PMQ Pizza Magazine September 2012

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Online at PMQ.com September 2012 PIZZA TV: RECENT VIDEOS

Brothers Pizza: Band of Brothers

This Week in Pizza

Pizza master Filippo Giove Sr. has passed on a proud legacy to his son, Giorgio Giove, at Staten Island’s Brothers Pizza.

Meanwhile, a second Giorgio, Filippo’s nephew and son of another one of the Brothers Pizza founders, has launched a tradition of his own at Pizzeria Giove.

Catch up on the latest pizza industry news every Wednesday with Pizza TV’s weekly online broadcast, This Week in Pizza, with hosts Brian Hernandez and Michelle McAnally.

PMQ’s TOP SOCIAL MEDIA PICKS Social media is more than just Web-based chatter—it’s a marketing revolution! Whether running a “Big Three” franchise or a mom-andpop operation, operators generate sales from steadfast Facebook and Twitter campaigns. PMQ editors monitor how industry professionals embrace social media and, in some ways, help write the rules for viral marketing. Here are some of our favorites this month:

Find PMQ at @pmqpizzamag.

NewYorkPizzaBar Download the NYP app for Android or iPhone, and you not only get a free appetizer, you can also earn rewards. pizzamimosa Nobody likes Mondays, but everyone likes lasagna al forno. Good thing it’s Lasagna Week at Pizzeria Mimosa!

Find PMQ at facebook.com/ pmqpizzamagazine.

mazzios It’s the dog days of summer, so feed your pack #Mazzios tonight. Do you eat all the crust or share with the dog?

Coal Vines at Legacy Do you have a private party, charity or work event that you are planning this fall? How about hosting it at Coal Vines at Legacy? We’d love to have you! Call (972) 943-1339 for details!

Slice Birmingham It’s another manic Monday! If you are a hospital employee or a college student, you’ll receive 25% off your entire bill today after 3 p.m.!

Great Scott’s Pizza Come check us out next Saturday at Mt. Horeb’s 1st Cajun Fest. We are currently working on a “cajun pizza” for that day only. Any ideas?

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Table of Contents September 2012

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ON THE COVER 24 Good Vibrations Owner Dorris Shober strives to create a fun, uplifting and life-affirming experience for guests and employees alike at Lupi’s in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

By Rick Hynum

FEATURES 32 NRA Knockouts This year’s NRA Show featured innovations such as baconand-egg-embellished shoes, pepperoni-shaped salmon and a scratch-and-win smartphone app.

38 Soft Hits From salty feta to buttery brie, soft cheeses elevate the common to the epicurean and jazz up any pizzeria menu.

By Michelle McAnally

44 Fire It Up! TOM MAYNARD

Follow these tips from the experts to select the perfect oven for the perfect bake.

By Michelle McAnally

54 The Loyalty Club Learn how to implement a loyalty program that drives sales and captures valuable customer data to build repeat business.

By Tracy Morin

62 Aurelio’s: Building a Better Brand The president of a Chicago chain reveals the secrets of marketing signature products in grocery stores and sports arenas.

By Joseph M. Aurelio

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 10

Online at PMQ.com Editor’s Note

12 Letters to the Editor

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Pizza Press

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Product Spotlight

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Advertiser Index

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Industry Resource Guide

DEPARTMENTS 16 Zeak’s Tweaks: Freezing Leftover Dough Jeff Zeak describes the best ways to freeze and thaw excess pizza dough.

18 New York’s Finest: Just Like Mama Used to Make Chef Bruno shares a meal with his friends at Mama Sbarro’s in Long Island.

20 Accounting for Your Money: Know the Facts About Social Security Benefits Mike Rasmussen explains how your restaurant directly impacts your contributions to the Social Security system.

22 The Marketing Maven: Something for the Ladies

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Linda Duke reveals how to turn your restaurant into a popular meeting place for women’s group luncheons.

50 Pizza of the Month: Taco More customers are demanding spicy pies that combine the best of Italian and Mexican fare: the taco pizza.

90 Time Capsule: Hunt Brothers Pizza Installed in country markets, bowling alleys and sports arenas, Hunt Brothers Pizza makes ordering pies convenient for suburbanites and rural folks alike.

Coming Next Month Pizza of the Month: Hot and Spicy Salami and Pepperoni: From sopresa and

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bresaola to the ever-popular pepperoni, pizzeria operators have come to appreciate the many and varied types—and uses— of cured meats.

Mobile Marketing: Smartphones have revolutionized restaurant marketing. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you reach smartphone-wielding customers with money to spend.

Cost-Efficient Lighting: Learn how installing LED lighting can save you money on your energy bills and boost your bottom line.

September 2012 • pmq.com

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Editor’s Note Rick Hynum

A Show of Loyalty I’m a frequent and loyal customer of a number of different restaurants in my community. I visit this place for pizza, that place for red beans and rice, a little joint across town for sandwiches, and a certain family diner up the street for that homestyle cookin’ which no southerner can resist. I usually bring friends with me. I tip well, and I even have a peculiar tendency to wipe off my area of the table with napkins when I’m done.

If I owned a restaurant, I would love to have me for a customer. I’d treat me like the crown prince of England. At the very least, I’d hug my neck every time I walked through the door.

Sadly, that never happens. Not a single one of these restaurants offers a customer loyalty or rewards program for regulars like me. Then again, they have the advantage of being located in a college town where new customers arrive by the thousands every fall, all of them fashionably dressed, barely old enough to shave and as yet blissfully unaware of the perils of the “freshman 15.”

Most restaurateurs can’t count on that sort of guaranteed clientele base. If you’re one of them, don’t miss PMQ senior copy editor Tracy Morin’s article, “The Loyalty Club,” in this month’s issue (see page 54). Tracy has drawn from the expertise of some of the industry’s sharpest minds to explain how to implement loyalty programs in any restaurant and ensure success.

As Tracy’s article states, customers spend 17% more in establishments that offer a loyalty program, and 33% of consumers consider loyalty programs to be more important during recessions. But these programs don’t just reward regular customers; they also capture valuable data that can be used to track buying behavior and help you figure out what really makes your customers tick—and which products, experiences and offers keep them coming back.

You’ll also want to check out assistant editor Michelle McAnally’s mouthwatering piece on soft cheeses (page 38), covering everything from mozzarella and feta to ricotta, brie and mascarpone. And if that’s not enough, we’ve even got Joseph Aurelio, president of the Chicago-based Aurelio’s Pizza chain, explaining how to move one of your restaurant’s signature products outside of your four walls and into home kitchens everywhere!

In other words, this issue is jam-packed with marketing ideas, product information and success stories from around the pizza world. Read, learn and enjoy!

Thank you, as always, for reading PMQ, and, hey, keep those cards and letters (and emails) coming!

Rick Rick Hynum Editor-in-chief PMQ Pizza Magazine

On the cover: (from left) Scott Pujol, Matt Douglass, Nathan Chandler, Eric Webb, Tom Maynard and owner Dorris Shober create a sense of joy and excitement at Lupi’s in Chattanooga.

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Letters to the Editor Rick Hynum Toula’s Triumphs

Seeking a New Challenge

We at Toula’s House of Pizza (toulashouseofpizza.com) in Virginia Beach, Virginia, are indebted to PMQ for a great magazine with very timely and helpful articles. We get a lot of ideas from reading it, both through the industrycentric entries and tips from your advertisers.

I have included a photo of Toula Markopoulos, owner of Toula’s House of Pizza, reading the September 2011 issue in her restaurant. Toula has been involved in the foodservice business since 1990. From 1990 to 1994, she drove more than 90 minutes one way every day to help her brother in his Rhode Island pizza restaurant.

But her dream was to own her own business.

In 1997, she opened Toula’s, a breakfast-andlunch diner which became profitable in three months. In 1999 she sold the diner and built Toula’s Pizza from scratch, sold it in 2008 and now operates Toula’s House of Pizza.

We hope Toula is lucky enough to be featured in a future issue of PMQ.

I recently completed my commitment as president and CEO of the Souper Salad and Grandy’s restaurant chains. After taking some quality time off with my wife, I am now seeking my next challenge.

In my previous position, I was charged with taking both brands through reorganization while prepping each for sale. My team reduced system-wide G&A and unit-level operating costs, reversed multiyear negative guest count trends, launched a highly successful prototype concept (Souper Salad) and completed the sale of each brand.

Prior to that, I spent 17 years with Pizza Inn (pizzainn.com), working my way up through domestic and international operations. I’ve traveled to more than 30 countries, negotiated franchise rights and managed international operations for the Pizza Inn brand.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide.

Ward Olgreen Dallas, TX

Nate Robinson, Marketing Manager Toula’s House of Pizza Virginia Beach, VA Thank you, Nate, for sharing Toula’s inspiring story with us. Her success exemplifies the American dream! We’ll add Toula’s to our list of contacts for future articles.

Thanks, Ward. To find your next position in the pizza industry, please check out our new online career center at PMQ.com/PizzaJobBoard. This service focuses on bringing together job seekers with pizza industry employers. Best of luck to you!

— A Publication of PMQ, Inc. — Winner of 4 ASBPE Awards Winner of 4 GAMMA Awards ISSN 1937-5263 PMQ, Inc. Publisher Steve Green sg@pmq.com ext. 123

Co-Publisher Linda Green linda@pmq.com ext. 121 EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Rick Hynum rick@pmq.com ext. 130 Editor at Large Liz Barrett liz@pmq.com Senior Copy Editor Tracy Morin tracy@pmq.com Assistant Editor Michelle McAnally michelle@pmq.com ext. 124 DESIGN/PRODUCTION Art Director Kara Hoffman kara@pmq.com ext. 135 Video and Web Editor Daniel Morrow daniel@pmq.com ADVERTISING Sales Director Linda Green linda@pmq.com ext. 121 Account Executive Clifton Moody clifton@pmq.com ext. 138 Account Executive Tom Boyles tom@pmq.com ext. 122 ADMINISTRATION Chief Financial Officer Shawn Brown shawn@pmq.com Circulation Manager Sherlyn Clark sherlyn@pmq.com ext. 120 Director of Operations/ Event Coordinator Brian Hernandez brian@pmq.com ext. 129 U.S. Pizza Team Director Missy Green missy@pmq.com ext. 125 PMQ INTERNATIONAL PMQ China Yvonne Liu yvonne@pmq.com PMQ Australia-NZ Tom Boyles tom@pmqaustralia.com Pizza&Food Gabriele Ancona gabriele.ancona@pizzafood.it

Think Tank 2.0

French Liaison Julien Panet jpanet@pizza.fr EDITORIAL ADVISORS

What’s the buzz? Log on to find out the latest industry buzz at PMQ.com/tt.

Tom’s New York-style pizza…

Chef Santo Bruno Tom Lehmann Joey Todaro Ed Zimmerman

Door hanger advertising: Do you use it?

CONTRIBUTORS Joseph Aurelio Chef Santo Bruno Linda Duke Jeff Zeak Michael J. Rasmussen

Employee Illness Exclusion Policy…

Where to buy custom stickers?

I’m tired of hearing about the bad job market…

Thank You to Our PMQ Think Tank Moderators Daddio: Member since June 2006 Tom Lehmann: Member since June 2006

Rockstar Pizza: Member since June 2006 ADpizzaguy: Member since January 2007

We want to hear from you!

Have a complaint, compliment or suggestion about something you’ve read in the pages of PMQ? Send your letter via email to editor@pmq.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line, or mail to PMQ, ATTN: Letters to the Editor, 605 Edison St., Oxford, MS 38655. We look forward to hearing from you!

Friend us on Facebook! Visit facebook.com/pmqpizzamagazine.

Editor-in-chief Rick Hynum 12

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Volume 16, Issue 7 PMQ Pizza Magazine 605 Edison St. • Oxford, MS 38655 662.234.5481 • 662.234.0665 Fax • linda@pmq.com PMQ Pizza Magazine (ISSN #1937-5263) is published 10 times per year. Cost of U.S. subscription is $25 per year. International $35. Periodical postage pricing paid at Oxford, MS. Additional mailing offices at Bolingbrook, IL. Postmaster: Send address changes to: PMQ Pizza Magazine, PO Box 2015, Langhorne, PA 19047.

Opinions expressed by the editors and contributing writers are strictly their own, and are not necessarily those of the advertisers. All rights reserved. No portion of PMQ may be reproduced in whole or part without written consent.

Opening a New Location I have written to PMQ Pizza Magazine before, and I was very pleased with the answer that was given to my question, so I have another one. I am going to be opening another location soon, and I was wondering what month/time of the year would be good, if not best, to open a new pizza restaurant?

Gianni Pietanza Via email That’s an excellent question, Gianni. According to our publisher and resident pizza guru Steve Green, industry statistics show that autumn has consistently proven to be the best time of year to open a new pizzeria. October, in particular, is a good month, although November

Pizza Press News and Views

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Rockin the Pizza Guitar Singer/songwriter Andrew W.K. is passionate about partying and pizza. Now he has combined his two loves into a one-of-a-kind pizza guitar. W.K. designed the custom axe, built by ESP Guitar Company, to look like a pizza slice and handpainted it in honor of his favorite toppings, including green peppers, black olives and jalapeños. “I wanted to combine one of the world’s favorite foods with rockand-roll,” W.K. says. “It’s a food that connects people, and that’s one of the great things about music.”

But this novelty guitar wasn’t just crafted for looks. “It sounds as good as any I’ve ever played,” he says, adding that it also helps him fulfill his mission “to spread joy, to have a blast, and to make that feeling last.”

Musician Andrew WK keeps on rockin’ in the pizza world.

Sharing the Love

Little Caesars’ Love Kitchen has been serving hot pies to homeless shelter guests and victims of disasters in upstate New York.

The Little Caesars (littlecaesars.com) Love Kitchen, a pizzeria on wheels that feeds the needy at disaster areas and homeless shelters, has been spreading the love around upstate New York. Local franchise owners donate food and labor wherever the Love Kitchen goes, and in Syracuse it recently served piping-hot pizza to more than 300 people at The Samaritan Center. “It was so wonderful to be able to serve pizza to our guests,” says Lori Lichorobiec, the shelter’s development director. “One of our guests told the local franchise owner that he hadn’t had a slice of pizza in 12 years.”

At the end of the meal, The Samaritan Center guests gave the Little Caesars staff a rousing thank-you cheer. “It was very heartwarming,” Lichorobiec says. “Little Caesars did a wonderful thing for them.”

Bill Permits Flexible Menu Labeling the

Bipartisan legislation in the House of Representatives would provide sensible and flexible solutions for disclosure of nutritional information in pizzerias and other restaurants. According to the nonprofit American Pizza Community (APC), the Common Sense Nutrition Labeling Bill would make it easier for small-business pizzeria owners to comply with federal menu labeling requirements. “This legislation provides a common-sense solution that will expand consumer access to nutrition information while ensuring small businesses are not harmed by needlessly expensive, one-size-fits-all regulations,” says Minneapolis-based Papa Murphy’s (papamurphys.com) franchisee Joel Meyer.

For example, pizzerias that do most of their business in delivery would be able to provide calorie information on a remoteaccess menu instead of an expensive—and rarely seen—on-premise menu board. They’d also be allowed to provide calorie labeling for pizza by the slice instead of more confusing whole-pizza calorie labels and enjoy more flexibility in calorie labeling for build-your-own pizzas or pies with widely varying toppings.

