Volume 17 Issue 6 September/October 2011
14
Joe Leroux, winner of this year’s Saputo Pizza with Purpose award, was all smiles as he was presented with a certificate and $2,500 from contest sponsor Saputo Foodservice in their new test kitchen. From left to right: Roy Sciotto, director of food service, Leroux and Glenda Taylor, director of marketing, food service.
14 Finding purpose in pizza 8
Joe Leroux of Amadio’s Pizza is our 2011 Pizza with Purpose winner.
16 pizza that isn’t pizza
Here’s a look at some oddities in pizza imitation.
21 turn your it
20
into i-proFit New solutions could help you turn your pizzeria’s IT into a profit-generating centre.
22 spicing it up tableside Take your olive oil from ordinary to extraordinary.
26 gluten-Free 22
gaining ground Handy tips for creating your own gluten-free dough to serve the growing gluten-free market.
www.canadianpizzamag.com
DEPARTMENTS 6
editor’s desk
8
pizza bites
8
canadian pizza online
12
the pizza chef
20
making dough
24
marketing insights
30
pizza on fire
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 pizza 3
“Packed from Fresh Tomatoes, Not from Concentrate”...
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from the editor’s desk
Small things with big heart oing small things with big heart is what changes the world. Everyone can make a difference, and you already do in feeding and employing the masses. But are you doing all you can? This year’s Saputo Pizza with Purpose winner exemplifies this idea, and adds business acumen. Joe Leroux, proprietor of Amadio’s Pizza, has both sincerity and method in the way he’s folded Amadio’s pies into the fabric of his community. You’ll find Leroux’s story and ideas for making participation a practical and easy part of life in your pizzeria on page 14. We live in such a busy world. It’s easy to forget to slow down and do such simple things as holding doors for the elderly or frazzled parents pushing strollers. When we slow down, we take the time to ask questions, and often in questions are opportunities of mutual benefit. The purpose of Pizza with Purpose is twofold: To honour and acknowledge a pizza operator who is going above and beyond in giving back, and to encourage you to reflect on what can be done and what you are already doing. The most common answer I hear from pizzeria operators when asked why they love what they do is that they love people. My guess is there is an awful lot of good being done out there by pizzerias, who seem to attract the naturally benevolent to their helm. We all have our own circumstances and limits to what we can give and preferences
d
for the ways in which we give. It’s important to do what you can and feel good about doing your best. There are rewards to reap, as Leroux’s story shows, but they come in time. Like any branding and marketing effort, it’s the repeated exposure in your community that will eventually turn into loyalty and sales. Because you are in the position of providing food, the list of ways to help people is basically endless. People get hungry and they need to eat; it’s as simple as that. Next time there’s a fundraiser going on in your community, offer to feed the volunteers. Contributing, making pizza with purpose, is an abstract notion that you probably do more often than you realize. A good deed does not have to be complicated to count. The benefits of lending a hand go beyond the exposure to your business. “Helper’s high” has the attention of the science world, who are seeking to understand how our own altruism helps us live longer, healthier happier lives. We know, intuitively, that we feel good when we do good, and you can bet there’s good science behind that. Congratulations to Leroux on his fine work in winning our Saputo Pizza with Purpose award. He’s a great example of why a pizzeria often gains such a reputation as a “local institution.” And he reminds me of why it’s so great to be part of the pizza industry in Canada – all the wonderful people! •
september/october 2011, Vol. 17, no. 6 editor Laura Aiken laiken@annexweb.com 416-522-1595 assistant editor Brandi Cowen bcowen@annexweb.com 888-599-2228 ext.278 publisher Christine Livingstone clivingstone@annexweb.com 519-429-5173 888-599-2228 ext. 239 sales assistant Pauline O’Neill poneill@annexweb.com 519-429-5183 888-599-2228 ext. 219 production artist Kate Patchell group publisher Martin McAnulty mmcanulty@annexweb.com president Mike Fredericks mfredericks@annexweb.com Mailing address P.O. Box 530, 105 Donly Dr. S., Simcoe, ON N3Y 4N5 PuBLICAtION MAIL AgreeMeNt #40065710 returN uNDeLIVerABLe CANADIAN ADDreSS tO CIrCuLAtION DePArtMeNt, P.O. Box 530, Simcoe, ON N3Y 4N5 e-mail: cnowe@annexweb.com Published eight times per year (Jan/Feb, Mar, Apr/May, Jun, Jul/Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov, Dec), by Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. Printed in Canada ISSN 1203-6838 circulation e-mail: cnowe@annexweb.com tel: 866-790-6070 ext. 207 Fax: 877-624-1940 Mail: P.O. Box 530, Simcoe, ON N3Y 4N5 subscription rates Canada – 1 Year $ 19.26 (includes gSt - #867172652rt0001) uSA – 1 Year $ 40.00 Occasionally, Canadian Pizza Magazine will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above.. No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2011 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. www.canadianpizzamag.com
6 pizza SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
pizzabites Restaurants avoid extra dairy costs he Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) rejected milk producers’ request for a price increase on industrial milk. The request was made using outdated cost of production data, which showed a large jump in milk production costs, when more recent figures indicate only a modest increase. The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) met with the CDC to express industry concerns about the impact of inflated dairy prices on consumer demand and affordability. The CRFA estimates that, if granted, producers’ requested price increase on industrial milk would have cost the industry more than $80 million in additional dairy costs.
t
neWs highlights •
NEw TooL To FiGhT SkiLLED LAbouR ShoRTAGE
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boSToN PizzA SiGNS SPoNSoRShiP AGREEMENT wiTh uFC
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b.C. bARS oNSiDE AS iMPAiRED DRiviNG DEAThS DRoP
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CRAFT bREwS GAiNiNG GRouND iN CANADiAN bEER MARkET
read these stories and More at WWW.canadianpizzaMag.coM
8 pizza SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
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feature
A home for the house Barrel Pizza and Spaghetti House has been serving Simcoe, Ont., for 24 years BY BrANDI COweN
T
om Daikos opened the first Barrel Pizza and Spaghetti House in Toronto in 1974. For the next 10 years, he and his family tried to make their casual Italian dining concept work in Toronto, Richmond Hill, Ont., and Aurora, Ont. It wasn’t until 1986, when the Daikos family settled in Simcoe, Ont., that the Barrel Pizza and Spaghetti House found its home. Canadian Pizza magazine sat down with Daikos for a chat about his life in pizza. Can you give us a brief history of the restaurant? We built from scratch in 1986 and we opened in June 1987. We’ve been very successful ever since. We used to be in Toronto, Richmond Hill and Aurora with other restaurants [all under the Barrel Pizza and Spaghetti House name] and then we moved here and settled down. The kids didn’t want to move anymore and I was happy here. It’s a very nice town and we like it, so it’s where we are today. It went fast, that 24 years. What’s the secret to being in business for so long? The secret, as I see it, is first of all, discipline in what you’re doing. You have to like what you’re doing. You have to have faith in it. When you do good things, you’ll be successful. The restaurant business is, to me, cleanness, fair pricing, good service, good food, and of course, you have to have a good environment. With today’s standards, you can’t expect something from 30 years ago is going to work now. It’s not. You have to update things to today’s standards. What’s your favourite memory from your time in the restaurant business? One memory is from back in Richmond Hill. That’s how many years ago now – 36,
Tom Daikos has been at the helm of barrel Pizza and Spaghetti house for 24 memorable years.
