This is the entire article, of which a portion was printed in our print magazine, "Pizza Marketing Quarterly".

     For two decades pizza operators have tried dancing with the elusive possibility of selling a "healthier pizza." For example, in 1980 Pizzuti's Pizza introduced the Pizzuti Lite a personal-size 8-inch pie made with a 4-oz dough ball, about an ounce of sauce and mozzarella each, green peppers, and four slices of pepperoni (cut into quarters to make 16 little pieces). It was a tasty treat at under 400 calories! When combined with a tossed salad with diet dressing and a diet soft drink, a person could enjoy a well-rounded pizza meal for less than 450 big ones. But, alas, it went nowhere. After six months on the menu it was removed.

     Circa 1985, another pizza operator in southeastern Michigan by name of Mark O’Brien introduced a calorie-reduced pie under the compelling name of Calorie Counter Pizza. He pumped it hard for several years, eventually selling the name to a supermarket chain. But today it’s nowhere (that I know of).

     Along with the reduced-calorie craze came the diet programs of the 1980s such as the Pritikin Plan. Those programs spawned the reduced-fat trend. With that came low-fat and no-fat cheese which opened up the possibility for low-fat and no-fat pizza. A few small pizza companies have capitalized on it. For example, Bacino’s Pizza of Chicago has been selling a Chicago style stuffed spinach pizza made with low-fat cheese for over ten years. With the blessing of the Heart Association, they market it as "heart-healthy pizza." So we must answer the vexing question "Why hasn’t healthier pizza taken hold?"

Why It Hasn’t Yet Happened

     By understanding the factors that have undermined most attempts at healthy pizza, we can gain an understanding of the key to tapping into the diet conscious market of today.

     Regarding reduced-calorie pizza, there are two reasons why it has failed. First, in the mind of most persons, pizza-eating and calorie-counting don’t co-exist that is, when one eats pizza, one doesn’t count calories. Second, reduced-calorie pizza is, basically, a fantasy. The only way to make a low-calorie pizza is to make a smaller-portioned pizza. In other words, if you want less calories, you eat less pizza. Sure, a pizza operator can help out by eliminating some of the fat in the product (since fat has twice the calories per ounce than that of carbohydrate). But, by and large, consuming fewer calories boils down to eating less pizza.

     Regarding reduced-fat pizza, the only way to make it is by using low-fat or no-fat cheese. Certain low-fat cheeses can perform acceptably well, especially when mixed with a vegetable ingredient such as spinach, as Bacino’s does. However, historically there has been three little problems with no-fat cheese: No taste, no stretch, no "hot product shelf life." In other words, the product lacked full-bodied flavor, had less stretch, and congealed quickly and took on a waxy look. It also sometimes didn’t melt as quickly as regular cheese, which resulted in cheese lumps on the pizza, or what some folks call "cottage cheese." All that conspired to dampen pizza operators’ enthusiasm for selling no-fat pizza. However, recent reports from some industry experts indicate that cheese manufacturers may have turned the corner on some of those problems. So, if low-fat or no-fat pizza is something that you’d like to (re)consider, I would recommend taking a look at the most recent products. One source to check out is Galaxy Foods: 800-441-9419.

Turning to the Future

     With the background of healthy pizza in mind I ask this question: Is it possible to build substantial incremental sales (like at least 10 percent) by incorporating a "healthier pizza" on the menu? Up to now virtually everyone in the industry would reply "no way." However, we at PMQ have recently come to a different conclusion. Our answer is: Yes, we definitely think it’s possible to build sales with a healthier pizza. And this is how we believe it can be done.

     The key, in our opinion, to building sales with a healthier pizza is: Design and market a pizza to the exact requirements of one of today’s specific diet plans. I’m not talking about re-designing your traditional pizza. You already have a loyal following for that. Instead, consider creating and niche-marketing a special "diet pizza." (For a true-life success story, see the feature article on Johnny’s Pizza in this issue.)

How to Do It

     To roll out and niche-market a diet pizza I suggest the following five-step strategy:

1. Find out what today’s most popular diet plans are.

2. Study the plans to determine what each requires, then pick one (or more) and design a pizza that satisfies the requirements of the chosen plan/s.