“Consumers have so many options when it comes to ordering—mostly over the phone or the Internet for pizza delivery restaurants,” says Domino’s Pizza (dominospizza.com) franchisee Jonathan Sharp from Abilene, Texas. “When you’re a small-pizzeria operator trying to get by on tight margins, regulations like this really affect your bottom line, hurting your ability to grow and hire.”

AMERICAN PIZZA COMMUNITY

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Tip of a Lifetime One man’s final random act of kindness resulted in a huge tip recently for a waitress at a Lexington, Kentucky, pizzeria. After Lexington resident Aaron Collins passed away at the age of 30, his will called for his The late Aaron Collins (left) arranged for a family to enjoy a pizza and leave the server a $500 tip. “That’s just how pizzeria waitress to get a $500 tip.

Aaron was,” says Seth Collins, his brother. “One time he got bad service, and he gave the waitress a $100 tip because he figured she was having a bad day and needed it.”

To honor Aaron’s dying wish, the family raised the money through a website (aaroncollins.org), then dined at Puccini’s Smiling Teeth Pizza (puccinissmilingteeth.com) and surprised their waitress with the $500 gratuity. The site continues to raise funds for future big tips in Aaron’s honor and has so far netted about $50,000. “Somehow the world got a hold of this, and now we’ll be doing it a hundred times,” Seth says. “Most people in the service industry are struggling, and this makes life a little easier for them. We’ll keep doing it until the money is gone.”

What’s Your Poison?

Just when you think you’ve heard of every wacky pizza topping possib sible, a pizzeria owner ups the th ante with snake, spider and scorpion venom.

Before government authorities stopped him, Ismail Ertekin, owner of Avanti Pizza in Zurich, Switzerland, was topping pies with minute traces of poison as a homeopathic remedy to cure fear of creepy-crawlies—and insists the remedy worked. “The customers wanted my pizzas because they like these creatures more now,” he says. “They’re not happy, because I had to take them off the menu.”

Ertekin, who still makes the poison-topped pizzas for his own enjoyment only, says they’re harmless.

“There is a thousand times more water than poison in it, so you cannot taste or smell the potion. It is not dangerous.” Always the innovator, Ertekin is now working on a healthy pizza with organic superfood ingredients.

MAKING A STAND The traditional pizza stand has seen its first innovation in decades.

Chef Michael White from Nicoletta Pizzeria (nicolettanyc.com) in New York has developed a split-level stand that hooks onto the table, showcasing two pizzas perfectly. “Considering the limited space in the restaurant, we needed to have a pizza stand that didn’t take up too much space on the table and that was also able to hold more than one pie,” says Olivia Young, director of media and communications for Nicoletta. The stand allows room for drinks and salads to sit underneath and is designed to encourage patrons to try more than one pizza. “Customers are very excited about it, and it has become something of a showpiece,” Young says. “They love how it’s assembled and how easily it comes apart. Like us, they also appreciate that it doesn’t take up too much room on the table so that they can eat comfortably.”

TATER TRUCK ROLLS INTO MEMPHIS

PMQ’s Tracy Morin and Liz Barrett (middle) hang out with the Potato Truck crew.

What is 72’ long, weighs six tons and comes from Idaho? It’s the world’s largest potato. As part of the Idaho Potato Commission’s 75th anniversary tour supporting Meals on Wheels, the Famous Idaho Potato Truck—a massive potato statue strapped to the flatbed of a semi—recently rolled through Memphis for a visit to Garibaldi’s Pizza (garibaldispizza.com), which whipped up a mashed potato pie with garlic butter, bacon bits and green onions to commemorate the occasion.

“I thought, wow, that’s a big potato!” says owner Mike Garibaldi. “As it pulled into the parking lot, traffic stopped, and people were coming out to see what I had brought to town today.”

“People hang out of the windows with an incredulous look on their faces, taking pictures and following us,” says tour ambassador Ellis Nanney. Garibaldi’s was the first pizzeria on the truck’s 34-state tour, he notes. “It was definitely a nice change of pace, and Garibaldi’s did it right. I’ve got to say their potato pizza takes the cake.”

September 2012 • pmq.com

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Zeak’s Tweaks Jeff Zeak

Freezing Leftover Dough

Hear more from Jeff Zeak on PizzaTV.com.

Jeff Zeak explains how to freeze, store and thaw pizza dough.

QUESTION: Do you recommend freezing leftover dough? If so, what’s the best way to do it, and what’s the proper way to defrost it later?

ANSWER: This is actually a loaded question.

Dough can be frozen, but how well it holds up after freezing depends on when it was made. If the dough is mixed and allowed to ferment at room temperature for longer than four hours, the resulting dough, once frozen and thawed again, will not have the same performance characteristics that are typical of fresh dough. However, if it’s mixed and then placed under refrigerated conditions for up to 48 hours, the dough can likely be frozen, thawed and used with general success.

Dough balls or raw, sheeted dough pieces for crusts can be frozen in plastic dough boxes or on sheet pans.

The tops of the dough pieces should be coated with oil or covered with plastic to prevent them from drying out too much during freezing or refrigeration.

Plastic dough boxes should be crossstacked for two hours in the freezer to allow for quicker penetration of cold air into the dough pieces, thus speeding up the freezing process. After two hours of freezing, dough boxes can then be stacked on top of each other and closed.

Frozen dough balls or raw sheeted dough pieces for crusts should be thawed under refrigerated conditions.

Once thawed, dough balls should be removed from the cooler/retarder for one to three hours prior to use.

Sheeted pieces, after being thawed, should be removed from the cooler/ retarder 15 to 30 minutes prior to use.

Both dough balls and raw sheeted dough pieces should be protected from drying out.

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Typically, dough can be frozen for two to four weeks without any noticeable difference in the performance of the finished product. After four weeks of freezer storage, the gas production capabilities of the yeast start to diminish.

It’s important to remember that frozen dough should be formulated differently than dough that is mixed and used immediately (two to 72 hours after mixing). In formulating for frozen dough, a higher level of yeast is usually required (twice as much or more as compared to fresh dough), allowing for loss of gassing power during freezing.

PMQ – The– Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly 00 Pizza PMQ’sMagazine Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Magazine

Other ingredients—such as gluten, dough strengtheners and others—can be added to the frozen dough to boost performance. Generally speaking, frozen dough will be mixed, divided, formed and frozen with little or no fermentation applied to the dough.

Jeff Zeak is the pilot plant manager for the American Institute of Baking (AIB). Need more dough advice?

Visit the Dough Information Center at PMQ.com/dough.

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New York’s Finest Chef Santo Bruno

Just Like Mama Used to Make

See cooking demos by Chef Bruno on PizzaTV.com.

Old-World recipes and generous portions distinguish Mama Sbarro’s in Long Island.

Italian food on Long Island doesn’t get much better than Mama Sbarro’s Restaurants.

The original Mama Sbarro’s opened in Deer Park in the mid-1990s. It was an instant success and has continued to be an award-winning pizzeria and Italian restaurant.

Another location has since opened in Hauppauge.

The extensive menu features the most popular traditional Italian dishes made from authentic Old-World recipes. I was impressed by the extremely generous portions.

Mama Sbarro’s is a Mecca for pizza lovers, and it’s especially famous for its awardwinning Grandma Pie, which features a toasted crust and rich, plump tomatoes.

The open kitchens bristle with excitement as the chefs prepare dishes using the best imported pastas, plum tomatoes, fresh herbs and mozzarella.

It takes commitment, passion and a great deal of talent to run a terrific operation such as Mama Sbarro’s. Angelo Fiorante, who has more than 20 years of Mama Sbarro’s server Maria Abbate shows off a plate of traditional Italian fare. experience—including 15 years with Mama Sbarro’s—oversees the Deer Park location.

He and his team of great chefs and waitstaff are the best of the best. He has built a loyal guest base by making sure that every customer leaves feeling like he just had Mama Sbarro’s specializes in Italian dishes made dinner at home with the family. from authentic old-world recipes.

If you drop in at Mama Sbarro’s, you can enjoy a quick takeout slice or sit down for a leisurely meal. Monday night is Pasta Night with a selection of more than a dozen pasta dishes made to perfection. It’s some of the best Italian food you’ll ever find on Long Island, and that’s saying a lot!

Managing partner Angelo Fiorante makes the rounds at Mama Sbarro’s in Long Island’s Deer Park community.

Chef Bruno (far right) gears up for an Italian-style feast with Rose Sidoti, Miguel Rivera, Mike Fiorante, Maria Abbate, Carolyn Weingold and Angelo Fiorante.

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Chef Bruno is PMQ’s culinary advisor, with more than 40 years of international pizza experience.

He is the corporate chef for Marsal & Sons and the culinary coach of the U.S. Pizza Team.

Accounting for Your Money Michael J. Rasmussen, CPA

Know the Facts About Social Security Benefits The taxes you pay today will directly impact the benefits you receive in the future.

QUESTION: Should I pay myself a salary to increase the Social Security benefits I’ll eventually receive?

ANSWER: I often hear this question these days, especially in light of our government’s insecure financial situation. A more detailed version goes like this: “Should I, as a pizzeria operator, worry about contributing to the Social Security system? My current entity tax structure allows for zero self-employment tax to be paid on my net income from my Subchapter S corporation yearly, and the only employment taxes I pay as an operator relate to gross wages for compensation.”

Depending on the entity structure you’re operating, your restaurant will directly impact your contributions to the Social Security system during the years that you are in business. For example, if you are classified as a Schedule C filer—under which no wages are paid to the operator—your net income from the business will be credited on your behalf to Social Security and is subject to the self-employment tax at a rate of 15.3%.

A self-employed person pays for his Social Security coverage by paying an annual self-employment tax that is

calculated on—and paid with—his federal income tax return.

The tax rate for the self-employed person—which is 15.3% in 2012—is higher than the regular employee deduction rate (7.65%), but the ceiling on taxable earnings is the same. The initial rate for self-employed persons equals the combined employer and employee rates (7.65% + 7.65%). However, the IRS reduces the sting of this higher tax rate by allowing the self-employed worker to deduct the employer portion of the tax burden—7.65%—from his gross income.

In an S corporation, only the wages paid to the shareholder— presumably, the owner of the restaurant—are subject to employment taxes, and the net income generated by the S corporation is not subject to self-employment tax (although there are a few exceptions to this rule). Thus, the wages alone are treated as contributions to the Social Security system for future benefits.

So there are various ways to approach this question. But, rather than focusing on future Social Security benefits, the more important concern is an immediate one: the risk of an audit related to the reporting of your wages—or lack thereof—from your S corporation during the current period.

If an operator limits or does not pay reasonable compensation to the shareholder-owner, the monies distributed or reported as net income from the S corporation could be reclassified as wages and may generate an IRS or agency audit, so due care should be exercised in determining the compensation amount for shareholder-owners.

Finally, keep in mind that tax planning is predicated on the premise of accelerating deductions and deferring income for cash-basis taxpayers, thereby reducing net earnings from self-employment directly and reducing the contributions to your eventual Social Security benefit. Call it the pay-me-nowor-pay-me-later dilemma, but it’s something to think about as you plan for retirement.

Have a question for Mike? Send it to editor@pmq.com.

To avoid an IRS audit, due care should be exercised in determining the amount of compensation paid to share-holder owners.

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Michael J. Rasmussen is the owner of Rasmussen Tax Group in Conway, Arkansas. Visit rasmussentaxgroup.com for additional insight into restaurant-specific tax strategies and technology programs.

The Marketing Maven Linda Duke

Something for the Ladies Follow these tips to market your restaurant as the venue of choice for women’s group luncheons.

Women love to gather in groups for luncheons, and your restaurant can be the perfect venue for their meetings. These groups may include bridge clubs, social clubs such as the Red Hat Society, nonprofit organizations or informal gettogethers of moms or close friends. Develop a marketing plan with these groups in mind, and you can become their regular venue of choice.

Here’s how to do it: 1.

Create a flyer. The flyer should note your pizzeria’s capacity to host large groups— whether in a banquet room, private dining area or reserved tables—and include a sample menu and pricing.

2.

Reach out to local women’s groups.

Ask if they need space for an upcoming luncheon and offer to send them flyers with more information about your restaurant, pricing and menu.

When your patio or banquet room becomes the place where the ladies meet, you will have created a band of ambassadors for your pizzeria.

3.

Provide samples. Track down the organization’s officers and offer free samples of your food along with the flyers.

Once they taste your restaurant’s fare, they’re more likely to book an event with you.

4.

Create four seasonal menus. Four seasonal menus (for winter, spring, summer and fall) will allow potential guests to see what a luncheon at your restaurant would be like at any time of the year. Make sure these menus highlight some of your signature pizzas, dishes and desserts.

5.

6.

Plan your decor. Sticking with the traditional colors of the season is the best approach. In the fall, for example, use red placemats or orange napkins, incorporate pumpkins or autumn leaves into the overall scheme, and set up miniature pumpkins as “place cards” at each guest’s seat.

Fresh seasonal flowers in vases are also a nice touch.

Choose your waitstaff carefully. Excellent service is a must to keep these groups coming back on a regular basis. Bring in your best waiters and waitresses to ensure that everything runs smoothly and that all of your guests receive their food in a timely fashion.

7.

Be prepared. Once you’ve booked the event, obtain a head count from the group leader so you’ll know how much food you will need. Ask if there will be any vegetarians in

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the group or if any members have food allergies and offer menu alternatives for these guests. Make sure the tables and chairs have been set up before the group arrives. It’s also a good idea to have an extra table and a few extra chairs on hand.

8.

Provide a goodbye treat. Create takeaway bags that feature your restaurant’s logo and fill them with freshly baked cookies, brownies or other tasty treats. Hand them out to your luncheon guests as they leave the restaurant.

They will remember this special touch and also will have a bag of goodies to share with friends they encounter later in the day. This is great PR for your restaurant!

Seasonal Secrets When developing your four seasonal luncheon menus, keep in mind what your guests will be hungry for during that time of the year.

• Winter. The winter menu should include comfort foods, such as a fresh tomato-basil soup or a hearty minestrone.

• Spring. Use in-season fresh produce for springtime. If you have specialty salads on your regular menu, create a sampler and serve it in salad bar form. Put together a calzone with some of your guests’ favorite ingredients of

the season—fresh spinach, zucchini and/or rosemary are possible options.

• Summer. Tea sandwiches can be a refreshing treat. Use crisp cucumbers, a sun-dried tomato and basil spread or a light chicken or tuna salad. Offer a few specialty lemonades, such as strawberry, raspberry and blueberry, or provide lemon-flavored sparkling water. Make sure to offer several salad options, including a fruit salad consisting of, for example, freshly cut strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, apples, bananas and pineapples.

• Fall. Use pumpkin and squash in soups, ravioli and baked goods, such as bread or muffins.

The marketing advantage of catering to women’s groups should be obvious: Female customers do a great job of spreading the word about a positive restaurant experience to their friends.

Make it a memorable experience for them, and other groups will want you to host their luncheons, too.

Linda Duke is the CEO of Duke Marketing and author of Recipes for Restaurateurs (marketing-cookbook.com), a “cookbook” of marketing ideas for restaurant owners. She publishes a quarterly industry resource, Restaurant Marketing Magazine, and an educational program, LSM-U, Local Store Marketing University. Find out more at dukemarketing.com.

