Joe Ruffino

Biaggio Pizzeria, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Joe Ruffino, Biaggio Pizzeria, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Here at my pizzeria, Biaggio, our first goal for our customers is to achieve a laid back, warm and relaxing dining experience with toe-tapping music playing over the speakers and with our televisions playing episodes from the Food Network, Travel Channel or some of the favorite sports channels.

I make sure the WiFi is streaming and our team is smiling, and it all comes together to create a very pleasurable and delicious dining experience. I want our customers to get that big city, cozy little restaurant feel.

My pizza styles here at Biaggio pizzeria range from thin-crust, New York-style pizza crust, Sicilian thick crust and our rectangle gramma-style crust. We offer strombolis, calzones, Detroit-style crust, wheat dough and gluten-free crust also.

Excellent customer service has been the number one greatest niche creator in the Allentown market, a place that has allowed Biaggio to become an industry leader. Being engaged with our customers from the moment they come into Biaggio to the moment they leave is important; we used to say ‘can I help you,’ instead we now ask the customer ‘how are you today?’ I know this sounds simple, but you would not believe how many times a customer comes in and your first words to them are, ‘hello, how are you doing this afternoon or evening?’ The reactions are amazing with appreciation. Just simply saying thank you for coming in today or calling. Today it’s amazing the positive vibe that creates in our pizzeria. Every day I try to think and take a moment to reflect on what we have created at Biaggio — all the lives we have changed and positively affected and all the future ones we will have an opportunity to help. Our reputation is extremely important. We all continue to come to work every day to prove to our patrons how much we appreciate the ability to serve food made with love on a day-in-and-day-out basis. I always say I want to be remembered for our delicious food, wonderful achievements, community efforts and positive things we can do.

Remember this: my family, the Ruffino family, is three generations into the pizza industry creating food made with love. We started back in 1954 and our history is supported by all the family members I have worked with every day at Biaggio pizzeria.

As you sit in our dining room all the pictures on our walls are our family pictures from 1954 to present day. It’s a historical story of our family and our legacy of awards and honors over the years. Pizza is what gives my family our life each day. We are able to create delicious food, and in return we are blessed with such honored achievements as family.

Social media and me in the front of our ads has been the single greatest advertising tool I use to present our brand to our customers and engage with all them on a 24-hour basis. I am our ring leader in this fun-filled food tasting, video making, picture taking controlled chaos environment called Biaggio Pizzeria that thousands of wonderful followers enjoy the ads, the brand and the love I have for food and what I do every day. Through the videos, promotions and spontaneity of the ads, our customers can see the passion I have for them and what we create at Biaggio

One of the first things I learned was to create positive and fun ads consumers enjoy. The giveaways, contest, tickets and gift certificates are all good things for engagement for our followers and at the end of the day for our brand.

Branding is the most powerful advertising tool an operator can execute on in our daily advertising goals. Remember: believe in what you say and what you brand.