
Photos by Josh Keown
The hours before opening — while sometimes hectic — are the few times in a busy pizzeria’s day when customers are not continually walking in and the phone is not ringing like crazy. It’s the perfect opportunity to lead the day in a positive and profitable direction. Paul Gainor, owner of Pizza Zone with two locations in Spring, Texas, uses the time to get ready for the day’s rush — making sure the prep table is stocked, turning on the ovens and vent hoods, checking voicemail and the fax machine (which prints the shop’s online orders), pulling dough out of the refrigerator, heating the pizza sauce, counting the safe, bringing all of the washed utensils (pizza cutters, cheese cups, scale, etc.) to their stations, checking inventory and ordering food.
Dough is also made before opening at Pizza Zone. Gainor says mornings are the best time for dough production because there are limited distractions during the delicate process.
It’s the most obvious — but vital — things, he says, that most frequently get overlooked, such as turning on the “Open” sign and remembering to unlock the front door.
That’s where a trusty checklist comes in handy. “The most important thing is that people follow the checklist,” Gainor says. “Otherwise things get forgotten. Give some incentive to your employees that they better use the checklist or they will be in trouble.” He verbally reprimands employees for ignoring items on the sheet. Habitual offenders can even lose out on raises.
Carmelo Lamotta of LaMotta’s Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria, Fort Myers, Florida, says there is no excuse for missing a task that is on the checklist. Having his employees initial each item leaves little room for rebuttal. The sheet is broken down into daily tasks as well as the schedule for weekly and monthly duties.
Lamotta handles many of the kitchen opening duties with one helper. “It saves on labor and it saves on waste and food cost because I control the food cost.”
In addition to kitchen prep, Lamotta brings a server in 30 minutes prior to opening to prepare the dining room. “Hygiene is No.1 for me,” he says. The server is responsible for making sure tables and chairs are sanitized, the floor is swept, menus and special inserts are wiped down, windows are cleaned and everything is stocked in the counter and service areas.
Morning is also a good time to take advantage of the quiet to hold meetings and training sessions. Run through the numbers of the previous day, highlighting the positives and negatives and things like recognizing employees for exceptional service.
Have a new menu item? Use mornings to introduce the new dish to your lunch staff so they can more effectively promote it. The tasting also gives the kitchen crew practice, without having to focus on other entrées.
With a small staff, Jason Petro, owner of The Red Star Pizza Company in Seymour, Indiana, handles opening differently. While Petro focuses on closing duties, his wife, Nicole, opens the restaurant. Petro relies on his evening and closing staff to tackle many of the tasks that some operators would consider opening duties.
The goal, Petro says, is to get everything ready for the next morning so that Nicole can come in one hour prior to open to turn on the ovens and then make a bank run or other errands that need to be completed. Occasionally, he leaves Nicole tasks written on their large checklist wipe boards in the kitchen to be completed before opening.
The Petros also make use of their midday lull to prepare for Red Star’s dinner rush instead of prepping for the entire day prior to open.
There are a number of approaches to take to make daily operations run smoothly. Make a game plan, be ready and execute.

Check, Check
Checklists not only give you a reminder of all of the tasks that need to be completed, it also provides you with accountability when staff members initial each item that is finished. Common tasks on an opening checklist include:
- Check the exterior for security breaches and litter.
- Unlock doors for staff, disarm alarm and lock doors upon entering. u Conduct an interior security walk-through.
- Turn on ovens.
- Double check food orders and inventory levels to be sure the pizzeria is ready for the day’s business.
- Check manager’s log from previous night. Make sure employees clocked out appropriately and review labor hours.
- Check voicemails, e-mails and faxes for advanced orders and employee schedule conflicts.
- Scan the labor schedule to be sure you have enough employees scheduled for each shift.
- Inspect freezer and refrigerator units for proper temperature readings.
- Check appearance of kitchen and dining room, cross-checking with nightly checklist.
- Make appropriate amount of dough and verify prepped dough has been rotated for use.
- Set up steam table and make line and start prep work.
- Count the safe and assign drawers.
- Check deposit slips.
- Verify there is enough cash and change for the day’s operation.
- Go to the bank to make last night’s deposit and get change.
- Review specials and be sure they are displayed in the store.
- Check the restaurant calendar for large parties and/or catering.
- Be sure the dining room temperature is comfortable.
- Turn on lights, fans and television and sound systems.
- Take out the trash and pick up litter.
- Conduct an opening meeting with instructions, training and motivation.
- Do final walk-through of dining room and verify opening checklist.
- Turn on open sign and unlock doors for customers.
Denise Greer is associate editor of Pizza Today.

Photo by Josh Keown
The performance kitchen at Cane Rosso takes center stage. Built around a wood-fired oven, the workspace is home to leading man Dino Santonicola, the Naples-born master pizzaiolo hired by owner Jay Jerrier to put his restaurant on the map. And he’s not alone –– more attention than ever has been placed on hiring as a marketing ploy. Bring in a big name (even for a limited-time engagement), garner attention and bam! Instant fame. But is a chef –– one with street cred, a degree and/or acclamations –– really needed over a cook who worked his or her way up in an organization?
“A chef brings a lot of the ‘business’ side of the restaurant to the table,” Jerrier says. “He handles all of our unit costing, ordering, scheduling/staffing, quality control, vendor management, documentation, cleaning routines, etc. A cook is there just to execute the menu. I don’t want to rely on an hourly employee to have to deal with the big picture items.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 100,000 people were employed as a chef (or head cook) in 2010 (the last year surveyed) with a median pay of $40,630 per year. Most had one to five years of work-related experience, but many chefs received more formal training at a college or technical school.
“Most people who have culinary degrees will call themselves cooks,” says Chad Pritchard, a chef instructor at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Dallas, Texas. “Just GOING PRO MOONEY FARMS because they’ve graduated from culinary school doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a chef.”
Although the two titles are often used interchangeably, G. Allen Akmon, a chef and the culinary arts department chair at Sullivan University in Louisville, Kentucky, says professionally trained chefs and cooks offer their employers experience, a greater focus on the bottom line and an emphasis on quality.
“In the industry, we always focus on how rather than why,” Akmon says. “Experience coupled with education brings mastery and the ability to apply different techniques to different products so with only one of the two components in place an individual is limited in the area of growth potential.
“Proper training is more than just the action and reaction of food products. Many times, the experiences that are learned in the industry are the fundamentals of cooking and when an individual rises from that position, it becomes very difficult to learn about recipe costing, labor and resource maximization, interviewing and management skills without at least a basic understanding. These foundations present another benefit of education that are not always realized immediately after graduation but rather further down the road as positions dictate.”
Pritchard, who has owned three pizzerias and two Italian restaurants in the past, finds that “there are a lot of culinary graduates who are very loyal to those who brought them on,” he says. “People are very afraid of hiring culinary graduates. When I owned my pizzerias, I always hired culinary graduates because there are a lot of graduates out there who don’t have the experience to go to a fine dining restaurant or a higher-end restaurant. Pizzerias and Italian restaurants are great places for these cooks to learn. As they do that, they become very brand loyal and they in turn send their friends and family to you. A lot of times, you’re their first job out of culinary school and they’re very proud of what they do. I think it elevates the craft more to hire those who are classically trained. It elevates us to more than just spaghetti and meatballs.”
This creativity plays a crucial role for some independent restaurants that rely on quickly changing their menus and rotating seasonal ingredients. “I think what you’ll end up finding is that you have more creativity in your kitchen,” Pritchard says. “You’ll end up saying ‘Hey, we need to do a daily special’ and they can get one on the menu.
At Cane Rosso, hiring a more experienced chef, while initially more expensive in terms of benefits and salary, increased quality overall with a more authentic product and employee training. “We also wanted to set a new standard for ‘authenticity’ in Neapolitan pizza,” he says. “There are very few places in the U.S. where you can get a Neapolitan pizza made with dough made in a Neapolitan mixer, cooked in a Neapolitan oven, by an actual Neapolitan from Naples city center...not a suburb!”
But for some companies, consistency is more important than creativity as they grow to multiple units and create more uniform products across their brand.
“We actually prefer to hire (line) cooks,” says Chris Lombardi, a partner at Tommy’s Coal Fired Pizza in New Jersey. “We try to keep our menu simple. We have four locations now and we feel by using simple menus, with less ingredients in the store and constantly turning over product, our employees can do it simple but do it right.”
Like other chains both large and small, they have created a recipe book that is standard as the company adds stores to its brand, and following that to the letter is imperative so that customers get the same product no matter which location they visit. “Chefs try to get creative, and that’s hard when you have more than one location,” Lombardi says. “When you own single restaurants, you can change it up on the fly. But for us we’re trying to keep it the same across all the restaurants. We use proven recipes that we know our customers like time and time again.”
One happy medium? Hiring local culinary students for internships. Most pizzerias are relatively casual, and that provides a good learning experience for many students as opposed to a formal dining establishment with more rigid kitchens. Pi-zzeria, located in Virginia Beach, often hires students from the local Culinary Institute of Virginia, which gives them real-world experience as well as college credits and a paycheck. Although the pizzeria’s parent company owns and operates a number of restaurants, initially, “we probably came out with ‘hey, let’s pay everybody minimum wage –– it’s a pizza place,’” says Darin Zediker, food and beverage manager at Pi-zzeria. “But we found out that … you have to be as skilled in one of these operations as you do one of our full-service seafood restaurants.”
Interns “are people who are working towards finishing up a culinary degree –– whether it’s getting them in to gain that experience or we actually have two or three (employees) who graduated from the institute,” Zediker adds.
In the end, finding the right combination of experience, ability and loyalty is what works for most operators. Training is critical for the days when a chef isn’t on the schedule –– afterall, there are only so many hours in the day and while an employee can work a lot of hours, they can’t work ’round the clock.
“One of Dino’s main tasks is to make sure he trains the pizza makers personally,” Jerrier says. “He is on the hook to make sure the pizza is just as good if he is not personally making it … We are finally to the point where we have a good, reliable team covering all of our shifts. Dino does still cover some of our busier weekend shifts –– but as we look to grow and add additional restaurants he won’t be able to personally work those shifts. His team is ready to rock.”u
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is managing editor at Pizza Today.

Photos by Josh Keown
Time to sharpen your knife skills? And by skills, we’re talking about back-of-house efficiencies and safety protocols around the most common foodservice tool. Knowing which knives work best for cutting different types of product, how to care for them properly and how to use knives safely can give operators a well-honed edge.
Safety first. “Train your employees how to use the knife properly,” says James P. DeWan, adjunct chefinstructor at Chicago’s Kendall College School of Culinary Arts and co-author of The Zwilling J. A. Henckels Complete Book of Knife Skills: The Essential Guide to Use, Techniques and Care. He recommends the classic French method, which sees the bottom of the blade pinched by the dominant hand’s thumb and first finger with the other fingers wrapping around the handle. The other hand curls into a claw position, which guards the fingertips against the blade, and grips the ingredient being cut. “The side of the knife is flush against your guide fingers,” he says. “That’s the way to cut safely. It takes time to get used to it, so it’s important to practice it. There are tons of videos on YouTube that demonstrate proper technique. Have your kitchen staff watch them and then practice their skills repeatedly.”
And like all well-run professional kitchens, staff training is key. “Our senior cooks teach the newer cooks how to cut properly,” says Jim D’Angelo, COO of Lou Malnati’s, which has 35 pizza shops in the Chicagoland area. For repetitive tasks, such as cutting dough, back-of-house staff must don protective metal mesh gloves. “We implemented the policy about five years ago and we strictly enforce it,” he says. “Knife cuts were making up a huge amount of our back-of-house injuries. We don’t make them wear it on the line, but when they’re doing something repetitive, they have to. It’s reduced accidents significantly.”
To maximize performance and minimize injury, DeWan recommends keeping blades sharp. Lou Malnati’s sends its knives out for sharpening weekly. “We lease our knives from a company and sharpening them is part of that lease,” says D’Angelo. The company takes away the dull knives, replacing them with sharpened ones, sharpens the dull ones and returns them the next week, following the same pattern to always keep Lou Malnati’s flush with sharp tools.
At Fiammé Pizzeria in Naperville, Illinois, a sharpening truck visits about every two weeks, or whenever executive chef Ryan Craig calls them in. “He does them right there on the spot, and it works really well for us,” he says.
DeWan suggests honing the knives with a steel in between sharpening sessions. “The blade of the knife has microscopic teeth that bend with use,” he says. “Running the knife over the steel pushes those teeth back into alignment.”
Of course, pizzerias require specialized tools. When it comes to which knife works best, the answer is as varied as the available types of pizzerias.
For thin crust and Napoletana-style pizzas, the favored choice seems to be the pizza wheel. “Our pizzas are Neapolitan style and our ingredients are delicate, requiring a more precise, delicate touch,” says Craig. “I tried using a rocker knife because it’s more efficient, but I lost a lot of ingredients, which just flew off the pizza with the movement of the big blade.”

On the line, he uses three pizza wheels: one for red, one for white and one for gluten-free pizzas. He also keeps a chef’s knife and paring knife for ingredient prep, as well as a good bread knife for cutting French bread into crostini and bruschetta.
Lou Malnati’s also uses a pizza wheel for its dine-in thin-crust pizza. “It doesn’t drag the cheese and it gives us a nice precise cut,” says D’Angelo.
For dine-in deep-dish, which is the most common pizza ordered at Lou Malnati’s, his prep cooks use a boning knife, which sports a long, narrow, sharp blade. “It allows them to cut through the thick layer of cheese, toppings and crust with some pretty good speed and accuracy,” he says.For carryout and delivery, a mezzaluna, or rocker knife, is the go-to blade. Its handles allow for a sure grip while putting more weight on the knife to cut through the pie with precision and clean edges. “We’d use it for our dine-in deep dish pizzas, too, if we could,” he says. “It’s so fast and efficient.” The mezzaluna can portion a 14-inch pizza with only four cuts. As the restaurant chain cuts and then serves its dine-in deep dish in the pan that the pizza was baked in, the rocker is not an option. “The boning knife works well, but for cutting speed, nothing is better than the rocker,” says D’Angelo.
Why not a pizza wheel for deep dish? “It plows through the toppings and doesn’t give you a clean cut. You have to go over it too many times to cut through, making a mess of the pizza as you do it,” he says. For prep work, his staff uses the traditional eight-inch chef’s knife, also known as a French knife, and smaller (2½-inch) paring knife.
Katie Ayoub is a frequent contributor to Pizza Today. She’s based in Naperville, Illinois.