To appeal to women’s groups, create an attractive, well-organized table setting that spotlights the foods and colors of the season.

September 2012 • pmq.com

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Good vibrations Locally grown products, community spirit and positive energy make Lupi’s a customer favorite in Chattanooga.

By Rick Hynum Photography By Tom Maynard

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Lupi’s employees Chris Balthrop (left) and Nathan Chandler (above) do their parts to create a positive, high energy atmosphere.

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

orris Shober, owner of the Lupi’s chain of pizzerias (lupi. com) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is a people person, but she’s pretty fond of pigs and cows, too. Not too fond, though—sooner or later, she knows, all the critters that she and her husband raise on their small farm on Lookout Mountain will end up on somebody’s plate, topping a pizza or filling out a heaping helping of lasagna.

It’s just part of the cycle of life, notes Shober, who prides herself on using locally sourced ingredients from various area growers at all four Lupi’s locations.

“Our stores gather all the preconsumer

vegetable waste, and we take it back to the farm and feed it to the pigs,” she says.

“Then we sell the ground beef and sausage from the farm to our restaurants. It creates this great circle, which is a really cool thing, and it keeps the waste out of the landfills.

“I don’t get attached to the animals— we don’t name them or anything,” she adds. “But I know that they have lived a healthy, humane life grazing freely in the pastures.”

A former nurse and Chattanooga native, Shober founded Lupi’s—renowned for its hand-tossed New York-style pies, slices and calzones—with her first husband in 1996. At the time, she had no restaurant experience, and he had only waited tables. “We’d always talked about getting into the restaurant business, but we had this idealistic vision of it—we didn’t know what it would really be like.”

While attending college in Atlanta, the couple took inspiration from that city’s Fellini’s Pizza (fellinisatlanta.com) chain and, upon moving back to Chattanooga, set out to revitalize their hometown’s pizza scene.

“All Chattanooga had at the time was a Pizza Hut,” she recalls. “It needed a place where you could get a slice of pizza and a beer. So we figured out how to make pizza. First, we ate a lot of bad pizza as we worked on developing our own recipes.

We knew what we wanted, and it took us a long time to get the crust just right.

But we finally came up with an excellent product, and we’ve done really well since the day we opened our doors.”

and feel of a playhouse for grownups; many employees show up for work in brightly colored tie-dye shirts and dorags, and original artwork—ranging from traditional styles to the surreal—lines the purple walls. “The interior is definitely eclectic, with no rhyme or reason,” Shober says. “When we rented our first space, there were about five haphazardly spaced supports for an old elevator shaft in the proposed dining area that couldn’t be removed. What to do with those? Why not make them into trees? So that’s what we did. Now each subsequent Lupi’s has large papier-maché trees, which create a very different, laid-back environment.

You never know what you’ll find hanging from them.”

“A Good, Positive Place” Now remarried, Shober has been running Lupi’s solo for the past 11 years. And, even though she claims marketing isn’t her strong point, she’s obviously doing something right. After the success of the first Lupi’s in downtown Chattanooga, a second opened in another part of town in 1999, and a third followed in 2006.

Shober launched her fourth store two years ago in Cleveland, Tennessee, and a fifth is scheduled to open next summer in Ooltewah.

As a nurse, Shober worked in a children’s hospital and later brought her own upbeat, childlike enthusiasm and energy to the restaurant business. With its decidedly eccentric decor, each Lupi’s location has the festive, picturesque look

(From top) One of Lupi’s signature pizzas features Italian sausage, roasted garlic, roasted peppers, red onion and fresh basil; employee Shawn Wilson tops a pie; employee Heather Hooks pops a pie into the oven.

September 2012 • pmq.com

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Chris Balthrop and T.J. Greever prepare batches of dough for the lunch rush at Lupi’s, a small chain of four pizzerias in Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee.

Shober strives to create a fun, uplifting and life-affirming experience for her guests. “What I like to hear customers say—and I do hear it—is that they leave Lupi’s feeling better than they did when they came in,” she says. “I always talk to my employees about giving off positive energy and making this a good, positive place for everyone who walks in the door.”

The Sum of Its Parts Shober is quick to share credit for Lupi’s success with her employees and says that staff camaraderie contributes to the restaurant’s joyful atmosphere. She prefers to hire versatile people who can wear many hats and learn every aspect of the

business. “In each restaurant we have people who can make pizza, work in the kitchen and work on the floor,” she says.

“We find that the best employees are the ones who are more well-rounded. Anyone who wants to make pizza, we’ll let them learn to make pizza.

“Lupi’s is definitely the sum of its parts,” she continues. “It’s not just me— it’s everybody. Every staff member’s strengths add up to make Lupi’s what it is. We really are like a family. And we always treat each other with respect. I like for my employees to come into work and feel like they’re in a safe space. Their experience is as important to me as my customers’ experience.”

“I’ve had farmers say that we’ve helped save their farms because we go through so much local pork and beef.”

–Dorris Shober, Owner, Lupi’s

Shober’s generosity extends throughout the community. Dedicated to the local food movement, her restaurants have become key buyers of produce and meats from farmers in the surrounding area.

“We use 100% local ground beef all of the time and 100% local ground sausage all of the time,” she points out. “We also use local whole-wheat flour, made exclusively for Lupi’s, all of the time. And, during the summer, we use local sources for our basil, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers and other things. I’ve had farmers say that we’ve helped save their farms because we go through so much local pork and beef.”

Lupi’s also supports various charities and local causes. “We don’t have an advertising budget,” Shober says. “We have a monthly donation budget. We give away a lot of pizza, donate gift certificates to be auctioned away, sponsor events and support the Tennessee Aquarium and other organizations. Aside from wordof-mouth, our website and our Facebook page, giving back to the community is our marketing strategy.”

From Catering to Take-and-Bake Don’t let Shober’s modest, low-key approach fool you; over the years she has also moved quickly to take advantage of new trends in the pizza business. She adopted the take-and-bake model in 2001 and, although it only accounts for, at most, 10% of the chain’s business, it keeps the Lupi’s brand on customers’ minds—and in their bellies—even when they don’t have time to go out for a slice.

“We don’t offer delivery, so this is the perfect alternative,” she notes. “People 26

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

During the summer, Lupi’s turns to local growers for tomatoes, basil and other key ingredients.

love it. And it’s less time-consuming for our staff than baking a pizza. You just have throw it on a bakeable tray, top it, and it’s done.”

Shober also moved Lupi’s into catering and mobile vending that same year,

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creating a “kitchen on wheels” that travels regularly to local festivals, farmers markets and other events. “Our catering division is really starting to grow,” Shober says. “We’ve been doing rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions, corporate parties and sporting events, all out of that trailer. We recently had to bring on more people to help build it up.”

Lupi’s touts its take-and-bake and catering options on its menus, Facebook

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

page and website. The website also features regularly updated news briefs, covering topics ranging from new menu items to the downtown store’s impressive score of 97 on a random health inspection (the ex-nurse Shober keeps her kitchens spotless).

But, as the Lupi’s concept keeps growing, Shober has gradually begun to step back from day-to-day operations. She promoted longtime employee Matt

Once the new location in Ooltewah launches next summer, other cities will beckon, and Shober may heed their siren call. “More expansion is possible because I’ve got an incredible group of employees behind me, several of whom have expressed interest in expanding,” she says.

“We’ve had inquiries from Knoxville and Nashville, but, right now, we’re going to focus on getting this fifth store opened.

If we can run these five stores really well, then we’ll look at expanding again.

“We’re wide open to the possibilities,” Shober adds. “It’s exciting, and there’s no telling what the future holds for us. I really feel like Lupi’s has been a gift for me, and I just enjoy it so very much.”

Douglass to chief operating officer so that she could spend more time back on the farm, tending to her pigs and cows on Lookout Mountain. “Like the restaurant business, it’s hard work, but I like the peacefulness of the farm,” she says. “It’s just a completely different pace, and it’s a beautiful place.”

But that doesn’t mean that the growth of Lupi’s will be slowing anytime soon.

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THE STATS: LUPI’S Headquarters: Chattanooga, TN Owners: Dorris Shober Total Units: 4

Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor-in-chief.

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Year started: 1996 Dine-in, takeout Number of employees: 85

August 2012 • pmq.com

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NRAKnockouts The PMQ staff reviews some of the hottest products from the 2012 NRA Show in Chicago.

With more than 1,800 exhibitors and tens of thousands of attendees, the array of sights, sounds, smells and, of course, tastes at the 2012 NRA Show could be fairly overwhelming.

But whether or not you traveled the aisles at this year’s show, held May 5 to 8 at Chicago’s McCormick Place, the PMQ staff was on the lookout for the latest and greatest to bring to our readers. From pepperoni-shaped salmon patties to social media demystifiers, here’s our annual roundup of what stood out on the show floor.

My Picks:

Steve Green, publisher

Wonton Food Pizza Fortune Cannoli Holy cannoli! These are the perfect fortune cookies for pizzerias. After selling millions of fortune cookies to Chinese restaurants, Danny Zeng at Wonton Foods has created cannoli-shaped cookies. At the show, he told me, “I saw you last year, and you gave me this idea.”

Now he’s selling them! I can envision pizzerias placing coupons in the cookies for $1 discounts on the next pizza. 800-776-8889, wontonfood.com

Mozo Bacon and Egg Shoes Mozo has built a reputation for high fashion in the foodservice industry, and now a new technology can put images on their shoes. Not only are these shoes comfortable, they’re very noticeable. The bacon and egg images were very popular, but their customers wanted to mix the bacon and egg shoes, so they came up with this fun pair. 866-684-1832, mozoshoes.com

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MacKnight Scottish Smoked Salmon Party Slices As we know, Wolfgang Puck made salmon pizza mainstream (no pun intended), and these salmon slices are perfect—they’re pepperonishaped. The round shape makes salmon easy to use as toppings and maybe even more acceptable to customers; they just seem suitable for pizza, as opposed to some fish meat lumped on a crust. They even have salmon bacon! When you offer omega 3-rich salmon in place of bacon, you can really turn the tables and promote the idea of pizza as being healthy.

305-655-0444, macknight.com

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Flexsil-Lid This product, created in and widely used in Australia, was great! When I ran a Domino’s franchise, we’d have to go to the refrigerated make line at the end of the night and clean out the containers for the sauce, cheese or mushrooms. But if the product is still fresh, you don’t want to have to clean it out just to use it again a few hours later for lunch. This plastic lid makes a clean seal over refrigerated pans like a Tupperware container— no more tinfoil or plastic wrap! flexsil-lid.com

Urban Waiter Urban Waiter has digitized paper menus—taking your menus, going online, and uploading your images and prices. Then the customer can read your menu with an iPad or iPhone. When guests come in, they can bring up the menu on their own devices, or you can have iPads at tables to display it. And they can see your menu wherever they are—in the parking lot, at home or while on the go—with their phones. This info can also appear on giant screens in-store instead of menu boards. It gets into the heads—and pockets—of customers and was the brainstorm of a former restaurant/pizza guy who developed it for his own operation. 919-238-9643, urbanwaiter.com

My Picks: Rasta Imposta Costumes

Clifton Moody, account executive

International Play Company Playgrounds This company’s play stations are very visible and colorful and will catch the attention of kids. Some were even created to look like a pizzeria, which should reinforce the kids’ love of pizza and keep them coming back. Kids dominate the pizza world, and this provides great entertainment for them while they’re at your store. 604-607-1111, internationalplayco.com

These costumes were very eye-catching, and they looked comfortable to wear as well. The fabric and size of the costumes was just right; I touched them, and they were soft, silky and lightweight. Their appearance really caught my attention, so I can only imagine what they’d do for a pizzeria. You can order custom-made costumes, and they offer a pizza-themed costume as well. 800-217-2782, rastaimposta.com

My Picks: Scotsman Ice Systems’ Nugget Ice Machine

Linda Green, co-publisher Black Box for Business Some pizzerias may have a Facebook page, but they often don’t know how to best utilize social media to generate business. This company steps in to help you do it in an affordable way; they handle social media, mobile marketing and even reputation management. From Facebook to Twitter, pizzerias can take advantage of technology by getting help from owner Nick Prestia, who’s been around the pizza industry quite a bit!

630-945-0198, blackboxforbusiness.com

This machine makes chewy ice like you find in drinks at Sonic. I think it’s a great idea for pizzerias that sell fountain beverages to offer unique ice; a PMQ employee is actually addicted to this ice, and it has a cult following (there’s even a website, luvthenug.com). It’s a neat product that can help boost profitability.

800-726-8762, scotsman-ice.com September 2012 • pmq.com

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My Picks: Front Flip

Liz Barrett, editor at large

Customers download the Front Flip app to their phone, and, when they scan a tent card with a QR code on your pizzeria’s table, it pulls up a “scratch and win” game piece. They rub the phone with their hands and can win things, then redeem them right in the store. When they do this, the pizzeria captures the customer’s information— without having to ask them to sign up for anything. Restaurants can choose the prizes, such as free desserts, appetizers or pizzas, and you can even send personalized gifts to their phones to say thanks or to get back customers who haven’t visited in a while. Customers can also send the gifts to a friend if they don’t want to use them, getting another customer in your pizzeria! 855-730-1830, frontflip.com

Chow Now This was the first time I’ve seen a company integrate Facebook and online ordering, and I thought, “Why hasn’t anyone done this before?”

This is great for pizzerias with a Facebook page but no website; nowadays people are more likely to go to Facebook pages over websites anyway, and people spend more time on Facebook than they do on a single website. You can suggest meal items on your page, and customers can order online right from that page. 888-707-2469, chownow.com

Mogl These in-store games work like this: Every time a customer eats at your pizzeria, he gets 10% cash back, and each month the person with the most cash back wins a jackpot (decided by the pizzeria); first-, second- and third-place winners get a prize. What stood out to me was that it’s linked to the customer’s debit or credit card, so there are no loyalty cards or coupons to carry. And every time the customer spends $20 at a Mogl-registered restaurant, the company donates a meal to Feeding America, so they’re doing their part to give back. 888-664-5669, mogl.com

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Solazyme-Roquette Nutritionals’ The Impossible Cookie When I saw this, at first I thought it was just a healthy cookie, which is great, but then I asked, “How can this be applied to pizza?” And it can! I’m told the company may start working on making a healthier pizza dough, and they can even work with cheese as well (not mozzarella, as the product will change its color, but a cheese such as cheddar).

It’s a futuristic, scientific thing that can work with your dough or cheese to reduce fat and calories without affecting the taste. (And the cookie was very good, by the way.) 650-243-5500, srnutritionals.com

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Soft Hits

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From feta to ricotta to French brie, soft cheeses appeal to adventurous pizza lovers.

By Michelle McAnally

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Rich, gooey, melt-in-your-mouth soft cheeses are the new rock stars of the pizzeria menu. Fresh mozzarella, salty feta, heady blue, buttery brie, creamy ricotta and tangy goat cheeses can elevate the common to the epicurean and offer opportunities to jazz up any pizzeria menu.

“Consumers are more adventurous than ever and are generally interested in trying new cheeses they might not be familiar with,” says Heather Porter Engwall, director of national product communications for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

“When you expand your cheese selection to explore new categories, it elevates the perception of pizza on a menu.”

