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The 40th Pizza Expo is less than one month away. Jeremy, Josh and Denise dedicate this episode to all things Pizza Expo. From the show floor, competitions and demos to seminars and special events, there’s so much to look forward to this year.

Pizza Expo 2024, commencing at the Las Vegas Convention Center, March 19-21, is expected to be biggest and best Pizza Expo yet. Attendees and exhibitors can expect fanfare and celebration of our four decades.

Listen as the team shares some highlights and favorite events happening at the Las Vegas show.

Get a Preview of Pizza Expo 2024: https://pizzatoday.com/topics/industry-news/2024-pizza-expo-preview/.

What’s Pizza Expo?

The annual International Pizza Expo remains unchallenged as the industry’s largest event. Thousands of pizzeria professionals convene in Las Vegas, Nevada each year for 3 days dedicated to all things pizza. Suppliers from across the globe, networking and educational sessions led by top industry professionals, and national competitions round out this unrivaled event. Visit https://pizzaexpo.pizzatoday.com/ for more information.

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This week, we chat with Odie O’Connor, owner of Boxcar Pizza in Portland, Oregon. Boxcar is a vegan Detroit style pizza shop. His first venture into the pizza biz was a wood-fired pizza cart. On the show, we got the skinny on Odie’s next pizza project, a New York-style pizzeria in his hometown of San Diego, California, offering New York sourdough pies, as well as Sicilian and Grandma.

That’s five styles. Odie has a passion for pizza dough and learning. We talk about the process and the various styles. He shares how he decided to go into business with each style.

Doing a vegan Detroit pizza is unique. He details what he wanted in a Detroit pizza and why it’s open to all pizza lovers. Yes, we even talked cheese, since it’s a signature of the style.

In a Conversation in Pizza Today Magazine, Odie talked about the R&D of his Detroit. He said “When developing the vegan recipes I always consider taste, smell, allergens, and food cost.  Our meats are typically made from either vital wheat gluten or textured vegetable protein.  Once I decide what the base will be, I begin adding spices and liquids that I think will best represent umami flavors and also bake how I want them to on the pizzas. It really is just research, trial, error and then repeat.” Read his Conversation: https://pizzatoday.com/topics/people-pizzerias/conversation-odie-oconnor-boxcar-pizza-portland-oregon/

Check out Boxcar Pizza on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/boxcarpizza/ and his new project https://www.instagram.com/odiespizza/ .

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On this week’s Hot Slice podcast, Editor-in-Chief Jeremy White and Executive Editor Denise Greer sit down with Scott Sandler. The Pizza Expo speaker formerly owned a pizzeria in St. Louis that drew acclaim for its vegan slices. After selling that business and taking some time off, Sandler is jumping back into the fray with plans to open a new sit-down pizzeria with a wood-burning oven.

We catch up with Scott about selling a business, plans for the new pizzeria and why the new shop won’t be vegetarian or vegan but will offer meat products.

Scott has a full slate at next month’s Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. Be sure to sit in on his two seminars and his food demonstration on vegan nut cheeses. His seminar topics include “How to Sell Your Pizzeria for Top Dollar” and “Increasing Your Profit Margin”. Check out his Pizza Expo bio page here: https://pizzaexpo.pizzatoday.com/speaker-bios/#scott-sandler

To view the full educational lineup, check out www.pizzaexpo.com.

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On this week’s Hot Slice podcast, Editor-in-Chief Jeremy White and Executive Editor Denise Greer sit down with mobile operator and Pizza Expo speaker Siler Chapman. A long-time member of the World Pizza Champions, Chapman has most recently found success in the “food truck” realm. From weddings to corporate events, his catering gigs have taken his business to the next level.

Chapman will lead a four-hour pre-show workshop on Monday, March 18 at Pizza Expo. “Launching and Thriving with a Mobile Pizzeria” will take place from 8 a.m. to Noon at the Las Vegas Convention Center. You can purchase tickets to the workshop at PizzaExpo.com.

