PMQ Pizza Magazine September 2016

PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | September 2016 | Volume 20, Issue 7

SEPTEMBER 2016 | WWW.PMQ.COM

The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly | PMQ.com

Rock School of

College-town legend Proud Larry’s scores straight A’s in pizza, drinks and live music PAGE 34

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PLUS:

Skinny pizza: 11 creative How to make it, ways to boost how to sell it customer loyalty PAGE 44

PAGE 68

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Now On PMQ’s Pizza Kitchen: The Muffaletta Pizza Way down yonder in New Orleans, folks have a culinary tradition all their own. PMQ Test Chef Brian Hernandez gives you a taste of it with the Muffaletta Pizza. Loaded with diced ham, salami, mortadella, provolone cheese, pepperoncini and a bunch of tasty veggies, this New Orleans-style doozy of a pie has a long list of ingredients, but it’s huge on flavor and surprisingly easy to put together. Jazz up your menu with this Big Easy original at PMQ.com.

Exclusively On PMQ.com WEBSITE EXCLUSIVES: James Franco Shoots Scenes at Johnny’s Pizzeria Kids’ App Makes Life a Horror Show at Freddie’s The phones have been ringing non-stop at Freddie’s Restaurant and Pizzeria—but not in a good way. The Long Branch, New Jersey, pizza shop has been inundated with calls from curious kids asking the same question: Is Freddie’s the same pizzeria depicted in the popular video game app, “Five Nights at Freddy’s”? Find out how this identity crisis has affected Freddie’s business at PMQ.com.

A Bizarre Tale of Pizza Sauce and Murder The recent murder of Louis Barbati, co-owner of Pizza Hall of Fame member L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn, was headline-worthy in its own right. But the case also brought back memories of a 2009 feud between two rival Mafia families and sparked a bizarre conspiracy theory: Was Barbati killed for his pizza sauce recipe? Get the full story at PMQ.com.

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James Franco shot scenes for his new HBO series, The Deuce, at Johnny’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn, then hung out and made a few friends after the cameras stopped rolling. Pizzeria owner John Miniaci said Franco proved to be “a great, down-to-earth guy” who even shot a quick birthday video for Miniaci’s wife. Read more about Franco’s visit at PMQ.com.

Are These the World’s Weirdest Pizzas?

Got a craving for kangaroo on your pie? How about sheep lungs? TasteTalks.com posted a survey of weird pizzas from around the globe, and some of the toppings freaked us out a bit. From Scotland’s national dish, haggis, to Russian delicacy mockba, these ingredients make your pepperoni and mushroom pie seem dull as dishwater. Get a taste of the weirdness at PMQ.com.

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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PMQ PIZZA MAGAZIN ber 2016

E | Septem

PMQ.C 2016 | WWW.

20, Issue 7

ON THE COVER

Rock School of

’s Busines Industry s Monthly

The College Crowd

The Pizza

34

OM

| Volume

Contents

SEPTE MBER

m | PMQ.co

Larry’s legend Proud College-townight A’s in pizza, scores stra live music PAGE 34 drinks and

PLUS: tive : 11 crea Skinny pizza it, ways to boost ty How to make customer loyal how to sell it PAGE 68 PAGE 44

With its unique business model—part pizzeria/bar, part live-music venue staging local and national acts—college-town powerhouse Proud Larry’s stands at the head of its class. Just ask Elvis Costello, Modest Mouse and Jason Isbell. By Andy Knef FIRENZA PIZZA

FEATURES

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Marketing Marvels: Firenza Pizza Ex-Domino’s franchisees Dave Baer and Dave Wood use location-based marketing apps, Snapchat and a few oldschool tricks to build rapport with younger and older customers alike. By Liz Barrett

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Gimme Some Skinny In these three case studies, leading pizzeria operators demonstrate how to reposition any style of pizza as the rare comfort food that’s actually good for you. By Tracy Morin

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The Menu Labeling Puzzle With a new FDA rule going into effect next May, here’s what you need to know about nutritional labeling requirements. By Tracy Morin

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Unlocking the Mysteries of Flour The Dough Doctor sheds a little light on several frequently asked questions about a must-have ingredient that’s as enigmatic as it is ever-changing. By Tom Lehmann

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11 Ways to Reward Your Best Customers You can cater your loyalty rewards to be much more specialized, creative and personal than the old “Buy 10, Get 1 Free” standby. Here’s how to do it! By Liz Barrett

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The Champ After two straight silver medals, Jamie Culliton finally took home the gold in the World Pizza Championship. What’s next for the top dough spinner on the planet? By Andy Knef

DANNY KLIMETZ

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Best of the NRA Show The PMQ staff made its annual pilgrimage to the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago and found a host of innovative products to help you sell more pizza.

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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DEPARTMENTS

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In Lehmann’s Terms: Making Dough for Coal-Fired Pizza The Dough Doctor bails out a new operator seeking the perfect dough formula for coal ovens.

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New York’s Finest: Broiled Shrimp and Herbs As summer winds down, help your customers cool off with this skeweredshrimp-and-pancetta dish from Chef Bruno.

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Accounting For Your Money: New Overtime Rule Takes Effect Dec. 1 A controversial rule from the U.S. Department of Labor could have a serious impact on how you pay your managers.

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The Think Tank: The Secrets of Door Hanger Success Think Tank members offer tips for getting better, faster results from your door-hanger marketing program.

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Recipe of the Month: Duck Bacon Flatbread Duck bacon, Boursin cheese and fingerling potatoes are just a few of the ingredients in this singularly delicious recipe from Maple Leaf Farms.

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114 IN EVERY ISSUE 6

Online at PMQ.com

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From the Editor

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From the Inbox

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Moneymakers

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Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going

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Product Spotlight

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Advertiser Index

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Industry Resource Guide

Growing slaughter-free meat in a laboratory may be the next big thing, if a scientist in The Netherlands has his way.

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Pizza Hall of Fame: Jerry and Joe’s Pizza After opening next to a racetrack once frequented by Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy, this South Florida mainstay has endured ups and downs but still hasn’t lost its shine.

SPONSORED CONTENT

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SmartMarket: Cherry-Picking Prices from Suppliers Now Easy as Pie Founded by longtime pizzeria operator David DeSantis, CherryPickPrices. com represents the future of food cost management.

92 Check out our digital and tablet editions for bonus video content.

Don’t miss our video exclusive on Proud Larry’s, one of the most popular college-town bars in America, and feast your eyes on Test Chef Brian Hernandez’s recipe video for the Muffaletta Pizza. Visit PMQ.com/digital to view the digital edition, or download our tablet app at iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.com.

Pizza Without Borders

Idea Zone: Thanks to Chowly, You CAN Integrate Restaurant Aggregators into Your POS System.

With Chowly, pizzerias can more efficiently handle incoming orders from third-party online ordering systems without additional staff.

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Idea Zone: The Pizza Butler Innovative and versatile, the Pizza Butler freed up so much space for a Tampa, Florida, pizzeria that the owner added five more tables to her dining room.

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FROM THE EDITOR

Winner of 5 ASBPE Awards Winner of 4 GAMMA Awards ISSN 1937-5263

A PUBLICATION OF PMQ, INC. | 662-234-5481

Looking Back on Life at Larry’s

G

enerally speaking, we have always searched far and wide for pizzerias to profile in the pages of PMQ. From New Orleans to Stowe, Vermont, to Syktyvkar, Russia, we’ve covered a lot of ground and will continue to do so. But this month’s cover subject is a lot closer to home—actually, it pretty much is home. Proud Larry’s sits about one mile from PMQ headquarters here in Oxford, Mississippi. And the only reason we haven’t featured it already is simply because, well, it always felt a little too local.

But that was unfair. Owners Scott and Lisa Caradine have built a single-unit operation that has thrived—and earned national kudos—for more than 20 years by sticking to the basics: consistently great food, atmosphere, friendly service and knowing their customers. I can personally attest to this because I’ve been a Proud Larry’s customer since it opened in 1993. I was 30 at the time, and my friends and I loved the place from day one. Unpretentious, a little hippiefied, with servers who padded around in cargo shorts and flip-flops, Larry’s (everyone here calls it that) was my go-to nightspot with friends, coworkers, even the occasional love interest—because it’s a great place for two people to loosen up and really get to know each other. I remember gathering there with friends one rainy February night in 1994, eating calzones and downing shots and having such a rollicking good time that we didn’t even notice the temperature outside had plummeted and the sleet had turned to freezing rain, ushering in the region’s worst ice storm in decades. Two of those same friends spent so much time together at Larry’s that they finally decided they might as well get married—and they celebrated their 21st anniversary last month.

Proud Larry’s opened up the same year I moved to Oxford, and I can’t imagine those early years here without it. I go out on the town a lot less often now, but I’ll still never turn down a Fat Larry slice and a side order of those delicious fries. Larry’s has earned its place on PMQ’s cover for many reasons (as detailed on page 34), but the best reason of all is personal: It has given me, your humble editor, great pleasure and many fond memories over the years. I look forward to my next visit.

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 7 SEPTEMBER 2016 PUBLISHER

Steve Green, sg@pmq.com ext. 123 CO-PUBLISHER

Linda Green, linda.pmq@gmail com ext. 121 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Rick Hynum, rick@pmq.com ext. 130 ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Andy Knef, andy@pmq.com ext. 136 EDITOR AT LARGE

Liz Barrett, liz@pmq.com SENIOR COPY EDITOR

Tracy Morin, tracy@pmq.com INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT

Missy Green, missy@pmq.com ART DIRECTOR

Eric Summers, eric@pmq.com ext. 134 CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Sarah Beth Wiley, sarahbeth@pmq.com ext. 135 SENIOR MEDIA PRODUCER

Daniel Lee Perea, dperea@pmq.com ext. 139 IT DIRECTOR

Aaron Harris, aaron@pmq.com ext. 137 CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Shawn Brown, shawn@pmq.com CIRCULATION MANAGER

Sherlyn Clark, sherlyn@pmq.com ext. 120 TEST CHEF/EVENT COORDINATOR

Brian Hernandez, brian@pmq.com ext. 129

ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR

Linda Green, linda@pmq.com ext. 121 SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Clifton Moody, clifton@pmq.com ext. 138 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Tom Boyles, tom@pmq.com ext. 122 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Ross Thorton, ross@pmq.com ext. 133 MARKETING DIRECTOR

Anna Zemek, anna@pmq.com ext. 140 SALES ASSISTANT

Brandy Pinion, brandy@pmq.com ext. 127

PMQ INTERNATIONAL PMQ CHINA

Yvonne Liu, yvonne@pmq.com PMQ AUSTRALIA-NZ

Tom Boyles, tom@pmqaustralia.com PMQ RUSSIA

PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE | September 2016 | Volume 20, Issue 7

ON THE COVER: SEPTEMBER 2016 | WWW.PMQ.COM

The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly | PMQ.com

Rock School of

College-town legend Proud Larry’s scores straight A’s in pizza, drinks and live music PAGE 34

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PLUS: Skinny pizza: 11 creative How to make it, ways to boost how to sell it customer loyalty PAGE 44

PAGE 68

Sweethearts since college, Oxford, Mississippi’s Lisa and Scott Caradine have been making beautiful music together at Proud Larry’s since the Clinton years.

Photo by Daniel Lee Perea

Rick Hynum Editor-in-Chief PMQ Pizza Magazine

Vladimir Davydov, vladimir@pmq.com

PMQ PIZZA MAGAZINE

605 Edison St. • Oxford, MS 38655 662.234.5481 • 662.234.0665 Fax 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.

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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©2016 AB Mauri Food Inc.

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THE GREATHOUSE OF PIZZA

FROM THE INBOX A MIRACLE STORY We are asking for help in publicizing the recent shooting and miraculous survival of one of our delivery drivers. His name is Andrew Gryskiewicz, and his story is pretty amazing.

He was shot in an attempted robbery or carjacking on his way back from a pizza delivery. The bullet entered his left shoulder, traveled downward at an angle, and went through his lung and part of his heart. He was minutes away from dying when an unknown good Samaritan found him slumped over in his car and sent for medical assistance. Now we are raising money to help him financially. PMQ’s readers can donate to the Andrew Gryskiewicz Recovery Fund at gofundme.com, and all contributions would be greatly appreciated.

Jared Gruett Dulono’s Pizza Minneapolis, MN PMQ reader Trent Groothuis put his own twist on a PMQ recipe for the Muffaletta Pizza.

MUFFALETTA MAGIC We recently tried the Muffaletta Pizza that PMQ’s Brian Hernandez made in a PizzaTV recipe video posted on PMQ.com. We made a couple of changes: Instead of regular pizza crust, we used our homemade pizza dough to make some focaccia bread, and we used Vienna Beef Giardiniera for the muffaletta mix. It was quite tasty!

Trent Groothuis The Greathouse of Pizza Casey, IL via Facebook We’re glad you tried the recipe and made it your own, Trent. Thanks for sharing this. It looks great!

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: 14

Thanks, Jared. Our thoughts and prayers are with Andrew and his loved ones, and we hope he has a speedy recovery.

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IN LEHMANN’S TERMS

Making Dough for Coal-Fired Pizza Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann shares his favorite dough formula for pizzas made in coal ovens.

By Tom Lehmann Tom Lehmann recently retired as the longtime director of bakery assistance for the American Institute of Baking (AIB). He is now an industry consultant dedicated to helping pizzeria operators make more money. Need more dough advice? Visit the Dough Information Center at PMQ.com/ dough.

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Q

We’re opening a new location in four weeks, and I’m in need of help. I’m looking for a really good dough formula for coal-fired pizza. I would like to use 50-pound bags of flour per batch. Please help me out!

A

Here is a dough formula that I’ve used a number of times in coal-fired ovens: Flour: 100% Salt: 1.75% Instant dry yeast: 0.4% Water: 58% at 65°F (amount can be varied) Oil: 1.5% Put the water in a bowl and add salt, flour and instant dry yeast. Mix the ingredients until you don’t see any dry flour remaining in the bowl. Add your oil and continue mixing until the dough has taken on a smooth appearance.

Your target finished dough temperature should be 75° to 80°F. Immediately scale and ball the dough and place your dough balls into plastic dough boxes.

Wipe the top of the dough balls with salad oil, then put them immediately into the cooler, cross-stacked, for three hours. Down-stack your dough balls and kiss ’em good night!

This dough can be stored in the cooler for up to 96 hours. It’s ready to use after 24 hours in the cooler, but it’s best after 48 hours. Once you’re ready to use the dough, allow it to warm at room temperature until the dough balls reach 50°F. Then you can start opening the dough into skins for immediate use.

Q

In your last column, you talked about the many advantages of instant dry yeast. Is there any advantage to using fresh yeast? I have access to both and want to choose the better option.

A

From my years of research in dough making and dough management, I would say, without hesitation, that instant dry yeast is the best way to go. Just add it dry to your flour.

Once you’ve opened the bag, simply roll it down tightly against the remaining yeast and secure it with a rubber band. If you think you’ll use the entire bag within several days, you don’t even have to refrigerate it after opening.

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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NEW YORK’S FINEST

Broiled Shrimp and Herbs As summer winds down, help your customers cool off with this skewered-shrimp-and-pancetta dish from Chef Bruno.

H

appy September, dear readers! I hope everyone has been having a great summer—it’s been a hot one! As we all know, the pizza business slows down in the hot months, unless you have a beach-town location. But with summer gradually easing into fall, it’s time to venture outside again as the temperatures begin to cool a little bit. So I’ve created this easy recipe, perfect for indoor or outdoor dining.

You can even try making this in your pizza oven. It’s a very simple dish, and your customers will love it. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Chef Bruno is PMQ’s culinary advisor, with more than 50 years of international pizza experience. He is the corporate chef for Marsal & Sons and the culinary coach of the U.S. Pizza Team.