Photos by Josh Keown
Running a pair of independent pizzerias in northern Georgia, Ron Kaes knows that one serious workplace injury can spoil the two Paparonni’s pizzerias he’s dedicated himself to over the last 16 years.
“Workplace safety ought to be a concern for any business owner, but especially for the owner-operator who can least afford lost productivity or the potential financial loss associated with medical bills and lawsuits,” Kaes says.
Understanding that they inherit the responsibility of employee and guest safety as well as the financial burden of rising insurance premiums, production inefficiencies, or, worse, costly litigation should a serious injury occur, wise operators embrace workplace safety.
“Either pay attention and be observant or you’ll put yourself at risk in unwanted ways,” warns restaurant consultant Nancy Caldarola of Atlanta based Concept Associates. “You want your employees to have fun, to enjoy the work, but you can’t let them lose sight of safety or you’ll lose sight of money.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the incidence of reported injuries for cooks and food preparation workers sits “comparatively high compared to all occupations,” even if the job hazards, such as falls, cuts, and burns, are seldom serious. That said, operators must remain mindful, attentive, and on guard.
“The engaged owner-operator will usually notice potential safety issues long before a manager or shift supervisor because of his experience and his financial interest,” Kaes reminds.
Since pizzeria operators face the significant challenge of an employee pool with high turnover and wide-ranging work pedigrees, proper training and supervision become critical to creating a safe workplace.
Kaes, a strong proponent of teen employment, sets his goal as providing a wholesome training environment alongside a realistic culture of accountability. While he inherits the burden of establishing procedures, providing proper training and promoting a culture of professionalism, he demands his staff commit to personal attentiveness, reminding them with signs, placards and safety instructions that procedures exist for everything and safety is paramount. It’s a message championed by others.
“There is a safe way to make pizzas and conduct business, and this needs to be communicated to employees over and over,” says Daniel Hartwig, president of General Health and Safety Services Corp. in Punta Gorda, Florida.
Though falls, cuts, and burns remain the three most common restaurant industry injuries, a few proactive, attentive changes can help minimize risk.
Wet, slippery floors, most often caused by weather or spills, heighten the risk of slips and falls. As a general rule, keep floors dry and clean of debris, including broken or loose tiles, a guideline that not only reduces injury risk but communicates pride of ownership. Proper floor-washing procedures, utilizing the two-bucket system with a deck brush and mop, will further help minimize risk and showcase the restaurant’s cleanliness.
On poor weather days, assign a staff member the duty of clearing excess water and placing down additional rugs, which every operator should have on hand. Also, utilize yellow caution signage as a reminder of the elements.
Other recommended policies include: instituting a simple-to-follow spill rule — when anything hits the floor, clean it up immediately; insisting that employees wear non-skid footwear, a policy that can produce a price break from insurance companies; requiring the use of rolling bus carts for moving all dough trays and bulky items; and finally, establishing a strict “no horseplay” policy.
Improper training, broken equipment and not having the proper cutting gloves are most often the culprits behind cuts. Solutions include replacing or sharpening knives frequently and performing suggested maintenance on key equipment, minor tasks that can save big money. Also, limit knife use only to those who have been trained in handling, policies and procedures.
“Issues most often happen when things get busy and someone picks up a knife to help out, but doesn’t know proper techniques or gets easily distracted,” says Caldarola, who sliced her own finger as a teen restaurant employee. “Reiterate to employees that everything’s in its place and everything has a place.”
Additionally, Hartwig, the father of two pizzeria-working sons, reminds that cuts are not only a work-related issued, but also a sanitary issue. Blood or bandages in food can create sick customers and negative PR.
“Given the nature of the pizzeria business, with employees hustling during those hot hours, someone often doesn’t tend to a cut right away or doesn’t tend to it properly and that’s something operators want to avoid.” In the kitchen, burns happen. It’s as easy to mistakenly touch a hot pan or oven deck as it is for hot grease, a particularly common kitchen inhabitant as pizzerias diversify their menu offerings, to leap onto the skin. Combating burns begins with wearing proper coverage, including gloves, aprons and eyewear, and having a ready supply of working pan grips and mittens available to employees, thereby removing the temptation to remove a hot pan from the oven with a wet towel. Letting the equipment cool down before cleaning should also be stressed, perhaps providing a staging area solely for cooling equipment.
“We can be our own worst enemy when we fail to do the simple, little things that create a safe working environment,” Caldarola says. ❖
The Pizzeria’s First Aid Kit
In spite of an operator’s best efforts to eliminate workplace injuries, cuts and burns, slips and falls are bound to happen wherever and whenever humans are involved. Recognizing this reality, Caldarola suggests operators prepare a first-aid kit stocked with:
❖ Small and large adhesive bandages
❖ Liquid medical soap
❖ Two 40-inch triangular bandages
❖ Cotton applicators
❖ Antiseptic
❖ Ammonia inhalants
❖ Two-inch gauze roller bandage
❖ Stretch roller gauze
❖ Gauze compresses
❖ Large gauze compresses for pressure dressing
❖ One-inch adhesive roll tape
❖ Chemical cold packs
❖ Tongue depressors
To further enhance the environment’s safety, operators might add an OSHA-approved Blood Spill Kit, a law in many states, as well as a CDC and OSHA-approved Vomit Clean-Up Kit. Operators should assume that any blood is contaminated and that any vomit and a 10-foot perimeter are tainted and pose a health hazard.
Chicago-based writer Daniel P. Smith has covered business issues and best practices for a variety of trade publications, newspapers, and magazines.

PHOTOS BY JOSH KEOWN
A neat, clean and organized kitchen is always a happy kitchen. Life in our pizzerias can be hectic. When compared to other restaurants, I think we put out a larger menu with a much smaller space, for the most part. It creates a lot of work and a lot of prep –– all in tight spaces. We want to make sure that we’re also keeping up with board of health regulations. That’s why it’s so important that we are organized in everything we do. Not only does everything need to have its own place, we as leaders need to make sure our staff is aware of it and follows the plan.
The one thing I’ve learned in my 30-plus years of doing this is that even though we may try to find responsible and mature individuals to work with us, we still need to bring our procedures to an elementary level. It’s really the best way to make sure things get done properly and consistently. First and foremost, daily prep lists and checklists are critical to ensure everything gets done properly. Also, closing checklists have saved me from so many headaches. Sure, we can assume that our staff should know what to do by now — but the checklist is king! Have a place for them to initial each item that gets done.
Once we know those tasks are being completed thoroughly, we now want to take a look at the streamlining of our operation. I’ve actually designed menus around equipment that I had at a restaurant that I would take over, and I’ve had the opportunity to move some equipment around to better suit the flow of the operation. Look at your menu mix and the tasks that need to be done during high volume. Do you find yourself running around like a mad man or woman from one end of the kitchen to the other just to complete a dish? Where do you keep your plates or to-go boxes? Are they at your fingertips, or are they around the corner? Here are some ways to streamline your actions:
u Add inexpensive shelving in your work area to put things like plates, to- go boxes, bags, dressing cups and fork kits. This can save hundreds of steps per shift, which increases productivity drastically. When everything is at arm’s length, ticket times speed up. I promise your customers will love getting their food quicker.
I was a chef at a restaurant many years ago where the kitchen was actually way too big for the volume we were doing. On a slow Monday night, I felt like I was running a marathon because things were spread out too far. The most efficient kitchen I ever worked in was a small, tight kitchen where I could practically reach everything with a little side step to the right or left. Whatever your space is, make sure you design your space where everything is stocked and at your fingertips!
u How about your reach-in refrigerators? Are they neat with everything accessible, or do you have to move everything around just to find the anchovies? Having smaller containers for all the ingredients needed for the menu is an excellent choice so that you’re not fumbling around looking for what you need. Obviously, you’ll need large enough containers for the items that you go through more of, like a small container for pineapple and anchovies and a larger space for mozzarella. Set it up so you have enough for the shift. I think it’s better to have to restock for each shift because it allows you to clean your containers and shelves while you’re re-stocking.
u Think of your kitchen set-up in the same way you have your pizza make station set up. You certainly wouldn’t have your pizza makers put the cheese before the sauce. You want a nice, continuous flow. Every aspect should be prepared in the same way from start to finish when making the dishes on your menu. It also helps tremendously when it’s time to have a co-worker step in to help during peak times.
u Once you have figured out where you want everything, make laminated labels. That keeps everyone on the same page.
Now that you’ve created your daily prep lists and check lists and you are ensuring they are getting done daily, and you’ve got your shop neat, clean and organized with everything in its place, there’s just one more philosophy I want you to adopt: “close to open.” As the end of the night approaches, what’s on everyone’s mind is usually, “how quick can I get out of here?” So many times the day crew will come in and have to re-stock everything, along with their prep, and that starts the shift with a less-than- perfect attitude. Once the night crew understands that before they leave the entire store needs to be stocked and ready to open the next day, the faster they’ll get it done. They will learn to stock as they go during their shift, which saves labor dollars. Now, the day crew can focus solely on prep and get off to a very quick and happy start. This can even allow you to bring some morning crew in a little later, saving even more labor dollars.
Hang the NCO –– neat, clean and orderly –– signs up around the restaurant. Make it a priority and make it happen. Then you, as a leader, will be able to focus on other important areas of your operation. u
Jeffrey Freehof owns The Garlic Clove in Evans, Georgia. He is a frequent speaker at the Pizza Expo family of tradeshows.

PHOTOS BY JOSH KEOWN
We all make mistakes (ever forgot a birthday or anniversary?). Usually we can make amends in some fashion (roses? dinner out?) and life goes on. In the business we are in, mistakes can cause a deeper problem –– like a customer not coming back –– so we strive to get it right the first time and every time.
Here are some common mistakes that I have experienced in my many years of pizza making and instruction. The point, of course, is to examine how to fix those mistakes once and for all.
Mistake: the soggy crust syndrome.
Solution: It probably has to do with too much water in the tomatoes (canned or fresh) or using more tomato than is called for. Don’t treat a pizza shell like a pond. Know your tomatoes. Topping overload can result in a soggy crust. Vegetables with high water content (bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach), if used too aggressively, can result in a soggy crust, too. Oftentimes, less is better.
Mistake: pools of fat on top of the pizza.
Solution: use a sausage or pepperoni with less fat. Or use precooked sausage crumbles. And don’t overload.
Mistake: Underbaked pizza.
Solution: Oven is not hot enough, or pizzas are placed in the wrong part of the oven. Example: the hot zone for a deck oven is toward the back. For conveyor ovens, check the finger location (impinger fingers). In a wood-fired oven, you are probably not rotating the pizzas closer to the fire. In true Neapolitan fashion, the pizzaiola will finish off a pizza in wood-fired ovens this way: Slide the pizza peel under the fully baked pie, then raise the peel and the pie so that the pizza is almost touching the dome of the oven (because that’s where the oven is the hottest). Finito! Perfetto! Know your oven.
Mistake: overbaked pizza (finished product is too dry and crunchy, no flavor).
Solution: I will say it again –– know your oven. Know where to place (or not) pizzas, especially when using a deck or wood-fired oven. Rotation of pizzas is the key to putting out the perfect pie. Too close to the heat is okay, especially with a wood-fired oven where you sometimes want to present a blistered crust that exhibits some charring.
Mistake: crust is dry, no texture, cardboard syndrome.
Solution: Try using a higher ratio of water to flour. For example, generally speaking, the old benchmark was 20 pounds of flour to 10 pounds of water (50 percent). Try this using 10 pounds of flour and 6 pounds of water (60 percent). The dough will be a bit wetter and a little harder to handle, but it’s worth it. Also, in this situation, use a flour that has a protein level of 13 to 14 percent.
Mistake: miserable veggie pizza (soggy, no flavor).
Solution: Sauté the vegetables –– bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, etc. in olive oil and garlic (that’s the prep). Or, in the case of mushrooms, don’t slice fresh mushrooms too thinly. Also, bury some of the mushrooms under the cheese. Mushrooms are almost 100-percent water, so excessive heat will dry them out and turn each slice into a piece of flavorless cardboard.
Mistake: finished pizza is puffy and bland.
Solution: A puffy and bland pizza shell is the result of rising time and temperature. To avoid a puffy crust, do not let the dough rise at room temperature. After mixing and balling the dough, get it into the cooler as soon as possible. Now let it undergo cold fermentation for at least 24 hours. Give the pizza dough a bench proof time (out of the cooler) of one hour before rolling or stretching. And, this method makes it easier to shape and stretch the dough (it will not shrink or get “bucky”).
Mistake: no flavor fresh basil.
Solution: Don’t chop the basil; rather, tear or snip it using scissors. Also, add the fresh basil after the pizza comes out of the oven. Alternatively, put the fresh basil leaves under the cheese. Keep the fragrance. Add some more basil after the pizza comes out of the oven for the perfect presentation.
Mistake: pizza looks sloppy (tomatoes and cheese running together, because too much of both –– tomatoes and cheese –– were used).
Solution: This happens more often than not when using fresh mozzarella. Don’t use more cheese than is necessary to put out a great tasting pie.
Mistake: dried oregano and dried basil with no flavor or fragrance.
Solution: No, I don’t have a problem with dried oregano and basil. What bothers me is when over-the-hill dried herbs are used. Or a poor brand of either is used. In either case there is no flavor. You might as well be throwing dried grass on the pizza. Use top-drawer Greek oregano, and never use any dried herb that has been sitting around the kitchen or pantry for months on end. u 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.
Is your bottom line being adversely affected by food costs? If so, Big Dave Ostrander has this to say:
“After I realized that I was leaving tens of thousands of profit dollars unaccounted for, I studied and achieved the perfect food cost month in and month out. The biggest breakthroughs I discovered were:
- Placing in-line portion control scales on my make line
- Pre-weighing cheese cups
- Placing portion size cheat sheets at eye level with my cooks
- Having high accountability for achieving food cost on my managers’ shoulders. This meant rewards and penalties.”
There you have it. Get started today.
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Did you know that a 14-inch pizza actually has nearly twice as much area to cover than a 10-inch pizza? That’s right, believe it or not. In order to figure the area of your pizza (in square inches), turn back to your school days and recall that the area of a circle is ascertained by taking pie — or 3.14 — and multiplying that times the radius squared.
Okay, okay, too complicated. So, trust us. We’ve done the math for you. A 10-inch pizza is comprised of 78 square inches, while a 14-inch pizza has 154 square inches.
What that means is that a 14-inch pizza will contain nearly twice the amount of sauce, cheese and toppings of a 10-inch pizza. When setting your menu pricing, this is a critical point.
Now, let’s say you offer 14-inch “small” pizzas and 16-inch “large” pizzas. A 16-inch pie is 201 square inches — approximately 31 percent larger, in terms of area, than a 14-inch pie. Just like in the example above, what this means is that your 16-inch pizza, though only two more inches in diameter, will require 31 percent more sauce, cheese and toppings in order to look and taste like your 14-inch pizza.
Does that mean your 16-inch pie should carry a price point that’s 31 percent higher than your 14-inch pie? Perhaps. If a 14-inch cheese pizza is priced at $8.99, for example, then a 16-inch cheese pizza would be marked up to $11.75.
Unfortunately, customers in many markets aren’t willing to pay $11.75 for a cheese pizza when they can get one loaded with toppings from a major chain for under $10.
Ultimately, the best method for determining the final price of your 16-inch pizza would be to figure your food costs, then find an acceptable markup from there. You likely won’t make as much per pie as you do on your 14-inch pizzas, but your customers won’t feel overcharged and alienated, either.
Finally, if you are resigning yourself to making more profit on a small pizza than a large, there’s no need to fret. By pushing your 14-inch pies in your marketing and bundling small pizzas with breadsticks or wings and soda, you can increase sales of these pizzas.
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Debt Management
Is there such a thing as good debt?