3. Attach an appropriate name to the pizza a name that, preferably, connotes the special attributes of the product and would press the hot buttons of the diet plan followers.

4. Design ad copy that describes the product in an appealing way and promotes its particular diet plan attributes.

5. Promote it and watch sales grow.

     Of course all that requires substantial time time which you, an already over-extended pizza operator, probably don’t have. Therefore, we at PMQ have done the homework for you. Here, now, is how to create and sell your own innovative, exciting, sales-building "diet pizza of the century."

STEP 1: Find out what today’s most popular diet plans are.

To do that, I went to Amazon.com’s Bestsellers of 1999 list. Would you believe: Thirteen of the top 100 best selling books for 1999 were diet books! And here they are the number indicates the book’s ranking on the list.

     And if you think that this dietary mania might be merely a fad, check out Amazon.com’s Bestsellers in the last 24 hours. The craze continues. A word of caution about the above list: Each book’s ranking on the list does not necessarily indicate the popularity of one diet plan relative to another. Some books, such as the Zone and Sugar Busters, have been out for a while and, therefore, may have had their book sales peak in a prior year.

     Excluding the Suzanne Somers book, when we analyze the remaining list of 12 books we discover that it distills down to six distinct diet programs, as follows:

• Zone Plan
• Sugar Busters Plan
• Eat Right 4 Your Type Plan
• Carbohydrate Addict's Lifespan Plan
• Protein Power Plan
• Dr. Atkins' Plan

STEP 2: Study the plans to determine what each requires, then pick one (or more) and design a pizza that satisfies the requirements of the chosen plan/s.

     To find out what each diet involves, I purchased a book for each plan and reviewed it noting the plan’s overall strategy as well as its specific requirements. Based on that, I provide an overview of all the plans, then provide the specifics on each.

OVERVIEW OF CURRENT DIET THINKING: Except for the Eat Right 4 Your Type Plan, the central focus of these plans is insulin control. Studies in recent years have shown that excessive secretion of insulin one of the body’s most powerful hormones appears to be the major cause of obesity, adult onset diabetes, high cholesterol level, and heart disease, to name a few of the maladies associated with it. Therefore, the main premise of each book is: With the right diet you can maintain an optimum insulin level which, in turn, will enable you to stay slim and healthy. Where the plans diverge is on (a) what insulin level constitutes the optimum level and (b) what type of diet works best for controlling insulin within the optimal range.

     The books further explain the impact of carbohydrate, protein, and fat the three macronutrient food groups on insulin level. To review high school nutrition class, carbohydrate comes mainly from plant-based foods and especially from those containing high amounts of sugar or starch such as potatoes, pastas, breads, cereals, candy, and most desserts. Protein comes mainly from animal-based foods such as meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy products, although certain beans or legumes contain protein. Fat comes naturally in most protein foods and also in some carbohydrate foods (ex. olives and other high-oil plants), and is inserted into man-made carbohydrate foods such as baked goods. Fat can be in solid form or liquid (oil) form.

     The books then point out the varying impact on insulin level between the three nutrient groups. To sum up, carbohydrates stimulate insulin secretion. Proteins suppress it. And fats, in themselves, don’t effect it either way. However, fat when combined with certain carbohydrates actually reduces the carbohydrate’s effect on insulin secretion. Therefore all the books say, if you want to reduce insulin, you should eat less carbohydrate and more protein.

     However, there’s an important twist to the carbohydrate factor: Not all carbohydrates have the same degree of impact on insulin. For example, manufactured sugar (i.e., sucrose and glucose) causes greater insulin secretion than honey and fructose, the sugar found naturally in most fruits. In addition, small starch particles, such as those found in typical flour, cause greater insulin secretion than the larger starch particles found in stone ground flour. And white flour results in more insulin than does whole wheat flour. As a result, nutritional scientists have designed a rating system called the glycemic index which indicates the relative impact of various carbohydrate foods on insulin secretion. The higher a food’s glycemic index rating, the more rapidly it floods the bloodstream with sugar and, thereby, the greater its impact on insulin. So to maintain a lower insulin level, many of the diets recommend eating foods containing low-glycemic rather than high-glycemic carbohydrates. If you desire more specifics on this interesting subject, I would refer you to the eye-opening book The Glucose Revolution: The Authoritative Guide to the Glycemic Index.

