holds court at Downtown Pizza Co., an innovative buffet concept that doubles as a “seven-day-a-week test kitchen.”
FEAST QUEEN
Lizz Aquarian holds court at Downtown Pizza Co., an innovative buffet concept that doubles as a “seven-day-a-week test kitchen.”
DIP DUNK DRIZZLE
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
YOU DIDN’T GET INTO THIS BUSINESS TO BE AVERAGE.
NEITHER DID WE.
GOOD KARMA
Rajesh Selvaraj was 23 years old when he ate his first pizza. Now he’s the co-founder and chief pizza officer of Pizza Karma, a franchise chain with three brick-and-mortar locations and three food trucks in Minnesota. Inspired by Northern Indian and Asian cuisine, Pizza Karma’s dough is slapped to the side of a red-hot, wood-fired tandoor oven and cooked for 45 seconds to a minute, then topped with one of seven signature sauces and other fixings and finished in a conventional pizza oven. For pies like the Butter Chicken, Chicken Kebab, Coconut Paneer and Paneer Tikka, Selvaraj makes his dough with 00 unbleached flour, olive oil, water, baking powder, sea salt and, borrowing from the traditional Indian method of making naan, buttermilk instead of yeast. “Our crust doesn’t bloat you,” Selvaraj says. “I challenge my guests: You can eat a whole pizza without taking a sip of water….It doesn’t affect your health [negatively]—you feel good. It’s a feel-good pizza.” He envisions taking Pizza Karma nationwide. “I want [everyone] to experience this offering that we’ve got, since nobody in the country is doing it like we do.”
ELEVATING THE BUSINESS OF PIZZA
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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 7 September 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
VP, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Eugene Drezner edrezner@wtwhmedia.com
CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE Brandy Pinion bpinion@wtwhmedia.com
FOUNDER
Steve Green
PMQ PIZZA Issue 7 September 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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PIZZA KARMA
September 2024
17 Oil Rush
Pan-fried Sicilian pizza might be a hyper-regional style, but it’s so good—and so different— it deserves a spot on menus everywhere.
32 Cost Cutting
Experienced operators share their strategies for controlling food costs and maintaining profitability in a challenging business climate.
38 How to Be a TikTok Top Dog
Millennials use TikTok to discover new restaurants but frown on content that feels like advertising. Just be yourself, our experts say.
46 Tips From the Pizza Team: The Pizza Bandit Goes On the Run
This pizzaiola treats color as an ingredient—as long as it adds flavor, too. She also hopes to grow her food trailer into a franchised brand one day.
Queen of the Feast
Downtown Pizza Co. isn’t your standard cafeteria-style buffet. Under GM Lizz Aquarian, it’s a freestyle smorgasbord where experimentation—and customer requests— are standard operating procedure.
BY RICK HYNUM
COVER PHOTO BY NATHAN BAERREIS
Building our future on a decade of achievement and over 100 years of heritage.
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• Consistency – no mixing, no kneading, no scaling necessary. High elasticity for easy manipulation
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Bellissimo® Frozen Dough Balls are non-GMO, all natural, and free of colorings, flavorings, additives, and preservatives. All desired dough sizes are available upon request. Visit Bellissimo.com to find your local authorized Bellissimo brand distributor.
THE BEST PIZZA AT SEA
LESS THAN A YEAR AFTER TULSA, OKLAHOMA-BASED Andolini’s Pizzeria set a Guinness World Record for the largest pizza party last January at the University of Tulsa, Princess Cruises claimed its own title: the world’s largest pizza party at multiple venues. The July 12 event took place on the cruise line’s “Love Boats,” where guests devoured more than 60,000 slices prepared by Princess Cruises chefs, the company said. It also celebrated the cruise line’s partnership with Tony Gemignani of Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, Slice House by Tony Gemignani and
other concepts. Gemignani created two new pizzas and shared three of his existing recipes with Princess Cruises. The new pies feature ingredients like soppressata sausage, hot honey, agave pesto and fresh goat cheese. They debuted at Alfredo’s, a restaurant on board the Sun Princess, and extended to other ships over the summer. Gemignani personally trained Princess Cruises chefs at a Tony’s Pizza Napoletana location in San Francisco, empowering the brand to serve what it calls “the best pizza at sea.”
Princess Cruises guests helped set a new world record by eating more than 60,000 pizza slices on board the cruise line’s “Love Boats” on July 12.
MAKING PIZZA BABIES
Just six months after opening their first Pizza Baby store in Charlotte, North Carolina, Steven De Falco and Trey Wilson added a second shop in the same city. Twin babies, you might wonder? No, each one is unique, from the style of pizza to the service format. Pizza Baby West offers a sourdough-based, New York-inspired pie described by the owners as “Americanastyle” and a full-service format with a curated wine selection. Half the size of its sister restaurant, Pizza Baby East plates Roman-style pizzas in a café setting in the mornings and afternoons, then pivots to full service at night—complete with a different menu focused on those Americana-style pies from Pizza Baby West. “When we took the space [for the second store], we knew we wanted it to be a Pizza Baby, but we also wanted to find its own unique identity,” De Falco says. “Trey’s light bulb moment was, ‘Oh, we’re not stamp-it-out chain guys. For sure, that’s not us.’ We want to have custom-crafted neighborhood restaurants—for
the shop to reflect the neighborhood that it’s located in.” The two locations’ distinctive personalities inspire curiosity and drive customers to visit both stores. “It’s led to some beautiful conversations, and we’re really humbled and grateful,” De Falco says. “But I think the reason it works is because of the unique programming at each store.”
