Like the timeless classic peanut butter and jelly, pizza paired with the right beverage is a match made in heaven. That said, the question then becomes: What is the correct beverage?

There are no wrong answers here. Whatever a person’s palate prefers is the correct pairing. For me, it depends on mood, style of pizza and toppings. With a greasy New York-style pie or a thicker Detroit, for example, I like to go with soda. Give me the classic: Coca-Cola (preferably in a bottle), and I’m happy. Unless I’m having sausage as a topping, then I want a beer. White pie? I want a light, crisp lager. Neapolitan? Margherita? I prefer a red wine. Likely a Barbera. None of these are the “right” pairings, they’re just what I like personally.

Beverage Trends and Handling

You’ll find some great articles about:

• Winning pizza and wine pairings.
• 2025 beverage trends.
• Beverage handling and storage.
• Ideal beverage serving temperatures.

As you can tell, there’s a definite focus on the beverage category this month. That’s because what your customers drink with their pizza certainly can enhance their experience – and your profits.

Offering a curated list of beverages designed to partner with your food is a no-brainer. In the end, the customer wants what the customer wants. But you have the power to help guide their choices.

O-Hi-O on the Horizon

Now that we’re into May, we’re moving closer to Pizza Expo Columbus. The show will take place Oct. 25-27 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. I am not sure anyone is more excited than Show Director Bill Oakley. Bill has said for at least a decade that he envisioned bringing Midwest pizza makers together by having a Pizza Expo in Columbus. That time is now, and we are getting amped up for the event. Look for more information about speakers and competitions soon.

Can’t wait to see you there!

Best,

Jeremy White

Editor In Chief

jwhite@pizzatoday.com

The post Commentary: Food & Drink appeared first on Pizza Today.

Flat soda. Warm wine. These details might not ruin a meal, but they certainly don’t make a good impression. When it comes to proper serving temperatures for beverages, getting it just right can be the difference between a forgettable dining experience and creating a repeat customer.

Mcson Salicetti is director of the New York chapter of the U.S. Bartenders Guild as well as beverage program developer at his New York City-based consultancy, Bar Libations & Co. After being raised by a mother who was a chef, Salicetti says he appreciates how drinks served at the appropriate temperatures can highlight the flavors in food and elevate the overall experience.

“When I have to set up a new program, these things become very important: teaching bartenders and managers saves money. It also brings customers back because it makes the flavors of the food you’re serving more exciting and more precise.”

Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Beverages

Restaurant owners might think soda is the easiest beverage offering. After all, a fountain soda that costs the restaurant pennies in carbonation and syrup can easily be sold for $3. But did you know that storage temperatures don’t just impact beer and wine but soda as well?

Freezing a can of soda – even temporarily – can result in a total loss of carbonation, even if it is opened months later. Similarly, storing soda in a hot kitchen or in the outdoor sun can drain the beverage of its fizzy goodness.

Instead, it is best to store soda at the same temperature it is manufactured at, 39-42 F, to maintain carbonation and pressure levels. See “Safe Beverage Storage and Handling” on page 26 for details about food safety regulations that apply to storing canned sodas and other drinks.

Beers: from Pilsners to Stouts

(Photo by Room 76 Photography/stock.adobe.com)

When it comes to beer storage, lighter beers are best served cold. But before applying a blanket approach to storing and serving all beers just above freezing, Salicetti advises pizzeria operators to consider pairing aromatic beers with wide-mouth glasses so patrons can experience the subtle changes as they warm up and release different aromas.

“For a Pilsner, which is a lighter beer, you want it as cold as you can, but no colder than 38 F. Anything (lower than 35 F) will start compromising the carbonation, and we want to keep it crisp and refreshing,” Salicetti says.

Blondes, lagers, pale ales and IPAs, meanwhile, have higher hops content, which increases aromatics and tropical flavors. Salicetti says hops tend to release their oils at warmer temperatures, although he recommends against serving mid-bodied beers any warmer than 50 F.

