I heat my home with wood. I have a boiler backup system, but firewood is a natural byproduct of living in the middle of 40 acres in the forest. Wood fires need attention; nature abhors a vacuum. When the fire burns down to coals, I either watch the flames go out or stir things up by adding a little fresh air and fuel into the chamber.

I’ve consulted with dozens of mature pizzerias this year. They have been in business for years. Many are landmarks in their markets. Many of them report same or declining sales and are feeling the pinch of the recession. Owners are scratching their heads trying to figure out what has happened. These aren’t the good old days.



Three very recent events are top of mind this issue, and are driving this article. The first event was a quick assignment for a client back in my old ‘hood of Detroit. I spent the day with a young couple in the store their family opened when I was a teenager. I still remember this mini-chain and how busy they were. The pizzas were made with love and everyone smiled. All the way to the bank.

Those days are a memory of days gone by. The stark reality in the current economy: what used to be a money machine in bygone years has dried up. The second-generation owners are slowly dying a death from a thousand small cuts. They are struggling to make their monthly payments to Papa and Mama for their retirement. I see this scenario from coast to coast. So many places are frozen in times gone by.

I recently pondered a quote attributed to Fred DeLuca, founder of Subway Restaurants. It was thought provoking: “The world doesn’t stand still, and we don’t deserve to be where we are unless we stay ahead of things and take the necessary steps to remain competitive.”

His second quote hit a nerve as well: “I tell my team all the time, ‘The biggest chain in the world used to be Howard Johnson. Now no one eats at a Howard Johnson.’ ”

I had the opportunity to go back to pizza school this summer. I enrolled to spend a week in San Francisco at Tony Gemignani’s International School of Pizza. I really didn’t know the first thing about true Neopolitan or Classic Italian Style other than the fact that I fell in love with them the first time I went to Italy. I tried to duplicate these pies unsuccessfully. After years of trial and error, I gave up and stuck to what I knew.

Yet, while in San Francisco, Tony walked a small class through the hands-on as well as book theory. What an enlightening time. Our class cleared out of the kitchen when the customers started to come in. Tony’s staff took over and almost effortlessly created hundreds of masterpieces.

Fred DeLuca nailed it. Be proactive in your thinking, or your customers will one day abandon you. You are only as good as your last hit record. When is the last time you wowed your customers with anything they could get excited about, other than a $2 off coupon?

If you and your menu are burned out, like my wood stove, feed the fi re. I’m your customer; amaze me.❖

Big Dave Ostrander owned a highly successful independent pizzeria before becoming a consultant, speaker and internationally sought-after trainer. He is a monthly contributor to Pizza Today and leads seminars on operational topics for the family of Pizza Expo tradeshows.

Q: We tried to make our own breaded mozzarella sticks to fry, but the cheese starts to ooze out of the breading before they are even done. We went back to buying them until we can figure out what we are doing wrong. Any advice?



A: Unlike chicken, veal and eggplant, which need a standard breading (fl our, egg wash and then bread crumbs), cheese products need a second coat of bread crumbs to prevent the problem you mentioned from happening. Once you have breaded your cheese with the standard breading procedure, simply freeze the breaded product for about 15 minutes for the breading to adhere to the cheese. Then dip them in the egg wash again and into the breading for the second time. This will give you that extra coating you need so the cheese won’t leak out while frying!

I took over my pizza shop a year ago and haven’t changed too much. I’m getting ready to redo the menus. I’ve continued until now to keep coupons on the menus, but people just come in and ask for a takeout menu and then use the coupon, never paying regular price. Will it hurt me to eliminate the coupons?

I think it will continue to hurt you to keep the coupons on the menus. Take them off, but replace them with great daily specials or discounted family combo meals (combining pizza, drinks and a salad, for example). Find a different venue to offer coupons, like direct mail or door hangers.

I always get nervous when customers want us to turn high chairs upside-down to put their baby carriers on. How do I get away from this?

I simply posted something I found on the Internet stating how dangerous it is, and stated that it’s not allowed. To appease your guests, buy a baby carrier stand. They look like short tray stands and are not that expensive.

A boyfriend of an employee who just got fired came in screaming at me in front of staff and customers about how unfair it was that she got fired. It was a little scary. How should I have handled that?

Well, we all know that there are a lot of great people out there, and when things like this occur, we realize that there are a number of crazy folks, too. The best thing to always do in a situation like this is to stay calm. I’ve been through this type of interaction more than once, unfortunately. Sometimes it’s the employee that goes out blazing, thinking that their brilliant tirade is going to drag all of your customers away from your business. Find a way to calmly get them out the door, even if you need to invite them to finish the conversation outside. Always apologize to customers afterwards, explaining that to always put the customer first, sometimes staff members who don’t want to follow rules or policies need to get eliminated. ❖

Jeffrey Freehof, owner of The Garlic Clove in Evans, Georgia, is Pizza Today’s resident expert. Send your questions to: Ask Chef Jeff, c/o Pizza Today, 908 South Eighth Street, Suite 200, Louisville, Kentucky, 40203.

Last month, in our annual “Event in Print” issue, Big Dave Ostrander floated ideas pizzeria operators could use to promote National Pizza Month. Not only is October National Pizza Month, but it also ends with one of our industry’s five most important sales days — Halloween.

For me, Halloween has always been a special day. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of dressing up as a vampire or football player and trick-or-treating. When I take my two boys trick-or-treating, I think I have as much fun as they do.

Considering Halloween means big-time pizza sales, I’m guessing you feel the same way about the holiday. Which is why I hope you took Big Dave’s September article to heart and have implemented some of his suggestions. There’s no reason National Pizza Month can’t be your biggest sales month of the year if you take the right steps. So, if you missed Big Dave’s article from our September issue, go to PizzaToday.com and read it in our digital archives. It will help you make sure every October is a great one.

Speaking of PizzaToday.com, we have big plans for it in the works. We are in the middle of a massive overhaul of the Web site. You may recall us totally revamping it about two years ago, and that move has served both us and our readers well. But now it’s time to build upon that foundation and continue evolving the site. We’re going to provide more organic editorial content on PizzaToday.com than ever before.

Simultaneously, we are also working on a redesign of the magazine. It’s been a few years since we’ve updated our look, so it’s time to push the envelope a bit. I’m excited about what our designers are putting together, and I can’t wait until you see the new layout beginning in January. My sincere hope is that it helps you improve your business more than ever.

While we’re on the subject of self-improvement, one of the keys to any business — whether it focuses on publishing or foodservice — is to constantly progress and never rest on your laurels. As the old cliché goes, the only constant in life is change.

Ask yourself right now, “When was the last time I made a change for the better in my pizzeria?” If it’s been a while, get started now — before your competition steals away your customers.

Best,

Jeremy White, editor-in-chief
jwhite@pizzatoday.com

In last month’s issue of Pizza Today, I took a look at how I go about my work as a restaurant critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. I examined what I look for –– from the time I walk though the door until I leave –– when I am evaluating and rating a restaurant (star rating one to four). Now, at the suggestion of Pizza Today’s editors, I am shining the critic’s spotlight on the food.

Last month, I talked about what I look for as it relates to food quality, preparation and presentation. As important as all of that is, there is a lot more to deal with. For example, let’s say that I ordered linguine with clam sauce, and the menu stated that the clams were “littlenecks.” Once the dish arrives, the clams are not littlenecks at all; rather, they are the much larger cherrystones, which, though meatier, do not have as much flavor as the littlenecks (a.k.a. vongole). My point here is that menu accuracy in describing a dish (or, similarly, a server knowing how a certain dish is put together) is very important.