HEARTS OF GOLD
For Mark Ulrey, vice president of marketing and purchasing for Flyers Pizza & Subs, partnering annually with Autism Speaks, a national nonprofit, isn’t just good business—it’s a mission. His own son faces the challenges of autism. “I personally know what it’s like to wake up every day with a child with autism,” Ulrey says. “These families need every break they can get, and the organization provides services for these individuals.” With 10 stores in the Columbus, Ohio, region, Flyers launched its “Give a Pizz-a Your Heart to Autism Speaks” fundraiser 12 years ago. The campaign kicks off in January and runs through Valentine’s Day, with Flyers promoting heart-shaped pizzas and donating $2.50 per pie to Autism Speaks. “We even double that amount on certain Tuesdays,” Ulrey notes. The 2024 event raised a record $13,000. Better yet, Ulrey adds, “This time period has been turned from a down time, sales-wise, to a very profitable one, as families are buying more than just the pizza.”
FLYERS PIZZA & SUBS
Flyers Pizza & Subs builds up business during slow winter months—while also supporting Autism Speaks—with an annual promotion leading up to Valentine’s Day.
Trey Wilson (left) and Steven De Falco hope to build a network of neighborhood restaurants, each with its own identity, around Charlotte, North Carolina.
PIZZA BABY
Polly-o mozzarella is the best part of the pizza
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C A L L I N G A L L P I Z Z A I O L O S , O W N E R S , M A N A G E R S !
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a t t h e P i z z a T o m o r r o w S u m m i t ! E x p a n d y o u r p r o d u c t
d i s c o v e r y , n e t w o r k a n d c o n n e c t - - a n d a c c e s s t h e
c o - l o c a t e d F l o r i d a R e s t a u r a n t S h o w !
P i z z a T o m o r r o w S u m m i t w a s n a m e d o n e o f T r a d e S h o w E x e c u t i v e M a g a z i n e ' s
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Oil Rush
The generously oiled panfried Sicilian style is not for the faint of heart (or stomach), but it’s a necessary indulgence for hordes of customers in Northeast Pennsylvania.
BY TRACY MORIN
FOR THE LESSER-KNOWN PIZZA STYLE
known as pan-fried Sicilian, most iterations are still confined to one pizza-rich region. But that’s part of the fun— while it may not have (yet) spread around the country or globe, fans can’t wait to see how far it might travel. “I know of about 50 places in the world that sell pan-fried Sicilian,” says Jim Mirabelli, the influencer behind the NEPA Pizza Review website, based in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. “Give or take, 47 of them are in Northeast Pennsylvania, and 45 are in Luzerne County. It’s a hyper-regional style of pizza.”
Its niche status certainly doesn’t stop local devotees— including Mirabelli himself—from savoring these indulgent pies, most notably marked by generous amounts of oil poured in the pan before baking to create a fried-crust effect that’s irresistible.
Historic and Euphoric
The invention of the pan-fried Sicilian style is credited to Victory Pig Pizza & Barbecue in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, a down-home dive established in 1942 and still going strong today. “The Ceccoli family championed the panfried Sicilian, which came out around the same time as Detroit style, in the 1940s,” Mirabelli recounts. “There’s a lot of suspicion as to which came first—did one owner visit the other area and get inspired? There are similarities between them.”
One clear commonality is the use of baking pans, and the NEPA version uses rectangular 13”-by-18” or 12”-by17” sizes. The crust is made with a relatively dry (about 60% hydration) same-day dough, usually prepared in the morning for that evening’s service. “As the dough is rising throughout the day, a focaccia-style dimpling happens, creating a bubblier texture, not a uniform one like a traditional Sicilian,” Mirabelli explains. “There’s an undulation throughout—it’s a journey to eat through one of those crusts.”
Before they spread the dough into the pan, however, pizzaioli pour in a hefty amount of peanut oil or an oil blend—up to 1.5 cups, Mirabelli reports—which, through the baking process, creates a fried-type dough. The resulting crackly texture, he says, is reminiscent of pork rinds. “The pan-fried Sicilian is all about the crust,” Mirabelli says. “But that’s not its only unique characteristic.”
The sauce is simple, usually made from crushed tomatoes, without a lot of Italian herbs—but it’s often fortified by the addition of onions that are so finely sliced and diced you might not detect their presence by texture alone. The onions aren’t inside the sauce, but spread on top of the sauce, creating a mouthwatering aroma for customers while baking.
The cheese, too, is different from a regular Sicilian: Rather than mozzarella, this style features white cheddar cheese, cut in deli slices and draped across the pie. “It melts in a unique way, with pockmarks and holes,” Mirabelli says. “It looks kind of like Freddy Krueger’s skin.”
Despite the horror-movie metaphor, Mirabelli asserts that pan-fried Sicilian is the stuff of fantasy. “In my opinion, it’s one of the most delicious pizzas you’ll ever taste,” he says. “It’s indulgent, but the crust and its soft, chewy interior draws you in. For me, that crispy, crunchy,
JIM
MIRABELLI, NEPA PIZZA REVIEW
fried bottom—not soggy or bready—plus those onions, matched with cheddar cheese...it’s euphoric when hitting on all cylinders.”
A Niche Market
While the pan-fried Sicilian’s core characteristics take it into the stratosphere of taste, its various unique components make it trickier to pull off than traditional pies. Mirabelli calls it “one of the most difficult styles to make.” For example, the reasoning behind peanut oil’s usage is due to its high smoke point—vegetable oil would turn the pizzeria’s kitchen into a breathing hazard. Too-high baking temperatures can easily burn the crust’s prized fried bottom. And rather than following a set standard, different operators have had to carve out their own preferred thicknesses that work for their recipe and equipment, from ¾” to 1.5”.
These considerations may partially explain why this beloved NEPA style has mostly stayed within its home region. Outside of the area, examples are few and far between, but spreading slowly: Mirabelli knows one operator in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, who’s taken his pan-fried Sicilian to a pizza competition in Atlantic City, New Jersey. And Pop’s Back Mountain Pizza, in relatively faraway East Barre, Vermont, prides itself on a “secret recipe” that authentically recreates the style. “I track it very carefully, and my readers will point places out to me,” Mirabelli says. “We’re constantly scouring for it.”