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INGREDIENTS: 24 large shrimp 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 3 tbsp. basil, finely chopped 1 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped 2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped 1 tbsp. black pepper, crushed 1 small lemon, juiced 4 tbsp. olive oil 8 bay leaves ¼ c. salted pancetta, cut into 8 small squares

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DIRECTIONS: Shell and devein the shrimp. Place the shrimp in a bowl with the garlic, basil, thyme, parsley, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix well to cover all of the shrimp. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 7 hours.

Preheat the oven broiler. Take 4 skewers and arrange 6 shrimp on each one so that they lay flat. Add a bay leaf and a piece of pancetta between every 2 shrimp (use 2 bay leaves per skewer). Brush the shrimp with the remaining marinade. Now layer them in a pan or a barbecue and cook for about three minutes on each side. Enjoy!

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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ACCOUNTING FOR YOUR MONEY

New Overtime Rule Takes st Effect Dec. 1 The rule extends overtime pay to 4.2 million additional salaried workers and could impact how you pay your managers.

By Michael J. Rasmussen

Q A

How has overtime pay been changed under the new Department of Labor rule?

The Department of Labor released in May its final rule updating overtime regulations. The rule, which takes effect on Dec. 1, will extend overtime pay protection to more than four million additional workers. This will have a material impact on restaurant owners and operators that had previously classified managers in such a way as to avoid potential overtime pay.

In short, it’s considered a given that a fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides basic workplace protections to most workers in the U.S. and guarantees that they receive at least a minimum wage for every hour they work and time-and-a-half for hours they work beyond 40 hours in a week.

There have been exceptions to this rule—specifically, you will hear about the “white-collar exemption.” That provision holds that certain executive, administrative, professional and outside sales employees can be exempt from both the minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for these exemptions, employees generally must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid a certain minimum salary. Job titles alone do not determine exempt status, nor does a particular salary.

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It’s important to note that simply paying an employee a salary instead of an hourly wage does not relieve an employer of minimum wage and overtime obligations to that employee.

Republicans in Congress have opposed the new rule, so it’s anybody’s guess how long it will stand, especially with a presidential election coming up. The White House intends for the rule to boost low- and middle-income wages that have largely remained stagnant in recent years.

It will raise the salary threshold at which white-collar workers are exempt from overtime pay from $455 to $913 per week (or from $23,660 a year to $47,476 a year).

Restaurant owners need to understand the impact this rule can have on labor costs. Start by consulting with your accountant and/or your payroll processing company.

Restaurants have been identified as businesses that may fail to comply with the law, so the government will keep a close eye on you. This would be a great time to talk to an independent payroll company about how it would handle your personnel wage structure, even if you don’t actually use its service.

Michael J. Rasmussen is the owner of Rasmussen Tax Group (rasmussentaxgroup.com) in Conway, Arkansas. He is also the co-owner of Eyenalyze (eyenalyze.com), a company that provides real-time profit analysis for restaurant owners.

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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MONEYMAKERS

Pizzerias Catch Pokemon Fever

As the Pokemon Go craze swept through the country in mid-July, pizzeria operators took advantage of the golden opportunity. Woodstock’s Pizza, a Pokemon Go Stop in San Diego, provided electric outlets for fast-draining cell phones and invited “trainers” to “recharge both your stomach and your phone.” Meanwhile, L’inizio Pizza Bar in New York bought $10 in lures and saw its sales soar by 75%.

“The [number] of people has been astonishing, all day long, from afternoon to evening this past weekend,” owner Tom Lattanzio told the New York Post. Instead of buying lures, stores like Chicago-based Salerno’s Restaurant & Pizzeria and the Village Pizza in Athens, Alabama, created Pokemon-themed pies and promoted them on social media.

(Left) Staci Hill, an assistant manager at Village Pizza in Athens, Alabama, displays a specialty pizza created to cash in on the Pokemon Go craze of mid-July.

(Right) Woodstock’s Pizza, known for its beer selection and kids trivia contests, had the good fortune of being designated a Pokemon Go Stop in July.

Capturing the Spirit of Detroit

As part of its 70th anniversary, the original Buddy’s Pizza location honored the city that made it a success with a 100’ x 20’ mural painted by street artist Fel3000ft. The spray-painted artwork features the iconic “Spirit of Detroit” statue holding a pizza in one hand while balancing the city’s skyline on its muscular shoulders.

The high-visibility project scored coverage in the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit Regional News Hub, among other media outlets.

Street artist Fel3000ft, who grew up eating Buddy’s pizza, created this “Spirit of Detroit” mural with spray paint in about two hours.

Quick Tip 1: How to Rock the Restroom Your bathroom is a word-of-mouth marketing opportunity just waiting for creative ideas, says PMQ’s editor at large, Liz Barrett. Come up with unique decor—think toilet seat lids shaped like pizzas or pizza symbols instead of the usual male and female icons on the doors—and create special offers known only to customers who visit your bathroom.

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Women

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PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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To learn more about how we can help make your pizza perfect, call 1-800-553-5687 or visit www.baystatemilling.com

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MONEYMAKERS

From Bar Mitzvahs to Boat Drinks

From bar mitzvahs to boat drinks, Giddy’s Pizzeria, located in East Brunswick, New Jersey, can always find something to celebrate. The kosher restaurant, founded

by Gideon Finkelstein in 2014, handed out free Dum Dums to every customer on July 20 for National Lollipop Day and whipped up strawberry smoothie daiquiris in honor of National Daiquiri Day on July 19. National French Fry Day (July 13) also made the cut, with a dinner special touting a large cheese pie and fries for $15.

Giddy’s has become a go-to pizza spot for Shavuot, Chag Sameach, Yom Ha’atzmaut and other Jewish holidays, all of which the company promotes through social media.

Giddy’s Pizzeria serves up kosher pizza and fish specials every day of the week, plus free Dum Dums on National Lollipop Day.

Quick Tip 2: Easy-Peasy Signature Drinks To create a signature cocktail, you don’t have to do all the thinking. Start with a well-known classic and add your own twist to give it that yum factor. Think about adding herbs, spiced alcohols or syrups for sweetening, or create your own martini featuring dill pickles instead of olives.

Taking a Blue-Life Stand

With increased scrutiny of police tactics around the country and a growing Blue Lives Matter movement, Pleasure Ridge Pizza & Sports Bar has taken a pro-cop stand— much to the appreciation of its customer base. The company, with three stores in the Louisville, Kentucky, area, announced in early July that it would offer free food to all police officers in uniform all day long on July 12. Pleasure Ridge also donated 20% of the day’s sales to the police department’s K-9 unit. The company promoted the offer on Facebook, and the post earned a total of 1,187 shares, 990 likes and 89 comments.

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Pleasure Ridge recently showed its support for local police officers, and its appreciative Facebook fan base helped spread the word.

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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THE THINK TANK

The Secrets of Door Hanger Success

y

It will take time, patience and the right special offers to get a solid return on your door hanger investment.

P

izza man 1984: I recently distributed 1,250 door hangers in one section of my delivery area. The offers are very good, and a menu is included, but I only got back 16 during the next week. Does it usually take several weeks to build momentum with door hangers, or is this a typical response? jokergerm: Door hangers are slow to build sales, but they can be effective over time. jerseydevil1977: Hanging in apartment complexes works really well if you can get into them (many complexes won’t allow handbills any more). With apartments, you’ll usually get a more immediate response after distribution.

Houses are good for long-term customers, but you won’t get as quick a response. We will usually get a bump in sales after hitting multiple apartment complexes with just our menu and some coupons/deals tied to the menu.

Good luck. It’s rewarding when it works, but it’s baffling when it doesn’t. paul7978: This is why I send a refrigerator magnet out with each and every order—it helps keep my pizzeria on our customers’ minds. I pay around seven cents per magnet when I buy in bulk, and it’s well worth the investment.

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Warren: Door hanging is cheaper than direct mail and yields a bigger return. I have three suggestions: 1) Create coupons that are good for six months or use coupons that have a blank expiration date, then change the date as needed with a rubber stamp. Stamp 1,000 or so at a time. The cost plummets when you order 10,000 or more; 2) Make your price point stand out on the printed piece so the customer can’t miss it. Go with figures like $7.99, $8.99 or $9.99—something they can see in less time than it takes to wrinkle the piece up and throw it in the trash; 3) Avoid offers like “$9.99 for any pizza.” Try offering a medium one-topping for $7.99 or a large one-topping for $9.99. You need to give your customers value, but if you groom them to only order when they get a price so cheap that you lose your shorts, you will be forever chasing the next deal-shopper like a hamster in a wheel; and 4) Hang in the same area three or four times in three weeks, then move on to the next area. We found that, the more times we hung in an area, the better the response, at least until the third or fourth time.

Get answers to your most perplexing problems and swap tips and ideas with the experts in PMQ’s Think Tank, the pizza industry’s oldest and most popular online forum. Register for free at thinktank.pmq.com. (Member posts have been edited here for clarity.)

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RECIPE MONTH of the

Duck Bacon Flatbread INGREDIENTS: 1 lb. assorted fingerling potatoes, whole 1 whole garlic head, split in half Sea salt 1 fresh rosemary sprig 1 ½ c. rendered duck fat (can substitute olive oil) 6 slices duck bacon 3 medium yellow onions, sliced 3 premade flatbread rectangles, 8” to 9” long 2 wheels Boursin cheese 4-5 tsp. olive oil ½ tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped

Sponsored by Maple Leaf Farms 28

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 300°F. Place the fingerling potatoes, garlic halves, large pinch of sea salt and the rosemary sprig in a small baking dish. Pour the duck fat into the baking dish to barely cover the potatoes and garlic. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake in the oven until very soft. Remove potatoes from the oven, remove foil and allow potatoes to cool to room temperature in the oil.

Squeeze the garlic cloves out into a small mixing bowl. Remove the potatoes from the fat and slice into 1/2” slices and toss with the garlic. Set aside. In a skillet, cook the duck bacon slices over medium heat, turning until crisp. Transfer to paper towel to drain, reserving grease. Add the sliced onions to the reserved grease and cook over medium heat with a generous pinch of sea salt, stirring occasionally until

onions become a dark mahogany brown, about 45 minutes. Set aside.

Brush flatbreads with a touch of olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake directly on the oven rack until crispy.

Remove flatbreads from the oven and divide the potato/garlic mixture evenly between the three flatbreads, making sure to spread the mixture all the way to the edges. Repeat procedure with the caramelized onions.

Cut the duck bacon into 1” pieces and divide among the flatbreads.

Crumble the Boursin cheese over the flatbreads. Drizzle flatbreads with the olive oil and sprinkle with the chopped fresh rosemary and another pinch of sea salt. Bake the flatbreads directly on the oven rack until cheese starts to melt, about 6 to 7 minutes. Yields three flatbread pizzas.

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M A R K E T I N G

M A R V E L S :

Firenza Pizza

This media-savvy fast-casual concept is making waves with Waze, the new navigation app from Google, and successfully targeting the Snapchat generation. By Liz Barrett | Photos provided by Firenza Pizza Dave Baer and Dave Wood once owned and operated 17 Domino’s locations in Virginia. After some time away from the industry, they made a comeback, opening a fast-casual, build-your-own-pizza concept called Firenza Pizza, based in Fairfax, Virginia. Baer, president of Firenza Pizza, sat down with PMQ to discuss Firenza’s media-savvy marketing strategy and how his experience with Domino’s proved less useful than he’d expected when applied to a new concept.

PMQ: HOW DID FIRENZA PIZZA ORIGINATE? Dave Baer: About two years ago, Dave and I decided we wanted to get back into pizza after being out of Domino’s for a couple of years. We really liked the new fast-casual take on pizza, so we spent a bunch of time in California, 30

looking at the different companies in the space. We fell in love with the idea of custom-built pizzas, but we wanted to add a couple of tweaks. We spent some time with chefs to come up with our own unique blend of flour that would create a really great, traditional, hand-tossed pizza. Then we sourced out the freshest vine-ripened tomatoes for our sauce and a cheese with no additives. That was the birth of Firenza Pizza.

PMQ: WHAT WERE THE PROS AND CONS OF BRANCHING OUT ON YOUR OWN, AS FORMER DOMINO’S FRANCHISEES? Baer: The three main players in our company share 100 years of pizza experience, so we feel like we have a strong grasp of what it takes to run a pizza shop, how to make a

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(Left) At Firenza's grand opening in Alexandria, Virginia, the first 10 customers won free pizza for a year. (Above) Firefighters, police officers and paramedics enjoy special deals on First Responder Tuesdays.

“Customers are accustomed to getting coupons, and we want to make sure we communicate with everyone in whatever fashion they’re comfortable with, whether it’s email, Facebook, Twitter, an old-fashioned flier, or a menu on the door.”

— DAV E B A E R , F I R E N Z A P I Z Z A

pizza, customer service, things like that. But the challenge was, with Domino’s, everything is systematically laid out for you. So, with Firenza, we were literally reinventing everything, from tasting different flours to making different pizzas and testing everything. Even something like crushed red pepper seems like a simple thing until you find out there’s a hundred different kinds of crushed red pepper.

PMQ: HOW DO YOU MARKET FIRENZA? Baer: We are very heavy into social media. We have a strong presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and we’re testing Snapchat filters that are giving our business a lot of traction. We can geotarget a specific area and send them an offer using Snapchat filters. We did one at the end of the school day that got more than 800 shares in a matter of hours. Once school let out, the store was bombarded.

We’ve also started playing with Waze, the navigation app from Google. We have it set up to show our logo when someone drives by our restaurant. The customer can then click on the logo and get more info and a unique offer. We also do traditional marketing, such as door hangers with coupons, direct mail and mass mailings.

PMQ: WHY DO YOU EMPLOY A MIX OF DIGITAL AND PRINT MARKETING? Baer: Customers are accustomed to getting coupons, and we want to make sure we communicate with everyone in whatever fashion they’re comfortable with, whether it’s email, Facebook, Twitter, an old-fashioned flier, or a menu on the door. I think we’re in a transitional period between digital and print, and we don’t want to abandon our old ways yet.

PMQ: WHAT’S ONE OF YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL MARKETING TACTICS? Baer: Our email marketing program has an open rate near 50%. A couple of times per month, we’ll send an email with an offer, a reminder or a new pizza we’ve created. We usually see an immediate spike in sales after the emails go out.

PMQ: WHY DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE SUCH A HIGH OPEN RATE ON YOUR EMAIL MARKETING? Baer: The guest is signing up and asking us to communicate with them. Maybe once a month, we’ll send out an

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“We can geotarget a specific area and send them an offer using Snapchat filters. We did one at the end of the school day that got more than 800 shares in a matter of hours. Once school let out, the store was bombarded.”

— DAV E B A E R , F I R E N Z A P I Z Z A

Firenza Pizza offers 10" pies with any toppings for $7.99 and eight signature pizzas, such as the Texas BBQ and the Corleone.

offer. They don’t know what the offer will be, so they open it. It could be something like a free soda with a large pizza or half off chicken wings.

PMQ: WHEN DO YOU ASK FOR A CUSTOMER’S EMAIL ADDRESS? Baer: We actively ask at checkout, but there are also reminders around the store via things like tent cards on the tables that tell guests they can enroll in the email program.

A lot of times, people could say no the first time around, but when they see signage around the store, they end up signing up then or the next time they come in.

PMQ: HOW DO YOU ENGAGE WITH YOUR COMMUNITY? Baer: Here in Northern Virginia, there’s a very strong military presence, and we wanted to do something for all of the people who are working so hard for us. So we have Military Mondays, where servicemen and -women can get an individual-size pizza and a Coke Freestyle soda for $5. On Tuesdays, we run the same deal for first responders, which we call First Responder Tuesday.

