Dino Ciccone has been in the pizza business for 20 years. He has worked in the industry for 25 years. Has made and eaten pizzas with Mama Ciccone for almost 50 years. Also opened multiple units from takeout delivery to full service restaurants and also many special events as festivals and fairs. Dino has done every job in the business from dishwasher to general contractor including designer/ engineer/ architect. His wealth of knowledge doesn't stop there. Dino has won more prestigious cooking awards then anyone we know. Last count was over 20. This
Potentially makes Dino "The Most Dangerous Man In Pizza" He has been featured in every trade magazine and written for most. Also featured on every major network from New York to Japan. Has judged and created rules and criteria for major pizza contests. Dino has a consulting firm and is President of World Pizza Organization (WPO) which is a new venture that certifies independent pizzerias if the criteria is met. This unites independents to compete against large chains thus creating a more level playing field. (There is strength in numbers look at China.) Dino is now working on a top-secret project that will bring a lot more publicity to pizza and pizzerias.
John Correll
Correll Consulting, LLC
8459 Holly Dr.
Canton, MI 48187 www.correllconcepts.com
Phone: 734-455-5830
Fax: 734-455-8135
John's food biz experience began in 1954 as a cook's helper ... his pizza career began in 1967 as the first hourly employee in the sixth Domino's Pizza to open ... and his consulting began in 1973 upon the start-up of Correll Consulting, the original pizza industry consulting company. His academic credentials include a MBA degree in Restaurant Management from Michigan State University.
Like most every other consultant, he has authored a hundred-plus articles, published numerous books, presented seminars on many topics, instructed college courses, and serviced clients large and small.
His somewhat unique job history includes dishwasher, cook, busboy, pizza-maker, sandwich-maker, delivery driver, hotel F&B director, restaurant manager, pizzeria manager, corporate training director, corporate sanitation director, pizza company entrepreneur, chain vice-president, international consultant, college educator, author, packaging designer, and independent inventor.
His business is custom, cutting-edge innovation. He holds over 35 patents and specializes in new-product development, operational systems enhancement, custom packaging design, and strategic differentiation. He has innovated many firsts, including pioneering conveyor baking as the first person in the restaurant and pizza industry to successfully use a conveyor oven ... creating the first personal-size pizza ... creating Domino's Pizza's first manager training program and writing its first Store Operations Manual ... and, most recently, researching, writing, compiling Encyclopizza™, the first complete online reference resource on pizza preparation technology (over 425 printed pages), and Progress-creator™, a first-time elucidation of the progress-creation process -- both located at www.correllconcepts.com.
PJ Giannini Author, National Seminar Speaker, Consultant, Regional
Chair National Society of Agents for Consumer Education, Consumer
Educator of The Year 2001 (NJ), and Licensed Insurance Agent. After being
trained at "home office underwriting school" for an international insurance
group, PJ founded Association Agency, Inc. and has spent over 15 years as a
Commercial Insurance Niche Marketer.
"By design, PJ limits himself to very specific areas of practice. The
depth of knowledge and marketplace savvy created allows PJ and his firm to
"Leverage the Resources of the Billion Dollar Insurance Industry" for the
benefit of its customers. To give the customer value beyond the sale, PJ
and his firm become "Passionate Advocates" for the customer. The focus is
on understanding the day-to-day issues faced by its client base and
crafting insurance solutions.
The latest part of the 'Passionate Advocate' strategy is the realization of
a NATIONAL NETWORK of insurance agents that know AND LOVE the Pizza
Industry. This web based enterprise is PIZZASURE.COM and is now in TEN
STATES and growing to serve the Pizza Industry.
Steve Green
Publisher of Pizza Marketing Quarterly Magazine
904 N. Lamar Blvd.
Oxford, MS 38655 sg@pmq.com www.pmq.com
662-234-5481 x 123
PMQ publisher Steve Green has built, owned and operated pizza stores in California, New York and Mississippi. He consults with many of the nation's top pizza operators and vendors and has toured thousands of pizza stores worldwide during the last 20 years. Steve was one of the original founders of Cyberslice, which was the first national Web service to sell pizza online. Cyberslice went on to become food.com.
Steve was the president and creator of Pizza Smarts (Green Mail) computer marketing system, which helped pizza operators use their computers and databases to sell more pizza. He has also been a pizza store manager, multi-store Domino's Pizza franchisee, marketing director, marketing consultant and advertising executive. As the former marketing director for the largest Domino's Pizza franchisee, he was responsible for setting the national Domino's Pizza grand opening sales record at $37,000 first week sales. This was only one of the new and innovative store marketing plans he designed and executed, which were adopted by and became part of Domino's renowned marketing savvy of the 1980s.