Similarly, serving a heavier beer too cold deprives the drinker of the full experience. “If it’s too cold, then that’s a problem, because then all those flavors are muted and you don’t get anything,” Salicetti says. For heavier beers such as a stout or a porter, he advises servers to wait a few minutes before delivering the glass to the table. “If you wanted a perfect beer, give me three to five minutes, and then it’s gonna be wow, beautiful.”

Wines: from Sauvignon Blanc to Zinfandel

U.S. bars and restaurants often store bottles of red wine on the counter, meaning they reach room temperature, which enhances the hot burn of alcohol on the palate and makes wine taste sour. “Depending on how warm it is, you taste even more alcohol fumes,” Salicetti says. “You can go all the way up to 65 F (for a Cabernet or Merlot), and it will be perfect. But once again, that’s not room temperature; it’s almost 10 degrees lower than room temperature.”

Generally, white wines should be served between 45 and 55 F, while reds are best enjoyed between 55 and 65 F. Consider organizing your wine-storage system so the most light-bodied wines, such as Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc, get the coldest, while fuller bodied reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are farthest from the cooling unit. If the storage area seems too cold, remember that wine starts acclimating to the ambient temperature as soon as it leaves the bottle. Larger glasses with more surface area also will cause the beverage temperature to change more quickly. And as the customer enjoys their drink, the wine will continue to warm up and express more complex aromatic notes.

To keep customers coming back, Salicetti recommends pizzerias become more particular about beverage temperatures, noting that this small detail impacts the flavor of everything that comes out of the kitchen.

Kate Lavin is Senior Editor at Pizza Today. 

The post Play It Cool: How to Nail Beverage Serving Temperatures appeared first on Pizza Today.

We pizza makers immerse ourselves into the science, craft and business of perfecting pizzas every day. The basis for any great pizza is usually milled wheat of some type mixed with water and a fermentative vehicle that, with the help of time and temperature, produces gases. These gases produce carbon dioxide, whose carbonic acids taste slightly sour when they hit the receptors of the tongue. Other flavors depend on additive elements in the dough such as flavorful liquids. This is the cliff face I want to geek out on, without doing a Wile E. Coyote swan-dive into the desert floor. Let’s start with the rules of the past, then drive fast to the future.

“When it comes to the rules of cooking, the one that supersedes them all is what I call ‘The Flavor Rule.’ That is, flavor rules! And one way to infuse flavor in dough is through liquids that already carry flavor.” – Peter Reinhart Baker, Educator and James Beard Award-winning author of “Pizza Quest,” “Perfect Pan Pizza” and “American Pie”

Foreign Influence

Many great minds have created categorical definitions for bread and pizza dough that have formed over years of human history. These different doughs formed slowly in cultures depending upon location, weather, soil, history and resources. For instance, the traditional Tuscan bread named Pane Sciocco, meaning “simple bread,” does not contain any salt. This is because in the Middle Ages the city of Pisa controlled the salt trade and taxed salt. Here are some traditional bread dough categories:

Stiff, Standard and Rustic: These are made according to hydration, from very firm to tacky and sticky, accordingly.

Lean: Made with little or no fat or sugar – a very hard dough.

Enriched: Medium-soft dough made with less than 20 percent fat – can also include sugar, eggs and milk.

Rich: Over 20 percent fat, may also include eggs, sugar and milk.

Flat: This is baked thinly and is soft and crisp. It may or may not include yeast.

Mixed Blessing

Mixing doughs is just as important as every other step in your baking routine, and what liquids you use can make all aspects of any pizza or bread react differently. But first, a word on absorption.