BY Pamela Mills-Senn PHOTOS BY JOSH KEOWN
“Debt isn’t inherently bad or good,” explains Chris Alberta, senior managing director of Conway MacKenzie, Inc., a Detroit-based consulting firm providing turnaround/crisis management services. “It depends on the intent of its use. Debt used to mask deficiencies in the operations is bad, but debt taken on as growth capital to expand a profitable concept can be a very good thing.”
Fred Wolfe, who drives the operations and executive leadership team for Orange County, California-based Synergy Restaurant Consultants, says good debt doesn’t exceed low income expectations. Debt turns dangerous when paying it back depends on maximum cash flow and everything going right.
“This raises the risk level substantially and
increases the likelihood of a default,” he
explains. “Bad debt also carries a high interest rate because of risk or lack of a financial history. Leveraged debt always carries an inherent risk and can be exemplified by the high number of restaurant company bankruptcies.”
When undertaken sensibly to move the business forward in a planned way, and there’s a sustainable way to pay it back, taking on debt can work in your favor, says restaurant consultant John T. Self, a professor at the Collins College of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona. Bad debt is unplanned and unsustainable. Depending on the circumstances it can be a mere annoyance or it can become catastrophic, he adds.
Nick Sarillo, owner of two Nick’s Pizza & Pub restaurants located in Illinois (one in Crystal Lake and one in Elgin), knows firsthand how quickly debt can turn surly. Sales at both sites were strong, so good that he began the process of opening a third location. However, around 2007/2008, business started to roller coaster, especially at the Elgin location (where the dips hit the double-digits). At times, Sarillo says he couldn’t cover the mortgage or overhead.
To keep the business going he tapped into a line of credit. His predicament worsened. The third restaurant didn’t pan out, thanks to a change of lenders, and he lost over $300,000. The opening of a Super Wal-Mart across the street from the Elgin site was delayed, depriving Sarillo of an anticipated boost in traffic. He began offering steep discounts on Monday and Tuesday nights, running this program for almost two years. This initially helped profitability, but when it began eroding the weekend business he ended it.
By 2011, thanks to severe winter storms and disruptive road construction at both locations, things were dire. Barely hanging on, this September Sarillo emailed a letter to the frequent diners in his database explaining his situation, asking for their support. It posted on Facebook within minutes. His phone began ringing and customers poured in. Now, says Sarillo, they’re about 75 percent out of the woods.
But Sarillo isn’t banking on this alone to keep him going; he started taking a different approach to running his business. He began monitoring operating costs. He reduced overhead by streamlining his management staff, which he had kept too high in anticipation of opening more locations. And he hired a consultant, who pointed out a major error — Sarillo hadn’t been looking at the balance sheet as a whole, looking instead at each restaurant’s individual performance. Consequently, he hadn’t realized how negatively the Elgin site was impacting the entire business.
By not analyzing the contribution each store was making to the corporate overhead, Sarillo made a common error. Alberta says restaurant owners/operators often fail to look at every aspect of each site’s performance — what he calls doing a “four-wall” analysis. With this data it’s possible to compare one location to another and identify problems before more debt is incurred and profitability is further eroded.
“If on a store-level basis, the operations are cash-flow negative, new debt would be unlikely to improve the overall cash flow and could compound the cash-flow problem,” Alberta says. And “if they’re not generating a positive cash flow on a four-wall basis, adding new stores could actually lead to decreased profitability.”
The biggest mistake Self sees owners make is not having a budget income statement. “They don’t do inventory, they don’t do cost of sales or food costs, they don’t do P&Ls. They just sense they’re losing money but they don’t know how much or where.”
They also fail to plan — and save — for debt, maintaining sufficient cash reserves to handle equipment breakdowns or replacements, Self says. Instead of being proactive, they react — never a good strategy.
“Another error is failing to do a cost/benefit analysis when they need to purchase something, asking why they’re taking on the debt and how they’re
going to pay for it,” he says.
Perhaps the biggest downfall is being overly optimistic in their sales forecasts and/or cost management, says Wolfe. Sarillo says he did this, but no longer.
“Now I’ve started operating as the two-restaurant business we are rather than as the five-restaurant business I wanted to be,” he says. “I got real.”
Pamela Mills-Senn is a freelancer specializing in writing on topics of interest to all manner of businesses. She is based in Long Beach, California.
To get the best possible performance out of your fryer, follow these guidelines:
• Use clean oil at all times.
• Bring oil to the proper temperature (350 F). If the temperature is too low the food will absorb too much oil. If it’s too high, you’ll burn your product too easily.
• Food should be frozen, very cold or very dry before it’s lowered into the fryer.
• Shake off excess crumbs, batter or breading before dropping items into the fryer.
• Don’t fry too much at one time. Doing so lowers the temperature, thereby causing food to absorb too much oil.
• After draining food over the oil tank, turn it out onto cloth or paper to drain further.
• Serve immediately as fried items do not hold up well over time.
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Photos by Rick Daugherty
But in a restaurant, furniture mishaps are harder to camouflage. A rug might cause customers and staff to trip. Tablecloths get messy fast with many diners. And sometimes it is just impossible to flip a booth’s cushion over to hide a mistake. And since customers notice everything, from stains on fabric to tears on upholstery, operators have to be on immediate damage control.
“First, I will say that there are tons of different kinds of upholstery and vinyls on the market,” says Brian Christensen, a graphic and web design coordinator at Waymar Companies in Burnsville, Minnesota. “With that comes a multitude of different coatings to repel spills. Some fabrics actually have silver ions embedded in the threads to kill germs and ‘self-clean.’ These different characteristics lead to higher prices.”
Annabelle Petriella, owner of www.StylishFurnitureAndDecor.com and www.StylishDesignServices.com, recommends treating fabric upholstery with a stain guard, if possible, before using the fabric and to adhere pads to the bottom of chair legs to protect floors and legs. “Choose fabrics that are easy to clean and won’t show dirt as easily,” she says. “Dark colors, patterned and non-plain fabrics, vinyl, acrylic and microfiber/ultrasuede are good choices. Avoid cotton, linen and silk.”
When it comes to proper clean-up, operators need to act fast and follow manufacturer’s instructions, which are many times overlooked or lost.
“Prompt cleaning is always recommended,” Christensen says. “Ordinary dirt and stains can be removed with mild soap and water. Rinse with clean water and dry with a lint-free cloth. The use of certain cleaning agents can be harmful to the surface appearance and lifespan of a product. Some fabrics that do not have a coating can actually transfer dyes from clothes (such as denim jeans) causing permanent damage. For this reason, it is typical to see a darker fabric on seats.”
For mild messes on vinyl and upholstery, head to the kitchen for supplies. “For light soiling, use a solution of 10-percent household liquid dish soap with warm water applied with a soft damp cloth,” says Janet Gregoire, office manager at Millennium Seating in Marietta, Georgia. “If necessary, use a solution of 10-percent household liquid dish soap with warm water applied with a soft bristle brush. Wipe away the residue with a water-dampened cloth.”
Heavier messes will require a stronger solution. “For heavy soiling, dampen a soft white cloth with a one to one (1:1) solution of Formula 409/water,” says Donny Oglesby, furniture specialist at KaTom Restaurant Supply in Russellville, Tennessee. “For more difficult stains, dampen a soft white cloth with a solution of household bleach (10percent bleach/ 90 percent water). Rub gently and rinse with a water dampened cloth to remove bleach concentrate.” No matter what cleaner or solution is applied, make sure it is properly removed to avert further damage, like plasticizer migration, according to Christine Worley, fabric claims handler at Mayer Fabrics in Indianapolis, Indiana.
“This occurs when cleaners have been applied and left on the material and the plasticizers (the molecular hinge that allows materials to maintain their flexibility) are drawn to the surface,” she says. “When the plasticizers migrate to the surface, the material becomes brittle. A tell-tale sign of this is that the sides of the booth (where they have not been cleaned) are still soft and pliable to the touch whereas the ‘seat’ surface is hard and brittle indicating plasticizer migration has occurred. We have all sat on a booth at one time or another that was cracked with sharp edges, haven’t we?”
To prevent this, Worley said every cleaning should be followed by a rinse wipe with clear water to remove any chemical residue that could build up on the surface.
“For example, it would be like washing your dishes and not rinsing them or washing your hair and not rinsing out the shampoo. You have still taken the step to clean the item but the result will not be pleasant in any of those scenarios if rinsing does not take place,” Worley says.
To repair a tear or rip to upholstery, avoid duct tape. “I cannot recommend any do-it-yourself patching or fixing; I would have a professional do it right. The largest impression a customer has of a restaurant (aside from the food) is the atmosphere, furniture is the largest contributor to that,” Christensen says.
Oglesby agrees that do-it-yourself patching is not the answer. “There are a few repair kits on the market where you glue torn areas down with a patch over top. These are very obvious and do not last long as people slide across them, and it rips the vinyl more. You can remove the vinyl and attempt a patch underneath but you will still have the rip on the top and if you are not a trained repair man replacing the vinyl can be very hard. The best thing to do when you have a rip is contact your local furniture repair company and have them come out to attempt a repair or replace that section of vinyl.”
But even with the best care and attention, time takes its toll on booths and chairs, and operators must decide when to replace.
“Booths and chairs have different replacement needs,” Oglesby adds. “Booths need to be replaced when the springs or the wood under the cushions have broken. This is evident by springs coming through or when you sit, you feel like you are going through the bottom of the booth. For chairs, the upholstery can be replaced as needed. As long as the frame is not bent or welds are broken, it can stay in use. Wood chairs can separate over time. A little wood glue or gorilla glue, clamp and leave overnight, and the chair will be good as new.”.
DeAnn Owens is a freelance journalist living in Ohio. She specializes in features and human interest stories.
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Curb Appeal
Pick-up windows add appeal for on-the-go customers
BY Annemarie Mannion Photo By Rick Daugherty
That’s the belief of operators of pizzeria drive-thrus who are making it as convenient, comfortable and as quick as possible for customers to get their pizzas.
Operators who have embraced the idea of drive-thrus say opening one, and equipping it, is not as daunting as one might expect.
The drive-thru at Mr. Scrib’s Pizza in Muskegon, Michigan, proves that theory. It opened 28 years ago and operates with a simple system that includes an intercom and a metal box with lights.
The intercom enables workers, even if they are not standing at the window, to hear that a driver is there and wants to place an order. The metal box has numbers that light up and allows customers to go and park and then see when their orders are ready.
“We tell them their number and they go and wait until they see it light up,” says Manager Lisa Crabtree, “or sometimes (they) go and get gas or run to the store and come back for their pizza.”
Other operators have developed their own approaches for how to handle drive-thru sales. Home Run Inn, which operates in the Chicago area, only sells pizza by the slice through it’s drive-thru, which opened in Melrose Park, Illinois, about a year ago because a fast food business had left the space.
“The Arby’s that had been there already had the drive-thru, so we
decided we’d make a go of it,” says Dan Costello, president of the restaurant group.
Costello says customers can choose slices, priced at $4 a piece, from four different pies that are prepared and waiting in cabinet warmers.
“It’s not so different than staging and storing pizzas like you would for a buffet,” Costello says.
He says customers like the convenience of it. “We see a lot of moms who’ve done their grocery shopping and want to pick up a slice before they take their kids to soccer practice,” Costello says. “They don’t want to get their kids out of the car to do it.”
One of the largest considerations when adding a drive-thru boils down to space requirements. Though Home Run Inn wants to have drive-thrus at new locations, Costello says it is not that easy to find a site that can accommodate one.
“You have to have a large enough site for a drive-thru lane and an escape lane,” Costello says. “It’s a lot of land that you need to allocate to it.”
Pizza Patron, which has locations in the Southwest, West and Southeast, opened its first drive-thru in 2006 and has given the green light to adding more.
“It’s become the primary objective in our real estate search to look for places where we can put in a drive-thru lane,” says Andy Gamm, brand director for Pizza Patron.
While finding an appropriately sized site can be an issue, Gamm says building a drive-thru is not cost-prohibitive, even for smaller operators.
“It can be relatively inexpensive —maybe $5,000 or $10,000 — if all you have to do is put a hole in wall (for the window),” Gamm says.
Equipment will add to the cost and can include cabinet warmers, special ovens, menu boards, and communications systems.
At Pizza Patron, the company worked with a company to develop a quick bake oven that enabled the company to reduce its baking speed from 5½ to 3½ minutes.
Pizza Patron also prepares some extra-large pepperoni pizzas that are held in warming cabinets for customers who want a pizza immediately. If those pizzas are not sold in 20 minutes “they either get sampled or thrown away,” Gamm says.
While drive-thrus may seem the province of larger operations, Gamm says it can work for smaller venues and will pay off over time.
“If you’ve got the space that’s
conducive for it, then I think it would work for anyone,” he says. “The more convenient you can make it for people, the more they like it. They really like not having to get out of their cars. And the return on investment is pretty significant.”
That has been the case at Mr. Scrib’s, where half of the restaurant’s sales come from the drive-thru. Some days it’s where most of the small pizzeria’s sales are rung up.
It also helps the business, which is located on a busy street, compete with the fast food joints that line the strip. Thanks to its drive-thru window, Mr. Scrib’s can cater to the needs of many of its customers who work at nearby businesses and who want their pizzas quick. It also keeps the interior of the restaurant less crowded.
“Our restaurant isn’t that big, so it helps us with crowding,” says Crabtree. “It’s more convenient for our customers, particularly in bad weather.”
Annemarie Mannion is a freelance writer living in the Chicago area. She specializes in business and health stories.