Along with their myriad uses on pizzas, most soft cheeses can enhance a pizzeria’s selection of appetizers, too. “Almost

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any appetizer can benefit from the addition of soft cheese,” says chef Mark Todd, a California Milk Advisory Board pizza consultant. “Chips become nachos, cheese fries are taken up a notch, and pan-fried feta cubes are great on salads as a kind of cheese crouton.”

Here’s a closer look at some of the most popular types of soft cheeses and how pizzeria operators have incorporated them into their menus.

Mozzarella

Cheese On the Side Heather Porter Engwall, director of national product communications for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, suggests some soft cheeses that are right at home in the pizzeria setting. These cheeses make specialty pies stand out and other menu items soar.

Burrata combines a layer of fresh mozzarella with a rich filling of curd and cream. The cheese has a sweet, milky flavor. Burrata works well as a simple appetizer or salad.

Try serving a slice of burrata on a bed of mixed greens or smoked salmon, garnished with balsamic syrup.

Crescenza-Stracchino is a traditional Italian-style cheese that’s soft and creamy, with a mild, milky and slightly tart flavor. It is spreadable, melts well and pairs nicely with mushrooms and prosciutto.

Cheese spreads are becoming more popular on pizzas and flatbreads. For example, a brick and cheddar cheese spread combines aged white cheddar and brick cheeses, creating a creamy, tangy, spreadable cheese that tastes great on pizza. It pairs well with bacon, chorizo sausage and tart fruits, such as green apples.

Italico, a soft, surface-ripened cheese, is a creamy cheese with an earthy flavor that intensifies with age. It melts very well on thin slices of pizza.

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Fresh mozzarella, with a moisture content of about 60%, starts as a soft cheese. After it has been dried to a moisture content of roughly 45%, it turns into the low-moisture, semisoft cheese that tops most pizzas. Mozzarella was originally made from buffalo milk, and, according to legend, became a staple in Italy after Cleopatra introduced the treat to her lover Marc Anthony, who sent Egyptian water buffalo and the recipe back to Rome. Highfat mozzarella di bufala is now a specialty item, while most mozzarella today comes from cow’s milk.

One popular type of mozzarella cheese—designed specifically for pizza—combines cow’s milk and buffalo milk, according to Jonathan Reinemund, brand manager for Denver-based Bacio Cheese. “This superior-melting cheese performs beautifully in any oven, especially high-temperature deck ovens,” he says.

“You get a creamy mouthfeel and no oil-off, without having to reduce the fat content.” The buffalo milk also helps the cheese spring back to life after reheating, Reinemund notes, and the mozzarella can be used for hot sandwiches, baked pasta and other dishes.

Many pizzerias offer fresh mozzarella, or fior di latte, as a topping in addition to the usual low-moisture variety. Fresh mozzarella melts differently and gives a silky touch to some pies, such as the traditional Margherita. “The really fresh mozzarella almost oozes milk and moisture from it,” says Ross Adami, wholesale manager at The Mozzarella Company in Dallas. Another option is a fresh mozzarella packed in pH-balanced water, he adds.

According to the marketing team at Grande Cheese in Brownsville, Wisconsin, fresh mozzarella melts and flows superbly. The moisture content allows for easy slicing and a superior presentation; for best results, however, Grande’s team suggests drying the cheese prior to placing it on a pizza (cheesecloth works great for this purpose).

“We started using fresh mozzarella when we introduced a traditional Neapolitan-style Margherita to our menu about five years ago,” explains Shelley McNulty, marketing director for Pagliacci Pizza (pagliacci.com) in Seattle. “The fresh mozzarella showcases the San Marzano tomatoes nicely. We’ve also been using fresh mozzarella on some olive oil-based pies, such as our Prosciutto Fig Primo.”

Fresh mozzarella dresses up more than just pizza. Placed on bruschetta, it adds cheesy goodness to a meal. “One of our most popular, easy-to-make appetizers is our Mozzarella di Buffalo, which consists of fresh mozzarella layered on fresh sliced California tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, California Kalamata olives and a pinch of oregano, drizzled with imported Italian extravirgin olive oil and served with French bread,” says Joseph Radwan, president of Red Boy Pizza (redboypizza.com) in San Rafael, California. “This appetizer can be made in less than a minute and costs a little more than a dollar in ingredients. It’s

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THE MOZZARELLA COMPANY

Employees of The Mozzarella Company in Dallas prepare fresh mozzarella balls for packaging.

a great way for your customers to start off their meal and pairs well with a nice California pinot noir.”

Ricotta, Goat, Mascarpone and Feta Ricotta, goat, mascarpone and feta make excellent additions both to your pizza topping list and throughout the entire menu.

Beyond its starring role in lasagna, ricotta cheese combines beautifully with olive oil and fresh herbs to create a creamy, mild alternative to red sauces. Technically not a cheese—it’s a curd by-product of cheese production—ricotta’s neutral flavor profile and creamy consistency enhances both savory and sweet dishes alike.

“Ricotta cheese is a topping no Italian pizzeria should go without on their menu,” Radwan opines. “Our customers often request it on pizzas, such as a Margherita or even a plain cheese pizza.” One of Red Boy’s top sellers, the Pizza Giuseppe, features ricotta. “It was very important for me to find the right ricotta for texture and to help balance the complex flavors of the fire-roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, garlic and freshly julienned basil baked on our famous San Francisco sourdough crust,” Radwan says. “The ricotta cheese pulls all the flavors together—all you need now is a glass of Italian Chianti to clear y p g bite.” your palate for the next mouthwatering

Grande’s marketing experts hail ricotta as one of the most versatile cheeses in the pizzeria. For example, many desserts made with vanilla cream work well with ricotta. Whether it’s layered in tiramisu or a simple parfait, ricotta is delicious and easy to use. Cannoli, pancakes and honey-ricotta napoleons with espresso dust are just a few of the indulgent, ricotta-based desserts that show up on pizzeria menus.

Goat cheese, meanwhile, is a soft, fresh, spreadable product with an earthy—but not overwhelming—flavor profile. Pagliacci Pizza offers goat cheese as a topping and features it on several of its specialty pies. “After it’s cooked, goat cheese has a nice, mild taste that lends itself well to a number of different topping combinations,” McNulty says. “Our Agog Primo is one of our most popular specialty pizzas; the goat cheese stands out while still letting the other ingredients—roasted garlic, Kalamata olives, mushrooms, mozzarella and fresh tomatoes—shine.”

Feta remains the cheese of choice for Greek-themed pizzas and adds zip to chicken and pesto-sauce pies. Crumbled on salads, it blends perfectly with Greek olives, pepperoncini and tomatoes.

“Feta adds a great Mediterranean flavor to any pizza,” McNulty says. “We run a seasonal pizza every spring that features feta with lamb sausage, artichokes, roasted red peppers, onions and mozzarella on a pesto base; it captures the flavor of southern

“Ricotta cheese combines beautifully b with olive oil and fresh fre herbs to create a creamy, mild mi alternative to red sauces.”

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Italy in springtime. We also like to feature feta on spicy pies, such as our Spicy Chicken combination, to cut through some of the heat and balance the pie.”

Some chefs prize mascarpone cheese for its rich, slightly sweet flavor. “It works well for both sweet and savory pizzas when it’s spread over the pizza crust as a base layer before adding toppings,” Engwall says. “Mascarpone is also an excellent cheese for desserts. It makes a wonderful filling or topping and can be used as an ingredient in cakes and pies. It can also be used to make a light salad dressing when combined with ingredients such as olive oil, mustard and lemon juice.”

Brie and Blue People think of brie as a dessert or snack cheese, but, used as a pizza topping, it provides a buttery kiss that complements many ingredients. “Our customers add French brie to pizzas all the time,” Radwan observes. “It’s a great premium topping that not a lot of pizzerias carry.”

Red Boy features brie on its Pizza Parisienne. “We put it on three-quarters of the way through the cooking process to ensure we don’t burn the delicate cheese,” Radwan says. “Customers love the way it complements the Italian extra-virgin olive oil and tangy taste of our California sun-dried tomatoes.” To add a sophisticated touch to your appetizer menu, wrap Brie in puff pastry or top it with flavorful chutney or nuts and honey, then bake it until it’s slightly melted.

As premium toppings, blue, Roquefort and Gorgonzola cheeses—each similar but originating in different regions—lend

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Experts hail ricotta as one of the most versatile cheeses in the pizzeria.

a piquancy that complements nearly any type of pizza. “There are some fairly obvious uses for blue cheese, such as on a green salad or Buffalo wings, but blue can also be used on focaccia or in fruit salads,” Todd says. “I’ve even had blue cheese ice cream.

And, with the explosion of Buffalo wing-style pizzas, blue cheese has become a recurring character in the pizza show as well.”

Storing Soft Cheeses Soft fresh cheeses require a bit more care than aged cheese and don’t freeze well. “Fresh cheeses are best stored at 35° to 38°F

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and should be rotated often,” Todd says. “The shelf life on these cheeses varies, but it tends to be short—in the range of weeks, not months. Store them in the back of the walk-in or reach-in to minimize the temperature fluctuation that comes with opening the doors all the time.”

Soft, bloomy rind cheese, such as brie or Camembert, should be stored at temperatures between 40° and 45°F, with a slightly elevated humidity. “When storing this type of cheese, protect the cut surface from drying out by applying a piece of parchment paper to the exposed area before storing,” Engwall suggests.

“You can store it in its original wrapping or store it unwrapped in a sealed plastic container pierced with a few holes to allow air circulation. Place a clean, slightly damp towel in the bottom of the container to elevate the humidity.”

As Americans discover the pleasure of delicacies that were once uncommon on pizzeria menus, savvy operators can stay on top of the trend by expanding their soft cheese offerings. In other words, don’t be afraid to get cheesy!

Michelle McAnally is PMQ’s associate editor.

Cheeses That Please Bacio Cheese, 855-BACIO85, bachiocheese.com BelGioioso Cheese, 877- 863-2123, belgioioso.com Castle Cheese, 800-252-4373, castlecheeseinc.com California Milk Advisory Board, 650-871-6455, realcaliforniamilk.com Caputo Cheese, 708-450-0074, caputocheese.com Chianti Cheese, kantnergroup.com, 800-220-3503 Daiya, 602-269-7241, daiyafoods.com Galaxy Foods, 800-441-9419, galaxyfoods.com Grande Cheeses, 800-678-3122, grande.com Klondike Cheese Company, 608-325-3021, klondikecheese.com Lactalis, 716-823-6262, lactalisfs.com Losurdo Foods, 201-343-6680, losurdofoods.com The Mozzarella Company, 214-741-4072, mozzco.com Parmalat Canada, 800-563-1515, parmalat.ca Saputo, 800-824-3373, saputousafoodservice.com Sartori Foods, 920-893-6061, sartoricheese.com Sorrento Lactalis, 716-823-6262, greatcheese.com Toscana Cheese, 201-617-1500, toscanacheese.com Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, 608-836-8820, eatwisconsincheese.com

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

See us at the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show Booth # 1245

FIRE IT UP! Discover how to choose the perfect oven for your pizza style and business model.

WOOD STONE OVEN CORPORATION

By Michelle McAnally

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From wood-fired styles to gas or electric models, the oven is a pizzeria's most essential piece of equipment.

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PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

here is more than one way to cook a pizza—and more than one type of oven in which to cook it. As one of your restaurant’s biggest investments and your most essential piece of equipment, your oven choice should work with your recipes, your staff and your space, as well as your budget. If your pizzeria consistently and quickly pumps out a lot of pies, you might think about a conveyor oven. If you want an all-purpose, high-temperature oven that can fit in any kitchen, deck ovens make a good choice. If you want Old-World flair, a wood- or coal-fired brick oven is the ticket. And if you cook a wide variety of foods, a combination convection/steam or revolving tray oven

is worth looking into. The choices can be overwhelming, so let’s take a look at the options.

Fuel Options Local electric and gas prices vary, but gas models usually cost less to run.

For restaurants without gas lines or for small operations, electric ovens can be a more practical choice. Compared to wood or coal ovens, gas or electric ovens may cost more up-front, but you will probably save money on installation and maintenance.

“Some people are afraid of LP gas, so, if they don’t have natural gas, they might default to electric,” says Bryan Huntley, president of Peerless Ovens in Sandusky, Ohio. “It’s a different bake; gas is a soft convective heat, and electric has more radiant heat. If someone goes from a gas to electric, he may have to alter the way he cooks.

Temperatures, times, procedures and even recipes may have to change.”

While some pizzaioli insist that wood fires hold the secret to a perfect bake, Merrill Bevan, vice president of international sales for Wood Stone Corporation in Bellingham, Washington, maintains that you can get similar results from a quality deck gas stone oven. “After many trials and blind taste tests, we couldn’t ignore the overwhelming result that the food tasted great out of either a gas or wood oven,” he says. “The reason, we learned, was the combination of stone-hearth floor and the intense heat of an open flame, not the wood itself. The result for the owner is that, when they consider wood versus gas, they are not considering a difference in flavor profile, just a difference in fuel type.”

Conveyor Ovens Conveyor ovens move food along an adjustable-speed belt. Because they cook large quantities of the same product efficiently, they remain the most commonly used oven in franchises and high-volume pizzerias. Split-belt conveyors cook foods at the same time but at different speeds, which is handy for restaurants with extensive menus.

A stone-surface conveyor oven combines automation and speed with a bake that comes only from cooking on

Deck ovens are relatively inexpensive to buy, operate and maintain.

Italian pizza master Leone Coppola used a conveyor oven to build the world's longest pizza in 2007.

stone. “You can bake 160 pizzas each hour in about four minutes each, so you can crank out a lot of pies,” notes Kristine Marchetti, marketing manager for Picard Ovens, headquartered in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada. “Another advantage is that you don’t have to be an expert, and the results from the oven are still phenomenal.”

Conveyors tend to produce consistent bake results—a must for any chain operation. “The conveyor oven allows a franchisee to produce a very consistent product at multiple locations without the training and skilled labor

required with most deck or woodfired ovens,” says Michael French, a partner with Edge Ovens in Dunbar, Pennsylvania. “The consistent temperature and bake time, regardless of the amount of food in the oven, allow conveyor ovens to make a very uniform product time after time.”

Conveyor ovens also cook a wide range of foods besides pizza. "With split-belt technology, you can cook two items that require different bake times side-by-side," says Corey Calloway of XLT, Inc. in Wichita, Kansas. "This really adds to the flexibility September 2012 • pmq.com

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“The popularity of traditional wood-fired and coal-fired ovens has surged as pizzeria operators look to add Old World-style recipes to their menus.”

and versatility of your oven and gives pizzeria operators the ability to cook additional menu items, such as sandwiches, pastas and wings, all in the same run."

Conveyor ovens allow for efficient use of kitchen space as well, says Les Nowosad, vice president of sales for Middleby Marshall in Elgin, Illinois.

“They are stackable up to three units high, which allows for greater production without taking up more floor space,” Nowosad says. “And with an average bake time of just minutes, you can speed up your delivery time as well as your dine-in service using a high-quality conveyor oven.”