Let’s say that someone is allergic to nuts. Understanding that a classic pesto sauce includes pine nuts (pignoli) is not an issue that can be overlooked.

Hamburgers (even turkey burgers) are a hot menu item. The meat, relative to quality and taste, is important. Also, was the burger cooked properly –– temperature, that is? Just as important, too, is the bun. Does the bun hold up? If the bun falls apart halfway through, then I figure the restaurant is compromising quality by buying a cheaper bun.

Good bread, rolls and buns are very critical when it comes to a putting out a good sandwich or panini. This is not the time to compromise, so I look for quality when it comes to bread used for sandwiches. And that goes for table bread, too.

On the subject of temperature, if I order a steak medium rare (my usual choice), I would expect it to be medium rare (or real close) — not medium or rare (though, if it is too rare, I can always ask that it be cooked a bit more).

When I visit a pizzeria and see a Margherita listed on the menu, it better be made with fi or-di-latte. If standard shredded mozz is used, that’s a major disappointment.

I am also aware of an underbaked pizza relative to the color of the crust (a pale, anemic looking crust) and the absence of color (speckled brown) on the cheese. Conversely, a pizza that has been overbaked (the crust gets tough and the cheese is dark and is burned here and there) is also noticeable. Any of these no-nos get points deducted in my review.

Most Botched Dishes

Over the years of evaluating various dishes, here are a few that are most often botched. Most of the time is has to do with someone not paying attention to the process and the basics of good cookery. 
Fried or grilled calamari and dishes that include squid. Squid is either cooked for a very short time (fried calamari is in the fryer for two minutes or less) or a very long time (calamari in red sauce) to render it tender. 
Pasta that is rinsed after it has been drained removes the all-important starch that helps the sauce adhere to the pasta. If I see a pool of tomato water in the bottom of a pasta bowl, I know the pasta was rinsed, and that is not a good thing. 
While on the subject of pasta cookery, perfectly al dente is the mark to shoot for, but I would rather that the pasta be undercooked than overcooked. 
If lasagne is made with watery ricotta cheese, it will fall apart layer by layer until it is a nasty mess. Even a long baking isn’t enough to pull excessive water out of ricotta cheese. Solution: put the ricotta in a strainer or sieve over a bowl for an hour to drain off excessive water. 
When it comes to using garlic, garlic that is over the hill can be easily detected. I can tell when it is starting to root (that’s the green part in the center of the garlic clove). Solution: The green part should be removed or the garlic will have a bitter taste. 
Also, garlic that is burned (instead of gently toasted brown) when used to start a marinara sauce (or any red sauce) will impart a bitter taste to the sauce. 
A salad of any kind that gets swamped with salad dressing is not a good salad. I would rather that the dressing be served on the side. 
The Parmigiana family –– chicken, eggplant, veal –– are convicted of culinary crimes more often than any other family of food. Eggplant is the one that has the longest rap sheet. Old eggplant (the softer the eggplant, the older it is) or eggplant with a lot of seeds can be very bitter and will carry excess moisture. Salting and pressing the eggplant slices will help to get rid of excess moisture and bitterness. So to get eggplant parmigiana off to a good start, slice the eggplant –– rounds or cutlet. Salt each piece, then put a weight on the stack and let the moisture drain into a bowl underneath. Now you need to rinse the salt off each slice. That’s the prep.

Next, grill the eggplant slices or put the slices on a sheet pan and roast in the oven.

If you want a Parmigiana –– eggplant or chicken –– that is breaded, you still need to get rid of the moisture and bitterness. Now proceed as follows: run the slices of eggplant through fl our (shake off the excess), then through beaten egg, then herbed breadcrumbs, pressing the breadcrumbs into the eggplant (you can now refrigerate the slices, if necessary, for several hours). Working in small batches, fry the eggplant slices until they are golden brown. Now you are ready to finish off the dish by using a marinara sauce, shredded mozzarella, grated Romano cheese and slices of eggplant. Stack and layer each of those ingredients the same as if you were making lasagne. Bake at 375 F. Let the Parmigiana rest for up to an hour before cutting into portions.

Follow the same process for chicken Parm, but first pound a boneless, skinless chicken breast until it is an even thickness. Pat the breast with paper towels. Now dredge the breast in fl our, then in the egg, then breadcrumbs. Fry or sauté until the chicken is cooked through (that’s the prep). To order, lay slices of mozzarella over the chicken and broil or oven-bake until the cheese melts; then layer on some warm marinara sauce. Sprinkle the sauce with grated Romano or Parmesan. Serve at once.

What botches Parmigiana more than anything else is using old breadcrumbs or breadcrumbs that are too coarse (finer crumbs are better) and making the breadcrumb layer too thick, which means that you can’t find the chicken or the eggplant under that “wall” of breadcrumbs, so go easy on the breadcrumbs.

Note: check internal temperature of eggplant parmigiana and lasagne with an instant read thermometer. 160-165 F is what you are looking for. Also use a thermometer to check the internal temp of chicken (about 160 F is about right). 

Soggy cannoli shells. If a cannoli shell has been filled (with ricotta) and left sitting around, the shell gets soft and loses its crackly crispiness. I can always tell when a cannoli has been filled ahead of time, because the shell is mushy soft instead of crispy.

Pat Bruno is Pizza Today’s resident chef and a regular contributor. He is the former owner and operator of a prominent Italian cooking school in Chicago and is a food critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Q: I’ve heard you mention that the dough should be mixed to a specific temperature. Do you arrive at this temperature by varying the dough mixing time?



A: The finished dough temperature is varied by making adjustments to the temperature of the water added to the dough. Colder water results in a lower finished dough temperature, and warmer water results in a higher finished dough temperature. For the most part, the dough mixing time will be a constant once you have determined the correct mixing time for your specific dough. For most applications, we recommend a finished dough temperature in the 80 to 85 degree range. This is assuming your kitchen area will have a room temperature in the 70 to 80 F range. Cooler or warmer kitchens may require a slightly warmer or colder temperature range.

There are two common ways to calculate the correct water temperature needed to arrive at a predetermined finished dough temperature. One is the procedure given out by Lesaffre/Red Star Yeast Corporation. This formula simply requires that you subtract the fl our temperature from 145, with the answer being the correct water temperature to use.

The other is a little different in that there are more factors involved, and it goes as follows: three times the desired finished dough temperature, minus the sum of the fl our temperature, room temperature, and friction factor (while this can be calculated, for your specific dough size and mixer, most people who use this method just plug in the number 30 for the friction factor when a planetary type mixer is used). The result is the recommended water temperature. In either case, the finished dough temperature will be close to, or at, the targeted finished dough temperature, and a slight adjustment in the water temperature may still be required to zero in on the desired temperature. When making changes to the water temperature, we recommend that you change it in 5 F increments, either up or down, as necessary.

