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Attendees of PMQ’s first annual Orlando Pizza Show were caught up in a whirlwind…of pizza. Some of the industry’s biggest experts and foodservice professionals were on hand for PMQ’s first year in the Orange County Convention Center, in combination with Reed Exhibition and the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show. Attendance was up from last year’s show, and new products, new technology, and countless workshops and seminars took pizza to higher levels. “I enjoyed and learned a lot at the Orlando Pizza Show. I had an excellent hands on experience…being a part of the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show is a real plus!” Otis Gunn of the Pizza Wheel in Macon, Georgia said.
The recent success of the Orlando Pizza Show provides ample evidence that the pizza industry extends well beyond the pizzeria population of 69,000. Over the last 20 years, pizza has evolved from a specialty food to become a favorite and inseparable part of the general restaurant industry. And now, PMQ has demonstrated that combining the largest restaurant show in the country with the world’s largest circulation pizza trade publication is the new formula for pizza success when it comes to approaching the great regional pizza markets. Kris Rutledge of All Works USA commented that, “It’s unbelievable how many leads we have gotten. It’s a great show! It has surpassed our expectations. We’re excited about coming to the [New York Pizza Show] in March.”
On Hand and Hands On
Since the world’s most ‘well-rounded meal’ was the focus of the Orlando Pizza Show, attendees were able to meet real pizza experts and experience some unique new approaches to making pizzas, including the Dough Doctor’s Dough Fitness Workshops, which took place daily, and top-notch seminars covering all scopes of the industry including culinary, nutrition, marketing, internet marketing, insurance, and multiple question and answer sessions. Keynote speaker Tom Feltenstein offered tips to pizzeria operators in his popular Neighborhood Marketing and Four Walls Approach the first day of the show, where he spoke about the importance of businesses getting involved in the community. “It rests on three principles: first, that everything you need to market your product or service effectively is already inside the four (literal or metaphorical) walls of your business; second, that properly recruiting, training, and motivating your internal customers—your employees—is the key to achieving record sales and profits; and third, that nearly all of your potential customers live or work within a 10-minute walk or drive of your store,” Feltenstein pointed out at the start of his seminar.
Ed Ladou, pioneer of the barbeque chicken pizza and of California-style gourmet pizza, helped pizzailolos find a clear definition of what pizza is and guided them into the proper mode of thinking when experimenting with new recipes. He explained that a great pizza should have one main ingredient and several complementary ingredients surrounding it that make that central flavor more substantial. He used an example of his Sunchoke Pizza. “The sunchoke is a rarely used vegetable. I decided the taste was close to that of both a potato and artichoke heart, and decided to make a pizza using sunchokes as the main ingredient. The next step was to decide what complemented the sunchoke. I went back to the potato side of things, and decided on something similar to a potato salad-with fresh dill, smoked bacon, mozzarella, and roasted red peppers for color,” Ladou said. He said in creating a new gourmet pizza recipe, experimentation with flavors, compatability and balance of ingredients are of utmost importance.
Another addition this year for PMQ’s pizza show was the Dough Fitness Center, hosted by Tom Lehmann, the Dough Doctor. From the show start on Friday morning, right up until they turned the lights out in the convention center on Sunday, Dough Doc had a flour buzz. He whipped up countless batches of dough, showed attendees proper mixing, storage, and proofing techniques, and answered questions live and in person on the show floor. “I can tell just from the kind of questions I’m getting that people are really taking the time to understand the dough process,” he told a PMQ reporter as yet another eager group gathered.
Pizza Soup
In total, over 15,000 people browsed the floor of the Orlando Pizza Show and the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show, with many positive things to say. “For us it was very useful. I was able to find some innovative products, which were very interesting,” said Maria Berezovsky of Delicities in Altamonte Springs, Florida. With this avant-garde approach to a “show within a show”, there were literally thousands of products and services being offered and demonstrated to pizzeria and restaurant owners across the gamut from Artisan breads to Zucchini squash and everything in between. “We’ve been to 15 shows this year,” said Frank Mannarino, manning his booth representing Berkley Square. The Warren, Ohio-based company specializes in disposable food industry boxes and cups. “The PMQ show is by far the best one we’ve been to…it is actually better than the NRA show because the buyers, people who make the purchasing decisions, are actually at this show,” he said. “Many more leads than the other shows and more robust foot traffic. We’ll definitely be back next year.”
Throwing for Dough
The show was not all business. The 2007 U.S. Pizza Team trials were officiated at the Orlando Pizza Show. The following winners from each category have been selected as bona fide U.S. Pizza Team members because their performances were regarded as excellent: Fastest Pizza Maker, John Howe, III from Domino’s Pizza, Orlando, Florida with a time of 32.46 seconds; Largest Dough Stretch, Peter Fiorino of New York Pizza Wolrd in Davenport, Florida with a stretch of 47.125 inches; Free Style Dough Toss, Chris Balthrop of Lupi’s Pizza Pies in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The American Pizza Championship was also a highlight of the Orlando Pizza Show. Five contestants proffered their most delicious and unique recipes to the judges. Although each pizza was palatably distinct, only one advanced to the America’s Plate competition (which will be held at the New York Pizza Show March 4-6, 2007): Jason Samosky’s Heartocado Pizza. Judges called Samoksy’s pie “sexy” and one commented that he/she “would drive a great distance for this pizza—excellent!”
PMQ also held an open competition to anyone interested in going on the Pizza Cruise, which departs from Port Canaveral Florida on January 20, 2007. The winners were decided at the Orlando Pizza Show during an intense trivia round. Congratulations to Andrea & Timothy Kinney of St. Augustine, Florida. Have fun on your free pizza cruise. For more information on the cruise, or to sign up for a cabin, visit our website at www.pizzacruise.com.
“I think the exposure that we are getting for our company in this environment is phenomenal. I truly recommend for any company that wants their product and their company to be known in this industry, they should visit this show,” Orlando Alvarez of Card Service International said.
If you missed this year’s Orlando Pizza Show, don’t make the same mistake twice! Get on board for at least one of PMQ’s pizza shows for 2007: The New York Pizza Show, in conjunction with the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York March 4-6, 2007, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City; or the Orlando Pizza Show September 7-9, 2007, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.