Mind you, not everyone is a fan of the pan-fried Sicilian. Some customers complain of a heavy feeling after eating—though Mirabelli points out that this side effect could be a function of the style’s less-digestible same-day dough as much as its requisite bed of oil. “You may be ready for a nap after you’re done eating, but if you buy a pan-fried Sicilian and that box is sitting next to you, with that onion aroma...let’s just say you can’t leave me alone with a pan-fried Sicilian,” Mirabelli says with a laugh. “Many people I talk to who try it are rabid fans immediately.”
“[The
Jim Mirabelli, NEPA Pizza Review
That’s major praise, considering that another NEPAbased style of pizza has gotten much of the area’s glory, even marking one town as “Pizza Capital of the World,” in nearby Old Forge. “In this area, we’re more known for Old Forge style, but I usually recommend pan-fried Sicilian to visitors,” Mirabelli says. “Old Forge, you gotta grow up with; I think pan-fried Sicilian is more relatable. It’s indulgent, it’s snacky—in a lot of ways, it feels like childhood.”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
IP Phone Service
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
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• Callerid delivered to POS system
• Auto attendants— ”If you have arrived for curbside pickup press one ”
Cellular Backup Internet
Protect against outages
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• 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.
On the PBX
“Press one to receive a text message with links to our onlne ordering ”.
SMS Marketing
text message
As
PizzaCloud
Text Message Marketing
Drive additional revenue through text message marketing, with the messages coming from your store phone number!
Either through direct integration to your POS system, or by exporting lists from the POS to import into our platform, you can schedule & manage outbound text message marketing to increase revenue.
Examples of How it Works
1) Send a X Dollars off coupon message to customers who ’s last order was more than 90 days ago, with the goal of “re activating” those customers.
2) Send an “upsell” coupon for add on items to more active customers
3) Automated campaign to send a few hundred messages per day, with the goal of adding 10+ additional orders per day. Messages can be coupons, but you can also get great traction with messages such as “Happy Monday. Did you know you are allowed to eat pizza on Monday? ” followed by your online ordering link.
Text message marketing can have the highest return of any form of marketing, with real time results.
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We apply volume discounts across entire chain, so individual location owners benefit from total chain volume.
As low as $0.010 per message for high volume customers.
Text messages have up to 95% open rate within minutes, vs a few percent for email!
FEAST QUEEN
Downtown Pizza Co. is more than a buffet concept in small-town Appalachia.
GM Lizz Aquarian says it’s an “experimental pizza world” and a “seven-day-a-week test kitchen.”
BY RICK HYNUM | PHOTOS BY NATHAN BAERREIS
HEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, A PIZZA BUFFET CONCEPT
in a small Southern town sounds like a slam dunk. But think about it a little more, then factor in a made-from-scratch, Neapolitan-inspired dough and a tourist-friendly location (a nature lover’s paradise in the Appalachian Mountains), and that sounds like a lot of work. But Lizz Aquarian, general manager of Downtown Pizza Co. in Murphy, North Carolina, isn’t complaining. She wouldn’t be happy if she didn’t have local families, school groups, and mobs of hungry hikers and anglers to feed day in and day out.
The crowds pour in, raid the buffet bar for pizzas and salads, put in special requests, shove tokens into arcade games to win prizes—and then they’re gone, making room for the next throng of famished fans.
The pies keep right on coming, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Saturday (12 to 4 p.m. on Sundays), often with surprising topping combos, because Aquarian likes to play while she’s working. A dessert pizza with cream cheese, strawberry-rhubarb pie filling and streusel? Even if the guests didn’t ask for it, they might get it, and they’ll be glad they did. A pie with Bavarian cream and pineapple? Beef, broccoli and feta cheese? Cinnamon and bacon? Just wait a few minutes, and it’s probably on the way, fresh and hot from the oven.
In other words, the family-owned Downtown Pizza Co. isn’t your standard cafeteria-style buffet operation. It’s a freestyle smorgasbord of tantalizing flavors, textures and hues, with Aquarian reigning over it all—the benevolent queen of the feast, sporting a huge and elaborate pizza tattoo on her arm that shows she means business.
“I want to get the word out about what we do,” Aquarian says, “because I think it’s on a level that’s kind of bizarre.” Mind you, she’s speaking in terms of quality and quantity. For this past Fourth of July, she personally made about 145 pizzas. “I always argue that a buffet is the hardest of restaurants, simply because it’s you versus a crowd,” she
notes. “I have a crew of anywhere from four to seven people, and I’m feeding anywhere from 80 to 125 or 150 people, if it’s really busy. And not only do we produce all these pizzas every day—making the dough, making our own sauce with our own recipe—there’s a lot of handcrafting that goes into it….We’re a seven-day-a-week test kitchen, and the people who benefit are our customers.”
From Cajun Country to the Mountains
Aquarian’s parents, Kathy and Steve Cousin, owned a car detailing business in Geismar, Louisiana, when they decided to move to Murphy and launch Downtown Pizza Co. But, prior to that, they’d owned Domino’s Pizza stores—three in Massachusetts and one in New Hampshire for Kathy, and one in Pennsylvania for Steve— so they knew a thing or two about pizza. Steve even ran his own independent pizza shop at one time.
Newly arrived in the idyllic Murphy, the couple was raring to get back into the pizza business. “They actually purchased a pizza oven before they had a place to put it,” Aquarian recalls. “They really just latched on to this idea of having a pizza restaurant. And, serendipitously, they found this building that we’re in today, which is a historic downtown building.”
