Does the concept of freeze-dried send a shockwave through your system? Well, get ready for a major mind adjustment, because it's here and is available on the web.
Mark O'Brien, president of The Pizza Maker, spent seven years developing his pizza product,, with some help from the guys at the Michigan State University agriculture department.
Still having trouble getting your mind around the idea of freeze-dried pizza? "Years ago, when people first saw Pringles, they'd say, "Is this a potato chip? Now they're on every shelf in America," says O'Brien. He has a point.
O'Brien knows his product is hard to imagine. He likens it to a "pizza chip," and says it has advantages over gooey, dripping pizza slices. It has a crispy, crunchy texture and a shelf life of 12 months. The product's shelf life and hermetic packing make it ideal for shipping anywhere.
"You can put it in a lunch box, take it on the boat or in your car. And with individually wrapped slices, you can eat as many as you want to one time," says O'Brien.
It needs no refrigeration or reheating and costs $19.95 for a case of 12 individually sealed slices.
"America loves pizza, and I wanted to create a pizza that people could eat anywhere, anytime," O'Brien says.
The Pizza Maker pizza is made with 100% real cheese and traditional ingredients. The slices contain 140 calories each. Laws against mailing meat products over state lines limits his pizza to cheese and sauce only.
O'Brien went on the internet to get national exposure for his new product without having to build a store in every city.
Computer customers from all 50 states and from as far away as Turkey and Nigeria have ordered his pizza. Pizzas arrive via mail in the U.S. within 24-49 hours of ordering, he said.
Some slices are even in a food display at the American Embassy in Hong Kong.
O'Brien, 39, has also produced and marketed his own brand of frozen reduced-calorie pizza (Calorie Cutter pizza) form his pizza store in Union Lake, MI for the last 15 years.
You can visit Mark at his web site, www.pizzamaker.com, or call him at (248) 698-1414.