By Scott Anthony

On October 7, you will be a businessman and a philanthropist, and your sincerity for the cause is essential. Consumers love it when their local businesses get involved and give freely. And, remember, the cause here is twofold — to battle breast cancer and to unite the pizza industry and show the world just how giving and caring we are.

We want our donations to make a difference, but we also want to be able to promote our involvement without a lot of overhead. If we play our cards right, we’ll not only do a great thing for society, but we’ll also be able to draw on the goodwill of our communities. When our neighbors see how giving and connected we are, they’ll want to thank us by patronizing our pizzerias. It’s a win-win!

Here are a few tips to help you promote Slice of Hope in your community without taking on prohibitive PR expenses:

• Show your sincerity. Let your customers know that you are passionate about the cause, and tell them why Slice of Hope means something to you.

Here is what I was told about Slice of Hope by a few pizzeria owners that I talked with recently:

“Once I saw the article in Pizza Today, about Slice of Hope and it being national pizza month, along with breast cancer awareness month, I saw that it was necessary to join the Slice of Hope program to help in any way possible to contribute to such a great cause. My mother is a breast cancer survivor and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to honor her in some way.”
— Thomas W. Barrett, Owner, Tommy’s Pizza & Family Restaurant in Hertford, North Carolina.

“We are a new restaurant and my husband and I have both had breast cancer. Early detection is key. We will donate 20 percent of sales to the event.” — Patty Stump, Westshore Pizza, Mason, Ohio.

“My family has been fortunate to be unaffected by this tragic disease. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Being a woman, maybe I’m biased, but I think most women put taking care of everyone else as their priority. I want them to know that this time, they can’t. Early detection gives a 98 percent five-year survival rate — that’s huge!” — Danielle Burger, Co-Owner / Manager, Wally’s Pizza and Subs, Carson City, Nevada.

• Get the word out. Make a list of your local media outlets (newspapers, TV, radio, newsletters, church bulletins, social media). If you have filled out a Slice of Hope pledge form, then you will soon (or may have already) be receiving a press release that you can send to these outlets. All you have to do is customize it by adding your name in a few spots and updating the quote, then it’s ready to roll.

Don’t forget to invite the media to stop in to your “pizza party” on October 7th.

• Do something unique in-house. One idea would be to purchase Slice of Hope t-shirts (available at PizzaToday.com or by calling 800-489-8324) for your staff to wear on October 7. You could even purchase extra shirts and offer them for sale to your customers.

Beyond that, consider creating a special “Slice of Hope” pizza or menu item. Stump, for example, says she will be selling pink cupcakes. She also intends to set up a donation jar in case her customers want to give to the cause. Out west in Tacoma, Washington, Farrelli’s Wood-Fire Pizza is also accepting customer donations. Beyond that, the company is going to menu a Slice of Hope pizza for 2 to 4 weeks and donate $10 from the sale of each pizza to the Karen Mullen Breast
Cancer Foundation.

Personally, at my Fox’s Pizza Den in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, I will be creating radio spots using a customer who is also a breast cancer survivor. She’ll serve as a spokeswoman and encourage people to support the event.

Stump says she’ll use box toppers to saturate her market, while Barrett is going to pre-sell coupons for his featured menu item and will use in-house flyers and signage to create awareness of the upcoming event. Adds Burger: “We will, of course, be posting to Facebook, Twitter, our Web site and the specials board in our restaurant.”

• Can you cross-promote? Are there other like-minded businesses that would like to be involved? A medical supply company, insurance agency or fitness center, perhaps? Perhaps they’d like to make a donation to the charity in exchange for putting their logo on your Slice of Hope box topper? The more local businesses you can enlist, the more this feels like a local community event.

Lastly, don’t forget to be on top of your game with your food and service. On October 7, you’ll expose a multitude of potential new customers to your product. If the quality is high and the service is good, you’ll convert them to regulars. Buying from you will make them feel good. But you have to execute operationally to convert them.

One way to do this might be to streamline your menu for the day. Or feature a particular item, which benefits Slice of Hope, in an effort to keep things simple for your make-line.

Scott Anthony is a Fox’s Pizza Den franchisee in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He is a monthly contributor to Pizza Today and a frequent guest speaker at Pizza Expo.

By Jeremy White, Editor in Chief

One of the most fun things about Slice of Hope last year was looking at the pictures of staff members from pizzerias around the country wearing the black and gray SOH t-shirts. It was one of the many ways the initiative united the industry. To that end, how could we not offer them again?

