The International Pizza Challenge at Pizza Expo 2025 is set to be the biggest and best pizza competition. Executive Editor Denise Greer went one-on-one with Jeremy Galvin, who along with Michael LaMarca oversee the competitions. 

Jeremy shares how the competition is changing in 2025 and steps the Master Pizza team is taking to improve the competitions and enhance the experience for competitors. We talk rules, expectations, adjusting to an increased number of competitors and tips.

More on competitions at Pizza Expo: https://pizzaexpo.pizzatoday.com/competitions/ 

During PizzaCon 2024 in Philadelphia, Executive Editor Denise Greer took the opportunity to sit down with various pizzeria operators in person to talk pizza shop. Conversations in this episode include:  

Corey DiGiovanni, Pie Society Pizza in Virginia Beach, Virginia – His mobile pizza company has a military base clientele. We talk about that unique market. We also talk Pie Society’s beginning.  

Rocky Shanower, Park Street Pizza, Baler Street and Dola Jean’s in Sugar Creek and Dover, Ohio --  We talk growing and testing new models. Rocky shares his newest concept Dola Jean’s, a Detroit-style pizzeria. We dive into making an impact with a 30-second customer interaction. 

Tony Fevola, Fevola’s Pizza in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey, along with Chris Mitchell – Tony and Chris have teamed up to create the Pizza Roadtrip to visit pizza spots on New Jersey to share their stories. We also talk about the family business and what’s top of mind for Tony’s pizzeria.  

The podcast interviews took place during PizzaCon in Philadelphia, PA on November 7. Check out a recap of the event: Inaugural PizzaCon a Hit in Philadelphia https://pizzatoday.com/topics/industry-news/inaugural-pizzacon-a-hit-in-philadelphia/.  

We caught up with this year’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year Weather Preston with her mom and business partner, Donna Grainger, at PizzaCon in Philadelphia. They, along with Jim Grainger, own the quirky and fun family-run pizzeria, Cross Eyed Cow Pizza sits on the iconic Route 66 in Oro, Grande, California. 

Weather has taken the reins to lead the pizzeria into the future. She was honored at PizzaCon as the recipient of the 2024 Young Entrepreneur of Year in the PIE Awards. More on the PIE Awards at https://pizzatoday.com/pie-awards/. We talk about the business and where she is taking it.  

We also talk creativity in Cross Eyed Cow Pizza and how it helps the business succeed. Weather explains her creative process and the focus on repurposing.  

The podcast interview took place during PizzaCon in Philadelphia, PA on November 7. Check out a recap of the event: Inaugural PizzaCon a Hit in Philadelphia https://pizzatoday.com/topics/industry-news/inaugural-pizzacon-a-hit-in-philadelphia/.   

This week, we talk with co-executive chefs and partners Thomas McNaughton and Ryan Pollnow at San Francisco-based Flour + Water to get the skinny on the direction their taking their highly successful pizza concept. Check out more details provided by Flour + Water:

Thomas McNaughton, Co-Executive Chef & Founding Partner, Flour + Water Hospitality Group (Flour + Water, Flour +Water Pizzeria, Penny Roma, Flour + Water Pasta Shop)
Thomas McNaughton, founding partner, co-chef and CEO of Flour +Water Hospitality Group, grew up in Southern New Jersey. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, then gained valuable experience working for Bay Area restaurants La Folie, Gary Danko and Quince. On his culinary journey, he also worked at a number of Michelin-rated restaurants in France, Germany and Italy, falling head over heels in love with the hand-rolled pastas of Bologna and the nonne that produce them. Thomas is relentlessly driven by the community of farmers, craftsmen and “creatives” that call the Bay Area home.

Ryan Pollnow, Co-Executive Chef & Partner, Flour + WaterHospitality Group (Flour + Water, Flour + Water Pizzeria, Penny Roma, Flour + Water Pasta Shop)
Ryan Pollnow, co-chef and vice president of the Flour + WaterHospitality Group, discovered a love for cooking and the micro seasons of the Bay Area while growing up in Northern California. Ryan completed culinary school in Sonoma County while working at restaurants and wineries to further develop his acumen in the field. He continued his education abroad at renowned restaurant Mugaritz in northern Spain before returning to the Bay Area. Traveling for culinary inspiration has always been an important part of his growth, and his time in Italy left a significant imprint on his love for seasonal cooking. Ryan led each FWHG kitchen individually as Chef de Cuisine before transitioning into his current role overseeing all culinary operations as co-executive chef.