I keep hearing all these different views on how pizza dough should be mixed. What is your recommendation? Pizza dough, unlike bread dough, should be under mixed to some extent. The under mixing of the dough results in incomplete gluten development, which in turn helps to make the dough a little easier to ball. It also contributes to a more open, coarse crumb structure in the finished/baked crust. Excessive mixing of the dough can result in a tough, rubbery dough consistency while you’re trying to round the scaled dough pieces into balls. But, even worse, it can also result in a finer, more bread-like finished crumb structure in the baked crust. From a personal perspective, I think the only time it is desirable to fully develop the gluten structure in pizza dough is when you are going to produce frozen dough. In that application, you will find that fully developed dough will have improved freezer tolerance and longer shelf life if the gluten is more fully developed.

The best way to ascertain proper dough/gluten development in pizza dough is through visual appearance of the dough during mixing. Near perfect dough development can be achieved by mixing the dough just until it takes on a smooth, satiny appearance. At that point, you can stop mixing and be confident that the dough is properly mixed for 90 percent of our applications.

Another, and probably a little more accurate method of assessing proper dough development is to remove a hen’s-egg piece of dough from the mixer and form it into a ball. Then, bending the fingers of both hands inward at the second knuckle, bring your hands together so the back of your fingers are touching. Orient the dough ball so it is on top of your finger tips, and bring your thumbs down to capture the dough ball between your finger tips and thumbs. Now, roll your hands downward, causing your thumbs to pull on the dough ball, stretching the skin. If the dough skin shows signs of tearing, you might want to mix the dough a little longer. If it doesn’t tear, the dough is properly mixed.

Because of the under-mixed nature of a pizza dough, it really doesn’t make much difference if we achieve the dough development using low or medium speed on the mixer. It just takes less time if we can use medium speed.

At the last Pizza Expo I heard you mention that it isn’t necessary to put the yeast (compressed) into the water to dissolve before adding the fl our and other ingredients. If you don’t do this, how will it get mixed into the dough?

Compressed yeast, a.k.a. fresh yeast, is actually best added directly to the fl our, much in the same way that instant dry yeast (IDY) is added. It actually goes into the dough quite easily, with very little mixing action required. The only time that I ever recommend suspending the compressed yeast in the water is when a VCM type of mixer is used. In this case, the mixing time is so short, measured in seconds, that suspending it in the water is the only sure way to ensure that it is thoroughly and uniformly distributed throughout the dough.

The same recommendation is made when making a cracker type dough, again for the same reason. In this case, the mixing time is even shorter, typically a minute or less, and in this specific case, we go so far as to recommend that the salt, sugar and yeast are all added to the water in the mixing bowl and stirred together for a few seconds prior to adding the flour.

This is one of the few times when I ever recommend mixing the yeast, salt and sugar (if used) together in the water, but it’s the only way to get them evenly distributed throughout the dough in view of the very short mixing time. It isn’t so much a matter of the salt and sugar immediately damaging the yeast and impairing its ability to ferment a dough; but, rather, if the salt, sugar and yeast are allowed to set in the mixing bowl for an extended period of time before the fl our is added and the mixing procedure started (like that never happens), there is a probability that the yeast can be damaged. The result would be a softer-than expected dough consistency, unwanted dough stickiness — and possibly a reduction in refrigerated shelf life. ❖

Tom Lehmann is a director at the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kansas.

The one thing that really separates International Pizza Expo® from all the general foodservice shows is the fact that our tradeshow floor and seminar program are totally devoted to the pizza industry. For 2011, we’ve decided to add another full day of seminars on Monday, February 28, specifically designed for the new operator/attendee. In addition, Tony Gemignani, the first master instructor in the United States to be certified by the Scuola Italiana Pizzaoili and a nine-time World Pizza Champion, will for the first time conduct a three-part hands-on dough workshop where attendees will have the opportunity to work with the theory, techniques and practical side of pizza making. He’ll deal with Old World and New World pizza alike, so there will be something for everyone. Tony owns and operates the International School of Pizza and the United States School of Pizza, which are located in San Francisco, California.

In fact, there’s not another food show –– let alone another so-called pizza show –– where you’ll find four full days of pizza specific seminars, demonstrations, networking opportunities and contests all devoted to a single industry, except International Pizza Expo®. What’s even better, we’ve decided to increase the total number of seminars, demonstrations and workshops to 80 … that’s 10 more than we’ve ever offered before. Can you think of another tradeshow in any industry that’s increasing their educational component?

At Pizza Expo® you’ll find 4½ football fields of pizza-related products, services and equipment, as well as the leading industry experts, consultants and analysts — and they’re all willing to share new ideas and insight on how to adapt, react and prosper in today’s economy. At next year’s show, you’ll find new speakers discussing current issues and topics facing the industry, such as lawsuit protection and tax reduction strategies, pizza trends, social media and more.

The bottom line? There’s always something new at Pizza Expo® that can improve your pizzeria. As always, our commitment to you, our partners, is to continue to grow and improve every facet of Pizza Expo, from the tradeshow floor to our networking events and contests. In fact, if you don’t come away from International Pizza Expo® with new cost-saving or profit-boosting ideas, I’ll refund your registration fee. All you have to do is put it in writing to me and I’ll send you a prompt refund.

Remember, International Pizza Expo® is a tax-deductible working vacation. It’s all pizza and it’s all for you!

Best regards,
Bill Oakley

Marilyn Mayberry heads Iowa-based Pizza Ranch’s development team. The Western-themed buffet concept operates 151 stores in nine states, and it has plans to open up to 14 new locations this year despite a tough economical climate.



Q. Pizza Ranch is slated to open more than a dozen stores. Why such an aggressive growth plan?

A. We are projecting to have a 10-percent store growth, which would be 14 stores. … I just think it’s a healthy growth. There’s a lot of excitement around our brand and it’s a unique concept with great-tasting food. We have an unrivaled guest experience that is fun, and it appeals to a broad range of guests. The big part about our concept is we’re so received in communities because we really want to support the communities of which we are a part.

Q. Why expand in a time when many companies are tightening the reigns?

A. We are franchise derived. We have all 151 restaurants franchised. We are doing well. We continue to have interest in expansion, so it’s not like we’re going to turn that down.

Q. As you grow, how important is consistency across the brand?

A. Consistency is very important, and we have standards in place. We work very hard to provide that consistent experience, whether it is in the food, the guest experience or the décor because, yeah — consistency is what franchising expects.

Q. You are focusing on Midwestern expansion. Are there future plans to expand outside of that region?

A. We would like to grow out from the states that we’re in. There are some states that we’re going to have opportunities for development, but as we continue to grow, we will expand out from where we are.

Q. Pizza Ranch’s concept combines pizza with menu items not typically found in a pizzeria. Why such diversity?

A. People do rave about our fried chicken. With a name like ‘Pizza Ranch,’ you may not expect to find chicken on the menu, but word soon got out. … That is trademarked. To accompany that part of the buffet, we have vegetables and potatoes. People love that, but of course they love our pizza. The salad bar is just beautiful. We have lots of choices. We do offer quarterly changes of our featured salads … and we have a featured pizza as well. … By popular demand, some of the featured pizzas become regular menu items. So, yeah, it’s a buffet concept, but it’s so much more.

It was a cold, dreary day when Pizza Today visited Nashua, New Hampshire, last spring. Outside, a torrential downpour made the streets slick and dark. But inside two-story Lui Lui, the company’s oversized wood-burning oven took center stage, making the restaurant as warm and inviting as proprietor Eric Roberts himself. Here, comfort food, smiling faces and ample drinks reign, and it seemed to be just the ticket for the diners lining the cozy booths on such a rainy afternoon.



