Pizza King Podcast: Empowering Pizzeria Leadership

Food truck or restaurant? Chef Tony Tomassi recommends proving your product and building a following before committing to a permanent space. In this episode of The Pizza King Podcast, I talk with Tony about the choices behind a mobile pizza business. He shares experience from Nina's Cucina Wood-Fired Pizza, Yo Pauley's, and Big Tony's South Philly Cheesesteaks, including the costs and responsibilities he compares with running a restaurant. We get practical about ovens, working in a small spac...

Paulie Gee expected to spend his days making pizza. As his business developed, he realized other people could make the pies and his attention could help the shop in different ways. I sat down with Paulie on the Pizza Expo floor in Columbus to talk about that change. We discuss his move out of corporate work, the belief he built before opening a pizzeria, and his responsibility to operators who put their trust and money into the brand. Paulie also recalls advice from Chris Bianco about fresh...

Can you tell me what your best-selling pizza costs to make? Keisha Miller from Perfect Crust joins me to talk about cheese portions, team training, supplier relationships, and the customer experience after a pizza leaves the shop. Keisha spent about 16 years with Performance Food Group. We discuss how a food rep can help with cost tools, product comparisons, and questions beyond the weekly order. I also share why a liner was one of the first visible changes we made when we took over our st...

September sales at Westshore Pizza Valrico reached $36,557, up 108.5% from last September. I share the rewards results, Facebook ads, direct mail plan, box toppers, QR stickers, catering, and operational changes behind this month's update. The comparison needs context. Last September included closures and inconsistent hours. September sales also fell 13.3% from August. Sales growth and profit are different measures. Our newest change was a personal introduction in customer emails. Customer...

Someone told me EDGE is the oven for people who cannot make real pizza. I spent nearly 23 years working with deck ovens. Today, my pizzeria runs every pizza through an EDGE conveyor oven. That gives me a clear view of the conveyor oven vs. deck oven debate. This episode breaks down what each commercial pizza oven does well and how your choice affects pizzeria consistency, training, labor costs, production capacity, remakes, and pickup times. I share how our team handled an 88-pizza order w...