WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 25, 2025) – Sure, the autumnal equinox technically marks the official start of fall, but let’s get real – the true kickoff to the season begins when pumpkin spice starts landing on menus. One of the most iconic flavors of all time, pumpkin spice is a flavor consumers anticipate every year. Today, &pizza officially put the PSL on notice with something that will leave pumpkin lovers drooling: Pumpkin Spice Knots.

No one does sweet and savory quite like &pizza, and its new Pumpkin Spice Knots were created to deliver on that promise – and then some. Wrapped inside &pizza’s legendary dough is a warm pumpkin spice filling. Once out of the oven, they’re finished with a sweet vanilla icing and a healthy dash of powdered sugar that will have everyone ready to don their plaid flannels, denim and UGG boots. The new Pumpkin Spice Knots will be available for a limited time while supplies last for $6 at all &pizza locations.

“Let’s be honest, brands hang their hats on pumpkin spice every year, but it’s a rinse-and-repeat cycle that’s become mundane at best,” says Mike Burns, CEO of &pizza. “Boring and expected are a death sentence, so we decided to do something about it. We don’t tip toe around trends – we hijack them.”

Mission-driven to create a more socially conscious, culture-carrying community, &pizza is not “Big Pizza,” and it’s proud to be so. More than just a better flavor/quality ingredients kind of pizza shop, &pizza leads with real actions and an unwavering commitment to being more; so, expect more.

Ready to give the Pumpkin Spice Knots a try? Join &pizza’s rewards club to unlock members-only deals, VIP events, swag and more. Download the app or visit andpizza.com to start stacking your &coins.

For more information and to place an order online, please visit order.thanx.com/andpizza.

Price and participation may vary by location. For a list of all location, please visit andpizza.com/andpizza-locations.

About &pizza

Founded in 2012, &pizza is a mission-driven, culture carrying community dedicated to better flavor, quality ingredients, and community betterment. Proud to differentiate themselves, &pizza is doing more for their workers by providing a livable wage, a socially conscious vision, and real action to help advance real social progress. &pizza has locations across the East Coast in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia.

SOURCE: &pizza

The post Are You Punkin’ Me With These Pumpkin Spice Knots? appeared first on Pizza Today.

Our November feeds are filled with Thanksgiving menu creations, and we are here for it. The Thanksgiving pizza hit its stride last year when DiGiorno rolled out its frozen Thanksgiving Pizza featuring classic turkey, creamy gravy sauce, diced sweet potatoes, colorful green beans and cranberries, rich mozzarella and cheddar cheeses plus a crispy onion topping – all loaded on top of a thick and chewy Detroit Style crust. It’s back this year and gaining popularity.

Six Pizzerias Serve Up Popular Thanksgiving Pizza Specials

Frozen pizza companies aren’t the only ones getting in on the turkey day fun. Pizza chefs across the country are also debuting their Thanksgiving Day menu specials. Here are some of the unique Thanksgiving Day Specials at America’s pizzerias:

The Gobbler at Pizza Lucé in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The pizza features sliced turkey breast, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, stuffing, cheddar and mozzarella, and sliced green onion on a garlic buttered crust. Check out the KROC article. 

Thanksgiving Pizza from Motor City Pizza in Lewisville, Texas.

The pizzeria is drumming up lots of regional media attention for its holiday creation. Check out the spot on ABC Channel 8 and another on-air on Good Day Fox 4.

Thanksgiving Pizza from Shamrock Bar & Pizza in Superior, Wisconsin.

Its Pizza of the Month special is the Thanksgiving Pizza served with a side of cranberry sauce. Check it out on Instagram.

Thanksgiving Pizza Pie from Pino’s Pizza in Long Island’s Deer Park, New York.

The pizza spot recently gained media attention thanks to a viral TikTok video. Check out the news coverage from Fox 5 News.

Wishbone Pizza from Nice Guys Pizza in Cape Coral, Florida.

This pizza restaurant is getting local media attention for its pizza that features turkey, mashed potato, gravy, corn, cheese and cranberry drizzle on a stuffing crust. Check out the B1039 article.

Thanksgiving Turkey Pizza 2024 from DTown Pizza in West Hollywood, California

This week, DTown is featuring it Thanksgiving Special that features a stuffing crust, beer can roast turkey breast, candied yams, crispy onions, pomegranate cranberry jam and turkey sausage gravy. Check out the special on Instagram.