What Murphy needed, the Cousins knew, was highquality pizza served fresh and fast. They started out with
Sequoyah Aquarian, husband of Lizz Aquarian and her fellow GM at Downtown Pizza Co., puts the final touches on artisanal pizzas headed for the buffet bar.
Published three days a week— Monday, Wednesday and Friday— Pizza Pulse offers the latest industry news, pizzeria and chef profiles, marketing ideas, success stories and more.
Offered every Tuesday, Startup Shops guides industry newcomers and aspiring pizzaioli to success in dough-making, recipes, hiring/training, marketing, operations and more.
#PizzaGold delivers monthly news, recipes and strategies for success from members of the U.S. Pizza Team, plus info on pizza-making competitions around the U.S. and the world.
“Our kitchen is designed like a clock, so 12:00 is the front register, 6:00 is the dish pit, and the
bars
are in
between.
So we really are putting on a show every single day.”
Lizz Aquarian
oven-baked wings and subs on the menu, too. “But they realized their pizza was becoming popular when they didn’t have enough room in the ovens to keep the pizza going,” their daughter says. “It was being blocked by the wings.”
They quickly remembered a key rule to restaurant success: Focus on what you do really well. The wings and the sandwiches needed to go. “So they whittled the menu down to two things—pizzas and salads,” Aquarian says. “I’m used to just offering these two items, but sometimes I forget that it’s a bit niche. If you’re only going to have those two items, you have to meet customers’ expectations and do them right.”
Living in an Experimental Pizza World
Downtown Pizza Co. draws some inspiration from the Neapolitan style without being bound by its strict rules. After all, you have to turn the pies around fast when you’re scrambling to keep two buffet bars stocked for a space that can seat up to 150 people, including the main lobby and the game room, informally called the Party Zone. In the store’s early days, the kitchen team baked the pies in a stone deck oven, but, as the business grew, a conveyor oven proved to be a better choice for the highvolume production required on a daily basis.
The ABCs
of Buffet Management
Lizz Aquarian, general manager of Downtown Pizza Co., is keenly aware of the “optics” of a buffet restaurant. “There is a stigma around a buffet,” she says. “And we are constantly challenging it. We still try to overcome that from the optics side every day, even though we’ve been open 23 years.” For starters, she puts the restaurant’s health inspection score front and center at the cash register. “It’s the first thing you see when you walk in,” she says. But she also teaches employees their ABCs: Always Be Cleaning. “You’re just going to see us cleaning constantly,” she says. “It’s something we try to be visible about. We also provide plastic gloves and hand sanitizer at the end of each buffet bar. You’re seeing a clean lobby, clean uniforms, clean tables and chairs….You have to constantly remind people, ‘Wash your hands. When you hit this door, that means you wash your hands.’ All eyes are on you. And what it comes down to is people just want to see you cleaning.”
PIZZA!
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“Every single day, we make approximately 200 to 250 pounds of dough. We use a 00-style flour, more of a fine grind but still high-gluten flour, so it’s going to be really stretchy.”
Lizz Aquarian
“Every single day, we make approximately 200 to 250 pounds of dough,” Aquarian says. “We use a 00-style flour, more of a fine grind but still high-gluten flour, so it’s going to be really stretchy. We make the dough fresh every single morning and age it in our walk-in cooler for between one and two days. So we’re producing it from scratch, handrolling and hand-tossing it every morning.”
One batch of dough uses 50 pounds of flour and 33 pounds of water. “It’s more of a high-hydration ratio, which makes our dough really light and crispy,” Aquarian explains. “And we make 10-liter batches of sauce. For example, I made 80 liters of sauce to prep for July Fourth. We don’t cook our sauce. We let it just marry with all of the other ingredients, and I use a really cool mixer that’s like a giant immersion blender.”
Aquarian might crank the pies out, but enormous care—and pride—go into her dough and crusts. “With this conveyor oven, we have to make sure that our crust is airy and light, but you still want it to have a chew,” she says. “You don’t want it to be crunchy, like a cracker. And this is a 500° double conveyor that we have. So that’s something else we have to think about when we’re making our dough. We have to think about what the weather is going to be like; if it’s too humid or it’s raining, not only
Ispirazione Italiana
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will my cheese brown more, but I feel like my dough gets a little too soft. I look out for those nuances day in and day out. Maybe I’ll go down to one oven to make it cooler when it’s raining—just little things like that that I’ve noticed throughout the years.”
A typical “round” of pizzas for the buffet consists of a cheese, a pepperoni, a meat and a veggie, while chicken-based specialties—like Chicken Teriyaki or Chicken Alfredo—add variety. Dessert pizzas end the meal on a sweet note. Pies are rotated out every 20 minutes, and Aquarian’s team keeps a watchful eye on the bar.
“The great thing about our space is that it’s designed really well, so there is no back of house or front of house,” Aquarian says. “We’re all front of house, with an open-kitchen concept, so everyone can see in and we can see out, and we have close proximity to both of our bars. Our kitchen is designed like a clock, so 12:00 is the front register, 6:00 is the dish pit, and the bars are in between. So we really are putting on a show every single day. Our customers can see us, and we can see them. I can be at my make station and just glance over to see what my customers are eating. That saves time, and we can be aware of what the crowd’s eating and what they’re not into so much. And I can also say, ‘Hey, that pizza’s been out for too long. You need to toss it.’”
But let’s backtrack to that comment about a “seven-day-a-week test kitchen.” Aquarian’s employees follow the pizzeria’s recipe book—she doesn’t believe in charts on the walls—but they also have the flexibility to get creative. “We are living in this experimental pizza world every day,” she says. “Sure, we create your standard classics, but we can also deviate from that and have fun in a way that not only delights our customers but makes it interesting for ourselves. Everyone gets a say in what we’re going to make. If somebody has an idea for a pizza, we let them try it, even if we think it may not work. It’s exciting—not only did they come up with the idea, but they can personally make it and get a customer to try it. You can’t do that in your average restaurant.”