37 years ago? At that time I was new to the business. I was short of staff one day and I had to be the server. One customer looked at me – he was a salesman from the Chrysler dealership – and he came by and said ‘what did you do?’ So I looked at him and said ‘what do you mean, what did I do?’ He said ‘you did something wrong.’ I didn’t think. It didn’t strike me. He said, ‘I see you’re serving.’ I said, ‘Yes, we’re short a waitress today so I had to be the server.’ ‘Well that’s what I mean,’ he said. That’s when I thought, I should pay more attention and try to manage the business, rather than try to do everything, like
10 pizza SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
try to be the cook and all that. I had to work more on the business than being more into the business. I love cooking and I still do, but at that time, I was more like a cook than a manager. I’ll always remember that. What’s your favourite memory of this location? I don’t know. I have many good memories. If there’s anything related to the community, we enjoy doing it. We live here. Our kids grew up here, went to high school here. This is the longest I’ve been in a town. We always were on the move, but now we’ve been here 24 years; I’ve been here since ’86. We like it, our roots are here. We don’t plan on moving. •
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the pizza chef
Sauce basics Diana Coutu ome pizza places use a premade canned pizza sauce on their pizzas. In fact, most chains do, as a way of simplifying operations for the franchisee. This also eliminates the concern of their proprietary recipes falling into the wrong hands. While there is a consistency factor with choosing premade sauces, I’m against it for several reasons, but mostly because they tend to be generic in taste and quality. Your sauce is very important to the overall taste of your pizza and it’s one area where an independent pizza maker can set itself apart from chains and all others. We start our award-winning marinara recipe with grade A premium-quality crushed tomatoes that are bright red in the can, naturally sweet and full of lycopene, which is widely associated with lowering risk of certain cancers. There are also grade B through D quality tomatoes available, which many pizza places use as bases for their sauce. Lowerquality tomatoes are orange and sometimes even brown in the can. The increased acid makes them bitter to the taste, especially compared to the premium grade A tomatoes. Many of these lower grades of canned tomatoes have plastic liners inside the tin cans because the acid from the tomatoes is so strong it will eat the tin and leach tin flavour into the tomatoes. Pizza places that use low-quality tomatoes try to overcome the bitterness and orange colour by loading the sauce with sugar and red dyes to mimic a better-quality tomato. This is false savings because whatever you might save on the lower-quality tomatoes you now have to spend on sugars and dyes. Grazziano, my Italian pizza school instructor, says that sugar is the worst thing you can add to your pizza sauce and he’s right. The sugar causes any exposed sauce to burn in the hot oven. Another concern with low-quality canned tomatoes has to do with the canning
s
Make sure your pizza sauce is worthy of your best slice.
process. Many processes include dipping the tomatoes in a bath of lye or bleach to remove the skins, whereas high-quality tomato canning processes use steam instead. Some pizza makers refuse to believe that the lye bath affects the taste of the tomato, but extra sensitive palates can tell. Another concern is spices. Many spices are grown in Third World countries where access to clean water and education about proper food handling are real issues. Villagers typically get paid by the pound, so sticks, stones and other foreign matter make their way into the blend (I don’t want to completely gross you out, but it’s the truth). It’s not just a big difference in prices on guaranteed-quality spices versus cheap ones. There’s also a big difference in the amount of spice per gram. Choose a brand or company that works with villagers to ensure maximum quality and purity. When you use the best-quality spices, recipes requires less quantity to create great and satisfying flavours. Plus, you can be certain that your recipes will always turn out as intended, every time. We only purchase the
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best-quality spices at Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria, yet the cost is only one per cent of the total cost of the recipes. Most of the flavour is provided by the ingredient with the least expensive price per serving. When you buy the best spices, less is truly more. We combine our selected herbs and spices in our grade A tomato base and allow it to marinate in the walk-in cooler for 24 hours before it’s ready to use. Sometimes I’m asked whether you need to cook the marinara, in order for your sauce to develop flavour, but as long as you give it time to marinate in the walk-in, there is no need to do so. Your sauce will cook in the hot oven, cooking it twice won’t make it any better. • Diana Coutu is a two-time Canadian Pizza magazine chef of the year champion, internationally recognized gourmet pizzaiolo, co-owner of Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria in Winnipeg, Man., and on the board of directors for the CRFA. In addition to creating award-winning recipes, Diana is also a consultant to other pizzeria owner/operators in menu development, creating systems to run a pizzeria on autopilot, along with marketing and positioning to help operators grow their business effectively and strategically. She is available for consulting on a limited basis, for more information contact her at Diana@dianasgourmetpizzeria.ca.
feature
Finding purpose in pizza Joe Leroux of Amadio’s Pizza is our 2011 Saputo Pizza with Purpose winner BY LAurA AIKeN Amadio’s pies have fed many a Port Credit, ont.,
P
eople often like to say there’s a method to their madness, but we don’t always find out what that method is. Joe Leroux of Amadio’s Pizza, winner of this year’s Pizza with Purpose award sponsored by Saputo Foodservice, gave us a candid look at the method – the solid business sense – behind all the giving. Don’t get us wrong; Leroux is a big-hearted teddy bear of a softie if ever there were one. But he knows the business sense behind his good deeds too. “You do what feels good and it really does feel good to give,” says Leroux. We’re sitting waterside at Snug Harbour restaurant in Port Credit, Ont., which he and Amadio’s call home. Further into our conversation, he succinctly observes: “If it’s good for the community, it’s good for Amadio’s.” Leroux made his first pizza in his own store on July 18, 1990 in Mississauga. In 1993, he moved the pizzeria to Port Credit. In that time, he’s seen the number of independents in Port Credit dwindle from 16 to two. It’s taken perseverance and ingenuity to survive statistics like that. His current digs give him a central location in the pretty village along the shores of Lake Ontario. While Port Credit is geographically a waterfront parcel of
sprawling Mississauga, the community helping the cause. For the past 15 years, he’s provided a pizza lunch for the Carholds its own identity. As many newcomers to an area find, ing and Sharing program of St. Dominic sports are an excellent way to start mak- Church, which provides Christmas presing friends. Leroux used to play hockey ents and dinners for about 100 needy and says he still remembers the spon- families. For the community event, sors he had. He started sponsoring a Port Southside Shuffle, he donated pizzas for Credit team, but once he learned the all the volunteers, totalling $1,000 over Lorne Park neighbourhood’s home arena a three-day festival weekend. He also was nearby Cawthra, he took on their provided the food for the main stage where Dr. Hook was playteam as well. The plaqued ing and walked the crowdteam pictures of each year ed streets handing out free of sponsorship line the top “product is so slices of pizza and busiright wall of his pizzeria’s much easier to ness cards. entry way, overseeing the “A picture doesn’t tell mix of children’s artwork, give than cash. you how good the pizza press coverage and thankproduct helps tastes. If you’re proud of you notes below. Leroux likes that Amathe cause and it what you make you need to get the product into the dio’s gets mentioned on helps yourself.” people’s hands by giving the team’s websites and away pizza for a commuhe knows the organizanity function,” he says. “It tions like to patronize their was cool to give it away sponsors. “Always a pretty good payoff but it and it doesn’t cost a lot . . . . Product is takes a long time,” he says of giving to so much easier to give than cash. Product your community in general. “It’s like sav- helps the cause and it helps yourself.” The list of food donations in the last ing for retirement.” His giving extends well beyond year goes on: 60 free pizzas for the Begsports teams: these were just the ini- gar’s Banquet that saw all proceeds going tial foray. Primarily, Leroux has found a to SickKids Hospital, 50 pizzas to raise cause of his own in feeding the people money for the Haiti earthquake fund
14 pizza SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
sponsored by
Photo Credit: Joe Leroux/Amadio’s Pizza
community event.