     Finally, most of the books attack the high-carbohydrate/low-fat diets of the 1980s such as the Pritikin Plan on the grounds that (a) the high carbohydrate requirement of the ‘80s diets results in carbohydrate overdosing which increases insulin beyond the healthy range and (b) the low fat requirement of the ‘80s diets can result in deficiency of certain essential fatty acids. So most of the current diets do not impose the severe overall fat restriction that former diets did, although all of the current diets agree that humans should continue to avoid excessive saturated fat. In that regard, they all recommend using olive oil (some recommend canola oil, too) whenever fat or oil must used in a recipe.

     So which diet plan or plans should you target? That, of course, is up to you. However, based on "pizza-friendliness," or how easy it might be for a pizzeria to satisfy the plan’s requirements, I would rank the diets as follows. The first four are the easier to satisfy; the last two are slightly more difficult but not impossible.

Zone Plan Sugar Busters Plan Eat Right 4 Your Type Plan Carbohydrate Addict's Plan Protein Power Plan ( Dr. Atkins' Plan

     Following are descriptions of the basic elements of each plan, as best I could interpret them. With this information you can knowledgeably decide which plan or plans you want to pursue with your "world-class diet pizza" program. Because these are summations, if you decide to build a pizza on a particular plan, I definitely recommend that you purchase a copy of the book to insure that you fully understand all requirements of the plan.

THE ZONE PLAN. Unlike some of the other diets, the goal of this diet is not to reduce insulin to the lowest possible level but, rather, to keep it within a desired range, or zone. To accomplish that, the diet specifies that the amount of carbohydrate, protein, and fat consumed at each meal should be in the weight ratio of 9 parts carbohydrate, 7 parts protein, and 3 parts fat, or 9:7:3. Initially this diet plan was criticized for being too complex, although in reality it's perhaps the most livable. To overcome the criticism, the author, Dr. Barry Sears, has published several follow-up books including Zone Food Blocks: The Quick & Easy, Mix & Match Counter for Staying in the Zone and, just out, A Week in the Zone. From a pizzeria owner's perspective, one of the interesting aspects of the Zone plan is that both the diet and author are fast-food friendly.

     In the first book Sears says, "Actually fast-food restaurants have been given a bad rap over the years. They do serve protein in defined sizes (although most of it contains a higher fat content). The only trouble is they also serve amazing amounts of carbohydrate at the same time. Knowing when to hold back the carbohydrates is the key to eating fast food in the Zone. But there are many examples (especially grilled chicken sandwiches without the mayo) which are surprisingly good and very quick Zone meals."

     In the second book Sears explains, "With pizza, order thin crust instead of thick. Select a low-fat protein topping like chicken. Eat the topping of every slice, but only eat every other crust. Order vegetables to make it more satisfying.

     "Well, I've got great news for Dr. Sears. We in the pizza industry can actually construct a great-tasting pizza that fits entirely within the Zone, so dieters won't have to discard a single delicious crumb. To make it, apply these eight easy guidelines. While it may look like a long list, it's actually easy to do. All portion amounts are based on a 12-inch pizza. To make a pizza of another size, simply change the portion amounts proportionately.

Keep sugar to a minimum in dough and sauce recipes-no more than one percent in each. Keep oil and fat to a minimum-no more than 3 percent in the dough, based on flour weight. Use little or none in the sauce. When oil is used, use olive oil. If you want to incorporate olive flavor into a recipe, use virgin or extra virgin oil. If you don't want the olive flavor, use "extra light" olive oil. For the crust, use a nine ounce dough ball. Yes, this is a thin-crust pizza. For sauce, use whatever portion amount of tomato-based sauce gives the best flavor. For cheese, use six ounces of a 50:50 blend of low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella and no-fat mozzarella, or any other (blend of) cheese that has the same amount of protein and fat as that blend. Include three-to-four ounces of lean meat toppings-ham, chicken, and/or lean ground beef would qualify; typical pepperoni and Italian sausage would not. Veggies are optional. Include as much or as little of the typical non-starchy pizza veggies-tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and green peppers-as the customer requests.

