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JAN/FEB 2022

CANADIANPIZZAMAG.COM

MAIPAI

MAKES GOOD! ‘Hidden’ pizza and tiki bar splashes out after winning best recipe

P. 17 What to expect in 2022 P. 18 Reimagining employment P. 20 Raclette Pizza

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January/February 2022 Vol. 28, No. 1

DEPARTMENTS 6

From the Editor Local connections mean ROI

Industry News Movers, shakers, legislation and news you can use

10 The Pizza Chef

Creativity making a comeback

17 Making Dough A few things operators can expect in 2022

26 Guest Column Building a mentoring program

CONTENTS COVER STORY

ONLINE

10 Tightening community ties How operators gain support by focusing on local By Canadian Pizza staff

COVER PHOTO: SALAR MADADI, MAIPAI;. CONTENTS: MODERNIST PIZZA (20); FRESHFRY (22)

Virtual Canadian Pizza Summit videos In October pizzerias joined us for a real-time online event where we talked about ideas for tightening ties with your local community, watch informative demonstrations and learned insights and opportunities to help your pizzeria thrive. Watch videos of the sessions at canadianpizzamag.com/ virtual-events/

ON THE COVER Maipai pizza and tiki bar is tucked into downtown Hamilton, Ont., where you’d least expect it. See page 14. CANADIAN PIZZA · January/February 2022

14 Maipai makes good! ‘Hidden’ pizza and tiki bar splashes out after winning best recipe By Colleen Cross

18 Reimagining employment How to keep your team feeling positive, motivated and valued By Andrew Hind

20 Recipe: Raclette Pizza

Enjoy this recipe for a thin-crust pizza topped with crème fraîche, roasted fingerling potato, raclette cheese, browned onion and parsley Courtesy of Modernist Pizza by Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya, published by The Cooking Lab

22 Tools of the trade A roundup of tech tools, sustainable products, pizza books other useful items to help your pizzeria work smarter and grow

CanadianPizzaMag.com

FROM THE EDITOR BY COLLEEN CROSS

January/February 2022, Vol. 28, No. 1

Local connections mean ROI

esides price, what is most important to you when choosing which pizza restaurant to order from? Mintel recently put that question to 1,743 internet users aged 18 or older who had had pizza from a restaurant in the past three months: • 68 per cent said quality of pizza • 42 per cent said type of pizza • 32 per cent said convenience of location • 27 per cent said speedy service • 21 per cent said easily customizable pizza • 20 per cent said online ordering capability • 18 per cent specialty pizza options This is good information – and it's no surprise that quality still wins the day. But two options not on that list are personal connection and community involvement. If the people surveyed had been given that choice, how high would they have ranked these as important to their pizza ordering decision? Very high, we think. We’ve heard again and again from successful pizzerias how much time and effort they put into community causes and how their community rallies to support them. There’s a definite return on that investment of time and effort. Canadian Pizza looked at pizzerias and community at our recent Virtual Summit in October. You can get a taste of the conversation in “Tightening Community Ties” (see page 10). Three successful owner-operators joined us to talk about how they connect with their communities and we are grateful to them for sharing their experiences and tips. Where do they get ideas for making local connections? “A lot of it is just paying attention to what’s going on around the world, in your neighbourhood and on social media,” said Joe Ward of Joes Family Pizzeria in Pembroke, Ont. I’m doing a

lot more of the social media now – hours on TikTok, Instagram Facebook – putting posts out there and not just hitting the “like” button but replying and having an interaction with those customers. That’s how I get most of my ideas right now – talking to the customers, talking to charities, seeing a charity post something and saying, hey, we’ll throw in gift certificates for you. We’ve never turned away a donation: we’re actually looking for charities.” Mikey Wasnidge of Nimrods’ in Charlottetown added: “It’s just fun to think about who are your end customers, what are they interested in and what can you do to engage them and make their day more interesting. Sometimes we’ll do colouring contests or we’ll hear a story of a customer that has an interesting story and we’ll snap a photo and tell their story. The ideas flow naturally when you’re putting the people at the forefront of it – and making it about them and rather than about the product.” Kelly Black, co-owner of Una Pizza + Wine in Calgary and Saskatoon, told us they look for a need in the community. For example, they’ve donated tens of thousands of dollars to Mealshare, which fights youth hunger, and recently started a Community Love program targeting charities chosen by their employees. These three smart businesspeople – and countless other we've connected with – have come to understand the importance of listening to their communities, fans and followers. The return on investment is a healthy bottom line that allows you to stay in business and a meaningful place in your community that people are happy to support. Speaking of making connections, Canadian Pizza is planning two exciting in-person Canadian Pizza Summits for 2022 – West in Burnaby, B.C., in June, and East in Toronto, Ont., in October. Stay tuned for details! | CP

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canadian_pizza_magazine January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Federal government announces financial support for tourism sector The federal government has announced up to $67 million in funding to support Canada’s tourism and hospitality sector through the Sectoral Initiatives Program. The Ministry of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion outlined a plan to support hard-hit sectors, help businesses adapt and thrive, and give Canadians the skills they need to find good jobs as our economy continues to recover. This funding supports 24 projects that will help employers and industry stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sector to attract and retain skilled workers, build capacity through training and resources, and remove barriers for groups – including women, youth, Indigenous peoples, newcomers, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ2 Canadians – that continue to be under-represented in the labour market. Projects will also provide training opportunities to workers who have been displaced by the COVID-19 8

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pandemic and work to stimulate the economy in Indigenous communities. Budget 2021 committed $1.78 billion over three years through several new initiatives that support the skills development and training of workers, and provide incentives for employers to hire and retain them. For more information, visit canada.ca.

Montreal pizzeria vows to reopen in violation of COVID-19 restrictions; Pizza Nova celebrates new support and call centre; Surrey, B.C., pizza joints fight in court over using similar name | FOR MORE PIZZA NEWS, check out our website, canadianpizzamag.com

tions, many of which are facing continued challenges due to the pandemic, the federal government said in a news release. Repayment on or before the new deadline of Dec.31, 2023, will result in loan forgiveness of up to a third of the value of the loans (meaning up to $20,000). Outstanding loans would subsequently convert to twoyear term loans with interest of five per cent per annum commencing on Jan. 1, 2024, with the loans fully due by Dec. 31, 2025. The government is also announcing that the repayment deadline to qualify for partial forgiveness for CEBA-equivalent lending through the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund is extended to Dec. 31, 2023.

Restaurants Canada welcomed this change in policy and said it responds to one of its key recommendations to the federal government to help hard-hit foodservice businesses survive and recover from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The organization said it will continue to work with the federal government toward measures such as permanently extending the current temporary amendments to the eligibility requirements for the rent and wage subsidies under the Local Lockdown Program and expanding the eligibility threshold for funds through the Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program for businesses not subject to lockdown or capacity restrictions, starting at 10 per

FINANCIAL PROGRAMS

Canada extends loan forgiveness repayment deadline for CEBA

PHOTO: ZARYA MAXIM/ADOBE STOCK; ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN FRAY

TOURISM

ON THE WEB

The repayment deadline for Canada Emergency Business Account loans to qualify for partial loan forgiveness is being extended from Dec. 31, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2023, for all eligible borrowers in good standing. This extension will support short-term economic recovery and offer greater repayment flexibility to small businesses and not-for-profit organizaJanuary/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

cent (instead of 40 per cent) revenue decline, with a wage subsidy rate that is calculated as 1.2 times the percentage decline in sales up to a maximum of 75 per cent. ALCOHOL PRICES

Ontario lowering wholesale alcohol prices for restaurants and bars

port beer and craft beer brewers to recover and grow, and to save consumers money. The government is freezing the beer tax rates until March 1, 2023. Highlights of the new legal framework for the sale, service and delivery of beverage alcohol include allowing licensed grocery stores to offer curbside pickup of beer, wine and cider, and streamlining licensing and renewals for businesses through a single primary licence with endorsements for additional activities, such as on-site retail stores or brew pubs.

