March 2017

Published: March 1, 2017Scott Wiener

Pep Talk

Looking at America’s Top Pizza Ingredient

March is our Pizza Expo issue and it’s the year’s largest magazine. This edition is filled with business-boosting articles on everything from pepperoni and dessert pizzas to menu strategies, changing products and analyzing competition — as well as tips from industry leaders speaking at Pizza Expo. Find insightful start-up stories. Pizza Today also goes on the road to Washington, D.C. and New Orleans.

Topics Industry News

Expo Spotlight: It’s Show Time

International Pizza Expo & International Artisan Bakery Expo March 31-April 2, 2020 – Las Vegas Convention Center If you haven’t already registered for Pizza Expo 2020, now is the time to do so by visiting PizzaExpo.com. This is your only...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Keep it Clean

It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta clean the equipment Equipment maintenance is the most obvious managerial task that is rarely treated that way in our industry. If you drove a semi-truck for a living, maintaining it would be paramount to you...

Topics Operations

Merchandise: Say My Name

Pepper the community with your brand The merchandise offerings from Hot Italian and Sizzle Pie couldn’t be more opposite. Sleek and fitted, the T-shirts, hats and other sundries at Hot Italian convey an elegant, chic, Calvin-Klein-esque vibe to ups...

Topics Employee Management

Profits Are Made in the Office

Get a grip on financials now, thank yourself later Let’s talk financials. For 33 years in this business, I have always maintained up-to-date financial reports. I use these reports to manage my pizzerias, but I am fortunate to have and understand ho...

Topics Menu Development

Product Perplexity

Handle a product change with finesse Something’s different about this slice.” Your customer just zeroed in on your change in dough, cheese or sauce. Maybe you changed because your distributor went bankrupt. Or maybe you want to switch to fresh, o...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Start-Up To Success

Origin Stories and Tips from 5 Pizza Entrepreneurs Everyone who comes to International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas has an origin story. Some started from scratch, some bought franchises and others rebuilt existing restaurants. Here we talk to five entrep...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Pizza Today on the Road: Pizzeria Paradiso, Washington, DC

DC Trailblazer Pizzeria Paradiso celebrates 25 years of staying relevant Capturing lightning in a bottle, for many business owners happens once, if they’re lucky. Chef Ruth Gresser has found ways to capture lightning over and over at Pizzeria Parad...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Pizza Today on the Road: Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza, New Orleans, LA

Jam on! Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza thrives in post-Katrina New Orleans When three lifelong friends open a pizzeria in New Orleans, you know the ride is going to be fun. That’s been the case for Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza, which debuted on Magazin...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Pizza Today on the Road: Pupatella, Arlington, Virginia

Making the Transition Arlington, Virginia-based Pupatella readies for franchising Pupatella in Arlington, Virginia, has a style all its own. It’s not what many think of when they enter a Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN)-certified pizzeria. First, Pu...

Topics Employee Management

Know Your Competition

Want to become better? Analyze the competition What’s your mindset when you walk into another restaurant? Do you just want to not think about your place for a little while and decompress? Or, like most of us in this industry, do you compare it to y...

Topics Dough

Knead to Know: Snapped! Dough Snapback Solved

Common dough problem, pizza dough snapback, has plethora of causes Q: We have a continual problem with dough snap-back after placing it on the screen for baking. Is there anything that we can add to our dough to eliminate this problem? A: Dough snap-...

Topics Menu Development

Sweet Sell — Dessert Cookie Pizzas

Dessert pizzas take finesse to make, market Desserts are a hard sell for pizzerias, where that extra slice most customers don’t want but just can’t say no to can mean a sweet finish won’t be added to the check total. But when made right, advert...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Conversation with Brittany Saxton, Six Hundred Downtown, Bellefontaine, OH

Six Hundred Downtown Bellefontaine, Ohio Five-time World Pizza Games champion Brittany Saxton. A 13-year veteran of the pizzeria industry, she recently acquired ownership of Six Hundred Downtown in Bellefontaine, Ohio, where she was previously the ...

Topics Menu Development

Pizza Styles: Neapolitan vs. NEOpolitan

Pizza with similar names just isn’t the same When pizza first became popular in the United States, it had already changed dramatically from its original southern Italian expression. Newly arrived immigrants couldn’t afford wood to fuel their oven...

Topics Menu Development

Styles of Pepperoni, America’s No.1 Pizza Topping

Pepperoni is America’s Top Pizza Ingredient This is a true pepperoni story. One night, six years ago, I received a call from an older customer saying that we made her pizza incorrectly. “You screwed it up! I ordered a plain pizza, and this doesn�...

Topics Employee Management

Upgrading Tech

Five ways to enhance the customer experience It can be tough to fully understand the vast array of tech options available today — let alone implement them into your pizzeria operations. While technology can help increase sales and boost the guest e...

Topics Operations

Getting to the Top

Tabletop condiments help set tone for restaurant More than 40 types of toppings are offered at The Olive Theory, but that’s not where adding flavor to its pizzas ends for this pizzeria and many others. Diners who want to adjust the taste of their ...

Topics Operations

Service: Fast & Friendly

Increase service speed without sacrificing customer service Don’t be the last to leave a party. Don’t outstay your welcome. Be a kind and courteous guest. Although this advice seems more appropriate to house guests than restaurant patrons, in tod...

Topics Brand & Marketing

On Tap: Craft Beer Pricing and Promotions

It’s International Pizza Expo Month! Hopefully, I’ll get to meet many of you in Vegas and, hopefully, we can enjoy a pint or two at The New Operator Reception, Beer & Bull or at The World Pizza Games Finals & Block Party. This will be my ...

Topics Menu Development

Man on the Street: In the End, Is Easy Better than Good?

I just read a quote that completely terrified me –– and for once it wasn’t spoken by a politician! In late 2015, the head of a major food company suggested to investors that their ailing pizza chain should concentrate less on making good food a...

Topics Finance & Growth

Respecting the Craft: Hated on Haight, Part II

Adapting to your environment pays dividends Last month I talked about our effort to succeed with a Tony’s Slice House on quirky Haight St. in San Francisco, where the clientele will either embrace you or quickly run you off. This month I’ll finis...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Establishing Community Partnerships

Operators say they have criteria for choosing which nonprofits to support James Tzepos, owner of Zois’ Pizza in Seymour, Connecticut, fields many requests from community organizations to partner with them for a fundraiser or to donate money or pizz...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Unemployment Matters

How restaurant leaders can minimize baseless unemployment claims and the trouble they often bring In any given week, roughly 250,000 unemployment insurance claims will be filed across the country, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor. ...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Destinations: Baltimore, Maryland

A Look at Pizzerias in Baltimore, Maryland Verde Marianne Kresevich and Edward Bosco opened Verde in an 1880s row house. The sleek, upscale eatery is cozy and casual, offering private and communal seating. Verde specializes in Neapolitan-style with a...

Topics People & Pizzerias

Baker’s Lung

What is the medical condition — and why should you be concerned about it? Last year, James Beard Award-winning pizzaiolo Chris Bianco recaptured a place in the headlines. The Phoenix-based chef, whose fame and following swelled in the early 2000s w...

Topics Operations

Going Off Menu

Today’s diners need a different kind of menu than in the past What is the point of a menu? Does it just convey the price and the information of what the kitchen executes, or is it an opportunity to maximize a ticket average? I think we all know the...

March 2017

Pep Talk

Looking at America’s Top Pizza Ingredient

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