Customers, too, have a say in the buffet’s menu. With a standard pizzeria buffet, what you see is what you get. But Downtown Pizza Co. serves up custom pies on request at no extra charge, Aquarian says. “That’s well-known locally. So people know they can say, ‘Hey, I want a
The Party Zone offers arcade games for kids like Klaus, Lizz and Sequoyah Aquarian’s son.
[pie with] sausage and jalapeños, please.’ We’ll fix it and put it on the bar so everyone can enjoy it.”
Aquarian also lets her own inner artist come out and play. She devised that aforementioned strawberryrhubarb dessert pizza, for example. “One of my favorite things to play with is color. I’m a big fan of trying to balance out the colors on my buffet. So, if I want to get a little weird with it, I might do a spinach, tomato and feta with some banana peppers. The yellow really pops with the white of the feta and the red of the tomato, and it’s really tasty. It’s a nice alternative to a regular vegetarian pie, and it often surprises people. And I’m really liking this cheddar blend that I have and find myself topping ham-and-pineapple pizzas or meat combos with just a little bit of cheddar. It adds this beautiful color, and it really complements most things, too. I always have a certain topping that I’m kind of obsessed with at the moment, so I’ll experiment, play with it and put it out there.”
A Family Business for Families
It’s important to note that Downtown Pizza Co. is a woman- and veteran-owned company; Aquarian’s mother, Kathy, is now the sole proprietor, as Steve has retired, and she served in the U.S. Army. Additionally, Aquarian’s husband, Sequoyah, and brother, Sean, are managers. It’s a family business for families. Kids and parents alike come for the pizza and stay for the arcade games in the Party Zone. “For $1, you get four tokens,” Aquarian says. “The machines take anywhere from one to four tokens per play. And then [the players] take their tickets to us, and we weigh them on a scale….We have a prize counter at the front register, with everything from little army men to Slinkys and big teddy bears. So it definitely has that oldschool nostalgic feel, and the kids love it.”
“One of my favorite things to play with is color. I’m a big fan of trying to balance out the colors on my buffet.”
Lizz Aquarian
Downtown Pizza Co., is, in a word, special, and the family aims to keep it that way. Aside from a second store in Blairsville—which does booming business in its own right, although it’s considerably smaller than the flagship location—replicating or scaling such a concept would be no easy feat. And they’re just not interested.
“I think it is [unusual],” Aquarian says. “It’s rare because it requires the strong backing of a crew. You have to have people that believe in what you’re doing, have the physical stamina to do it, and care enough to do it. There are really successful corporate chains [specializing in buffets], so the concept itself isn’t novel. But I think the reason you don’t see independents doing this is because it is so difficult.”
The Aquarians also own a wedding venue across the street—complete with, yes, pizza weddings. Their hands are full. “We’re pretty happy with what we have,” Aquarian says. “I don’t think I could devote much time elsewhere. This place needs all of me, that’s for sure.”
Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.
Lizz Aquarian, a former newspaper reporter, used her media savvy to get PMQ’s attention, emailing a full press kit to the editorial team.
Controlling food costs is—and should be—at the top of operators’ priorities in order to run a successful and profitable pizzeria.
BY TRACY MORIN
WITH INFLATION RISING SHARPLY POST-PANDEMIC AND consumers feeling the effects of higher prices, it’s crucial that operators carefully watch their food costs—and try all of the methods possible to keep them down.
But there are other, less obvious reasons for keeping an eye on these necessary expenditures. For Joe Farruggio, president of three restaurants (il Canale, a Modo Mio and 90 Second Pizza) in the Washington, D.C., area, his delivery business is increasing—and with no drivers of his own, he relies on third-party delivery. The substantial fees charged by these companies mean that paying attention to food costs is even more important to maintain profitability while remaining an attractive option for delivery customers. No matter what your reasons, food costs deserve your attention.
Third-party delivery fees cut into profits at Joe Farruggio’s restaurants, so the veteran operator is always looking for ways to reduce his food costs.
4 Steps to Lowering Food Costs
When PMQ asked operators to share some of their top tips on controlling food costs, several key strategies emerged: working with vendors, proper menu pricing, collecting and analyzing sales data, training staff and tracking inventory.
1WORKING WITH VENDORS
For many operators, comparing and contrasting pricing between multiple companies is a must to get the best deals on ingredients. “I have two companies I order from, and I check the prices before ordering to see which company has better pricing on the items I need,” says Betsy Rammos-Tsichlis, owner and operator of Pantry Pizza in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
“The salesmen are also very helpful in sending out sale prices or specials on certain items that we use. I recently started buying some paper products from W.B. Mason, since they beat both of my foodservice companies in pricing on some items—and that only came about because their salesman came into the store. However, we have also cut back in giving out paper goods with our orders, especially after COVID, to reduce costs.”
Farruggio, meanwhile, strolls trade show floors seeking good deals on ingredients and making connections. This is also a crucial step in knowing that the quality will suit his operation, which uses high-end Italian imported
ingredients, such as organic flour and fresh buffalo mozzarella. “Quality needs to be No. 1, but you hope for better quality and a better price,” Farruggio explains. “I work with multiple vendors—not too many, because then you’re adding more work to your business, but I recommend having a few.”
“Quality
needs to be No. 1, but you hope for better quality and a better price. I work with multiple vendors—not too many, because then you’re adding more work to your business, but I recommend having a few.”
Joe Farruggio, il Canale, a Modo Mio and 90 Second Pizza
“I always try to be up-front and transparent with my employees, sharing things with them like the cost of food goods, paper goods and utilities, so they can be aware of what the store’s expenses are.”