Just like last year, we’re now selling Slice of Hope t-shirts for $10 each. The profits from the sale of each shirt will be donated to the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation. This year shirts are available in black and pink. The pink shirts are “women’s cut” — something we’re rolling out due to numerous requests.

To order your shirt today, simply visit PizzaToday.com and click on the Slice of Hope tab. While you’re there, please consider filling out the Slice of Hope pledge form as well. We’re asking America’s pizzerias to donate 15, 20 or even 30 percent of sales from Friday, October 12 to the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation through Slice of Hope.

Imagine the change we, as an industry, could enact if we got behind this cause collectively. At nearly $40 billion in sales, the pizza segment is robust. It’s also a caring and giving section, and Slice of Hope is our chance to prove that.

Breast cancer is a disease that impacts all of us in one way or another. If you don’t personally know someone who has suffered from it, consider yourself fortunate. Let’s rally together and do something about it!

Every day in research labs across the country, scientists are working on promising treatments. Let’s help them end this disease.

The Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3, which means your donations to the Foundation are tax-deductible. Next month I’ll provide even more details on Slice of Hope 2012. But please don’t wait until then to act. Visit PizzaToday.com now to fill out those pledge forms and order t-shirts.

Lastly, if you would like to be involved in Slice of Hope 2012 in your own unique way, I want to hear from you. There’s no such thing as too much help!

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

BY MINTA K. CRAFTS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR THE KAREN MULLEN BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION

No doubt you’ve seen the pink splashed across these pages as you’ve flipped through Pizza Today over past couple years. So, why the pink? What is Slice of Hope? Slice of Hope is the answer to the question that had been nagging at this magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Jeremy White. What could be done about a disease that is so all encompassing that one in eight women will be hit with it in their lifetime? And furthermore, what could his involvement in the pizza industry do to help these women? What Jeremy resolved to do was to make a call to action to all 70,000 pizzerias in this country to come together for one day and fight breast cancer in a meaningful way. What was born from this was Slice of Hope and the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation.
I recently became the Development Director (and first employee ever!) of the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation and committed myself to this cause after also being personally touched by the disease. That’s all it really takes –– for one person you know and love to be affected by it. It’s just like you are instantly part of this ‘club’ that you never knew existed or could possibly hold so many of us in its web. You can be left at an absolute loss for what to do in the face of something so daunting. But the answer can be simple; the answer is simply to act. Some people race, some people host gala dinners –– what we’re asking you to do is come together as a community of restaurant owners for one night and give so that we can fund the breast cancer research studies that will one day find a cure for this disease.
You’ve read pieces like this before, so what sets us apart? Why should you choose to join us and give a piece of your hard-earned profits to our foundation? You should choose to give because chances are you are reading this and thinking of an aunt, a customer, a wife or a daughter who has had this disease. You should choose to give because your contribution will help them find hope or even save their life. And finally, why Slice of Hope? Because 100 percent of our proceeds go directly to the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation. No overhead costs, no wondering where your dollars went –– every dollar raised goes directly to the leading breast cancer research studies around the country.
As you read this and think about participating in this year’s Slice of Hope, understand that we are united by the commonality of this disease. Understand that as one of the largest industries in the nation, we have the opportunity (and possibly the obligation) to come together and truly affect enormous positive change in our communities. We hope that you choose to join us in our efforts to end this disease and become part of our growing community this year, and in the years to come.

Thank you.

By Jeremy White, Editor in Chief

November and December bring the holidays, and there’s no better time to be thankful. What are you thankful for? If your business is operating and turning a profit, you’ll probably start your list right there considering what we’ve had to endure as an industry over the last several years.

I’m thankful for a number of things: my family, my health, my success at Pizza Today, etc. I could write a novel on each of these subjects. But this month I want to take the time to thank the roughly 200 pizzerias who supported Slice of Hope, the industry-wide charity initiative Pizza Today put together and spearheaded in 2011.

The idea behind Slice of Hope was simple enough: partner National Pizza Month and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (both lay claim to October) in a way that would bring our industry together like never before. The vision was grandiose: to point America’s pizzerias in the same direction, for just one day, in an effort to better our communities.

From May through October, Pizza Today asked America’s pizzerias to donate a percentage of their sales from Friday, October 7th, to the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation. To garner support and to secure press, we announced that myself and a small team of cyclists would bike from Portland to Seattle October 4-7 to raise awareness for the upstart Foundation.

