It’s not easy to picture Peter Reinhart, this month’s cover subject and author of the new book Perfect Pan Pizza, as a hippie, but I like to try anyway. As Reinhart explains in our cover story (“The Flavor Rule,” page 28), he discovered his love for dough, bread and baking … More
From the Editor
Johnny Huntsman: A Family Man with Two Families
Johnny Huntsman, the founder of West Monroe, Louisiana-headquartered Johnny’s Pizza House (JPH), was a family man with more than one family. When he passed away in 2017, he left behind his wife of 30 years, two daughters and a son, plus several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But his second family was … More
From the Editor
Thank You, Steve Jobs, for Billions of Dollars in Pizza Commerce
Online ordering means billions of dollars for the pizza industry each year for decades to come. I’ve never seen anything like it in my 37 years in the pizza industry. The changes of the last five years include tectonic shifts in the way consumers buy pizza directly as a result … More
From the Editor
Fredi Bello: The Richest Man in the World
I suspect that, to many who know him, Fredi the Pizzaman, this month’s cover subject, is also Fredi the Everyman, one of the “little guys” of the industry—his lunch-only restaurant has just five tables—who looms tall because of his personal integrity and his passion for his work. In our … More
From the Editor
Pizza Sports are Here to Stay, and Competitors Are Set to Become Stars
Pizza Sports Have Arrived! For nearly 20 years, the U.S. Pizza Team (USPT) has been a labor of love for PMQ publisher Steve Green, his family and staff. As I mentioned in this space last month, their work paid off splendidly in January when the USPT’s Winter Trials, held at … More
From the Editor
2019: Already a Year to Remember
It has been a while since my noble visage shone gloriously from this page, but let’s be honest: You probably didn’t even notice I was gone. You didn’t miss me one bit, did you? True, my sabbatical was fairly brief, but a lot happened in my absence. Someone started … More
From the Editor
December 2018: The 2019 Pizza Power Report and more!
Happy December, pizza nation! Addressing our readers as “pizza nation” has become a “thing” with me, and I thought I would delve into that further. Oxford Dictionaries defines “nation” as “a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture or language, inhabiting a particular state or territory.” … More
From the Editor
Chicago is my kind of town
My first visit to Chicago was in 1992, when I was a graduate student at Northern Illinois University. Three of my friends and I packed up the car and made the one-hour trek into the city to hear a performance by the Chicago Symphony. I fell in love with … More
From the Editor
Is your pizzeria geared up for National Pizza Month?
Hello, pizza nation! I’m Bill DeJournett, and I’m the new managing editor at PMQ. Although new to the magazine, I’m not a stranger, having known the PMQ folks for more than 10 years. I am thrilled to be a part of the talented team here! Our editor at large, … More
From the Editor
Join the Pizza Television Network and Help Us Celebrate American Independents 24/7
Everyone knows about the top 50 pizza chains. They have the biggest marketing budgets, the best technology, training departments, legal departments and other advantages that come from having an existing and well-developed network of commerce in the $45 billion American pizza marketplace. But… …but but but but but…. According to … More
From the Editor
Pizza Marketing and the Culture of Outrage
Making people laugh is a tricky business. It can even be risky, as any class smart-aleck who cracked the wrong joke about the wrong kid in elementary school will tell you. I should know—I was that class smart-aleck. Not so much a clown, just a smart-aleck. Clowns can get … More
From the Editor
Using Crazy News Headlines to Your Advantage
We're all exposed to hundreds of news stories everyday, whether through the TV, radio or social media. There are usually a couple crazy stories that stand out–and often stick around. One great example as of late has been the Tide Pod Challenge. Somehow, teens got it in their heads that … More