Deck Ovens Deck ovens cook up crispy pies using gas or electricity. Pizzas are placed directly on shelves, or decks, which are heated by burners underneath to

WOOD STONE OVEN CORPORATION

Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria in Seattle was the Northwest's first certified Neapolitan restaurant.

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between about 400° and 700°, while radiant heat cooks the toppings. With this method, a single pizza takes six to eight minutes to cook. “A deck oven will give a crispier, more flavorful bake to the crust,” says Rich Ferrara, co-owner of Marsal and Sons in Lindenhurst, New York. Deck ovens can be stacked to meet your pizzeria’s demands on the busiest nights. “Most shops choose to purchase a double oven to assist with peak hour demands and to have a backup in the event one of the ovens requires service,” notes David Berger, president of sales and instruction for Cuppone Ovens America in Manteca, California. “Higher volume operators may want to purchase a triple deck oven to meet their busy daily demands.”

According to Ferrara, deck ovens need at least an hour to reach cooking temperature and require recovery time to return to the proper temperature after a fully cooked pizza is removed.

To avoid downtime, make sure the deck oven you select is large enough to meet your operation’s demands on the busiest nights. Some deck ovens are available in brick or cordierite refractory stone-lined models, which give a crisp crust with nice charring in less time than a regular deck oven and reduce the moisture from wet toppings, such as vegetables. “Cordierite can withstand the rigorous abuse and high temperatures needed for pizza baking,” says Berger. “If someone is looking for a darker, more authentic type of pizza, brick-lined deck ovens are perfect,” Ferrara says.

“Deck ovens are inexpensive to buy, operate and maintain,” says Huntley.

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

“They have a lot of capacity and use little space.” Well-designed, well-built deck ovens are known as workhorses in the industry; a deck oven can serve as the pizzeria’s main oven and can be transported anywhere, from a concession trailer to a kitchen corner. “It cooks a great pizza, but it also cooks a variety of products, from flatbreads to subs to wedding cakes,” Huntley adds. “It’s a ‘do-everything’ oven.”

Wood-and Coal-Fired Ovens The popularity of traditional woodfired and coal-fired ovens has surged as pizzeria operators look to add Old World-style recipes to their menus.

These ovens also lend panache to a restaurant’s atmosphere. Some pizzaioli, especially those with the Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN) certification, insist on wood-fired ovens. “They love the visual element and the smell, especially with the wood units,” says JeanPaul Yotnegparian, CEO of Earthstone Ovens in Glendale, California.

Some experts claim that Neapolitanstyle pizzas cook up best in fired ovens, but these require more skill, care and cleaning know-how than other types. It takes an experienced touch to keep a wood- or coal-fired oven at a consistent temperature and move pizzas around so that they cook evenly. A cook may need to apprentice under a more experienced pizza maker for a year to learn the nuances of oven tending.

When purchasing a wood- or coalfired oven, consider a combination model. “The gas/wood units allow the operator to use gas, a combination of gas and wood, or wood only,” Yotnegparian says. Because it takes

hours for a wood-fired oven to heat up to cooking temperature, a gas combination model can kick-start the process.

Wood or gas/wood combination ovens should be vented separately, and the ducts require regular cleaning. This can pose challenges in major metropolitan locations or multistory buildings. “If wood fire is important to the chef, a combination oven is a good choice,” Bevan advises. “You have all of the operational advantages of the gas oven, so you can decide to forgo any wood at all if you get a bad load from your purveyor or if you’re just not feeling it that Friday night.”

You’ll need a steady source of fuel wood, of course, and Yotnegparian recommends hardwoods, such as oak, walnut or almond. Other hard, fruit-bearing woods (including pecan and mesquite) work, too. Never use soft woods such as pine or spruce, as they smoke and pop.

Meanwhile, as an alternative to the wood-burning variety, coal-fired ovens—once a popular choice with pizzerias in the industrial Northeast—have

Buying a Reconditioned Oven According to Stephen Mizell of Edenton, North Carolina-based Pizza Equipment Warehouse (pizzaequipmentwarehouse.com), a reconditioned oven can cost up to 50% less than a new one. Mizell offers suggestions on what to tell your dealer about your operation and what to ask before you buy.

• What types of products will you offer, and how big is your largest pizza?

• How many pies per hour do you expect to serve at your busiest time?

• What is your power source? Gas (natural or LP) or electric (is three-phase power available?)

• What is the kitchen size?

• What is the length of the warranty, how will it be serviced and who does the company use for service work?

• What parts have been replaced, was the oven completely disassembled and did they use original manufacturer or generic parts? been making a comeback, Bevan observes. “Many of the pioneers of this second wave of coal-fired pizza grew up in communities that had heritage pizzerias, and they went there as kids with their parents and grandparents.

So, in finding something different, they're actually returning to something they knew before.”

Bevan recommends using a hybrid coal oven with a gas radiant flame and an underfloor infrared burner.

“This reduces some of the challenges of coal while giving you the authentic, intense cooking chamber sought after by coal-oven aficionados,” Bevan says. “Because coal is more challenging to work with, operators typically

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are very dedicated. If they spend all that time on the fuel source, they also tend to get all the other details right: They don’t overtop, they have a good dough program, and they pay attention to the intangibles. That dedication adds up to a great pizza.”

Combination Ovens Combination ovens cook with steam and dry convection heat. By circulating hot air, they finish foods about 25% faster than conventional ovens and brown them evenly. In fact, a convection combination cooks several pizzas

in about the same amount of time as a conventional oven can cook one pizza.

“A combination oven grows with the business and opens up menu options.

It will bake pizza, but it can be used for many other cooking tasks,” says Tom Douglas, corporate chef for Henny Penny Global Foodservice Solutions in Eaton, Ohio. “A combination oven’s versatility allows the owner to cook a wider variety of food than any other piece of kitchen equipment. You can bake desserts, chicken wings, breaded frozen products, lasagna, bread-

sticks, sides, casserole dishes, meats, sausages and many other products.”

Programmable combination ovens control the humidity in the oven, increasing the steam or venting it to maintain preset levels. Operators can also program their recipes into the oven’s computer, Douglas points out.

“Employees push a button, and the oven gives consistent quality cooking every time,” he explains. “This, of course, results in happier and more loyal customers.”

Revolving-Tray Ovens Usually thought of as a bakery oven, a mechanical revolving-tray oven also works well for pizzas and other pizzeria menu items. “Shelves rotating through all of the oven’s heat zones average out the baking temperature, providing a consistent, even bake,” says James M. Campbell III, president of Fish Ovens in Wauconda, Illinois. “Not constantly opening and closing multiple oven doors for loading and unloading helps maintain optimal baking temperatures, while the solid hearth shelves retain and evenly spread bottom heat.”

Another advantage of revolvingtray ovens is their ability to bake products requiring different bake durations concurrently since an individual product can be removed during the bake cycle. “Mishaps are reduced since the operator no longer has to scramble from one door to another during a bake,” Campbell says.

A high-quality revolving-tray pizza oven can cook pizzas, calzones, bread, chicken wings and other items on a choice of stone or heavy-gauge metal shelves. Look for a large-capacity oven with an integrated hood, a small footprint and heavy-duty insulation so that it can be placed against a wall, Marchetti advises. “The heat doesn’t escape, so it doesn’t lose heat between bakes; you can practically cook with the door open,” she says.

“With the stone option, you get the results of a stone deck oven, but you can cook many different products at the same time.”

Mobile Ovens Mobile pizzerias have joined food trucks as new alternative eateries of choice, and brick ovens have become 48

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

a popular choice for many operators, according to Renato Riccio, president of Renato Ovens in Garland, Texas.

He recommends mobile brick ovens that fire with wood or coal; a combination of wood and gas; or a combination of wood, coal, gas and infrared.

Such models should be thermostatically controlled and able to cook a thin Neapolitan-style pie in two or three minutes.

These units can even be customordered, including decoration and finish, and mounted on a specially designed heavy-duty trailer. “Look for trailers that include a place for a portable generator capable of generating 110 to 240 volts at 40 amps and, depending on the size of the trailer, two or three heavy-duty cages for LP storage stands and enough firewood storage for at least a week of continuous firing,” Riccio advises.

Ultimately, oven choices abound for pizzeria operators, and selecting one can be a daunting prospect. There’s no reason to make a hasty decision. Talk to several manufacturers, describe your operation and let them help you decide what oven will work best for you. Ask for a tour of the manufacturer’s factory, Marchetti suggests, and visit a pizzeria that uses that manufacturer’s ovens. The best manufacturers will “listen to the needs of the client and build an oven to meet those needs,” Marchetti says.

In other words, don’t settle for anything less than the perfect oven for your pizza style and business model.

After all, it’s one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a pizzeria operator; taking your time will help you make the right one.

Michelle McAnally is PMQ’s associate editor.

Oven Resource Guide American Range, 888-753-9898, americanrange.com Attias Oven Corporation, 800-928-8427, attiasco.com Bakers Pride, 914-576-0200, bakerspride.com Baxter, 800-777-2828, baxterbakery.com Blodgett, 802-658-6600, blodgett.com Chicago Brick Oven, 630-359-4793, chicagobrickoven.com Cuppone America, 800-655-1831, cupponeamerica.com Doughpro, 800-624-6717, doughpro.com Doyon Equipment, 800-463-4273, doyon.qc.ca EarthStone Wood-Fire Ovens, 800-840-4915, earthstoneovens.com The Fire Within, 303-652-7378, firewithin.com Fish Oven & Equipment Corp., 877-526-8720, fishoven.com Garland Commercial Ranges, 800-424-2411, garland-group.com Henny Penny Corporation, 800-417-8417, hennypenny.com Hobart Corporation, 888-446-2278, hobartcorp.com Lincoln Foodservice Products, 888-417-5462, lincolnfp.com Maine Wood Heat Co., 207-474-7465, mainewoodheat.com Marra Forni, 301-623-3001, eurorestaurantsolutions.com Marsal & Sons, 631-226-6688, marsalsons.com MF&B Restaurant Systems, 724-628-3050, ovenguys.com Middleby Marshall, 877-346-8367, middleby-marshall.com Moffat, 800-551-8795, moffat.com The Montague Company, 800-345-1830, montaguecompany.com Nemco Food Equipment, 800-782-6761, nemcofoodequip.com Peerless Ovens, 800-548-4514, peerlessovens.com Picard Ovens, 819 758-1883, picardovens.com Renato Ovens, 866-575-6316, renatos.com Roto-Flex Oven Co., 800-386-2279, rotoflexoven.com Star Manufacturing International, 800-264-7827, star-mfg.com TurboChef Technologies, 800-908-8726, turbochef.com The Vollrath Co., 800-628-0830, vollrathco.com

A combination oven can bake several pizzas in about the same amount of time that a conventional oven can cook a single pie.

WP Kemper Bakery Systems, 203-929-6530, wpbakerygroupusa.com Wisco Industries, 800-999-4726, thepizzaoven.biz XLT Ovens, 888-443-2751, xltovens.com

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Pizza of the Month:

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Seafood

Taco

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

Black Bean Taco Pizza Recipe and photo provided by Cadry Nelson, cadryskitchen.com ¼ c. (heaping) spicy black beans 1 cornmeal crust A few spoonfuls of marinara sauce 1 small tomato, chopped ¼ yellow onion, chopped ½ avocado, diced ¼ medium red bell pepper, chopped 4 Kalamata olives, sliced 1-2 large handfuls nacho chips, crushed

Yo Quiero Taco Pizza

Cilantro (to taste) Preheat oven to 425°. Top the cornmeal crust with marinara and spicy black beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven and top with tomato, onion, cilantro, avocado, red bell pepper, Kalamata olives and crushed chips. Serves 2 people.

Taco Time!

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Sponsor a contest to come up with the catchiest Mexican-themed name for your taco pizza.

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Add some Mexican beers, such as Dos Equis or Modelo Especial, to your beverage selection and suggest pairing options on the menu.

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Don’t limit yourself to taco pizzas. How about a chicken fajita pizza or chimichanga pizza?

The Corral Drive-in Theater, Pizzeria and Grill (corraldrivein.com) in Guymon, Oklahoma, recently created a Green Chili Chicken Enchilada Pizza, baking green chili, slow-cooked chicken and cheddar cheese on a crust and topping it with lettuce, tomatoes and homemade guacamole.

It’s just like a taco—except it’s a pizza. And, really, how can you go wrong with that combination? The taco pizza lends a spicy south-of-the-border kick to the classic Italian pie and has become a staple on many pizzeria menus around the country. Some pizza makers combine traditional Mexican and Italian ingredients, including pepperoni and ground sausage, or substitute chicken for ground beef. Vegan options replace the beef with black beans to create a healthier pie that still explodes with flavor. Here are some examples of popular taco pizzas from around the United States: Who invented the taco pizza? Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream (happyjoes.com) in Bettendorf, Iowa, lays claim to the honor and offers several variations on the classic, including the Taco Joe, loaded with refried beans, seasoned beef and sausage, plus fresh lettuce, tomatoes, Happy Joe’s own taco chips and its Spicey Joe’s taco sauce.

Located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Vinny’s Italian Grill and Pizzeria (fredericksburgpizza.com) offers a taco pizza that blends Italian seasonings with traditional Mexican ingredients, including ground chuck, hot peppers and fresh tomatoes, baked on a regular cheese pizza with red sauce and topped with shredded cheddar and lettuce.

Featured on WGN’s Chicago’s Best, Punky’s Pizza & Pasta (punkyspizza.com) developed a thin-crust taco pizza that features both ground beef and pepperoni with a standard pizza sauce. The Windy City favorite is topped with lettuce, tomatoes, mozzarella, cheddar and sour cream and served with a side of picante sauce.

Customers at Omaha, Nebraska-based Godfather’s Pizza (godfathers.com) can stuff themselves with the Super Taco, an oversized deep-dish pie packed with beef, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar and mozzarella. It’s finished off with black olives, sour cream and even more cheese for a taste that’s simply delicioso.

For more recipes, visit PMQ’s Recipe Bank at PMQ.com/recipe.

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The Loyalty Club Learn how to leverage loyalty programs to encourage repeat business and improve the effectiveness of your promotions.

By Tracy Morin In today’s world, in which consumers get bombarded with marketing messages around the clock (while simultaneously trying to hold on to their hard-earned dollars), loyalty programs are a necessity. Rewarding your frequent guests offers great return on investment because they’re already coming to your restaurant; you just want to get them in more often—and give them something to talk about with other potential customers.

yourself up for success and which new trends are changing the look of loyalty.

“Restaurants of any type can’t simply compete on price anymore; they need to engage and interact with customers and create advocates,” says Logan LaHive, founder and CEO of Belly in Chicago. “Acquiring new customers is incredibly expensive.

Because you get 80% of your revenue from 20% of your customers, rewarding customer loyalty is the best tactic.”

PMQ spoke to industry experts to find out more about why a loyalty program can drive sales to your pizzeria, how to set

more important than ever in recessionary times because they differentiate your business and encourage customers to choose your pizzeria over other dining experiences. “Participation in loyalty programs always rises during a recession,” says Andrew Schrage, co-owner of Money Crashers Personal Finance in Chicago. “A study performed in 2008 revealed that 33% of consumers view loyalty programs as ‘more important’ during tough economic times.”