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And then, since we have a store that’s right across the street from a high school, we have Educator Wednesday, where teachers can come in and get a pizza and a drink for $5. We have three stores up and running, and each one has a better Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on their proximity to a military base, police station or school.

PMQ: DO YOU INVOLVE THE COMMUNITY IN YOUR NEW STORE OPENINGS? Baer: We like to open up new stores by doing a fundraiser for an area nonprofit. The last store we opened, we teamed up with Loudoun County Soccer, and as long as guests made a $2 donation to the soccer club, they got a free pizza the first week we were open. By doing this, we were able to raise $3,000 for the local soccer club. We want to be involved in the community, and we feel like this is a great way to establish that from the beginning. We still regularly hold Spirit Nights to keep the momentum going.

PMQ: IS IT TRUE THAT YOU’VE GIVEN AWAY FREE PIZZA FOR A YEAR? Baer: Every time we do a grand opening, the first 10 people in line for the day win free pizza for a year. We also ran a contest for March Madness in a tournament bracket-style, where everyone got to submit a picture of a pizza they created that day on Facebook.

Fans then voted for which pizza they liked most. It started with

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Firenza founders Dave Baer and Dave Wood owned 17 Domino's stores before starting their own fast-casual concept.

16 people and was narrowed down to eight, then four, and then everyone voted on the final two pizzas. The winning pizza was featured on the menu for a month, and the person who created it won free pizza for a year. It was great because we had so many people taking pictures of their pizzas and sharing their pizzas. The online engagement was fantastic. We plan to run this same promotion again during the next March Madness.

PMQ: HOW DOES YOUR LOYALTY PROGRAM WORK? Baer: We offer the Firenza Rewards program. When someone spends $100, they get $10 toward any item they’d like.

PMQ: DO YOU HAVE ANY BRANDED MERCHANDISE? Baer: We have some promotional giveaway items, including drink koozies, plastic logoed cups and Frisbees.

PMQ: WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR SALES COMES FROM ONLINE ORDERING? Baer: We just started offering online ordering, so sales are only about 10%, but we expect that to triple once we make a push behind it. We offer online ordering through our website and POS, and we’re currently developing an app.

PMQ: IN WHAT REGIONS ARE YOU CURRENTLY FRANCHISING? Baer: We started in Virginia with the goal to build three corporate stores, but as soon as we started franchising, we

sold stores in Florida, Wisconsin and Kentucky. So our plans quickly changed. Now we just want to pair up with the right person and the right team.

PMQ: WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE TO THOSE WHO ARE IN THE FAST-CASUAL SEGMENT OR CONSIDERING MAKING THE SWITCH? Baer: You’ve got to have a lot of dialogue with your customers and make sure the restaurant is set up in a manner that allows guests to be comfortable and have a good conversation. And with fast-casual, if you’re going to have all of your toppings laid out in front of everyone, you have to make sure they’re displayed in an appealing manner.

PMQ: DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR OPERATORS WHO ARE STRUGGLING WITH THEIR MARKETING? Baer: Stay the course, and keep marketing. Sometimes you feel like you’ve spoken to every single one of your customers, but you haven’t. The percentage of guests who see one email blast or one mailed flier is so small. You’ve got to stay out there and stay consistent.

Liz Barrett is PMQ’s editor at large and author of Pizza: A Slice of American History.

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DANIEL LEE PEREA

See what Proud Larry’s customers and employees have to say about this college-town institution, and find out what makes “Larry” so proud.

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The

College

Crowd Hosting superstar musicians like Modest Mouse, John Mayer and Warren Zevon, Proud Larry’s has been earning straight A’s in pizza, drinks and rock-and-roll since 1993. By Andy Knef

D

on’t let the unassuming red-brick facade and humble patio fool you: Proud Larry’s may look like your average small-town pizza joint from the outside, but it’s a venue that has played host to musical legends. Located in Oxford, Mississippi—home of the University of Mississippi and William Faulkner—Proud Larry’s, a unique combination of restaurant, bar and music venue, has staged live shows by artists ranging from Warren Zevon and Elvis Costello to John Mayer, Modest Mouse and The Black Keys. And it has been making melodic memories—and crowd-pleasing pizzas, pastas and burgers—since 1993.

April 15, 1993, to be exact. That’s the date when Ole Miss college sweethearts Scott and Lisa Caradine turned their shared hankering for pizza by the slice and blues music into monthly rent in a former fabric and lingerie store adjacent to Oxford’s famous Square. They christened it Proud Larry’s, even though, as Lisa explains, “There is no Larry.” “The most common question we get is, ‘Where did the name come from?’” she says. Scott admits, “There’s not any big, great exciting story” behind the catchy moniker. “We looked at names like Isle of Capri and Fat Slice, but Fat Slice was already taken by a California store,” Scott adds. “Proud Larry’s was on our board as an option, and we just needed a name so we could sign the articles of incorporation.”

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Did they suspect, at the time, that they were creating what would become a local institution with a national reputation? “Oh, hell, no,” Scott says. They were just a couple of youngsters with a massive learning curve ahead.

“If we had known then what we know now about actually running a business, there’s no telling what we could have done.”

BRINGING THE PARTY Scott grew up in Cajun country—Lafayette, Louisiana— and sampled delicacies from his mother’s busy kitchen. An avid cook himself, he paid his way through Ole Miss with restaurant gigs around town. Lisa, meanwhile, hails from

“We think our staying power is mostly due to our consistency. After two decades in a demanding restaurant market, we are serving some of the best food we’ve ever cooked.”

— S C OT T C A R A D I N E , P RO U D L A R RY ’ S 36

DANIEL LEE PEREA

SARAH BETH WILEY

The morning crew at Proud Larry’s takes a quick break to join the bosses on the patio for a group photo.

About 35% of Proud Larry’s sales come from the bar, which is a popular year-round gathering spot for locals and Ole Miss students alike.

the blues- and cotton-rich Mississippi Delta. They originally envisioned Proud Larry’s as an unpretentious college bar. But they soon realized they’d picked the perfect spot in the perfect town—Oxford still epitomizes small-town Southern life to many, while the Ole Miss football team, an also-ran in the Southeastern Conference during the early 1990s, has grown into a potential powerhouse. At the same time, Ole Miss consistently makes the grade as one of the country’s top party schools in publications like Playboy and the Princeton Review—and Proud Larry’s has helped to cement that reputation with its live-wire music scene that features both national acts and homegrown musicians looking for their big break.

From the beginning, the Caradines formed a dynamic team, with Scott handling the kitchen and booking live music and Lisa crunching the numbers. “Our goal was simple,” Scott recalls. “We thought it was a good opportunity to bring pizza by the slice, some quality beer and live music to the Square.”

The only problem: Proud Larry’s lacked a pizza oven.

“We started looking for deck ovens in good shape, and we found some at a used equipment store,” Scott says. Unfortunately, the vintage ovens were mismatched. The industrious Caradines, along with their initial college-buddy business partners, had to jury-rig the ovens with cinder blocks to make them fit together.

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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Roots-rock band Reels is one of the many local acts featured on the Proud Larry’s stage. The restaurant stages live music shows nearly every night.

“It’s a juggling act to load in a band in the evening while our customers are still enjoying their meals and a glass of wine.”

— L I S A C A R A D I N E , P RO U D L A R RY ’ S

With pizza ovens in place, the next step was perfecting their dough recipe. The Caradines took some road trips to try out pizza hotspots in New York and Chicago. “After a lot of experimentation, we came up with a thin-crust recipe infused with herbs—just to be cool,” Scott says, with a chuckle. Soon, pizza favorites like the Italian sausage, pepperoni and Canadian bacon-laden “Fat Larry” and the veggie heavyweight “Garden of Larry” were driving pizza sales. Brisk bar traffic, complemented by a thriving lineup of musical talent on the main stage, cemented Proud Larry’s reputation throughout the 1990s as the go-to party club on the flourishing half-mile circuit of commerce and entertainment known as the Oxford Square.

One of Proud Larry’s longtime customers, in fact, is PMQ’s own editor-in-chief, Rick Hynum, who recalls partying there until closing time in the 1990s. “It had and still has a vibe all its own, and the food has been consistently great for decades,” he notes. “By day, it’s family-friendly and laid-back, and by night it’s this cool, friendly, bustling nightspot for fans of live music. Scott has booked some unbelievable names over the years— 38

everyone from Pokey LaFarge and Jason Isbell to Aaron Carter. You don’t get much more eclectic than that.”

GROWING WITH THE TOWN Over time, Oxford’s booming growth, combined with Scott’s culinary heritage and the Caradines’ own growing family, began to nudge Proud Larry’s in a new direction.

“Oxford was changing, and we were changing,” Lisa says.

“We had two children, and we were noticing the increasing number of families and kids that were coming into the restaurant.” The expansion of the Square into a shopping and dining mecca kept pace with Ole Miss’ escalating prominence in sports and fast-growing student enrollment, boosting traffic and sales for all Square businesses.

“Soon, we were mutipurposing our dough for bread and making new dough two or three times a day,” Scott recalls.

By mid-2007, the Caradines knew that the Proud Larry’s evolution from bar to family restaurant required more than a change of attitude and menus. A face-lift was in order. They renovated the place, added central air conditioning for steamy Mississippi summers, improved

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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SARAH BETH WILEY

The Proud Larry’s menu boasts 11 specialty pizzas, including the fully loaded Fat Larry’s and the Mediterranean.

plumbing and expanded floor space, with an upper-deck dining area and a cozy patio outside. “The rebuild took 73 days in the middle of sweltering heat. It was brutal,” Scott admits.

The menu also needed some tweaks, so Scott expanded it to include Louisiana standards like jambalaya, shrimp and grits, and po-boys. As the demands of running a restaurant and the desire to spend more time with their two kids began to conflict, the Caradines swallowed hard and delegated. “We hired a chef—Jon Myrick—who was a Johnson and Wales graduate from the South Carolina Low Country,” Scott says.

“He gets here early and stays late, and he’s a great leader of our kitchen staff. John has helped us step up our game when it comes to food.”

PERFECT PITCH In a town known for its restaurants, Proud Larry’s has staked out its own culinary niche with items like The Ronzo, a dish featuring Creole-seasoned, pan-seared catfish with steamed broccoli and squash, plus fresh seafood and chicken salads, along with its widely heralded burgers and iconic pizzas. One popular special, Two for Tuesday, offers a two-for-one burger and pizza slice, attracting lines of fans that stretch out the door.

No order is complete without a side of Proud Larry’s famous French fries—Scott uses only Idaho potatoes, soaks them overnight in water and double-fries them before topping them off with a special seasoning blend. And a wheat-crust veggie pizza is a newer menu option that meets customers’ demand for healthy choices and Scott’s own personal dietary needs—he developed type 2 diabetes when he was 31.

Myrick and Scott brainstorm potential new offerings at least once a week. “I’m classically trained, but what appealed to me so much with Scott and Lisa is their commitment to quality ingredients and preparation,” Myrick says. “I try to make sure that quality is reflected in every dish, from our homemade pizza dough and bread to the fresh produce that goes into our salads and pasta dishes.”

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Pasta dishes are another staple at Proud Larry’s, along with calzones.

About 65% of Proud Larry’s revenue comes from food, and 35% comes from alcohol sales. A good portion of those libations are consumed during the nightly musical performances that have defined the establishment since it opened, in the days of Bill Clinton and Nirvana. From early headliners like Mayer, Zevon and The Black Keys to today’s musical newcomers with names like The Holy Ghost Electric Show, crowd-pleasing musicians have made their marks on the little stage. Scott still books all the bands himself, striving to balance local favorites and new sounds, and goes largely by his gut. “Sometimes an act doesn’t necessarily work, but it helps, when you’re talking to agents, to take on an up-and-comer so you can get the act you really want down the road. Our music program is an integral part of what we do. It has grown and kept our sales consistent, even when food sales might not be as strong.”

Lisa says the Proud Larry’s team has worked hard to find that sweet spot, where family dining and musical merriment harmonize in perfect pitch. “Proud Larry’s is unique in that respect,” she says. “It’s a juggling act to load in a band in the evening while our customers are still enjoying their meals and a glass of wine.”

But it’s an act that the Caradines have mastered over the years. When national publications and websites like Travel & Leisure, Thrillist and the Daily Meal draw up their lists of America’s best college bars, Proud Larry’s usually makes the cut. But Scott says success is about much more than being a cool watering hole for the college kids. “We think our staying power is mostly due to our consistency,” he says. “After two decades in a demanding restaurant market, we are serving some of the best food we’ve ever cooked. We’re honored to be considered an Oxford landmark. We’re a well-oiled machine heading in the right direction.”

Although a small venue, Proud Larry’s is famous for pulling in hip national acts for sold-out shows, such as Modest Mouse (above), Elvis Costello, John Mayer and The Black Keys.

“WE AIN’T NEVER LOST A PARTY”

In Oxford, Mississippi, college football is more than a pastime. It’s practically a religion. Fans from visiting teams and network sports announcers marvel at the vibrant and often glamorous pregame atmosphere in Ole Miss’ tree-lined Grove, where snazzily dressed tailgaters set up elaborate feasts and celebrity-watchers look out for the likes of Katy Perry, Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth and Tom Brokaw.

But for a long stretch of time—from the early 1970s into the early 2000s, the hometown Ole Miss Rebels struggled with mediocrity, leading to an unofficial team motto often repeated by the locals: “We may not win a lot of games, but we ain’t never lost a party.”

In fact, Ole Miss consistently ranks among the top party schools in the nation, as determined by publications like Playboy and the Princeton Review. And Proud Larry’s has played a significant role in creating that high-energy reputation while still remaining a safe family-friendly haven for older customers. Lines stretch around the block on game-day weekends, while gussied-up coeds and their frat boy dates jostle for space at the bar with bearded, bespectacled novelists and middle-aged business owners.

As Oxford’s The Local Voice puts it, “Proud Larry’s has undoubtedly helped to make Oxford a measurably cooler place to live … [It] feels like a communal living room, and the stage there is the fireplace where family and friends gather to share memories and make new ones.”

Andy Knef is PMQ’s associate editor.

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PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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gimme some skinny We’ve said it before: Pizza can be part of a healthy diet. These three chefs and operators have made it their mission to prove how. By Tracy Morin

C

ertain topics inspire endless debate: war, religion, politics...and proper nutrition. One day, everyone’s hopping on the gluten-free bandwagon, then paleo becomes all the rage.

But throughout the wide range of here-today diets and their passionate proponents, pizza often gets a bad rap as a junk food with few redeemable qualities.

Thankfully, some pizzeria operators are pushing back against the negative noise, and anyone can learn from their lessons and approaches to inspire his own image overhaul. No matter what type of pizza you serve, with the proper tweaks, customer education and marketing, you can reposition pizza as the rare comfort food that can also be a “skinny” selection.

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RIBALTA

Ribalta’s Pasquale Cozzolino (shown before and after his diet) shed more than 100 pounds by eating Neapolitan-style pizza for lunch every day.

Ribalta Pizza Dough Skinny Margherita Provided by executive chef Pasquale Cozzolino, Ribalta, New York, NY INGREDIENTS: 250g Ribalta Pizza Dough 50g San Marzano tomatoes, crushed 50g fresh-made mozzarella 5g extra-virgin olive oil DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 500º. Form the dough ball into a 12” pizza crust. Spread the San Marzano tomato sauce on the dough. Top with mozzarella cheese and extra-virgin olive oil. Cook on a pizza stone for 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden. Makes 1 pizza.