PHOTO: STEVE LOVEGROVE/ADOBE STOCK

INDUSTRY EVENT

The Ontario government is lowering LCBO wholesale prices for bars and restaurants, enabling curbside pickup of beer, wine and cider from licensed grocery stores, and freezing the basic beer tax rate. The province is giving bars, restaurants and other businesses a licence to operate a liquor consumption premises by cutting wholesale prices for the alcohol they purchase from the LCBO, saving these businesses an effective 20 per cent when compared to retail prices. This action is intended to improve alcohol choice and convenience for consumers, create more opportunities for businesses, and strengthen social responsibility standards, including enabling curbside pickup of beer, wine and cider at licensed grocery stores as part of the new modernized legal framework that simplifies rules for the alcohol sector. The government has also frozen the basic beer tax rates that were set to be indexed to inflation on March 1, 2022 to sup-

RC Show 2022 moves to May Restaurants Canada has rescheduled the RC Show to May 9-11, 2022, in order to prioritize community safety surrounding the recent spike in cases of COVID-19. The annual foodservice and hospitality event will offer both a virtual experience and in person attendance at Toronto’s Enercare Centre. For more information, visit rcshow.com. BAKING EVENT

Bakery Showcase offers tools and inspiration to build up your pizzeria Bakery Showcase 2022 is set for April 10-11 at Toronto’s Congress Centre! Canada’s national baking industry event featuring a bustling trade show and conference with an exciting lineup of inspirational speakers, education sessions, competitions and demonstrations to help you take

CANADIAN PIZZA · January/February 2022

Registration is now open!

your pizzeria, bakery or café to the next level. Martin Barnett, executive director of the Baking Association of Canada, invites pizza chefs, owners and operators to come out to Bakery Showcase: “Whether you are a fan of deep-dish, Napoletana or Hawaiian, there is no denying that the pizza industry has evolved deliciously since Montreal opened the first Canadian pizzeria in 1948. Now we have a myriad of wood-fired, deck and conveyor ovens and innovative toppings to grace our humble crusts. “Pizza and bread are inseparable and at the Bakery Showcase we will be demonstrating equipment and ingredients to enhance your flatbread program. Join us!” A few highlights: • Demo Day! On Monday, April 11, you’ll find diverse demonstrations on shaping and scoring artisan bread, incorporating California Raisins, peanuts and peanut butter in high-protein, naturally sweet and nutrient-dense baked goods, and infusing your baked goods with CBD oil. • 100,000 square feet showcasing baked goods (fresh, proof & bake, par-baked, freezer-to-oven, thaw &

serve) baking ingredients, equipment, packaging services and technology and experts to help you make smart decisions for your pizzeria or bakery business. • In “Thriving in a Labour Shortage” experts tackle challenges for Canadian bakeries. This informative session will show you how to get grants and other recuperating funds, how to find and keep skilled employees and how automation can help your restaurant be efficient and less dependent on skilled labour. • “Learn Your ABCs: The Art and Business of Baking with Cannabis” will bring together experts in baking with cannabis and cannabis science to show us why cooking with cannabis can stimulate your creativity and open your eyes to its properties. • Justine Martin will shar how she used her creativity, flexibility and communication skills to build a thriving business, Guilty Pleasures Bakery + Catering. Learn how acting on the right opportunity at the right time can mean successfully scaling up. See baking.ca for more information, regular updates and to register now! CanadianPizzaMag.com

THE PIZZA CHEF BY DIANA CLINE

Diana Cline is an award-winning pizza chef, a partner with Diana’s Cucina & Lounge in Winnipeg. In addition to creating award-winning recipes, Diana is a consultant to other pizzeria owner/operators in menu development, creating operational systems and marketing to help operators grow their business strategically. Contact her at diana@dianascucinaandlounge.com.

Creativity making a comeback

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Honey could highlight some of your existing ingredients and create something new and interesting for your menu.

Since pizza is the ultimate food, it could be entered in almost any food event, just spun (pun intended) for the event in question.

it’s selling well. I think that it’s the only poutine pizza entered, so it’ll be interesting to see how many more we sell during the event weeks, and how much increased exposure we’ll get from it. Since we already stock all the ingredients, it’s not a stretch to add it to the menu, rather it’s like flexing what we already stock, just assembled in a different way. Maybe this one will still be on the menu in 12 years. You never know. This creation gave me the idea that since pizza is the ultimate food, it could be entered in almost any food event, just spun (pun intended) for the event in question. Especially with online food festivals directed at the general population. Years ago, we created the “Bacon Double Cheeseburger” pizza featuring marinara, lean beef, maple smoked bacon, onions, and double mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. It tastes like a classic cheeseburger, only in pizza form. It’s still on the menu, but we dropped the “burger” from the name, because every month, a few people would call to order a cheeseburger and were confused when we told them we didn’t make burgers, only pizzas. I think this year we ought to

up our cheeseburger pizza game and enter it in Le Burger Week. See what happens. An ingredient I believe could highlight some of your existing ingredients to create something new and interesting for your menu is honey. You can create your own signature hot honey and drizzle it on after the pizza is baked. Salar Madadi, winner of the recent Best Pizza Recipe Contest, did just that with his Mala Honey Pie. I encourage you to look up his recipe, in the November/December 2021 issue, to help inspire you. A few of my signature pizzas have a honey drizzle on them. Honey always goes nicely with jalapeños, pineapple and pork. Later this month I’ll be playing with a few different ingredients and a hot honey. I’m excited to see what will come out of it. When it comes to food-focused events, it’s not necessarily about winning top place. There’s much to be said for simply participating in the event, highlighting something you already do well, offering it to your existing customers and gaining exposure to a whole new crowd of peeps. As my almost 12-year-old son likes to say, it’s like free real estate. | CP January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

PHOTO: NITR/ADOBE STOCK

appy New Year to all! I hope this year is filled with more love, laughter, good health and all good things. In this column I thought I’d share a few ideas for sparking your creativity. A few weeks ago, I received an invitation email for La Poutine Week. This same organization also runs La Pizza Week, which is typically scheduled in May. La Poutine Week is in its 10th year, connecting people with food. It’s a yearly interactive festival that has expanded across Canada, and this year it’s running for two weeks (Feb. 1-14) instead of the usual one. Restaurants can participate in the event by registering and featuring a specialty poutine from their menu. Customers are encouraged to support their local restaurants and vote for their favourites. Maybe you have poutine on your menu, maybe you don’t. In terms of pizza creations, it’s well known that I like to colour outside the lines, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that we’ve had a Poutine Pizza on our menu since 2008. It’s a classic poutine, with french fries, gravy, cheese curds, mozzarella, peppered chicken breast and more gravy on top, all on a pizza crust. It’s pretty good, and it sells well, so it’s stuck around all these years. After receiving the invitation, I thought I could up my poutine pizza game, so I gathered some ingredients and played around one afternoon. I came up with my new “Mighty Alrighty Poutinezza.” It has gravy instead of marinara sauce, seasoned french fries, red onions, green peppers, red peppers, green onions, jalapeños, strip bacon, seasoned beef, mozzarella, cheddar, then more gravy on top. I paired it on our signature Moose head beer crust. It’s what I like to call a “working on your winter bod’ pizza.” I’ve already added it to our menu, and

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COMMUNITY

How operators gain support by focusing on local BY CANADIAN PIZZA STAFF

t our Canadian Pizza Virtual Summit in October, three successful pizza operators joined us in a roundtable talk that was all about community. Kelly Black, co-owner of Una Pizza + Wine in Calgary and Saskatoon; Joe Ward, co-owner of Joes Family Pizzeria & Poutinerie, Pembroke, Ont.; and Mikey Wasnidge, co-owner of Nimrods’ Floating Pizza Bar in Charlottetown. After just over a decade in business, Joe Ward and and his wife, Natacha, have successfully embedded Joes Family Pizzeria & Poutinerie in its community of Pembroke, Ont., near Ottawa. Una Pizza + Wine opened its doors in 2010 and recently launched two new locations and takeaway service in the city as well as a location in Saskatoon. Kelly Black co-owns BMex restaurant group with Jayme MacFayden. Mikey Wasnidge and his partners Nigel Haan, Bruce Rooney and Jesse Clasueheide have harnessed the power of social media and effective storytelling, used product discounting to make people feel rewarded and programmed tasteful community 12

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Mikey Wasnidge, co-owner of Nimrods’ floating pizzeria in Charlottetown Harbour, said giving to multiple non-profits allowed him and his partners found that to connect with many people.

events that helped to turn Nimrods’ Floating Pizza Bar in Charlottetown harbour into a vibrant community hub. Here are a few excerpts from our conversation.