For more from Chapman, check out this article he wrote for PizzaToday.com in 2021 on mobile pizzerias: https://pizzatoday.com/topics/finance-growth/how-to-launch-a-mobile-pizza-business/

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This week, we catch up with Audrey Kelly, co-owner of Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage in Boulder, Colorado. Audrey is a World Pizza Champion, frequent speaker at International Pizza Expo and contributing writer for Pizza Today. Audrey is also an Ambassador for Women in Pizza.

Since opening in October of 2015, the Pizza Garage has been featured in numerous publications and even on the Food Network.

Find out what Audrey has been up to lately with the business. She details the ins and outs of having a pasta sauce line in the retail space. She also goes into balancing business ownership and parenthood. 

Learn more about Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage at https://www.thepizzagarage.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/audreyjanespizza/.

Read Audrey’s most recent Pizza Today article: The versatile Pesto sauce can be used as topping, base, marinade, dressing

https://pizzatoday.com/topics/menu-development/the-versatile-pesto-sauce-can-be-used-as-topping-base-marinade-dressing/

Check out Audrey’s Education Sessions at Pizza Expo:

Wednesday, March 20 | 10:15 am to 11:15 am

Room No: Show Floor Demo Area

D05 Demo: How to Build a Better Pie

Audrey Kelly

Owner/Pizzaiola

Audrey Jane's Pizza

Session Description

Speaking of elevating your pizza game, Colorado-based operator Audrey Sherman is here to demo methods and processes to make your pizza better.

Tuesday, March 19 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

S23 Panel Discussion: Women-Owned Pizzerias

Audrey Kelly, Owner/Pizzaiola, Audrey Jane's Pizza

Leah Scurto, Owner-Operator, PizzaLeah

Type: Seminar | Track: Seminar | Room No: W222-223

Learn more about Pizza Expo at https://pizzaexpo.pizzatoday.com/.

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Gabriella Ottaiano said receiving an 8.9 score from Dave Portnoy’s One Bite at Barstool was life-changing for Calabria Restaurant & Pizzeria in Livingston, New Jersey.

It was just what the pizzeria needed in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Since the review, Calabria’s has seen remarkable growth, a streamline operation and a marketing focus capitalizing on the review.

The pizza that received the score was the Calabria’s Crunchy Thin. After the review, people seeking the high-scoring pizza confused other Calabrias with the Livingston restaurant so Gabriella had the pizza trademarked. Listen to the process she went through to trademark their signature pizza.

She also made several changes in the kitchen to help accommodate the increase in volume and maintain food quality. Check out how she did it.

Calabria’s added nationwide shipping. See how they were able to incorporate the frozen line in the kitchen flow.

Calabria’s also participated in the inaugural One Bite Pizza Festival. Found out how the experience went.

For 40 years, Calabria’s has been family and Gabriella is part of the second generation to run the business.

Learn more about Calabria’s at https://calabrianj.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/calabriarestaurant/

Watch Calabria’s One Bite Review: https://youtu.be/-HsElQR9drU?si=1E549VNOjICLIou

Read Pizza Today’s article, Pizza Festivals: Getting Involved with a Pizza Fest -- https://pizzatoday.com/topics/brand-marketing/pizza-festivals-getting-involved-with-a-pizza-fest/

Other Show Notes:

35 Pizzerias to Watch in 2024

We received hundreds of outstanding submissions for our Pizzerias to Watch feature and have painstakingly whittled them down to this list of 35.

https://pizzatoday.com/topics/people-pizzerias/35-pizzerias-to-watch-in-2024/

Pizza Expo 2024 Registration is Open

Pizza Expo turns 40 in March. Register now to attend the industry’s premier event!

https://pizzatoday.com/topics/industry-news/pizza-expo-2024-registration-now-open/

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Listen to Sean Rowe, owner of St. Angelo’s Pizza in Atlanta, Georgia.

Join this one-on-one conversation with Executive Editor Denise Greer and Sean Rowe, owner of St. Angelo’s Pizza in Atlanta, George. St Angelo’s is a pizza company with two locations with very high volume.