Absorption is defined as the amount of liquid your flour can suck up and hold while being made into a simple dough. This is often expressed as a percentage of the weight of the flour itself, usually known as Bakers’ Percentage. So, if you add 40 pounds of water to 100 pounds of flour, your absorption ratio is 40 percent. Because starch is the largest volume of any flour, it absorbs most of the liquid, but only up to ¼ to ½ of its weight. Proteins absorb up to twice their weight in water, so variations in protein levels in your flour can make a big difference in absorption. As an example, a high-protein flour with 80-percent absorption will, under the proper circumstances, produce a dynamic oven-spring (the initial rise when the dough hits the hot oven stones) because of the steam in the dough. It also will produce a crisp, blistered crust and large, waxy alveoli in the cornicione, or crust, if aged properly.

Fluid Situation

There are many examples of infusing bread with flavorful liquids with or without water.

Beer

It is fermented with different yeasts – Saccharomyces cerevisiae, known as “Brewers Yeast,” is in ales, and Saccharomyces pastorianus in lagers. You may get a different outcome in your pizza dough for each of these. For instance, ale yeast ferments better in hotter temperatures and lager in colder temps. Hops, heat, alcohol and acidity in beer all can affect any dough that is risen from freshly brewed beer. This is why a lot of bakers boost beer doughs with sourdough starter, baking powder, pre-ferments and/or instant-rise flour. The magical quality that beer adds to a pizza dough is flavor. IPA beer will add a hoppy, bitter taste, while lagers will add a malty flavor, and porters, stouts and brown ales will add a rich chocolate or coffee flavor.

Malt

This addition to pizza dough has an enzyme named amylase that breaks starch into sugars that the yeasties love. This results in a deeper brown crust and a more vigorous rise. The two malts are diastatic and non-diastatic. Non-diastatic adds color and sweet, malty flavor, while diastatic malt helps when a fast bake time is looming; it bakes to a higher volume and a more tender cell structure.

Honey

More pizza makers are using honey in their pizza dough because it is a natural sweet vehicle for yeasts to feed upon. Honey also is a natural humectant that draws in moisture and will make for softer dough. It does help with the maillard* reaction in crust by having a lot of simple sugars that create a richer color and deeper flavor. (** A reaction when amino acids and sugars in food are heated to create browning.)

Porridge

It is ironic that historically the precursor to bread was porridge, and there are many instances of whole peoples being mocked as “porridge eaters.” The procedure of adding porridge to dough is now on the cutting edge of creativity in the artisan baking community. It is born of the popularity of whole and alternative grains, which are practically devoid of gluten, in breads and pizzas without producing a brick-like texture. By cooking or soaking whole grains with water before mixing, a fermentation produces a mild cheesy aroma. Adding over 50 percent of this porridge to each batch adds digestibility and longevity to the bread or pizza dough. Because the porridge is barely cooked, it needs lower baking temperatures, par-baking stages and extra time to set up before slicing.

Curry

There is no better statement of your innovative creativity than a curry-crusted pizza! This mix starts with roasting onions with curry powder and extra virgin olive oil, grinding them into a liquid and adding it to any dough mix. Sometimes, raisins or walnuts will multiply the flavor bomb but may inhibit some forming techniques. I’ve done this for years with great results!

Matcha Tea

This addition provides a nice earthy, sweet, vegetal taste to pizza dough. The biggest attribute being the bright green color like in Japanese Milk Bread. This pizza dough needs to be baked at 500 F or below because you may get a brown crusting on the color at higher temps.

Maple Syrup

Because I have access to many friends who make maple syrup, I’ve spent years trying to perfect the best maple bread and pizza dough around. The deep sweetness of maple infused in bread is a real crowd pleaser and best partnered with spelt and whole wheat. Like Matcha, maple syrup must be watched or baked on a parchment-covered pan in lower heat because the sugars may caramelize too much.

JOHN GUTEKANST owns Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio.

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You’ve meticulously crafted a dynamite beverage menu tailored specifically for enthusiasts of beer, wine, whiskey, cocktails or other liquors. Leverage your beverage program with a club to increase repeat visits to your pizzeria.