To ease the burden of rising energy costs, start by taking a look at your HVAC system. The unit not only maintains the current climate control in your restaurant, but it also controls exhaust from the kitchen. One way to maintain climate in the back and front of the house is to install two or more HVAC units. While costly in the beginning, you’re likely to see a more even internal temperature throughout.
Tips for saving energy (sourced from the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance) include:
• Use the thermostat factory settings. Leave the thermostat settings at 76 F for cooling and 68 F for heating. Each degree of heating or cooling can cost an additional four to five percent in energy costs.
• Use the thermostat’s night setback feature. Set the thermostat to bring your restaurant to temperature no earlier than needed.
• Opt for florescent lighting and save as much as 1/4 on your energy output. Plus, the bulbs expel less heat than traditional light bulbs, helping to keep your restaurant cooler.
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Dollars & Sense
Why it’s important to understand your EBITDA

BY Robert Lillegard
But that’s a mistake, especially when it comes to financial planning. Spending a little time tracking your cash flow now can mean the difference between success and failure later. And while accounting can get extremely complicated, a simple formula called EBITDA can tell you much of what you need to know.
First things first. EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It’s basically your gross revenue minus your food costs, payroll and other expenses, with the four expenses mentioned above added back in. EBITDA is a basic measure of cash flow that would be available to a debt service. According to Brian Murphy, vice president of business banking at the Duluth, Minnesota-based North Shore Bank of Commerce, it’s crucial if you’re interested in getting a loan.
“It’s critical,” Murphy says. “It’s one of the most important calculations that we do as bankers. What we’re trying to do is determine capacity to pay.”
So how can a restaurateur learn their EBITDA? Murphy says the answer is probably already in front of most of them.
“It’s right in the financial statements,” Murphy says. “That’s the first good piece of advice — keep good financial statements.”
Even if you don’t read your financial statements, it’s still good practice to keep them for the bank. Pete Radosevich, who owns Eskomo Pizza Pies in Esko, Minnesota, says that he couldn’t tell you his EBITDA offhand, but he’s able to get it when it counts. He tracks sales and expenses in QuickBooks, which automatically processes the numbers.
“When you write everything down in QuickBooks, once a month you can print out a balance sheet,” Radosevich says. “I don’t even look at the balance sheet. I just send it to the bank once every quarter or so.”
A positive EBITDA is good, and the higher the better. With a higher EBITDA, you’re able to borrow more money at lower interest rates because you’re less of a risk. Conversely, a negative EBITDA means you’re losing money month to month. While you may be able to supplement with savings or income from another business to stay afloat, your business model is unsustainable over the long term. Your minimum EBITDA depends on how much money you need to borrow.
“Say an operator has round payments of $1,000 of principal and interest — EBITDA needs to be greater than $12,000,” Murphy says. “If the EBITDA is less than $12,000, then there isn’t adequate cash to make those payments.”
While these numbers can help you plan for financing, Radosevich says they’re not important for most day-
to-day operations. He sets money aside in a separate account for expenses like maintenance, and he keeps track of more basic metrics in the short term.
“I know every month on the 15th I have a payment of about $8,000 and I need to plan,” Radosevich says. “If you know your sales last week were $20,000, you know you’re going to get a bill from Roma for $5,000. I don’t need to see every day that my building has depreciated another $42.”
When it comes to financial planning, the best advice is to play to your strengths. Radosevich says that there are two ways to run a pizza business. Some operators focus on staying profitable and in the black, and simply make sure their pizza is good enough to keep customers happy. Others, like Radosevich, focus on quality pizza, and do just enough math to stay afloat. This approach can work, as long as you find someone to help with the more complex aspects of financing.
“Most of the time, people who go into small business need to have a rudimentary (financial) understanding,”
Radosevich says. “But the concepts you’re talking about are usually far beyond people who all they want to do is make pizzas. They should find an accountant who can explain these things.”
Robert Lillegard is based in Minnesota.
Knowing Your EBITDA
Finding your EBITDA is actually a fairly simple process if you keep good records. For each quarter, start by finding your operating income (or net revenue before taxes). If interest payments have been subtracted, add those back in. Also, add in depreciation and amortization expenses. Do this for each quarter and add the figures together to find your EBITDA for the year. When you do, exclude one-time expenses and any income/extra expense from operations that you no longer do (for example, if you used to cater but now you don’t). That will give you a realistic idea of your current EBITDA.
So what can you do to change your number? Well, you COULD hit your oven with a sledgehammer to speed depreciation. But realistically, the only way to get a better EBITDA is to add income and cut expenses.
“It’s not always easy to do, but it’s that simple,” says Brian Murphy of North Shore Bank of Commerce. “It’s a good thing to educate your operators about.”
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Examining your P&L
Report gives insight into health of business

BY NORA CALEY PHOTOS BY RICK DAUGHERTY
Pam Proto, founder of the six-location company, says she and the managers use the P&L, which summarizes sales and expenses, to see how the Colorado and Idaho restaurants are performing compared to the same period the previous year. “We take first quarter 2011 and we compare it to first quarter 2010, and we say, ‘We did less in sales, but why did we spend more on cheese?’ ” she says. “It’s very transparent. We all talk about it. Everyone has certain things they have to accomplish, and they are rewarded when they accomplish these things.”
The P&L is a financial statement your bookkeeper or accountant sends you, along with other reports such as daily sales figures or weekly snapshots. Some accounting experts refer to the P&L as the income statement, and many recommend examining it monthly. The important thing, they agree, is that as a restaurant owner you examine the P&L, understand what it says about the health of your business, and then do something with the information.
“It really tells a story of your business,” says Alex Coppersmith, chief financial officer of the San Francisco-based Bacchus Management Group, parent company for four Pizza Antica restaurants and several other restaurants. “It gives you a glimpse of not just what’s happening today, but what’s happening over a week, a month, a year.”
That glimpse tells you whether your business really is making any money. “So many people think, ‘If I have money in the bank, I am making money’,” says Barbara Ann Barschak, CPA and restaurant and hospitality partner at the accounting firm Katz Cassidy in Los Angeles. “The P&L will help them manage their business. It will tell them if they are pricing their menu properly, if their portions are right, if they are overstaffed.”
The P&L shows sales, and how much those sales cost your business. Sales encompass food and beverage, merchandise such as t-shirts and gift cards. Costs include food, labor and operating expenses. Each has its own subcategories. For example, Barschak says, labor
includes not only wages, but workers’ compensation insurance, uniforms, payroll processing, payroll taxes and, for some, health insurance. Operating expenses include everything from marketing and utilities to oven repair.
Make sure the P&L is timely. Barschak suggests getting the P&L around the tenth of the month, showing revenues and expenses for the previous month. Compare the figures to how your business did in past months. Also use other restaurants as a benchmark. You can get these industry standards from the National Restaurant Association, friends and peers in other restaurants, or an accountant who specializes in foodservice.
Most restaurants have food costs of about 30 percent of revenues, and for pizzerias that figure is lower. Labor should be no more than
33 percent, and rent should be seven to 10 percent, Barschak estimates. Credit card processing could take up two-and-a-half percent. Marketing might be two percent.
The more information you have on the P&L, the better. “It is very important that business owners are aware of how much money they are actually making, and not just hyper focused on sales figures,” says Kevin Suto, CEO of Zachary’s Chicago Pizza Inc., with three locations in California. “If your sales are consistent, yet your profit is down, the P&L will show you where you have incurred higher expenses.”
Proto says when food costs went up, she renegotiated with vendors. Managers came up with ways to save electricity and to schedule less staff during certain shifts. “The economy helped us be better at what we do. It really made us look at our costs,” she says.
Coppersmith agrees that collaboration is important. “Let the chef know the food costs were 23 percent and the industry norm is 20, and last year you had 19 to 20,” he says. “As an owner you don’t need to worry about it by yourself. Go to the dining room manager and say, ‘We are having issues with labor costs, do we have more waiters than last year?’”
Also speak with your accountant. Theodore D. Derma, CPA, audit manager for the accounting firm R. J. Augustine and Associates in Schaumburg, Illinois, says sometimes restaurant owners panic because one month went badly. An accountant can offer some perspective. “A client will say, ‘I am losing money this month. What’s going on?’ and we say, ‘You just spent 20 grand on a liquor license, it was similar to last year,’” he says. Sometimes he suggests small changes, such as using a scale to weigh cheese before it goes on the pizza.
Don’t look at the P&L as a list of things to cut. The P&L might also suggest you should raise prices,
develop new marketing tactics, or revamp your menu, says Suto. “These decisions are difficult ones,” he says. Or you might need to just stay put. “If sales and profits are strong or up, the P&L is telling you to keep doing what you are doing.”
What’s important is the bottom line, literally the last figure on the chart, the net profit. “If you are doing three percent after taxes,” says Derma, “you are doing a good job.”u
Nora Caley is a freelance writer based in Colorado and is a frequent contributor to Pizza Today.
DIY?
Should you create your own profit and loss statement or hire a bookkeeper or accountant? Daniel V. Augustine, CPA, director of accounting for R. J. Augustine and Associates in Schaumburg, Illinois, says there is reasonably priced software available that enables business owners to draw up their own charts, including P&L, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
“The software makes financial information available to owners almost on a daily basis,” he says.
However, he says, the pizzeria owner’s main task is to sell pizzas. “You don’t want to micro-manage the profit and loss detail on a daily basis.” A full or part-time bookkeeper can generate these reports, or you can hire an accounting firm that sends you the reports, and discusses them with you, on a regular basis.
If you do want to create the P&L yourself, you’ll have to pull the sales information from your point of sale system and the expenses information from your invoices, credit card statements, and bank statements. Software such as QuickBooks can help.
For Brixx, a southeastern-U.S.-based chain of brick-oven restaurants, having a performance kitchen was just a natural extension of the restaurant's branding strategy. "Making the pizza in the brick oven is all part of the show," says Eric Horsley, Brixx managing partner and lead design strategist. "Guests are fascinated by the inner workings, and it's just fun for them to watch and get to see how their meal comes together."
For Casa Nonna, a restaurant with locations in New York and Los Angeles, the open kitchen and pizza bar are also a draw for customers. "Our display kitchen energizes the dining room and adds a sense of show to the overall experience," says Keith Treyball, president of ESquared Hospitality, which owns Casa Nonna.
Because of the activity and interest they add, seats near performance kitchens are hot properties. "The pizza bar area has some of the best seats in the house," Treyball says. "These seats offer a mesmerizing view: flames of the pizza oven, an unobstructed view of ladling tomato sauce or careful application of mozzarella … it's a promise of a show all night long."
Kids and families especially love to be near the kitchen action at Brixx, Horsley says. Sometimes at his restaurants, diners at one of the highly coveted tables right next to the kitchen will score an impromptu appetizer from the chef, just as a treat for sitting there. Why? Other than being a customer-loyalty-inspiring gesture, "we want dining at Brixx to be more of an interactive experience," he explains.
Because performance kitchens are more "interactive," there are different expectations of employees. "The interaction with guests sitting at the pizza bar can require the same social skills you find in a bartender," Treyball says. "It demands a certain level of performance — you are on stage."
And while you don't necessarily hire different people than you would for a closed kitchen, it is important to make sure prospective employees clearly understand the performance expectations. "When we're hiring kitchen staff, we always tell them, 'hey, you guys are part of the show, you're on display,'" Horsley says.
While you hire the same types of employees you would in any setting — those with good experience, good work ethic and good attitudes — you still have to emphasize certain aspects of training that are more critical in performance kitchens.
Proper uniform guidelines, sanitation and cleanliness standards and careful work habits are important in every restaurant, whether you can see what's happening in the kitchen or not. But since people unfamiliar with the inner-workings of a restaurant will see your kitchen on display, Horsley says employees need to keep in mind how everything they do will look to diners. "We remind employees that how you talk, what you say, how you act…it's all being watched, all the time," he says.
Finally, it's important to emphasize proper communication, not just with guests, but also with co-workers. "You really want to stress the importance of speaking clearly and communicating in a positive fashion," Horsley says. Because while inside jokes, loud voices and even expressions of frustration are common in closed kitchens, that's not the side of your restaurant you want guests to remember when they leave.
One of the most critical roles in the performance kitchen show is manager: running a performance kitchen comes with challenges beyond the norm. "You really need someone who is comfortable managing and who understands that a performance kitchen might need a little more hands-on style," Horsley says.
Understanding both what your employees need to get done and how everything is perceived by customers can be tricky, but a good manager will balance these needs and find solutions he or she can make work. "The last thing you want is to spend capital on a performance kitchen and then have it work against you just because your manager wasn't up to the job," he says.
But by and large, employees wholly embrace the starring roles they're playing in the performance kitchen experience. "They love that they get to know the guests, that they're out there interacting with the customers," Horsley says. "They take a lot of pride in that." Customers, as well, appreciate it, he says, and this interaction fosters a sense of loyalty and community that you don't get with traditional restaurant settings.
Performance
Kitchen Design
Customers love them, employees take pride in them and they give your restaurant tons of personality. But performance kitchens need to be designed well to offer the biggest bang for your buck. Some tips for staging a five-star performance kitchen:
-Lighting. Cooks needs ample light to prepare food, but what works in the kitchen isn't always good for dining ambiance. To solve this lighting dilemma, Brixx restaurants install work lights near the counter-level so these harsher lights stay focused only on the work surface.
-Noise. Kitchens are noisy, and performance kitchens can bring that not-so-pleasant noise out into the dining area. To counteract this, Casa Nonna uses special acoustic tiles to absorb loud noises common to commercial kitchens.
-Finishes. "Open kitchens require finer finishes," says Keith Treyball, president of ESquared Hospitality, which owns Casa Nonna. So instead of typical kitchen subway tiles, his Casa Nonna restaurants have savoy mosaic tiles wrapping the pizza bar and the stainless steel hoods are enclosed in an antique copper cover. While these types of changes aren't cheap, the owners say they're worth it because they increase the value of the performance kitchen to customers.
-Seating. Don't assume you'll lose seating to add a performance kitchen: Treyball says when Casa Nonna added theirs, they knocked down walls and actually ended up with a net positive seating capacity. Eric Horsley, managing partner and lead design strategist at Brixx, says it probably does lose some potential seating capacity with their design, but because of the importance of the performance kitchen to the overall restaurant experience, it's worth it. After all, even if there are fewer seats, you have added those highly coveted "best seats in the house."
Alyson McNutt English is an award-winning freelance writer specializing in home, health, family, and green topics. She is based in Huntsville, Alabama.