How important is your local community to your business model? Kelly: For us, honestly it’s everything. Over the last 11 years since we’ve been open trends have come and gone. Pizza obviously is a good

rock, as trends come and go, but what never changes is our neighbours and our locals supporting us and us taking care of them. That’s basically the be all and end all for us: making everyone feel like they belong when they walk through the door looking for customer service from us. Joe: It means everything, customers – we wouldn’t be where we are without them. There are 23 restaurants in town that sell pizza so it’s tough sometimes to stand out and some have big budgets for advertising and stuff like that. So our key is to keep it small, keep it local, get in on the ground floor with a lot of different organizations and charities. That’s where we’ve found our niche. Mikey: When we first opened up on the water, we weren’t sure how many people would be locals and how many would be tourists. We were in a pretty touristy area. Truth be told, our first year, we had built up this huge local following, but they couldn’t even get seats because there were just so many tourists down there. So we decided to shift our profit model. We started donating to the soup kitchen – one meal for every pizza sold because we thought, OK, we’re in this touristy area, our pizzas are being sold at a bit of a premium, so let’s give some of that back so we can still stay connected.

Tell us about some of your ideas and activities that bring you closer to your local customers. Tell us about some of your ideas and activities that bring you closer to January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

PHOTO: MIKEY WASNIDGE, NIMRODS’; UNA PIZZA + WINE/BMEX RESTAURANT GROUP

TIGHTENING COMMUNITY TIES

your community. Mikey: When we first opened in 2019, we started out giving a portion of sales to the local food bank. Over sixteen weeks we had sixteen non-profits that were tied to the sales for each week. It was the same kind of giving we were already doing but it allowed us to connect with so many other people. Then 2020 and COVID hit and we really needed to lean on those locals. We started programming nightly entertainment and we started communicating again and trying to tap into that local community. That support didn’t waiver. The tourism just dropped. But we actually grew our sales in 2020 by five per cent just from the locals being able to come out and staying later in the evening. We have nightly entertainment four or five nights a week that are all local artists. We pay above any other restaurant or establishment in town. It’s a pretty major investment on our part but it helps us to retain that community love. Joe: We have Pizza Kits for a Cause where we partner with charities. They sell our pizza kits and we donate back a portion of sales to the charities. We’ve also done the food bank and Christmas hampers where we’re giving free pizza to households that received a hamper. We do Freebie Frenzies where we go out, on a holiday maybe to the local sliding hill, and hand out free pizzas to the kids – this was pre-pandemic – but we’ll go to ice shacks and knock on the door and hand out free pizzas. We’ll go to the hospital maternity ward and feed either the mom or the people waiting for the mom to give birth. Just to get out there and to hopefully capture something a little bit special that people might share on social media. Our social media is pretty much our advertising. We don’t do traditional advertising. We give all of our advertising budget back in the form of gift certificates and product to the community and to charities. It’s so easy right now to gain that word of mouth and be an advocate for yourself. Make sure you’re sharing those posts that

Kelly Black, co-owner of Una Pizza + Wine in Calgary and Saskatoon, said making everyone feel like they belong is their “be all and end all.”

“We started programming nightly entertainment and trying to tap into that local community. That support didn’t waiver.” –Mikey Wasnidge CANADIAN PIZZA · January/February 2022

people put out talking about you. Make sure people are hashtagging you and push those on to other media channels. Be an advocate for your business and for those charities as well because the better we do, the better they do. Kelly: We’ve had a longstanding relationship with a company called Mealshare that helps fight youth hunger. They’re across Canada now. We were one of their first restaurant partners here in Alberta. We’ve donated tens of thousands of dollars over the years. We’ve had partnerships with a multitude of charities in Alberta – organizations like Ronald McDonald House. Through COVID we found there was a refocusing of where charitable donations should go: frontline workers and more COVID-specific issues. We developed this Community Love program where every month we choose a charity and we know that charity in advance. We get their information and their logos. We help raise money for the month online for them. Our customers can donate, we donate. It’s all automated, it’s online as you’re ordering for takeout or delivery. During the first wave it was extremely successful, so we knew we were on to something.

Where do you get your ideas? Joe: A lot of it is just paying attention to what’s going on around the world, in your neighbourhood and on social media. That’s how I get most of my ideas right now – talking to the customers, talking to charities. We’ve never turned away a charity: we’re actually looking for them. Mikey: It’s just fun to think about who are your end customers, what are they interested in and what can you do to engage them and make their day more interesting. The ideas flow naturally when you’re putting the people at the forefront.” | CP Thank you to Gold-Plus sponsor Ardent Mills, Gold sponsor Galbani Professionale/Lactalis Canada Foodservice and Silver sponsor Faema Canada and Euro-Milan Distributing Inc. – for helping us bring you this program tailored to the Canadian pizza industry. We couldn’t do it without you! CanadianPizzaMag.com

The vibrant, glowing artwork of Madadi’s friend Dope Chief, a respected local artist, makes Maipai’s large dining room feel extra special.

COVER STORY

‘Hidden’ pizza and tiki bar gains recognition after winning best recipe BY COLLEEN CROSS

aipai was conceived as a secret foodie escape tucked into downtown Hamilton, Ont., where you’d least expect it. “Take a vacation without leaving the city in our hidden tiki bar,” the restaurant’s website invites. We’re sure owner Salar Madadi meant for the secret to be discovered when he entered his Mala Honey Pie in the Best Pizza Recipe competition last fall. It worked! He won coverage in Canadian Pizza and a trip to compete at Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. He also caught the attention of local newspapers the Hamilton Spectator and CBC News. We are very happy to have helped this innovative businessman spread the word about Maipai. It’s not of14

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Other business ventures: MeatVentures Meat Wagon – custom-built food truck, barbecue with internationally inspired flavours Pokehbar – traditional Hawaiian Poké bowls

ten we come across a tiki bar built around top-notch pizza. First came the idea. Owner Salar Madadi wanted to create a dual tiki bar and pizzeria: “a secret surprise where you lose the outside world,” as he puts it. Then came the location. A few years ago, Madadi and and his wife Jeannie moved downtown from the north end of the Steel Capital of Canada, which has a population of more than 579,000. They liked the working-class area – home to Stelco, Arcelor Mittal/Dofasco and many other manufacturers – and thought the location might work for their business concept. “We live three minutes away and when I decided to open the new business, I wanted to open in the actual area that I live in,” Madadi says.