Sean has a philosophy that he’s always only about 60% there which keeps him striving to improve his business. The company wasn’t always successful. Sean kept dialing in different areas. Hear how he fixed the product, streamline operations, dialed in delivery and most importantly enhanced his employee retention and employee culture.

Denise visited St. Angelo’s in 2022. They talk about how the business was and how it has changed. In the article, he also shared St. Angelo’s origin story….

Very successful in the software business for six years, Rowe was ready for something new. His uncle approached him in 2002 to invest in a carryout and delivery pizzeria. “Well sure, how hard can that be as I’m strutting?” he says. “Big mistake.”

But hindsight being 20/20, Rowe says, “The place is a disaster. The food is horrible.” His only recourse he felt was to open a new location and change everything. Wait, what?   

“The definition of an entrepreneur is to be able to pay for your mistakes,” he says. “But the ego will not let me let this go away. So, I find (a location next to the) Kroger. It’s $35 a square foot in 2003. But it’s not more than 1,000 square feet.” Rowe eventually bought out the business from his uncle. 

“I upgraded the cheese, pepperoni and sausage,” he says. “I didn’t change everything immediately, but the dough did change and slowly then the sauce. Everything was wrong,” he says.

“The first day we opened over there we did like $850, and I thought it was made from Heaven,” he says of St. Angelo’s 2004 launch. “Then we started tweaking the menu and then I developed those garlic knots.”

He tackled reformulating the pizza dough. “I must have made 300 to 400 batches of dough that I threw out in the course of a few months,” he says. “With enough of the expertise from the guys I had working for me, we sort of came into figuring out the dough. That took a good year or two.”

Read the entire St’ Angelo’s entire On the Road feature: https://pizzatoday.com/topics/people-pizzerias/on-the-road-st-angelos-pizza-atlanta-ga/

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Jeremy White and Denise Greer Welcome 2024 on The Hot Slice Podcast
We usher in a new year with a session where we talk shop on a variety of topics ranging from the Pizza Industry Excellence Awards to Pizza Expo 2024 competitions and more. We capped off 2023 by announcing the PIE Awards winners on PizzaToday.com. Here we give a quick shout out to the winners in 24 categories as well as look ahead to the 40th Anniversary of Pizza Expo.

First, the PIE Awards winners:
2023 PIE Awards Winners
• Young Entrepreneur of the Year — Laura Meyer, Pizzeria Da Laura
• Pizza Chain of the Year — Pizza My Heart, Santa Cruz, California
• Best Advertising Campaign — Mattenga’s Pizzeria, San Antonio, Texas
• Top Employee Initiatives — Caliente Pizza & Draft House, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Most Interesting Menu — Slice Pizza & Brew, Birmingham, Alabama
• Best Seasonal Menu — Crafters Pizza & Draft House, Carmel, Indiana
• Community Involvement Award — Punxsy Pizza, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
• Pizzeria Startup of the Year — Blue Square Pizza, Hopkinton, Massachusetts
• Mobile Pizza Business of the Year — Cut Stone Foods, Kenosha, Wisconsin
• Best Pizzeria Website — Rotolo’s Pizza, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Sustainability Champion — Catch-A-Fire Pizza, Blue Ash, Ohio
• Pizza Chain Executive of the Year — Nick Bogacz, Caliente Pizza & Draft House
• Best Branding — Caliente Pizza & Draft House, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Best Pizza Box Design — Varuni Napoli, Atlanta, Georgia
• Top Use of Technology — Blue Square Pizza, Hopkinton, Massachusetts
• Best Video Short — Mattenga’s Pizzeria, San Antonio, Texas
• Best Outdoor Dining Space — Parlour Pizza, Jeffersonville, Indiana
• Pizzeria Owner Mentorship Award — Tony Gemignani, Tony’s Pizza Napoletana
• Pizza Company of the Year by Region:
Northwest – Farrelli’s Pizza, Tacoma, Washington
Southwest — Mattenga’s Pizzeria, San Antonio, Texas
Southeast — Slice Pizza & Brew, Birmingham, Alabama
Midwest — Catch-A-Fire Pizza, Blue Ash, Ohio
Northeast — Emmett’s on Grove, New York, New York
 