Why bother with portion control? Well, do you like money? I do, and I like to keep as much of it as I can.
Implementing a simple and concise portion-control program can literally save you tens of thousands of dollars! Tens of thousands of dollars that you already have and are let slipping through your fingers and right out the door in front of you. Right at this very moment pizzas are walking out your door with too much on them. Pizzas loaded down with your cash!
Chances are that right now in your restaurant you have about four different types of offenders who are over-portioning your pizzas. Do you recognize any of these characters?
The Artist: This particular pizza maker is sure that each and every pizza he or she makes is a beautiful work of art. Even though you’ve personally shown this employee exactly how much cheese, sausage and pepperoni to put on every pizza, there are no written guidelines or charts to follow, so he follows his artistic inspiration. Every pizza is different than the last and none has the correct amount of toppings on it. You probably have at least one of these “artists” in your shop.
Mr. Clueless: Food is cheap, right? Cheese is like, what 50 cents a pound or something, right? Or so thinks Mr. Clueless. This is one of your typical employees who thinks because you are a restaurant you get everything really cheap, everything is a “tax write off” and businesses make a ton of money anyway. This is the guy who scrapes all the cheese out of the catch pan and into the trash instead of back into the cheese bin. This is the guy who likes to “load up” the pizzas the way he would like to have them made. How many of these guys are working for you right now?
The Regular Joe: This is a normal guy, just like you and me—the high school kid starting his first job or the new hire who wants to really work hard and impress the boss. This is the guy who would love to make a pizza the right way, a perfect pizza made the way you want him to make it. But he can’t. The key employee that you had training him showed him one way; you showed him another; and then the manager showed him yet another way. His pizzas are not what you want going out your door either. The “Regular Joes” are the bulk of the portion offenders that you have working for you, and they’re trying hard to please.
You: Yes, the worst offender of them all. If you are free-throwing toppings on your pizzas, then I can guarantee that you are either over-portioning or under-portioning your pizzas 99 percent of the time. It’s impossible to free-throw toppings and get them 100 percent correct, 100 percent of the time. Worst of all you are setting a bad example for your staff. (I know you’re thinking, “I’ve been doing this for 149 years and I can put 10 ounces of cheese on a 16-inch pizza every … single … time.” Well, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but you can’t.)
So, is your staff to blame for you losing money on over portioned pizzas as well as subs, salads, desserts, draft beers, wines, etc? Absolutely not. Most of the time your staff is not over-portioning or under-portioning on purpose or with malicious intentions in mind. It is just a simple systems failure.
Right now I’m paying almost $3 per pound for whole-milk mozzarella and I make about 4,000 pizzas per month at each of my pizzerias. If I were to put 1 ounce too much on every pizza, the cost to my bottom line would be $760 per month or $9,120 per year, per pizzeria! Just in cheese!
How can they be sure to get it right every single time and stop wasting money? It’s very simple really: a portion-control program. Putting together a portion-control program for your operation can be as simple or as complex as you want, but the basics are always the same. Here are the steps:
Information: You need to give employees the information they need. This can be done with portion charts on the make line or recipe books at prep stations. Just make sure the exact portion requirements are printed and in plain site. Staff members need to know, for example, that 8 ounces of cheese is what is expected on that 14-inch pizza, and they need to be able to look that number up immediately if necessary.
Tools: Once your pizza makers know the correct portions they need hit those numbers every time. This can only be done with tools such as digital scales and measuring cups. Their use must be mandatory.
Monitoring: Once you’ve trained your staff on how much of what goes on each item and given them to tools to get it done, you need to make sure they are actually implementing the portion-control system. A close eye on a busy night will tell you who is following the rules and who is not, but you can take it one step further and document ingredients usage with your POS. Taking advantage of the inventory module and portion-control features of your POS will allow you to keep an eye on your inventory and measure how close your staff is coming to hitting your portion goals.
Portion control is simple and easy. Believe it or not, your employees will grow to like it once it becomes routine. It takes the guessing out of their jobs; it makes training easier; and perhaps most importantly of all, they may get a boss who is in a good mood more often.
Michael Shepherd, who operates three independent pizzerias in northwest Ohio, will give an hour-long seminar on portion control on Wednesday, March 20, at Pizza Expo. He’ll also speak on Thursday, March 21, on the topic of low-cost marketing that generates added business.
For more details on International Pizza Expo 2013, visit www.pizzaexpo.com.
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The convenience of ordering pizza online is in such high customer demand that any pizzeria without an online ordering system should question how serious it is about growing business and profits. Offering customers an online ordering system has many benefits, including:
• New customers who prefer online ordering
• Higher ticket averages and sales (our online tickets are worth 25 percent more, on average)
• Increased efficiency due to reduced need for employee order-taking
• Improved customer service because customers can take as much time as they want to place and review an order prior to submission
• Lower marketing investment due to low-cost online ad placement
• Increased ROI due to higher ticket averages, new customers and low-cost marketing
When I first implemented an online ordering system at our pizzeria, online orders grew to 2 percent of total sales just weeks after the launch—and before we sent out a single promotion. Because our online tickets are worth, on average, 25 percent more than our carryout and delivery tickets, online ordering has proven to me that it’s a powerful way to increase profits.
I’ve also learned the importance of choosing an online ordering system wisely in order to maximize profits without requiring a major time investment. The following seven tips will help you select the best online ordering system for your pizzeria.
1. Get A Third-Party Provider
While it's possible to host an online ordering system on your own website, there are definite drawbacks. Maintenance is up to you, and if the system goes down you will have to scramble to fix it—or wait for your web designer to do so at whatever hourly rate he or she charges. Third-party providers specialize in online ordering systems and are therefore less expensive and more responsive to your needs. Moreover, they are accountable for keeping your system running.
2. Excellent Branding
Your online ordering system should allow you to brand the look of the user interface, allowing you to prominently display your logo, address, phone number, website, company colors and other brand markers. The customer experience should be seamless; patrons should not feel they are being redirected to an unknown entity to complete their orders.
3. Ease Of Use
Your online ordering system should be extremely simple for customers to use. They should be able to log in, find what they want quickly and order it in a matter of minutes. It should also be easy for you to update whenever you have special offers, coupons and price changes. The easier your online ordering system is to use the more you can work it to your advantage, and the more customers will enjoy interacting with it. And, ultimately, the more profitable it will be.
4. Selling Tools
Your online ordering system should include selling tools that will help increase your ticket averages. Suggestive selling, interactive promotions and other sales tools should be presented in an intuitive fashion to the users. For example, any customer ordering bread sticks should be prompted automatically to opt for an extra sauce, and all customers should be asked if they'd like to add soda to their orders. Consider your online ordering system to be a marketing investment that carries an expected return.
5. Integration
The best online ordering systems integrate with your POS to make accounting fast and easy. Yours should also integrate with your kitchen printer, which needs to be outfitted with a buzzer so workers there know when an online order comes in. If properly structured, online ordering shouldn't add a lot of work and it can make your kitchen operations more efficient.
6. Customer Service
Before you make your online ordering solution decision, investigate a provider’s customer service. You want fast and knowledgeable support staff to assist you when you have questions and quickly correct any system malfunctions. You definitely don't want to lose an entire night's worth of online sales waiting for a tech to fix your system. Ask for references and follow up to see if other pizzeria owners would recommend the provider you're considering.
7. Pricing
Finally, pricing should play a role in your decision. As noted, your online ordering system is an investment that is expected to bring a return. The cheapest isn't necessarily the worst, and the most expensive isn't necessarily the best. Seek an online ordering system that satisfies the other six requirements listed here, then factor price into your decision-making process. The goal is to implement an online ordering system that will help you earn more profits in return for a fair investment.
Making the most of online orders is one of three topics Shawn Randazzo will be covering at Pizza Expo 2013. He will also present seminars on maximizing delivery business and building a winning company culture. He is co-owner of Detroit Style Pizza Co. in St. Clair Shores, Mich., and was the 2012 Pizza Maker of the Year winner at Expo’s International Pizza Challenge.
For more details on International Pizza Expo 2013, visit www.pizzaexpo.com.
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If you've ever wished you could sit down with a super-successful operator and quiz him about the keys to pizza profits, you'll want to sit in on Pizza Expo 2013's Wednesday morning keynote one-on-one session with $6-Million-Man Bill Jacobs and Pizza Today editor Jeremy White.
Jeremy will be your surrogate at this kick-off to the second day of Expo, March 20. He'll guide the discussion with Jacobs, whose Piece Brewery & Pizzeria in Chicago grosses more than $6 million in sales per year from one unit. You'll learn through this candid insider's exchange why Jacobs sold his successful bagel company and turned to pizza in 2001; how he found the perfect location in a mature pizza market and built revenues; why he's resisted opening a second unit; and much more.
Piece was named Pizza Today's Independent Pizzeria of the Year in 2011 and Jacobs, a Connecticut native who brought New Haven-style pies to the Windy City, has an engaging story to tell. There will be time for questions from the crowd as well during this wide-ranging and insightful keynote session.
Visit PizzaExpo.com to learn more about next year's show. .
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At Pizza Expo® you’ll find 5½ football fields of pizza-related products, services and equipment, as well as leading industry experts, consultants and analysts who are all willing to share new ideas and insights on everything you need to adapt, react and prosper in today’s economy. At next year’s show, we’ve added several new speakers to the lineup of experts keeping you abreast of trends and best practices in pizzeria management.
Here are just a few of the new speakers and topics we have planned for our 29th annual show, March 19–21, 2013:
“Famous Joe” Carlucci, owner of Joe’s Pizzeria, will tell you how to expand your catering business and boost your bottom line.
Roberta Matuson, president of Human Resource Solutions, is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Suddenly in Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around, a Washington Post Top Five Business Book for Leaders. Roberta will show you how to “Make Dollars and Sense Out of Gen Y”, as well as present a second session on strategies for business growth.
Jeff Mease, founder & CEO of One World Enterprises, which includes Pizza X, Lennie’s, The Bloomington Brewing Co. and One World Catering & Events, will take you through the process of deciding whether or not to open a second unit.
Mike Bausch, owner of Andolini’s Pizzeria and 2011 Tulsa Restaurateur of the Year, will tell you how to manage, motivate and empower Gen Y to take your pizzeria to the next level.
T. J. Schier, president and founder of Incentivize Solutions and S.M.A.R.T. Restaurant Group, is one of the foremost authorities on restaurant training tactics. He’ll teach you the “Training Tactics of Pizza Pros” that really work and give a second seminar on 10 tactics to make your front line improve your bottom line.
Beckee Moreland, director of gluten-free industry initiatives for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, will disclose how gluten-free products are impacting foodservice and creating new menu opportunities. She’ll discuss the potential of gluten-free pizza in the working pizzeria kitchen.
The bottom line is there’s always something new at Pizza Expo that can improve your pizzeria… a new marketing idea, technological innovation or menu item. As always, our commitment to you, our partners, is to continue to grow and improve every facet of Pizza Expo… from the trade show floor to our networking events and contests. In fact, if you don’t come away from International Pizza Expo 2013 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. What other show gives you a money-back guarantee? I’ll tell you, none!
Remember International Pizza Expo® is a tax-deductible working vacation.
For more information on our contests or to register, please call (800) 489-8324 or visit our Website at www.PizzaExpo.com.
It’s all pizza and it’s all for YOU!
Best regards,
Bill Oakley
Executive Vice President
Bill OAKLEY
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If you’re a student of the pizza industry, chances are you’ve probably heard of a little show called International Pizza Expo. If you were one of the nearly 7,000 people who attended, you experienced first-hand the knowledge, expertise and excitement the annual show brought to the Las Vegas Convention Center last March.
“This year we had attendees from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and 23 other countries,” says Bill Oakley, executive vice president of Macfadden Protech, parent company of International Pizza Expo. “We even had a group from the largest pizza company in Mongolia, Mr. Pizza, make the long trip to Las Vegas to experience everything Pizza Expo has to offer. As a result of their experience, they’ve already implemented some of the ideas they picked up at Expo.” Show organizers say that 25 percent of show-goers were first-time attendees, and the show designated a day devoted entirely to those looking to start pizzerias. “Based on the comments to date, it was a huge success with 684 attendees taking part in this day-long educational program,” Oakley says. “This stimulating day of educational sessions and workshops was followed by a reception where attendees could network with fellow ‘newbies,’ industry experts and event sponsors.” Keynote speakers for the three-day show included Nick Sarillo, owner of Nick’s Pizza & Pub in Illinois, and Marla Topliff, president of Rosati’s Pizza. Bruce Allar, vice president of meetings and conferences for Macfadden Protech, says the 2012 line-up of Pizza Expo speakers placed more emphasis on successful pizzeria owners, making International Pizza Expo a true peer-to-peer experience. “The buzz of activity never abated among buyers and sellers on the show floor, or among pizza professionals networking and learning at other Expo gatherings,” says Allar. “Pizza Expo maintained a powerful momentum from the opening bell on Tuesday morning all the way to its conclusion on Thursday afternoon.”
Contestants vied for supremacy in the International Pizza Challenge, a series of culinary competitions designed to highlight the best of the best.
In the traditional division, regional prelimary winners included:
Reál Varela, Brooklyn Pizza & Pasta, Los Angeles, CA – Southwest Region
Tim Silva, Pizza My Heart, Los Gatos, CA – Northwest Region
Mark Briand, Bondi’s Pizza, London, Ont. – Mid-America Region
Giovanni Gagliardi, Pizzeria La Leggenda, San Felice, Italy – International Region
Marlene Smith, Pizza Palace Plus, Emporium, PA – Northeast Region
Keith Coffman, Lost River Pizza Co., Bowling Green, KY – Southeast Region
Frank Baird, Franco’s Pizza, Chardon, OH – Wild Card
Silva took home the title of World’s Best Traditional Pizza Winner.
In the Non-Traditional Division, preliminary winners were:
Joleen Pisner, AJ Barile’s Chicago Pizza, Yucaipa, CA – Southwest Region
John Cammack, Lefty’s Grill, Nevada City, CA – Northwest Region
Rick Mines, Nima’s Pizza & More, Gassville, AR – Southeast Region
John Gutekanst, Avalanche Pizza, Athens, OH – Mid-America Region
Andrew Scudera, Goodfella’s Brick Oven Pizza, Staten Island, NY – Northeast Region
Tsutomu Inayoshi, Home Delivered Pizza, Aichi, Japan – International Region
Scudera took home the title of World’s Best Non-Traditional Pizza.
In the new American-Pan division, finalists included:
Shawn Randazzo, Cloverleaf Pizza of St. Clair, St. Clair Shores, MI – 1st Place
Matthew Heard, Humble Pie, Edmond, OK – 2nd Place
Alex Abellan, Pizza Zone, Victoria, BC – 3rd Place
The Italian-Style Division Finals Winners were:
Umberto Fornito, Italy – 1st Place
Saverio Ciampi, Italy – 2nd Place
Alessandra DeBellis, Italy – 3rd Place
Finalists from each division competed in a blind-box challenge in the Pizza Maker of the Year Bake-Off. The competition’s mystery ingredient, Cattlemen’s Carolina Tangy Gold Barbeque Sauce, proved to be a challenge for the four finalists, who presented the judges with unique pizzas created from a table of provided ingredients. Shawn Randazzo of Cloverleaf Pizza of St. Clair in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, walked away with the title of World Champion Pizza Maker and a cash prize. The International Pizza Challenge also pitted four former winners –– all industry experts in their own right. Tony Gemignani of San Francisco-based Tony’s Pizza Napoletana was named the “Best of the Best” Master Pizza Maker of the Year.
The popular World Pizza Games trials culminated at an event on Wednesday, March 13. Winners were:
1st Division Freestyle Acrobatics: Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan
Masters Division Freestyle Acrobatics: Jay Schuurman, Pizza Rock, Sacramento, CA
Fastest Dough Stretch: Ingrosso Simone, Pizzeria Del Mille, Italy
Fastest Box Folding: Jimmy Xang, Pizza Guys, Rancho Cordova, CA
Largest Dough Stretch: Mario Sigmorile, Pizzeria Del Centro, Italy
Longest Spin: Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan
Throughout the three-day event, show attendees visited sponsoring booths and turned in gamepieces for the $20,000 MEGA BUCKS Giveaway. Frank Sastano of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Savastano’s Pizzeria took home the cash prize.
“This year’s Pizza Expo was the biggest and best show ever, breaking records for attendance with 6,901 pizza professionals, 940 booths and tons of excitement,” says Oakley. “Words just don’t do it justice; you really have to experience Pizza Expo to understand the interaction that takes place between our attendees and exhibitors. Everyone is truly anxious and motivated to get into discussions about new products, new technology, the latest industry trends and hot-button issues facing the industry today.”
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Exciting new seminars, workshops and competitions are in store for you at International Pizza Expo 2013, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, March 19-21 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
BREAKING NEWS: Pizza Expo will kick off with a special appearance by Chef Robert Irvine, host of Food Network’s prime-time series Restaurant Impossible.
A Craft Beer powerhouse panel discussion will make its debut at the 2013 Pizza Expo. Want to build a profitable craft beer program? Don’t miss this seminar.
The World Pizza Game return with the addition of a new “triathlon” category, comprised of box folding, dough tossing for a 16-inch screen and dough tossing for a 24-inch screen.
Find out more about the new additions to the 2013 Pizza Expo by clicking here.
To view a full schedule at a glance, click here.
International Pizza Expo® 2013, scheduled for March 19-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, is the oldest and largest annual gathering of pizza professionals—and will draw approximately 7,000 attendees and 450 exhibitors to a show floor covering an area equal to 5½ football fields. In its 29th year, Pizza Expo attracts top independent and chain operators to do business in the exhibit hall, attend education sessions and take part in pizza-making competitions.
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Pizza Expo® has something for everyone –– whether you’re looking for new ways to create revenue or just want to find out about the latest industry trends and products. The one thing that really separates Pizza Expo from all of the other general foodservice shows is the fact that there’s only one tradeshow where you’ll find over 80 industry specific seminars, workshops and demonstrations, 450 exhibiting companies and 1,000 booths all devoted to pizza … and that’s Pizza Expo. Throw in the best networking event in the industry –– the Beer and Bull Idea Exchange –– along with all of our other great contests and competitions, such as the World Pizza Games, International Pizza Challenge, and the Great $20,000 Mega Bucks Giveaway, and you can see why industry veterans call Pizza Expo the “Show of Shows.”
This year’s Expo shattered all of our previous attendance records with nearly 7,000 attendees and 4,000 exhibitor personnel. And the international presence was astounding, with attendees from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway and Spain –– just to name a few –– making it a truly worldly experience for everyone! Pizza is indeed a universal food, and there was plenty of it to be found on our show floor that measured over 5½ football fields.
If you didn’t get the chance to attend this year’s show, you still have the opportunity to listen and learn by ordering recordings of some or all of the 50-plus educational sessions that were offered. You can order a Multimedia DVD-ROM or download directly to your iPod by going to the InteliQuest Media website at www. intelliquestmedia.com. It’s also a good way to revisit a seminar to hear what you missed or listen to one you couldn’t attend –– and we know there were several you probably wish you could have made it to during the show.
In addition, I want to thank everyone who attended this year’s Expo. Without the continued support of pizzeria operators, suppliers, manufacturers and industry experts, we could not have achieved the measure of success that makes International Pizza Expo the must- attend event of the year.
It’s never too early to start making plans for next year’s show, slated for March 19 – 21, 2013, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, so save the date! We’re already making plans for next year’s Expo, and we think you’ll be pleased with the changes we’re making. If you have any ideas or suggestions on how we can improve the show, please give me a call at (800) 489-8324 or drop me a note at BOakley@PizzaToday.com.
Last but not least, please remember International Pizza Expo is a tax- deductible working vacation.
It’s all Pizza and it’s all for YOU!
Sincerely,
Bill Oakley
Executive Vice President
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If you were in Las Vegas, then you know that International Pizza Expo® was the THE place to be. You could feel the energy and pizza enthusiasm from the moment you walked into the Las Vegas Convention Center.
There was something for everyone at International Pizza Expo® 2012, whether you’re a veteran or just opening your first store. When the show closed on Thursday afternoon, nearly 7,000 buyers had visited more than 930 exhibits and attended more than 80 educational sessions. Rounding out the experience were numerous culinary competitions, contests, demonstrations and other special events.
The Traditional Division of the International Pizza Challenge™ had the following regional winners and wild cards that advanced to the finals:
Real Varela, Brooklyn Pizza & Pasta, Los Angeles, CA - Southwest Region
Tim Silva, Nima’s Pizza My Heart, Los Gatos, CA - Northwest Region
Mark Briand, Bondi’s Pizza, London, Ontario - Mid-America Region
Frank Baird, Franco’s Pizza Plus, Chardon, OH - Wild Card
Giovanni Gagliardi, Pizzeria La Leggenda, San Felice, Italy - International Region
Marlene Smith, Pizza Palace Plus, Emporium, PA - Northeast Region
Keith Coffman, Lost River Pizza Co., Bowling Green, KY, - Southeast Region
The Non-Traditional Division of the International Pizza Challenge™ had the following regional winners and wild cards that advanced to the finals:
Joleen Pisner, AJ Barile’s Chicago Pizza, Yucaipa, CA - Southwest Region
John Cammack, Lefty’s Grill, Nevada City, CA - Northwest Region
Rick Mines, Nima’s Pizza & More, Gassville, AR - Southeast Region
John Gutekanst, Avalanche Pizza, Athens, OH - Mid-America Region
Andrew Scudera, Goodfella’s Brick Oven Pizza, Staten Island, NY -
Northeast Region
Tsutomu Inayoshi, Japanese Home Delivered Pizza, Aichi, Japan -
International Region
Alexandre Brunet, Pizza Stromboli, Montreal, Quebec - Wild Card
Tim Silva, won the Traditional Division and $7,500, Andrew Scudera, won Non-Traditional Division and $7,500, Shawn Randazzo, Cloverleaf Pizza, St. Clair, MI, won the American-Pan Division, and Umberto Fornito won the Italian-Style Division and $4,000.
Following the International Pizza Challenge finals, the winners in each division squared off in the Pizza Maker of the Year competition. Contestants were presented with a table of ingredients from which to choose. There were no restrictions for toppings, but all contestants had to use the secret ingredient – Cattlemen’s® Carolina Tangy Gold™ Barbeque Sauce. Shawn Randazzo walked away with the title of World Champion Pizza Maker of the Year and an additional $5,000. We also introduced a new competition this year called the Best of the Best, where four past World Champions squared off to see who would be named the Master Pizza Maker of the Year. The inaugural winner was Tony Gemignani, of Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco, California, who walked away with $2,500.
The Winners in the World Pizza Games® were as follows:
Freestyle Acrobatics –– Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan,
Masters Division Freestyle Acrobatics –– Jay Schuurman, Pizza Rock, Sacramento, CA
Fastest Dough Stretch –– Ingrosso Simone, Pizzeria Del Mille, Italy
Fastest Box Folding –– Jimmy Xang, Pizza Guys, Rancho Cordova, CA
Largest Dough Stretch –– Mario Sigmorile, Pizzeria Del Centro, Italy
Longest Spin –– Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan
Start making plans now to attend International Pizza Expo® 2013, which will again be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center March 19 – 21.
Sincerely,
Bill Oakley
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If you’re a student of the pizza industry, chances are you’ve probably heard of a little show called International Pizza Expo. If you were one of the nearly 7,000 people who attended, you experienced first-hand the knowledge, expertise and excitement the annual show brought to the Las Vegas Convention Center last March.
