Topics
Brand & Marketing
Respecting the Craft: Are You Ready for Some Football?
I can’t tell you how exciting it is for football season to be underway. It’s not just because I love the sport, but also because the sport and its fans love pizza! What’s better than watching your favorite football team and eating a delicious...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Man on the Street: Photo Finish
Why use stock photos when there are better options? A baby told me about your new pizza. Actually, it was a baby and her three-year-old brother. Samantha and Matt have over 113,000 followers, thanks to an Instagram account started by their food-blogg...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Respecting the Craft: Small Town, Big Opportunities
I’m sitting in the car driving from Pittsburgh to Akron, Ohio, with Scott Anthony. We are finishing up a whirlwind trip of my book tour. We started in Punxsutawney, then to Altoona, Pittsburgh, Akron, and Columbus. I have toured big cities like New...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Man on the Street: Pizza Rankings
Do ‘Best of’ pizza lists have merit? We all get the same messages in our inboxes. When a Web site releases a list of “Top 10 Pizzerias in the USA” or “50 Bucket List Pizzerias,” I instantly get a barrage of “Do you approve of thi...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Man on the Street: The Art of the Pizza Crawl
Learn more about your competition and the industry by touring other pizzerias Let’s pretend for just one page in this magazine that you aren’t 100-percent satisfied with your pizza. You’ve been making it for years but a little voice in y...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Respecting the Craft: Everyone’s a Critic
Being critiqued is difficult for any restaurant owner. And it’s not just newspaper and magazine critics anymore. These days there are so many critics or “want to be” critics out there when you take Bloggers, Yelp, Tripadvisor, etc. into account...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Man on the Street: Good vibrations
Even the biggest dive spots have a vibe to cash in on Marketing folks call it “branding” but I’ll just call it “vibe.” It’s a huge part of what attracts me to (or keeps me away from) your business. I don’t believe there are any best piz...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Respecting the Craft: Know your demographic
When I opened Pizza Rock II in Las Vegas, I tailored the menu very much like I did in the first store in Sacramento. However, I did add a few new styles. You see, I have a restaurant in San Francisco where my Neapolitan line is the busiest and my Mar...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Man on the Street: Online ordering — the wave of right now
Pizza delivery saves lives. It solves late-night hunger pangs, relieves depression, fuels the student during midterms and caters kids’ birthday parties. For you, it represents a big chunk of your business, but for me it’s disaster relief. Ever si...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Bring your pizzeria web site up to speed
This is an intervention. The Internet has become well-worn territory, yet many of you are still treating your Web sites like it’s 1996. Users’ attention spans are microscopically short for Web sites, so you want there to be as few barriers as pos...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Man on the Street: Customers Want Show and Tell
“I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” It’s the most boring answer to a simple question. I get it, there are a lot of pizzerias out there and you need to maintain a competitive edge to avoid getting swallowed up by the bigger fish...
Topics
Brand & Marketing
Respecting the Craft: Food competitions
Q: Why compete in food competitions at International Pizza Expo or anywhere else? A: As an owner everything is done to my specifications and wants. It is rare that I am tested and that I am out of my element. There really isn’t anyone to tell me th...