Now is the time to enter if you are looking to go head-to-head with your peers in Las Vegas. The 40th Annual Pizza Expo is scheduled for March 19-21, 2024. Register to attend here: https://registration.experientevent.com/ShowPZA241/?flow=attendee&_gl=1*wsr17q*_ga*NjIxNTQ4ODgxLjE3MDEwOTc2NTM.*_ga_30DENJ19E7*MTcwMzAwMjU2MC42LjAuMTcwMzAwMjU2MC4wLjAuMA..&_ga=2.27054773.929149912.1703002040-621548881.1701097653
 
Once you are registered to attend the show, visit the Pizza Expo competitions page to view the competition schedule, rules and enter to compete. You can find the competitions page here: https://pizzaexpo.pizzatoday.com/competitions/
 

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Happy New Year! While we take a little break, we’re replaying one of our favorite episodes of the year. Mya Anitai, Franny’s Pizzeria & Restaurant, Highlands, New Jersey, on The Hot Slice Podcast
Our guest this week is Mya Anitai. She owns Franny’s Pizzeria & Restaurant, Highlands, New Jersey. She took over a longstanding pizzeria Francesco’s Italian Restaurant in May 2019 and rebranding the business into Franny’s in February 2020.
Mya discussed the rebranding with us in a previous Conversation. She said, “Francesco’s had been in business for 40 years before I purchased the restaurant and took over. With great bones and a neighborhood of nostalgic support, I worked steadily to modernize the menu and increase ingredient quality across the board. The most popular dishes from Francesco’s stayed as well as specials directly from my Richmond, Virginia restaurant Dinamo (@dinamorichmond). I spent months monitoring sales and learning my customer’s dining desires before fully rebranding and becoming Franny’s.”
Mya also owns Dinamo in Richmond, Virginia. We explore each restaurant’s menu and what makes Franny’s different.
Franny’s has a full menu with pizza at its center. Franny’s serves three types of pizza: classic, New York style flour-tossed round, oil-pressed, square granny pie and deep-dish Sicilian. And we get into what makes those styles unique and what’s behind that oil-pressed grandma pie.  Other menu items include pastas, entrees, sandwiches, appetizers, salads and soups. We talk about Franny’s menu focus, as well as its seasonal menus and what produce she will highlight.
Listen to more on this week’s The Hot Slice Podcast.
Explore more on Franny’s at https://frannyshighlands.com/  and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/frannyshighlands
Read Mya’s Conversation in Pizza Today.

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IPC Coordinators Michael LaMarca, Jeremy Galvin with Master Pizza on The Hot Slice Podcast

Pizza Expo 2024 in Las Vegas in March is our 40th Anniversary. There are some huge updates to the International Pizza Challenge, so we have brought Michael LaMarca and Jeremy Galvin on the show to give us the skinny. Michael, Jeremy and their team at Master Pizza and beyond make IPC a success each year coordinating the largest pizza-making competition in the U.S.

What is International Pizza Challenge?

International Pizza Challenge has evolved and grown in stature and prize money to become the most prestigious pizza-making competition in North America, if not the world. This year, we’ll have 5 divisions: Traditional, Non-Traditional, Neapolitan/STG, Pan, & World’s Best Cheese Slice, which will be represented in the pizza bake-off that will showcase 240 of the world’s best pizza makers. Each competitor will have the opportunity to bake their signature pizza on the spot at Pizza Expo, which will then be presented to a renowned panel of accredited chefs. The bake-offs will take place Tuesday through Thursday in the International Pizza Challenge contest area. The winners of each division will face off against each other in a mystery-ingredient bake-off to determine who will be named the 2024 Pizza Maker of the Year

Learn more about International Pizza Challenge at https://pizzaexpo.pizzatoday.com/giveaway-rules-regulations/international-pizza-challenge/.