The first Lui Lui opened in 1991 in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, in what seemed to be a doomed location –– an old mill where several other restaurant attempts had failed. Roberts, along with a couple of partners, saw potential, namely a lack of homemade Italian food in the area. It wasn’t enough to simply offer pizza and pasta –– atmosphere, they believed, was also key to success. Why pizza? “Everybody loves it,” Roberts says. “You grow up with it. And, it was fun. I went to Italy, I toured around there and had some great pizza. It was just something that I knew and loved, and felt comfortable with. “We hired over a hundred people to open that store, and it’s been a hit ever since.”

Five years later, the second location opened in Nashua (a suburb of Manchester) on a busy highway populated mainly by big chains. “There are very few independent restaurants here,” Roberts says. “It was another risk, another gamble. How were we going to fare among all these big national chains?”



Apparently well. Today, the two-unit concept is slated to earn $6 million in sales.

Central to the restaurants are their wood-burning ovens. The Nashua oven was built by mason Peter Moore in Vermont; the 10-foot, 10-ton behemoth is supported by steel I-beams in the basement. “Every brick is cut by hand,” Roberts says, scrupulously eyeing the flames inside. “The oven is so well-insulated. It’s a showpiece.” (The West Lebanon oven is painted to resemble a tomato and is supported by concrete.) There’s no thermostat and no gas –– these babies are fueled purely by wood (kiln-dried at $400 a cord), requiring the pizzaioli to learn them inside and out. “The reason we buy kiln-dried is because it is super dried and burns cleanly,” Roberts adds. “When it goes in the oven, it lights right away. This oven will stay hot for three days.” Why are the ovens so crucial to Lui Lui’s atmosphere? “If we were going to do pizza, we wanted to do it as close to authentic as we could, and show people that we meant business,” Roberts explains. “We weren’t going to have an oven in the back kitchen where no one could see. We wanted exhibition cooking to show people the fresh ingredients that we prepare and how clean everything is. We’re sticklers for quality and cleanliness, and we have nothing to hide.”



Cross-training is important to Lui Lui, and Roberts says employees will train as long as needed in an area. Managers at each store “are trained at least a week in every single area, so that every manager can help out if needed,” he adds. In all, Lui Lui employs 150.

And, it takes a small army to pull off Lui Lui’s emphasis on fresh food. Here, bread is made from scratch, as are soups, salad dressings, croutons and sauces. Of course, dough is made in-house daily, as are decadent desserts such as tiramisu, cannoli and Sicilian chocolate mousse. Why not outsource the one menu component most restaurants do? “The quality and, again, being on a strip with all these chain restaurants, we’ve got to differentiate ourselves,” Roberts says. “In the 14 years we’ve been open, there have been over 15 new restaurants that have come into the area. And we’ve still survived. … We feel like we owe it to our customers to give them the best that we can –– as much as we can make here, in house.”

They use fresh pasta –– such as ravioli, fettuccine and linguini –– sourced from a company in Boston as well as some dried varieties imported from Italy. In fact, Roberts and his team go a step further when it comes to sourcing products –– they actually visit the plants where their products are made. “We build relationships,” Roberts says. “We’re not out there to find the lowest price, no matter who we buy from.”



That keen attention to detail is paying off. They’ve won accolades at the state and local level –– including “Best of” awards for the restaurants’ Caesar salad and childrens’ menu –– as a result of their quality control.

Aside from the food is Lui Lui’s drink menu. Sure, there’s beer and wine, but a full bar is available “so we can cater to everyone,” Roberts says. “If someone does not want a beer or a glass of wine, there’s a menu of drinks that they can sort of create with all those different spirits and add-ons. It’s a lot like making pizza. The glass is a canvas for whatever you can come up with. We do bellinis with fresh peach puree. (We use) fresh-squeezed juices and ... marinate fruits in rum and vodka.”



Happy Hour (from 2 to 6 p.m. daily) is a big ticket add-on ––the company sells more than 1,000 $2 margaritas a week.

Popular dishes include the chicken and proscuitto marsala ($12.99), the Caesar Pizza ($10.99 –– purchased often as an appetizer), the best-selling Marcherita Pizza ($10.99/ $18.99) and the stunning seafood cioppino (shrimp, lobster, clams and mussels in a slightly spicy seafood broth served with fresh linguine for $21.50).

In the last year, an under-$10 menu was added that helped the company’s check average rise. “We lowered prices, and people seemed to order more food,” Roberts says.



Although Lui Lui uses high-end ingredients, Roberts says they are able to keep food costs down by using a computer software program that ties in food costs with their point-of-sale system, a major expense that they initially held off purchasing. “That’s how we’re able to maintain our quality, but we were also able to increase portions because we’re saving money on the other end,” he adds. “We’re able to track it, where before, we were just throwing money away.”

Still, Roberts is also not afraid to spend money on marketing. He’s done radio, television and direct mail, but says that fishbowl e-mail marketing (customers fi ll out a form and drop it into a fish bowl) and having his managers deliver menus to local businesses are cost effective and efficient. “The customers can put a face to it,” he says. “It’s not just something arriving in their mailbox.”



Television was especially effective after the Nashua location suffered a crippling blow following a Christmas Day pipe burst that closed the store for several months (see sidebar on page 77).

For those who have ordered a large carryout order, “We’ll call back and ask how everything was,” Roberts adds. “We encourage managers to visit tables when people come in, and (encourage them to) try things they’ve never had before.” That’s a level of personalization that also sets Lui Lui apart from its big-box chains.

With a steady business already in the Manchester region, could more Lui Lui locations spring up? Roberts says they’ve been approached to franchise, but “our feeling was ‘are we going to lose some of the control?’ ” he says. They hope to grow regionally while promoting from within. Although there are no immediate plans for future locations, Roberts says they’ll strike when the right location hits in the right market. For now, being a technicolor independent in a sea of bland chains feels just right. ❖

Ensured by Insurance

Last Christmas, owner Eric Roberts found the Lui Lui Nashua location awash in water after a sprinkler pipe froze and burst. Four to five inches of water ran down the steps and out the front door, and part of the ceiling had collapsed. Both the sprinkler and the lighting systems were ruined.

Within two hours, the company’s insurance company sent a team to start cleaning up the mess. The next day, contractors were on the scene.

“If ever there was an ad for having the right insurance coverage, it’s us,” Roberts says. “For all these business owners who think that premiums are high, we would not have been able to re-open if we didn’t heed the advice of our insurance agent.

“It took two-and-a-half months to put the restaurant back together better than it was in the beginning.”

During that time, they paid all of their employees and managers and the insurance company helped them set up a temporary office –– especially important for fielding phone calls from customers who had bought holiday gift cards and believed that the restaurant had shut down.

With insurance, they advertised that they would be re-open and were able to bring points of concern up to current code standards. “Any business owner out there, you’ve got to have it,” Roberts advises. “We didn’t plan on this. In our wildest dreams, we never could have imagined something of this magnitude.”

Mandy Wolf Detwiler is managing editor of PIZZA TODAY.

Gatti’s Pizza has big windows. Mike Glenn, vice president of operations for the Austin, Texas-based chain, says one restaurant in Austin has windows measuring 1,500 square feet, while one in Frisco, Texas, has windows measuring 2,000 square feet. It makes Glenn think of advice he received from his aunt many years ago.