What kind of Thanksgiving Pizza can AI come up with?

Let’s have a little Thanksgiving holiday fun.  What happens when we ask AI to create a Thanksgiving themed pizza. Here’s what Jasper AI came up with:

Harvest Feast Pizza. Roasted turkey breast, savory stuffing, mozzarella cheese, caramelized onions, and a drizzle of rich turkey gravy. Finished with a sprinkle of fresh herbs for that classic Thanksgiving aroma.

Autumn Cranberry Delight. Main Ingredients: Sliced turkey, creamy brie cheese, tangy cranberry sauce, baby spinach, and a hint of rosemary. Topped with toasted walnuts for a delightful crunch and a touch of honey for sweetness.

Sweet Potato Medley Pie. Main Ingredients: Mashed sweet potatoes, crispy bacon bits, mozzarella and cheddar cheese blend, roasted Brussels sprouts, and a light drizzle of maple syrup. Garnished with toasted pecans for an extra seasonal touch.

* This content has been created by an AI language model and is intended to provide general information. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the use or interpretation of this content.

Not too bad, AI! I would try all three of those Thanksgiving Pizza specials.

What would your Thanksgiving Pizza include? Let us know on social. Tag us or comment on our post.

The post Thanksgiving Pizzas are THE Thing this Year appeared first on Pizza Today.

Photo courtesy of &PIZZA

“Removing the Farmer’s Daughter was the ultimate FAFO experience,” said Mike Burns, CEO of &pizza. “One of the most popular pies &pizza ever introduced, it was a masterpiece, nothing short of culinary lore. It showcased that we weren’t afraid to push the boundaries when it came to toppings such as cracking an egg on a pizza, and ticked off a lot of our customers when we pulled it. I wish we had a good answer as to why, but we won’t try to spin it or sugar coat it – we F-ed up!”

The post E-I-E-I-OH S#!T – &PIZZA Brings Legendary Pie Out of Retirement appeared first on Pizza Today.

Everyone’s ideal pizza will look, taste and feel differently. The key to building your perfect pie is understanding how to utilize different dough methods and how they will change your final product, picking the right tomatoes, cheese and toppings as well as when and how you add ingredients to your pizza.

The Dough

Let’s start with the dough. Depending on what style of pizza you are making, the ingredients and dough process will be different. The one thing that all doughs should have in common though, is proper fermentation. It is when the proteins in flour combine with water to create gluten. Yeast (whether commercial or natural) is added and consumes the simple sugars in the dough to create carbon dioxide bubbles. With the addition of salt, a stronger bond and gluten net form, causing the dough to rise and age. If you think about it, the slower and longer this process is, the resulting crust will be more dynamic by creating lots of airy bubbles and flavor in the dough. That being said, you don’t want to over ferment dough. Once there is no more fresh flour for the yeast to oxidize, the dough will turn flat and sour, thus not rising. That is why it is important to pick the right flour and hydration for your fermentation process and time.

Certain flours are synonymous with specific types of pizzas, but there is so much more to a flour than just the company that produces it. A few things to look for are:

• Protein percentage: the higher the protein of a flour the longer the fermentation time can and will be.
• W Factor: the extensibility of the dough or the strength of the gluten in the flour. A flour with less gluten, or a soft flour will be between W180-250. A strong flour will be between W250-300.
• Grind of the Flour: Measured on a scale from 00-2 with 00 being the finest and 2 the coarsest.
• Bleached or unbleached: Bleached flour uses a chemical aging process whereas unbleached doesn’t.

After you settle on your flour, the next important decision in dough is whether you use a Direct Method (mixing flour directly with yeast, salt, water and any other ingredients in your dough) or Indirect Method (A two-stage process to making dough using either a Biga, Poolish, Pate-ferment or sourdough starter).

