By Charlie Pogacar
Each month, PMQ prints three “Moneymakers” at the front of our magazine. The blurbs typically summarize a story that we’ve run on our website and are meant to serve as inspiration for opening up—or doubling down on—potential revenue streams.
Here’s a look at the three moneymaking tips highlighted in our January/February edition—along with links to the original articles.
And, as always, we are open to hearing about your best-selling ideas. Feel free to email our editorial team if you’ve got a secret you’d like to share.
Related: A Burnt Ends LTO? A Round of PMQ’s December Moneymakers
Fernando Greco, a.k.a. OG Papafern/La Imperial on Instagram, is a pop-up pizzaiolo in New York City who specializes in Argentinian pizza. While teaching special-needs students is his full-time job, Greco’s nights, weekends and summers are dedicated to his other passion: making pizza from the country where he was born.
In summer 2024, Greco and his 13-year-old daughter, Sofia, embarked on a 10,000-mile road trip. The trip’s main goal was father-daughter bonding time, but the duo also conducted pizza pop-ups and collabs at 11 different pizzerias across the country. Greco was impressed by Sofia’s ability to thrive under pressure. “She did amazing,” he recalls.
Greco learned a lot on the trip, too—though he’s an experienced pop-up pro, his ability to be resourceful and adaptable was tested. Each stop presented culinary challenges and nuances that forced him out of his comfort zone. Still, the trip went so well that Greco and Sofia are preparing for a redo: They’ll be hitting the road again in 2025. And if your pizzeria would like to host them, Greco’s DMs are open.
When the owners of V&M Bistro, located in Wilmington, Delaware, offer their guests a ticketed dinner, it’s guaranteed to be unforgettable. Case in point: a December 7 event spotlighting renowned Italian chef and pasta rebel Celso Laforgia, who blew actor/gourmand Stanley Tucci’s mind on CNN’s Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy in 2022.
“Celso’s cooking method goes against everything I know about cooking pasta,” Tucci said at the time. Sisters Vincenza and Margherita Carrieri-Russo, the V and the M behind V&M Bistro, won’t argue the point. Vincenza notes that Laforgia relies on “innovative cooking techniques that just might challenge your conventional beliefs about pasta preparation.”
Laforgia, who owns Urbana L’Assassineria Urbana in Bari, Italy, has earned worldwide fame for complex, delicious and visually stunning dishes like spaghetti all’assassina, a wildly unique pasta entrée that starts with raw noodles tossed into a pan of oil and seasonings—sans water (that comes later).
For the V&M Bistro event, Laforgia presided over an extraordinary prix fixe dinner that showcased three courses—including spaghetti all’assassina—paired with wine selections from the Puglia region of Italy. Tickets for the dinner went for $180, which included the gratuity, and seating was limited. The Carrieri-Russo sisters opened V&M Bistro in 2014 to celebrate the rich culinary traditions of Puglia, Italy, with their dad, veteran pizzaiolo Vincenzo, as the executive chef.
Rosati’s and the Big, Red Impala
When Sam Rosati opened his first Rosati’s Pizza restaurant in Chicago in 1964, a popular TV series called Route 66 had already romanticized the classic American road trip. To commemorate the brand’s 60th anniversary this year, Rosati’s rekindled fond memories of that era by taking a fire engine-red 1964 Chevy Impala, emblazoned with the pizza chain’s logo, on a cross-country journey of its own. Then they gave it away after a months-long contest that drew thousands of entries.
The Impala lit out from a Rosati’s store in Madison, Wisconsin, on September 3, then cruised to locations in Milwaukee, the Chicagoland area, Indiana, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and Arizona. At every store, the Chicago-style brand gave away slices, Cokes and exclusive anniversary swag.
The last stop: Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on November 12. There, CFO Jeff Rosati awarded the car to Angela Lameyer of Machesney Park, Illinois. “I lost my mom 11 months ago to the day, and Rosati‘s was absolutely her favorite restaurant,” Lameyer later told WIFR. “I’m thankful. Thankful and blessed.”