Madadi worked for 13 years in IT before getting into food service. In 2013 he established MeatVentures Meat Wagon, a seasonally operated, custom-built food truck and catering company specializing in barbecue with internationally inspired flavours. It operated as part of an incubator program at Roux Commercial Kitchen and Food Truck Commissary, a shared kitchen where they prepped food. In 2015 he opened Pokehbar at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market and expanded to a second location in 2017. He had a lot of help and guidance from Brett Liersch, an experienced operator who with wife Kara owns and operates Dirty South – a business that serves up “comfort food with a twist” at quick-service, full-service and mobile locations. Liersch was ready with answers to the new operator’s questions. At Pokehbar the team, which included Salar’s brother Shayne Madadi, served the traditional Hawaiian January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

PHOTOS:: CANADIAN PIZZA;ILLUSTRATION: ANITAFIANA/ADOBE STOCK

MAIPAI MAKES GOOD

COVER STORY

Maipai offers feature pizzas for a week at a time and their feature pizza videos see a good engagement rate. specialty of Poké bowls “when no one else was doing it.” His specialty was selling fresh ahi tuna Poké bowls at a small storefront on Concession Street on Hamilton Mountain and the Hamilton Farmers’ Market. The focus was on healthy eating, and gluten-free and vegan versions were available. Business was good at their two locations: their uptown storefront on Concession Street on Hamilton Mountain. Concession Street is open on days that the market is closed. In April 2021 he put the Poké business on hold to focus on Maipai, which opened early in 2020, under the management of Madadi and then-partner Peter Lazar. It is part pizzeria and part tiki bar that focuses on two distinctive specialties – Detroit-style pizza with a twist, and original cocktails. The pizza and cocktails complement one another and in that sense everything in the business works together to serve the kitschy, Hawaiian tiki theme – think of The Brady Bunch’s “Hawaii Bound” episode on early 1970s TV and you get the idea. A street sign high above the front door uses industrial images that tie in with the surrounding area. A bright turquoise-sea green entryway with glass door featuring tropical artwork invites customers inside to a bar that seats up to 20 in bamboo-style chairs. The warm glow of wicker basketed lights, tiny coloured lights, dried pine branches and bamboo trellis overhead draw your eye upwards to give you a feeling of cosy festivity. It’s a perfect setting for this editor’s first in-person interview in a pizzeria dining room since the pandemic began. I talked with Madadi at a relatively prosperous time when indoor dining in Ontario was in full swing again – a sweet spot that would last until just before Christmas and the omicron variant caused business to slow and soon after, mandated dining rooms to close. Early in November, Madadi, who is cautiously optimistic and smiling, reports they’re up to capacity again with tables getting booked up well ahead for Friday and Saturday – when they are open late until 11 p.m. – and Thursdays and Sundays not far behind. They do dinner only as dine-in and takeout from Thursday to Sunday. The bar is on the left side of the room and as we turn left into a larger dining room we see there is bar access from there as well. Servers can pick up cocktails while standing next to the six-foothigh sculpture of an oversized head associated with Easter Island, or Rapa Nui. The bartender is getting ready for a Thursday night crowd. Carrying through with the theme, colourful Easter Island and

other tiki mugs are available for purchase at $20-30 each. The room is features bamboo wooden tables and booths that would make Gilligan and Skipper feel at home. But it’s the vibrant, glowing artwork that makes this large dining room feel extra special. Madadi’s friend Dope Chief, a respected local artist, painted glowing murals, one of which features a sort of molten orange and hot pink volcano and grinning purple tiki mask. According to Dope Chief’s Instagram page, his art “combines the lighthearted nature of cartoons through identifiable elements with mature themes.” Chill ambient music and alternative pop is set at a volume low enough to let diners talk and just high enough to remind them they are not at home. They are in the middle of a unique experience they will want to tell their friends about on social media. While the location has worked out well, Madadi says they had to adapt the kitchen to their needs by re-arranging the equipment to remove things they wouldn’t use and adding their Bakers Pride Y-602 deck oven.

Why Detroit-style? Madadi was inspired to make his own version of Detroit-style pizza when he visited Descendant in Toronto. “I really liked it,” he said of the pizzeria run by Chris Getchell. Madadi later signed up for a

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COVER STORY

course run by the respected late Detroit-style pioneer Shawn Randazzo, whose name you may recognize from Pizza Expo sessions and competitions. “Shawn focused on the operations side of things. He went into the math,” Madadi says. Closer to home Madadi took roman and pinsa classes at the School of Italian Pizza in Toronto. He describes his style as a cross between D-style and roman al teglia. It is parbaked and he does a finishing bake using a timer to achieve consistency. Maipai’s menu is focused on the pizza – a strategy that makes the restaurant a destination for people from Hamilton and surrounding cities and towns. “Our food menu is small because we believe in focusing on a few things and doing them well,” Madadi says. He describes his pizza in detail on the Maipai website and social media, hoping to educate people about this style. “Deep dish in a seasoned steel rectangular pan imported from Detroit. Thick crusts, but airy and crisp after cold fermenting for 48 hours. Mozzarella and brick cheese that go edge to edge, baking into a crispy cheese crown all the way around.”

Focused menu Madadi calls the selection small but there are a dozen powerhouse pizzas with interesting flavour combinations that are available in vegetarian and gluten-free versions. The names and the combinations are inspired. Highlights include the Pepperoni Pile On featuring mozzarella, brick cheese, ricotta, dry-cured pepperoni, Detroit red sauce, house scotch bonnet honey. And of course Madadi’s award-winning Mala Honey Pie is on the menu. You’ll find the recipe in the November/December 2021 issue of Canadian Pizza For munchers there are fries and wings. The fries are waffle-style fries, 16

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favourite rum, garnish, umbrella, paper straw and mixing instructions. The $15 kit makes libations for four. The pre-mixed, two-ounce Blue Hawaii is another menu favourite – a popular weekly special.

Streamlined operations

With Maipai, owner Salar Madadi set out to create a dual tiki bar and pizzeria: “a secret surprise where you lose the outside world.”

pickle and Maipai’s signature parm fries: crispy fries tossed in a mild gochujang butter sauce, covered with freshly grated parmesan and green onions. The wings include Taiwanese dry rub wings, soy caramel wings and mala honey wings. Maipai also is known for its cocktails and mocktails. When take-out business boomed, Madadi introduced take-home cocktails premixed and in kits, services that have proven popular with people stuck at home in a pandemic. The Hurricane cocktail kit includes a blend of passion fruit and lemon to which customers add their

When the pandemic hit, they were not doing delivery or takeout, so they had to quickly get takeout and curbside pickup up and running. The short-term effort was worth it. “It was way more straightforward with takeout only,” Madadi says. When we talked last November, they had just hired a full-time host and Madadi was anticipating things becoming smoother at the door. With the dining room open, Maipai has about 15 staff – the typical mix of full-time and part-time employees. During the pandemic they were able to keep about half their staff, giving them enough staff to train new hires as they were able to take them on. Former partner Pete Lazar helped design PVMT, the digital ordering platform that manages orders through text messages. They use a POS system by TouchBistro. He likes the inventory tracking system, which lets him know what he has on hand – and when it’s time to order more ingredients. Madadi handles all of the restaurant’s social media posts. They target a slightly younger crowd than those who hang out on Facebook, so he puts more effort into Instagram. Maipai offers feature pizzas for a week at a time and their feature pizza videos see a good engagement rate. “I like sharing something new people haven’t tried before,” he says with a smile. “And I like using my creativity and building something unique.” | CP

Read more profiles of successful businesses at canadianpizzamag.com January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

MAKING DOUGH WITH DIANE BY DIANE CHIASSON

Diane Chiasson, FCSI, president of Chiasson Consultants Inc., has been helping foodservice, hospitality and retail operators increase sales for over 30 years. Contact her at 416-926-1338, toll-free at 1-888-926-6655 or chiasson@chiassonconsultants. com, or visit chiassonconsultants.com

A few things operators can expect in 2022

Find and advertise a suitable place for your customers to park safely and pick up the food..

ere is a look at what you can expect in 2022 with some convenience, digital, and safety issues, emerging trends and concepts. Ensuring contactless ordering, curbside pickup, safe delivery It’s hard to serve your customers outside your restaurant if you don’t have a drive-thru area. However, there are many other ways to get food quickly to your customers. You can offer curbside or pick-up options that allow customers to order without having any social interaction.