“This year we had attendees from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and 23 other countries,” says Bill Oakley, executive vice president of Macfadden Protech, parent company of International Pizza Expo. “We even had a group from the largest pizza company in Mongolia, Mr. Pizza, make the long trip to Las Vegas to experience everything Pizza Expo has to offer. As a result of their experience, they’ve already implemented some of the ideas they picked up at Expo.” Show organizers say that 25 percent of show-goers were first-time attendees, and the show designated a day devoted entirely to those looking to start pizzerias. “Based on the comments to date, it was a huge success with 684 attendees taking part in this day-long educational program,” Oakley says. “This stimulating day of educational sessions and workshops was followed by a reception where attendees could network with fellow ‘newbies,’ industry experts and event sponsors.” Keynote speakers for the three-day show included Nick Sarillo, owner of Nick’s Pizza & Pub in Illinois, and Marla Topliff, president of Rosati’s Pizza. Bruce Allar, vice president of meetings and conferences for Macfadden Protech, says the 2012 line-up of Pizza Expo speakers placed more emphasis on successful pizzeria owners, making International Pizza Expo a true peer-to-peer experience. “The buzz of activity never abated among buyers and sellers on the show floor, or among pizza professionals networking and learning at other Expo gatherings,” says Allar. “Pizza Expo maintained a powerful momentum from the opening bell on Tuesday morning all the way to its conclusion on Thursday afternoon.”
Contestants vied for supremacy in the International Pizza Challenge, a series of culinary competitions designed to highlight the best of the best.
In the traditional division, regional prelimary winners included:
Reál Varela, Brooklyn Pizza & Pasta, Los Angeles, CA – Southwest Region
Tim Silva, Pizza My Heart, Los Gatos, CA – Northwest Region
Mark Briand, Bondi’s Pizza, London, Ont. – Mid-America Region
Giovanni Gagliardi, Pizzeria La Leggenda, San Felice, Italy – International Region
Marlene Smith, Pizza Palace Plus, Emporium, PA – Northeast Region
Keith Coffman, Lost River Pizza Co., Bowling Green, KY – Southeast Region
Frank Baird, Franco’s Pizza, Chardon, OH – Wild Card
Silva took home the title of World’s Best Traditional Pizza Winner.
In the Non-Traditional Division, preliminary winners were:
Joleen Pisner, AJ Barile’s Chicago Pizza, Yucaipa, CA – Southwest Region
John Cammack, Lefty’s Grill, Nevada City, CA – Northwest Region
Rick Mines, Nima’s Pizza & More, Gassville, AR – Southeast Region
John Gutekanst, Avalanche Pizza, Athens, OH – Mid-America Region
Andrew Scudera, Goodfella’s Brick Oven Pizza, Staten Island, NY – Northeast Region
Tsutomu Inayoshi, Home Delivered Pizza, Aichi, Japan – International Region
Scudera took home the title of World’s Best Non-Traditional Pizza.
In the new American-Pan division, finalists included:
Shawn Randazzo, Cloverleaf Pizza of St. Clair, St. Clair Shores, MI – 1st Place
Matthew Heard, Humble Pie, Edmond, OK – 2nd Place
Alex Abellan, Pizza Zone, Victoria, BC – 3rd Place
The Italian-Style Division Finals Winners were:
Umberto Fornito, Italy – 1st Place
Saverio Ciampi, Italy – 2nd Place
Alessandra DeBellis, Italy – 3rd Place
Finalists from each division competed in a blind-box challenge in the Pizza Maker of the Year Bake-Off. The competition’s mystery ingredient, Cattlemen’s Carolina Tangy Gold Barbeque Sauce, proved to be a challenge for the four finalists, who presented the judges with unique pizzas created from a table of provided ingredients. Shawn Randazzo of Cloverleaf Pizza of St. Clair in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, walked away with the title of World Champion Pizza Maker and a cash prize. The International Pizza Challenge also pitted four former winners –– all industry experts in their own right. Tony Gemignani of San Francisco-based Tony’s Pizza Napoletana was named the “Best of the Best” Master Pizza Maker of the Year.
The popular World Pizza Games trials culminated at an event on Wednesday, March 13. Winners were:
1st Division Freestyle Acrobatics: Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan
Masters Division Freestyle Acrobatics: Jay Schuurman, Pizza Rock, Sacramento, CA
Fastest Dough Stretch: Ingrosso Simone, Pizzeria Del Mille, Italy
Fastest Box Folding: Jimmy Xang, Pizza Guys, Rancho Cordova, CA
Largest Dough Stretch: Mario Sigmorile, Pizzeria Del Centro, Italy
Longest Spin: Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan
Throughout the three-day event, show attendees visited sponsoring booths and turned in gamepieces for the $20,000 MEGA BUCKS Giveaway. Frank Sastano of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Savastano’s Pizzeria took home the cash prize.
“This year’s Pizza Expo was the biggest and best show ever, breaking records for attendance with 6,901 pizza professionals, 940 booths and tons of excitement,” says Oakley. “Words just don’t do it justice; you really have to experience Pizza Expo to understand the interaction that takes place between our attendees and exhibitors. Everyone is truly anxious and motivated to get into discussions about new products, new technology, the latest industry trends and hot-button issues facing the industry today.”
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Exciting new seminars, workshops and competitions are in store for you at International Pizza Expo 2013, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, March 19-21 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
BREAKING NEWS: Pizza Expo will kick off with a special appearance by Chef Robert Irvine, host of Food Network’s prime-time series Restaurant Impossible.
A Craft Beer powerhouse panel discussion will make its debut at the 2013 Pizza Expo. Want to build a profitable craft beer program? Don’t miss this seminar.
The World Pizza Game return with the addition of a new “triathlon” category, comprised of box folding, dough tossing for a 16-inch screen and dough tossing for a 24-inch screen.
Find out more about the new additions to the 2013 Pizza Expo by clicking here.
To view a full schedule at a glance, click here.
International Pizza Expo® 2013, scheduled for March 19-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, is the oldest and largest annual gathering of pizza professionals—and will draw approximately 7,000 attendees and 450 exhibitors to a show floor covering an area equal to 5½ football fields. In its 29th year, Pizza Expo attracts top independent and chain operators to do business in the exhibit hall, attend education sessions and take part in pizza-making competitions.
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Pizza Expo® has something for everyone –– whether you’re looking for new ways to create revenue or just want to find out about the latest industry trends and products. The one thing that really separates Pizza Expo from all of the other general foodservice shows is the fact that there’s only one tradeshow where you’ll find over 80 industry specific seminars, workshops and demonstrations, 450 exhibiting companies and 1,000 booths all devoted to pizza … and that’s Pizza Expo. Throw in the best networking event in the industry –– the Beer and Bull Idea Exchange –– along with all of our other great contests and competitions, such as the World Pizza Games, International Pizza Challenge, and the Great $20,000 Mega Bucks Giveaway, and you can see why industry veterans call Pizza Expo the “Show of Shows.”
This year’s Expo shattered all of our previous attendance records with nearly 7,000 attendees and 4,000 exhibitor personnel. And the international presence was astounding, with attendees from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway and Spain –– just to name a few –– making it a truly worldly experience for everyone! Pizza is indeed a universal food, and there was plenty of it to be found on our show floor that measured over 5½ football fields.
If you didn’t get the chance to attend this year’s show, you still have the opportunity to listen and learn by ordering recordings of some or all of the 50-plus educational sessions that were offered. You can order a Multimedia DVD-ROM or download directly to your iPod by going to the InteliQuest Media website at www. intelliquestmedia.com. It’s also a good way to revisit a seminar to hear what you missed or listen to one you couldn’t attend –– and we know there were several you probably wish you could have made it to during the show.
In addition, I want to thank everyone who attended this year’s Expo. Without the continued support of pizzeria operators, suppliers, manufacturers and industry experts, we could not have achieved the measure of success that makes International Pizza Expo the must- attend event of the year.
It’s never too early to start making plans for next year’s show, slated for March 19 – 21, 2013, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, so save the date! We’re already making plans for next year’s Expo, and we think you’ll be pleased with the changes we’re making. If you have any ideas or suggestions on how we can improve the show, please give me a call at (800) 489-8324 or drop me a note at BOakley@PizzaToday.com.
Last but not least, please remember International Pizza Expo is a tax- deductible working vacation.
It’s all Pizza and it’s all for YOU!
Sincerely,
Bill Oakley
Executive Vice President
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If you were in Las Vegas, then you know that International Pizza Expo® was the THE place to be. You could feel the energy and pizza enthusiasm from the moment you walked into the Las Vegas Convention Center.
There was something for everyone at International Pizza Expo® 2012, whether you’re a veteran or just opening your first store. When the show closed on Thursday afternoon, nearly 7,000 buyers had visited more than 930 exhibits and attended more than 80 educational sessions. Rounding out the experience were numerous culinary competitions, contests, demonstrations and other special events.
The Traditional Division of the International Pizza Challenge™ had the following regional winners and wild cards that advanced to the finals:
Real Varela, Brooklyn Pizza & Pasta, Los Angeles, CA - Southwest Region
Tim Silva, Nima’s Pizza My Heart, Los Gatos, CA - Northwest Region
Mark Briand, Bondi’s Pizza, London, Ontario - Mid-America Region
Frank Baird, Franco’s Pizza Plus, Chardon, OH - Wild Card
Giovanni Gagliardi, Pizzeria La Leggenda, San Felice, Italy - International Region
Marlene Smith, Pizza Palace Plus, Emporium, PA - Northeast Region
Keith Coffman, Lost River Pizza Co., Bowling Green, KY, - Southeast Region
The Non-Traditional Division of the International Pizza Challenge™ had the following regional winners and wild cards that advanced to the finals:
Joleen Pisner, AJ Barile’s Chicago Pizza, Yucaipa, CA - Southwest Region
John Cammack, Lefty’s Grill, Nevada City, CA - Northwest Region
Rick Mines, Nima’s Pizza & More, Gassville, AR - Southeast Region
John Gutekanst, Avalanche Pizza, Athens, OH - Mid-America Region
Andrew Scudera, Goodfella’s Brick Oven Pizza, Staten Island, NY -
Northeast Region
Tsutomu Inayoshi, Japanese Home Delivered Pizza, Aichi, Japan -
International Region
Alexandre Brunet, Pizza Stromboli, Montreal, Quebec - Wild Card
Tim Silva, won the Traditional Division and $7,500, Andrew Scudera, won Non-Traditional Division and $7,500, Shawn Randazzo, Cloverleaf Pizza, St. Clair, MI, won the American-Pan Division, and Umberto Fornito won the Italian-Style Division and $4,000.
Following the International Pizza Challenge finals, the winners in each division squared off in the Pizza Maker of the Year competition. Contestants were presented with a table of ingredients from which to choose. There were no restrictions for toppings, but all contestants had to use the secret ingredient – Cattlemen’s® Carolina Tangy Gold™ Barbeque Sauce. Shawn Randazzo walked away with the title of World Champion Pizza Maker of the Year and an additional $5,000. We also introduced a new competition this year called the Best of the Best, where four past World Champions squared off to see who would be named the Master Pizza Maker of the Year. The inaugural winner was Tony Gemignani, of Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco, California, who walked away with $2,500.
The Winners in the World Pizza Games® were as follows:
Freestyle Acrobatics –– Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan,
Masters Division Freestyle Acrobatics –– Jay Schuurman, Pizza Rock, Sacramento, CA
Fastest Dough Stretch –– Ingrosso Simone, Pizzeria Del Mille, Italy
Fastest Box Folding –– Jimmy Xang, Pizza Guys, Rancho Cordova, CA
Largest Dough Stretch –– Mario Sigmorile, Pizzeria Del Centro, Italy
Longest Spin –– Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan
Start making plans now to attend International Pizza Expo® 2013, which will again be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center March 19 – 21.
Sincerely,
Bill Oakley
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If you’re a student of the pizza industry, chances are you’ve probably heard of a little show called International Pizza Expo. If you were one of the nearly 7,000 people who attended, you experienced first-hand the knowledge, expertise and excitement the annual show brought to the Las Vegas Convention Center last March.
“This year we had attendees from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and 23 other countries,” says Bill Oakley, executive vice president of Macfadden Protech, parent company of International Pizza Expo. “We even had a group from the largest pizza company in Mongolia, Mr. Pizza, make the long trip to Las Vegas to experience everything Pizza Expo has to offer. As a result of their experience, they’ve already implemented some of the ideas they picked up at Expo.” Show organizers say that 25 percent of show-goers were first-time attendees, and the show designated a day devoted entirely to those looking to start pizzerias. “Based on the comments to date, it was a huge success with 684 attendees taking part in this day-long educational program,” Oakley says. “This stimulating day of educational sessions and workshops was followed by a reception where attendees could network with fellow ‘newbies,’ industry experts and event sponsors.” Keynote speakers for the three-day show included Nick Sarillo, owner of Nick’s Pizza & Pub in Illinois, and Marla Topliff, president of Rosati’s Pizza. Bruce Allar, vice president of meetings and conferences for Macfadden Protech, says the 2012 line-up of Pizza Expo speakers placed more emphasis on successful pizzeria owners, making International Pizza Expo a true peer-to-peer experience. “The buzz of activity never abated among buyers and sellers on the show floor, or among pizza professionals networking and learning at other Expo gatherings,” says Allar. “Pizza Expo maintained a powerful momentum from the opening bell on Tuesday morning all the way to its conclusion on Thursday afternoon.”
Contestants vied for supremacy in the International Pizza Challenge, a series of culinary competitions designed to highlight the best of the best.
In the traditional division, regional prelimary winners included:
Reál Varela, Brooklyn Pizza & Pasta, Los Angeles, CA – Southwest Region
Tim Silva, Pizza My Heart, Los Gatos, CA – Northwest Region
Mark Briand, Bondi’s Pizza, London, Ont. – Mid-America Region
Giovanni Gagliardi, Pizzeria La Leggenda, San Felice, Italy – International Region
Marlene Smith, Pizza Palace Plus, Emporium, PA – Northeast Region
Keith Coffman, Lost River Pizza Co., Bowling Green, KY – Southeast Region
Frank Baird, Franco’s Pizza, Chardon, OH – Wild Card
Silva took home the title of World’s Best Traditional Pizza Winner.
In the Non-Traditional Division, preliminary winners were:
Joleen Pisner, AJ Barile’s Chicago Pizza, Yucaipa, CA – Southwest Region
John Cammack, Lefty’s Grill, Nevada City, CA – Northwest Region
Rick Mines, Nima’s Pizza & More, Gassville, AR – Southeast Region
John Gutekanst, Avalanche Pizza, Athens, OH – Mid-America Region
Andrew Scudera, Goodfella’s Brick Oven Pizza, Staten Island, NY – Northeast Region
Tsutomu Inayoshi, Home Delivered Pizza, Aichi, Japan – International Region
Scudera took home the title of World’s Best Non-Traditional Pizza.
In the new American-Pan division, finalists included:
Shawn Randazzo, Cloverleaf Pizza of St. Clair, St. Clair Shores, MI – 1st Place
Matthew Heard, Humble Pie, Edmond, OK – 2nd Place
Alex Abellan, Pizza Zone, Victoria, BC – 3rd Place
The Italian-Style Division Finals Winners were:
Umberto Fornito, Italy – 1st Place
Saverio Ciampi, Italy – 2nd Place
Alessandra DeBellis, Italy – 3rd Place
Finalists from each division competed in a blind-box challenge in the Pizza Maker of the Year Bake-Off. The competition’s mystery ingredient, Cattlemen’s Carolina Tangy Gold Barbeque Sauce, proved to be a challenge for the four finalists, who presented the judges with unique pizzas created from a table of provided ingredients. Shawn Randazzo of Cloverleaf Pizza of St. Clair in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, walked away with the title of World Champion Pizza Maker and a cash prize. The International Pizza Challenge also pitted four former winners –– all industry experts in their own right. Tony Gemignani of San Francisco-based Tony’s Pizza Napoletana was named the “Best of the Best” Master Pizza Maker of the Year.
The popular World Pizza Games trials culminated at an event on Wednesday, March 13. Winners were:
1st Division Freestyle Acrobatics: Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan
Masters Division Freestyle Acrobatics: Jay Schuurman, Pizza Rock, Sacramento, CA
Fastest Dough Stretch: Ingrosso Simone, Pizzeria Del Mille, Italy
Fastest Box Folding: Jimmy Xang, Pizza Guys, Rancho Cordova, CA
Largest Dough Stretch: Mario Sigmorile, Pizzeria Del Centro, Italy
Longest Spin: Kazuya Akaogi, Red Japan Co., Japan
Throughout the three-day event, show attendees visited sponsoring booths and turned in gamepieces for the $20,000 MEGA BUCKS Giveaway. Frank Sastano of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Savastano’s Pizzeria took home the cash prize.
“This year’s Pizza Expo was the biggest and best show ever, breaking records for attendance with 6,901 pizza professionals, 940 booths and tons of excitement,” says Oakley. “Words just don’t do it justice; you really have to experience Pizza Expo to understand the interaction that takes place between our attendees and exhibitors. Everyone is truly anxious and motivated to get into discussions about new products, new technology, the latest industry trends and hot-button issues facing the industry today.”
Photos by Josh Keown
Think of dangerous work environments. Factories might come to mind, but a restaurant can be just as dangerous. With hot ovens, knives and slick floors, your kitchen provides ample probability for minor or even major injuries.
There are nearly 200,000 non-fatal occupational injuries in food service establishments each year, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Big Dave Ostrander has analyzed kitchen safety as an operator of a successful pizzeria and as an industry consultant and trainer. Often times, Ostrander finds that “we assume that employees are never going to slip on a slippery floor, they are never going to accidentally come in contact with a hot surface or a sharp knife. Thus, you bear your scars and I bear mine.”
Training is the most vital component of kitchen safety. When confronted with hazardous situations, Ostrander says, “If your employees don’t know what to do, shame on you.”
Ostrander elicited the help of fellow operator Michael Shepherd, who owns Michael Angelo’s Pizza with two locations in Kenton and Rushsylvania, Ohio. Each came up with his own strategies and procedures to address kitchen safety specifically.
Shepherd has created a complete training course about each dangerous piece of equipment, proper lifting, knife skills, chemicals and fire extinguishers with manuals, videos and tests. A local company helped transfer everything online a few years ago and assists with testing.
Michael Angelo’s employees spend six to eight hours in front of the computer with company policy, kitchen safety and food safety modules before they are allowed into the kitchen. They also must pass tests in each area with multiple choice, true or false and essay questions.
Ostrander also tested his staff. At Big Dave’s, new employees had 10 weeks to pass his training. He says the employee could take it as many times as it took until the 10th week and they had to score 80 percent or they were let go. By testing, Ostrander says: “They just simply can’t fake it.”
Ostrander says there are three key kitchen injuries to focus your training: cuts, falls and burns.
Let’s examine each injury. Ostrander and Shepherd provide the following preventative tips for cuts, falls and burns:
Cuts. Teach knife skills. “There is a way to rock your knife and you can get a lot of work out of a knife effortlessly and quickly,” says Ostrander, who chopped 25 gallons of onions every day during his first job in the business.
The skills go beyond just using the knife but also handing it to another person. “There is only one way to pass a knife,” Ostrander says. “That’s hand to hand and eye to eye and you have to say ‘thank you.’ It tells the passer that you got it.”
Never place sharp objects into the sink, including knifes and slicer blades. At locations that have a dishwasher, Shepherd instituted a policy that all sharp objects must be washed in the dishwasher.
Michael Shepherd, owner of Michael Angelo’s Pizza in Kenton, Ohio, offers the following approaches to kitchen safety:
You have to idiot-proof everything. Make things simplistic. You cannot underestimate how easily an employee can get hurt.
Build some kind of safety plan or safety training plan, whether it is super simple or really in-depth. It could be as simple as here is my three-page written plan on how I am going to train every employee and then I am going to document that they have been trained and they are going to sign off.
Make sure you provide the necessary tools to do the things safely. You have to provide them what they need and make sure they are using it.
Wash all cutting utensils immediately after use. Regardless of how busy Michael Angelo’s is, the policy stands. Take the tomato slicer, Shepherd says. After a few hours, juice and seeds stick to the blades, requiring someone to hand scrub blades and posing a risk of a cut.
Never compress trash with your hand. Another good tip for trash, Shepherd says, is to use a two- or four-wheel cart to transport trash to the dumpster.
Falls. Make everyone wear anti-slip shoes. “We give a spending allowance of $30 towards the shoes,” Shepherd says. “That has eliminated about 99 percent of all of the slips and falls.”
Put down anti-fatigue mats in main areas, especially splash areas like dishwashing stations and stoves.
In Addition, Ostrander says mats must always be in their designated location. “We never work without them under our feet,” he says. If they need cleaned, choose a time when the kitchen is not in use.
Clean up all spills immediately. “You can never walk around a spill,”
Ostrander says.
Burns. Supply hot pads. Having the right holders in place will help employees resist the temptation to grab a damp rag, which can seriously scold skin.
Communicate when you are passing by the oven. “If someone is passing by the ovens, they have to announce that they are coming through so they don’t get a peel in the face,” Shepherd says.
If a hot object is falling, let it go. There is a natural tendency to grab something that is falling. In the case of a hot pizza or pan, Ostrander says, let it fall. You can always remake the product.
There are other kitchen safety rules to which Ostrander and Shepherd recommend strict adherence. Follow all OSHA and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) guidelines for chemicals.
Ostrander says, when it comes to your equipment, never override safety systems put in by the manufacturer. He sees this happen with mixers. People will remove the safety cage to gain speed. Not only will your insurer not cover the equipment, but also you’ve put your employees at risk.
Many injuries result from employee conduct. Never allow horseplay. Shepherd has a zero-tolerance policy for horseplay at Michael Angelo’s. “It shows really bad judgment,” he says. “If they are willing to do that, what else are they willing to do.”
Kitchen safety boils down to training. “Going through all of the what ifs and training, you are doing your staff a major favor,” Ostrander says. “You are saving yourself a lot of stress down the line because it’s a matter of it’s going to happen sooner or later.” u
Denise Greer is the associate editor of Pizza Today.
WORD OF WISDOM
Michael Shepherd, owner of Michael Angelo’s Pizza in Kenton, Ohio, offers the following approaches to kitchen safety:
You have to idiot- proof everything. Make things sim- plistic. You cannot underestimate how easily an employee can get hurt.
Build some kind of safety plan or safety training plan, whether it is super simple or really in- depth. It could be as simple as here is my three-page written plan on how I am go- ing to train every employee and then I am going to document that they have been trained and they are going to sign off.
Make sure you provide the neces- sary tools to do the things safely. You have to provide them what they need and make sure they are using it.
Denise Greer is the associate editor of Pizza Today.
Do you know exactly what it costs you to make each of your pizzas? If not, your price structure may not be as ideal as it should be. You can’t begin to calculate your food costs without understanding your ingredient costs.
So the first step is to write down all the ingredients used in a given pizza (or other food product). Next, look at your invoice to see what you are paying for each of the ingredients. Determine the number of ounces in each order so that you can ascertain the price per ounce that you pay for each ingredient.
Once you have that, you’re ready to go.
Begin by weighing your ingredients as you make your pizza and recording the number of ounces you use for each ingredient (dough, sauce, cheese, meat and veggie toppings).
Now, take the number of ounces for each ingredient and multiply that by the ingredient’s respective cost per ounce. For example, if your sauce costs 10 cents per ounce (a purely hypothetical example using round numbers to make the math simple) and you use 7 ounces of sauce on the pizza you are pricing, that means you put 70 cents worth of sauce onto that pizza.
Repeat this method for all ingredients, then add the numbers together for your grand total. Don’t forget to add the price of your boxes if you offer carryout or delivery!
Once you know precisely what each menu item costs you to make, you’re now armed to adjust your prices to maximize profits and keep food costs percentages in check.
We all strive for consistency. In sports, you’ll hear players and coaches say all they ask from officials is that they be consistent. The word choice is interesting. They don’t demand accuracy, they demand consistency. In baseball, for example, managers often don’t care if a pitch on the outside corner is called a ball instead of a strike — so long as it’s called a ball all day long and the umpire doesn’t change his tune from inning to inning. Your customers are the same. While perfection is, well, perfect, it isn’t what your customers are looking for. They are looking to get the same product and same service from you every time they visit, regardless of the hour, day, month or year.
If you’re a manager or franchise owner of a store that belongs to a large chain, like Pizza Hut or Little Caesar’s, your customers want the same pizza in Providence as they get in Santa Fe. If you’re a smaller independent, you can’t afford to be inconsistent, either. If you say you open at 11 a.m., you better be open at 11 a.m. every day. Sadly, one of my favorite pizza places is rather inconsistent. At times, the pizza is just the way I want it. I like a lot of sauce, and this place seems to go a little heavier on the sauce than the average Joe. Still, every once in a while I’ll take my first bite only to wonder if they accidentally gave me a white pizza! As a customer, this frustrates me. Maybe there’s a new pizza maker, I tell myself. Maybe they were swamped and had to make this pizza in a hurry. Then, everything I know about the industry comes screaming in my ear: There is no excuse for such inconsistency!
Items as high-tech as sauce applicators and as low-tech as portioning cups allow operators to put the same amount of sauce on every single pizza they make. The same goes for cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, etc. I’m not saying every pizza should be a cookie-cutter product. That would make the pizza world a boring place. Is it too much to ask, though, to expect a pizza ordered at 7:30 on a Friday night to taste and look the same as a pizza ordered at 2:30 on a Wednesday afternoon? If you answer this question with a yes, you’re in the wrong business. Contrary to popular belief, I do not think today’s customers are overly demanding. Sure, they’re tough at times, but they only want to be treated with respect and get what they pay for in terms of food quality. A smile, a warm hello, and a hot, quality pizza that tastes the same time after time will win you more customers than any amount of marketing or advertising.
A well-placed ad, after all, may get a customer in your door once…but it will never get them back a second time if you don’t live up to your end of the bargain. Here’s to creating consistency!

