If you sell pizza, you’re a craftsman. Just as a painter, writer, architect or designer creates so, too, do you. It is your craftsmanship –– the long hours of perfecting your recipes so that your artisan pizza comes out of the oven ...

An interesting question came across my desk asking how the physical attributes of an artisan pizza would be affected by baking the same pizza in different types of ovens. Let’s take a look and see how a New York-style thin-crust pizza might vary wh...

Think outside the tomato when it comes to fresh veggies on pizza   Artisan pizza is booming right now thanks to an influx of upscale ingredients that are more readily available than ever before. One of the latest trends which I believe is here t...

There is an ever-present theme that weaves its way through Sacramento, California-based Paesanos’ 16-year-old operation: evolution, revolution even. Co-owner Mark Scribner and Director of Operations Dana Scarpulla showcased its original Midtown loc...

Metal flames shooting from its artistic sign in front hint at what is in store for customers who visit Pizza Rock in Sacramento, California. Once inside, a real PeterBilt semi truck crashes through a wall hovering over its bar with a DJ booth spinnin...

I used to fear technology. Part of my problem was that I assumed every new gizmo would be a passing phase. It’s even worse with digital media — I avoided Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare like the plague because I didn’t want to put the time int...

When you use too many avenues of marketing   Do you ever feel like you are suffering from marketing overload? Ever wonder if you’re on the brink of hitting your social media tipping point? I’ve been there. Sometimes you have to ask yourself,...

A Matter of Perspective   John Gutekanst Avalanche Pizza Athens, Ohio It was a busy night and we were running at a 55-minute pizza delivery time. I just put four large pizzas on the rail of my conveyor oven and pulled the ticket from the make li...

Performance kitchens put staff center stage   For Brixx, a southeastern-U.S.-based chain of brick-oven restaurants, having a performance kitchen was just a natural extension of the restaurant’s branding strategy. “Making the pizza in...

Q: So, I have a great breakfast pizza that I make for people who are having breakfast meetings but don’t want the same old muffins and donuts. It’s not something I have on my regular menu and I am not open for breakfast. I only do this for groups...

Beer sales in U.S. restaurants rose by 9 percent last year. According to American Heritage, the number of American pizza parlors grew from 500 in 1934 to 20,000 in 1956. Last month’s International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas concluded with a $20,000 gi...

Q: I’ve heard of a thing called “dough factor.” Can you explain this to me? A: Dough factor –– also known as “dough loading” –– is used to calculate the amount of dough needed to increase or decrease a pizza’s size while keeping ...