CASE STUDY #1: THE ALL-PIZZA GUINEA PIGS When Matt McClellan, founder of Tour de Pizza in St. Petersburg, Florida, started promoting his pizzeria by passing out samples at a local gym back in 2009, skeptics snickered: How could pizza be a health food? When McClellan insisted that they weren’t mutually exclusive, a local reporter challenged him to prove it, and the Pizza Diet was born. For 30 days, McClellan ate nothing but pizza—a slice every 2.5 hours—and lost 25 pounds, including 10% of his body fat. Then, in 2014, he started a 16-week pizza-only diet while training for a bodybuilding competition. Each week, he’d balance two high-carb days (choosing a New York-style, thin or Chicago-style crust) with five low-carb days (opting for a whole-wheat, low46

Provided by executive chef Pasquale Cozzolino, Ribalta, New York, NY INGREDIENTS: 1L water 1.7kg stone-milled flour 35g sea salt 3g brewer’s yeast DIRECTIONS: Stir the yeast in room-temperature water. Mix the water with 1/5 of the flour to create a creamy composition. Add salt to the mixture. Add in the remaining flour and mix by hand for 10 minutes (or by stand mixer for 15 minutes). Let the dough rest for 20 minutes, then cut into 250g balls (each ball makes one 12” pizza crust). Let the dough balls sit in a container for four hours, then put them into the refrigerator for at least 20 additional hours.

Before using, let the dough sit at room temperature for one hour.

carb crust with more fiber). Today, he offers customers a breakdown of his pies’ macronutrients—protein, carbs, fat and fiber counts for every slice.

“While I wouldn’t encourage everyone to eat nothing but pizza, I did it to prove a point, teaching people they can enjoy their favorite foods and hit their health and fitness goals,” McClellan says. “Our industry will decline unless people feel they can fit pizza into a healthy nutrition program, and I want my journey to be a free marketing tool for every independent pizzeria owner in this country. If an average Joe like me, juggling two businesses and a family, can do it, anyone can.”

PMQ’s own test chef, Brian Hernandez, took up the challenge himself in 2015 and, in 16 weeks, lost nearly

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“Offer mini-pie sizes and thin crusts for less carbs, or cut your pies into smaller slices—16 instead of eight. You also may want to choose an olive oil and garlic base rather than traditional red sauce…and keep cheese light.”

—BRIAN HERNANDEZ , PMQ TEST CHEF

30 pounds and more than 4” from his waist. He lauds the diet as “one of the most inspiring and life-changing events I have embarked upon.” (Read more about it at brianspizzadiet.pmq.com). “Any proper eating plan allows carbs, fat, fiber and protein,” he says. “As long as you get the proper amounts, you can eat anything. The hardest part was getting enough fiber—many pizza toppings don’t

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have much—so I created a pie with black beans. Or you can experiment with a high-fiber crust.”

To attract health-conscious customers, Hernandez, a former employee of Bloomington, Indiana-based Pizza X, suggests weighing out your pizza ingredients and dividing by the number of slices in a pie to get general calorie counts, then posting them online and/or in-store.

(Pizza X, positioned in a college town, wisely reached out to students in the nutrition field to figure out its own counts—a smart way to save on potentially pricey nutritional evaluation.) Once you’ve finalized this nutrition guide, promote your healthy pies on social media, especially during key times of the year: after New Year’s, when resolutions run rampant; as part of total-body “spring cleaning”; and in summer, as customers slim down for swimsuit season.

You can even create a menu icon that denotes healthy options (major chains are increasingly touting lighter choices), and create server buttons or stickers that say, “Ask about our Skinny Pizzas,” Hernandez advises. “You can also offer mini-pie sizes and thin crusts for less carbs, or cut your pies into smaller slices—16 instead of eight,” he adds. “You also may want to choose an olive oil and garlic base rather than traditional red sauce, which may have added salt or sugar, and keep cheese light. Less is more!”

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CASE STUDY #2: HEALTHIFIED FARE At Savor Healthy Organic Pizza in Norwalk, Connecticut, owner Rex Bobi makes sure the entire menu is healthy.

His multigrain and grain-free pizza crusts are available in several creative varieties to satisfy health-conscious con-

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Dough

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MATT MCCLELLAN

“Our industry will decline unless people feel they can fit pizza into a healthy nutrition program, and I want [the Pizza Diet] to be a free marketing tool for every independent pizzeria owner in this country.”

sumers. He even buys grains and makes his own flour using ingredients like golden flax, brown rice, wheat, spelt, almond flour and chia seeds.

Bobi’s lasagnas and ravioli feature veggies in place of noodles, and wraps are cloaked in multigrain or glutenfree (almond and flaxseed) tortillas. Smoothies are dairyfree and gluten-free, while desserts are naturally sweetened with stevia. Processed foods are verboten; Bobi and his wife buy milk to craft their own ricotta, feta and goat

— M AT T M C C L E L L A N , TO U R D E P I Z Z A

cheeses. Local farms supply organic produce in-season, while grass-fed meats and wild fish satisfy eco-conscious carnivores. And Bobi believes that using the freshest and best ingredients allows the food’s true flavors to shine.

“We’re able to do a lot more with a lot less,” Bobi says.

“We know exactly what’s in our food, and we would never make or serve our customers anything we wouldn’t eat ourselves.”

To market his wholesome menu, Bobi relies on full

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transparency. An open kitchen lets customers view everything from prep to bake, and he regularly invites them to tour the area, witnessing the farm-to-table process behind the dough, salad dressings and sauces. When customers find they can eat better and feel better while enjoying what’s traditionally viewed as an indulgence, they take notice. Media outlets such as Serious Eats have covered the pizzeria, while its fresh focus nabs it a spot on vegan, health-conscious and gluten-free restaurant directories. “We’re busy like crazy and have been featured on TV and in magazines,” Bobi says with pride. “When people come here, they find out that the good-for-you stuff tastes so much better.”

RIBALTA

TOUR DE PIZZA

Cozzolino says his recipe’s plain dough ball clocks in at a mere 180 calories, with a finished pie at 400 to 600 calories, depending on toppings. With other healthy lifestyle changes, he was able to drop 112 pounds (even with two daily glasses of CASE STUDY #3: THE NEW NEAPOLITAN wine and once-weekly “cheat days”). “I’ve totally changed As a child, Pasquale Cozzolino, executive chef and part- my body,” he says. Now, he encourages servers at Ribalta ner at Ribalta in New York, dreamed of being a pizza to spread the word to diners about the healthiness of its maker just so he could eat pizza every day. But after pizzas. arriving Stateside from his native Italy a few years ago, Fortunately, others have also done a great job of hypCozzolino found his weight ballooned with the traditional ing Cozzolino’s success. A reporter first broke the story American diet. While whipping his body into shape, he on the front page of the New York Post when she came adopted a Mediterranean-style diet, to profile Ribalta and asked about This low-carb, whole-wheat Greek pizza, with plenty of seasonal produce and made with grilled chicken and veggies, is a his slim-down story. A tidal wave of seafood, including pizza for lunch healthy option at Tour de Pizza. media coverage followed from around every day. He reached for his go-to the world—Indonesia, Japan, India— style—a simple Neapolitan crust with appearances on major networks made with flour, water, yeast and sea and in People magazine. He even salt—but instead of the typical “00”, became a late-night talking point in he uses stone-milled flour to infuse Conan O’Brien’s monologue. Social more fiber. “Longer fermentation media similarly exploded: Cozzolino’s (from 36 to 72 hours) helps the gluInstagram shot from 200 followers to ten to be processed, which allows for 24,000, while 1,000 Facebook foleasier digestion by the body,” Cozlowers bloomed to 20,000 and dozzolino reports. “Also, I use about half ens of emails each day inquire about the amount of salt in my dough and the pizza-friendly diet. “Appearing on simple, natural cheese without addiTV and in papers helps market and tives, plus fresh, healthy toppings and advertise the healthiness of pizza,” an olive oil drizzle after baking, since Cozzolino concludes. “Pizza is good a healthy fat helps drive nutrients to for me, and it’s good for everybody.” the body.”

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

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THE

MENU LABELING

PUZZLE

The FDA will soon require chains with 20-plus units to post nutritional data on menus and menu boards.

Here’s what you need to know to stay within the law. By Tracy Morin

A

fter years of back-and-forth with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), foodservice outlets with more than 20 locations will be required to provide nutritional info on menus starting in May 2017. But as simple as that sounds, the process has proven a nightmarish quagmire for pizzerias, which offer near-unlimited customization and whose patrons often order off-premise. Here’s an update on what pizzeria operators need to know as the final deadline looms.

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE Paige Einstein, manager of data quality for Washington, D.C.-based Nutritionix.com, notes that the FDA issued final guidance on menu labeling on April 29, 2016. Enforcement will begin on May 5, 2017. “Pizza chains will have to provide calorie

information on menus (including takeout menus) and menu boards and must have complete nutrition information available in-store,” Einstein explains.

“This information can be posted on a website, but if that’s the only source, the restaurant must provide a way for customers to access it in-store, without relying on a customer’s own technology.”

The requirements are pretty extensive. Pizzerias must list calories on menus and menu boards next to the item name or price, along with two nutritional statements (see sidebar). For self-service buffets, signage must display the item name, calories and serving or unit. Foods that contain multiple servings, like pizza, may have calories listed per the whole menu item (i.e., an entire pie) or per discrete serving unit (per slice). If listing per slice, the total number of slices must also be listed, such as “pizza,

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Menu Must-Haves For restaurants with 20 or more locations, menus and menu boards must contain the following information: Calorie content listed beside each item name or price A statement that reads, “2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice, but calorie needs may vary” A statement that reads, “Additional nutritional information available upon request” Additional information available upon request must include: total calories, calories from fat, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, sugar and protein.

Pizzerias may list calories per whole menu item (i.e., an entire pie) or per discrete serving unit (per slice).

If calories are listed per slice, the total number of slices per whole pizza must also be listed, such as “Pizza, 200 calories per slice, 8 slices.”

For individual toppings listed on the menu/menu board, calories must be listed for each topping and for all sizes, such as: Toppings-Added Calories (Small/Medium/Large) Example: Pepperoni—200/300/400 Sausage—250/350/450

“Nutritional info has been beneficial for us and our brand because we believe in transparency. It’s never a bad thing to be transparent, unless there’s something to hide.”

—TIM MCINTYRE , DOMINO’S 56

Consistently measured topping amounts help ensure the accuracy of nutritional information provided to customers.

200 calories per slice, 8 slices.” For toppings listed on the menu/menu board, calories must be listed for each topping and for all sizes. (See sidebar at left for more details on these requirements.)

“Sometimes the amount of a topping used on pizza may decrease as the customer adds more toppings, but calories must be listed for each topping assuming it is going on a single-topping pizza,” Einstein says. “A declaration must also specify: ‘Pepperoni: 200 added calories for a one-topping pizza.’”

In addition, says Betsy Craig, CEO of MenuTrinfo in Fort Collins, Colorado, the regulations have clear instructions on posting info, from font size of the calories listed to where the information must show up. “With pages and pages of regulations, the simple answer is to follow the regulations and have it checked by an expert before spending thousands on printing your menus and having to reprint again,” Craig advises.

ASKING FOR HELP There are several ways to determine nutritional info for your food, Einstein notes. The safest route may be to use calculations based on nutrient databases from the U.S. Department of Agriculture or to hire a laboratory to perform a nutritional analysis on your food. “Because the calorie and nutrient declarations for menu items must be accurate and consistent, it may be advantageous to hire an outside expert to put together all of the necessary nutrition information,” Einstein says.

MenuTrinfo uses a nutritional database and offers consulting packages for restaurateurs. The company also conducts free webinars to educate the industry. “Lately, a ton

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“[Nutritional calculators] make nutrition more fun and easier to understand for the customer—and take the burden off the restaurant to calculate the facts for all of the many topping combinations.”

— P A I G E E I N S T E I N , NUTRITIONIX

of new software solutions are popping up to let people do it themselves,” Craig says. “Using an app or software may save money, but it’s not as easy as you think, and many apps have questionable accuracy. Brands can also purchase nutritional software and have someone in-house trained to use it, but that can be expensive.” Using a laboratory, meanwhile, may require a longer lead time, since the samples have to be taken and shipped out for testing.

Major chains like Pizza Hut and Marco’s have enlisted help from Nutritionix, which makes nutritional information accessible through interactive nutrition calculators.

“This allows a customer to visit the restaurant’s website, build a pizza to their own specifications, and see the detailed nutrition information,” Einstein says. “While these tools are not required, they make nutrition more fun and easier to understand for the customer—and take the burden off the restaurant to calculate the nutrition facts for the overwhelming number of topping combinations.” (To see an example of a nutrition calculator used by the Newk’s Eatery chain, go to www.nutritionix.com/ newks-eatery/portal.)

Domino’s, when compiling the nutritional info it has provided for years, accesses suppliers for packaged food 58

calorie counts, then adds the numbers together for full menu items. “The FDA mentions ‘standard builds,’ like a cheese or pepperoni pizza or a specialty pizza like a Margherita,” says Tim McIntyre, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based EVP of communications for Domino’s and chair of the American Pizza Community (APC). “But with the complexity of customization, technology can help.”

WORKING THE SYSTEM Though some operators are less than thrilled about the burden of nutritional labeling, it can offer business benefits. For example, you can highlight lower-calorie or healthier menu items to appeal to health-conscious consumers. “Consider marking these items with a special symbol or putting these items into their own section on the menu to draw more attention to them,” Einstein recommends. “As customers become accustomed to seeing this information, they may begin to expect it in all restaurants.” Hence, smaller operations may consider providing this information even though it’s not required by law.

Craig points out that additional regulations monitor the language used around “healthy” items, so you should familiarize yourself with those requirements, too. Mean-

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while, having the right attitude will help. “Menu labeling is a new cost, but getting the menu done and staying current with a nutritional partner, help desk or solution is not a massive future expense,” Craig notes. “The single- or few-location restaurants we work with do this for several reasons: because they plan to grow to 20 locations, they need the numbers for franchise documents, or they have so many diners asking for the information.”

Nutritional info can also help improve your in-store systems, such as training employees to measure ingredients, leading to better consistency, less food waste, lower food costs and formalized recipes. Not to mention a lot of diners simply want to know more about what they’re eating. “Many of our clients have chosen to add nutrition information to their websites and menu boards ahead of FDA requirements to increase the transparency of their product and give customers full control of what they eat,” Einstein says. They’ve also benefited from fewer requests for nutrition and allergen information, saving time and money in man-hours while appealing to customers with dietary restrictions.

Ultimately, many brands have embraced offering nutrition facts even as the details remain daunting. “Nutritional info has been beneficial for us and our brand because we believe in transparency,” McIntyre says. “It’s never a bad thing to be transparent, unless there’s something to hide.”

A Problematic “Solution” The pizzeria industry has worked with the FDA for six years to come up with a better menu labeling solution— with little luck, says Tim McIntyre, Ann Arbor, Michiganbased EVP of communications for Domino’s and chair of the American Pizza Community (APC). The regulations don’t take into account the rising popularity of online ordering and off-premise orders (such as by phone).

And with so many different crusts, sauces, cheeses and toppings, Domino’s accountants tallied 34 million possible combinations that affect calorie counts for a whole pizza.

To address these and other problems, the APC, comprised of major pizza players, initiated a bill with “common sense” nutrition labeling, recently approved by the House of Representatives but yet to be considered by the Senate. The bill offers flexibility based on various combinations and takes into account how customers access the product, allowing for online info instead of menu boards in-store. Learn more at americanpizzacommunity.org.

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

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e h t g n i k c o l n U

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From dough absorption to protein content, the Dough Doctor plays dough detective and solves several perplexing cases from the pizzeria kitchen.

By Tom Lehmann

r

F

lour is a key ingredient in pizza making, but it’s probably also the least understood—and definitely the most underappreciated. Flour is fundamental to our pizza recipes, yet it’s mysterious and constantly changing. As a food scientist who specializes in dough, I find it endlessly fascinating, but to a lot of pizzeria operators who just want to make consistently delicious pizza, it can be downright confounding. Fortunately, decades of research have yielded fairly simple solutions to these mysteries, so let’s put on our Sherlock Holmes hat and give them a closer look.