Question: Should I cook or not cook my pizza sauce?
Answer: Okay, this doesn’t address dough, but it is a common question nevertheless. I can’t tell you not to cook your sauce, but I can give you some reasons why I personally wouldn’t want to cook my sauce.
1) Cooking the sauce does release flavors, but those flavors are released before the pizza is even made, and those flavors are lost to the air (sure makes the kitchen smell good though).
2) Once you heat the sauce to cook it, you’ve got to cool it back down to 40 F or lower for storage. Your local health department will apply the four-hour rule, so clock will begin ticking once the temperature of the cooked sauce drops below 160 F and it won’t stop until it reaches 40 F. This can be problematic with large batches of sauce, and it also puts an additional strain on the cooling capacity of your cooler.
3) Anytime you cook a sauce, you run the possibility of scorching it and ruining the flavor of the whole batch. Once this happens you don’t have many options except to toss it out and make another batch.
It was a hot summer night. I was cruising with my friends. We were a carload of young guys, fresh out of high school, approaching a college campus, looking for a good time. The driver pulled into a drive thru burger place. He said “these burgers are great. I bet you can’t eat two and drink a coke.” I’ll take that bet. I could always eat 2 burgers and drink a Coke. The place was called Burger King. It was on Washtenaw Ave., halfway between University of Michigan and Eastern Mich. Univ.
A few weeks ago, I noticed a road sign proclaiming “The Whopper’s 50th Anniversary.” My mind did a flashback to the ’60s and my first encounter with the Whopper. This burger was like no other. For all of you youngsters, it filled up a 5-inch bun, and it literally took two hands to handle a Whopper that was charbroiled, slathered with condiments and just 45 cents. You got two Whoppers and a large Coke for a buck. I could not finish my second Whopper. My gut was too full for one more bite. I was in burger overload. These days, the Whopper is a one-handed sandwich.
Almost every ‘food for immediate consumption’ I buy has been shrunk down in size in my lifetime, from burgers to candy bars and so on. There are only a couple ways to pass along costs. The first is increase price or reduce size. The last way is reduce quality of toppings. Many years ago, all large pizzas were 16 inches in diameter. Many years ago, most of the chains adopted 14 inches as the new large size. The majority of independent pizzerias call 16 inches their large pie and a few go much bigger than that. With the uncertainty of our ingredients increasing in price and the free-falling dollar on the international money market, it’s a given that you need to change something in your operations to make a profit, and it’s a given that our customers are tired of price increases. They will forgo ordering a pizza when gasoline and all other weekly expenses are at an all time high. Many operators I’ve spoken to have already raised prices when cheese and wages went way up. They feel that their customers wouldn’t tolerate another price raise. They would rather go out of business than raise prices. Pride is an emotion that can take you down.
In 1988, Pizza Today published its first Top 25 List. My manager filled out the required info and mailed the card back to the publisher. A couple of months later, my pizzeria was ranked the 25th busiest place in the country. A couple of months later two of the Big 3 scoped out my town, and I had some serious competition. –– the world’s fastest delivery company and the world’s cheapest pizza. They opened with much fanfare and deep advertising pockets. It seemed like they direct mailed every home, every week, and were focused on burying me.
Prior to them coming to town, I was in my financial comfort zone. After losing some market share, I went on a budget. Time were slower around Big Dave’s. I was going to let them have their openings and then hammer them with some great marketing. They had a huge advantage over me. They both served 14-inch pies and called them larges. If you bought a large at Big Dave’s it was a 16-inch diameter. I assumed my astute customers would take notice and pay the extra money for a much bigger pizza. I wrong. Most customers were confused. When they ordered from the chains they got a 14-inch large and when they ordered from me they got a 16-inch large.
Pizza is made, assembled, portioned and should be priced by the square inch. Unfortunately it’s sold and priced by the diameter. A refresher math class: to determine the square inch of a circle, multiply pi (3.14) time radius (half the diameter) times itself. Step by step, let’s determine the square inches of a 16-inch pie. Pi R2 is 3.14 (pi) x 8 x 8 = 200.96, or 201 square inches rounded off. A 14-inch inch pizza has 154 square inches, 3.14 x 7 x 7 = 154. The difference is a whopping 23 percent. It costs 23 percent less to make a 14-inch rather than a 16-inch pizza. The menu price should reflect a 23 percent difference. A 10-inch pizza only has 78.5 sq. inches. This is pretty close to being exactly half of a 14” pizza. Most pricing models are throwbacks to the ’60s and ’70s when a dollar probably covered the difference between the sizes.
Those days are over. A dollar barely covers the cheese needed to cover both larges. If you are offering a 16-inch large and are making a reasonable profit, stay with it for the time being. If you are offering a 16-inch large and are experiencing profit shrink you need to change something. If your market is price sensitive and you have customer migration to the coupons and specials strategies used by the competition, you might want to consider what Kamron Karington and I did. In order to compete on a level playing field and compare apples to apples the larges should be the same diameter. We both downsized from 16 to 14 (the national average size). Kamron did it over a year, dropping to 15 and then 14 inches. I did it overnight. We had very few complaining customers once we explained that we chose to adopt the national average of 14 inches so the like coupons would be less confusing. This strategy allowed me to accept their coupons and not be humiliated by their pricing.
You have to choose to leave menu pricing the same or not. Either way, your food cost percentage will decrease. By offering bundled meals and multiples your contribution margin will be better than it is per transaction now. Maybe we should take a lesson from the Big Guys and downsize. It’s one way to really boost the bottom line without another menu increase. This was one of the biggest decisions of my career. I tossed and turned on it for weeks. I was old school, and proud of it. After the tenth complaint call, I was ready to go back to the old ways. After the second week was over the, 16-inch large was a memory. Kind of like the two-handed Whopper.
To get the best possible performance out of your fryer, follow these guidelines:
• Use clean oil at all times.
• Bring oil to the proper temperature (350 F). If the temperature is too low the food will absorb too much oil. If it’s too high, you’ll burn your product too easily.
• Food should be frozen, very cold or very dry before it’s lowered into the fryer.
• Shake off excess crumbs, batter or breading before dropping items into the fryer.
• Don’t fry too much at one time. Doing so lowers the temperature, thereby causing food to absorb too much oil.
• After draining food over the oil tank, turn it out onto cloth or paper to drain further.
• Serve immediately as fried items do not hold up well over time.
My son just over a small bar/restaurant and really wants to offer hand-tossed pizzas. Can they be cooked in the convection oven?
A: You can bake a decent pizza in a convection oven, but you can't bake it in a pizza pan. See, in a traditional pizza oven, you have about 85 to 90 percent of the heat coming from the bottom of the deck. That's why a pizza pan works well. But in a convection oven, you have very even heat all around the oven, so if you tried to bake a pizza in a traditional pizza pan, the pizza would look done from the top, but because you didn't have enough heat on the bottom of the pie, it would be white and doughy on the bottom.
Solution: Bake you pizza on a pizza screen at between 400 and 425 F, or use par baked pizza dough.
How do you determine portion sizes? How much difference should there bebetween lunch and dinner portions?
Well, first you need to determine what food cost percentage you want to run. Then you’ve got to cost out your raw product by the ounce. Make sure you include the cost of everything that comes with it such as complimentary garnishes. You can figure at the price point you want to sell each entrée at, and then determine the portion size according to the food cost percent you are striving for. Another option is to determine the portion size first, then cost that out, and now you can come up with your entrée selling point. Many restaurant have the same portion size for both meal periods. If you feel you have the type of business that you need a separate lunch menu that is less expensive menu, then of coarse follow the same rule of thumb.