The Sauce

While a lot of thought and experimentation should go into finding the right dough, the toppings can be just as important since they are the first thing that hits a person’s taste buds while devouring a slice. I’m a big believer that your sauce will only be as good as the tomatoes that go into it. That’s because it you use a quality tomato you don’t need to add very much else. The flavor of the fruit speaks for itself. There are a lot of different types and brands of tomatoes available, each bringing a unique flavor and texture to your final product. Almost everyone is partial to one or another. This can be dependent on the style you are making, where you live or what dominant flavor you look for in a tomato. For example, if you make certified VPN Neapolitan pizza, you definitely want to use DOP San Marzano tomatoes. This particular variety is only grown in the fertile soil under Mount Vesuvius in the Campania region of Italy. If your pizza style doesn’t need a specific tomato, there are a few really great options that are grown in the USA or Italy. Whatever you choose, you want to make sure they have a bright flavor and color as well as a good mouthfeel. A few of the different tomatoes you can buy are: whole peeled, strips, crushed/ground with skins on or off, or tomato purees. Blending a few varieties can create a balanced sauce without having to add additional sugar. Almost all pizza sauces should be uncooked. There are, of course, exception, such as using a sauce that needs to be cooked down with other ingredients like onions or Guanciale. The reason that it should be uncooked is that it cooks in the oven and you want to retain the sweet, bright flavor of the tomatoes.

The Cheese

Cheese. Pizza people stand by their brand of cheese and will almost never waiver or change. I’ve used the same brand since opening, but every year we re-try other brands or new ones that have emerged. My brother and I will do a blind taste test but every time we land on the one we have always used. The reason for revisiting it every year? The price. Whether you use fresh mozzarella, blocks or even stretch it yourself, cheese is one of the most expensive components on your pie. Yes, tomatoes and flour are expensive these days too, but the quantity you use per pizza compared to cheese is much, much smaller. My brother jokes that we should have a market price for slices depending on how much the cheese is.

Aside from the brand of cheese, a few things to look at for mozzarella cheese are:

• Milk fat percentage: do you want whole milk, part skim or a blend? I am a big believer in whole milk mozzarella. That grease drip that comes off your folded slice? Pure goodness. However, if you’re looking for a cheese that gives a good pull (think Insta worthy), part skim will be more your jam.
• Pre-shredded or blocks: Pre-shredded is obviously easier and very consistent. The downside is that a lot of brands add an anti-caking agent to them which gives the cheese a grittier texture. They are also usually more expensive than block cheese but that also is determined by your labor costs. If you buy the blocks you can either shred it or slice it. Slicing has the advantage of being very consistent for portioning.
• Mozzarella or blend: Mozzarella is the most common cheese on pizza but obviously different styles have different cheeses. Certain brands are coming out with mozzarella blends (cheddar, provolone, etc.).

Once you’ve decided on your dough, sauce and cheese, it’s time to consider any additional toppings. When and how you put on toppings can change the way a pizza tastes and feels in your mouth. If you put cheese on top of the sauce it will taste different than if you put it on the bottom. If you pinch on fresh sausage rather than add on sliced links it will interact with the other toppings differently. Certain things should always go on before the bake: raw meats, certain veggies and cheeses. While others should go on after: Arugula, cured meats, finishing cheeses and oils.

The type of oven should also be a consideration when building your ideal pie. Whether you use gas, electric, wood or coal, the choice will affect the structure, texture and flavor of your pizza. Each type and brand bakes differently so it is a personal choice. You can manipulate it with certain things like what bench flour you use, the temperature you bake at (hot and fast or low and slow), whether or not you use a screen and how long your dough has been out.

As you can see, creating your perfect pizza really comes down to time and temperature, picking the right flour, tomatoes and cheese as well as toppings. There are a few other things that I live by when making a pizza, or really any dish for that matter. Never underestimate the value of a really good olive oil. Don’t forget to salt and as I tell my Little Slices, salt in stages.

Really, the bottom line is, stay true to your pizza and dough but take the necessary steps to make it properly fermented, structurally sound and acceptably topped. Most importantly, never stop learning and trying to improve your craft.

Don’t miss Audrey’s Demo at Pizza Expo 2024

Wednesday, 10:15 am -11:15 am

D05 Demo: How to Build a Better Pie

Audrey Kelly, Owner/Pizzaiola, Speaker, Audrey Jane’s Pizza

Type: Demo | Track: Demo | Room No: Show Floor Demo Area

See the full Pizza Expo Education Schedule.

Audrey Kelly owns Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage in Boulder, Colorado.

The post What makes a great pizza? appeared first on Pizza Today.

Chicken deserves its rightful place on pizza menus. Did you know Americans eat nearly 65 pounds of chicken per person each year? In fact, poultry is the most consumed meat in the U.S.