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W

MANAGING DOUGH ABSORPTION I tell pizza makers that there is a big difference between flour and hockey pucks. Hockey pucks are always exactly the same, while flour is constantly changing in some significant—or even minute—manner. That’s because wheat breeders continually make modifications to their cultivars to achieve specific desired traits (insect or fungus resistance, yield, protein content, drought resistance, and milling and baking properties, just to name a few). These cultivars keep evolving, literally changing every year or two, which means that the grist (wheat that’s blended at the flour mill to make a specific flour) keeps changing, too.

Fortunately, flour millers do a spectacular job of evening out the many fluctuations in the final product, providing flour with consistent and predictable performance traits. But variations are unavoidable, and one of the most significant relates to total absorption. If you’ve wondered why your dough doesn’t quite feel right since your latest batch of flour came in, these subtle changes in your flour might explain it.

Many pizzeria operators never make any changes to the amount of water they add to their dough. They follow the exact same formula for years. But your actual flour absorption rate is changing, and you may need to account for it. Commercial operations (commissaries and

“If your latest batch of dough feels different since your last flour delivery, try making slight (2%) incremental changes in dough absorption to get your dough handling properties back on track.”

— TO M L E H M A N N 64

5 Facts About Flour

By Liz Barrett

Working with flour is both a science and an art. So we asked one food scientist and two pizza artists to share a few must-know tips, and here’s what they told us:

1 2

If you’re freezing your dough, use a flour with a higher protein content. It will help the dough last longer. —Tom Lehmann

If you freeze flour for 30 days and then move it to the fridge, it can last for years as long as you keep it stored in the refrigerator. —Tom Lehmann

3

Despite feeling dry, flour can actually be about 15% water.

However, this can vary by a few points. So if you have a recipe that calls for 62% hydration and a particular batch of flour has just 13% water rather than its normal 15%, your recipe can be off by those 2 points. You have to be flexible and use your experience to look at the texture of the dough. Flour is a natural product and can vary just like any of your produce. —Jeff Varasano, Varasano’s Pizzeria, Atlanta

4

Flour can have a shelf life up to one year if stored in a 60° to 70°F environment free of excessive humidity. Three months is the recommended storage time unless refrigerated. —Tom Lehmann

5

You can get a more natural rise in your dough with a small amount of yeast. I recommend using 2 grams of yeast, 1 liter of water, and 50 grams of salt in 1.7 kg. of flour. —Roberto Caporuscio, Kesté Pizza & Vino and Don Antonio by Starita, New York, N.Y.

T

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“There is a big difference between flour and hockey pucks.

Hockey pucks are always exactly the same, while flour is constantly changing in some significant—or even minute— manner.” — TO M L E H M A N N bakeries) receive a Farinograph report that describes these changes in absorption. But pizzeria operators don’t get such data with their bagged flour. Not to worry, though.

Just keep in mind that the flour can and will change in absorption properties from time to time, and it is correct to adjust the amount of water added to the dough in response to these normal variations. So if your latest batch of dough feels a little different since your last flour delivery, don’t be afraid to make slight (2%) incremental changes in dough absorption to get your dough handling properties back on track.

GLUTEN VS. PROTEIN CONTENT The gluten content of flour is another point of confusion for some pizza makers. In fact, flour doesn’t contain any gluten at all, regardless of what the bag might say. Instead, the flour contains two groups of proteins (glutenin and gliadin) which, when agitated in water, form the sticky, cohesive material that we call “gluten.”

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So how do we know the real strength of a specific flour if the words “high gluten” don’t tell the whole story? The answer is to look at the flour’s protein content. While not an absolute indicator of flour strength, it is a very good way to assess the relative potential strength of various flours.

This is why I tend to reference flour according to a specific protein range rather than by high, medium or low gluten content. If your flour’s protein content isn’t listed on the bag, look for the information on the brand’s website.

SAY GOODBYE TO BROMATED FLOUR Bromated vs. nonbromated flour is another issue that comes up regularly. At one time, most flours were bromated to some extent, but, due to health concerns, only a few flours are bromated today. I don’t recall ever seeing any pizzeria or dough commissary operation that truly needed bromated flour. At one time, back when the dough was bulk-fermented, as opposed to being formed into smaller individual dough balls for fermentation, a

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bromated flour exhibited great performance characteristics. But if you ball your dough for storage (cold fermentation)—the usual practice these days—I seriously doubt you will see any advantage in using a bromated flour. If you do see a difference, take a close look at your dough management procedure. I’ll bet you can find ways to address the problems without the need for bromate or any other dough additive.

INCORPORATING ORGANIC FLOUR Organic flour gets a lot of attention these days, since many pizzerias want to serve what is perceived as more consumer-friendly, healthier pizza.

Organic flour is nothing more than flour milled from wheat that has been certified as “organic.” Such flours are grown, handled and stored according to specific guidelines, then milled in the usual manner—but without any additives, such as malted barley flour (malt), additional vitamins and minerals for enrichment, or oxidants (i.e., azodicarbonamide, ascorbic acid or bromate).

So is there a trick to keep in mind for incorporating organic flour into your dough recipe? For the most part, regular pizza flour and organic flour can be substituted for each other, providing they each have a similar protein content (most organic flours seem to have a protein content of around 12%, but be sure to confirm this with the manufacturer). The one thing to keep in mind is that organic flour lacks malt. Without malt, the flour cannot readily produce its own sugars to support yeast activity over

a period of several days. However, you can address this problem by simply adding sugar to your dough formulation or adding some diastatic (enzyme-active) malt to the dough. If you already add sugar to your dough anyway, as many of you do, you’re set to go!

Tom Lehmann recently retired as the longtime director of bakery assistance for the American Institute of Baking (AIB).

He is now an industry consultant dedicated to helping pizzeria operators make more money. Need more dough advice? Visit the Dough Information Center at PMQ.com/dough.

That perfect bake.

Every time.

We are innovating how pizza is made.

September 2016 pmq.com

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11 Ways Reward to

Discover creative new ways to approach loyalty reward programs and entice guests to participate. By Liz Barrett

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Your BestCustomers O ffering a loyalty reward program is one of the best ways to encourage repeat visits. It’s also one of the easiest ways to thank customers for choosing your restaurant over the competition. From grocery stores to airlines, every brand seems to have a reward program, but when it comes to pizzerias, we often see only the big chains taking part.

The good news for independent pizzerias? You can cater your rewards to be much more specialized and personal than the typical “Buy 10, Get 1 Free” program. Smaller doesn’t have to mean, well, smaller, according to Oliver Page, senior manager for

New York City-based Deloitte Consulting. “A smaller customer base just means it’s easier to track,” he says. “[You can still] gather information about your customers and get them to spend more. By being smaller, you can deliver more personalized perks and apply your program to one store instead of many.”

For any rewards program, you will want to establish a required number of customer visits or a required amount of money spent before rewards start to accrue. But that should be merely a jumping-off point for inspiration.

From there, you’ll need to learn what kind of rewards your customers will actually want and, whenever possi-

ble, think beyond the standard free appetizer or one-topping pizza. And while you can certainly run the loyalty program through an app, it’s just as easily tracked through a good POS system with which you can log customer information and points earned. It all depends on your budget and capabilities.

If you’re just starting out with a loyalty rewards program, try to keep things simple (think one point for every dollar spent). Then just determine how many points it takes to earn each reward. Meanwhile, here are some reward ideas to get your creative juices pumping:

2.

1.

lunch or dinner with

the big cheese

The Customer’s

Dream Pizza

As a pizzeria operator, you have limited time, which is why offering to have lunch or dinner with one of your most loyal guests to talk about anything they like (pizza, fundraising for a local charity, cross-promotions, etc.) could be the ultimate prize for some patrons who are earning points in your program.

Imagine how excited your customers would be to create their own specialty pizza, give it a name and have it featured on the menu for a week. Not only would this idea build excitement around your menu items and help increase visits—as customers strive for the chance to create their own dream pizza—you’d probably also get some coverage in the local press.

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3.

tickets to

big games or concerts

4.

If you live close to a stadium or music venue, let customers earn points toward tickets and concerts. Who wouldn’t want a free afternoon or night out on the town just for ordering pizza?

surprise

instant win

program

Michelle Tempesta, marketing director at Paytronix in Newton, Massachusetts, suggests a tactic that will keep patrons guessing about their reward. “Every 100th or 1,000th person to check out receives a predetermined reward,” she says. “The odds can be set any way the restaurant wants, and it keeps guests coming in for a chance to be the winner.”

6. exclusive invites to pizza parties

5. pizza party or

free pizza for a year Depending on your budget, let customers earn enough to win a pizza party for themselves and all of their friends, or a free pizza each week for a year. These are much bigger prizes to work toward than a free soda or free breadsticks.

Once every three to six months, why not throw a big party at the pizzeria where only top-tier guests are invited to attend? This would also be a great way to promote new menu items while making your customers feel special by giving them an exclusive first look during the event. Publicizing the parties afterward (i.e., through social media or e-newsletters) will encourage other customers to earn enough points so they’ll get invited to the next one.

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7. for loyalty vip always free sodas

s

How much does a fountain soda cost you? If any guest who maintained a certain number of points each month always received free soda with his order, that’s the kind of VIP perk that people pay attention to!

8. Free delivery Do you have guests who have ordered from you twice per week for the past five years and are still paying $2 for delivery? Do you think they’d add another day of delivery to the lineup—or dine in more often—if you offered them free delivery for being such a great customer?

Staying Top-of-Mind Whether or not you have an app tied to your loyalty program, it’s essential that you keep your brand in front of your customers through regular email campaigns, social media, and other reminders, says Oliver Page, senior manager for New York City-based Deloitte Consulting. “The big players remain relevant and in front of their guests,” he points out.

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Michelle Tempesta, marketing director at Paytronix in Newton, Massachusetts, suggests setting up a tiered loyalty program in which different spending levels earn differently. “You may have one customer who comes in once a month and another who comes in once a week or every day,” says Tempesta. “People who are more frequent guests should earn points differently.

Once they earn their first big reward, you need to motivate them a different way to come in again—or continue coming in.”

T

9. double

Gold, Silver and Bronze

point days

Want a quick tip for boosting your slowest day of the week? Offer double reward points for any customers who dine in or order delivery on that day.

10. give out pizza flair

Promotional T-shirts, hats and pins are affordable and make great surprise gifts for your guests. Present a high-repeat guest with a great-looking shirt that says something like, “I’m a VIP at Manny’s Pizzeria!” If they wear it, they’ll also be helping you with your marketing.

11. partner for

F

big rewards Looking to offer something larger, such as a weekend vacation to Napa Valley’s wine country or a week in Italy? Consider talking with one of your suppliers about a promotional partnership where they would receive credit for sponsoring the contest, suggests Tempesta.

Remember, anyone can offer a coupon, but you can stand out by offering unique perks and rewards to your most Liz Barrett is PMQ’s editor at large and author of Pizza: A Slice of American HIstory. loyal guests. After all, everyone likes to feel like a VIP! 72

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PDQpos.com | 877-968-6430 Because wherever there’s a great pizzeria, there’s PDQ POS. LoyaltyProgramsSept16.indd 73

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The

Champ Dough spinning gold medalist Jamie Culliton dons a new hat in the next stage of his Groupon U.S. Pizza Team career.

Story and photos by Andy Knef

W

orld champion acrobatic dough spinner Jamie Culliton of St. Petersburg, Florida, is ready to hang up his trademark fedora, a prop that he has used to dashing effect in competitions for the past several years. The stylish pizzaiolo, who overcame two straight years of second-place frustration to attain dough-spinning supremacy at the 2016 World Pizza Championship in Parma, Italy, says he will now focus on training up-and-coming Groupon U.S. Pizza Team competitors seeking medals of their own.

When not performing dough-slinging sleight of hand, Culliton travels America as regional chef for the Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria chain. “Winning this title has been a goal of mine for 12-plus years, ever since I started in the pizza industry in 1995,” Culliton says.

“To finally win after so many years of competing and hard work was an amazing feeling. After finishing in second place two years in a row, you ask yourself, ‘Will I ever get there? Is this as far as I can go?’ Now that I’ve experienced the exhilaration of being hoisted on my teammates’ shoulders as world champion, I know I’ll always own that accomplishment, and no one can ever

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After silver-medal performances in 2014 and 2015, Jamie Culliton finally earned the gold in the 2016 acrobatic competition at the World Pizza Championship in Salsomaggiore, Italy.

take it away. Now I think I’ll concentrate on developing new acrobatic champions and perfecting my pizza recipes for the culinary competition.”

CREATING A FLOW Culliton recently leveraged his world champion status to entertain children battling serious diseases. In May he performed his winning routine for patients and staff at Boston Children’s Hospital. Culliton was in Beantown representing the Groupon USPT at the New England Pizza Conference that same week at the Haverhill Country Club. Co-sponsored by Colony Foods and PMQ, the

“I decided to concentrate on feeling the music and going with it instead of racking my brain trying to hit every exact moment with the exact trick and risk losing my place in the routine.”

— J A M I E C U L L I TO N , G RO U P O N U . S . P I Z Z A T E A M 76

event attracted more than 150 New England-area and national pizza operators and industry executives for a full day of seminars, keynote speakers and dough-spinning entertainment.

“I don’t see why pizza acrobatics can’t have a similar athletic, artistic appeal to sports like gymnastics or figure skating,” Culliton says. “I want to use my world championship status to promote pizza acrobatics and the entire pizza industry around the world.”

Culliton says his preparation for his WPC victory was seasoned with serious soul-searching—and a lot of time in the gym. “I worked out,” he says. “I’ve always been a heavier guy, and I think those extra pounds made me a bit slower, a touch sloppier in my performance. In addition to getting in better shape, I decided to concentrate on feeling the music and going with it instead of racking my brain trying to hit every exact moment with the exact trick and risk losing my place in the routine. I went with a popular song [“Lucky Strike” by Maroon 5] and practiced, practiced, practiced.”

Culliton’s approach to the demanding discipline of dough-spinning dexterity is decidedly old-school. “Many performers in this sport rely on crazy, insane tricks,” he says. “My routine is based on the goal of putting on a carefully choreographed show that balances movement

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and continual spinning with memorable music. I believe the judges can be rubbed the wrong way by performers who put flashy, stop-and-start tricks in their face without creating a flow with their routines. I’m a decent dancer, but I’m no break dancer. My more elegant style is what put me over the top. A friend who watched me compete once told me, ‘The difference between you and this guy is that he comes off as cocky, while you play to the crowd.’

It’s about bringing the audience along with your performance and showing them that you love what you do.”

That doesn’t mean Culliton doesn’t have some flashy moves of his own. After his two straight silver-medal wins in Parma, he decided to take his routine a notch higher— he even tossed in a couple of signature handstands and kicked the dough with his feet, pushing the dial on the fans-go-crazy noise machine to 11.

He was in the lead going into the competition’s finals, with the grand prize just within his reach. Despite the pressure, he calmly breezed through his five-minute routine, giving in to his emotions only when his victory was announced. All of the tension of two years of anticlimactic second-place finishes washed away in the excitement of the gold-medal win, and his ecstatic teammates paraded him around the Parma arena on their shoulders in a scene reminiscent of the moment when the Green Bay Packers secured their 1967 world championship and carried Coach Vince Lombardi across the frozen tundra.

“My teammates have been so supportive of me the last couple of years, and when I won this year, it was as if they 78

As regional chef for Grimaldi’s, Culliton spends a lot of time on the road.

Here he’s shown at a new Grimaldi’s location in Memphis.

won too,” Culliton recalls. “Their dam of frustration and emotion was broken as well. What an awesome moment for all of us!”