“She was in the retail business,” Glenn says. “She said one of the first things you have to do is make sure your front door and windows are spotless. They really build an impression.” It’s not easy to keep windows spotless. Gatti’s Pizza has 140 locations, and some are Gatti Towns, which have buffets as well as video and arcade games and amusement park rides. That means kids, and where there are kids there are sticky fingers touching the once-clear glass. “When you choose to go glass, it lets in light,” Glenn says. “That helps with our concept, but it can be a detractor if it’s dirty.”

Gatti’s operations department has specific procedures for when and how to wash windows. For the task of cleaning the inside and outside of the windows in the large restaurants, Gatti’s hires window-washing services that clean once a week. Before choosing a service, the restaurant asks the cleaner to do a sample. “We ask them to come in and show us their work,” Glenn says. “Then we ask them to come in for a couple of weeks before we sign a long-term contract.”

The professional window washers clean the windows early in the morning, before customers arrive. “I want the restaurant to be spotless. I just don’t want customers to see it being cleaned,” Glenn says. The service also cleans the mirrors on the walls around the bumper cars.

To clean up after exuberantly tactile customers, cashiers take out a roll of paper towels and blue glass cleaner to spot clean the windows. They do this a few times a day, when the rush of customers slows. The cashiers also use newspaper, which Glenn says does not streak. “We tried coffee filters, but newspapers are still the best for day-today cleaning.”

Whether hiring an outside service or training in-house staff to perform the task, operators agree that window washing is important and must be done well. Keith Arnold, owner of The Garlic Knot, which has four locations in Colorado, says for two of the locations he hired a man who was going door to door offering his window washing services. Arnold has fielded many solicitations from would-be vendors, especially during the recession. “We must get people soliciting every week,” he says. “It seems like all the window washers are unemployed, or their business didn’t work out and now they’ve taken the initiative to go do something else until things get better.”

The window washer Arnold hired cleans the inside and outside of the windows every other week. The Garlic Knot pays $10 for each visit, which takes about 15 minutes. “We have been using him for a few years,” Arnold says. “He does a good job and it’s not that expensive.”

Arnold stuck with this window washer even after a broken neon sign incident. “There was a whole debate on what happened,” Arnold says. “I had a guy fixing the neon sign the week before. So it’s possible he didn’t have it installed correctly. I watched the (surveillance) video and I couldn’t see anything.”

Now he cleans the part of the window around the sign. “I don’t let anyone else touch it,” he says.

One of the other Garlic Knot locations shares a space with a convenience store, so the window cleaning was part of the building maintenance contract for that location.

Glenn says in-house window washing works well for Gatti’s smaller locations, such as the 1,000 square-foot delivery units and the 4,000 to 7,000 square foot buffets that don’t have arcade games. “The process is relatively easy,” he says. “You spray them down with water, making sure you clean the frames of windows and the edges very well, then squeegee off.”

He says it’s important to clean the windowsills and frames first. Otherwise the squeegee will move the dust onto the window. “That’s where I see people struggle,” Glenn says. The dust is especially challenging in new shopping centers, where other tenants have spaces under construction.

For some, whether to hire a window washer is not a matter of expense, but of other factors. “Our staff washes the windows and it is part of their daily duties,” says Sal Lupoli, president and CEO of Sal’s Pizza, based in Lawrence, Massachusetts. “It’s all about ownership and pride in your job and location. We do not hire window washers.”

He says the workers wash the windows twice a day, more frequently if they get dirty. “We use a bevy of various green/environmentally friendly products. We use both squeegees and paper towels, and old fashioned elbow grease.” Sal’s Pizza has 40 locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Arnold offers this advice. “Depending on how big the windows are, maybe they can try it on their own, and if they don’t like the results, employ someone who’s down on their luck,” he says. ❖

How Green Are Your Windows?

There’s been a lot of media attention on “green” cleaners lately. They usually cost a little more, and they are promoted as natural, eco-safe, or environmentally friendly. If you research these cleaners, you might fi nd that the labels and the companies’ Web sites offer more information on what the cleaners do not contain, such as bleach or phosphorous, than what they do contain, such as blue and yellow colorant, presumably to make the cleaner literally green. There is no federal government rule for what the terms natural, eco-safe, and environmentally friendly mean.

For information on cleaners and the environment, try the US EPA’s Design for the Environment Program (www. epa.gov/dfe), Consumer Reports Greener Choices (www.greenerchoices. org), and Green Seal (www. greenseal.org).

Of course, one way to avoid chemicals is to avoid cleaners. Sometimes just water and a squeegee works on dust on exterior windows. (To keep with the save-the-planet theme, try not to use too much water.) Search the internet for tips that involve vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and other ingredients.

Nora Caley is a freelance writer specializing in food and business topics. She lives in Denver, Colorado.

A community is a group of interacting humans sharing an environment. In communities, a number of conditions may be present and common, thus affecting the identity and cohesiveness of the community. Where does your business factor into your community? Here’s what a few well-known individuals have to say about the concept of community.



“If the community is happy, then they support your business. And if your business is doing well, then you can give back even more to the community.” - NBA star, Magic Johnson.

“You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar, author and businessman.

“When it comes to anything that’s social, whether it’s your family, your school, your community, your business or your country, winning is a team sport.” – Bill Clinton, former US President.

Politicians, athletes and businessmen agree that community and business form a powerful alliance that equates into a win-win situation for all. How can your business contribute to the happiness of the community? How can you harness the power of community marketing?

Papa Murphy’s franchisee Scott Bauer owns eight units based in Northern California. Three years ago, Bauer participated in a community event where he sold his product and then donated the profits to the local recreation department. Okay … so the recreation department is happy, but what about Bauer?

“This event really opened our eyes to the power of having potential customers coming up to our booth and tasting our product,” he says. “The feeling of talking and promoting our product to potential customers outside the confines of our store was exciting.”

Bauer now participates in at least 36 annual events benefiting his community. As a result, brand awareness escalates. Subsequently, sales are up about 4 percent in the midst of a recession. Bauer now touts an excellence award for his marketing based on local involvement, dedication to brand and giving back to the community.

Evan G. Evans, Vice President of Field Marketing and Corporate Communications for Papa Murphy’s, encourages franchisees to spend about 20 percent of their marketing time and budget on community events. Evans says that “Local store marketing is a must; community and business need to come together. This affords the opportunity for consumers to taste the quality and understand the value of our product.”

While I get tired just thinking of what goes into hosting an event, I concur with Evans and Bauer that working alongside your community is an excellent and rewarding way to market your business.

Executive director of the Punxsutawney Area Community Center, Rob McCoy, says: “A few years ago I would go to Fox’s a few times, here and there, until I got to know the owner and all they had to offer.” As the owner of Fox’s Pizza Den, I stay attuned to ideas that I can implement in my community. While reading Pizza Today’s online bulletin boards I came across an idea about teaming up with a local organization to sell more pizzas. Basically, you set a goal and offer to donate $1 per pizza sold if the goal is met. My association with McCoy and the PACC convinced me to try this. Together we created ‘Eat a Pizza – Make a Difference’. In one week I doubled my pizza sales and generated enough profit to donate $2 per pizza sold.

Ziglar’s quote earlier in this article is one of my favorites — because it works. I have put it to the test many times.

Businessmen often hesitate to embrace the rewards of giving. Open your eyes of understanding. View such community interaction as a program to earn the respect and loyalty of your market. Bauer sees his time and investment at local events not as mere charity, but as marketing dollars well spent. Try it yourself and see what happens. You’ll be glad you did. ❖

Scott Anthony is a Fox’s Pizza Den franchisee in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He is a monthly contributor to Pizza Today.