Betsy Rammos-Tsichlis, Pantry Pizza
2MENU, PRICING AND SALES TRACKING
When it comes to proper pricing, Farruggio understands that different items are naturally going to have different margins. Soda, water and beer can fetch 300% to 500% markups, while high-end items like ribeye and salmon won’t reach anywhere near those numbers. Therefore, he maintains a menu mix that allows for an overall attractive food cost percentage. It’s also important to cross-utilize ingredients to minimize waste, and to keep a regular schedule of tracking sales numbers, in case any low performers need to be moved off the menu. “Every month—and you can even do this daily, but for me that takes too much time—I look at the percentage of profits,” Farruggio notes. “That tells you if you need to change anything. At the bottom line, if I have 3% to 4% net profits, I’m happy.”
Food Price Predictions
What can we expect from food prices in the months ahead? Here are some findings from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service’s Food Price Outlook in March 2024:
• The all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of economy-wide inflation, increased 0.6% from January 2024 to February 2024 and was up 3.2% from February 2023. The CPI for all food increased 0.1% from January 2024 to February 2024, and food prices were 2.2% higher than in February 2023.
• The food-at-home (grocery store or supermarket food purchases) CPI increased 0.1% from January 2024 to February 2024 and was 1.0% higher than February 2023.
• The food-away-from-home (restaurant purchases) CPI increased 0.1% in February 2024 and was 4.5% higher than February 2023.
• Food prices are expected to continue to decelerate in 2024 compared to recent years. In 2024, all food prices are predicted to increase 2.5%, with a prediction interval of 0.6% to 4.5%. Food-at-home prices are predicted to increase 1.6%, with a prediction interval of -1.3% to 4.5%, and food-awayfrom-home prices are predicted to increase 4.1%, with a prediction interval of 2.9% to 5.2%.
90 SECOND PIZZA
PANTRY PIZZA
3
STAFF TRAINING
Educating employees and getting them on board with keeping food costs low have been successful strategies at Pantry Pizza. “I always try to be up-front and transparent with my employees, sharing things with them like the cost of food goods, paper goods and utilities, so they can be aware of what the store’s expenses are,” Rammos-Tsichlis says. “This helps them to be aware of waste, which helps avoid overprepping or ordering more goods that will spoil if not used. In terms of portion control, we weigh out a lot of the ingredients, like the shaved steak, and everyone knows the amount of, say, chicken breast that goes onto a salad.”
Farruggio also keeps employees invested in keeping costs down, but he does it through the old-fashioned motivation of cold, hard cash. “I set aside 20% of my profit and give it to my employees, so every quarter they get a check—maybe $300 to $400 for a dishwasher, or a $5,000 to $6,000 bonus for a chef,” he says. “Then they feel pressure to do their jobs and keep costs down. I have all of the recipes written down in the manual, and I eat my food all the time to make sure the recipe is right. I also watch them on portion control. You don’t want them putting on too much cheese, for example—or too little.”
4INVENTORY TRACKING
When receiving food deliveries, you’ll want to ensure order accuracy and quality of items, while preventing profit destroyers like loss, theft and waste. For example, at Farruggio’s back door, a posted sign says no deliveries are accepted after 11:30 a.m. That way, deliveries arrive early and the manager on staff can check every item against the original order, making sure everything has been received correctly. There’s also a camera at the back door, to prevent items from “disappearing” in transit. In addition, expensive and theftprone items like alcohol are monitored weekly.
“You also want to pay attention to the pricing— sometimes, the vendor will give you a good price to try something, then three months later it goes up,” Farruggio adds. “Every Monday, the three or four vendors I’m working with fax me the prices of items I buy so I can see them. I think restaurant owners lose a lot by not paying attention!”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
TIKTOK HowtoBeA TOPDOG
TikTok is increasingly influencing diners’ restaurant decisions. Are you making the most of this short-video social media platform?
BY TRACY MORIN
IF YOU THINK TIKTOK DOESN’T DESERVE YOUR ATTENTION, you might want to think again. According to a 2022 TikTok restaurant survey commissioned by marketing agency MGH, more than half of millennial TikTok users (53%) had visited or ordered from a restaurant after seeing it on the platform. And 38% of its users across all generations— equating to about 51.8 million diners—had visited or ordered food from a restaurant after seeing a TikTok video about it.
GETTY IMAGES/PROT TACHAPANIT
“TikTok has completely leveled the playing field for restaurants,” says Ryan Goff, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for MGH, based in Hunt Valley, Maryland. “Any restaurant or business, no matter how big or small, can grow brand awareness and a loyal following at almost no cost—it just takes a little creativity, some patience and a willingness to experiment.”
Whether you’re totally new to TikTok or looking to boost your success on the platform, read on for two pizza and marketing experts’ top tips to help you increase engagement—and maybe even go viral.
The Expert: Ryan Goff executive vice president/chief marketing officer, MGH, Hunt Valley, MD
Familiarize yourself with the platform.
First-timers to TikTok should take some time to explore the platform before diving head-first into creating content. The most important thing to keep in mind is that TikTok rewards authenticity and creativity and will quickly downgrade content that comes across as an advertisement. If you’re too promotional in the TikToks you produce, you’ll quickly see your views and engagement plummet, wiping out any potential benefit you could see from the platform.
Hop on the trends…
There are some similarities between TikTok and Instagram Reels. But trends tend to originate on TikTok before eventually migrating over to Instagram. Restaurants and other brands who quickly jump on these trends are often rewarded with high reach and engagement among new audiences.
...But keep it real.
The only real formula for success is authenticity, creativity and a willingness to stay on top of changing TikTok trends. TikTok users have a tendency to “speak in their own language” and reward restaurants and brands who understand that language. That said, you still want to be yourself. Figure out what makes your pizzeria
unique and use your TikTok content to shine a bright spotlight on it. If you get that right, hashtags, music and trends won’t matter as much.