Okay, okay, too complicated. So, trust us. We’ve done the math for you. A 10-inch pizza is comprised of 78 square inches, while a 14-inch pizza has 154 square inches.
What that means is that a 14-inch pizza will contain nearly twice the amount of sauce, cheese and toppings of a 10-inch pizza. When setting your menu pricing, this is a critical point.
Now, let’s say you offer 14-inch “small” pizzas and 16-inch “large” pizzas. A 16-inch pie is 201 square inches — approximately 31 percent larger, in terms of area, than a 14-inch pie. Just like in the example above, what this means is that your 16-inch pizza, though only two more inches in diameter, will require 31 percent more sauce, cheese and toppings in order to look and taste like your 14-inch pizza.
Does that mean your 16-inch pie should carry a price point that’s 31 percent higher than your 14-inch pie? Perhaps. If a 14-inch cheese pizza is priced at $8.99, for example, then a 16-inch cheese pizza would be marked up to $11.75.
Unfortunately, customers in many markets aren’t willing to pay $11.75 for a cheese pizza when they can get one loaded with toppings from a major chain for under $10.
Ultimately, the best method for determining the final price of your 16-inch pizza would be to figure your food costs, then find an acceptable markup from there. You likely won’t make as much per pie as you do on your 14-inch pizzas, but your customers won’t feel overcharged and alienated, either.
Finally, if you are resigning yourself to making more profit on a small pizza than a large, there’s no need to fret. By pushing your 14-inch pies in your marketing and bundling small pizzas with breadsticks or wings and soda, you can increase sales of these pizzas.
I bought some new pizza screens for use in my conveyor oven, but pizza keeps sticking to them. What is the problem?
Before using new pizza screens, you need to spray them (make sure it's an oil-based spray) and run them through the conveyor about 8 to 10 times, until they get dark in color. This will coat them well and essentially give them a non-stick coat. The other important thing you need to know is not to wash them. If a pizza sticks to the screen, you need to run the screen through the oven and burn it off. You can brush the screens to clean them, and if you need to wash them for some reason, give them another light coating of spray and run them through the oven again.
What are the advantages of portion control, or is it best to freehand?
The biggest advantage of portion control is definitely food cost control. This is an area that many foodservice workers miss out on. Over-portioning can account for a large part of high food costs second to food waste. You obviously want to start with portion control on your bigger ticket items such as cheese. Sometimes some lower cost items may take too long to portion sending the labor part of your P& L too high. It really is a balancing act. The other important factor with portion control is that your food will be consistent. This is critical in today’s business environment. Customers want consistency every time. They want to know what they can expect.
I prefer using fresh vegetables on my pizza, but they have more water content and create a soggy pizza. Is there a solution to this problem?
A: Yes, there is. I like fresh veggies too, and I solved that problem by using a Japanese breadcrumb. I find it best to sauce the dough first, then sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of the coarse, plain, white crumb on top of the sauce. Then add the cheese and the vegetable toppings. The crumbs will absorb the moisture from the veggies, and the texture blends right in with the cheese. It really does work and prevents soggy bottom pizza!

- Choose fresh jalapeños with a glossy shine and deep colors.
- Avoid wrinkled or soft ones.
- Store them in a paper bag for one or two weeks in the walk-in.
- Once sliced, use within three days.
- Wear gloves when handling to avoid irritating the eyes from the oils found in the jalapeño’s skin.
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