Culliton now looks forward to passing on his hardearned lessons and experience to USPT newcomers. “In my first competition, I came in last,” he admits. “If that can be an inspiration to anybody, if I can start from last and eventually win gold, these guys can, too. But it’s not about being the champion. It’s about being part of a team. I couldn’t have done any of this without each and every team member who has lifted me up all these years.”

Culliton says he’ll take some time off from acrobatic competition, helping develop new pizzathletes for the team while paying more attention to the culinary side of the World Pizza Championship. “I’m a pretty damn good pizza cook,” he notes, with a wry smile. Of course, like most of us, he burned a few pies before he got better at it. He knows from personal experience that the secret for success in the pizza business—and in life—is what you do after you lose.

Andy Knef is PMQ’s associate editor.

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MID-AMERICA

restaurant

JANUARY 29-30, 2017 presented by the Ohio Restaurant Association

innovation, technology & trends

THE PREMIER REGIONAL RESTAURANT SHOW

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the

BEST

of

NRA 2016

PMQ sent its sales team to the National Restaurant Association Show in search of innovative—or simply delicious—products. Here’s what they found.

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COOKIE-PIE RAVES This is one of my favorites. The smell of freshly baked cookies is always so inviting. I believe any pizzeria could add the Salted Caramel Crunch Cookie-Pie Rave to its menu as a delicious dessert option. This sweet, salty, caramelized treat features the buttery crunch of all-natural toffee, milky white chocolate chunks, crispy pretzel bites and sea salt, all playing hopscotch across your taste buds. They come to you already baked and ready to serve. 800-793-3897, sweetstreet.com

Linda GREEN Co-Publisher

IMPULSE GUIDE This was an excellent find at the NRA Show. If you’re looking to improve the menu signage for your pizzeria, Impulse Guide can help. Their team of professionals— Taryn, Nicole and John— was so helpful in explaining the benefits of a content-based technology for your digital signage. The menu board is user-friendly and easy to update for daily specials. Digital signage can be a great investment to make your menu more animated and your customers more impulsive. 716-474-0979, impulseguide.com MODERN POSTCARD Marketing is such an important part of sales growth for all pizzerias. I was pleased to find this professional company that makes direct mail services easy and available for pizzeria operators. ModernPostcard.com gives you everything you need to order, print and launch your campaign and start getting results right away. I was very impressed with how user-friendly their website is. You can choose from some of their great templates or upload your own images, and you can even chat with a live person if you wish. 800-959-8365, modernpostcard.com DELIVERY CONCEPTS I enjoyed meeting up with longtime pizza industry professional Bernard Pfeiffer from Delivery Concepts. He had a solar power-assisted catering truck on display with LED lighting. The truck comes with hot, cold and frozen compartments. What a perfect fit for the pizza industry—an eye-catching vehicle with cost-saving benefits. This team of industry professionals is always coming up with new ways to strengthen the pizza industry. 800-654-1857, deliveryconcepts.com

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Clifton MOODY Senior Account Representative

GELARTO This is one of my personal favorites—delicious authentic Italian ice cream and gelato from GelARTo. This company has put together a package that includes ice cream and a custom-branded display freezer, providing an affordable, cost-effective way of serving and storing your GelARTo products. You can also buy the ice cream and gelato separately if you’ve already got your own freezer.

This is the perfect way to add tasty frozen desserts to your menu and increase revenue for your store.

844-435-2786, gelarto.com GEO COUPON ALERTS I thought this was very impressive for the pizzeria owner who wants to connect with the community. Geo Coupon is the coupon book for your phone. It allows free advertising while helping local schools and youth groups raise funds they need for their projects. You include the coupons you want in the app, and the kids sell the app to raise money, helping to recruit new customers who will admire your efforts in helping the community. You can add, edit, manage and track your coupons through your own merchant center in real time.

800-590-4160, geocouponalerts.com REDDOT I was very impressed with this product, as were the pizzeria operators I talked to at the NRA Show. RedDot Brands’ product line is centered on a core offering of the most commonly used automated and mechanical dispenser products—with a twist. Their roll towel, toilet tissue and skin-care dispensers can be purchased as standard stock items in a smoke finish, or you can customize them with color and logos to match your pizzeria’s brand. They even offer a custom mold option to take branding to the next level by changing the front cover to whatever shape you can imagine.

844-788-9564, reddotbrands.com SHADE SCAPES USA Shade Scapes USA is perfect for the upscale pizzeria or those that want to upgrade their image. It has four collections of state-of-the-art umbrellas that will turn your ordinary outdoor patio into an extraordinary one.

These luxurious and elegant umbrellas bring attention to your restaurant and will certainly keep customers coming back for a great dining experience again and again.

970-527-7070, shadescapeusa.com

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THE PIZZA SYSTEM

< Spiral mixer SL50

> DR11-14

< Sprizza 40

Tel. 800-258-6358 www.univexcorp.com

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> Available in Multiple Sizes > Customizable and Embellished Finishes

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Tom BOYLES Account Representative

BAKERSTONE PIZZA OVEN BOX This is a neat product—it actually transforms a gas grill into an outdoor gourmet pizza oven.

I like it because it has applications for doing on-site catering while also making a nice addition to any pizza maker’s back yard. The BakerStone box fits on top of either a restaurant’s charbroiler or patio grill. It is a simple and cost-effective way to expand what you can offer, and it will change the pizza game for many entrepreneurs.

855-657-6836, bakerstonebox.com BETHLEHEM LIGHTS Ambiance sets the mood for your customers, and what better way is there than a candlelight dinner? Bethlehem Lights launched its flameless candles at the NRA Show, and they were so realistic that I had to look twice. There are no flames for kids to start a table fire, nothing to light or extinguish at the end of the night—just perfect table lighting. They are remote-capable, have extended battery life and are also available in a plug-in version for those who do not want to mess with batteries.

888-923-2982, bethlehemlights.com DEVANCO FOODS Italian beef is all the rage, but if you don’t know how to make great Italian beef yourself, Devanco Foods can do it for you.

They also offer gyros, meat products, Giardiniera, Italian sausage, pita breads and many other high-quality products. These precooked and portion-controlled products are available in many different sizes. Trust me, this food is so good, I almost ate all of their samples at the show.

847-228-7070, devancofoods.com SHAVED ICE DISTRIBUTORS Looking for a unique dessert to offer customers any time of the year? When they see what Shaved Ice Distributors can add to your menu, they will start talking. Their Shaved Snow Ice has a smooth, velvety texture and is often topped with fresh fruit.

Shaved Snow is similar to “snow ice” desserts, with the major difference being in the content of the toppings added to the ice and the presentation.

312-566-8423, shavedicedistributors.com

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We have learned to live in a world of mistakes and defective products as i life. It is time to adopt a new philosophy in America.

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ON THE ROAD WITH PMQ

Where We've Been

PMQ’s Pizzamobile is alw ays on a mission to unco ver new moneymaking milestone events in the ideas and document pizza industry. If we ha ve n’t been to your town yet, time. Learn more abou it’s only a matter of t where the PMQ staff has been and look out for where we’re headed next.

Open since 1940, Marie’s captures the spirit of old-time Chicago.

MARIE’S Jonathan Porter of Chicago Pizza Tours whisked PMQ editor at large Liz Barrett and senior copy editor Tracy Morin to Marie’s in their recent visit to the Windy City. Opened in 1940 as a tavern and packaged goods store, Marie’s provides a porthole back in time (and still requires entrance through its attached liquor store).

One can only imagine the stories told at the long wooden bar underneath a stained-glass ceiling, or the legions of sweethearts who have huddled in the gleaming, cherry-red booths. Marie’s has been applauded by media outlets like Serious Eats and the Chicago Tribune and even hosts a yearly classic car show.

BOSTON PIZZA TOURS On a hot day in July, Barrett and her husband signed up for a pizza-and-history walking tour with Martin Elliot of Boston Pizza Tours. After a meet-up with the group at the base of famed boxer Tony DeMarco’s statue in Boston’s North End, Elliot showed how he marries local history with pizza slices. Visits to Antico Forno, Quattro and Regina Pizzeria—the first two lauded for delicate Neapolitan-style pizzas and the latter for its historic brick oven that was built in 1888 and has been pushing out thin-crust pies since 1926—left group members divided over which pizza was best.

Martin Elliot gets ready for a whirlwind tour of Boston’s most famous pizza shops.

Liz Barrett grabbed a hand slab and went back for more during a recent visit to Slab in Portland, Maine.

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SLAB If you’ve ever dreamed of pillows of pizza, look no further than Slab in Portland, Maine. Barrett stopped in to try the “hand slab” and “the wedge,” masterminded by celebrity baker Stephen Lanzalotta, formerly of Micucci Grocery in Portland. Lanzalotta teamed up with the chef/owner of nearby Nosh Kitchen Bar to open Slab.

Barrett thought there was no way she and her husband could finish a hand slab (one pound of dough topped with sweet tomato sauce, mozzarella and provolone). Then they ordered another. The menu says a full slab feeds eight, but looking at it, Barrett swears it could feed 16.

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Where We're Going

Joe Leroux’s pierogi-style pizza earned him Chef of the Year honors in Canada.

AMADIO’S PIZZA TORONTO PMQ editor at large Liz Barrett will head to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where she’ll have a chance to sit down and chat with Joe Leroux, who just celebrated 25 years as owner of Mississauga-based Amadio’s Pizza. In addition to Leroux recently being named Chef of the Year by Canadian Pizza for a pierogi-style pizza recipe, Amadio’s Pizza was rated one of the top three pizzerias in the greater Toronto area by the Toronto Star, Mississauga’s Best Independent Pizzeria eight years running by the Mississauga News Readers’ Choice Awards, and the No. 1 Takeout Pizzeria in all of Mississauga by TripAdvisor.

DETROIT PIZZA TOURS Born and raised in Michigan until she was 13 years old, Barrett has never gotten a chance to tour the popular Detroit-area pizzerias she learned about after joining the PMQ team in 2007. But that’s about to change. Liz will soon make the trek to her home state with the goal of checking a few of the Detroit-style greats off her wish list, starting with Pizza Hall of Fame member Buddy’s Pizza, known as ground zero of Detroit-style pies. She also plans to check out the fare at two other Pizza Hall of Fame shops, including the venerable Cloverleaf Bar & Restaurant (motto: “It’s hip to be square”) and Shield’s Pizza, which has been slinging deep-dish pies since the 1940s. Just a note, Liz: Some Motor City locals say it’s perfectly OK to eat a thick, cheesy Detroit-style slice with a fork and knife, but if we catch you doing it, we will make fun of you.

Buddy’s Pizza, Cloverleaf Bar & Restaurant and Shield’s Pizza are Motor City institutions.

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PIZZA WITHOUT BORDERS

Reporting international trends, events and cultural etiquette from around the world

By Missy Assink CASA MADERO

Valle de Parras, Mexico Mexico’s Secret Wine History The oldest winery in the Americas is not in California, Chile or Argentina; it’s Casa Madero, located in Coahuila, a state in Northern Mexico considered to be the cradle of New World wine. Spanish conquistadors first discovered grapes growing natively in the region in the 16th century. Due to its suitable climate, the Spanish Crown invested in the territory for the production of wine and brandy, breaking ground on the region’s first winery in 1597. Today Coahuila boasts centuries-old vineyards and has seen a recent wine boom with dozens of new wine producers annually.

Paris, France “Chic Pizza” Targets Tourists at Paris Hotel Michelin star Chef Thierry Marx has partnered with Galbani pizza chef Bruno Bertrand to create a menu of “chic pizzas” for the fivestar Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Paris. The limited-time menu included pizzas with squid ink crème fraîche, caviar and gold leaf.

The promotion was meant to help attract tourists in the wake of recent terrorist attacks throughout France and doubly demonstrate that pizza, too, can be haute cuisine. Prices range from $42 to $96 (in U.S. dollars).

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BISTRO IN VITRO

Maastricht, the Netherlands Slaughter-Free Meat For the Future?

If you like meat but don’t like hurting animals, in vitro meat could be an alternative for you. With the world’s population expected to rise to 9 billion by 2050, the future of the meat industry seems likely to undergo some type of paradigm shift. Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands has been leading a research project to explore culturing meat cells in a laboratory. To satisfy the curious, the Submarine Channel and Next Nature Network have launched a fictitious online restaurant at Bistro-InVitro.com. The menu, created with the help of artists, scientists and philosophers, is meant to spur debate on the topic. Site visitors can select what they would order at such a restaurant and even reserve a table—but not until at least 2028. Although Post served the first in vitro meat burger in 2013, there is still a long way to go to make it commercially feasible and more humane.

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MIKE ARVBLOM

Stockholm, Sweden Knäckebröd pizza: A Fusion of Traditions Known as Swedish crisp-bread in English, knäckebröd is a traditional whole-grain cracker used as a staple food that keeps well for a long time. The hole in the middle was once used to store the crackers on poles or sticks under rooftops. Nowadays the bread has been making a comeback, particularly as a pizza base.

You can easily find Knäcke pizza in any Swedish supermarket, including under the name brand Leksands, the official sponsor of the National Swedish Pizza Team.

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SMARTMARKET CHERRYPICKPRICES.COM

SPONSORED CONTENT

Cherry-Picking Prices from Suppliers Now Easy as Pie CherryPickPrices.com represents the future of food cost management

Y

ou may keep track of prices on high-cost items like cheese and pepperoni, but what about the smaller things? “Salt, dissolvable labels, grated Parmesan packets—the things pizza store owners casually tack onto their orders may be marked up 30% to 40% more because the prices are not being looked at,” says David DeSantis, the Food Cost Dude and inventor of CherryPickPrices.com. “Suppliers sometimes don’t include these seemingly insignificant items on your price list at all.”

After years of experience as a sales rep, a multi-unit pizza store operator and an Executive MBA, David DeSantis has come up with what he calls the future of food cost management. The software empowers pizza store operators to “cherry-pick” prices across suppliers while providing a platform to communicate with their sales reps and the ability to track inventory without all the complicated frills. The software is accessible to everyone. “If you know how to download and upload a file, you can use Cherry,” DeSantis says.

Cherry’s mission is to increase transparency and aid purchasing decisions in an honest way. “We’re not here to replace sales reps or automate jobs,” DeSantis notes. “Our mission is to get pizzerias making informed decisions and give suppliers a healthy dose of competition.”

After 32 years in the pizza business, DeSantis says he was ready to put everything he had into the development of Cherry. “I cashed out my share of the Peace, Love, Pizza chain, we sold the house, and the wife went back to work. After three years, Cherry is finally ready for launch, and we are as confident as ever.”

“The look on pizza operators’ faces when they calculate their first couple of orders is just priceless,” DeSantis adds.

Cherry Pick Prices gives the same guarantee as Dave DeSantis did for his pizza: If you’re not happy with it, don’t pay for it. You don’t

The Jammin Pie Pizza team, including managers Nick, Becca and Curtis (shown with Dave DeSantis), uses CherryPickPrices.com to great benefit.

need to give a credit card number to get started; all you need is some time and determination to get empowered.

“You need five or six hours to set everything up, which you can do in sections,” DeSantis explains. “We cannot organize your business for you, but we have all the tools to help you do it. There are video tutorials at each step to help you, and, for a small fee, you can hire our concierge service to assist and train you. Plus you get me, the Food Cost Dude, to consult along the way.”

Visit CherryPickPrices.com and start saving today!

“Our mission is to get pizzerias making informed decisions and give suppliers a healthy dose of competition.” —DAVID DeSANTIS, CHERRYPICKPRICES.COM 90

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TM

Cherry will help you win the race against high prices.

Cherry compares your prices, on your items, from all of your suppliers, every time you order.