It’s a fact that the first recorded use of mozzarella on pizza –– mozzarella di bufala, or mozzarella made from the milk of the water buffalo –– goes back to the year 1889 with the creation of pizza Margherita. Surely, mozzarella di bufala was being used long before 1889. But with the oft-told tale of how pizzaioli Raffaele Esposito created a pizza Margherita to honor the Italian Queen’s visit to Naples in 1889, the whole idea of mozzarella on pizza picked up steam and exploded across Italy.

In fact, mozzarella di bufala was in very short supply in Italy for many years following World War II, because most of the water buffalo herd was killed off at the end of the war (the herd was later restocked with animals from India). In the interim, fi or di latte (mozzarella made from cow’s milk) was the mozzarella of choice.

But mozzarella was not relegated only to a pizza crust. Up and down the boot of Italy, mozzarella was used in dishes like mozzarella in Carrozza (a specialty of the Campania region of Italy) and spiedini alla Romana (a Roman version of a cheese sandwich).

Today mozzarella of every type and style –– mozzarella di bufala (very expensive and in short supply), fi or di latte (made from cow’s milk and readily available, but also expensive) –– finds its way onto pizza. However, the most widely used mozzarella on pizza these days is the low moisture, part-skim type (shredded mostly). Regardless of style, mozzarella is such a versatile cheese that it has managed to find its way onto or into everything from antipasto to salads and pasta dishes. The Parmigiano family of chicken, veal and eggplant is a big user of mozzarella. And then there are unique specialties such as rotolo di mozzarella (or rolled/stuffed mozzarella … see recipe adjacent).

❖ Mozzarella di bufala: mozzarella made mostly from the milk of the water buffalo (though in some instances, a small amount of cow’s milk is used in the cheese-making process). Has a very short shelf life.
❖ Fior di latte: Fresh mozzarella made from cow’s milk (very milky, moist, tender, buttery, very tasty) and available in various sizes from ciliegini (“little cherries”) to bocconcini (“little mouthfuls”). And, depending on the maker, it sometimes can be procured in larger balls for slicing and grating. Has a short shelf life, but longer than mozzarella di bufala.
❖ Low moisture, part-skim mozzarella (or whole milk mozzarella): made from cow’s milk and sold in blocks or shredded for immediate use. Has a long shelf life.
❖ Smoked mozzarella: readily available and very flavorful. I highly recommend you give it a try. Smoked mozzarella is similar to low moisture, part-skim mozzarella, but it has undergone a cold smoked process to enhance the flavor. An acceptable substitute is scamorza, which is a cow’s milk cheese similar to mozzarella.

Rotolo di mozzarella (Mozzarella rolls)

This mozzarella specialty can be the highlight of your menu, especially for the antipasto section. You can, of course, make your own fresh mozzarella from curd, but some companies make fresh mozzarella sheets where you simply open the package and unroll. Each sheet measures 6-inches wide by 20-inches inches long. Lay the sheet on a clean surface and let your creative juices fl ow in any number of ways with one or more of these suggestions:
❖ Lay thin slices of prosciutto on the mozzarella sheet.
❖ PLT: prosciutto, lettuce and tomato.
❖ Brush the cheese with pesto and shaved cooked chicken.
❖ Lay thin slices of fresh tomato and fresh basil leaves on the mozzarella sheet.
❖ Smoked salmon and mascarpone cheese.
❖ Roasted red peppers and spinach
❖ Brush the mozzarella sheet with extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle dried herbs (such as oregano and basil) over the olive oil.

Starting from the short end of the mozzarella sheet, roll the sheet jelly roll fashion to form a log. Wrap rolls tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours. Remove the plastic wrap and slice into pinwheels. Arrange the slices on a platter. Serve with a balsamic vinaigrette or other condiment on the side (relative to the filling used).

Spiedini alla Romana
Yield: about 8 servings (scale up in direct proportion)

1 loaf day-old Italian bread, cut into
1⁄2-inch cubes 1 pound mozzarella (use fi or di latte or low moisture part-skim), cut into 1⁄2-inch cubes
1 cup olive oil
3 eggs lightly beaten

Place three cubes of the bread and three cubes of the mozzarella on as many skewers as necessary to use up all the bread and cheese.

In a large sauté pan or skillet, heat the oil until it is almost smoking. Dip each skewer in the egg to coat and cook in the oil, turning as needed until the cheese is light golden brown. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels. For a detailed look at how to make fresh mozzarella from curds, check out the archives at the Video Spot on www. PizzaToday.com. You won’t believe how simple, and fun, it can be. 

Pat Bruno is Pizza Today’s resident chef and a regular contributor. He is the former owner and operator of a prominent Italian cooking school in Chicago and is a food critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Pinpointing a focus in the marketplace that will enable a pizzeria to flourish even in a stagnant economy may not be immediately obvious. Sometimes it takes a little time and consideration for a concept to evolve.

That was the case for Pizza Patron, a chain with 95 locations in six southwestern states. When it opened in 1986, the first store in Houston was called Pizza Pizza, and the chain’s tight focus on serving the Hispanic customer had not yet been identified. By the time a few months had passed, founder Antonio Swad had noticed that a largely Hispanic clientele was patronizing the store. That’s when he changed the name to Pizza Patron — a word which roughly translates in Spanish to “a benevolent leader” in the community — and a brand geared to the Latin community was born.

“A little light bulb went off in his (Swad’s) head,” says Andy Gamm, brand director for Pizza Patron. “He saw an opportunity to serve an underserved, if not ignored, consumer.”

Establishing a strong brand and differentiating a pizzeria from its competitors is how the industry’s fastest-growing chains, including Pizza Patron, are succeeding despite fl at sales in 2008 and 2009 in the limited-service pizza industry, according to a recent report by Technomic, a Chicago-based restaurant consulting firm.

Pizza Patron was mentioned in the study because of its focus on the Hispanic community. Other large chains cited and the areas in which they stand out include Little Caesar’s in the value category, Pizza Fusion in healthy, zpizza and Red Brick Pizza in quality product/experience and CiCi’s Pizza for its all-you-can-eat buffet.



While large chains have advantages in making consumers aware of their brands, such as the money to wage advertising campaigns, Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic, says independent and smaller chains also can succeed by focused positioning in the marketplace, and developing a brand that customers will come to recognize. “I think, because of what large chains have accomplished, consumers have learned to differentiate among pizzerias based on such factors as the dining experience, the healthfulness or the quickness (of service),” Tristano says. “They use that information when deciding where to eat.”

Discovering or tightening a focus on brand may come about, as it did for Pizza Patron, from taking note of consumer behavior and acting on it. Despite their success, Gamm acknowledges that it is usually better to know your focus before you open a store.

“I think it is the first thing you have to decide rather than opening a store and then trying to figure it out organically,” Gamm says. For an operator already in business, asking customers what they like about the pizzeria can help them better discover their point of difference.

“You need to talk to customers, because when you look at yourself in the mirror you’re not as likely to see your flaws,” Tristano says.

Operators need to study what competitors are doing and also ask themselves some questions. “You have to look at your concept and ask yourself, ‘What do I do that’s different from my competitors?’ and, ‘Where do I fit in?,’” Tristano says. “You need to know who your customers are. Are you serving families or young males looking to get their fill of cheap pizza? What is your customers’ income level? And do your price points fit in?”