     Voila you know have a pizza that Zone dieters can enjoy as much of as they like, while not deviating an iota from their diet. The key to meeting this diet’s requirements is to construct a pizza so that carbohydrate, protein, and fat amounts are in the prescribed ratio. The above pizza formulation fits that ratio. So pay special attention to weights and formulations, otherwise you’ll end up with a pizza that’s "outside the zone." In addition, it’s worth noting that the Zone diet places special emphasis on Omega-3 essential fatty acids, which are typically found in cold-water fish such as tuna. So you might want to consider carrying tuna as a pizza topping. Crazy, you say? Maybe. But consider this: Tuna is the #1 pizza topping in West Germany. As long as you’re designing a special diet pizza, maybe tuna’s worth a test. It can be used to fulfill all or part of the three-to-four ounce lean meat topping requirement prescribed above.

THE SUGAR BUSTERS PLAN. The goal of this diet is to reduce the intake of high-glycemic carbohydrates, or carbohydrates that rapidly flood the bloodstream with glucose sugar. Standard highly-refined white flour of the kind typically used in white bread and pizza crust is considered to be a high-glycemic carbohydrate! The problem with a high-glycemic carbohydrate is that it stimulates rapid secretion of insulin. To solve this problem, the Sugar Busters plan calls for focusing on three types of foods: low-glycemic carbohydrates, lean meats, and fats in moderation. As the name implies, low-glycemic carbohydrates are vegetables and grain products that convert to glucose at a slower pace than that of high-glycemic carbohydrates. When it comes to flour, the bigger the starch particle (or coarser the grind), the more slowly the starch converts to sugar. In addition, whole wheat flour, which has the bran component included and therefore is higher in fiber, has a lower glycemic index rating than does white flour. So for Sugar Busters devotees, stone ground whole wheat flour is the recommended flour for bread products such as pizza crust. And, of course, anything with more than a bare minimum of sugar in any component of the pizza would be taboo.

To create a pizza that satisfies the Sugar Busters diet, apply these 10 easy guidelines.

1 Eliminate or virtually eliminate all forms of sugar, including honey and syrup, from dough and sauce recipes. However, if you're using a retarded dough-one that's refrigerated for at least 24 hours before using-you could add one-half percent sugar based on flour weight without causing a problem, because the yeast would likely consume the sugar within that time.

2 Keep oil and fat to a minimum-no more than 3 percent in the dough, based on flour weight. Use little or none in the sauce.

3 When oil is used, use olive oil. If you want to incorporate olive flavor into a recipe, use virgin or extra virgin oil; if you don't want the olive flavor, use "extra light" olive oil. (Canola oil can be substituted for olive oil in this diet.)

4 Make the crust thin to medium-thick. For a 12-inch pizza, that would be a dough ball in the 10-to-12 ounce range.

5 For sauce, use whatever portion amount of tomato-based sauce gives the best flavor.

6 For cheese, use a medium portion-say, six ounces for a 12-inch pizza-of a moderately low fat cheese, such as low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella or something similar. If you wish, experiment with a 50:50 blend of low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella and no-fat mozzarella.

7 Use lean meats for meat toppings-ham, chicken, and lean ground beef would qualify; typical pepperoni and Italian sausage would not.

8 All typical pizza veggies qualify-tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and green peppers.

9 For the dough, use a stone ground flour, which has a larger starch particle than that of standard flour. You'll likely need to special order this.

10 Use 100% whole wheat flour, which is flour that includes the bran layer of the wheat grain. (Specifically, we recommend stone ground whole white wheat flour, for reasons explained below.)

     The only "problem" is with guideline #10, because, as you may know, a bread product made with 100% whole wheat flour can have an excessively dark color and a somewhat bitter flavor. This is caused by the tannins in the bran layer.

     However, Tom Lehman of the American Institute of Baking suggests an easy, great solution: Use flour made from white wheat as opposed to red wheat.