at Queen of Heaven School for one of its pizza days, 42 pizzas offered at no charge for fundraising at the Mineola School Winter Carnival. The 50th anniversary of the Port Credit arena festivities and the Kenollie Fall Fair were given pizzas to sell at material cost with free labour and overhead. And if it’s not free food, it’s silent auction gift certificates or gift certificates as door prizes for churches, schools and drop-in centres. Leroux sees the involvement in the schools as particularly good for the business. “You get a lot of exposure from your name being mentioned there. Every little mention is a plus.” He loves hearing kids say, “This is the pizza we get at school!” One of his staff regaled him with a particularly enjoyable tale of overhearing a small child in Wal-Mart fussing in the next isle because he didn’t want to go to McDonald’s, he wanted Amadio’s! Leroux is in the habit of saying yes to all requests for help in the community that seem legitimate. He’s had a few scammers, mostly of the “substance dependent” type, he says, and basically they are just hungry. “Giving a little bit allows the little guy to seem bigger,” he says. “When you’re small, you can’t start a cause of your own
but you can help people with the cause they’ve started.” When a neighbour passed on, Leroux did the catering for 70 people at the wake at no charge. If you have lost someone, as so many of us have, you know what a relief it is to have someone take care of the food and have one less thing to think about, at no expense, no less. Leroux says he doesn’t really compute the exact costs of all the free pizzas, but he has guidelines for himself. If it’s for a raffle or a door prize, he keeps the prize value around $50. With the food itself, the perception is higher than the actual cost to you, he notes. “It looks like you gave $100 worth of free pizza but your out of pocket costs are much lower.” One thing Leroux mentions more than once during our harbourfront chat, was that it really does take patience. You can’t expect instant gratification from donating, other than the good feeling you get from doing it. For Amadio’s, it’s paying off now, with a record year, and growing accolades, all while the loyalty deepens. In 2009, Amadio’s earned a platinum award for pizza in Mississauga. Then, in 2010, he received the bronze medal for pizza from the Toronto Star. This was huge media coverage, and one can’t help but think that the name he built through his repeated exposure in a little community on the outskirts helped catch the eye of the juggernaut paper. It’s also good to remember, he says, that being a good guy in the community helps when you inevitably make mistakes. It allows more of a cushion for forgiveness. He emphasizes it’s important to put your best slice forward, so to speak, and treat the free product as a sample of your very finest. He also says you can only do what you can, and you can’t give away the farm and you can’t make everything free. But . . . “sometimes the opportunity knocks and you don’t see it. You need to ask questions when you see somebody doing good.” In the answer may lie a simple way to make a closer tie with your customers. Plus, it really does feel good. A quote widely attributed to the Persian poet Hadia Bejar sums up perfectly: “The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.” •
You! Thank
Thank you To all our 2011 SapuTo pizza wiTh purpoSe award nomineeS. Your stories told us how important pizzerias are to their communities. And thank you to Saputo Foodservice for their support of the Canadian pizza industry in sponsoring the Pizza with Purpose award. we are now accepting nominations online for the 2012 pizza with purpose award. To nominate your business, please visit www.canadianpizzamag.com and click on the Pizza with Purpose box. Keep a journal of your efforts right up until april 30, 2012 and feel free to let us know how it’s going! Since everything you do this year counts, take until June 15, 2012 to submit your final application to us detailing your year of giving back. The winner will be announced in August 2012 and featured in the September/October 2012 issue of Canadian Pizza magazine. The final day to submit yourself as a candidate is april 30, 2012.
2011 Winner Joe Leroux
www.canadianpizzamag.com
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 pizza 15
feature
Pizza that isn’t pizza BY LuCAS CrAwFOrD
L
ike any icon of attitude and coolness, pizza has spawned a long line of wannabes. As disturbing as it might seem to purists that pizza has been reduced to a mass-produced flavour powder for pizza-flavoured Pringles, we must remember that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (even if it’s not always the most delicious). Many snacks belong alongside Pringles in the list of pizza-inspired noshes. An exemplary product is one found most often in convenience store freezer cases: Cheemo’s “Pizzarogy” perogies, which have tomato paste, mozzarella, oregano, onion, green pepper and the cryptic descriptor “pizza seasonings” blitzed into their usual potato filling. While not the height of sophistication or flavour, I can say from experience that these tasty pockets will satisfy late-night partygoers in the sad case that their local pizza joint closes before their preferred watering hole. Other wannabes aren’t so lucky. Next to the pizzarogies sit rows of pops and pockets that are destined for uneven dorm-room nuking, a suitable destiny for the orange gruel lying within. At the cash register, you’ll find Combos – pretzel tubes filled with a disturbingly scarlet “pizza” paste. With this inventory of subpar snacks in mind, the question arises: can’t we create better imitations? Chefs and craftspeople have begun doing precisely that. Most famously, molecular gastronomist Wylie DuFresne of New York City’s wd~50 once featured “pizza pebbles” on his menu. Described on the menu simply as “pizza pebbles, pepperoni, shiitake,” the artistic plate featured small balls of ultra-smooth pizza-flavoured powder, sandwiched between thin slivers of dried mushroom, all placed on a bed of pepperoni sauce. Fans of DuFresne have created and posted their own versions of his dish, which include “toast powder,” confit garlic oil and
buttermilk powder. The pebbles were even of bacon-infused vodka, rub torn-up basil at the centre of a heated page of debate on an leaves on the rim of the glass, and float online culinary forum in 2008. When anon- an olive in the bottom. For a Hawaiian ymous posters mocked the pebbles, Wylie twist, garnish with a wedge of pineapple DuFresne (or an imitator) made a tongue- wrapped in speck (an Austrian/Italian in-cheek response: they were welcomed to a ham) or a crisp pancetta chip. lifetime supply of pizza pebbles! Pizzerias may bend this trend to their Those who wish that they could wash benefit. A spread of local or house-made sapizza down with more pizza, lami or sausage, fresh moznever fear! Jones Soda is well zarella, artichokes, olives known for its experimental and fresh heirloom tomaWith this flavours (such as “Turkey toes will make a shareable inventory of and Gravy” and “Pumpkin pizza-inspired charcuterie Pie”) and its 2010 Limitedplatter. A clientele of “hipsubpar snacks Edition Pizza Soda is no exster” foodies would appreciin mind, the ception. While the product ate the irony of pizza topped has not garnered flattering question arises: with pizza-flavoured prodreviews online, its bright red ucts. For one with crunch, can’t we create hue makes it a great converuse a Combos “streusel” as a sation piece if you’re lucky better imitations? topping. Simply pulse pizza enough to have visitors who Combos in a food procesrevel in the absurd. sor, toss with melted better If pizza-flavoured drinks and Parmesan cheese, bake, sound appetizing, Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer and then dust the result onto hot pies. might be a better bet. Homebrewers and These pizza imitators open a whole pizza lovers Athena and Tom Seefurth of delicious field of philosophical questions. Illinois created this unique ale in 2006 When does a pizza cease to be a pizza? and have since been selling it online. This What is the essence of the dish, and does it vegan beer begins with a Margherita pizza, survive these processes of puréeing, boiling which is added to the mash and “steeped and straining? Famous Catalan chef Ferran like a tea bag.” Throughout the process, Adria of the world’s foremost experimental additional spices are infused into the liq- kitchen, El Bulli, is rumoured to have been uid, using a bag that is similar to cheese- studying pizza in Turin and Padua over the cloth. The result is a beer that tastes of past several years. With his penchant for basil, garlic, oregano, and tomato. While culinary trickery, from carrot-orange foam many pizza-flavoured products seek to to exploding pea-soup spheres, who knows reduce pizza to a red syrupy essence, the how he might modify the genes of pizza? Seefurth’s motivation was to produce a The possibilities, like our own menus and drinkable beer that actually paired well diverse clientele, demand that we think with their favourite pies. Their website re- beyond the crust. • veals the versatility of the product: it has been used to make sausages, to marinate Lucas Crawford is a poet, an activist, and a PhD student in steaks, and to liven up the classic “beer English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. His food writing has appeared in Culture: the Word on Cheese batter” for seafood. To turn up the volume and Meatpaper: Journal of Meat Culture. Lucas also writes on this Margherita ale, make it a meat lov- and publishes on the topics of architecture, modernism, ers’ martini: amp up the beer with a shot politics and queer culture.