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The Benefits of Building Loyalty Loyalty programs are highly effective for several reasons: XEconomic advantages. Loyalty programs have become

Schrage adds that customers spend 17% more on shopping visits that include a loyalty program, and the fastest-growing demographic utilizing loyalty programs is Millennials.

XIncreased visits. For pizzerias, which compete heavily on price, service and delivery, a loyalty program can encourage customers to visit more often. “You want a customer to come in once per week, or four to five times per month, but, with an average ticket of $5 to $15 per person, it’s difficult to drive incremental spending,” explains Marc Edmondson, director of loyalty for Heartland Payment Systems in Princeton, New Jersey. “Instead, you can use more frequent visits to increase profits.” When offered a program, for example, in which patrons receive points upon each visit to be used for freebies and upgrades, the customer will be more inclined to make additional visits and reach that reward. Customer data derived from your loyalty program also can be used to drive spur-of-the-moment visits during slow days with an offer such as “Come in tonight and receive double points on your purchase.”

XCustomer recognition. Loyalty programs are not a new

concept, but in recessionary times customers seek out these programs with renewed vigor—not only because they want discounts, but because they want to feel valued. “What has changed with the recession is the recognition of the importance of repeat diners, because it is easier to get existing customers in the door than new customers,” notes Ron Blake, president and CEO of Rewards Network in Chicago. “In the recession, smart operators didn’t discount—they found ways to reward loyalty.” And with a loyalty program—as opposed to discounting—you don’t cheapen the value of your product in the eyes of the consumer.

James Radwan, vice president of San Rafael, Californiabased Red Boy Pizza (redboypizza.com), agrees that customers want to know that their business is appreciated. “Customers who feel appreciated and receive something to show for it are more likely to return, even if they don’t have a reward or coupon in hand,” he explains. “They’re also more likely to recommend us to friends, family or neighbors.”

XObtaining information. Loyalty programs aren’t just

about “giving stuff away,” says Blake. They also help you capture information about your customers, allowing you to target your marketing in ways that are relevant to them. A customer who signs up can provide details such as name, address, phone number and email address—all important information to help you know where to market—but the correct program will also allow you to track the customer’s behavior. Blake advises operators to ask: How often is this customer visiting? How much does he spend? What is the value of this customer to the pizzeria?

XEngagement. When a customer takes the time to enroll in your program, you’ve officially established a relationship—one that’s much tougher to break than that attempted with a customer who comes in one time to use a coupon or someone who takes advantage of a highly discounted offer through daily deal sites like Groupon. “You have the opportunity to create true loyalty and increase the propensity of those customers to promote your business, whether they do so virally or simply by buying a pizza and sharing it with friends,” notes David Wachs, general manager of Cellit and senior vice president of mobile for ePrize

The Gift of Repeat Business An expert explains how to use gift cards to maximize customer loyalty.

Gift card holders may not already be regular customers of your pizzeria, but you can take steps to encourage them to come back. Sarah Miller, marketing director of Smart Transaction Systems in Boulder, Colorado, notes that some businesses name their gift cards “value cards” and allow card-bearing customers to earn points toward discounts or rebates, effectively turning gift card holders into loyalty program members (cards can later be preloaded at a small discount for the customer, since fees for gift card transactions are typically less than credit or debit transactions).

Miller offers the following additional tips for maximizing gift card success: • Install interactive QR codes on the cards. These create a unique customer experience because they allow customers to check balances and see promotional messages from the merchant.

• Be creative. Don’t stick to only one card design; target specific customer demographics with cards that appeal to different types of customers, and then track sales of each card type. Custom-printed gift card envelopes create a branding opportunity, and there’s also room for promotional messages on the envelope—use it to advertise popular menu items or your loyalty program.

• Make cards convenient to buy. Offer electronic gift cards (delivered through email) and mobile gift cards (delivered via text message), and sell them through social media accounts and on your website.

• Connect your gift card program to the community.

For example, you can offer gift cards at a discount to nonprofit organizations in your area. The majority of gift card holders will spend more money than the value of the card.

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A Buzz-Worthy Program When you offer a loyalty program, you give the customer a reason to come to your pizzeria instead of your competitor’s. And if your program is unique, you might even earn some TV news coverage. This happened to Bill Olsker, owner of The Works Pizza Burgers Salads (theworkspizza.net) in San Diego, after he implemented an innovative loyalty program that incorporates mobile payments. His program allows a customer to register and download an app, scan a credit card and pay by just swiping his phone at the terminal by the register; receipts are sent electronically. Customers earn rewards at a 10% rate (which Olsker set himself), and Olsker pays a fee that’s about the same as typical credit card processing. Customers are encouraged to enroll because they receive a $3 credit on their first order; if they tell a friend, they get a $5 credit when the friend enrolls. “This was very low-cost to get started, and response has been interesting,” says Olsker, who’s trying to build business at his two-year-old pizzeria. “The program is also self-sufficient, attracts a younger crowd and completes transactions in half the time—even the employees enjoy it!”

The Works was featured in a segment on the local TV news station, KBPS, after the science and technology reporter heard about the unique program being used in local businesses.

in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan. “You can reach out to your rewards customers, encourage them to forward special offers to friends and then track who’s doing it and who’s opting in from there.”

XCustomer tracking. Blake notes that, of all of the rewards programs he’s seen fail, there is one common denominator: No information was generated or used to help run the business better. In other words, you don’t want to simply stand idly by while your rewards customers are purchasing; you want to use that information to better target your marketing. “Tracking visits and behavior of customers is crucial to find out what’s driving

their purchases and which rewards and products excite them,” LaHive adds.

Radwan tracks everything from order history to ZIP code to see which promotions are working best and which member redeemed what and when. He views and targets promotions based on factors such as redemption by ZIP code, income levels, age and more. “We use advanced reporting and statistical information to analyze which rewards customers like better and which are profitable to the restaurant,” he says.

XCustomer feedback. You can also tie in your rewards

program with customer surveys to learn more about guests’ habits and how your business is perceived in the marketplace.

“After a visit, ask the customer about value, cleanliness and service, and ask him to comment upon his overall experience to obtain more rewards,” advises Blake. “If the customer had a bad experience, you’ll have the chance to respond, deal with the issue and retain that customer.” He adds that if your ratings are consistently extremely high, you might consider raising your prices!

A Successful Setup Simplicity is vital to a successful loyalty program, notes Jay Siff, CEO of Moving Targets in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. “Keep it as simple as possible,” he says. “Remember, all your customers care about is what’s in it for them.”

You should advertise your loyalty program through social media, online, in and outside of the pizzeria and on box toppers.

But make sure your signup process is as simple as possible to encourage customers to register. You can also offer customers a reward for signing up, such as points to start off with or a discount that can be used on the first order. “Some businesses try to get too much info too quickly, which turns off a lot of customers,” LaHive says. “You can simply have them enter an email address, then send them a welcome email that offers rewards for providing additional information or connecting on Twitter or Facebook.”

Once you’ve set up your system and received enrollees, your POS system will be instrumental in measuring the success of your loyalty program. But it’s not just about how many people enroll in and use the program; it’s about how you use the information you gather from these customers to improve the 56

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

program. “If you have a loyalty program, you should have a POS that enables you to look at SKU behavior of customers— what do they buy?” says Edmondson. “Using this data, you can fine-tune your program to make it better and track customers’ behavior—and hopefully change this behavior so the pizzeria can make more money.”

To make any loyalty program successful, Edmondson advises tying it to the business’ core product (in this case, pizza) and making the program easy to understand (such as “every sixth pizza is free”); when a customer gets that free pizza, he might try a dessert or appetizer, too. Ultimately, you’ll want to compare the lift in sales you receive through the program with the amount you’re investing (food costs, marketing, etc.) to get those sales.

Wachs agrees that a rewards program should be integrated with a POS system to track redemption rates on offers or rewards, overall subscriber growth and unsubscribe rates (and what offers may have been unappealing enough to generate these). It should also allow you to issue and analyze customer satisfaction surveys (about the loyalty program itself or the experience of the brand). “Check both the content and cadence of your offers—what time are you sending them and with what frequency?” says Wachs. “An ice cream shop might send a special text offer to customers at 9 a.m. and have little success, while the same offer at 5 p.m. could lead to massive response.”

But, no matter how you’re reaching customers—through email, text or social media—remember that there’s a difference between staying in touch and bombarding your customers, notes Edmondson. “Be selective in how you communicate with the consumer—you don’t want them to opt out of the program because they feel overwhelmed,” he says.

Loyalty Trends Ask anyone if he has a loyalty card in his wallet, and he’ll probably have several—businesses from grocery stores to car rental companies have hopped on the loyalty bandwagon. But ask how many are actually used, and that number will likely decrease significantly. Thus, to create a successful rewards program, you’ll need to make your offers stand out. “Create an experience with your rewards structure—one that gives customers the tools to share and talk about your program,” LaHive says. “Injecting personality and experiences is a key driver of loyalty.”

Reward examples should be tailored to the business and its customers, cementing its brand, personality and business objectives. LaHive offers several examples of how pizzerias can match rewards with culture: A casual pizzeria can have customers step behind the counter and learn to toss dough; a family pizzeria can provide a five-minute tableside magic show; a high-end pizzeria can give away a trip to Italy after 200 visits; and a trendy pizzeria can entice foodies by offering a customer the chance to create and name his own pizza and feature it on the menu for a month. “Loyalty isn’t just about rewards; it has more to do with personality, service and the full experience,” says LaHive.

Supporting a worthy cause helps, too. “People increasingly want to be associated with a brand that gives to charity, so your program can allow a customer to pick his favorite charity, and then, every time he dines there, the business gives a certain percentage to the charity,” Blake says. “In our research, we’ve found that 85% of people say they’d like to be involved in such a program.”

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Think Plastic Become PCI compliant to protect customers’ data.

Plastic is quickly replacing paper in financial transactions, but plastic has its risks for business owners. To protect consumers’ credit card information, the payment card industry (PCI) brands, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and Japanese Card Brand, established the PCI Data Security Standard. “The brands are requiring all companies, big or small, that accept credit or debit cards for payment to implement these requirements in their businesses,” says Dr. Suzanne H. Miller, a senior partner with the Compliance and Audit Group in Orlando, Florida. “If you have implemented and are maintaining the PCI Data Security Standard requirements in your business, you are PCI compliant.” PMQ talked to Miller about PCI compliance as it relates to gift cards and loyalty programs: PMQ: Is PCI compliance required for gift cards and loyalty programs?

Miller: It’s required for all payment, loyalty or gift cards that bear the Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express or Japanese Card Brand logos. Otherwise, PCI compliance is not a requirement.

PMQ: How does PCI compliance tie into gift cards and loyalty programs for pizzeria restaurants?

Miller: The brands require you to be PCI compliant in order to reduce the risk of your customers’ credit or debit card information being breached. By proactively tying these requirements to your other electronic payment information, such as loyalty/gift cards, you reduce the risk of introducing vulnerabilities into your environment that could create a haven for cybercriminals. Gift and loyalty programs don’t come with privacy and security in mind for your business. It is your responsibility.

PMQ: What should pizzeria operators do to ensure they are compliant?

Miller: I suggest using a five-step approach. 1) Be proactive. Educate yourself on the requirements. 2) Perform a readiness assessment of your business to determine which requirements you have in place. 3) Develop a plan for fixing the areas of your business where requirements are not in place. 4) Implement your plan to bring those business areas into compliance. 5) Perform a PCI Assessment following the guidelines of the PCI Security Standards Council. The PCI Security Standards Council website (pcisecuritystandards.org) contains the PCI Data Security Standard, PCI Assessment Procedures and other tools and information to help businesses with PCI.

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Finally, mobile marketing has changed the way loyalty programs operate, and Schrage expects that, in the future, operators will use technology to target their rewards to specific demographic groups. “Mobile marketing plays a vital role in any customer loyalty program,” he says. “The redemption rate for worldwide mobile coupons was $5.4 billion in 2011, but Juniper Research predicts that it’ll be more than $43 billion by 2016.”

Radwan has found that his pizzeria’s customers love getting rewards on their mobile devices because they don’t have to print and remember reward certificates and going paperless benefits the environment. And, with mobile phones now encompassing social media and email, it’s a necessity to know how best to contact customers through mobile technology.

Setting up a loyalty program and engaging customers won’t just reap rewards for your customers—it will also offer your business a plethora of benefits. But, regardless of how you set up your loyalty program, experts agree that it’s something that can and should grow over time. “The best loyalty program will encourage long-term strategies to attract and retain your best customers,” Blake says. “A loyalty program is a journey, not an event.”

Loyalty Program and Gift Card Suppliers Looking to start a gift card or loyalty program? Consult these companies: Belly, 866-620-3534, bellycard.com CashStar, 207-699-5612, cashstar.com Cellit, 800-790-6597, cellit.com Fishbowl, 703-836-3421, fishbowl.com Granbury Restaurant Solutions, 800-750-3947, granburyrs.com Heartland Payment Systems, 888-963-3600, heartlandpaymentsystems.com Loyal Rewards, 800-926-2451, movingtargets.com MICROS Systems, 866-287-4736, micros.com Onosys, 888-666-7976, onosys.com Paytronix, 617-649-3300, paytronix.com Punchh, 408-940-1342, punchh.com Repeat Returns, 702-966-3001, repeatreturns.com Repeat Rewards, 866-876-2737, repeatrewards.com Rewards Network, 866-518-3463, rewardsnetwork.com Ruxter, 800-763-1953, ruxter.com Smart Transaction Systems, 888-494-9760, smarttransactions.com Taradel, 800-481-1656, taradel.com Vision Marketing/Peel-A-Deal, 877-563-5654, peeladeal.com

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

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Give your pizzeria the EDGE!

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Aurelio’s:

Building a Better Brand A pizza chain president explains how to launch a signature product in grocery stores and ballparks.

By Joseph M. Aurelio

D

o you have a signature product— such as a sauce, a pepperoncini mix or a specialty sausage—that could be popular outside of your pizzeria, perhaps appealing to consumers in a grocery store, a sports arena or a ballpark? My pizzeria chain, Chicago-based Aurelio’s Pizza (aureliospizza.com), was founded

Aurelio’s Pizza began extending its brand in 2010 by selling its popular Italian sausage in grocery stores and ballparks.

by my father and has been in business for more than 50 years. In 2010, we decided it was time to extend the Aurelio’s brand beyond our stores. We’re famous for our sausage. In fact, while pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping for other pizza restaurants and chains, our No. 1 seller is sausage. So, to increase brand awareness

and brand trial, we debuted our signature sausage to a wider audience in groceries, stores and ballparks.

Taking Aurelio’s sausage to market was a real learning experience. Being in the food business my entire life, I thought I knew all there was to know about food on the retail front, but this was a whole new ball game. If you’re considering taking a signature product to a wider retail market and want to make the perfect debut, it comes down to four key “ingredients”: product, distribution, partnerships and leverage. Based on my recent experience, I’ve compiled the following tips with the hope that they will save you time, money and frustration and point you down the path of success.

1. The Right Product

Joseph M. Aurelio, the son of Aurelio’s Pizza’s founder, now serves as president and CEO of the Chicagobased chain. He stands in front of the company’s sign in their Homewood, Illinois, store.

