The sandy shores of Pensacola Beach, Florida, yield a plethora of dining options ranging from shaved ice shacks to Zagat-rated dining rooms. Seated comfortably in the middle is Hopjacks Pizza Kitchen & Taproom. But this two-unit company, owned by...

For many pizzerias, call-in orders are a substantial part of their business. Whether it’s families or college co-eds, customers are used to picking up the phone to order their favorite pie. You can capitalize on those calls by ensuring that every c...

Willy Olund took second place in the International Pizza Challenge’s non-traditional category at the 2010 International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. Q. Entering International Pizza Challenge can be a daunting task. Why enter a gluten-free pizza rather ...

Z-licious Appetizers are hot. Go beyond the typical fried mozzarella or bruschetta and offer your customers a zucchini Parmigiana that will have them coming back for more. Take a fresh zucchini peel and trim off the stem end. Slice the zucchini lengt...

The legalese and tax speak made Kelvin Slater’s head spin. In 2003, as Slater readied to open Blue Moon Pizza in Marietta, Georgia, he struggled to discern the best legal entity for his restaurant. Even as he poured over research and heeded profess...

Summertime Secrets It’s summer, and chances are there’s a local farmer’s market going on somewhere nearby. Take the opportunity to buy local and fresh. Items such as juicy beefsteak tomatoes and melons or fresh basil and oregano plants make gre...

Long before Cuba Gooding Jr. laid that line on Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry McGuire, I heard it from my wife every April 15th. My CPA heard the same such words from me. Did you ever ask yourself the question, “What am I doing this for? Did I b...

Danny Mac’s Pizza, Pasta & More isn’t the highest grossing operation in the industry, but owner Danny McMahon accounts for every dollar as if his were a publicly traded company. While a franchisee for the now-defunct Pizza Magia chain, McMaho...

America talked and Domino’s Pizza is listened. If you’ve watched any television over of the course of the past year, you’ve probably seen several corporate faces on the company’s advertising campaign serving up healthy doses of humble pie. In...

Over the years, I’ve written a number of articles on using baker’s percent to express a dough formula, but it never hurts to give a refresher course for those who have recently joined our ranks. A lot of time I hear: “Why can’t you just g...

When I was a young pup 25 years ago, my landlord approached me. I had been renting my restaurant from him for five years or so. Ray was retired from the phone company and wanted to sell his local real estate properties and buy a retirement place in F...

Few pizza chains –– or restaurant chains, for that matter –– have generated the buzz that Ann Arbor, Michigan based Domino’s Pizza has over the course of the past 12 to 18 months. With the launch of several new products, to a new president, a v...