16 pizza SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 pizza 17
In partnership with the Dairy Farmers of Canada
Pizza
is an endless innovator. From ingredient pairings to sauce switch-ups, pizza offers a true playground for chefs. Combine the nature of pizza with today’s gourmet cheese market and you get an unprecedented opportunity to offer your customers new twists on old favourites and connect with big trends such as eating local. Cheese has and always will be one of the big stars of your pizza. Get creative and let it shine! Shred your money-maker
Cheese is traditionally a heavyweight player when it comes to the cost of making pizza. A big plus to consider in bringing specialty cheeses into your repertoire is the big premium factor. For example, an accent of .25 cents worth of cheese may allow you to raise the price of the item $1.00 or $1.50. Customers see the value and love the chance to try something new. Using a higher-profile cheese also means getting more flavour, which in turn means using less cheese. “When using high-quality cheese, it’s all about the flavour and not so much about the oooey-gooey,” says Kathy Guidi, cheese expert and author of Canadian Cheese: A Pocket Guide (McArthur Publishing). She also recommends using full fat cheese to maximize flavour. Let fine cheese be the ingredient that differentiates you from you competition! a nation of cheeSe loverS
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada commissioned a study in 2005 called “Canadian Food Trends to 2020: A Long Range Consumer Outlook.” Cheese was in the “significant growth” category, showing a roughly 30 per cent growth in consumption over three years (2001-2003). The report forecasted projections that suggest “cheese consumption will continue to grow by nearly 30 per cent over the next 15 years. Cheese consumption is not very price sensitive, likely due to the growing trends in specialized cheese consumption, and the fact that much of the cheese is consumed as an ingredient on pizza and pasta.” hot trend
Firm cheese: People are starting to understand firm cheeses, says Kathy Guidi. “Soft cheeses seem to be where they begin, now they are starting to be swayed into firm, and Canadian cheese producers make some marvelous ones, award winners, in that realm.”
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pizza for the ultimate
Savvy Selling
“A lot of times the cheese information is missing in the marketing,” says Kathy Guidi. “The restaurants that have led in cheese, they spell it out . . . you need a passion for the origin and it needs to be inspir�ing. Charcuterie is getting all this press and romance. The information is there now to do the same for cheese. It wasn’t six to eight years ago but it is now . . . People want to know where the food is from these days, it’s one of the highest priorities if not the highest.” So spell out the story behind your cheese in your pizza promotions. Ensure your staff are inspired to share its origin with your customers and are familiar with the different flavours. Have little cards made up for customers to keep that tell them where they can buy the local artisanal cheese that they just ate at your establishment.
chef frank dodd’S ‘thiS little Piggy Pizza’ Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.: Hillebrand Winery Chef and 2010 Toronto Gold Medal Plates winner Frank Dodd has used local and seasonal ingredients to create a delicious signature pizza dish. This Little Piggy Pizza features Ontario Mozzarella from Bella Casara in Vaughan. Chef Dodd smokes the mozzarella himself in house. Other ingredients include Tamworth pulled pork, spiced chorizo, house-cured capocolla and Gomes Farm tomatoes. With its locally sourced ingredients, This Little Piggy Pizza showcases the bounty of Ontario.
In partnership with the Dairy Farmers of Canada
from coaSt to coaSt: try theSe great 100% canadian cow’S milk cheeSeS Smoked Provolone by Quality cheeSe (bella caSara) www.qualitycheese.com
Based in Vaughn, Ont., Quality Cheese Inc. makes award-winning specialty Italian cheeses. herb and garlic gouda by Sylvan Star www.sylvanstarcheesefarm.ca
This great gouda out of Red Deer, Alta., earned a championship title at this year’s Canadian Cheese Grand Prix. caSey blue by thornloe cheeSe www.thornloecheese.ca
Thornloe Cheese has been making respected and award-winning cheeses in Ontario’s north for over 70 years. curdS by village cheeSe co. www.villagecheese.com
The Village Cheese Company is a small cheese plant in B.C. based on the estate winery concept that proudly proclaims on its website: “We have set the cheese industry back 70 years and we’re proud of it!” maPle Smoked cheddar by bothwell http://bothwellcheese.com
Bothwell Cheese has been creating beautiful, award-winning cheeses in Manitoba’s dairy belt since 1936. brie or camembert by natural PaStureS cheeSe comPany http://naturalpastures.com
Head cheesemaker Paul Sutter is known for crafting taste bud titillating specialty cheeses from milk produced by Heritage Dairy Farms on Vancouver Island, where cows roam happily on a farm committed to sustainable practices and animal stewardship. freSh mozzarella by international cheeSe co. ltd. http://internationalcheese.ca
International Cheese of Toronto, known for its signature Santa Lucia line, handcrafts over 32 different cheese products, including award winners. fontina by fromageS cda www.fromagescda.com/en
Fromages CDA is a Quebec-based organization that distributes several different fabulous cheeses from multiple acclaimed artisanal cheesemakers. monterey Jack by adl www.adl.ca
Amalgamated Dairies Limited’s of P.E.I. recently won 3rd place in the American Originals category for their Monterey Jack at an American Cheese Society event in Montreal.
making dough with Diane
Diane Chiasson s your pizzeria feeling a bit old and stale? Would you like to make some changes, but are afraid you can’t afford it? You don’t need to hire an interior designer or knock down all the walls of your restaurant to renovate. Sometimes, just a few simple ideas can help turn your place into something new. Here are eight great ways to update or change the interior design of your pizza operation without spending a lot of money.
8 tips for décor on a budget eBay, Craigslist and Kijiji to find stuff for cheap. Buying second-hand products is key to interior designing on a budget. Look for detail pieces and think outside the box. For example, you could use an old iron gate as a storage rack for pots or an old ladder (with a fresh coat of paint), as a stand.
i
FREShEN uP wiTh PAiNT Nothing brightens or freshens up a room better than a new coat of paint. Painting is the easiest and most inexpensive way to make an instant change to the interior design of your operation. It’s also a good excuse for you to clean and freshen up the walls. Choose a colour that works well with your brand, but is still trendy and modern. And remember, you can go beyond the walls. Repaint your chairs, counters, tables or other furniture that is looking old, dirty or faded. hANG wALLPAPER If you want wood walls in your restaurant but can’t afford it, why not hang wallpaper that looks like wood? The variety of wallpaper available today makes it possible for you to achieve practically any look you want for a fraction of the price. Consider using wallpaper with different textures to add to the visual depth of your operation. uSE MiRRoRS Mirrors are a great way to create extra light, space and accents. Framed mirrors can act as mock windows as well. Place mirrors around your pizza counter to multiply the images of your fresh pies and salads, and make things appear more plentiful.
