Pizza Antica was not selling much bottled mineral water. The servers at the four-unit concept, part of the Bacchus Management Group of restaurants in San Francisco, were not even mentioning bottled water to customers. So Pizza Antica launched the Bot...

Q: I have a large group meet here on Thursdays, and they spend a lot of money. My staff gets bummed when they come because it’s frantic for a few hours. What gives? A: One of my customer service counter people turned to the kitchen and announced th...

Did You Know? More than 10,000 pizza professionals gathered under one roof at last month’s International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas IBISWorld research suggests the pizza industry will grow at a rate of 3.4 percent in 2013 Kentucky has 942 pizzeria...

Q: I was recently looking through a catalog that I got at the last Pizza Expo and I saw both wood and metal peels being offered by the different companies. Do you have a preference in one over the other? A: My preference is to use a wood peel as a pr...

In the literary world, the phrase “write what you know” rings true for many writers. That same principle can be applied in the restaurant industry –– and that’s what Corbett and Julie Monica have done in their 2,770-square-foot trattoria-st...

In 1996, a then-16-year-old Clayton Krueger began working as a dishwasher at Farrelli’s Wood Fire Pizza in Lacey, Washington. Krueger later moved his way through various spots in the kitchen, earning more responsibility and praise along the way. To...

The crowd gasps an undeniable breath of anticipation the moment she appears on stage. After a brief announcement from the emcee, the crowd exchanges quips of admiration regarding the impending performance. As the moment of performance arrives, papara...

Pizza pans matter when it comes to creating the perfect crust, flavor At an old used restaurant warehouse in West Virginia, I stared into a dark corner at several three-foot stacks of blue-steel pizza pans piled like greasy towers. Their thick, bumpy...

As the Pizza Today crew travels the country and interacts with operators at events like International Pizza Expo, there is one trend that shakes the core of traditional advertising. In lieu of radio, television and newspaper spots, many independent o...

Herb infused doughs are one of those things that seem to come and go. It gets popular for a short time, and then it disappears, only to come back again after a few years. For some of us, though, it has found a home on our menu boards as a variation t...

Gourmet toppings for pizza? Where do I begin? I suppose I could start by recounting something I read recently about a pizzeria in New York City that is big on seasonal gourmet toppings such as Brussels sprout leaves, shaved porcini, black truffles an...

It’s a busy Friday night, people are lining up at the hostess stand, and someone asks you the question, “How long do we have to wait for a table?” You want to tell them 20 minutes and hope you’re right. If you underestimate and they end up wa...