Pizza professional

FIRST STEPS

Having gained his all-important fi rst steps in the ‘white art’ via his grandfather as a youngster and working in his hometown for a few years, still being very young, Marco Fuso moved away from home in order to travel, as well as gain experience working elsewhere.

Then, when he was 18, his dad announced that he had bought a restaurant, which was a shock to the family, Marco recalls, as they had no experience of running a restaurant as such. However, it resulted in him doing a pizzaiolo course, using his bakery experience as a foundation, and being excited about the prospect of a new restaurant, but scared as well, he remembers.

At this stage, he also had the benefi t of a pizza maker mentor – Osvaldo - who he says he must thank for teaching him so many things so early on. When they started the restaurant, this mentor never let him use fresh dough (normally, at the start, you don’t make pizza for customers straight away, but for yourself, he says). Thus, his learning curve involved making pizza from the oldest dough to be found in the fridge, and which did not always have much stretch left in it!

After complaining to his dad about this - that it was diffi cult to learn and that Osvaldo wasn’t teaching him properly - his dad told him “don’t speak to me, speak to him!”, and when he went back to the pizza chef, he was quickly told that he would have to continue working in such a way if he wanted to learn from him, and that he would be using such dough until he was making a rounded shape… It was this situation, says Marco, that made him knuckle down and accept the learning process - a technique he now uses with his own customers and clients today.

“When you’re working in a family restaurant everything is easier in a way, but there are also lots of challenges too,” explains Marco Fuso.

“For example, my mentor pizza chef had only been working with us six months when he left, so we had no pizza chef to run the pizzeria, but something happened to me in that I had to step up as a new pizza chef and meet the challenge, even though I was slow in making pizzas at the start, with customers having to wait! But I was determined not to give up, whereas others might have, at which point I found that I started to get better and better each day.”

COMPETITION CALLING

After fi ve years working as a pizza chef, he joined a group of pizza chefs working in

Lecce, and that’s when he discovered there were pizza competitions. For the fi rst fi ve or six years, he

entered many competitions but never won anything. In fact, he didn’t get anywhere, as such, but again, he never gave up. Then, in 2013, he fi nally got his fi rst accolade in an prospect of a new restaurant, but scared as Italian competition held in Tunisia, North well, he remembers. Africa, and it was a great time for pizza

At this stage, he also had the benefi t chefs, their families present too, he says. of a pizza maker mentor – Osvaldo - who At which point something changed he says he must thank for teaching him so again for him, he recalls, in 2014, when he went to the World Pizza Championship in Parma, winning a bronze medal in the Neapolitan style category. Then, in 2015 and 2016, he continued to win more Italian competitions, as well as some international competitions. In 2015 and 2016, he also entered the PAPA Awards’ Pizza Chef Competition, although he did not win at this stage. However, in 2017, he fi nally won the Pizza Chef of the Year Competition, going on to win again in the margherita category the following year. Then, in 2018, he was invited to be part of the judging panel. Although a struggle and a fi ght at times, winning competitions can be a game-changer, he says, he having learnt so much along the way and gained so much experience to take on elsewhere in his career, and which has, he points out, spurred him on to win and achieve more. “At this point, you are able to make everything perfect so that you are able to win again,” he says.

a way if he wanted to learn from him, and that he would be using such dough until he was making a rounded shape… It was this situation, says Marco, that made him knuckle down and accept the learning process - a technique he now uses with his own customers and clients today.

“When you’re working in a family restaurant everything is easier in a way, but there are also lots of challenges too,” explains Marco Fuso.

“For example, my mentor pizza chef had only been working with us six months when he left, so we had no pizza chef to run the pizzeria, but something happened to me in that I had to step up as a new pizza chef and meet the challenge, even though I was slow in making pizzas at the start, with customers having to wait! But I was determined not to give up, whereas others might have, at which point I found that I started to get better and better each day.”

COMPETITION CALLING

After fi ve years working as a pizza chef, he joined a group of pizza chefs working in

Lecce, and that’s when he discovered there were pizza competitions. For the fi rst fi ve or six years, he Marco Fuso comes from Lecce, Italy and is the eldest of six. After fi rst learning about the ‘white art’ from his baker grandfather on his mum’s side, he then went on to work in his father’s restaurant before a series of competition wins raised his profi le in the sector, leading him to being invited to become a pizza judge himself, as well as start his own pizza consultancy business (www.mfpconsultancy com).