Mirrors create light, space and accents as well as make multiple images of your dishes around your pizzeria.
PAiNT ThE FLooRS If you need new flooring but can’t afford the hardwood you’d like, consider removing your existing flooring (whether it’s carpet, laminate or tile) to expose the concrete and then painting the concrete. You can be creative with the colours, patterns and designs. You could also paint your brand logo on the floor. Alternatively, you can find lots of inexpensive laminate tiles that look like hardwood but cost a lot less. GET NEw FAbRiC Instead of buying new chairs and banquettes, consider reupholstering your existing furniture. Look for fabrics that are durable and easy to clean. Fabric stores often have blowout sales on last year’s styles, or if you want your pizza operation to be more eclectic, consider using fabric from the scrap bin. Many designer fabric stores have remnants that you can buy to use on your chairs, or lampshades, etc. If you have the kind of dining chairs with only the seats upholstered, you can even DIY. Just pop the seat out, stretch the new fabric over the seat and staple it in place! Look FoR SECoND-hAND oPTioNS Scour garage sales and flea markets, restaurant auctions, or classified websites such as
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bE CREATivE wiTh PRoPS Dress up your tables by picking up glass vases at the dollar store, and filling the jars with stones, marbles, rocks or sand, and a candle. You can also create visual merchandising displays by using liquor boxes filled with fresh or fake produce, or use your old tomato sauce cans as plant potters. Think about how you can use items that you might be throwing away on a daily basis, including glass jars, tins, boxes. woRk wiTh ARTiSTS oN CoNSiGNMENT There are a lot of starving artists out there who would love the opportunity to display their artwork to the public. Work on consignment with the artist, whereby you agree to hang the artwork in your pizza operation, and if you sell a piece, you get to keep a percentage of the sales. This is a win-win situation, as you get original artwork to boost the interior design of your space and the artist gets the opportunity to gain some exposure. Don’t let a lack of dollars hold you back when it comes to ensuring your pizzeria is a fresh and appealing visual experience for your guests. • Diane Chiasson, FCSI, president of Chiasson Consultants Inc., has been helping restaurant, foodservice, hospitality and retail operators increase sales for over 25 years. Her company provides innovative and revenue-increasing foodservice and retail merchandising programs, interior design, branding, menu engineering, marketing and promotional campaigns, and much more. Contact her at 416-926-1338, toll-free at 1-888-926-6655 or chiasson@chiassonconsultants.com, or visit www.chiassonconsultants.com.
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Turn your IT into I-profit BY MAureeN rAe Chute
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reading a technology upgrade for your pizzeria? Take heart. New, more advanced solutions could help you turn your small business IT into a profit-generating centre. Recent industry reports show that independent pizzeria owners and franchisees are increasingly turning to new technologies to help boost profits and improve CSR performance. Many have jumped on the social media bandwagon and/or turned to smartphone technology to increase brand loyalty, offer timely customer incentives and promote sales. The National Restaurant Association’s 2010 Industry Forecast reports “it is time for pizzerias to prepare for growth by reinvesting in their technology infrastructure. Using new technology as a marketing
channel is increasingly more important for the success of pizza franchises.” Instead of just upgrading their phone systems, pizza owners could consider how they can use more advanced, integrated IT solutions that provided not only essential call features (call recording, call transfer, call reporting) but also customizable onhold messaging. There are solutions that can transform small business IT into a profit-generating centre. Many pizza business owners find that the call systems they once relied on for quick responses and on-hold messaging are becoming outdated. They lack the flexibility necessary for timely, up-to-the-minute messaging and response. What’s more, many of these older, conventional call systems are unable
to provide quick, effective ways to track, monitor and report on CSR activities. “Many owners are unaware of more integrated, customer-enhancing solutions available to them,” says Geoff Bell of SUTUS, a Vancouver-based company that has developed a customizable device tailored to the quick-service food and beverage market. “Many dread the idea of adopting a new solution that only adds to an already cumbersome mix of phones, network and computers that characterizes most operations.” Adding to the problem is the fear that any new addition to the small business IT mix will not be compatible with existing components. Many owners fear this will only increase their
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Spicing it up tableside Here’s how to give your customers an olive oil to rave about BY JuLIe FItz-gerALD
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lass bottles of flavourful olive oil have long been tableside features in Italian eateries and pizzerias. Always familiar, often expected. Some restaurants are upping the ante and offering olive oils infused with ingredients such as chili peppers or oregano to pack even more flavour into that highly anticipated drizzle. For John Chetti, owner of Queen Margherita Pizza in the trendy Leslieville neighbourhood of Toronto, having a spiced oil tableside means staying true to his Italian roots. “I think it is part of Italian culture, it’s a part of Italian eating. When we put the concept of the restaurant in place we wanted this natural, easy feeling and that’s basically what we did. That’s the way we eat in Italy and that’s the way we eat here,” he says. While Italian olive oil is arguably more familiar in the North American market, it should be noted that Spain is actually the largest producer of olive oil in the world, according to a report produced by the European Forum on Nature on the environmental impact of olive oil in the EU, where the majority of olive oil is made. Italy is the second largest maker, followed by Greece, Portugal and France. Agricultural stats are from the year 2000. “The EU currently dominates the global market, producing over 70 per cent of the world’s olive oil. Tunisia, Turkey and Syria are the only other producers of significance, accounting for over 20 per cent of world production,” writes Guy Beaufoy, author of the report. Creating a spiced oil that is unique to your restaurant can be a fun, flavourful experience that sets you apart from your competitors. Through trial and error, you can achieve the perfect blend of fruit, spice and everything nice, as long as you follow some simple guidelines. The first step when infusing your own oil is to pay attention to the quality of olive oil that you are offering your customers. When oils are tableside their flavour and texture must stand alone, completely unmasked, making your choice of olive oil paramount. Chetti uses only authentic Italian extra virgin olive oil, which comes directly from a private label in Italy that he is associated with. Olive oil has a long history riddled with fraudulent and adulterated oils being passed off as Italian extra virgin olive oil. An article published in The New Yorker on August 13, 2007 entitled “Letter from Italy: Slippery Business” by Tom Mueller, shone a glaring light on fraudulent olive oil producers and the backhanded deals that have been plaguing the industry and putting farmers out of work. The article outlines many cases of fraud, including a case where hazelnut oil brought in by tanker ships was used to create adulterated extra virgin olive oil, which was then sold to some of the biggest
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be sure to use dried ingredients when creating your unique olive oil masterpiece.