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Look for those signature items that your customers love the most. The benefits are twofold: a built-in customer base upon launch and a positive brand introduction for those consumers who are unfamiliar with your restaurant. If you’re not sure which products appeal most to your customers, try a little crowd sourcing. Do

you have a social media presence, such as Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest? Ask your restaurant’s fans and followers for their input. You will get valuable, real-time market information from them.

Also, make certain your product can be mass-manufactured and distributed.

Some products have higher packaging costs and shorter shelf lives than others.

While your signature cheese blend may be amazing, for example, it may not last long in the grocer’s case.

Another factor to consider is end use: Customers who purchase your product should be able to make it work in their kitchens. Think about the home market.

For our Italian sausage, we envisioned tailgating, BBQs, picnics, dinners and sporting events. Does your product work with multiple recipes? If it does, that’s a plus. Some products may require more tweaking in the manufacturing process to work correctly for at-home use. So the reality is that, even if your customers love a product and it has multiple uses, you should think twice about taking it to market if it’s too costly to package or too tricky to work in a home kitchen. After all, one of your goals is to increase brand awareness and build brand affinity for your restaurant. A product that doesn’t translate well in the marketplace will have the opposite effect.

Finally, consider whether the product lends itself to packaging that allows good logo visibility. If not, it won’t help build brand awareness. Your product packaging should be a miniature billboard. For example, does it afford room for a coupon to cross-promote your restaurant? The

packaging real estate is as valuable as any advertising space—perhaps even more so because the consumer pays direct attention to it.

2. Mass Distribution Once you’ve picked the perfect product, you have to manufacture, package and distribute it. That requires having the right industry contacts as well as specialized knowledge, and it often requires a broker. In fact, most products on store shelves got there because of a food broker.

Brokers typically work on commission, either a percentage of sales or a price per pound. A good broker will provide a onestop shop—pushing your product, negotiating purchasing agreements and ensuring that everything is properly displayed and adequately priced, thus saving you time, money and energy. Since you’re in the food business, you may already know someone in your existing network who is a broker or can get you in touch with one.

We worked with broker Andy Canfield from brokerage firm Impact Sales, headquartered in Boise, Idaho; he was worth his weight in gold in helping us navigate this process.

You’ll want to choose a broker whose expertise matches your product and needs. Brokers have different areas of specialty; some may work well with independent grocery stores, some with chains, some with health food stores, and some locally, regionally or nationally. They also can specialize in product lines, such as frozen foods, fresh meats or produce. Look at their book of business. What products do

“Even if your customers love a product and it has multiple uses, you should think twice about taking it to market if it’s too costly to package or too tricky to workk in a home kitchen.”

Aurelio’s offers two versions of its popular Italian sausage: mild and hot.

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has them. These are per-item fees you’ll have to pay to get your product in the warehouse. Aurelio’s offers a hot Italian sausage and a mild Italian sausage.

Even though both are essentially a single product—sausage—they come in two varieties, which requires two slotting allowances. Additionally, you’ll have to budget for advertising fees to make certain your product gets the awareness it needs to draw customers. Grocers who send out newspaper circulars feature products from companies that have paid for inclusion. Costs vary across the country, but, in the Midwest, it’s anywhere from $100 to $1500 per week, per ad.

3. Beneficial Partnerships

(From top) Aurelio’s offers several dining areas in its Homewood, Illinois, location; customers can dig into Aurelio’s sausage with red sauce on a freshly toasted roll.

Aurelio’s legendary “old oven” has baked plenty of pies in its lifetime.

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they represent? With which wholesalers and retailers do they work? Food brokers have an extensive range of contacts and possess the market knowledge and expertise that can make your products sell.

Before your first meeting with your new broker, you should know what you want to accomplish in taking your product to market. We wanted to increase brand awareness for our restaurants. So, with our broker’s help, we began selling our Italian sausage through Central Grocers, a wholesaler formed in 1917 that operates as a collective and supplies and services more than 200 independent grocery retailers in the Chicago metropolitan and Northwest Indiana areas. For us, the match was perfect because Central Grocers’ footprint complemented that of Aurelio’s.

There also may be costs that you haven’t considered. Have you heard of slotting allowances? Nearly every grocer

PMQ Pizza Magazine – The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

If grocer distribution isn’t for you, look into other venues that sell the type of item you’re offering. Our ballpark partner is the Joliet Slammers, a Frontier League baseball team. According to Bill Waliewski, president of the Slammers, restaurant food sponsorship is very common in the sporting industry, from major and minor leagues to independents.

Choosing a food sponsor is as much about the product’s name recognition, credibility and reputation as its taste and quality, Waliewski says. When the Slammers approached us, they were soliciting a pizza bid. Although we didn’t want to sell our pizza in this way, we asked if they’d be interested in our Italian sausage.

Waliewski and the team hadn’t initially considered Aurelio’s in their search for an Italian sausage food sponsor, but our restaurant’s brand recognition and reputation earned us a shot. Once Waliewski tasted the sausage, he was interested.

Waliewski also says that his ballpark, like most other stadiums, looks for a food sponsor who is willing to spend advertising dollars with the league. Sponsorships can range from $2,500 to $20,000 for the Slammers’ ballpark. The venue will likely use a success metric to determine the right food sponsorship level. In the relationship between the Joliet Slammers and Aurelio’s, the previous year’s sales of the ballpark’s Italian sausage were used to formulate the sponsorship agreement.

Ultimately, any successful sportingvenue food sponsorship works for everyone involved: The venue reaps benefits, the fans are happy and the food provider makes money. An added value derives

from the fact that the team drives traffic to games, which means advertising for your product. In a sense, your company gets an additional $10 in advertising for every $1 spent. For our food sponsorship with the Slammers, in addition to all of the team’s advertising to fill the stands, Aurelio’s received branded signage, point-of-purchase signage, social media promotion, PA announcements and product placements on video boards, all of which drove fans to the concession stands to buy Aurelio’s Italian sausage.

We also sponsored the Spikes’ Super

Students Summer Reading program, which created an impact outside of the ballpark. This program is promoted to 400,000 students in the Chicago area. Every student who participated took home our branded sponsorship materials and a coupon for a free Lil’ Pie, thus drawing more families to our restaurants.

4. Leverage With product branding, a pizzeria or chain can leverage its outside product sales to build its restaurant business.

When your product is sold in grocery stores, your packaging serves as portable mini-billboards that your customers remove from the grocer’s shelves and place on their own. If you have a great product—and only your great products should be considered for wider launch—you are creating an ongoing sampling event.

Once customers have gotten hooked on your product, you’ll want to make it easy for them to deepen the relationship and learn more about your pizzeria. You can accomplish this goal by using packaging that clearly displays your logo and website, plus a coupon that will draw them to your restaurant.

Additionally, make sure your restaurant’s website clearly shows the locations at which your product can be purchased.

In-restaurant displays provide another way to let your current customers know they can take a little piece of your restaurant home. And don’t forget social media.

Present information about your grocery store sales and stadium sponsorships as useful content for Facebook; this would not necessarily be solicitous content, but content that will be of genuine interest to your fans or followers.

As you develop your strategy for building brand awareness, trial and affinity, you’ll find numerous additional options, such as being a food vendor at festivals and fairs and supporting charity events.

Of course, it’s always important to be involved in your community, but to expand your market, you’ll need to create experiences for potential consumers to get their mouths around your product. Launching your signature product at a grocery store or sporting venue can accomplish that goal for you. People who may never have ventured into your restaurant suddenly become fans and new customers. Keep the preceding four “ingredients” for your product-branding plan in mind, and you’ll have a real winner on your hands!

Joseph M. Aurelio is president and CEO of Aurelio’s Pizza, a Chicago-based chain with 43 franchise locations in six states and two family-owned locations in Homewood and Richton Park, Illinois.

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Product Spotlight What’s On the Market SIGNS OF THE TIMES Digital menu boards and signs provide pizzerias a way to be as flexible as the market demands while increasing sales, improving ambience and streamlining business operations. For a one-location premise or a multilocation franchise, digital menu boards and signage systems from Mvix provide the flexibility and versatility of turnkey implementation. 866-310-4923, mvixusa.com

EDDM SECRETS REVEALED Are you spending too much on your every door direct mailings? Takeout Printing can help you save thousands of dollars on your EDDM. Takeout Printing will show you how to design, print and mail your 11” x 17”, 80-pound glossy menus for only 20 cents apiece. The company also offers a free mailing permit and free one-of-a-kind custom menu design along with setup, trimming and folding for one low price. 877-257-7468, takeoutprinting.com

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DISTINGUISHING FLAVORS Grande Italian Cheese blends deliver authentically rich and creamy flavor that will distinguish your pizzas from competitors. Each blend melts evenly and displays optimal reheat qualities, excellent stretch and a tender mouthfeel. The four flavor varieties include East Coast Blend, Mozzarella Provolone Mild Blend, Cheddar Blend or 50/50 Blend. 800-847-2633, grandecheese.com

PMQ’S IDEA ZONE Perfect Crust

Perfect Crust Pizza Liners Keep Your Crust Crispy You’ve worked hard to get your pizza just right, but how can you deliver a fresh-out-of-the-oven experience to your customers an hour later?

In the ongoing battle against soggy pies, ventilated hot bags and steam-releasing pizza boxes have dominated the market, keeping pies hot and fresh en route to the customer’s home.

But what about the area underneath the pizza, where it really counts? Ventilated boxes and bags have limited efficiency when the pizza is placed directly onto a nonbreathable surface, such as cardboard. The steam between the pizza and the cardboard is the notorious culprit, leaving pizza stuck to the box or lending a cardboardlike taste to the crust. Additionally, pizza slices may slide around on the smooth box surface during transit.

The Perfect Crust Solution A single, small detail can eliminate soggy, sticking or sliding crusts: pizza liners with an embossed stock surface, which provides elevation, ventilation and absorption of grease and moisture. This new innovation comes from Perfect Crust, a company dedicated to resolving soggy pizza woes with its assortment of bakable and nonbakable pizza liners.

“When pizza was created, it wasn’t meant to be delivered,” Nick Hedlund, president of Perfect Crust, points out. “Our pizza liners don’t make your pizza crispy; they keep the integrity of the crust that you have.”

Apart from enhancing the crust, Perfect Crust pizza liners offer: • Warmer pizza: In an independent study, pizzas with a Perfect Crust pizza liner were 12° to 15° warmer upon delivery than pizzas with no liner.

• Visual appeal: For dine-in or delivery, the liner offers an enhanced presentation.

• Marketing opportunities: The liner’s extra tabs—which make it easier to handle the pizza—also can be used for promotional purposes, offering a coupon or advertising space.

See for Yourself For operators looking to enhance their pizzas, Perfect Crust has created the PC Challenge. Simply call 800-783-5343 or email Challenge@PerfectCrust.com for a free sample pack, bake two pizzas, then use the liner on one pizza and note how it holds up compared to the pizza without the liner. Four out of five pizza makers who take the challenge opt to use it in their stores, Hedlund says. With prices starting as low as 4 cents per liner, you can keep your competition in check and truly deliver your product.

Perfect Crust works with all major distributors and also offers online purchasing. Visit PerfectCrust.com to find out how you can enhance your crust and your customer satisfaction.

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See us at the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show Booth # 1938

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Advertiser Index

September 2012

Display Advertiser

Phone

Website

Page

AM Manufacturing ............................................. 708-841-0959 ............................................ ammfg.com ...................................... 60 American Metalcraft .......................................... 800-333-9133 .............................................amnow.com ....................................... 59 Avantec Ovens ................................................... 800-322-4374 ......................................... avantecovens.com ................................. 28 Bacio Cheese ..................................................... 855-BACIO85 ............................................ baciocheese.com ............................. 34,35 Bay State Milling................................................. 800-553-5687 ......................................baystatemilling.com...........................Cover 2 Bellissimo .......................................................... 800-813-2974 ...................................... bellissimofoods.com ................................ 19 Breakaway Restaurant Solutions ........................ 817-299-4500 .......................................... breakawaypos.com ............................. 48 Covertex ............................................................ 800-968-2310 ......................................... covertexcorp.com .................................. 72 CrustSaver ......................................................... 877-437-4743 .......................................... crustsaver.net ..................................... 69 Cuppone America ............................................... 800-655-1831 ..................................... cupponeamerica.com ........................ Cover 3 Daiya Foods ................................................................................................. ...................... daiyafoods.com .................................... 31 Deiorios .............................................................. 800-649-7612 .......................................... deiorios.com ....................................... 47 DoughMate ........................................................ 800-501-2458 .......................................... doughmate.com................................... 70 EZ Dine .............................................................. 877-853-1263 .......................................... ezdinepos.com ................................... 75 Fish Oven & Equipment Corp. ............................. 877-526-8720 .......................................... fishoven.com ..................................... 30 Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show ......................................................................flrestaurantandlodgingshow.com .....................37 Fontanini ........................................................... 708-485-4800 .......................................... fontanini.com .................................... 57 Forno Bravo ....................................................... 800-407-5119........................................... fornobravo.com ................................... 41 Grande...............................................................800-8-GRANDE ....................................... grandecheese.com ................................... 3 HTH ................................................................... 800-321-1850 ........................................... hthsigns.com ...................................... 70 iFranchise .......................................................... 708-957-2300 ...................................... ifranchisegroup.com ................................ 66 La Nova.............................................................. 716-881-3355 ............................................ lanova.com ............................... Cover 4 Le 5 Stagioni ...................................................... 800-780-2280 ........................................... le5stagioni.it ...................................... 21 Lillsun ............................................................... 260-356-6514............................................... lillsun.com ........................................63 Liguria ............................................................... 800-765-1452 ......................................... liguriafood.com ................................... 58 LocalGiftCards.com ............................................ 888-494-9760 ....................................... localgiftcards.com ................................. 73 Perfect Crust ...................................................... 800-783-5343 ........................................ perfectcrust.com ................................... 67 Meridian Star POS .............................................. 855-853-6485 .......................... meridianstarmerchantservices.com ..................... 43 MF&B Restaurant Systems .................................. 888-480-EDGE ......................................... edgeovens.com .................................... 61 Marsal & Sons .................................................... 631-226-6688 ......................................... marsalsons.com ................................... 65 Microworks ........................................................ 800-787-2068 ......................................... microworks.com ................................... 11 Middleby Marshall ............................................. 877-34-OVENS .......................................... wowoven.com ...................................... 7 Moving Targets .................................................. 800-926-2451 ...................................... movingtargets.com ................................ 17 One Two 3 Print it ............................................... 888-800-4455 .......................................... 123printit.com .................................... 69 PDQ Signature Systems, Inc. ............................... 877-968-6430 ............................................ pdqpos.com ...................................... 29 Peerless Ovens ................................................... 800-548-4514 ....................................... peerlessovens.com .................................. 70 Perfect Crust ...................................................... 800-783-5343 ........................................ perfectcrust.com ................................... 67 Petra Molino Quaglia Flour ................................. 631-804-1879 ......................farinapetra.it/Benvenuto/Eng_Petra.html ................ 69 Picard Ovens ...................................................... 800-668-1883 .........................................picardovens.com .................................... 27 PizzaOvens.com.................................................. 877-367-6836 ......................................... pizzaovens.com......................................74 Pizza Equipment Warehouse .............................. 888-749-9237 ............................... pizzaequipmentwarehouse.com ...................... 68 Prox Print........................................................... 888-310-7769 .......................................... proxprint.com ..................................... 70 Renato Ovens ..................................................... 866-575-6316 ............................................ renatos.com ...................................... 42 Restaurant Depot ........................................................................................................... restaurantdepot.com ................................ 23 Somerset Industries ........................................... 978-667-3355 ............................................ smrset.com ....................................... 74 Stanislaus .......................................................... 800-327-7201 .......................................... stanislaus.com ...................................4, 5 System Filtration ............................................... 877-508-0777 ..................................... systemfiltration.com ................................ 72 Take Out Printing ............................................... 877-25-PRINT ...................................... takeoutprinting.com ................................ 73 The Menu Express............................................... 877-250-2819 ..................................... themenuexpress.com ................................ 71 TurboPCI .............................................................................................................................. turbopci.com ................................. 52, 53 Univex ............................................................... 800-258-6358 ......................................... univexcorp.com ................................... 73 Woodstone ........................................................ 800-988-8103 ..................................... woodstone-corp.com ............................... 56 XLT .................................................................... 888-443-2751 ........................................... xltovens.com ...................................... 13 PMQ provides this information as a courtesy to our readers and will not be held responsible for errors or omissions. To report an error, call 662-234-5481 x127.