Know
your audience.
There’s a widespread misconception that TikTok is a platform for teens only, but the reality is that TikTok spans all ages and demographics. Its users are incredibly active and loyal to the platform, often spending hours per day consuming TikTok content. These users also love
MGH
MGH
TikTok rewards authenticity and creativity while content that feels like advertising gets fewer views. Keep your posts fun, engaging and non-promotional. Just be yourself.
discovering new brands and products and will patronize businesses they see doing a good job on the platform.
Show off your personality.
Personalities play very well on TikTok. If you have an owner, manager or employee who has a big, interesting or endearing personality, and they’re willing to regularly put themselves out there in front of the camera, TikTok users will quickly become loyal to them—and to your business. Sally Slices (@sallyslices) is arguably the most successful and famous example in the pizza space, amassing 4 million-plus followers, seeing customers fly from out of the country just to visit his shop and recently launching a frozen pizza product that’s selling fast.
Post regularly.
A pizzeria should post as often as possible. A lot of learning what works and doesn’t work is pure trial and error, and that only comes from frequently posting—with a willingness to fail at times.
Be patient.
Give it time and calibrate your expectations. You are not going to go viral overnight, and TikTok is not going to change the direction of your business within the first month of posting. Just like with any other marketing tool, it’s not a silver bullet. But, with some patience, a lot of time spent consuming and interacting with other restaurant and pizzeria videos, and some thought around what makes your spot unique, you may just find yourself as the next TikTok success story.
What Are Users Looking For?
ccording to MGH’s TikTok restaurant survey, of those who visited a restaurant after seeing it on TikTok, here’s what drove their decision:
The Expert: Maria Trujillo
senior vice president of marketing, Cicis Pizza, Coppell, TX (279 locations)
Create value—and entertainment.
Cicis has been on TikTok since 2021, and we’ve learned that the most important thing is to embrace what your audience is doing on TikTok and not try to force polished, overly branded content. You have to create content that feels native to the platform and that has some value for viewers. For us, we want to entertain and delight viewers, with Cicis as a character in our content. Since other social media platforms have been following the TikTok model with their short-form feeds, we think TikTok-first for our video content and then cross-post for efficiency.
Mix it up.
TikTok is a great way for us to reach a younger audience—75% of our followers are under 35—and entertain them with funny and engaging content, whether original or trend/meme videos. Some of the best performing videos are the ones that hit on a customer truth relevant to their Cicis experience or when we participate in cultural conversation through trend/ meme videos. We aim for at least two posts per week and incorporate one trend post per week into the mix, depending on what trends make sense for us to jump in on.
In addition to creating paid-specific videos, we also look at top-performing organic videos and turn them into
“Since other social media platforms have been following the TikTok model with their short-form feeds, we think TikTok-first for our video content and then cross-post for efficiency.”
Maria Trujillo, Cicis Pizza
Spark Ads. Our efforts on the platform were recognized by TikTok for successfully leveraging and raising awareness of new pizza offerings while continuously driving customers into restaurants through the use of both organic and paid best practices.
Mind the details.
The best advice would be to first understand who your audience is and what value your brand can offer with your content. From there, videos should have a strong hook at the beginning and pay off that hook in the video. If there’s a call to action, then make that clear at the end. And, yes, using audio and trending sounds is an absolute must for the platform. SEO-friendly caption copy is also becoming more important as younger users are using TikTok for search.
Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment on the platform. Try things and see what works for you and your brand. Oh, and have fun!
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
CICI’S PIZZA
CICI’S PIZZA
Melina Felix: The Pizza Bandit Goes On the Run
This ambitious Colorado pizzaiola, known for using colors to maximize eye appeal, aims to grow her pop-up operation into a franchise brand.
BY BRIAN HERNANDEZ
IN THE QUIET CORNERS OF LITTLETON, COLORADO,
The Pizza Bandit is redefining what it means to serve extraordinary pizza, thanks to Melina Felix, a stalwart member of the U.S. Pizza Team (USPT), and her husband, Federico. With their pop-up venture soaring to impressive heights, the Felixes knew it was time to elevate their game. Coming next: pizza trailers.
PMQ caught up with Melina to dive into her pizza lineage, explore her use of color for eye appeal, and discover how The Pizza Bandit is taking its pizza passion on the road.
Brian Hernandez: How did you get into pizza making?
Melina Felix: My pizza journey started when I was in my early 20s and working for my uncle, Pino Piroso, at his pizzeria, Pizza Rustica, in Miami. They opened in 1996 and have grown to numerous locations across the U.S. and Europe since then. I started there doing counter stuff, and working for him helped me to see that pizza isn’t just fast food. He used top-quality ingredients and made everything from scratch, and people came from all over because they knew it was good. Even the basic cheese pizza was good.
With their newly wrapped and licensed pizza trailer, The Pizza Bandit owners Melina and Federico Felix are on the prowl for new customers in the little town of Littleton.
After my 20s, I veered off into creative arts, but every Friday morning, I would still wake up at 5 a.m. before my corporate job to start making pizzas for myself and the family. The love of making pizza and wanting to eat good pizza was planted in me and wouldn’t die. I literally spent about 15 to 20 years making pizzas every week: making dough in the morning, coming home after an eight-hour day, and experimenting and feeding the family and getting opinions. I moved all around the country doing that. I’ve lived in California, Minnesota, Colorado and Florida, and it was helpful trying to make good pizzas in all these different environments. At the same time, my husband is a professional chef by trade, and he can’t turn that off. All of the little critiques and suggestions—that made me better. We both always had it in the back of our minds that we were going to open a pizzeria one day. Then, in 2022, after the lockdowns, we asked ourselves, “What are we waiting for?” And that was it.