producers and exporters of Italian olive oil in the world. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. Andrea Tramonti, eastern account manager of Sarafino Inc., a Canadian importer of award-winning Italian olive oil and other artisanal products, says the taste between authentic extra virgin olive oil and its adulterated counterpart is obvious. “An extra virgin olive oil will be layered in flavour. You should be tasting different things at different times when it’s in your mouth. You could have flavours that are fruity, herbaceous, grassy or nutty, or you may taste artichoke or wild thistle. The tastes should be pleasant in your mouth,” he says. “Adulterated olive oil can have flavours of rancidness, a chemical petroleum flavour or you may get almost no taste at all.” You can ensure the authenticity of your olive oil by paying close attention to the product’s label. Tramonti advises that when selecting an olive oil you should always ensure the label contains the family name or co-operative name where the olives are being produced. Next, it should say “Made In” rather than “Product Of” or “Imported From.” This verifies that the olive oil is actually
produced in the country of origin using olives that are from that country. You can also look for trademarks that the EU uses to protect authenticity, such as DOP (Designation of Protected Origin). You can check the back of the label for an address stating where the olive oil is produced, which provides accountability for the product. The importer’s address alone does not provide this accountability. Next, Tramonti points out that there are more than twice as many olive varieties as there are grape varieties. The label should list which olive varieties make up the olive oil. “The ingredient to olive oil is not olive oil, it is olives,” he says. Last but not least, the label should have a best before date and a lot number. If all of this information is contained on the bottle of olive oil that you are selecting, Tramonti says you can rest assured that it is likely authentic and is what it claims to be on the label. While there are bound to be authentic olive oils that don’t contain all of this information on the bottle, the more indicators that are included, the more likelihood of an authentic premium product. Once you have a great tasting olive oil, you can experiment by infusing it with your desired flavours. Chetti’s spiced oil incorporates three varieties of peppers. “We use a little bit of the long skinny red peppers, then we mix them from time to time with the skinny green peppers and on occasion, to add some heat for some special clients, we bring in an extra spicy pepper, so we’re able to kick it up a notch. Generally across the board it’s not a killer spice, it’s just enjoyable,” Chetti says. Tramonti suggests that oregano and rosemary would also work well infused in olive oil because of their pronounced flavours. There are certain ingredients, however, that pose health and safety issues when combined in oils. “Botulism-causing toxins are always existent in anything that grows underground, but they can only thrive when there is no air. So if you put something like garlic in olive oil, there is no air around it and that can cause the toxins to live and thrive. People have gotten botulism from things like this. Anything that you are putting in olive oil should be dried. There should not be any water content in it because it can cause bacterial growth or botulism, depending on what it is,” Tramonti advises. In the high-volume atmosphere of Queen Margherita, tableside oils are used up on a daily basis, which reduces the risk of the health and safety issues that Tramonti talks about. “We use it for consumption for the day, we’re not storing it. The maximum life is two days for us, but because we have high volume we go through it quickly. We clean the containers properly and we start fresh every day,” Chetti explains. The bottles of spiced oil at Queen Margherita are being poured and drizzled so quickly that it is hard to deny their star status in the pizzeria. “Customers love it!” Chetti exclaims. “We’ve even been approached by larger grocery stores to actually bottle it, it’s just that good. It is high end. I’ve been to other restaurants where they slap cheap ingredients together, but our ingredients speak for themselves.” Using high-quality ingredients can be costly, especially where olive oil is concerned. Sarafino Inc. sells its five-litre tins of extra virgin olive oil at a wholesale price of $90 per tin, with four tins
making up a case. When asked if all high-quality olive oil is this expensive, Tramonti points to the reasoning behind pricing. “Exchange ‘good quality’ for ‘real’, because it is impossible for anyone to produce olive oil and for it to be the real thing for less than that price. It’s literally impossible. Olive oil production is very labour intensive,” he says. Chetti says that his restaurant has become one of the top pizza restaurants in Toronto on the strength of its quality ingredients. In an effort to balance the costs associated with high-quality products and still earn a profit, Chetti shares one of his tips for success. “That’s the beauty of our restaurant. We’ve sourced out the best products and even though we don’t have the most expensive menu, we always get the best quality. That may mean that we don’t make as much at the end of the day, but we deliver something to our clients that they appreciate.” If the rave reviews from food critics and customers of Queen Margherita Pizza are any indication, then Chetti’s business model, his hand-crafted pizzas and his tableside spiced oils are surely something to celebrate. By experimenting with your own spiced oils, you may just discover a tableside delight that creates a buzz all its own. • Julie Fitz-Gerald is a freelance writer based in Uxbridge Ont., and a regular contributor to Canadian Pizza magazine and Bakers Journal.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 pizza 23
marketing insights
Michelle Brisebois EIT Macerich, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based mall, conducted a survey to determine what triggers would cause shoppers to spend more. To their surprise, this 2004 study showed that fountains had huge power to attract shoppers and enhance customer mood. Furthermore, they reported that happy customers spent on average $25 more per shopping experience. If we pause to consider our own shopping experiences, chances are that we’ll admit that it’s easier to part with our hardearned money when we’re relaxed, happy and optimistic. When you look at your restaurant, how does the décor contribute to a relaxed, generous customer? When it comes to your interior design, are you creating a great mood or is it simply window dressing?
r
whAT’S youR CuRb APPEAL? If you are located on a busy street, intercepting traffic on foot and in cars will be the most important goal. The exterior is your restaurant’s best marketing tactic. It is the first thing the person sees and it is also meant to attract future costumers. Attractive urns, flowers, awnings and yes, perhaps even a fountain, may be ways to stand out and look inviting. FiNiShiNG TouChES Make sure everything in the restaurant is completely finished. No open sockets or wires dangling from the ceiling and keep the floor looking as new as possible. Invest in some designer switchplate covers. For a relatively low price, they’ll make your restaurant look much more upscale. TuRN oN ThE ChARM If your operation isn’t in the fine dining category, go for “charming and approachable.” Wooden chairs with matching wooden tables can still be rustic and
A side order of atmosphere, please warm. Fresh flowers are lovely on the table and can be well worth the investment. Keep arrangements simple and use candles if flowers aren’t in the budget. bE CoNSiSTENT Pick a tone, a time, a vibe and make it your guiding force for all decisions around restaurant décor. Try to resist picking up pieces for your restaurant that are a great deal just because they’re inexpensive. A mish-mash of décor themes will only dilute your brand. If you don’t have the budget for artwork, try partnering with a local art gallery to see if you can display some pieces on their behalf. They’ll have a trained eye for what looks best. A LovELy Loo A nice, clean bathroom is always appreciated by customers but it also has financial benefits. The Journal of Food Service reported in 2009 that a clean, well-cared-for bathroom had a positive impact on the customer’s perception of the establishment concerning food safety. The study also found that a clean latrine also encouraged repeat visits to the restaurant. TuNE ThE TuNES Music is also part of the ambiance and can be one of the most difficult things to get right. Although music isn’t, strictly speaking, décor, it does have a huge impact on the ambience. Pick something upbeat but fairly neutral (Starbucks gets it just about right with its choices). Chances are your staff is made up of young people and they’ll want to switch the channel to something with more of a grunge vibe. Keep in mind your target audience may not share the same taste and will avoid your operation if they don’t like the choices, so it’s imperative that you keep things in check.