PHOTO: GOMOLACH/ADOBE STOCK

Contactless ordering Contactless ordering and payment are done using a mobile device and scanning a QR code. Digital QR-code menus and touchless payments will certainly become more mainstream in 2022. A QR code is an online menu that allows customers to scan and access a digital menu displayed on their smartphone devices once scanned. Consider displaying a highly visible QR code on your front windows or countertop to direct your customer either to your website or to multiple online ordering apps. Put in place a digital menu with excellent food quality and also take delivery into consideration. Contactless curbside pickup These days, many customers are more interested in curbside pickup because of convenience, as a faster alternative to third-party delivery and drive-thru service and at no extra costs per order. Try to figure out where you can safely drop the food for a contactless curbside pickup. These orders can be placed by phone or online, and in both situations, can inform the customer through text and/or email that the order is ready to pick up. CANADIAN PIZZA · January/February 2022

Consider selling cookbooks, t-shirts, tote bags and reusable mugs with your logo and gift baskets.

Safe delivery The pandemic prompted the trend to digital and delivery, and this trend is here to stay. Delivery has increased again and again over the last two years, and customers using food delivery apps have increased one hundredfold due to demand spurred by the pandemic. Large pizza companies have long managed their delivery services independently. However, many small restaurants have let a third-party delivery company handle their orders. Don’t forget that the key to success during this situation is to integrate a top-notch multi-function POS system that will let you take phone orders, process payments, oversee the kitchen and offer delivery options.

Strengthening online presence Approximately 70 per cent of consumers would rather use a restaurant’s website or app for food delivery rather than a third-party app and be able also to access an online menu. Many restaurants are now working together to keep as much revenue as possible and are building local-only You should delivery services. You should carefulcarefully ly decide whether you need the bendecide efits of a third-party delivery service whether you or if you can make a delivery system need the work independently. Take the time benefits of a to estimate if doing delivery is worth third-party your effort. delivery Some online review forums and service or if even Yelp have dropped in popularyou can make ity, and this is the right time to use a delivery your pizzeria’s website and social mesystem work dia accounts to take orders from your independently. customers directly. There are a lot of small pizzerias, small chains, stand-alone and momand-pop operations that still don’t

have a website. Although it’s a significant investment for your restaurant, creating a fun and colourful website for your pizzeria should be on your to-do list. It’s the best way for your customers to easily find your pizzeria, book a reservation, order some food, review your menu, get directions and leave positive reviews. Diversifying revenue streams Many restaurants went into survival mode during this crisis by trimming their menus to streamline their operations. A lot of operators quickly found out that they could no longer rely on a single revenue stream and have created one-stop-shop hybrids of retail and restaurant concepts. Explore alternative revenue streams such as these mentioned below. Meal kits Many restaurant operators have created premium meal kits so that customers can re-create the indoor dining experience from the comfort of their home kitchen. Sell these meal kits at your restaurant, on your website, and consider reaching out to convenience or grocery stores to sell fresh or frozen ready-to-make meal kits, including pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step instructions. Retail-pantry area Many restaurants have now set up a mini pantry area where they sell ingredients and other food items in bulk. Consider selling cookbooks, t-shirts, tote bags and reusable mugs with your logo and gift baskets. This is also a great way to grow your brand awareness. Most of the food items in your pizzeria’s pantry could be repurposed into take-out options such as using your cheeses, condiments and meats to create beautiful charcuterie boards. | CP CanadianPizzaMag.com

Andrew Hind is a freelance writer from Bradford, Ont., specializing in food, history and travel. He is the author of 25 books and the proud father of one.

STAFFING

REIMAGINING EMPLOYMENT How to keep your team feeling positive and valued BY ANDREW HIND

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A diverse, healthy work environment where one can develop skill is a powerful intrinsic reward that bolsters the sense of competence and reinforces our motives for esteem and productivity.

is a very real concern. The subject of employee attraction and retention is one she feels passionate about. “Over the last 20 months we have seen a few thousand hospitality graduates from Ontario and Canadian hospitality post-secondary programs, yet the industry is still struggling to hire staff,” she says. “I recently read a quote from colleagues at the University of Guelph – School Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management: ‘Is there a labour shortage or attractive job shortage?’ ” It’s a valid question. “My thoughts are that the industry (that prepared me for a career in academics with valuable leadership experiences and skills) needs to reassess why managers and line staff are not returning,” Caine continues. “In

my day, it seemed to be acceptable to say, ‘It’s the restaurant business, the hours are what they are, take it or leave it.’ Well people – young and old – are leaving it.” But scheduling is only one part of the puzzle. She cites several additional areas of potential concern that may discourage people from pursuing careers in the industry: pay, leadership, opportunity for advancement, supportive growth, education subsidies, mental well being and diversity. Horton agrees, and notes that the pandemic has only exacerbated underlying problems in the industry. “Better income and hours are always frequent reasons cited for leaving the restaurant workplace,” she says. “During these COVID years January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

PHOTO: JACKF/ADOBE STOCK; ILLUSTRATION: ALEKSEYVANIN/ADOBE STOCK

estaurants may need to reimagine the nature of employment. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, restaurants have been chronically understaffed. The hospitality industry has lost 300,000 jobs because of COVID-19, and fewer people are returning to or entering the field. The labour shortage is troubling and, for many restaurants, crippling. The oft-cited cause of the problem is the CERB and other government benefits. The true reasons are far more complex. Canada had a labour shortage before the pandemic, a shortage keenly felt in retail and hospitality. COVID-19 simply made matters much, much worse. “The pandemic turned a service industry into a takeout industry overnight, scaling up and scaling down operations with the guidelines and lockdowns like a switch,” explains Karen Horton, recruitment specialist at Patrice and Associates Specialty Recruiting. “These are unimaginable stressors for a small business.” Michelle Caine is the Hospitality Management Chair at Centennial College. It’s her job to prepare students for an industry where labour

some have had their hours cut significantly and need to find a new employer, while others have been wearing multiple hats, working long hours, and have not yet taken a break. Add to that the issue of uncertainty. Some provinces have been harder hit with closures than others, yet uncertainty is a reason shared across the country.” “Finally,” Horton adds, “the COVID years have allowed us all to re-evaluate, look for our passions and self-permission to seek out new industries, perhaps related to our education or interests, or take inventory of our best skill sets and apply them to a new sector. However, they have also added resolve to many in hospitality to continue providing excellent service and rise to the challenges.” What this means is that there is a myriad of reasons people may find employment in the restaurant industry unappealing. There is no easy, one-size-fits-all answer to the matter of staff retention and hiring.