If the answer is quality, then Tristano says operators should leverage quality through how they promote the business. They need to use terms like gourmet or healthy in their marketing.

Gamm says once Pizza Patron identified its position in the market, it began using brand identity as a filter through which nearly every decision is made.

“Our entire brand is modeled to appeal to the Hispanic demographic,” Gamm says. “It dictates everything we do — from marketing and advertising, to what kinds of partners we do business with, to where we locate our stores. We don’t go into areas where there isn’t a significant Hispanic demographic.”

The company offers toppings such as chorizo that appeal to the Hispanic customer.

“We offer toppings that aren’t typically available,” says Gamm. “And we work with our manufacturer to make sure our chorizo has the color, flavor and spices that our customers expect.”

Catering to the Hispanic customer, Pizza Patron also developed a successful “Pizza for Pesos” marketing campaign that allows customers to purchase pizza using pesos. “That was a very successful campaign,” Tristano says.

“There was a lot of money laying around that customers couldn’t use, and Pizza Patron capitalized on that.”❖

Case Study:
Toppers Pizza

Finding its focus was just as crucial to Toppers Pizza, which concentrates on the 18- to 24-yearold demographic. It has 25 stores in such Midwestern states as Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota. The company is slated to open 14 more stores in the next 24 to 36 months — and expects to have 100 by 2013.

Founded in 1991, Toppers has most of its stores in college towns like Madison, Wisconsin, which is home to the University of Wisconsin.

To reach the college-age market, Iversen says the company keeps stores open from as early as 10 a.m. to as late as 4:30 a.m. It also uses social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to communicate with its customers and keeps its advertising fun and irreverent.

Being asked in 2006 to define their best customers helped Toppers find its identity. Says Iversen: “We were in an advertising meeting and they asked us, ‘Who loves you? Who’s fanatical about you?’ and it was easy. We said it’s the (young) people up late burning the candle at both ends.”

That answer has been a boon for the company, which is succeeding even in the down economy.

According to Iversen, projected 2010 revenues are $24 million and average per-store sales are about $950,000 (compared to the industry average of about $550,000 to $600,000).

Capitalizing on their point of difference “was huge” for the company, Iversen says. “We’ve found a niche that’s been ignored by the big guys.”

Annemarie Mannion is a freelance writer in Willowbrook, Illinois.

There’s something to be said for an oversized pizza: It’s big. How big? The average size for pizza these days is 14 inches in diameter. Anything around 18-inches in diameter or above is generally considered “oversized.”



That said, pizza doesn’t always need to be round. When working with an oversized pizza, consider going rectangular by using a full sheet pan, which measures 18 x 26 x 1 inch deep (or a half-sheet pan). I like to call this style of pizza “Italian Bakery” (a.k.a. Sicilian pizza) — because it has a thicker crust and it’s the style I grew up with. But, before we get too far away from style, I need to talk about the pluses and minuses associated with an oversized pizza:

Positives:
If you are selling slices, there is less labor involved. 
You certainly will make a statement with, say, an 18- or 20-inch pizza. 
Oversized pizza works great on a buffet set up. 
I like the idea of something a bit different to put a WOW! factor into the equation, and an oversized pizza has the potential to do that. For example, a pizza baked in a full sheet pan and cut into squares is something quite a bit different from the many thin-crust Neapolitan pizzas that are so trendy right now. 
Catering possibilities (this style of pizza holds well over time) for oversized pizzas are endless. Some places are using the term “Party-Size Pizza,” which pretty much says it all.

Negatives:
More expensive boxes and bags, along with the room needed to store those boxes and bags. 
You have to watch and calculate food costs entirely differently for, say, a pizza made in a full sheet pan (or half sheet pan, for that matter). 
In a delivery situation you have to be aware of handling with care. 
Oven size and capacity. If you are going whole hog with oversized pizza, you might need an oven dedicated solely for those oversized pizzas.

Here is my quick set-up for an oversized Sicilian pizza. First, brush the pan with olive oil on the bottom and sides. Once-risen dough — about 24 to 26 ounces —is pressed into the pan and into the corners of the pan. Now flip the dough to coat the other side. Press again with the tips of your fingers, spreading the dough completely into the pan. You may need to let the dough rest a bit for a good stretch.

Lay thin slices of mozzarella, overlapping the slices a bit, over the dough up to the crust edge (you will need about 12-16 ounces of mozzarella).

Spread tomato or pizza sauce over the cheese (about 1½ cups). Sprinkle dried oregano and dried basil over the tomatoes. Drizzle on some olive oil, along with about ½ cup grated Romano cheese.

Bake (make sure the slices of mozzarella are thoroughly melted). Adjust oven time and temperature as needed. Cut pizza into squares.

Pat Bruno is Pizza Today’s resident chef and a regular contributor. He is the former owner and operator of a prominent Italian cooking school in Chicago and is a food critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Wine & Dine ‘em

If you have a wine list, then perhaps you are schooled in the fine art of pricing. Diners in this lean economical atmosphere are looking for ways to maintain luxuries –– such as dining out –– without busting their wallets. Spirits are one of the first items often to go –– but it doesn’t have to be. If you’re offering wines on the low-end, price around three times up, and double on the high end. Aim for $5 to $9 per glass –– that won’t break the bank for diners but will pad checks. Also, some operators have found success offering a weekly or monthly bottle special under $10 to $15. Work with your distributor.

Ahhh, Bacon!

Bacon products –– yes, including flavored lip glosses and shaped Band-Aids –– have taken America by storm. If you’re using it in-house, remember that the lean-to-fat ratio is critical. It should be even, around 50- to 60-percent, for the best flavor profile. Consider crumbling it on salads, using diced bacon as garnish and in white sauces for a salty finish.

Security Alert

Do your employees wear gloves? If so, both you and your staff could be lulled into a false sense of security. More than once, we’ve seen cashiers in gloves put money into the cash register, turn around and start preparing food. Train your staff to replace gloves when soiled, torn or if they touch any part of their bodies. Staying conscientious of their actions is the best way to keep customers –– and your bottom line –– safe.



The Big Dipper

It can be disheartening to see a pile of leftover pizza crusts lining plates after customers finish eating. Consider offering a small container of sauce for dunking –– it can be a signature addition that sets you apart from your competitors. It doesn’t have to be marinara or pizza sauce. For an additional cost, offer nacho cheese, a vodka sauce, buttery Parmesan, ranch dressing or Buffalo sauce. It’s a great add-on customers love!

Toppings are to pizzas as clothes are to people, completing a profile and adding personality. And although the standard list of toppings—sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, green pepper, etc.,—has a solid fan base, today’s diner may expect a wider selection. But how many toppings are too many? How do operators control food costs while still offering a toppings menu that adds distinction and a delicious sense of place?

“I know restaurants that haven’t changed their menus in 35 years, but their customer base has changed,” says Dave Ostrander, restaurant consultant and Pizza Today’s own “pizza doctor” and frequent contributor. “Operators have to monitor their menus. There’s no such thing as too many pizza toppings — as long as they’re moving through the system and staying fresh.” Ostrander, who has penned numerous industry books, including Your Secret to a Successful Restaurant, recommends applying his four Rs when menu engineering a toppings list: rename, reposition, re-price or remove. “Read your POS reports,” he advises. “Which are the most popular? Which ones move through different parts of your menu? Get rid of the dogs and add new and exciting toppings.”

