Twelve years ago, while working at his pizza shop, Greg Getzinger invented and commercialized the Portion PadL, one of the pizza industry’s most popular pizza portioning tools for cutting pizzas into equal slices. Since then, he has broadened his product line so he can custom-make Portion PadLs for any pizza size, any pizza shape and any slice application.

He created a wood pizza peel, called the Portion PeeL, with laser-etched measuring circles to ensure consistency when stretching dough on the peel. A few years ago, he came out with the Lasagna Portion PadL for cutting one-half and full pans of lasagna into equal portions. He makes Portion PadLs for submarine sandwiches, cutting loaves of bread, cutting fresh dough and even for cutting cheesecake. Part of Getzinger’s business philosophy is to make all of his products in the U.S., which eliminates problems arising from supply shortages and delays.

“The pizza industry is made up of pizza professionals dedicated to their craft,” Getzinger says. “The average consumer doesn’t realize the time, energy, expense and passion that goes into making pizza. I enjoy learning about my customer’s pizza business. Being a former pizzeria owner and operator, I understand the highs and lows other pizza professionals experience. My mission is to make simple-to-use, kitchen-efficient and high-return-on-profit products based on pizza makers’ needs. I ask questions to know what I can do to help make their life in the kitchen a little more efficient, consistent and more profitable.”

While exhibiting at last year’s International Pizza Expo, Getzinger was asked by several people to custom-make cutting boards in certain sizes and shapes—not Portion PadL boards, but, rather, cutting boards made from the durable composition material that the Portion PadL is made of. “The cutting boards were a big hit!” he says. “Since my overhead is low and the cutting boards are custom-made to each customer’s size and shape of pizza, I can make the cutting boards for a reasonable price. At this year’s Pizza Expo, I plan to introduce a line of cutting boards with the option to custom-make them.”

The International Pizza Expo will be held March 22 to March 24. You can visit Getzinger there at booth #1040. You can also see his line of Portion PadL products on his website or call his cell phone for more information. 330-608-5928, Portionpadl.com