As pizza toppings go, chicken is a versatile one. It can be sourced uncooked or precooked. Raw chicken can be cooked ahead, divided and stored in the refrigerator for one to two days. But, be sure you are following all food safety practices. Chicken can be shredded, diced or sliced. It is a perfect canvas to infuse flavors into, whether that’s barbecue, Buffalo, Italian, Caribbean, curry, Tandoori, Peri Peri, Southwest, taco, bourbon, Montreal, lemon herb, garlic Parmesan, honey mustard, ginger sesame, or just about any seasoning combination you can come up with.

Depending on how it’s prepared, chicken can also be a healthier option for a low-calorie menu when combined with other healthy ingredients.

Pizza topping combinations are endless. Get creative with your chicken combination pizzas. We have some trending chicken pizza ideas for you to test out and make your own.

Tacos or Pizza? Or Taco Pizza

Taco pizzas can be a crowd pleaser. You can spin it with any style that will resonate with your customers, like mole, adobo, Tinga, Tex-Mex or chipotle. Toppings can be simple or varied. Here’s a chicken taco pizza recipe to try out:

Chicken Taco Pizza

Get the Chicken Taco Pizza Recipe.

It’s all Greek to Me

Go lighter with a Greek chicken pizza. A simple menu addition is pizza with grilled chicken strips, spinach and Kalamata olive halves, finished with feta and a squeeze of lemon. For another
option that taps into the authentic flavors of Greece, we turn to the late, great Pat Bruno, who spent many years as a Pizza Today columnist and food critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, for the Pizza alla Greco recipe, as follows:

Pizza alla Greco

Get the Pizza alla Greco Recipe.

The Comeback of Fried Chicken

Breaded and fried chicken are back in a major way. Just look at the fried chicken sandwich war that has engulfed nearly every fast food restaurant. Does breaded chicken deserve its place on pizza? You bet it does. Nashville hot chicken pizzas have caught fire across the country, and so will buttermilk fried chicken pizzas. I’m about to get controversial for those that are anti-Ranch dressing on pizza. But, nothing finishes a fried chicken pizza with a mozzarella and white cheddar blend, jalapeños and cilantro like a drizzle of Ranch dressing. You could even spicy up the dressing with sriracha.

Mimic the fast-food favorite sandwich, but offer a pizza with strips of fried chicken breast on an olive oil base, mozzarella and finished with pickle and your favorite drizzle sauce.

Offer fried chicken strips as an add-on to other menu favorites, like BLT or Hawaiian pizzas. Get your culinary juices flowing with something completely your own by testing two or three different toppings, sauces and finishes that are specific to your pizzeria, town or region.

You Can’t Go Wrong with Buffalo Chicken

We can’t talk about chicken pizzas without including the Pizza Today Test Kitchen favorite, Buffalo Chicken Pizza. There is no one perfect way to get a Buffalo chicken pizza right. There are so many versions. But the basic ingredients are chicken, Buffalo hot sauce, a creamy dressing and cheese. The chicken can be shredded, sliced or diced. It can even be breaded and deep fried. Typical veggie options include scallions, red onions, green onions, celery, pickles, banana peppers, jalapenos or other spicy peppers. You can use Blue Cheese or Ranch or both. Traditional cheeses include mozzarella, Monterey Jack and Bleu Cheese crumbles. Cilantro or chives are popular herbs. Mix and match ingredients using our version of a Buffalo Chicken Pizza as a base.

Go to pizzatoday.com/recipes/pizzas for more chicken pizza ideas.  

DENISE GREER is Executive Editor at Pizza Today.

The post Add trending chicken pizzas to your menu appeared first on Pizza Today.

Over the years of being in the pizza business I’ve realized that there are three types of people: there are pizza people, people who think they are pizza people and others. You can tell right away what category someone falls in by what they comment on about the pizza first. In my experience, pizza people go straight for the crust.  It is the first thing they notice and what they are most interested in learning about. What kind of flour? How long is the fermentation? What is the hydration? The people who fall into the Other category, instead see the crust simply as a vehicle for the toppings. I hear it daily in my slice shop and read it in reviews all of the time.  It is my job, as the menu developer and pizzaiola, to make both camps happy. This means making the most cohesive pizza I can. Something that I enjoy immensely as I am not only a complete dough geek, I am also a cook. Since the other category makes up a pretty big percentage, let’s talk about toppings, namely vegetable toppings. As for the people who think they are pizza people, well that is a topic for a whole other conversation.