Tom Lehmann
Director of Bakery Assistance with the American Institute of Baking
1213 Bakers Way
Manhattan, Kansas 66502 www.aibonline.org
800-633-5137 ext. 165
Tom Lehmann has been employed by the American Institute of Baking since 1965. In his early years with the AIB, he was responsible for directing the operations of the Experimental Baking Group. He took an interest in pizza in about 1967, when he was contracted to reverse engineer a popular pizza being produced in Chicago, Illinois. He was soon recognized as the local "pizza expert" on the AIB staff. Shortly afterward, he made his first pizza service call to John's Pizza, the first wholesale pizza manufacturer in the U.S.
In 1979, Lehmann wrote his first publication on pizza for the AIB, and has since written several more in addition to writing monthly articles for Pizza Marketing Quarterly ("In Lehmann's Terms"), Pizza Today ("The Dough Doctor"), and Bellissimo Foods News Letter ("The Doctor is In"). Additionally, he writes a number of articles for International publications and participates in Pizza Expo annually.
He has provided technical assistance to most of the large wholesale pizza manufacturers, pizza chains, and a good many of the smaller independent operators. He also conducts at least three pizza seminars for the AIB every year, in addition to many special pizza seminars developed for clients on a contract basis. He is familiar with all types of pizza/pizza production, and has most recently been providing the industry with assistance on the newly popular "bake to rise" pizza concept.
Mike is a practicing CPA and has worked with closely held franchises and small businesses for over 20 years. Mike formed the Franchise Tax Group which consists of a group of accounting and tax professionals sharing s career with Ernst & Young where he became a Tax Manager after eight years with the Firm.
Mike is a member of the National Restaurant Association, the California Restaurant Association and the California Society of CPA's.
RASMUSSEN TAX GROUP is a team of industry specialists led by Michael J Rasmussen, CPA empowering restaurant owners to have more personal time, grow their business and be more profitable through innovative technology and personalized service that simplifies tax planning, accounting and business solutions. For more information visit www.rasmussentaxgroup.com.
Pam Simos
President
Five Star Training
259 Fourth Avenue North
St. Petersburg, FL 33715
Toll Free: 800-385-7827
Direct: (727) 743-4041 www.five-startraining.com
Pam Simos is the President and Founder of Five Star Training. She is the creator and presenter of a series of hospitality seminars and has more than 25 years of experience in hospitality. She holds a BA degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from Florida State University. During her career, Pam has worked at many of the leading restaurant chains, including Domino's Pizza, Red Lobster, Bennigan's, Taco Bell, and TCBY Yogurt.
Pam has directed the startup training operations and written manuals for Universal Studios Florida and Leverock's Seafood Houses, and directed new store openings for 22 restaurants. A published author, Pam has created training aids and products that are featured in bookstores, industry magazines and trade shows, locally and internationally.
Jeff and Marc Slutsky
Marketing Consultants and Speakers
467 Waterbury Court
Columbus, Ohio 43230 www.streetfightermarketing.net
800-758-8759
Jeff and Marc Slutsky are executives of Street Fighter Marketing in Columbus, Ohio, and specialize in teaching how to promote, market and increase sales without spending all of your money. They have co-authored seven books, including the most current, Streetfighter Marketing, and have had their columns regularly published in Pizza Marketing Quarterly for the past three years. They also have produced and offer a varietyvariety of audio and videotapes in addition to consulting and motivational speaking for individuals, groups and at many trade shows, such as the Mid-America Soft Serve & Pizza Show.
Beginning in 1996, Ed started Bellissimo Foods with several partners. Bellissimo went on to become the largest pizzeria distribution network in the United States. Currently the network services 25,000 pizzerias. Ed has possibly sold, marketed, and tasted more pizza then anyone in the United States over the last 5 years. He spends much of his time working on behalf of several clients who serve the pizzeria industry.
Ed began his foodservice career in 1974. He spent four years in restaurant and catering operations and management. The next stop saw Ed in the retail deli/bakery business. He set up in-store operations for a 14-store chain and managed those business units.
1980 was the beginning of a 13-year career in the wholesale bakery industry. During the first 7 years, Ed was the Production Manager. The subsequent, three years, he was the General Manager for the distribution side of the business and in the last 4 years, Ed was the company's National Sales Manager.
In the next portion of his career, Ed did consulting work for foodservice distributors and manufacturers. His specialties were Organization Design, Succession Planning, Sales Training and Marketing Consulting.
Ed is currently the President of Successfoods Marketing, a foodservice consulting and marketing services firm. Successfoods Marketing is a consulting and marketing services company serving the food industry.