TM

30 Day absolutely FREE No Credit Card needed trial!

Originally born in my pizzeria in Excel

SUPPLIER PRICE COMPARISON SOFTWARE Cherry is where old school meets new school.

Software designed for the pizza business by a pizza veteran.

Cherry works with just about any supplier whether they know it or not.

Your current supplier price lists are Cherryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pricing data source.

TM TM

TM

For more information on how The Cherry System works, please visit us at Www.CherryPickPrices.com.

OR call 678.837.3131 to schedule an online DEMO & learn how Cherry will save you time & money.

Webinars and product demos are available!

Completely organizes purchasing. Integrates with most POS inventory systems.

Copyright 2016 Www.CherryPickPrices.com, LLC

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IDEA ZONE CHOWLY

SPONSORED CONTENT

Thanks to Chowly, You CAN Integrate Restaurant Aggregators Into Your POS System

C

howly Inc., based in Chicago, is the first company whose sole focus is integrating third-party online ordering systems directly into point-of-sale systems.

The growing restaurant aggregator industry has proven to be a vital part of the modern restaurant’s marketing plan. These third-party online ordering systems—Chowly’s Brian Duncan calls them TOOS—include Grubhub, Eat24 and Chownow, and they drive additional revenue and add a valuable marketing channel to reach new customers. “I think the restaurant industry is in agreement that TOOS are here to stay,” Duncan says. “The problem has always been that the added value would ultimately make restaurant operations suffer by having to manually enter each order one at a time.”

Grubhub, Eat24, OrderUP and other TOOS provide a medium, such as a tablet or fax machine, to deliver online orders to the restaurant. A member of the restaurant staff must then manually enter each order into the POS, opening up the restaurant to additional problems, such as input errors.

These problems are magnified during lunch and dinner rush.

With Chowly’s innovative software, the need for additional staff to re-enter orders into the point-of-sale system is now a

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problem of the past. There is no additional hardware to purchase and no additional steps for employees to take.

“Chowly is a software company created by restaurant professionals,” Duncan notes. “We believe adding another printer or another tablet is not a solution and also adds unwanted overhead to the restaurant.” Chowly’s software operates in the background of your restaurant’s point-of-sale platform. Orders are electronically transmitted from your TOOS provider directly into your POS, mimicking the current way the restaurant enters orders manually. “Our product is not an out-of-the-box solution,” Duncan adds. “We speak with each restaurant to understand their individual needs and tailor our integration so the TOOS orders flow seamlessly into the kitchen.”

Chowly works with over 70% of the point-of-sale market and has partnered with restaurants across the United States.

So when the question is asked, “Can restaurant aggregators integrate into my POS systems?”, the answer is a resounding YES, but only if you work with Chowly! For more details, contact Chowly Inc. at 888-628-0823 or visit chowlyinc.com.

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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IDEA ZONE PIZZA BUTLER

SPONSORED CONTENT

Solve Your Table Space Problem with Pizza Butler

A

big problem with dine-in pizza is the table space it consumes. Customers and waitstaff are often playing a game of Tetris to try and fit drinks, plates and pizza all on the table. And as pizza is a shared food, when you have a large group dining together there is the problem of passing the pizza up and down the table. There have been many creative attempts to solve the table space problem, such as using an empty tomato sauce can as a pizza stand, but is this really the look you want for your restaurant? The Pizza Butler solves the table space issue and several other problems that comes with serving pizza.

With Pizza Butler’s unique “Z” pattern design, the amount of space needed for the pizza is cut in half. The Pizza Butler is made of 18-gauge stainless steel and will absolutely never tip over. The 300 series stainless steel is dishwasher-safe and will never rust. In addition to saving table space, the raised bumps allow air flow beneath the pizza to prevent soggy slices, and the raised lip prevents pizza from sliding and oils from dripping off the pan, all while creating a sleek look.

The design also allows for easy carrying from the kitchen to

the customer, and the pizza will never fall off.

“Because the Pizza Butler takes up less space on tabletops, we were able to add five more tables in our dining room,” says Donna Caruso of Formaggio’s (formaggiospizzeria.com) in Tampa, Florida. “Our guests can now enjoy their meals with comfort and convenience, and I can capture more business with more tables.”

The Pizza Butler solves another problem, too: It allows you to place two pizza halves on each butler so large groups can have two different options at each end of the table without having to pass hot pizza pans back and forth. No matter what sizes you offer, the Pizza Butler can fit your needs or can be custom-created to any size you need. It comes in both round and square models and can even be personalized with engraved logos.

Sleek and customizable, Pizza Butler offers a space-saving footprint, easy stackable storage and versatility, allowing you to serve pizza, appetizers, miniature desserts and more.

To learn more or to order your Pizza Butler, visit their site at thepizzabutler.com or call 718-894-1212.

Introducing

PIZZA BUTLER!

THE

Uniquely stylish and uncommonly practical, The Pizza Butler makes an impact in more ways than one.

• Space-saving footprint - Compact design uses less table space than traditional stands • Easy storage - stackable • Versatile Function - serve pizza, appetizers, mini deserts and more • Sturdy Contruction - Dishwasher-safe, 18 gauge stainless steel • Customizable - Personalize with engraved logos

Before

After

Call Manny at 718-894-1212 ext. 218 Order online at www.thepizzabutler.com September 2016 pmq.com

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

Solving Your Paper Problem

The Gift of Repeat Business

Are you having a problem getting paper to fit the new EMV printers? POS Express has the solution.

Its new thermal rolls were designed to fit those portable handheld printers. Choose the 2 ¼” x 50’ size or the 2 ¼” x 75’ coreless size. The new coreless roll provides 25 extra feet so you have to change the rolls less frequently. Both are BPA-free and made in the U.S.A. 877-767-4505, posexpress.com

Harbortouch’s all-inone POS system helps accelerate your pizzeria’s growth with a premier gift and loyalty program.

This built-in feature encourages more spending and more repeat business at your location. Gift cards improve cash flow since cards are prepaid before you provide the goods and serve as an advertisement every time your customers open their wallets!

866-286-8744, iharbortouch.com

Turn Gas Grills into Pizza Ovens Lined with stone and encased in metal, the BakerStone Pizza Oven Box transforms a gas grill into an outdoor gourmet pizza oven, cooking pies in three minutes.

It makes Neapolitan-style pizza accessible for resort pools, bars, cafes and more. It’s a simple, cost-effective way to expand menus and will change the pizza game for many entrepreneurs.

855-657-6836, bakerstonebox.com

Heat Up the Night Available in remote-controlled and hard-wired models, the Sunpak infrared heater from Infrared Dynamics mounts on the ceiling or the wall. The SUNGLO Patio heater is larger, floor-based, and is available in several colors and styles. There is also a ceiling-suspended model. All Sunpak and SUNGLO heaters use either natural gas or propane.

888-317-5255, infradyne.com

The Finest Italian Flour

Take Your Loyalty Program Mobile IDCardRewards offers a new loyalty program in a mobile app. A great way to retain customers and keep track of your success, this app can be downloaded today, so you can get your employees and delivery drivers to start signing up customers right away. For every dollar spent, customers can collect a point and win a $25 gift card when they spend $250.

800-489-0048, idcardrewards.com

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Imported exclusively by Atalanta Corp., Molini Pivetti’s new Mimosa 2 flour is made with the best Italian wheat. High in protein and rich in fiber, mineral salts and vitamins, it’s ideal for crispy pizzas. It has a higher water absorption than type “00” flour and nearly twice the nutrients. It allows for long proofing times and/or highly hydrated products with a stable structure and large bubbles. www.atalantacorp.com

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE BULLETIN BOARD YOUR ONE-STOP BAG SHOP • UNBEATABLE BAGS AT UNBEATABLE PRICES CALL US TOLL FREE

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CATERING HOT BAG (Holds up to Two or Three Full Pans)

Order online at www.deliverybagsdepot.com

September 2016 pmq.com

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE BULLETIN BOARD

MY PIZZA PROTECTOR Protecting Pizzas since 1999

PROTECT YOUR PIZZ A

The Pizza Protector comes in 3 sizes: 10x10 (#70644) for 10–12 inch 12z12 (#70645) for 14–16 inch 14x14 (#70647) for 18 inch or larger

FOR ONLY PENNIES! From the tim e out of your it comes til your cus oven tomer eats it!

mypizzaprotector.com

WHAT IS IT? WHAT DOES IT DO? A proprietary FDA approved plastic screen

• Prevents a soggy crust • Keeps pizza crisp • Prevents cheese from sticking to the box

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888-766-1120 CALL NOW FOR YOUR FREE SAMPLE!

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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Pizzart

TM

By Unisource

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DEALERS WANTED! 1-888-443-8782 • www.pizzartconcepts.com or email: info@unisourcefoodequipment.com

Wired Up Fired Up 2016 returns to

SOFO Foods Restaurant & Foodservice Summit Sunday, September 18 Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio

Featuring:

• Hands-on technology demonstrations from vendors • How online ordering can boost your sales • Why it’s urgent to add online ordering TODAY (hint: your competitors are already doing it!)

Online ordering is the future of pizza sales.

Plus:

• Thousands of moneymaking new products for your restaurant • Menu ideas to help you sell more pizza • Groupon U.S. Pizza Team culinary competition

TAKE YOUR TO ReadyBUSINESS to attend? Email angie.rombach@sofofoods.com Interested in exhibiting?

Call 662-234-5481, x 122 NEW HEIGHTS. September 2016 pmq.com

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ADVERTISER INDEX SEPTEMBER 2016 Advertiser

Phone Website

AB Mauri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-772-3971 . . . . . . . .

AM Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219-472-7272 . . . . . . . . .

Ardent Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-685-2534 . . . . . . . .

Bacio Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885-222-4685 . . . . . . . .

Bay State Milling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-553-5687 . . . . . . . .

Bellissimo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-813-2974 . . . . . . . .

Better4UFoods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CherryPickPrices.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678-837-3131 . . . . . . . .

Chowly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Delivery Bags Depot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844-HOT-BAGS . . . . . . .

DeIorioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-649-7612 . . . . . . . .

Dutchess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-777-4498 . . . . . . . .

Edge Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-480-EDGE . . . . . . .

Escalon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fontanini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-331-MEAT . . . . . . . .

Galbani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-206-9945 . . . . . . . .

Grain Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423-265-2313 . . . . . . . .

Grande Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-8-GRANDE . . . . . . .

Harbortouch POS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866-286-8744 . . . . . . . .

HTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-321-1850 . . . . . . . .

IBIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Infrared Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-317-5255 . . . . . . . .

Italforni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424-364-0075 . . . . . . . .

La Nova . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716-881-3366 . . . . . . . .

Liguria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515-332-4121 . . . . . . . .

Lloyd Pans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-748-6251 . . . . . . . .

MailShark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-457-4275 . . . . . . . .

Maple Leaf Farms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-348-2812 . . . . . . . .

Marra Forni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-239-0575 . . . . . . . .

Marsal & Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631-226-6688 . . . . . . . .

MicroMatic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866-327-4159 . . . . . . . .

Microworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-787-2068 . . . . . . . .

Middleby Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-34-OVENS . . . . . . .

Mid-America Restaurant Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-265-7469 . . . . . . . . .

My Pizza Protector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-766-1120 . . . . . . . .

Our Town America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-497-8360 . . . . . . . .

Ovention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

PCI Pizza Cono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732-707-9009 . . . . . . . .

PDQ POS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-968-6430 . . . . . . . .

PizzArt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-443-8782 . . . . . . . .

Pizza Butler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 894 1212 . . . . . . . .

PizzaOvens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-367-6836 . . . . . . . .

Polselli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305-406-2747 . . . . . . . .

Precision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-R-MIXERS . . . . . . . .

Somerset Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978-667-3355 . . . . . . . .

Stanislaus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-327-7201 . . . . . . . .

State Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tyson Foodservice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479-290-4000 . . . . . . . .

Univex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-258-6358 . . . . . . . .

XLT Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888-443-2751 . . . . . . . .

Page

abmna.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 ammfg.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 ardentmills.com/highgluten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 baciocheese.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 baystatemilling.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 bellissimofoods.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 better4ufoods.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 cherrypickprices .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 chowly.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 deliverybagsdepot.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 deiorios.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 dutchessbakers.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 edgeovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 escalon.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover fontanini.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 galbanicheese.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 graincraft.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 grandecheese.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 iharbortouch.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 hthsigns.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 IBIE2016.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 infradyne.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 italforniUSA.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 lanova.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover liguriafoods.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 lloydpans.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 themailshark.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 mapleleafafarms.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 marraforni.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 marsalsons.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 micromatic.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 microworks.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 wowoven.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 ohiorestaurant.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 mypizzaprotector.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 ourtownamerica.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 oventionovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 pcifrozenfoods.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 pdqpos.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 pizzartconcepts.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 thepizzabutler.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 pizzaovens .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 manzofood.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 pizzamixers.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 smrset.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 stanislaus.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5 st8.fm/bizinsurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 tyson.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover univexcorp.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 xltovens.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

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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CAN YOU WIN IN CHINA? Sign up now for the 2016

Chinese Pizza Championships!

Presented by PMQ China Pizza Magazine

November 5-11 Shanghai, China

PMQ invites you to join us for an exciting trip to explore the treasures of the Orient on an elaborate tour created especially for you. The Chinese Pizza Championships are not only an international competition, but also a communication forum for pizza lovers, worldwide. Trip highlights include a dinner river cruise, mansion tours, the Shanghai World Expo and much more!

For more information on booking, contact Brian Hernandez at 662-234-5481 x129 or brian@pmq.com

THE SUMMER 2016

MY PIZZA VIDEO CONTEST

MY PIZZA

VIDEO

SLICE OF THE 80s

CONTEST

has come to a close, and the winner is...

Adam Matt and his Slice of the 80s cast of characters rocking the Motor City. Claiming $1,000 and creative props in PMQâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inaugural My Pizza Video Contest, Adam thanked the dedicated staff at his 80s-themed Westland, Michigan destination spot outside of Detroit.

PMQ and PizzaTV thanks all the nominees who submitted videos. We reviewed scores of great videos and we were so impressed that we plan to feature all your awesome work on PizzaTV.com, meanwhile the Top 20 entries can be seen at pmq.com/mypizzavideo. Look for a review of this contest and information on the next contest in our October issue!

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE ADVERTISING

PizzaDirectMail.com Acquire New Customers

Increase Sales

ACCOUNTING

CHEESE

specializing in

Kim

Pizza/Restaurant Accounting Services

Contact us for your PERSONLIZED program

Affordable plans customized for your pizzeria

StarcherAccounting.com

TA X E S

•

866.466.2726

PAY R O L L

•

P&L’S

tax accountant Starcher

(330) 357-6102

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

BAKING STONES FIBRAMENT-D BAKING STONE.....................................................www.bakingstone.com 708-478-6032 ......................................NSF approved baking stone for all ovens by AWMCO

Authentic Flavor for Modern Menus

BEVERAGES ON TAP

CALL (800) 824-3373 OR VISIT SAPUTOUSAFOODSERVICE.COM

BREAD Specializing in Hearth-Baked Italian Breads, Hoagies, Buns & Rolls Since 1911. www.cellones.com 800.334.8438

Mozzarella I Provolone I Blue Cheese I Gorgonzola I Asiago I Romano

Mark Wutz VP National Accounts MWutz@cellones.com

CHEESE

CHEESE SHAKERS

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE CHEESE SHAKER LIDS

COMPUTER SYSTEMS: POINT OF SALE

www.posexpress.com

Providing POS paper and supplies to Micros customers for over five years

COMPUTER SYSTEMS: POINT OF SALE

1-888-400-9185 speedlinesolutions.com

The BEST Pizza POS OS OS

877-968-6430 PDQpos.com

The Fastest POS on the Planet The Easiest to Learn & Operate Online Ordering / Rewards & Loyalty Mobile Reporting/Enterprise Complete EMV & PCI Compliance

CONSULTING

Pizza Technology that Delivers.