“When you first enter competitions, you tend to be inexperienced and don’t know very much, so don’t win straightaway because you are perhaps overlooking every single detail from the way you are working (be as professional as possible) to your products and making best use of the time you have got rather than making your pizza too quickly.

“If you take your time – rather than working quickly as you typically have to do in a restaurant - you will look after what you are doing, and this will show through once the pizza gets to the judges. And smile! Smile all the time, in fact, in the competitions, and show your passion for the pizza!

“Competitions are not just about competing, but the chance to learn more from others and network with so many people, getting inspiration by looking at and watching others make their pizzas, as well as ‘top tips’. However, we are all different, and even if someone is showing off all their skills, it does not mean they are going to be copied.”

When working in various restaurants after working for his dad, he recalls how he came across some pizza chefs who were hiding how they made the pizza dough, and not always sharing techniques, which in turn creates problems for others when that person is away for some reason. However, these days, pizza chefs are now sharing more ideas and techniques, he reports, with lots of good pizza chef Facebook groups, for example.

Competitions are also a way to make your name, he acknowledges, which is fantastic and a nice experience; to be known for what you do and be in the limelight (something which he experienced in 2018 when he won the Pizza Chef of the Year title, going from being a ‘regular guy’ to being asked to do interviews and photo shoots for magazines and newspapers).

“Accolades and the competitions mean people are aware of you, and talking about, but you need to keep on making good pizzas and capitalise on this by making sure you sell yourself too by doing your own marketing,” he emphasises.

Future competitions? He’ll only be going to two, he says – the Las Vegas one and the World Pizza Championship in Parma (the two he is still really keen to try and win by securing first place). The competition is a lot tougher now too, he feels, people having gained more knowledge and enhanced their pizza-making skills, world-wide.

To win these days, the dough has to be perfect, he advises, which is a difficult challenge in its own right when you are taking your dough out of your restaurant and making it elsewhere (temperature affecting the yeast activity, for instance), so you need to know how to control the process.

The dough is also often the first thing the judges taste and check for aroma, texture and flavour. Your ingredients (toppings) must be well combined, and despite the temptation to try and impress with quantity, ‘less is more’, he feels (three or four toppings, maximum). Then you should have a good chance to win a competition.

CONSULTANCY

Five years ago, Marco Fuso started to run pizza making classes, although it wasn’t a full-time job, even though you couldn’t find many people running such classes in the UK at that time. So it was a slow process while he also sought to improve his English at the same time. Then, three years ago, he officially founded his company and started his consulting service to pizzerias and start-up businesses, covering not just pizza making, but the training of staff, menus, bespoke dough recipes, kitchen layouts and business aspects of it too, feeling that it is important to share the knowledge of his own experience and enjoying the process.

During the course of his consultancy work he has provided to chefs and operators so far, the dough aspect has proved to be the most important part, he says.

“You can add the best toppings money can buy, but the dough is the ‘signature’. Additionally, if you are going to open a restaurant, don’t be tempted to save money (common mistakes being to buy a cheap mixer and cheap oven),” he adds. “The mixer is where everything starts when making the dough, and the oven where everything finishes when the pizza is cooked. So you could be the most talented chef in the world but still not reaching your full potential without the right equipment.”

When it comes to pizza trends, he says there are two currently on the wave, as it were – Detroit style (a winner in the recent PAPA Awards, and something the judges are still talking about, and something he feels has a good future once it becomes more popular), and contemporary pizzas (the latest version of Neapolitan style with a larger crust and slightly different dough method called indirect in which preferments are used to create a more intense, favour-filled, ‘melt in the mouth’ base that when done well, can deliver the ‘wow’ factor and is increasingly popular with pizzerias opening in the UK).

When it comes to his future ambitions, an ever-busy Marco Fuso (who at the time was weighing up a trip to Italy versus a Channel 4 appearance), concludes that he would like to expand his consultancy service (his courses currently being available in London, Manchester and Liverpool, and shortly in Scotland too). Secondly, he says he is really looking forward to opening his own pizzeria; he doesn’t know when that will happen, but it is his dream, and is likely to be found in London.