Creating the perfect pizza is all about balance — not only with flavors, but textures as well. Vegetables are one of my favorite ingredients to achieve both. They can change drastically simply by how you cook, pair and use them. My menu has vegetables that are roasted, raw, blended and pickled. When I’m creating a new pizza, I look at the whole pie. Basically, how is it going to play out in your mouth? I want each bite to have elements of chewy, crunchy and creamy textures. As far as flavors, I am always looking for a balance. Cutting super fatty or earthy flavors with a hit of acid; or a big punch of garlic with a handful of saltiness.

I use vegetables in different ways on every pie depending on what I’m trying to achieve. For example, on some pizzas I cook the olives so that they become softer and blend in more with the other ingredients; and on others I put them on raw to deliver a bit more crunch on the finish. Onions are a vegetable that change drastically depending on how they are prepared.  Raw, they offer a big bite and spiciness that is great for cutting through meats and other heartier veggies. Caramelized, they break down and offer up a sweet creaminess.   

With only one electric oven at my pizzeria, we are forced to be a little more creative on how we cook things. This means a lot of roasted veggies, which I love because they carry some of the deepest flavors. One of our best sellers is our version of an eggplant Parmesan. We make it into pizza and sandwich form. Since we don’t have the capacity to pan-fry or deep fry the eggplant, we thinly slice and roast it. It is layered with sauce and ricotta, then topped with fresh basil and shaved Parmesan. We also roast Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, sweet onions, and other seasonal veggies, such as butternut squash and asparagus. Being a small place, I always try to multi-utilize every ingredient.

In my opinion, one of the best ingredients, vegetarian or meat, are chilies. Yes, chilies. I was once asked in an interview why so many of my pies featured peppers. Well, because they’re freakin’ awesome! Yes, I might have a slight addiction to spiciness but there are so many different types of chilies ranging in levels of heat. Also, how you prepare and pair them changes the flavor and hotness. Our most popular pizza is probably the Spicy Pig. It has sausage, natural casing pepperoni, garlic, and most importantly roasted jalapeños. Do we roast them in house? You bet we do. Not only is it super simple to do, but the difference in flavor is a game changer. Others that we use in multiple forms are Calabrian chilies. We blend them with honey, make hot oil, crush to put straight on pies and mix in with our homemade sausage. Of course, there are also bell peppers, which can be put on the pizza raw, roasted to bring out the sweetness or pickled for added crunch and acidity.

Let’s talk about pickled veggies. To me, they are something that a lot of people overlook, yet happen to be one of my favorite ingredients. It can turn any dish that is a bit lackluster, into a flavor bomb. You could say I’m a bit of a pickle junkie. Making tacos? Top them with some pickled onions and cauliflower. Italian sandwich? Oh, there better be some giardinara on it. Need to jazz up that pepperoni pie? Did you add pickled jalapeños? You can also change the flavor to create exactly what you’re trying to achieve simply by adding different ingredients to the brine. Use fresh herbs, spices and different allium (leeks, onions, scallion, garlic, etc). You can also adjust the vinegar ratio if you don’t want it to be so acidic. What’s the best way to balance all of the acid? A nice hit of fat. Which brings us to frying.

Deep frying is also an excellent way to transform veggies, perfect for a finishing touch. One of my favorites is fried leeks. Not only do they look and smell amazing, they add a whole new dimension to the pizza without being overwhelming. Lemons, which I know are not technically a vegetable, are beautiful when flash fried.   

There are so many fun ways to use vegetables as toppings besides accompanying meat on a supreme pizza. Here are a few different pies to play around with that encompass multiple textures and techniques. Feel free to substitute the veggies for ones you have on hand or have a hankering to try.

• Roasted delicata squash and broccolini, mozzarella and finished with burrata, toasted pumpkin seeds and fresh basil.
• Pepperoni, sauce, mozzarella, pickled cauliflower and jalapeños.
• Raw spinach, mushrooms, caramelized onions, pesto and sweet piquanté peppers.

Pickling can be a little intimidating at first, but it is actually one of the simplest things to do. If you’re going to use the pickles right away and refrigerate them, you don’t even have to can them. Here is a recipe to use as a baseline (you can add different ingredients to vary the flavor profile).

Quick Pickling Recipe

Makes: 2 pint jars

Get the Vegetable Quick Pickling Recipe.

Audrey Kelly is the owner and pizzaiola at Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage in Boulder, CO.