Retaining talented, reliable staff The good news is that one of the most important elements to employee happiness is also the easiest and least costly to deliver. Studies have repeatedly shown that intrinsic rewards are a key source of motivation, as much as or more than salary. A diverse, healthy work environment where one can develop one’s skill and abilities is a powerful intrinsic reward that bolsters the sense of competence and reinforces our motives for esteem and productivity. “Staff retention is really about what makes a positive work environment,” Horton offers. “The tone of leadership and culture starts from the top and ripples through to every level. Being a good human, leading by example, and now more than ever keeping the open-door policy to check in with your employees is essential. Showing appreciation and being valued, learning new skills, helping community are important to staff.” Caine believes the staffing and labour issue will be an issue going forward but suggests pizzeria owners and managers ask themselves some hard questions. The answers may be illuminating and help to create a more appealing work environment • Why did your last cook or production crew leave or not return after a shutdown? • How does a floor supervisor treat their hostess or bussers/server assistants? • What made your last amazing hire amazing? • What are your organization’s staff rules/policies and procedures? Are they outdated? • Would you want a loved one or your child to work for your business? • Would you want your last conversation with an underperforming team member to be on video and shared on social media – were you coaching or degrading? “Over the last two years we have seen some amazing CANADIAN PIZZA · January/February 2022

Would you want your last conversation with an underperforming team member to be on video and shared on social media – were you coaching or degrading?

food and beverage operators change their services quickly with flair and innovation. This industry is resilient, intelligent and accommodating to the guests,” Caine asserts. “However, is there an opportunity to be as flexible, innovative and adaptable with the way food and beverage managers and operators hire? For example, there are three or four generations in the workplace – some staff will text you that they need the day off with an hour notice while others will use the system you put in place: ‘Please inform your manager that you need a day off two days in advance.’ Are you flexible enough for both approaches?” In light of the current challenging labour market, it may be time to for restaurant operators to review and update their interview/hiring procedures. Is there an opportunity for a job shadow or observation shift where you welcome potential hires in for a (paid) trial service shift for their sake and yours? Are promotion and growth opportunities talked about during the interview? Do other team members get to assess a new candidate? How are staff and managers recognized and celebrated? Women represent an important demographic that should be targeted to ease labour shortages, according to Horton. “More women will eventually re-enter the workforce once schools are more consistent and the health threat to families is quelled,” she explains. “But women will need to be heard to know how to best help this special group re-enter the workforce.” Young people have traditionally represented a significant segment of the hospitality industry labour force. Restaurant operators should make contacts at local schools, particularly those with a culinary department, to connect with students. Such relationships may take time to build but can provide a steady pipeline of qualified applicants for future job openings. Horton recommends some other easy, cost-effective strategies. “Find the employee that is great with social media and get their help to promote your restaurant – perhaps it is a fun TikTok video of how your team makes a great pizza crust or art on a delicious pasta – then post this to bring in new team members who want to learn that skill and be a member of an exciting team,” she says. Other ideas include a postcard photo of a ‘We’re hiring’ sign in with your takeout orders – often your food is being delivered to the areas where your future employees may live – or building relationships with the public by sponsoring a special event.” Lockdowns and reduced-capacity mandates have led to widespread disillusionment, adding to stressors that were already present in the industry. But there is an opportunity here. Restaurant owners and management should use the timeout to rethink their purpose, to reinvent themselves and the employment model, and to emerge stronger than ever. | CP CanadianPizzaMag.com

RECIPE COURTESY OF MODERNIST PIZZA BY NATHAN MYHRVOLD AND FRANCISCO MIGOYA, PUBLISHED BY THE COOKING LAB

Raclette Pizza

INGREDIENTS

• One ball of Direct Thin-Crust Pizza Dough (see recipe below) • 3/4 cup crème fraîche • 3-3/4 cups raclette cheese, coarsely grated • 1-1/2 cups fingerling potatoes, halved, thinly sliced and roasted • 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp browned onions (see instructions below) • 1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped Substitutions

instead of crème fraîche, you can use sour cream, mascarpone or Greek yogurt. Try caramelized shallots instead of caramelized onions. Any variety of Swiss-style cheese, such as Emmental or Gruyere, will work in place of the raclette. INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 550 F for at least 30 minutes with a baking steel or baking stone 20

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in the top third of the oven. 2. Place the dough ball on a well-floured surface. Dust the top generously with semolina flour. 3. Place the rolling pin on the centre of the ball and press down. 4. Rock it back and forth until it is an oval with an even thickness. Rolling the dough very thin isn’t as important as making sure it has a uniform thickness. 5. Rotate the oval 90 degrees and rock the rolling pin back and forth until you have a circle (flour the surface as needed). 6. Rotate the dough 90 degrees again and roll the rolling pin over the dough until it is oval again. 7. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until the dough is round and 0.080.12 inches thick. The disc should be about 13 inches in diameter. 8. Dock the dough up to the edge using a dough docker, a fork or the tip of a knife to make holes in the dough.

9. Use an offset spatula, sauce spoon, or concave silicone spatula to spread the crème fraîche evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. 10. Distribute the cheese evenly over the sauce. 11. Distribute the potatoes and onions evenly over the cheese. 12. Slide the dough onto a peel or slide the peel at about a 5-degree angle under the dough, using quick, jerking back-and-forth motions, until it is completely on the peel. 13. Load onto the baking steel or baking stone in the oven with a quick pull-away motion. 14. Bake for 6-7 minutes, rotating 180 degrees halfway through baking. 15. Check the doneness of the bottom of the pizza. 16. Remove the pizza and place on a serving tray. 17. Sprinkle the parsley over the pizza. 18.Cut into 6-8 triangles.

Notes

You can use fine semolina for flouring your worktable during shaping, but coarse cornmeal is also commonly used. To roast the potatoes, toss the sliced potatoes with olive oil to coat completely and season if desired. Place the vegetable on a sheet pan (non-stick or lined with aluminum foil) in a single layer. Do not overcrowd or they will steam rather than roast. Roast the potatoes in a 350 F oven until they are cooked through. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool to room temperature before using them to top the pizza. These topping amounts are for one 13-inch pizza. You will have enough dough to make five pizzas, so you can multiply these ingredient amounts to accommodate however many pizzas you are making. The dough doesn’t have to be a perfect circle on your first few tries; this will take practice to get right. You can also manually pull and stretch the dough to form an evenly shaped circle

January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

PHOTO: THE COOKING LAB, LLC

This pizza is topped with crème fraîche, roasted fingerling potato, raclette cheese, browned onion and parsley. Raclette is the name of a type of cheese as well as a preparation in which the exposed surface of the raclette cheese is heated with an infrared broiler. This melts and somewhat browns the surface of the cheese, and then it is typically scraped onto boiled potatoes or bread. It makes complete sense to us to translate this into pizza form. Makes one 13-inch pizza | Total Time: Active 6-8 minutes / Inactive 37 minutes

once you have reached the desired thickness. Alternatively, the sauce and cheese can be spread to cover the entire dough disc without leaving room for any exposed dough crust rim. We like having a handle on this pizza, though, so we prefer to leave a rim. If you don’t have a peel, you can use parchment paper to make it easier to load your pizza into the oven. Cut your parchment paper slightly larger than your pizza. For a 13-inch pizza, cut a 14-inch round or square piece. Shape your dough and place it on the parchment paper. Apply sauce, cheese and toppings. Transfer the pizza onto the back of an upside-down sheet pan or cookie sheet and slide the pizza into the oven. Some home ovens will not reach 550 F (in some cases 525 F is the highest they will get). If this is the case, increase the baking time by 1-2 minutes. If you prefer a darker crust, simply bake the pizza for longer, but check it every 30 seconds after the recommended time to ensure it doesn’t burn.