Hernandez: What was the first step?
Felix: I would often sit at work listening to podcasts about being an entrepreneur and marketing and so on, and at one point I heard someone say, “Build your audience before you launch your brand or product.” So I started posting pizza videos online and following and commenting on other pizza accounts. I started getting attention online before we even knew The Pizza Bandit was going to be the brand. By the time we launched and did our first pop-up here in Littleton, we had a line waiting outside, because they had been following us. I would love to give credit to whoever gave that advice if I could remember who it was, but it was a game-changer for us.
Hernandez: There’s so much color on your pizzas. Do all the flavors make sense together, or are some ingredients there for color’s sake?
Felix: I believe color is an ingredient. People eat with their eyes. Color is always something I’m thinking about when I’m putting a recipe together. People see something bright and beautiful, and it catches their eye. It’s just [human] nature. It doesn’t have to be a rainbow of colors on every pizza, but if you can use something that contrasts or just pops, that gets people’s attention. One of our best sellers is The Sweet Heat. It has pickled onions that I drop in hibiscus tea while pickling them, and they are literally bright pink. They glow, and people comment on them all the time. We try not to do anything that’s pointless, so if I’m adding something for color, it also has to bring flavor. Sometimes you don’t even realize—until
you’re pumping the pizzas out—that a certain ingredient isn’t really adding anything to the flavor. Then you should simply remove it.
Hernandez: What’s coming up next for The Pizza Bandit?
Felix: We started as a pop-up mainly for financial reasons. I didn’t have the cash lying around to just open a brickand-mortar, so we decided to test the market and the brand with the pop-up. The next step for us is a custombuilt pizza trailer. We upgraded our ovens and built an opening in the back of the truck for them so that we can, hopefully, bake all through the winter. The truck just got its final licenses a month ago, so we are brand-new. Now we can hit more festivals and events, and everything is organized and where I left it….My long-term vision is pop-up, food truck, restaurant and, hopefully, franchise. It may be ambitious, but that’s the plan.
In PMQ’s full interview with Melina Felix, she talks about how she uses Instagram to drive business and how she came to join the USPT. Read it at PMQ.com/melina-felix.
For more information about the U.S. Pizza Team, its members and sponsors, visit USPizzaTeam.com.
Featuring housemade clotted cream, peach jam made from Colorado Palisade peaches, fresh berries and mint, the Berries and Cream Dessert Pizza became an instant hit for The Pizza Bandit.
SLICE INTO A FREE ITALIAN ADVENTURE
Register today for the Galbani Professionale Pizza Cup & Acrobatic Trials for your chance to win one of two FREE TRIPS to compete in an international pizza competition in 2025!
Presented by U.S. Pizza Team Platinum sponsor Galbani Professionale, and with a grand prize on the line for both Culinary and Freestyle Acrobatics, this is your chance to prove you have what it takes to represent your pizzeria, your town and your country on the world stage of pizza.
Registration for this event also gains you and a plus-one admission to the Pizza Tomorrow Summit and the Florida Restaurant Show. Don’t miss the new innovations, trends and networking opportunities available at the East Coast’s preeminent pizza trade show.
November 6-7 (Make sure to vote early!) Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL.
CATEGORIES TO INCLUDE:
• Non-Traditional
• Best Cheese Slice
• Freestyle Acrobatics
• Largest Dough Stretch
• Fastest Pie Maker
• Fastest Box Folder
M IN I GH BOXES
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TOOLS
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(Clockwise from top left) Rick Jansen portions spaghetti noodles in the ’90s; Tom Hanson and Rick Jansen pose with their Zorbaz-branded race car; employees gather in the early ’80s; Zorbaz, pictured here in 1969, was originally named Zorba’s at the Beach.
Zorbaz On the Lake
Zorbaz On the Lake has done few things according to the pizzeria playbook since opening in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, in 1969. The founder, Tom Hanson, was a schoolteacher, not a chef, so the pizza was first a frozen product, feeding only summertime crowds.
Fortunately, the staff took a learn-on-the-job approach. A young employee named Rick Jansen switched colleges to study restaurant business management. He joined a chef’s association in California, where he spent summers, to learn culinary tips; picked up pizza dough techniques from a retired German baker near Minneapolis; and developed pizza sauce with the help of an equipment supplier in Fargo, North Dakota. In 1979, Rick even added Mexican foods like tacos and burritos—a unique menu mashup that continues today.
Zorbaz grew to five locations by the end of the ’80s, and now 11 lakeside outposts run in Minnesota year-round. But Zorbaz isn’t simply seeking partners with money to invest—all locations are headed by an employee who worked his way up. Tom’s son, Cole, is now president, and his younger brother operates the newest store in Alexandria (the Hanson family retains a 51% stake while operating partners own 49% of each
BY TRACY MORIN
STATE OF MINNESOTA
STATEOFMIN N ESOTA
store). Meanwhile, Rick’s son, Tate, who sold T-shirts outside the pizzeria at 10 years old, is now operating partner at the original location. Both Cole’s and Tate’s teen daughters help out, too. In fact, Tate met his wife, Devon, working at the pizzeria; she now powers the ovens on weekends and handles admin. Ultimately, Zorbaz remains a family affair.
“Our phrases over the years have been ‘Always great memories’ and ‘Everyone leaves with a smile,’” Tate says. “And that’s not just guests, but the staff, too. Everyone operating a location is promoted from within—you can’t just buy a franchise. But our employees know that there’s a career in this.”
Tom passed away in the 2010s, but the “retired” Rick still drops by daily, and his joy lies in seeing the customers who have been coming for decades—and the new faces they recruit. “Regulars love it, and they spread the word,” Rick says. “It takes a lot of hard work and a lot of hours, but it makes you feel good when people keep coming back. It’s like a family reunion here.”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