     In other words, use stone ground whole white wheat flour. If that sounds perplexing, allow me to explain. Wheat comes in different strains. Traditional flour, of the type used in standard white bread and pizza crust, comes from a strain known as red wheat. It’s called that because the wheat grain is reddish-brown color. What makes it that color is the brown-colored tannins in the bran layer. White wheat, on the other hand, is a strain of wheat that has a lighter color, hence the name white wheat. The reason that it has a lighter color is that the bran layer contains a smaller amount of tannins than does the bran layer of red wheat. As a result, whole wheat flour made from white wheat has none of the bitter flavor associated with whole wheat flour made from red wheat. It also has a lighter color.

     To obtain a source for stone ground whole white wheat flour, contact the American White Wheat Producers Association (AWWPA): 913-367-4422. Be sure to specify stone ground, as opposed to roller milled.

     I decided to test the product before suggesting it. So I procured a sample of stone ground whole white wheat flour from the AWWPA and mixed a couple small dough batches. I found that the flour required an unusually high amount of water for proper consistency. After expanding my recipe to large-volume size, here’s the result:

Pizza Dough with 100% Stone Ground Whole White Wheat Flour 25 lb Stone ground whole white wheat flour 15 lb-12 oz Water(63%) 8 oz Salt (2%) 12 oz Extra light olive oil (3%) As needed Yeast

     I suggest mixing the dough by your current method and, at least initially, using the same type and amount of yeast. Increase or decrease the water amount to increase or decrease dough softness. Increase or decrease yeast level and water temperature to increase or decrease fermentation rate, or amount of rise. When baked, I found the product to have a rich, pleasing, nutty-like flavor what one sampler called a "healthy bread" taste. In short, I found no reason why this crust shouldn’t appeal to dieters, especially those on the Sugar Busters Plan.

THE EAT RIGHT 4 YOUR TYPE PLAN. While the primary goal of the other diets is to reduce or control insulin secretion, this plan is based on the concept that the best diet for each person is the diet that best fits that person’s body chemistry, which the author points out is mainly determined by blood type. Since there are four blood types O, A, B, and AB this plan prescribes four diets. Within each diet the author also provides further specific recommendations based on genetic background: African, Asian, Caucasian. So how does this diet plan fit into the pizza world? In terms of sauce, cheese, and toppings, it’s possible to satisfy the requirements of all four diets in this plan. A small difficulty, however, arises with the crust. For blood types O and A, eating products with white flour and whole wheat flour is forbidden. Further, a blood type B person is allowed to consume white flour but not whole wheat flour. Finally, an AB type can consume both white and whole wheat flour products. So for a pizzeria to sell a product that targets this diet plan it must have a crust made with something other than white flour or whole wheat flour. What will work? A review of the book indicates that spelt flour is allowed for all four blood types.

To create a pizza that satisfies all four diets in the Eat Right 4 Your Type plan, follow these eight easy guidelines.

1 Keep sugar to a minimum in dough and sauce recipes no more than one percent in each.
2 Keep oil and fat to a minimum no more than 3 percent in the dough, based on flour weight. Use little or none in the sauce.
3 When oil is used, use olive oil. If you want to incorporate olive flavor into a recipe, use virgin or extra virgin oil. If you don’t want the olive flavor, use "extra light" olive oil.
4 Make the dough of spelt flour, instead of regular flour. Spelt which, by the way, happens to be referenced in the Bible is a type of wheat which is a first cousin to the wheat commonly grown today. It’s being re-discovered, so to speak, and is increasing in popularity among the health-conscious. You can find it in most health food and natural food stores. It’s also marketed as "organic," which could be a promotional point. To buy in bulk quantity, one source for the product is Purity Foods: 517-351-9231.
5 For sauce, use whatever portion amount of tomato-based sauce gives the best flavor.
6 For cheese, use a moderate portion say, six ounces for a 12-inch pizza of low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella or similar product. Or, if you wish, use a 50:50 blend of low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella and no-fat mozzarella.
7 For veggie toppings, include as much or as little of fresh mushrooms, tomato, onions, and green peppers as the customer requests. All four of those items are allowed for each of the four blood types.
8 As far as meat toppings are concerned, chicken is the preferred product as it’s allowed for all four blood types. Ground beef, by the way, is allowed for types O and B and forbidden for types A and AB. The book gives no specific recommendation for pepperoni and Italian sausage. However, it forbids bacon and pork for all four blood types. So it’s reasonable to conclude that devotees of the diet would frown on pepperoni, ham, and Italian sausage all pork-based products.