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Industry Resource Guide Grab a direct weblink to every advertiser in this guide at PMQ.com

ADVERTISING

APPAREL

BAGS COMPUTER SYSTEMS: POINT OF SALE

BAKING SCHOOLS AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BAKING .............................................Manhattan, KS 785-537-4750 ....................................................................Fax: 785-537-1493

CHEESE

Technology choices for every taste. p p p

p Loyalty Programs Point-of-Sale Online Ordering p Automated Marketing Smartphone Ordering

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide COMPUTER SYSTEMS: POINT OF SALE, CONT.

COMPUTER SYSTEMS: POINT OF SALE, CONT.

CONSULTING

CRUSTS BAKER’S QUALITY PIZZA CRUSTS, INC. ..................................... Waukesha, WI Par-baked, Sheeted, Pressed and Self-Rising Crusts; Custom Crusts; All sizes. www.BakersQualityPizzaCrusts.com ......................................800-846-6153 MOUNTAIN HARVEST PIZZA CRUST CO.......................................... Billings, MT Contact: Eric LeCaptain ........... 800-342-6205.................... Fax: 406-248-7336 Sheeted Dough, Prebake Crusts, Dough Balls, Freezer to Oven, Self-Rising Crusts in Standard, Wheat and Nine Grain. ...eric@mountainharvestpizza.com

CUTTING BOARDS - EQUAL SLICE

DOUGH

FREE POS SYSTEM Meridian Star offers a free POS system with no gimmicks.

Included in a low-cost processing account, merchants can enjoy an all-in-one touch screen, a thermal printer, a kitchen printer, an electronic cash drawer and PC America restaurant management software, all at no cost.

As Seen in Product Spotlight!

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide DOUGH, CONT.

DOUGH PRESSES, ROLLERS, CONT.

DOUGH DIVIDERS/ROUNDERS

DOUGH TRAYS/PROOFING TRAYS DoughMate® by Madan Plastics Inc.

DoughMate

®

• Dough Trays – extremely durable and airtight!

• Dough Tray Covers – designed to fit!

The Leaders in • Plastic Dough Knives – two ergonomic designs!

Dough Handling Products • Dough Tray Dollies – heavy duty!

• Excellence in Customer service since 1955!

The preferred dough tray of the largest pizza companies in the world.

Buy direct from the manufacturer with over 20 years experience in dough trays.

Call 800-501-2458........... www.doughmate.com......... fax: 908-276-9483

FLOUR, GLUTEN-FREE BAY STATE MILLING GLUTEN-FREE PIZZA MIX.............. baystatemilling.com Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour, Custom-blends and Co-Packing Dedicated production area for exceptional purity.........................800-55-FLOUR DAKOTA PRAIRIE is a dedicated manufaturer of Gluten-Free flours, 37 pre-mixes, custom-mixes and many packaging options. By far the best grinds and the highest standard of purity ............. dakota-prairie.com............ ............701-324-4330

DOUGH PRESSES, ROLLERS

FLOUR

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide FRANCHISE

FLOUR, CONT.

Should You Franchise Your Restaurant?

Call today to receive your free DVD on “How to Franchise Your Business� and learn about one of the most dynamic methods of expanding your business in today’s marketplace.

t XXX JGSBODIJTFHSPVQ DPN

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FRANCHISE CONSULTANTS

GELATO

FOOD DISTRIBUTORS

True Artisan Gelato

(888) 316-1545 www.stefanosgelato.com

GLUTEN-FREE PRODUCTS

INSURANCE

1051 Amboy Avenue, Perth Amboy NJ

800-997-0887 or 732-346-0600 Fax:732-346-0882

Serving NY, NJ, PA, DE, CT

www.vesuviofoods.com

FOOD COSTING MACHINERY/OVENS/EQUIPMENT

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide MACHINERY/OVENS/EQUIPMENT, CONT.

MACHINERY/OVENS/EQUIPMENT, CONT.

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide MAGNETS

MARKETING IDEAS, CONT.

MAILING SERVICES MARKETING, MOBILE

Eighty-Six Slow Sales Mobilize your best customers with a free mobile website and low-cost texting.

MANAGEMENT

...mobilize & connect

ruxter.com 800.763.1953

MEAT TOPPINGS

KEEP MORE OF YOUR HARD EARNED DOUGH! 3 MONEY SAVING PROGRAMS:

SCHEDULING • ATTENDANCE • DAILY LOG

FAST, PAINLESS SCHEDULING • MONITOR LABOR COSTS • REDUCE TURNOVER • NOTIFY EMPLOYEES • ELIMINATE BUDDY PUNCHING • IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS • WEB-BASED

SAVE TIME AND INCREASE PROFITS!

WWW.TIMEFORGE.COM 866.684.7191

MARKETING IDEAS LOCALGIFTCARDS.COM..........888-494-9760.....Your pizzas are mobile – why not try mobile gift cards? Sell e-gift cards and m-gift cards on your website.

No upfront costs. Simple set up. Visit LocalGiftCards.com to get started.

BURKE CORPORATION...................................................www.BurkeCorp.com Italian, Mexican-Style and Specialty Fully Cooked Meats Contact: Liz Hertz.............sales_info@burkecorp.com.............800-654-1152 SUGAR CREEK PACKING CO., Private Label Precooked Meat Topping Specialists www.sugarcreek.com800-848-8205...............................sales@sugarcreek.com

MIXERS

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide MIXERS, USED

OLIVES CONT.

USED HOBART 60 QT. MIXER FOR SALE AT US $4980.00 PLUS SHIPPING. Call Lynn at 214-552-3218........................................ or e-mail tbfm@tbfm.com

MOBILE CATERING TRUCKS/UNITS

ON HOLD MARKETING

MOISTURE ABSORBENT TOPPINGS CONDITIONER KRISP-IT LTD. .............................................800-KRISP-IT (800-574-7748) Keep it Crisp with Krisp-It! www.krisp-it.com........................................................nick@krisp-it.com

ONLINE ORDERING

OIL

OLIVES

PIZZA BOXES

PIZZA BOX LINERS

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide PIZZA DELIVERY THERMAL BAGS

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide PIZZA DELIVERY THERMAL BAGS, CONT.

EARTHSTONE OVENS, INC. .. 6717 San Fernando Rd....Glendale, CA 91201 800-840-4915 .........Fax: 818-553-1133 ...... www.earthstoneovens.com All units UI listed.

FISH OVEN & EQUIPMENT CORP. 120 W. Kent Ave........Wauconda, IL 60084 TOLL Free 877-526-8720 ....... Fax: 847-526-7447 ...... www.fishoven.com WOOD STONE CORPORATION..............Stone Hearth & Specialty Commercial Cooking Equipment.....1801 W. Bakerview Rd....Bellingham, WA 98226.....

TOLL Free 800-988-8103.....Fax: 360-650-1166......woodstone-corp.com

PIZZA OVENS MARSAL & SONS, INC. ....................The new standard in the Pizza Industry Brick Lined Deck Ovens • Standard Deck Ovens • Prep Table Refrigeration 631-226-6688 .............. marsalsons.com ........... rich@marsalsons.com ROTO-FLEX OVEN CO. ........................................Contact Richard Dunfield 135 East Cevallos, San Antonio, TX 78204 PH 800-386-2279 ...... www.rotoflexoven.com .......... Fax 210-222-9007 September 2012 • pmq.com

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PMQ Industry Resource Guide PIZZA OVENS, CONT.

i feel preƩy.

PIZZA OVENS, CONT.

oh, so preƩy!

The Marsal MB Series is designed to fit your restaurant’s specific needs. Not only is it equipped with our exclusive burner system and 2” thick brick cooking surface to ensure the most evenly baked crust, but it looks great too. You can customize the exterior decor of your MB Series oven easily either with our prebuilt finishing kits or your own brick of tile design. Attract customers with a great looking oven and a great tasting pizza.

PIZZA PANS

Seƫng the new standard. visit us online at www.marsalsons.com

(631) 226-6688 FAX (631) 226-6890

& sons, inc.

Pizza Ovens and Equipment

Bakeware Specialists

PIZZA PEELS

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Manufacturer & Distributor of Pizza Smallwares www.paprod.com 734-421-1060

PMQ Industry Resource Guide PIZZA SUPPLIES

PRINTING CONT.

PLASTIC DOUGH CONTAINERS

Non Stick • Easy to Clean • FDA Approved Plastic Heavy Weight • Last 10X longer than metal!

Replace your dented ones TODAY !

Manufacturers’ Direct Pricing For free* sample email us at:

SunsetPlastics@aol.com

(*Does NOT include postage & handling)

Call Vito:

718-200-1013 or Call Bruno

813-230-8108

REFRIGERATION

PRINTING BEST CHOICE PRINT & MARKETING EXPERTS ...................... For over 25 Years Best Prices & Quality: ..........................Menus, Flyers, Door hangers, Post Cards Print & Mail, Menus or Postcards .............................. Includes postage 27.5 ea WWW.bcms.US ............................................................. or call 800-783-0990

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SPECIALTY FOODS

TOMATO PRODUCTS

CASTELLA IMPORTS, INC. ............................................... www.castella.com 60 Davids Drive, Hauppauge, NY 11788 ....................................... 866-Castella

SPICE FORMULATION, BLENDING & PACKAGING CALIFORNIA BLENDING, INC. ........ Confidential Custom Blending & Packaging.

Bill Mooreheart, Jr. ....................... Serving Industiral Spice needs since 1976.

2603 Seaman, El Monte, CA 91733.............................................626-448-1918 CASTELLA IMPORTS, INC. ............................................... www.castella.com 60 Davids Drive, Hauppauge, NY 11788 ....................................... 866-Castella MCCLANCY SEASONING ........................... One Spice Road, Fort Mill, SC 29707 Contact: Dominic Damore 800-843-1968 .................................................................info@mcclancy.com

SAUCE ARMANINO FOODS ..............................................................Fine Italian Sauces 30588 San Antonio Street, Haywood, CA ..................................... 866-553-5611 Email: customerservice@armaninofoods.com ......... www.armaninofoods.com

TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES/SERVICE Specializing in voice and data communications service, repair, installation, sequencers and on-hold messaging.

GUARANTEED LOWEST INDUSTRY PRICE! www.fidelitycom.com.........................800-683-5600

VENTILATION STICKY NOTES

TAKE AND BAKE TRAYS

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WINGS

PMQ Wants YOU! Win a trip to China!

Win a trip to Italy!

Compete Online Film a 1 1/2 to 2 minute video of your best pizza spinning moves and enter before September 28th, 2012.

Videos must be uploaded to Youtube.com first, then posted to Juan Hermosillo’s Facebook wall (username: juan.r.hermosillo).

Be one of 15 chefs to compete for Best Pizza in the USA and a spot on the team.

September 23rd • 3 p.m.

NYPD Pizzeria, Metrowest Orlando, Florida

The top 8 competitors will be paired off in elimination rounds online.

The winner will be announced October 12th.

1st Place wins a free trip to China to represent their country in the World Pizza Challenge at the FHC food show in Shanghai on November 14-16, 2012.

Put together your best 2 to 4 minute dough spinning routine set to music. Largest Dough Stretch, Fastest Pizza Maker and Box Folding contests will also take place with a trophy prize. The Acrobatics winner earns a spot on the team.

September 24th Pizza Pavilion of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show in Orlando, Florida

First-place winners fly FREE with lodging, transportation and breakfast/dinner all included!

For more information contact Brian Hernandez at brian@pmq.com or 662-234-5481 ext 129

(

time capsule

)

Hunt Brothers Pizza Over 50 years, Hunt Brothers Pizza has grown from a wholesale pizza route to a c-store powerhouse.

In 1962, having grown up working in the restaurant of their father, fourr brothers—Don, Lonnie, Jim and Charlie Hunt—began a local whole-sale food route they named Pepe’s Pizza, distributing par-baked pizza crusts, dough balls and other pizza items, then visiting restaurants, taverns, bowling alleys and drive-in theaters—anywhere they could make pizza. The brothers branched off one by one to start their own distributing businesses, and Pepe’s (by then serving 36 cities) was sold in 1981. But in 1990, the brothers searched for how they could become more than just wholesale food distributors, and a new company was formed: Hunt Brothers Pizza (huntbrotherspizza.com).

“The distribution systems that started in the ’60s became the foundation for what we have today, now serving more than 6,500 customers in 28 states,” explains Erin Hunt Ferguson, daughter of Jim Hunt and chief culture officer for the Nashville,Tennessee-based company.

“The business was started just to feed our families, and today 385 families are part of our organization.”

H Hu u Brothers Pizza shops—installed in convenience stores, country markets, bowlHunt in ng alleys, a ing arenas and stadiums—are now known for their “all toppings, no extra charge” ttag ta ag line l and successful NASCAR sponsorships. But in the early days, many people in rrural ru urra a areas didn’t know what pizza was, so pizzas were baked on-site to encourage samp pl in “Poking pizza in people’s mouths has been our strategy from day one to open in pling. up p new locations and bring in new sales,” Ferguson explains. “We still bake pizzas for b bu u business owners and consumers.”

She also stresses that the element of faith has always been a key factor in the busin ness, and thus the company has a strong sense of giving back. Hunt Brothers conttinually reaches out to communities, helping families recover from natural disasters (and delivering pizzas for those affected), working with ch hurrcch heess and an a n school groups, and offering an churches i d fundraising f d i i program to t help businesses raise money loorganized cally. “Our successes have been filling a need in the convenience store industry, especially in rural America, and attracting great people with a servant’s heart,” says Ferguson. “Our open communication stream—from the founders to all team members—still centers around how to be a blessing to people and what ‘striving for excellence’ looks like.” –Tracy Morin

(Clockwise from top) Pepe’s Pizza upgraded its distribution center to a larger facility in the late 1960s; Hunt Brothers Pizza co-founder Lonnie Hunt (bottom right) poses with sales representatives in 1988; before starting Hunt Brothers Pizza, the brothers operated pizza-focused wholesale businesses.

Has your pizzeria been in business for 50 or more years?

If so, contact us at tracy@pmq.com.

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