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Here are a few restaurant trends, established and emerging: Wood with a story: Vancouver’s Pourhouse bar showcases 28 feet of reclaimed Douglas fir. The floors at Taylor’s Genuine Food & Wine Bar in Ottawa are made from lumber that resided for the past 100 years at the bottom of the Ottawa River. Beautiful cutting boards are a great way to present charcuterie, pizzas and breads, and often they can be made from reclaimed wood. A wine bar would do well to have a French oak floor. The industrial look: Many restaurants are housed in spaces once dedicated to industrial purposes and the restaurant has continued to celebrate the tone and manner of the space. Brick walls, roll-up doors and concrete floors should be highlighted if you are converting an industrial space into a restaurant. Minimalism is a big trend right now, with white, open spaces providing a canvas for beautiful food. Let there be light: The Edison bulb lighting trend is linked closely to the industrial trend. Exposed bulbs dangling from the ceiling have been around since about 2002, when trendy eateries in New York first started displaying them. This trend also nods to the Steampunk design theme that’s prevalent in fashion right now. It combines vintage/Victorian cues with a touch of technology. Think of the movie The Golden Compass or Sherlock Holmes and you’ll understand the vibe. Mismatched crockery: Combining a number of vintage pieces on one table is a consumer trend that’s starting to show up in some restaurants. No longer is it vital to have everything “matchy-matchy.” Mashups of colours and styles are all the rage . . . provided there is some unity through
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turn your it into i-proFit
Continued from page 21 costs and create more headaches for in-house tech managers who often lack the technical expertise needed to overcome these problems. Bell offers the following points to help the quick-service pizza delivery business owners and franchisees who are looking to update or replace their call systems. DECiDE whiCh CALL FEATuRES MATTER MoST In the pizza business, time spent on hold can mean the difference between a customer gained and a customer lost. The ability to customize that on-hold experience is integral to acquiring and keeping customers. For this reason, pizza owners may desire solutions that allow for flexible, customizable on-hold messaging options that allow them to provide up-to-the-minute promotions. This adds a “live” aspect to the on-hold experience, making the company’s message as
fresh and hot as the pizza it delivers. Invest in solutions that track and respond to fluctuating call periods, presenting both date-sensitive and time-sensitive messaging that goes beyond the reach of conventional marketing and ad campaigns. Look for features that provide opportunities to target customers with different specials offered for lunch, dinner and a late-night snack. “This message-on-hold function is nothing new to quick-serve restaurants, but it continues to be a big value proposition for pizza companies” says Bell. “With more advanced technology, owners can take this feature to the next level. They get real-time visibility, like seeing what messaging is working, which calls are abandoning, and change the messaging across multiple locations at once, and achieve an immediate ticket sale increase as a result.” Call recording and advanced reporting are two additional advanced features available to today’s quick-service pizza owners or franchisees who want to take a closer
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look at the service they are providing to customers. Both features can be used to enhance training and better direct CSRs who have their fingers on the pulse of the business. Look for a solution that produces reports that are customizable to suit corporate standards and build brand loyalty. Call transfer is another feature that can be essential to customer retention. Look for more advanced solutions that can automatically reroute calls from one store to another instantaneously. This is a customer-driven feature that eliminates the need for a second redial by callers that can result in a lost sale. Do you wANT A NEw PhoNE SERviCE oR A REvENuE-GENERATiNG TooL? Instead of looking at your upgrade as just another capital cost with an unforeseeable ROI, consider solutions that offer revenuegenerating features. “It’s time to view your IT as a profit centre
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he taste of
Tradition
Manufacturers and Distributors of Italian Speciality Cheeses and Food Products
T. 905.544.6281 F. 905.549.1196 20 Morley Street, Hamilton, Ontario, L8H 3R7
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 pizza 25
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Gluten-free gaining ground Perhaps the single biggest challenge is preventing cross-contamination in a restaurant that also serves wheat-based items BY JuLIe FItz-gerALD
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luten-free pizza is going gangbusters on menu boards across the country. For years, celiac diners have been scared and restricted, diligently questioning wait staff on food ingredients for fear of accidentally ingesting gluten – an act that could lay them up in bed for days or even weeks, organ damage in the long run. Their pizza options have steadily been increasing as pizza places big and small introduce this modified dough to their kitchens. Pizza Nova, an Ontario chain with more than 120 locations, introduced a gluten-free pizza crust two and a half years ago after recognizing a gap in the industry. “We felt that there was a void in the market for it and we decided to develop a product that is not just a gluten-free dough, but that is also multigrain, so it’s a little bit different than what’s out there in the marketplace today,” says Domenic Primucci, president of Pizza Nova. Since rolling out its gluten-free multigrain pizza crust, Pizza Nova has had positive customer feedback, particularly from celiac sufferers overjoyed at finally being able to take part in family pizza night and school pizza lunches. The chain is also seeing demand for their gluten-free pizza take off. “It’s definitely increasing every day. It’s a matter of people getting to know that you do have this product on your menu, so it increases every year. Since we started, we’ve doubled our sales with it,” Primucci says. If you’re curious as to the demand for gluten-free goods, one need look no further than to the success of gluten-free Frankie’s Ristorante and sister operation Baked at Frankie’s in Uxbridge, Ont. Baked at Frankie’s is well loved in the community and is making waves after having just received the inaugural Innovator of the Year award from Bakers Journal, which is garnering widespread recognition for the bakery. The restaurant and bakery both opened
in 2008 and have since proven that glutenfree establishments can succeed, even in rural Ontario. “We have customers come to us from everywhere. Our regulars come from Ottawa, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering, Markham, Stratford and Alliston. There’s even a woman who comes regularly from London, England. The need for this kind of bakery is growing and growing,” says Donna van Veghel-Wood, co-owner the restaurant and bakery. At the beginning the growth in the glutenfree market, it would be fairly reliable to take the current statistics for celiac disease cases in Canada, apply them to the population in your catch zone, and crunch the numbers to see how many potential gluten-free customers are in your territory. But now, gluten-free has become a diet choice too, with people opting for “G-free” diets in hopes of losing weight or in attempt to deal with fussy digestive systems. The addition of these segments means you can count on even more orders. Van Veghel-Wood is well positioned to discuss the challenges of serving and developing gluten-free products. Perhaps the single biggest challenge, she says, is preventing crosscontamination in a restaurant that also serves wheat-based items. The consequences for celiacs who eat contaminated foods are serious. It’s imperative that restaurant owners and staff are well aware of the risks and trained to prevent any kind of cross-contamination. Pizza Nova has faced this challenge head on. The chain has implemented measures to prevent any mixing of its traditional wheatbased crust with its gluten-free crust. In addition to lab testing that ensures the gluten-free crust is in fact what it claims to be, franchise owners are provided with kits that are used solely for gluten-free orders. “When franchisees and staff at each location get an order for a gluten-free pizza, they pull out this kit and it has its own separate screens, trays, pizza paddle, pizza cutter and
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This gluten-free Margherita pizza has great appeal in a growing market.