     This is an easy diet plan for a pizzeria to target, provided the business can arrange for a regular supply of spelt flour. Spelt flour comes in both white and whole wheat versions.

THE CARBOHYDRATE ADDICT’S LIFESPAN PLAN. This diet calls for substantial reduction in carbohydrate intake. However, it allows one Balanced Reward Meal™ per day. The Balanced Reward Meal consists of (a) a leafy greens salad and (b) the rest of the meal being one-third carbohydrate-rich foods, one-third craving-reducing protein, and one-third craving-reducing vegetables. Carbohydrate-rich foods comprises breads, pasta, and grain products. Craving-reducing protein comprises moderate-fat to low-fat meats, poultry, fish, cheese, and eggs. And craving-reducing vegetables comprises all non-starchy vegetables. A person is allowed to eat as much as they want at this meal, provided that they consume all three of those food groups in a 1:1:1 ratio.

     The good news for pizza folks is that it’s possible to create a Balanced Reward Meal with a pizza! You can do that by simply following these eight easy guidelines. All portion amounts are based on a 12-inch pizza. To make a pizza of another size, simply change the portion amounts proportionately.

1. Keep sugar to a minimum in dough and sauce recipes no more than one percent in each.

2. Keep oil and fat to a minimum no more than 3 percent in the dough, based on flour weight. Use little or none in the sauce.

3. When oil is used, use olive oil. If you want to incorporate olive flavor into a recipe, use virgin or extra virgin oil. If you don’t want the olive flavor, use "extra light" olive oil.

4. Make the crust thin to medium-thick. For a 12-inch pizza, use a nine-to-10 ounce dough ball.

5. For sauce, use whatever portion amount of tomato-based sauce gives the best flavor.

6. For cheese, use six ounces of low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella or a cheese of similar protein and fat content. Or, if you wish, use a 50:50 blend of low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella and no-fat mozzarella.

7. Include three-to-four ounces of lean meat topping ham, chicken and/or lean ground beef would qualify; typical pepperoni and Italian sausage would not.

8. Include seven-to-eight ounces of any combination of non-starchy vegetables. Tomato, mushroom, onion, and green pepper all qualify. Of course seven-to-eight ounces is a lot of veggie. The easiest way to meet that requirement without "ruining" the pizza is to go heavy on the tomato. Use sliced or diced Roma tomato.

     The key to creating a "Balanced Reward Pizza" is to construct it so that the crust, the meat-cheese, and the veggie-sauce components are all in a 1:1:1 weight ratio. The above pizza formulation fits that ratio. So pay special attention to weights.

THE PROTEIN POWER PLAN. As the name implies, this diet places emphasis on protein intake and prescribes restricted carbohydrate consumption. The diet comes in two phases. Phase one allows 30 grams of carbohydrate per day (equivalent to two-and-a-half slices of white bread). Phase two allows 55 grams per day (equivalent to four slices of white bread). The book has a Restaurant Dining Guide section. Its recommendation for how to dine at a "pizza parlor" is: Get a pizza and a tossed salad with ranch, blue cheese, or Italian dressing. Load up on the toppings you like: the trick is to eat only the toppings and leave the crust uneaten. O-o-o-kay. Since few people are apt to do this, it’s clear that the Protein Power Plan is not an easy fit for the pizza world. However, it’s still possible for a person in phase two of the diet to legally enjoy at least two or three slices of properly-made pizza. To make pizza a viable option for this dieter, apply these four guidelines:

1. Make the crust as thin as possible, while retaining acceptable handling and eating characteristics.

2. Offer a selection of lean meat toppings.

3. Keep sugar to a minimum in dough and sauce recipes.

4. When using fat in a recipe, stick to the less-saturated oils such as olive oil and canola oil.

THE DR. ATKINS’ PLAN. From the pizzeria standpoint this diet is the most severe as it’s based almost exclusively on protein and fat, which is why it’s also the most debated diet. It allows only 20 grams of carbohydrate per day roughly the equivalent of one-and-a-half slices of white bread. That means two slices of medium-thick crust pizza would completely fill or exceed a person’s daily carbohydrate allotment. Clearly, someone pursuing this plan is not apt to eat much pizza.