Flour + Water Pizzeria | Flour + Water Pizza Shop

Flour + Water Pizzeria, 532 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133

Flour + Water Pizza Shop, 1533 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133

Co-Chefs: Thomas McNaughton, Ryan Pollnow

Beverage Director: Samuel Bogue

Director of Operations: Amanda Flores

General Manager: Paige McNeil

Hours: 11:30am to 10pm, daily

fwpizzeria.com | @flourandwaterpizzeria

This week, we share our conversation with Nicole Bean, co-owner of Houston-based Pizaro’s Pizza Napoletana. During PizzaCon 2024 in Philly, Executive Editor Denise Greer had a lively conversation with Nicole about top-of-mind pizza business issues, taking on a leadership role in the pizza industry, multiple pizza style and using AI in the business and an in-depth talk about dialing AI prompts. 

Bill Hutchinson, wife Gloria and son Matt opened Pizaro’s in 2011. Nicole and husband Brad came on board in 2013. Today, Nicole is president of Pizaro’s, which operates two locations. 

In a previous Conversation in Pizza Today Magazine, Nicole said, “ There was a lot of education with customers during the first year and tons of feedback about wanting more toppings and a more substantial crust to hold those toppings from those who didn’t quite understand the concept of Napoletana pizza. We knew our Napoletana was great and didn’t take long to catch on here in Houston, but we wanted to give customers something more. After opening our second and larger location (closer to downtown) in 2015, I went out to San Francisco to Tony’s International School of Pizza to learn to make Detroit-style while also learning Chicago, New York and Sicilian. Matt and I launched Detroit six months after I got back from school. I used only social media and local press to spread the word on our newest baby. Response to our Detroit went better than expected and continues to grow. It was only a year ago (2017) that we launched New York-style, which took us 10 months of development with dough, tomatoes, cheese and market testing.” 

The podcast interview took place during PizzaCon in Philadelphia, PA on November 7. Check out a recap of the event: Inaugural PizzaCon a Hit in Philadelphia https://pizzatoday.com/topics/industry-news/inaugural-pizzacon-a-hit-in-philadelphia/.  

Two years ago, Chris and Angela Woodbeck received the call that many operators have feared. Their beloved pizzeria, Mangia Macrina’s in New Hartford, New York was on fire. Worse, when they arrived, they found out it was arson.  

It has been a long road back as the couple are about to reopen the pizzeria in a new location in Utica, New York. They share their story of bringing their business back, the obstacles they’ve faced and the transition. 

Mangia Macrina’s also has a location in Little Falls, New York as well as operating a food truck that has been instrumental in entering their new market of Utica. 

Learn more about Mangia Macrina’s at https://mangiamacrinaswoodfiredpizza.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mangiamacrina/.

Katie Lee owns Katie’s Pizza & Pasta with three locations in the St. Louis, Missouri area. Recently, the pizza company scored a huge client for its frozen pizza line to be sold in Walmart grocery stores starting in mid-to-late 2025. 

We get into what went into such a lucrative retail deal. There is so much more to Katie Lee’s story. She shares her background, how she started her business and what led her into the frozen market.  

For more details on the Walmart deal, see the following release: Owner Katie Lee and Culinary Director Chef Jake Sanderson received the news onsite at Walmart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, immediately following their pitch, which focused on Lee’s unrelenting drive to grow the brand and keep doing more to share their award-winning offerings with a wider audience. Only a fraction of the hundreds of businesses who pitch thousands of products during Walmart’s Open Call receive the prestigious Golden Ticket offer.  

“We did it! We got a Golden Ticket,” said Lee. “It’s the American dream come true, and we’re so proud to expand into Walmart. We’re so grateful to our St. Louis fans who have supported us as we started offering frozen pizzas through our restaurant business during the pandemic. We dreamed big and expanded into local grocery outlets, nationwide shipping, then moved into wider retail distribution, and now Walmart.” 

Katie’s is outperforming the strong frozen pizza category with over 100% growth year over year for the past three years, which is 10 times the growth of the entire category. What sets the Katie’s frozen pizza line apart is the team’s commitment to hand-crafting the premium artisan pizzas daily with scratch ingredients. Katie’s is the only restaurant of its size that makes pizzas and pastas by hand for retail, raising the bar on packaged frozen food. Going the extra mile ensures freshness and quality in every hand-stretched wood-fired pizza.  

Following the 2021 renovation of its frozen production facility, Katie’s frozen pizzas and pasta bakes became available at local St. Louis grocers Dierbergs Markets and Straubs. Growth continued with additional expansions into retailers including Fresh Market, Fresh Thyme, Kings-Balduccis, Mothers, Whole Foods Markets and more.  