Membership-based wine, beer and even whiskey clubs can offer great benefits for your restaurant. They can reward your regulars. Just like your general loyalty club, creating a beverage club is a great way to thank your patrons and keep them coming back for more. A club can help with inventory control and sales forecasting by promoting products that excite club members. Clubs also give you the opportunity to build an affinity culture around your beverage program.

Before you explore the beverage club option, check with your local Alcohol and Beverage Commission to make sure such a club is allowed. If it is allowed, are there limitations to your offerings? Make sure you know the laws regarding selling or serving alcohol to-go, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic restriction changes.

Give Customers What They Want

There are a wide range of benefits that you can offer consumers as part of their club membership. We scoured some of the most highly regarded restaurant beer, wine and whiskey clubs. Here are some of the common benefits to evaluate if it could fit your concept:

• A standard discount, either a percentage or dollar amount off beverage orders
• New tapping announcements and events
• Early access to seasonal and specialty releases
• Recommendations from beverage experts
• Beverage Pairings and tasting events
• Members-only swag and collectibles
• Beer- or wine-pairing dinners
• Access to rare and highly sought-after products

Exclusivity is a common draw for membership, such as being the first to try a new or hard-to-find beer, wine or whiskey. Enthusiasts often are seeking the opportunity to sample new beers before they are offered on the menu.

Mug and glass clubs are popular. They can be set up a number of ways. The most common is the up-front fee-based model that includes a custom mug or glassware, which gains the member access to discounts and exclusive offers. The mugs may be kept at the establishment or brought in by members.

Some restaurants offer a reward point system to earn prizes such as swag and other gear. Some of the higher end establishments also offer direct shipment (this area requires research and alignment with local, state and national regulations regarding the shipment of alcohol).

Photo by master1305/stock.adobe.com

The overarching benefit of beverage clubs is creating a sense of community around a common interest.

If you are friendly with local business operators, you can go beyond some of the common club benefits to create something unique to your pizzeria, such as working with breweries and wineries to collaborate on a limited release. You also can create a private-label product specific to your pizzeria.

There are also opportunities to host specialty events with member-exclusive access such as Meet the Maker (brewer, winemaker, distiller) dinners or collaborating with breweries, wineries or distilleries to offer exclusive facility tours.

If you’re considering a membership-based beverage club, be strategic. Have a plan outlining everything before you roll it out. What type of program would work best for you, your staff and your customers? How will you execute club features and events? Establish membership terms including term length and the renewal process. Running an effective beverage club takes coordination.

Pizzeria Beer Club

Drew and Leah Watson have offered a beer club since opening Hops & Pie on Denver’s Tennyson Street in 2010 with a focus on craft beer and artisan pizza. The pizzeria has 30 taps, eight of which are static. That leaves 22 lines of new, interesting or rare beers to rotate each week. Some change three times per week. Hops & Pie is known for tapping rare beers. “If there’s one keg coming to the state, we’re getting it before anybody else,” he says. The pizzeria has grown into the go-to spot for acquiring hard-to-find beers. It’s something Drew feels fortunate about.

The Watsons’ beer club approach is to keep it simple and provide incentives that members want. “For 75 bucks, you get $1 off all drafts,” Watson says of the annual program. “$12 Detroit style pizzas. On Sundays, you get your third draft free, and the second Sunday of every month, we … pick three beers and offer them to club members for 50 cents a piece.”

There is also a lifetime membership option for $500. As much as the memberships provide a bump in revenue, Drew says he sees a significant uptick in food sales and repeat business from the club.

Everything goes through a promotions code in Hops & Pie’s POS system. The Watsons keep a member email database. You can go DIY like Hops & Pie or use a club-management provider.

The club offers another marketing vehicle. “It’s just been a really great tool, and it gives us a really great database of e-mails, people who are committed in one form or another,” Drew says.

Whatever route you go with your beer, wine or whiskey club, Drew advises: “Be patient and make it worth their while.”

Denise Greer is Executive Editor at Pizza Today.

The post Build customer loyalty around your pizzeria’s beverage program 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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