     Interestingly, however, the book (#8 on the list) gives a recipe for pizza. It calls for typical ingredients except that, for the crust, a pre-cooked crepe-type pancake is used. The pancake is made with soy flour and lots of egg. So, it’s possible to make an "official Dr. Atkins’ pizza," although it requires unorthodox procedure. As such, this product would not likely be a viable menu option for a delivery/carry-out pizzeria, but it might be a consideration for a dining establishment staffed with professional chefs and which caters to a high-end, high-fashion clientele.

KILLING MULTIPLE BIRDS WITH ONE STONE. Now comes the big decision: Which of the diets do you want to target? Before you make that decision, however, I’ll throw a curve ball. It’s possible to target multiple diets simultaneously. I’m not necessarily recommending that but, rather, simply presenting the possibility. Here’s how it could be done, for example.

     To simultaneously target the Zone and Sugar Busters diets, construct a pizza according to the Zone requirements while using 100% stone ground whole wheat flour in the dough recipe (i.e., as prescribed for Sugar Busters dough).

     To simultaneously target the Zone, Sugar Busters, and Eat Right 4 Your Type diets, construct a pizza according to the Zone requirements while making the crust of 100% stone ground whole wheat spelt flour and using chicken as the exclusive meat topping.

     To simultaneously target the Zone, Sugar Busters, Eat Right 4 Your Type, and Carbohydrate Addict’s diets, construct a pizza according to the Zone requirements while making the crust of 100% stone ground whole wheat spelt flour and using chicken as the exclusive meat topping, and incorporate the veggie requirement of the "Balanced Meal Pizza" described for the Carbohydrate Addict’s diet.

     To include a follower of the Protein Power diet, all that person would have to do is eat no more than about three slices of any of the above-described pizzas.

     Other combinations are possible, too. The key to creating them is to note the "unique defining requirements" of each plan’s pizza, then simply combine the requirements of two or more pizzas into a single pizza. Presto, you have a hybrid diet pizza that satisfies multiple diet plans.

     Of course the potential drawback of "combining diet pizzas" is that you could end up with a weird-tasting product of diminished appeal. But, hey, no one has tried it yet, so no one knows for sure what will result. You might as well be the first to experiment.

STEP 3: Attach an appropriate name to the pizza.

After selecting one (or more) diet plans to target and designing a pizza that has slam-dunk appeal to the followers of that plan, you must give the pizza a memorable moniker. Preferably the name should connote a special attribute of the product and push the hot buttons of diet plan devotees. To get you started, here’s a list of names you can pick from, or build upon. To the best of my knowledge they’re original creations with me. Assuming that to be true, you have my permission to use any that you like. You can easily determine what diet/s each name fits. Some pertain to a specific plan while others are generic. When using one of these names, put your business name in front of the pizza’s name ex. Stevie’s HealthZONE™ Pizza.

• HealthZONE™ Pizza
• ZONE-diet™ Pizza
• ZONE-power™ Pizza
• Sugar-beaters™ Pizza
• Sugar-crushers™ Pizza
• Sugar-squashers™ Pizza
• Carbo-crusher™ Pizza (my personal favorite)
• Right4You™ Pizza
• SpeltCrust™ Pizza
• EatRight™ Pizza
• DietRight™ Pizza
• Balanced-Meal™ Pizza
• DietReward™ Pizza
• Hi-Pro™ Pizza
• Hi-Pro/Lo-Carb™ Pizza
• Dyno-dieters™ Pizza
• Recipe of Dr. Atkins' Pizza

     I’ve checked all the above names on the federal trademark register and each "comes up clean" for use with pizza. If you create your own name and would like to check it against the federal register, here’s how to do it in 60 seconds on the internet:

Type http://www.uspto.gov in the address box of your browser and, of course, press the "enter" key. On the first menu to come up, click on "Trademarks." On the next menu, click on "US Trademark Database," which will be under the heading Search. On the next menu, click on "Combined Marks Search," which will be under the heading Access the Trademark Database. On the next page, type into the box the word or words you want to conduct a search on; then click the "search" button. That's it.