Tony Gemignani agrees. “Test your new topping on a pizza and run it as a special,” says this owner of the100-seat Tony’s Pizza Napoletana and of Tony Gemignani’s International School of Pizza, both in San Francisco. “Get feedback from your customers. If it looks like it’s moving and has support behind it, add it to the menu.”

His customer base seems to enjoy the more eclectic side of things, and Gemignani keeps them intrigued with pizzas such as his Lamb & Eucalyptus and his Salsiccia con Treviso. The latter sees rack of lamb glazed with eucalyptus syrup, cooked rare on a fl at top, shredded and cooled, along with fresh mozzarella. The thin crust pizza is finished with feta cheese, fresh marjoram and a bit more of the eucalyptus syrup. For the Salsiccia, he features housemade honey Calabrese sausage, mozzarella, treviso (an Italian radicchio), roasted garlic, caramelized onion and crema di Parmigiano.

Sitting on the cutting edge of the pizza world, this nine-time world pizza champion shares his insight into toppings operators should consider when expanding their repertoire. “They need to fit within an operation’s scope, but what I’m seeing is exotic mushrooms, like shiitake, lobster and crimini,” says Gemignani. “I’m also seeing piquante peppers gaining traction.” He also calls out mortadella and sopressata as two cured meats that can expand meat offerings beyond ground beef, sausage and pepperoni. “Another big trend is finishes,” he says. “Your finishing line should be as big, if not bigger, than your main line, with ingredients like fresh herbs, shaved Parm and fresh greens.”

At 20-seat Cavaleri Pizza in New York, the Chicken-Guacamole Pizza is popular with the more-adventurous clientele. The pizza features tomato, cheddar and grilled chicken seasoned with cumin and cayenne. After baking until crisp and bubbly, the pizza is finished with greens topped with prepared guacamole. “It rounds out our Southwestern offerings really nicely,” says John Cavaleri, owner and chief pizza maker. “We’ve got two kinds of customers, as do most pizzerias. We have those that want the familiar and those whoseek more daring toppings. It’s very popular among the more daring.” For cross utilization, the guacamole is also featured in a few sandwich offerings. He charges $14.20 for a 12-inch pizza, and runs a 30 percent food cost.

Another popular pie is the Tater Pizza, which does away with tomato sauce altogether. Cavaleri starts by spreading creamy mashed potatoes onto the dough, then topping that with a cheddar/mozzarella blend. “By putting the cheese on top of the mashed potatoes, we keep them moist,” he says. “If you don’t do that, the potatoes will dry out in the oven.” He finishes the pizza with crisp bacon and fresh chives. A 12-inch Tater Pizza is menued at $12.45, and runs a 30 percent food cost.

For cross utilization, both Ostrander and Gemignani reiterate the sound business practice of ensuring a fresh topping serves more than one dish on the menu. “Make sure it can play as both a topping, but also as an ingredient in a calzone or a salad, or maybe a specialty pizza or pasta,” says Ostrander. “You increase its contribution margin when you do that.” ❖

Katie Ayoub is a frequent contributor to Pizza Today. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

We’ve learned long before now how important it is to please our customers. “Overwhelm the guest” is how I like to think of it. What I find quite fascinating as our economy has tanked is that the smart operators –– whether it be the big chains or the independent restaurants –– have been forced to sharpen their pencils when it comes to being creative and are finding new ways to get customers in their restaurants. The reason it has been so challenging is because folks are spending less, which usually means eating out less. These particular circumstances have the consumer thinking differently as well. Let’s face it. Even though we are operators, we are also consumers. The last thing I want to do after cooking all day is to go home and cook dinner. We all love to go out to eat. There are more choices and more avenues and venues than ever before in history. So, consumers have figured out that if they change their spending habits by spending less money on each meal, they can continue to eat out as often as they used to, while spending less than they used to. I’ve never seen so many people using coupons in my life. I think the pizza industry is about as recession proof as any other food business.



The interesting thing that has happened during these changing times is that the consumer has increasingly become pickier about how they want their food prepared. Sure, we’ve been making half and half pizza for decades in virtually hundreds of different combinations. Half cheese with the other half pepperoni is no problem. Lots of times, folks would get a couple of medium pies, one for the kids and one for the parents. These days, to be as frugal as possible, we’re noticing that families realize that one large pie is sufficient and economical for the whole family. The problem is they now want to have half one kind of specialty pie and the other half another. Ten years ago, I used to tell guests that on the specialty pies, especially ones with different sauce, that we could not do them as half and half pies. I knew the sauces would run together while the pizza baked. It wasn’t so much of an issue then and they would order one of each. Today, it’s almost too risky to say no and potentially lose the sale. So we put on our thinking cap, and make it happen, continuing on with the tradition of “overwhelming the guest”! The baking of a half cheese and half classic pizza is difficult because the baking time would be different for these pies if they were separate pizzas. If you use a conveyor, you simply push the pizza half-way back in the oven, cooking the loaded side an extra minute or so. If you have a deck, you find that sweet little hot spot to finish that side of the pizza. It’s certainly more complicated than separate pies, but at the end of the day, saying no could result in the customers’ dollars ending up in your competitor’s cash register instead of yours. Now that would be a bummer! Besides, we all know that folks who read this magazine have the best pizza in their town, and why deprive your guests of that?

Here’s where things get tricky –– but don’t panic, I’ll walk you through it. Say, for instance, a table wants half a Buffalo chicken pizza and half spinach Alfredo pizza. It used to be a nightmare to even imagine the complaints that could roll in if we even attempted such a thing. We all know the sauces will run together, and it could turn out to be a nightmare. Who wants a spicy Buffalo Alfredo pizza? Yuck! There’s an easy solution which will simply take you an extra 60 seconds to overwhelm your guests. Go ahead and stretch out your dough. Before you place it in your pizza pan or on your screen, take your pizza cutter and trim a quarterinch edge off of your pizza dough to place down the center of your stretched pizza to use as a barrier. Place it right down the middle of your pizza. Now go ahead and sauce and top each side. Have no worries about your Buffalo sauce mixing with your Alfredo, or your BBQ sauce mixing with your pesto. I think it’s the best way to please those picky customers who only want to buy just one pizza instead of two. If you sell slices, you can also use this technique to create just four slices of two different kinds of gourmet pizza. That keeps your pizza slices as fresh as possible, while allowing you to offer some gourmet choices where you may not have attempted to before.

Now, we all understand that on a crazy busy night, it will take an extra minute or so to create this “two-faced” pizza. So just make sure your staff explains to those customers that you are delighted to accommodate their special order, but because of the extra preparation time, that you’ll need a few extra minutes. It’s easy to resist this kind of change. Staff doesn’t like to do anything harder than they need to, but as I have shared a hundred times before, as operators, we need to ask ourselves a very important question. What separates us from our competitors? Along with all the other amazing things that you already do, like providing freshly made dough, high quality ingredients and toppings, now you can add that you custom-make pizzas for your customers, even if it’s creating a half and half specialty pizza with two different sauces.

No matter how much extra you are willing to do for your customers, they will always find a new way to push you a little further. Before you refuse, give it some serious thought and do your best to provide them with all they want, as long as it doesn’t compromise your overall business! ❖

Jeffrey Freehof, owner of The Garlic Clove in Evans, Georgia, is Pizza Today’s resident expert.