We spent 10 months organizing and planning Slice of Hope. We promoted it in six issues of Pizza Today. We shouted about it on Twitter and Facebook.
We didn’t know what to expect. We had no idea how many pizzerias would take part. After all, the economy is still beating up our industry. Many pizzerias were telling me that sales were actually up, but profits were down and they simply did not have any money to give, regardless of how powerful the cause happened to be.

That’s understandable, and that’s what makes the actions of the aforementioned 200 pizzerias so impressive and laudable. These pizzerias (see them listed next month) banded together and collectively donated thousands of dollars to the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation through Slice of Hope. In fact, at the time of this writing, more than $84,000 had been raised — and the checks were just starting to come in.

Talk about making a difference where it matters most. (Once a final total is available, we’ll publish it for all to see.)
The pizzerias that took part in Slice of Hope not only did a good thing for society, they also raised their profiles in their respective communities. For one night, they were heroes to their customers — and they also welcomed many first-time patrons through their doors. Next month, we’ll share some of the success stories from Slice of Hope, as well as detail the bike ride from Portland to Seattle. It’s amazing to hear how many of the participating pizzerias took the seed of an idea Pizza Today provided and managed to turn it into a blockbuster local event that increased sales and generated priceless goodwill from their respective neighborhoods.

The pizzerias that supported Slice of Hope deserve a standing ovation from this industry as well as society in general. Please allow me to be the first to say “Thank you.”
If you took part in Slice of Hope, e-mail me your success story as well as some pictures from your event. Also, let me know your thoughts on this question: wanna do it again in 2012?

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

By Jeremy White, Editor in Chief

When I was told my mother had breast cancer, I wasn’t sure how to react. I was 15 years old and my grandfather, an important influence in my life, had recently passed away. I was still reeling from the effects of that loss when my mother told me about her diagnosis. The doctors said the outlook was encouraging, but the treatments were going to be anything but easy.

They were right on both counts. The treatments were harsh, but my mother survived and has been breast cancer free for two decades.

Unfortunately, not everyone diagnosed with the disease wins the battle. That was the case for Karen Mullen, wife of my friend Garrett Mullen. Though she fought the disease courageously, there was no cure for the type of breast cancer she had. Eventually, it was too much for her body to handle and she slipped away.

The sad truth is that approximately 40,000 women will die from breast cancer this year. That’s roughly 110 breast cancer deaths each and every day. That’s simply not acceptable — but what in the world could I, or anyone else who isn’t directly connected to medical research, for that matter, really do about it?

As I pondered this last November and December around the holidays (a time of year in which we tend to be thankful for those we love), the light bulb went off: October is National Pizza Month and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month … considering I’m the editor of Pizza Today, why not find a way to put the two together?

This started a long chain of events that eventually led to Slice of Hope. The first thing I did was talk to my publisher, Pete Lachapelle. He is an avid cyclist and had recently gotten me into the sport as well. Together we’d discussed the fact that we’d like to put together a pizza industry cycling event, but we weren’t quite sure where to go with it. When I thought of pairing up pizza and breast cancer research, I went to Pete and said, “Here’s our cycling event. We’ll bike from Point A to Point B to raise awareness for breast cancer research. We’ll encourage pizzerias to donate to the cause. That way, not only will we do something good for society, but we’ll also help out our industry by showing the world how caring and giving and community-oriented pizzerias are.”

Pete liked the idea and told me to run with it. So I called Joe Fugere, founder of Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria in Seattle. Joe is not only an astute businessman, but he’s quite the philanthropist. I asked him what he thought about the idea. He loved it and said, “Let’s make this happen.”

Joe introduced me to Garrett Mullen. Since that time, Garrett and I have become good friends. I learned just before meeting Garrett that his wife, Karen, had lost her battle to breast cancer on December 15, 2010. Needless to say, Garrett was motivated to take a swing at the disease.

I had dinner with Garrett one night and told him about Slice of Hope. Garrett works with restaurants across the country, including pizzerias, and he was on board from the start. He even offered to launch a new charity, a legal 501(c)3 entity that could take tax-deductible donations. Initially, one of the many roadblocks I ran into when trying to launch and plan Slice of Hope was the fact that Pizza Today is a business, not a charity. Hence, any donations made to Slice of Hope wouldn’t offer a tax benefit to pizzeria donors. I didn’t like that. If a mom-and-pop shop were going to donate $500, I wanted that to be tax deductible. If a large chain like Domino’s were going to donate $10,000 (which the company did earlier this summer, by the way), I knew that would need to come with a tax break.