so on. The pizza is then put into a different oven than all the other pizzas may be in at the time, so we try to keep everything separate as much as possible. There’s no other wheat in the oven when the gluten-free pizza is being baked,” says Primucci. Although Pizza Nova does not have a designated oven for its gluten-free pizzas, Primucci notes that they the chain has been successful in preventing crosscontamination in its stores. Van Veghel-Wood takes this idea a step further, saying there should also be a designated oven for gluten-free products. “They can say they have a gluten-free crust, but if they’re sticking it in the same oven with a wheat pizza, you’ve just defeated it. Cutting it with the same pizza wheel, putting it on the same surface, it all causes cross-contamination. People need educating, and I’m not saying that meanly, I’m saying look into what you should look into before you go ahead.” Other challenges with gluten-free products include higher price points dictated by supply and demand and a higher cost for non-wheat flours. Corn, rice and chickpea flours are commonly used in gluten-free baking. Developing products that mimic the taste and texture of their wheat-based counterparts is also a challenge. Gluten helps breads and baked goods bind together; gluten-free products, including pizzas, are dense and can be crumbly in comparison. Xanthan gum is commonly used as a binding
agent. For a gluten-free pizza crust, there isn’t the same stretch or rise to the dough. Once baked, it can lack the airy bubbles that ripple through a traditional crust and can be much harder than its wheat-based counterpart. It is, truthfully, difficult to do well. It takes time and the process is riddled with trial and error. “It took us several months to come out with our gluten-free crust because we wanted to ensure that it was a better tasting product than is currently accessible to people, so we did wait a little longer to ensure that we had a better tasting product,” says Primucci. Gluten-free product developers are always tweaking and adjusting recipes, continually striving for an end product that is as close as possible in taste and texture to
its wheat-based partner. The extra effort is not in vain. In fact, it’s a long time coming, according to van Veghel-Wood, who speaks from the experience of having raised two sons with celiac disease. “Celiacs deserve to eat as well as we do. They really do. Celiac disease has been around a long time and no one’s ever addressed it and I think it’s about time that it’s addressed.” If restaurant owners are willing to put in the time and effort that it takes to develop a tasty gluten-free product, there certainly appears to be a consumer base waiting to snap it up. •
a side order oF atMosphere, please
divisions in your dining room that give the appearance of private dining areas. Strategically placed planters, harvest tables or dividers will create that space for people to book for special small group occasions. Being group-friendly is often the path to financial success. Above all, your décor should make your restaurant memorable, distinctive and on-trend. These things are the elements of a strong experiential brand that’s worth the price of admission. •
Continued from page 24 the choice of linen, flowers or silverware. Raise your glass: If you are striving for an authentic Italian experience and have been serving your wine in a tumbler, consider an elegant stemless wine glass instead. As growth of wine sales continues to outpace that of other alcoholic beverages, a strong wine program will be key to the success of a licensed operation. A beautiful, stemless glass will target the trend but still make the wine feel special. Divide and conquer: Be sure to create turn your it into i-proFit
Continued from page 25 rather than an expense,” explains Bell. “How can you use your technology to boost sales, and drive marketing campaigns?” A fully integrated phone system means the same technology that provides sufficient phone lines and connectivity to meet fluctuating call demands also contributes to the overall marketing strategy. It works to improve reporting, making the process of monitoring and tracking calls much less onerous for the pizza owner. This in turn allows them to focus on the business of producing the best product they can for their customers. More advanced, integrated IT solutions provide answers to important questions. They deliver hard data such as: How long do my
Julie Fitz-Gerald is a freelance writer based in Uxbridge, Ont., and a frequent contributor to Canadian Pizza magazine and Bakers Journal.
Michelle Brisebois is a marketing professional with experience in the food, pharmaceutical, financial services and wine industries. She specializes in retail brand strategies.
customers spend in the queue? How long does it take to collect an order? Was the customer placed on hold, and if so, for how long? They also allow owners to track line use and abandoned calls. Nearly every step of the pizza order process can be tracked, recorded and reported on. Today’s integrated IT solutions represent a compelling return on investment for the quick-service food and beverage industry. Their features lend a competitive advantage to pizza owners and franchisees looking to take advantage of new technologies that open them up to new ways of attracting and keeping customers. • Maureen Chute is a writer whose work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Our Canada Magazine, The North Shore News and other publications. She lives with her family in North Vancouver B.C., and divides her time between writing and working as a clinical counsellor.
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Tom Stankiewicz veryone’s been faced with being crazy busy and not having enough staff to keep up with the pace. Sometimes it’s because someone called in sick or is stuck in traffic and can’t make it on time. Other times, pizza orders are piling up too fast and you’re simply caught by surprise. Whatever the reason, it’s important that you have a solid backup plan to keep such situations under control. This plan should clearly outline how to get additional staff to come in for emergency situations. It all begins with treating your employees with fairness and respect. After all, who would be willing to help you if they felt unappreciated? Most business owners already know from experience that you have to treat your employees with respect and motivate them to keep them loyal to you. Sometimes all it takes is a small gesture to let them know they’re appreciated. For example, on a hot, humid day you could offer to buy ice cream for everyone. It’s nothing fancy or costly but it’s a thought that counts. It lets them know that you understand what they are going through. If you expect someone to come to work at the last minute with barely 10 minutes’ notice, then you need to be flexible whenever possible as well. Otherwise, you will be met with absolute refusal every time you need someone to cover a shift at the last minute. For instance, your student employees always need extra time off to study for exams. Let them know that if they tell you ahead of time, you are willing to adjust their regular working hours to alleviate some stress and help them out. Students are often the most flexible when it comes to working hours, as their commitments elsewhere are usually minimal. It’s not a bad idea to ask your employees who is looking for extra hours, as they
e
What’s your employee plan B? would be the ones to keep at the top of all you need is to have one or two people your list to call when you need them. On who are flexible enough to be on call. one hand you’ll have a happy employee The best advice that I can give is to preand at the other you’ll have your business pare in advance as much as possible. This needs quickly covered. This also becomes means being aware of what is going on in very handy when one of your employees your community. For example, during varigets sick and is unable to work for a few ous festivals does your business experience days. That doesn’t mean that your busi- more traffic and consequently an increase ness stops running as well; in pizza orders? If yes, then however, if you’re not precreate a schedule involving it’s always pared for such a disruption, a higher number of staff. It’s it may create unnecessary always easier to send them easier to send stress in the workplace. home, than ask them to staff home, than come in at the last minute. Depending on the number of employees you Keep a record of the busiest ask them to have working, you might days in a year for your busicome in at the consider a more permaness. This will allow you to nent program that would plan ahead and eliminate last minute show employees that you the surprise factor. It’s difvalue their commitment to ferent for everybody, as it your business. Some bigdepends on your location. ger companies promote annual employee Although you might be super busy, a pizappreciation week. This usually involves zeria at the other end of town might be exfive straight days of various celebrations periencing the slowest sales day ever. such as free games, social outings and free I think it helps to know that even though meals. Some smaller businesses find it we try our best, we can’t control everything much easier to designate one day a month that happens. Sometimes, even with the as an employee appreciation day. It could best plan, you will be caught by surprise also be as simple as buying coffee and des- and you will have to let some pizza orders sert for all of your staff. It doesn’t have to be delivered late. I think our customers unbe anything set in stone as long as every derstand when the situation is explained to once in a while you recognize your staff them. Your responsibility is to have a plan for their hard work. to be able to reach employees at the last It’s definitely tougher for smaller inde- minute. That plan includes frequent review pendent businesses to allow for flexibility of the names you have on your list because of hours yet get additional help at the last things change all the time. As well, rememminute. You can’t really compare a restau- ber that if you treat your employees with rant with 40 employees to one that has no respect and you are willing to compromise more than 10 staff. There are fewer people sometimes, they will help you out when you can reach out to; however, it doesn’t you need them the most. • mean that you’re at a huge disadvantage. If you are creative and have loyal employees Tom Stankiewicz has been in the pizza business for more than 15 years. He has been the proprietor of Bondi’s who are flexible, then you’re OK. The num- Pizza in London, Ont., since 2000 and is president of the ber doesn’t really mean that much because Canadian Pizza Team.
30 pizza SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
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