Direct Thin-Crust Pizza Dough Makes five 13-inch pizzas | Total Time: Active 15 minutes / Inactive 2 hours INGREDIENTS

• 1-3/4 cups water, 70 F • 1-3/4 tsp instant dry yeast • 4-1/4 cups + 2 1/2 tbsp bread flour, 11.5%-12% protein • 1/2 cup fine-ground cornmeal • 2-1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp salt INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine the water and yeast in the mixer’s bowl and whisk to dissolve the yeast. 21

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2. Add the flour and cornmeal and mix on low speed to a shaggy mass, about 2 minutes. 3. Mix on medium speed to low gluten development, about 3 minutes. 4. Add the salt and mix on medium speed until the dough reaches full gluten development, about 5 minutes. 5. Perform the windowpane test to assess gluten development. Take a portion of dough in your hands and stretch it: the more the dough can stretch without tearing, the more the gluten has developed. The dough will hold the window for at least 8-10 seconds and it can be stretched to the point that it is nearly see-through when it has reached full gluten development. 6. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured worktable. Cover well with plastic wrap. 7. Bench rest for 20 minutes. 8. Divide the dough into five even-sized pieces. 9. Place a square of dough in your dominant hand. 10. Form a ring with the index finger and your thumb on the same hand. 11. With your fingers from the opposite hand, push the dough through the ring. This should result in a smooth, tight ball. Make sure to pinch the seams shut well. Otherwise, the dough will tear when you shape it for baking, or it might cause a weak spot that will allow sauce and toppings to break through while baking. 12. Repeat steps 9-11 with the four remaining pieces of dough. 13. Place on a sheet pan. Spray a very light mist of water over

the dough. 14. Cover the dough well with plastic wrap. 15. Proof the dough, covered, for 1-1/2 hours at 70 F. 16. Test for proof using the fingertip test. Gently press the exposed surface of the dough for 2 seconds; the pressure should leave a small dent in the dough; it will slowly spring back, but the indentation should remain clearly visible after 1-2 seconds. 17. Shape, assemble and bake the pizza according to the instructions in the recipe.

temperature, you can roll the dough out and make the pizza. We recommend cold-proofing the dough for 1 day, however, because it produces a crispier thin-crust pizza. If you coldproof the dough, remove it from refrigeration 1-1/2 to 2 hours before shaping so it warms up and is easier to stretch out.

Browned Onions Makes about 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup-7/8 cup butter • 4-1/3 cups yellow or white onions, thinly sliced

Notes

We recommend using Ceresota/ Heckers Unbleached All-Purpose Flour for this dough. Note that they call their flour all-purpose, but the protein content places it in the bread flour category. We typically use a dough hook to mix all our thin-crust pizza doughs. If the ingredient quantities aren’t large enough for the dough hook to mix them well in a stand mixer, use a paddle attachment initially to mix the ingredients uniformly. Once you have a homogeneous mass (the dough is sticky and wet, and there are no visible clumps or unincorporated water), switch to a hook attachment. Final mix time at higher speeds may vary from machine to machine. Whatever the model and yield, the goal is to achieve a good mix and full gluten development. Consider our suggested times as guidelines only. Use the windowpane test to help determine the dough’s stage of gluten development. After proofing at room

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a saute pan that can easily accommodate all the onions. 2. When the butter begins to bubble, add the onions and stir well to coat completely. 3. Turn down the heat. 4. Stir the onions so they cook evenly, about every 10 minutes. 5. Once the onions have turned a deep brown and are soft, remove them from the heat. Cool to room temperature. 6. Store them for 5 days in refrigeration. Notes

The caramelizing process can take a long time, depending on the size of the batch. A small batch can take 30 minutes while a large batch can take over an hour or more. If you notice the onions are starting to char, add some water to the pot and continue to cook. If you refrigerate the onions, warm them up slightly before using. | CP

For more recipes, visit canadianpizzamag.com January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

When it comes to new ingredients, equipment, services, Canadian Pizza keeps you in the know. For more on new products for the pizza industry, check out our website, canadianpizzamag.com

suitable for many types of pizza makers from beginners to professionals. It costs $425 Cdn and is published by The Cooking Lab. modernistcuisine.com/pizza

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS

FreshFry pods in Canada

BOOKS

Pizza book set features 1,000 recipes, input from 250 pizzerias Modernist Pizza is a three-volume book set that is the culmination of exhaustive research, travel, and experiments to collect and advance the world’s knowledge of pizza. Written by Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya, it spans 1,708 pages and includes a manual of some 1,000 recipes. The books are a resource for anyone who is interested in the science, stories, cultures and history behind it. The Modernist Cuisine team behind the book visited more than 250 pizzerias to learn from chefs such as Tony Gemignani and Laura Meyer. “Wherever we went in the world, we strived to learn to make pizza in the local style,” said chef Nathan Myhrvold said in a statement. “We followed and tested all of the traditions that we learned – and then we experimented with breaking all the pizza rules. Ultimately, the secret (if there is one) to making fantastic pizza is attention to detail on a few key points.” The set is intended to be 22

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FreshFry’s efficient and eco-friendly FreshFry Pods are now available to commercial kitchens in Canada. The plantbased pods contain a proprietary blend of ingredients designed to save restaurant owners and operators time, labour and cost by extending the life of frying oil by two to three days. “We are thrilled to be launching our FreshFry Pods in Canada,” says FreshFry co-founder and CEO Jeremiah Chapman. “It is of the utmost importance for restaurants to employ sustainable operating solutions, and FreshFry Pods offer a safe, 30-second solution to replenish and extend the life of frying oil while reducing total oil costs by an average of 25 per cent.” The pods are designed to require less overall oil usage, reduced buildup of oil in and around fryers and lower labour costs for maintenance and disposal of oil, with no additional equipment needed. Users drop a FreshFry pod into a commercial fryer at the end of the day and allow it to attract water, metals, acids and other impurities that come from food and destroy oil. The next day, toss the pod in the trash and resume cooking with the clean oil. FreshFry currently supplies Pods for several U.S.-based restaurant concepts including Nashville’s famous Hattie B’s

Hot Chicken, and franchisees for Qdoba Mexican Eats, Popeye’s, and Rock ‘N Roll Sushi. In 2021, FreshFry was honored with an AgTech Breakthrough Award for Overall Restaurant Tech Solution of the Year. Chapman began his venture by converting old oil from restaurants to biodiesel, which was completely degraded. During college he began researching how to use plant scraps to clean oil and, after many conversations with industry chefs, FreshFry was born. FreshFry will distribute Pods through Sysco Canada and TTS Sales and Marketing. freshfry.me

WEBSITE BUILDER

signed to help small businesses bolster their online presence. GoDaddy Website Builder offers a large selection of readyto-go templates that suit unique business needs. It includes builtin digital marketing tools – such as search engine optimization and marketing content creation tools – to help businesses grow online. The tool was built specifically for the non-expert in website design. With the Builder, small business owners can create and manage their digital presence through a modern, mobile-friendly website, social media, email marketing, online store and appointments. They can communicate with customers and streamline their business amid changing public health measures. Features include an online store for delivery and takeout or appointment booking for curbside pickup. GoDaddy recently launched a “Don’t Stop Being Unstoppable” campaign featuring new Canadian small business owners who have overcome obstacles in their competitive industries such as Harpreet Banwait of Pizza Hub in Brampton, Ont. godaddy.com

DIRECT DELIVERY

GoDaddy platform helps pizzerias build online presence GoDaddy aims to help pizzeria owners and other entrepreneurs name their business, build a professional website, attract customers, sell their products and services, and manage their work. The company provides integrated products and services, including Website Builder, de-

Square launches direct delivery for restaurants with flat fees instead of commissions Restaurants, bars and breweries in Canada using Square Online can provide On-Demand Delivery through third-party delivery service DoorDash with no commission fee. Pizzerias and other restaurants using Square Online across Canada can tap into the

January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

DoorDash logistics network and dispatch a courier to deliver orders placed directly on their website including food and alcoholic beverages where applicable and permissible by law. This feature provides Canadian businesses with a new revenue stream without the costly overhead associated with building out a delivery fleet or hiring and training additional staff, the company said in a press release. When an order is placed on the business’s online store, a DoorDash courier is dispatched to the business’s location, picks up the order, and delivers it to the customer. The customer receives text updates with links to a live map to track delivery progress. Sellers pay a flat fee of $1.50 per order to Square and a flat delivery fee to DoorDash — without the marketplace commissions. Sellers can pass the delivery fee entirely to the buyer or offer custom delivery promotions. When applied across hundreds of delivery orders each month, sellers can save a significant amount on per-order costs. squareup.com