CUTTING BOARDS - EQUAL SLICE www.granburyrs.com

800.750.3947

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e $2395 THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE icGUIDE fer Pr

PMQ

O

DESSERTS

DOUGH

LOVE YOUR CUSTOMERS; BRING THE AUTHENTIC TASTE OF ITALY TO YOUR RESTAURANT 1 844 GELARTO

INQUIRIES@GELARTO.COM

WWW.GELARTO.COM

IF YOU WANT IT, WE WILL GET IT TO YOU! DISTRIBUTER INQUIRIES WELCOME.

DELICIOUS MADE-TO-ORDER BREAD AND PIZZA DOUGH Old World Tradition with New World Convenience.

www.mamalarosafoods.com

To locate a distributor near you, call 734-946-7878.

Red, White and Blue Pizza made with Nutella®

DOUGH DIVIDERS/ROUNDERS

Recipes such as the Red, White and Blue Pizza made with Nutella®, are sure to be a big hit. This is the perfect dessert pizza! You will love the combination of Nutella®, mixed red and dark berries with white icing sugar served on baked pizza dough.

✓ Gluten free ✓ No artificial colors or preservatives ✓ Certified Kosher

✓ Contains no peanuts ✓ 12-month shelf life from manufacturing date

For more exciting recipes and tips about Nutella®, visit www.ferrerofoodservice.com

Don’t “Settle ” For Less....Get More PASMO America Soft Serve Machines Less Noise, Low Cost of Ownership and 50% less than our competition.

1-844-52-PASMO

More Loyal Customers.Financing Customers.Financing available

isales@pasmousa.com www.pasmousa.com

Now Offering Gelato & Tiramisu Cups

908-241-9191 * Tasteitpresents.com

DOUGH PRESSES, ROLLERS

Dessert is the last impression you’ll make on a customer

Make it count

800.835.0606 ext. 205 | www.doughxpress.com

DOUGH

DeIorio Foods

102

dough presses, dough dividers/divider rounders, dough dockers, carts and accessories

@DeIorios

blog.DeIorios.com

DeIorios.com

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE DOUGH PRESSES, ROLLERS

FLOUR

DOUGH TRAYS/PROOFING TRAYS

Molino Pasini s.p.a. - Italy

Full line flours for Pizza, Fresh Pasta, Ready Mix for gnocchi Phone: 1-973-454-8534 +39 0376 969015 www.molinopasini.com - info@molinopasini.com

When Dough Matters!

Eliminate racks, lids and tins with our stackable, airtight and cost effective Dough Trays.

1-502-969-2305 www.DoughTrays.com COST EFFECTIVE

STACKABLE

AIRTIGHT

DURABLE

Full line of Flour: Pizza, Pasta, Bread, Pastries, Gluten Free, & Whole Grains Imported Exclusively by: Manzo Food Sales, Inc. Tel. (305) 406-2747.........www.manzofood.com

FOOD DISTRIBUTORS

ORDER DIRECT

4601 COMMERCE CROSSINGS DR., STE 300, LOUISVILLE, KY 40229 | p: 502-969-2305 | f: 502-810-0907

WWW.DOUGHTRAYS.COM

• Dough Trays – extremely durable and airtight!

Outlasts All Other Dough Trays • Dough Tray Covers – designed to fit!

• Plastic Dough Knives – two ergonomic designs!

• 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 25 years manufacturing in dough trays.

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

FRANCHISING

FLOUR, GLUTEN-FREE Scan for Demo

Premium Flours Make Gluten-Free Tasty & Easy!

Tel: 310-366-7612 E-mail: sales@authenticfoods.com Web: www.authenticfoods.com

Should You Franchise Your Restaurant?

Contact us today to receive your free video on “How to Franchise Your Business” and learn ® about one of the most dynamic methods of expanding your business in today’s marketplace.

F R A N C H I S E C O N S U LTA N T S 708-957-2300 • www.ifranchisegroup.com • info@ifranchisegroup.com

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

FLOUR

Exceptional pizza starts with exceptional flour.

Traditional Pizza Flours, Whole Grain Flours, Pizza Crust Mixes, Private Label Packaging, Proprietary Blending, Custom Development For more information call 1-800-553-5687 or visit www.baystatemilling.com

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE FRYERS

FURNITURE/FIXTURES

BE THE

KING OF

CHICKEN WINGS

Heat your Restaurant with SUNPAK® Outdoor Patio Heaters Wall or ceiling mounted, nothing on the floor

With AutoFry and MultiChef ventless technology you can serve hot delicious appetizers without the need for costly renovations.

Fully Automated • Convenient • Reliable • Safe • Affordable • Fully Enclosed For more information call 800-348-2976 or visit us online at MTIproducts.com • AutoFry.com • MultiChef.com Your Source for Ventless Kitchen Solutions for over 25 Years

FUNDRAISERS

Natural Gas or Propane Models Made in the U.S.A.

www.infradyne.com

GLUTEN-FREE W H PRODUCTS O L E S O M

E

&

888.317.5255 D E L I C I O U S ™ WHOLES

OME & DELICIOUS

™

Scan for Demo

Premium Flours Make Gluten-Free Tasty & Easy!

Tel: 310-366-7612 E-mail: sales@authenticfoods.com Web: www.authenticfoods.com

MACHINERY/EQUIPMENT

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE GLUTEN-FREE PRODUCTS

MAGNETS

HOTEL ROOM KEYS

HOTEL ROOM KEY ADVERTISING DIAL #600 from your room for In-Room SPEED DIAL Papa John’s ROOM DELIVERY to Your Business

PIZZAROOMKEYS.COM • 866-912-3539 INSURANCE

PIZZAPRO .............................................................Low Low cost pizza delivery insurance program Contact Julie Evans (717) 214-7616..............................................................www.pizzapro.amwins.com www.pizzapro.amwins.com

MACHINERY/EQUIPMENT MIDDLEBY MARSHALL

OVENS MIXERS

RANDELL

PREP TABLES

AMERICAN RANGE

WALK-INS

SOMERSET

PARTS SMALLWARES

MARKETING IDEAS

1-800-426-0323

www.northernpizza.com

IMPERIAL

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE MANAGEMENT

MOISTURE-ABSORBENT TOPPINGS CONDITIONER/SUPPLIES

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

MEAT TOPPINGS OLIVES THE WORLD`S LARGEST OLIVE AND OLIVE OIL PRODUCER ACORSA USA 2200 FLETCHER AVE. SUITE # 702, FORT LEE, NJ 07024 Tel. 201-944-0474 ...... Fax # 201-944-1279 enrique.escudero@dcoop.es ... www.dcoop.es

PRESTIGE FOODS ............................314-567-3648 ........................MEATTRADER@MSN.COM Low Closeout Pricing! Call for this week’s special. For Deals That Go To Your Bottom Line.

We offer a full line of Green Olives, Ripe Olives and Olive Oil from Spain for private label or branded. OU Kosher and BRC Certified. Inventory stored at 11 warehouses throughout the U.S.

ON HOLD MARKETING

MIXERS 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

Precision HD-60 Pizza Mixer 7-Year Unconditional Parts Warranty on all gears and shafts in the planetary and transmission!

Holdsbowl! art 80-qundles a Ha . bag 50 lb our! of fl

ONLINE ORDERING

1000+ Restaurants Extensively Developed Fast. Secure. Easy.

www.pizzamixers.com • 1-877-R-MIXERS

60 QUART—HEAVY HEAVY DUTY

Pizza Mixer

Handles 50 lb. bag of flour • Direct gear drive transmission Rigid cast iron construction • Best warranty in its class

$99 Monthly 0% Commission Go Mobile Today!

imenutogo.com

718 676 7554

Globe Food Equipment Co. | www.globefoodequip.com

The Original Variable Speed Mixer

Varimixer Strong as a Bear.

800-222-1138

www.varimixer.com V6OP

mixer@varimixer.com • 14240 South Lakes Dr • Charlotte, NC

Mixing, Dividing, Rounding, and Spinning www.univexcorp.com Tel. 800-258-6358 Fax. 603-893-1249

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE ONLINE ORDERING PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMS

PIZZA DELIVERY THERMAL BAGS

PIZZA BOXES YOUR ONE-STOP BAG SHOP • UNBEATABLE BAGS AT UNBEATABLE PRICES PRICES AS LOW AS

$13.49

$10

CUSTOMIZE YOUR PIZZA BOX

ATE FLAT R ING SHIPP

1-844-HOT-BAGS

Satuisafaractniotened! g

www.deliverybagsdepot.com

PIZZA LOYALTY PROGRAMS

Doing It The American Way! TAKE YOUR IMAGE TO THE NEXT LEVEL 7” to 36” Custom Boxes and Odd Sizes Available

UP TO 4-COLORS | NO PLATE FEES* *CALL US FOR DETAILS

888.400.3455 ext.107 | www.wpackaging.net 2001 East Cooley Drive, Colton, CA 92324

PIZZA BOX LINERS PIZZA OVENS

ALWAYS WITH YOU. Come talk with us on these platforms!

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE PIZZA DELIVERY THERMAL BAGS

Metal is the right choice.

Aluminum is lighter and longer lasting that wooden peels.

Introducing the ultimate perforated pizza peel to easily sift away excess flour.

Tailored to your preferred length, shape and functionality.

100% made in Italy and available in America, close to you with the service you need.

Pro fe & r ssion est au al too ran ts, ls for sin piz ce z 19 erias 86 .

GI.METAL USA, INC Phone (630) 553 9134 www. gimetalusa.com info@gimetalusa.com

Be Smart.

Wood is over.

MADE IN ITALY

SEPTEMBER SPECIALS

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE PIZZA OVENS

PIZZA OVENS

Stone Deck, Pizza Dome, and Bakery

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

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

www.univexcorp.com Tel. 800-258-6358 Fax. 603-893-1249

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

WWW.XLTOVENS.COM

PIZZA PANS

TO ORDER CALL (316) 943-2751 | TOLL-FREE: (888) 443-2751 | FAX: (316) 943-2769

AMERICAN MADE

Pizza Screens • The Ultimate in Bake Disks Pizza Pans... Round, Square, & Rectangular Sauce/Cheese Rings • Pan Covers Pizza Cutters/Knives

P.A. PRODUCTS, Inc. BAKEWARE SPECIALISTS

TRADITIONAL, FAST CASUAL, ARTISAN...

WE’VE GOT PIZZA COVERED

33709 Schoolcraft • Livonia, Michigan 48150 (734) 421-1060 • FAX: (734) 421-1208 www.paprod.com

VENTLESS IMPINGEMENT CONVEYORS, BATCH, AND ARTISAN BATCH OVENS 1-800-90TURBO | www.turbochef.com

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE PIZZA PANS

PIZZA SUPPLIES Introducing

THE

PIZZA BUTLER!

Space-saving footprintEasy storage | Versatile Function Sturdy Contruction | Customizable

Call Manny at 718-894-1212 ext. 218 Order online at www.thepizzabutler.com

PIZZA PEELS

PRIVATE LABELING

PRINTING

PIZZA SUPPLIES

• Pizza Preparation and Delivery Products •

National Marketing, Inc.

www.nminc.com 800-994-4664

734-266-2222

Fax: 734-266-2121

Manufacturers’ Direct Pricing • Call or order online • We export

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE PRINTING, CONT.

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE SAUCE

REFRIGERATION

SECURITY

SPECIALTY TOPPINGS MAKE YOUR PIZZA

STAND OUT WITH

DUCK BACON! For more information call 800-348-2812 or visit www.mapleleaffarms.com

SPICE FORMULATION, BLENDING & PACKAGING

SUPER DOUGH BOWLS

SUPER DOUGH BOWLS

see more at

www.marsalsons.com

(631) 226-6688

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

Replace your dented ones TODAY !

MADE IN THE USA SAUCE

Manufacturer’s Direct Pricing Free Sample Available - $15 del/hand REBATED on first order. email us at: bhausen@aol.com

Call Sid

516-546-7744 SPICE FORMULATION, BLENDING & PACKAGING

pmq.com/Recipe-Bank/

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THE PIZZA EXCHANGE PIZZA INDUSTRY RESOURCE GUIDE 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

TOMATO PRODUCTS

THRILL OF COMPETITION compete at the

Western Culinary & Acrobatic Trials OCTOBER 8–11, 2016

• Gluten Free • Classico • Freestyle Acrobatics • Fastest • Largest • Box Folding

REGISTER AT USPIZZATEAM.COM or contact Brian Hernandez at brian@pmq.com or 662-234-5481 x129

TOPPINGS

LIGURIA

The Pizzaiolo’s Pepperoni

GOLD SPONSORS

WINGS

SILVER SPONSORS

YEAST

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PIZZA HALL OF FAME

Jerry and Joe’s Pizza

www.pizzahalloffame.com

Overcoming dirt-floor beginnings and boom-and-bust bubbles, this South Florida staple has allowed generations of hardworking immigrants to succeed in America. By Tracy Morin

C

Jerry and Joe’s, shown here in the 1970s, was an instant hit, thanks to a great location and immigrant owners claiming their slice of the American dream.

I

talian-born Italo “Jerry” Barone may have started as a restaurant cook and dishwasher up in New York, but by the early ’50s, he was running his own outfit in Brooklyn—and scouting a second location in sunny Florida. After nabbing a spot in Hialeah, near Miami, he and his partner, Joe, opened for business in 1958. Jerry and Joe’s Pizza was an anomaly in the area, but thanks in part to an auspicious location near the Hialeah Park racetrack (which drew in bigwigs like Winston Churchill, Bing Crosby and JFK), the pizzeria took off. “I’ve heard that in the early days, the pizzeria had a dirt floor,” recounts Enrique Cruz, current owner. “Housewives would come in to buy meatballs and sausage for their pasta.”

The Hormilla family bought the business in the early ’70s, but in 1978 it would pass to another Cuban immigrant, Juan Cruz, Enrique’s father.

Juan had worked three jobs, including a gig as a pizza “delivery boy,” to save up the money and inherited the business’ authentic Italian recipes.

Enrique helped out as a teen and college student, then decided to jump on board—and the father-son duo grew the empire to 30 locations in South Florida after franchising in 1999.

But hardship lurked ahead: When the Great Recession hit in 2008, many couldn’t stay afloat. Luckily, the original Jerry and Joe’s stood strong, as did a second company-owned location, plus two franchises (all four remain today). “We had to pour a lot of our own money into the business just to stay open. Sales could go down 40% in one day,” Enrique remembers. “We concentrated on working hard, spent even more time at the store, advertised as much as we could, and focused on the quality of the product, holding out for better times. Consistency and

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perseverance paid off.”

Unsurprisingly, the pizzeria doesn’t simply rely on word-of-mouth to sell its made-from-scratch favorites, especially in increasingly competitive South Florida. Marketing mixes old and new: Mailed fliers, lunch specials and bundle deals have attracted locals for years, but technology is also embraced through online ordering, a Facebook page replete with special deals for fans, and an app that’s in the works. Most importantly, the family’s three generations—Juan, Enrique and Enrique’s two kids—are familiar faces in-store. “When you treat your customers like extended family, when you have that history, when you have employees with you 20 to 50 years as we do, that helps,” Enrique concludes. “But you can’t run your pizzeria by remote control; you have to be there.”

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HAS YOUR PIZZERIA BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR 50 OR MORE YEARS? IF SO, CONTACT US AT TRACY@PMQ.COM. 114

PMQ Pizza Magazine The Pizza Industry’s Business Monthly

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ESC_PMQSnglPg_Passion_2016.pdf

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I ’’s not just pizza.

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I ’’s your passion.

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Every pizza you make has a secret ingredient—your passion for making it better. It’s why you insist on the best ingredients.

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