The post Vegetables on Pizza: V-edgy appeared first on Pizza Today.

I recently sat eyeball-to-eyeball with a client who tasked me with finding a way to advertise a fi sh pizza that just hadn’t caught on. It was his “pet” pizza. He loved it. I thought it was okay, and customers had already been given free samples. Yet it just wouldn’t budge.

He figured some fancy ad would surely get this pizza moving up the sales channel and turn it into a signature item.

Let’s get straight on something right now: A deep-rooted, fundamental marketing “fact” is that you will make lots of money by selling people what they already want to buy. That said, you can go broke “on the quick” by plowing your ad budget into promoting fringe items with little interest.

Take, for example, grocery stores. They advertise top-selling items only. Stuff with wide appeal. Things with proven ability to drive traffi c. Items that cast the widest net over the marketplace: milk, meats, soft drinks. They don’t promote mousetraps, toilet plungers or liverwurst.

I often see pizzerias advertise a “large cheese pizza” at a low price-point because they’re afraid of scaring prospects away with a higher-priced offer. Now that’s fi ne if cheese pizzas are one of your top sellers. If they’re not, though, you are advertising something with little demand — and the low-price offer is costing you more than it’s bringing in.

Even though my pizzeria was widely known for gourmet, I found it best to advertise the combo, BBQ chicken pizza, and I’d always throw a veggie pizza in the mix. Why? Because those pizzas made the phones ring off the hook. Now, I certainly listed my entire menu on most ads, but I only used photos and offers for my top sellers. You’ll instantly improve your advertising results by following this path of least resistance. And that is by advertising what people already want to buy from you.

Here’s three easy ways you can fi gure out exactly what you should be advertising to drive the most traffic with the least money spent.

• What are your current top three selling pizzas or entrees?
• What has been a crowd favorite for a long time?
• What are the big chains advertising? Okay, the mere fact that your topselling pizzas are your “top-selling” pizzas means people want to buy them. Your marketplace has already told you what to advertise. Listen to your customers!

Kamron Karington owned a highly successful independent pizzeria before becoming a consultant, speaker and author of The Black Book: Your Complete Guide to Creating Staggering Profi ts in Your Pizza Business. He is a monthly contributor to Pizza Today.

The post 2009 November: Marketing Matters appeared first on Pizza Today.

Neither could we. We needed a pan pizza for a photo shoot and simply did not have time to make it ourselves before our deadline. We called an independent pizzeria just blocks away from our office and placed the order –– anonymously, of course. When we opened the box, our jaws dropped. Our managing editor, Mandy Detwiler, placed a call to the shop. She asked to speak to the manager regarding a burned pizza. After five minutes on hold, Mandy was informed the manager was busy helping in the kitchen because someone didn’t show up to work that day (the customer’s problem?). Mandy was promised a return call from the manager.

Well, the return call came — but not from the manager. Again, too busy. But the employee was courteous and apologetic. She explained the reason for the burned pizza (their inexperienced crew had turned the deck ovens up too high in the morning) and offered to make it right by sending a gift card. That did nothing to satisfy our needs for a photogenic pizza or to remedy our hunger, but it was a gesture that, as pure customers, we appreciated. She was working to make it right.

The best part of the story — at least it gave me a chuckle — was when the employee called Mandy back to get the address to which the gift card should be sent. “908 South 8th Street,” Mandy said … “Care of Pizza Today magazine…” There was a gasp at the other end of the line. The poor girl couldn’t believe they just sent a national magazine a product even a hog wouldn’t eat. But, in reality, we are absolutely the best office in America for this sort of mistake. We understand. Others do not. At some point it becomes not about the poor product that was served, but about the service the unhappy customer receives post-mistake.

What would you personally have done in this situation had that call come into your pizzeria? Would you have returned the call yourself? Would you be happy if you learned that the hostess instead of the manager called the customer back when the customer specifically asked to speak to the manger? Would you have delivered a new pizza immediately along with the gift card? These are all questions that our staff has asked one another and our operator friends since the blackened pizza left us all feeling blue.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you would have settled the matter if it occurred in your pizzeria. Please e-mail me at the address below.

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

The post Commentary: A Customer Service Failure appeared first on Pizza Today.

What makes our pizza healthier is a combination of things. It first starts with the dough we use — our organic ancient grain crust is a nutritionally rich proprietary blend of ancient grains without the added sugar, molasses, high fructose corn syrup or other fillers in a lot of other pizza dough. It’s the pure grains delivered to you in pizza dough form. Since our bodies need good carbohydrates, this dough has been really well received by our diabetic customers.