STAFF PAYMENT TECH

gantown, West Virginia, is currently installed in pizza and other quick-service restaurants in Canada and the U.S. and focuses on pizza POS and pizza-specific markets. With cash declining at a record pace in food delivery and quick-service restaurant environments, now more than ever, workers need instant access to their pay, the partners said in a press release. Daily deposits to staff’s Today mobile wallet, paired with XTM’s mobile app, give drivers access to their earnings daily. Earnings can be used in-store, online, at ATMs, to pay bills and to send Interac eTransfers. Operators can completely manage and move money to the Today program users without any heavy lifting. To understand how the system works, the XTM APIs (application program interfaces) are publicly available here.

normal price. The goal is a win-win-win solution in which consumers get great food, merchants no longer throw away delicious surplus and waste is reduced. Founded in 2016 in Copenhagen, and now in 15 countries, Too Good To Go saves more than 100,000 meals every day. toogoodtogo.org

FOOD HALL

Virtual food hall provides one-stop shop for Toronto pizzerias Kitchen Hub is a virtual food hall and shared facility that provides takeout and delivery from Toronto’s restaurants all in one

order with one delivery or pickup. Kitchen Hub provides dedicated turnkey kitchen space designed for efficient takeout and delivery. It has two locations: one in Etobicoke at The Queensway and Islington Avenue and one in Toronto’s East end at Parliament and Shuter streets. A third location is set to open in December at Castlefield Avenue and Dufferin Street. The concept gives the food hall’s surrounding neighbourhoods access to restaurants that previously were not in the delivery zone. Restaurants are provided with the infrastructure and services – including front-of-house and facility management – to serve customers in new neighbourhoods while

xtminc.com

SURPLUS FOOD APP

App connects customers with surplus food

Staff get paid quickly using XTM ‘Today’ and Deliver Plus POS

Toronto-based XTM Inc. has integrated its Today staff payment platform with the Deliver Plus Point-of-Sale System. Deliver Plus, based in Mor-

Too Good To Go is an app that helps everyday people fight food waste in their local communities by connecting them to restaurants and grocery stores with surplus meals and ingredients. Once registered, users can choose from their favourite local spots to pick up meals like sushi, or ingredients like apples and avocados for a third of the

CANADIAN PIZZA · January/February 2022

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TOOLS OF THE TRADE

maintaining control of their food production. Customers can order from each individual restaurant or a combined menu made up of specific restaurants. Each Kitchen Hub location has different restaurant partners and is designed in response to the take-out and delivery options available in the surrounding neighbourhood. Delivery and pickup from Kitchen Hub is available via KitchenHub.com or third-party delivery services UberEats, SkiptheDishes and DoorDash. “One of the measures we take is our mandatory thermal bag policy for all orders picked up by third-party couriers as

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well as offering thermal bags for sale for couriers who don’t already have them,” said a spokesperson. kitchenhub.com

PACKAGING

Greenlid offers compostable and customizable packaging With Canadians consuming more takeout than ever before in an effort to support small businesses since the beginning of the

pandemic, an increased amount of single-use takeout containers have gone into landfill or not been disposed of properly. Because of this, there is an urgent call to action for restaurants to make more sustainable choices. To help meet the needs of the restaurant industry, and the needs of our planet, Greenlid offers a comprehensive product line that is 100 per cent compostable. From custom molded takeout containers to coffee cups and lids, to birch cutlery, to wheat straws (that don’t go soggy), Greenlid offers compostable, sustainable, and customizable products and solutions for re-

tailers and the food-service and hospitality industry. mygreenlid.com

ONLINE ORDERING

Ordering platform lets restaurants gather customer feedback Paytronix Systems has add AI-driven guest intelligence to its Order & Delivery digital platform, helping restaurants provide online ordering, build their menus and gather instant feedback from customers at the time they place and receive their orders. paytronix.com

January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

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GUEST COLUMN BY DR. SHERRY HARTNETT WITH BERT THORNTON

This overview of the seven-steps framework is excerpted from High-Impact Mentoring: A Practical Guide to Creating Value in Other People’s Lives by Dr. Sherry Hartnett co-authored with former Waffle House president and chief operations officer Bert Thornton. The book is available through BookLogix.

Building a mentoring program

well-designed, wellexecuted, scalable mentoring program allows you to connect experienced employees with new hires in a powerful way. It helps your pizzeria attract and retain talent, improves employee satisfaction, improves operational performance, builds a strong team and reduces training budgets. Building a thriving mentoring program with great return on investment is within every business’s reach, regardless of budget or experience. Dr. Sherry Hartnett, founding director of the University of West Florida’s Executive Mentor Program, has identified seven key steps to help your business create a sturdy, successful and lasting mentoring program.

“Put a lot of thought into this decision, because it will make or break your program,” she says.

Step 1: Define your ‘why’ Decide what you want your program to achieve. For instance, do you want to increase the number of minorities in leadership positions, retain valuable employees, or onboard high-potential new hires? When you describe how mentoring will improve your organization, you can thoughtfully shape a successful program and get buy-in from leaders, mentors, mentees and other stakeholders.

Step 4: Build your program (but start small) Dr. Hartnett warns against “diving in.” Before the first mentor-mentee pair meets, you should secure any necessary funding, staff and supplies. Systems should be in place for selecting mentors and mentees, training and communicating with participants and evaluating the program. “But remember, the enemy of greatness is perfection,” says Dr. Hartnett. “It’s okay to start with a small pilot program to work out any kinks.”

Step 2: Find the right program champion The person who heads up your program will have a profound impact on its strategy, execution, and, ultimately, its success. Dr. Hartnett suggests his or her primary focus should be leading your mentoring program, as adding such a large task to an existing workload would cause the champion to struggle on both fronts. She also recommends this person be an opportunity-focused connector who is confident, tenacious and accountable. 26

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Step 3: Set goals and metrics Align your mentoring program with your business objectives and identify metrics you can use to measure movement toward those goals. For instance, you might want to increase top-employee retention by 10 per cent from last year, or double the number of women in management positions within 18 months. “Tracking this data will tell you whether your program is succeeding and what you may need to change,” notes Dr. Hartnett. “It will also tangibly illustrate to senior leaders why mentoring should be a continued priority.”

Match mentor resources to mentee needs, striving for common interests between the two.

Step 5: Recruit and connect It’s essential to attract, screen and train great mentors (but don’t make it compulsory!). Likewise, decide what your ideal mentee looks like (for example, people who have been with the organization at least three years or high-potential new hires). Then, match mentor resources to

mentee needs, striving for common interests between the two. “Both parties must understand up front what the length of the mentorship will be (I suggest a renewable 12-month period), how often meetings will take place, what the goals are, and that there will be work involved,” says Dr. Hartnett. Step 6: Nuture your people and your program Even the best-designed mentoring program won’t function for long on autopilot. It’s crucial to provide plenty of ongoing support. Publishing a regular newsletter is one great way to reinforce initial training and nurture the connections being made. Also, find ways to invite regular feedback from each participant and use that information to improve processes. Step 7: Measure to improve Whether capturing results and feedback is accomplished through surveys, performance reviews, or other methods, data is vital to the progression and scalability of your program. It allows you to review, revise and continuously improve your mentoring program. “I suggest measuring outcomes semi-annually or annually,” Dr. Hartnett says. “You can also informally poll and interview participants throughout the year. And don’t underestimate the little things – small tweaks can lead to significant results!” “Don’t skip any of these seven steps; all are crucial to successfully achieving your organization’s mentoring goals. And when you reach the end of the seventh step, circle back to the beginning. “Doing this and giving thought to improving your program will keep it vital, relevant, and results-driven for years to come.” | CP

Read more about hiring, training and retaining staff at canadianpizzamag.com January/February 2022 · CANADIAN PIZZA

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