Plan Now for New Year’s

In the next few months, there are some big pizza-consuming days: New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and Super Bowl Sunday. Start planning and marketing them now.

 Editor-In-Chief Jeremy White offers some creative ideas for the festive days. “Bundle pizzas (yes, that’s plural for a reason), appetizers and drinks at an attractive, yet, profitable price,” he says. “Don’t forget to factor the cost of delivery into your pricing if you aren’t charging a delivery fee.”

Dine-In locations can make themselves the pre-party place on New Year’s Eve and the post-party spot on New Year’s Day with a “hangover” special, White says.

You can create an exclusive event surrounding the Super Bowl. Limit the number of guests and charge a cover at the door, which includes food and soft drinks. But be sure to charge for beer or wine. White says, an event like that will build a lively atmosphere to watch the big game.

To check out White’s other tips for making your big days even bigger, click here.

Your servers may hate it when a table comes in with four kids in tow — but big families mean big money, both for the restaurant and the server. A waiter who knows how to work the kids is a waiter who goes home with a bigger tip from mom and dad. Tips include:
• Don’t be condescending. Remain calm in your interactions with children and treat them with honest, respect and interest.
• Speak directly to the child, not to the parents. Ask them their name, then use it when you reference them.
• Bend down to their level and look them in the eye so as to be less threatening.

Click here for more tips for interacting with kids.

Need Emergency Dough Now

An emergency dough formula is a shop’s insurance policy, a “just in case” provision. No one likes to think of the unforeseen events that can cause your dough to be wasted like a power outage. But having a fallback emergency dough recipe could be your saving grace, instead of having to close up shop for any given time.

Dough Doctor Tom Lehmann shares his strategy for adapting a current dough recipe to have it ready for making pizza in a little over two hours. He says, double the normal levels of yeast content and increase the temperature of the water added to dough by 15 degrees for a target finished dough temperature of 90 to 95 degrees.

Lehmann recommends using a reducing agent, such as PZ-44, to help assure the dough will handle well when it is formed. He also suggests to add a small amount of regular household vinegar (white vinegar/50 grain strength) to help restore some of the flavor to the finished crust.

To explore more about Lehmann’s emergency dough strategy, click here.

 
Make Closing Safer for Employees

Unfortunately, late night proves to be an optimal time to attempt a robbery and restaurants and their closing employees are falling victim to this crime. Many operators feel helpless when late-night robberies occur. Though, such acts may be out of proprietor’s hands, there are some steps that you can take to make closing safer for your employees. Here are some examples:

• Never have an employee close alone
• Use bright exterior lights
• Purchase an alarm
• Utilize convex mirrors
• Arrange equipment and furniture to prevent entrapment

For more tips on employee safety at store closing, click here.

Featured Recipe —Bruno’s Brunch Pizza
Brunch isn’t just for holidays anymore. Restaurants are reaping profits by offering a featured brunch menu. Ethnic-inspired breakfast items like chorizo made this year’s Top 20 Menu Trends from the National Restaurant Association. This spicy take on a brunch pizza is sure to be an instant crowd pleaser.

Bruno’s Brunch Pizza

Yields: Makes 14-inch pizza. Scale up in direct proportion

¾ pound chorizo
1 14-inch pizza shell
½ cup canned refried beans, thinned with 1 tablespoon warm water
 ¾ cup medium-hot bottled salsa

Click here to see the rest of this delicious recipe.