The sprouted ancient grain is a proprietary blend of grains including, but not limited to, quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat. It has only a small amount of wheat to provide the gluten necessary to transform it into pizza dough. Because it is only a small percentage of wheat, it tastes nothing like traditional wheat crust. The flavor profile is nutty and earthy and quite unique. The characteristics of the crust are light and airy, thin with the perfect amount of chew and crisp.

We then use an organic, low-sodium tomato sauce and a variety of low-fat cheeses as the base for an unbelievable finished product. Our toppings are sourced through our local farming community or organic grow houses in the Southeast. We believe in supporting agriculture that practices organic and sustainable farming methods. Inherently, it all goes into our bodies — the chemicals, antibiotics and hormones used in most conventional/commercial approaches — therefore we choose to be a part of a healthier solution for our future.

Our current location adds to our mission because we are nestled inside of an urban space — The 7th Street Public Market. We are surrounded by other locally focused food purveyors with a common goal of offering high quality, local and organic foods that focus on our region. It’s a very collaborative space. We are fortunate because we buy from several of the other shopkeepers — things like cheese, produce, bacon, ground beef and olive oil/vinegar. We are a “location within a location” so there are definite pros and cons. We are the benefactor of ambient traffic flow, but then again, we are one of the major drivers of foot traffic within the market.

Because we are a different kind of pizzeria, we really had to make a strong connection with those pizza lovers out there. And, because of our location, we had to establish our own identity. So well before we sold our first pizza, we were social media crazy!

It was a hard sell at first to convince my business partner of the need to hire a professional videographer to film us. But when he saw the first video produced and the response to it from our social media outlets, we were off to the races to produce more. The intention was to create a visual interpretation of Farm-2-Fork. We went on location to a variety of our partners to show who they are and what they do; everything from a mushroom farm, a 40-year organic farm, one of Charlotte’s favorite local breweries and a bee keeper. The followers really connected in a resounding way. We had fans says, “How can I be craving something I’ve never tasted!”

The post Conversation with Juli Ghazi, Pure Pizza, Charlotte, NC appeared first on Pizza Today.

Fate Brewing Company,
Scottsdale, Arizona
Fate opened in November 2012, offering 10 wood-fired, artisan pizzas and a half-dozen house made beers.

The union of small batch beer and wood-fired pizza just seemed to be a natural fit. Think about it, the artisanal components of each craft go hand-in-hand, pizza — flour, water, salt and yeast; beer — malted barley, water, hops and yeast. Both crafts take a great deal of patience and integrity. Ultimately, it’s about our guests enjoying time honored and very locally produced food and drink… a brewery and pizzeria fit the cause.

I left my day job in finance just over three years ago to pursue this project. It took a great deal of time to get confident enough to pull the trigger. I’ve had two wonderful mentors, Tom and Sandy Hennessey from Colorado Boy Pub and Brewery, in Ridgway, Colorado. They were the push to get this place up and running.

Although our brewery is small (7 Barrel System), it was a significant investment –– well over the cost of the restaurant side of the business. The ability to brew small batches keeps our menu fresh and rotational. We get direct feedback from our customers, letting us know what beers they enjoy. In turn, we can brew crowd favorites in a matter of a few weeks. Our customers definitely play a big role in the direction our beer takes.

I think food pairings are very specific to one’s palate. In general terms, India Pale Ales are well received with spicy foods like our spicy fennel sausage, whereas our more delicate American-style Kolsch beer is delicious with our pesto pizza.

Beer-to-go in growlers is a big thing for us… you can’t get much fresher beer than a fresh-from the- tap poured growler. Most of our customers either grab a pizza with the beer to go, or enjoy a pint at the bar while their growler is being poured.

So far, (marketing efforts have) been mainly social media. It’s amazing the power social media posts can have if (they are) meaningful and relevant…. especially, word-of-mouth from our happy and excited customers. Also, craft beer lovers will take extraordinary steps to track down a local brewery, which in turn is fantastic for our pizza oven!

Short-term plans revolve around brewing many different beers and keeping up with our patrons’ demand at the pub level. Once we have our brewing production schedule dialed in, we’d love to see our beer on tap at specialty beer bars and other local venues focusing on craft beer.

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