STEP 4: Design ad copy that describes the product in an appealing way and promotes its particular diet plan attributes.

     To do this, simply analyze the previous description of the diet plan you’ve decided to target, pick out the key characteristics or unique aspects of that plan, and then create buzz-words and phraseology that will press the hot buttons of those following that diet. For a great working example, check out the feature story to see how Johnny’s Pizza does it with its Sugar Busters pizza.

     For another example, here’s some generic copy to use, or to build upon.

     Get into the ZONE with our High-protein, Reduced-carb Pizza Creation that BANS SUGAR and busts through the diet blahs with a BALANCED-REWARD guilt-free taste sensation.

     Word of caution: Don’t let the dietary pizza cast a negative light on your traditional pizza. When describing your diet pizza, take care to avoid language that might incorrectly imply that your traditional pizza is unhealthy. Traditional pizza, when properly constructed, is one of the healthiest, most balanced restaurant meals around. The main idea is: We’re not making value judgments; we just providing options to satisfy everyone’s nutritional goals. To do that, we’re creating a special pizza for persons with special dietary goals.

STEP 5: Promote it.

     Without promotion and publicity all your diligent work will be for naught.

     The key to successful sales-building of a diet pizza is to remember that it’s a niche product a special pizza aimed at a small, selective, but highly motivated segment of the market.

     The old marketing adage about target marketing is: Don’t use a shotgun, use a rifle. In the case of diet pizza, use a laser.

     You may have to search a little for the target, but once you find ‘em you’ve got ‘em, provided that the product is right, the price is fair, and the message is correct. Doing this may require going beyond typical pizza mass-marketing techniques and perhaps involve some promotional and publicity creativity.

Here's a few ideas to get you started.

1 Send out a press release to local newspaper, radio, and TV stations announcing the new product. Make it read something like this:

     Stevie’s Pizza of Oxford announces the introduction of an exciting new diet creation Stevie’s Carbo-crusher™ Pizza. It’s a high-protein, reduced-carbohydrate pie that fits perfectly within the dietary regimen of the popular Zone Diet and the Sugar Busters diet. The special crust is made with 100% Stone Ground Whole White Wheat Flour and the ingredients are specially portioned to make it a balanced Zone meal. Says owner Steve Brown, "This isn’t your usual tasteless calorie-counter pizza. This is so good I predict even non-dieters will go for it." For more information (and a free sample), call ___________ at Stevie’s Pizza: 555-5555.

2 Deliver free samples about an hour before meal times to DJs of local radio stations. Be sure to include some explanatory literature.

3 Post a special sign in the window of your store or, preferably, out front.

4 Boxtop all delivery/carry-out pizzas for a month, announcing the new pizza.

5 Hold "taste testings" on Saturday afternoons for three or four Saturdays in a row. Give away a free slice, or a slice for a quarter. Also give each "taste tester" a short questionnaire to fill out about the product. (Might as well tie in a little cost-free market research while promoting the product.)

6 If you have a dining room and offer wine, you might promote a "Healthy Pizza Meal" package consisting of a tossed salad, your special diet pizza, and a glass of red wine. Interestingly, several of the diet plans approve of-indeed, suggest a glass of red wine with dinner. In your menu description of the meal, be sure to state that you use olive oil exclusively in your recipes (assuming, of course, that's the case).

So does marketing a diet pizza really work?

     To answer that, I suggest you read about Johnny’s Pizza.

     Also let’s revisit Bacino’s, which, as you recall, sells, a Chicago-style stuffed spinach pizza with low-fat cheese. When owner Dan Bacin was asked how successful his heart healthy stuffed spinach pizza is, he replied, "It has been our number one selling pizza for ten years! You know, it’s the first and only pizza listed in the Heart Associations Eat-well Guide." Indeed, a quality diet pizza that’s properly marketed can succeed and succeed BIG.

     Regardless of how you promote the product, a key to maximizing success is to act SOON be the first on your block.

THE END

John Correll researched and authored this article and can be contacted for comments, questions, or consulting at 734-455-5830. Email: johncorr@ix.netcom.com. A diligent effort has been made to provide true and factual dietary information within this article. However, all product decisions and marketing claims that you may make should be based on your own research of original books as opposed to the summary information presented herein.