About Katie’s Pizza & Pasta 
Katie’s Pizza & Pasta’s promise is to create moments of enjoyment between friends and family through passion-filled food and warm hospitality. Katie Lee’s dream to bring hand-made, in-house artisan and Neapolitan pizza to St. Louis began through one location under the ownership of her father, Tom Lee, in 2008. Today, KPP includes three locations. KPP Rock Hill opened in 2013 followed by the Town & Country location in 2017. The largest location opened in 2023 in downtown St. Louis’ Ballpark Village featuring a pasta-making station, wood-fired grill, expansive patio, private events space and in-house market selling to-go items. Katie’s portfolio of fresh and frozen pizzas, pastas and sauces are available at many grocery retailers and shipped nationwide. Since 2014, KPP’s “Giveback Tuesday” program has donated over $470,000 to St. Louis-based charities. To learn more and sign up for our newsletter visit KatiesPizzaAndPasta.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X to see the latest.

Today is one of the busiest days for pizzerias so the crew at Pizza Today bring you a lighthearted episode where Josh, Jeremy and Denise talk Halloween in pizzerias, favorite Halloween pizzas, interesting Halloween finds.

Here is the infamous Halloween Pizza featuring candy corn: https://pizzatoday.com/recipes/pizzas/halloween-cookie-pizza/

We also talk PizzaCon, happening next week in Philadelphia and the newly announce Pizza Expo Columbus.

More on PizzaCon at https://pizzacon.com.

Learn more about Pizza Expo Columbus at https://pizzatoday.com/topics/industry-news/pizza-today-international-pizza-expo-bring-national-pizza-show-to-columbus-in-2025/

Have a great Halloween!

Miriam Weiskind has already amassed a huge following in the pizza industry with The Za Report. Now, she is set to open her first brick-and-mortar pizzeria, Yums of PDX in Portland, Oregon. 

If you are looking for an inspiring episode. This is it. Miriam brings so much energy and enthusiasm about her journey and the pizza community. 

Miriam’s background is in design and branding. But after capturing the NYC Pizza Run title, her pizza journey took off with Scott’s Pizza Tours where she spent 8 years leading pizza fans on pizza tours throughout New York City. In 2019, she began she began perfecting her pizza-making skills and at passion quickly sent her to into professional pizza-making when she found her first apprenticeship at Paul Gee’s in Brooklyn. As the COVID-19 Pandemic left many New Yorkers isolated, Miriam started making pizzas and giving them to first responders and people impacted by the shutdown.   

The Za Report pop-ups and pizza giving continued as Miriam gained national attention for her efforts. She was even featured on the Food Network series Chopped on a pizza showdown episode “Wanna Pizza Me” in 2023. 

All of that has led her to find the right opportunity in Portland, Oregon.  

Miriam goes in depth about her journey to a brick-and-mortar pizzeria and how integral her pizza mentors and apprenticeships were. Sit back and enjoy this extended The Hot Slice Podcast 

Learn more about The Za Report at https://www.thezareport.com/ and Yum’s of PDX at https://www.yumsofpdx.com/. Follow Yum’s of PDX  on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/yumsofpdx/. Also follow The Za Report at https://www.instagram.com/thezareport/ . 

Show Notes:  

Are you a Pizzeria to Watch in 2025? 

Pizzerias to Watch feature looks at the total operation, from sales and employee programs to community outreach and marketing. We invite you to submit your pizzeria for our Annual Pizzerias to Watch feature. 

https://pizzatoday.com/pizzerias-to-watch-questionnaire/ 

Register for PizzaCon, the fun new event is November 7 in Philadelphia. Registration is live, so secure your spot to attend today! Learn more about PizzaCon.

Denise goes one-on-one with Louise Joseph on life in her pizza truck business, Dough Girls in Greenwich, Connecticut.  Dough Girls specializes in wood-fired pizza on the go.  

Dough Girls rolls to local events, fairs, festivals, farmers markets and private and corporate catering locations. Louise talks about what events and locations work for her business. We learn what makes for good consistency.  

What does it take to keep the pizza truck rolling? Louise shares the maintenance she focuses on to make sure her truck stays operational. We talk winter in a food truck in the Northeast, more weather and other challenges.  

Dough Girls has been going strong for nine years and Louise shares why she plans to continue her business in the truck and not a brick-and-mortar.  

Learn more about Dough Girls at https://www.doughgirlsonthego.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/doughgirlspizza/