I looked into launching a legal charity. Let’s just say that it is time-consuming and expensive. So when Garrett offered to take on that heavy lifting, I was more than thrilled.

A few months later, the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation was formed. The money the pizza industry collectively raises through Slice of Hope will be handed to the Foundation. Because of this step, any money a pizzeria donates will be tax deductible. The Foundation has a six-person Board of Directors that has been charged with studying the effectiveness of America’s breast cancer research labs. Four of America’s leading breast cancer research institutions will benefit from funding from the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation. More importantly, the Foundation is committed to passing on 100 percent of the Slice of Hope money it receives. Because the Foundation is volunteer staffed, it is in a unique position to do this.

In other words, every dollar America’s pizzerias contribute will be used for the cause. That was important to me from the beginning.

Now, all we need is your participation. Have you made a donation to Slice of Hope yet? If not, visit www.PizzaToday.com, click on the Slice of Hope icon and fill out the electronic pledge form. Your involvement is crucial and can make a real difference.

When Pete and I cycle from Portland to Seattle October 4-7, we’ll be making sure every media outlet that shows up to cover the event knows how giving and community-oriented the pizza industry happens to be. Now, you just need to get the word out locally. See Scott Anthony’s take on this over the next couple of pages. He’s got some great ideas to get you started.

By  Joe Fugere
TUTTA BELLA // SEATTLE, WA

Surely by now you’ve heard of the pizza industry charitable event, Slice of Hope, which has been organized by Pizza Today. When Jeremy White, the editor of this magazine, called me about the idea a year ago, I was on board from the start. The thought of bringing the entire industry together and pointing every pizzeria in the U.S. in the same direction was an alluring and powerful one. I knew that my company, Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, had to be a part of it.

The restaurant industry has a track record of giving. After September 11, 2001, the entire industry mobilized and raised over $20 million in one day! After Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti and tsunami in Japan, millions more were raised. While disaster relief and disease prevention are two different things, the point is that our industry has often rallied around great causes.

I can think of no more compelling cause than the fight against breast cancer. Did you know that 70 percent of women who are diagnosed have no family history of the disease? For many, imagine the initial shock of diagnosis and the emotional, not to mention physical, impact of treatments on the entire family.

In the past year, this disease hit close to home for me when my best friend’s wife became one its latest victims. I remember how beautiful Karen Mullen was; how much she loved her family. I also recall her love of gardening and traveling and spending time with friends and her dogs. She played a wonderful supporting role to her son, Grant, and her husband, Garrett. In fact, she always put them first. I can only imagine what it’s like for them to continue on without her.

The Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation was formed earlier this year. Its mission is to fund potentially lifesaving treatments at America’s leading breast cancer research labs. It will take 100 percent of the Slice of Hope money it receives and use it to back the most promising studies on a national level. These studies will ultimately lead to treatments that will be offered in your own community.

The loss of my friend, Karen Mullen, is why I’m asking you to join me and other pizzeria operators in North America by participating in Slice of Hope on October 7th. Whatever you can donate, please do.

And let’s not overlook the community marketing benefits that come with participation, either. I have found time and again that the neighborhoods in which Tutta Bella operates rally behind us because they see us taking an active and socially responsible role in our community. The goodwill you can generate by taking part in Slice of Hope is substantial.

There are roughly 70,000 pizzerias in this country. Surely we can step up for a cause that impacts one in eight women right here in America, can’t we? Together, we can make strides that will one day help end the pain and suffering and prevent this tragedy from impacting other families. And we can do it in a way that brings positive attention to our great industry and shows the nation just how giving and caring we are every single day.

If you’re reading this after October 7, don’t worry. It’s not too late to help! The Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation can still take your donation through Slice of Hope all the way through the end of the year. And your help is easy to give: Simply visit PizzaToday.com and click on the Slice of Hope icon to download a donation form. Let's help end this disease!

My Turn is a monthly guest column. This installment is written by Joe Fugere, founder of Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria in Seattle, Washington. If you are interested in submitting your own column, e-mail Jeremy White [jwhite@pizzatoday.com] and let him know what you want to say and what qualifies you to say it.