Editor’s note: To join the 1 Million Book Challenge and start a “Read to Succeed” initiative at your pizzeria, click here to download our free guide.
By Rick Hynum
Picture the slowest weeknight at your pizzeria: Servers doomscrolling idly on their phones, back-of-house staff horsing around in the kitchen, maybe three or four customers in the dining room, and the phone hasn’t rung in a solid hour. Sound familiar? Now picture the house packed with moms and dads, coaches and schoolteachers, civic leaders and influencers, and kids, kids and more kids clamoring for your attention. The energy level is off the charts. Your cooks and servers can barely keep up.
Your pizza shop is the place to be.
That’s a Wednesday night at Big Apple Pizza during the school year when owner Scott VanDuzer’s Read to Succeed program is in full swing. The literacy-focused promotion—a partnership between Big Apple and schools in Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie County, Florida—is an absolute monster for this small-town shop. And it just keeps getting bigger. About a week before presstime, Scott texted me his printed sales report for Wednesday, April 29—more than $6,500 on a night that used to be nothing but crickets. “It was my busiest night that week,” Scott says. “We did more than three and a half times the business of a normal Wednesday.”
A Win-Win-Win
PMQ first spotlighted the Read to Succeed initiative in our November 2025 cover story, but it’s one of those rare marketing ideas that’s so powerful—and so meaningful—it deserves more than one story. From the start, Scott envisioned it as an industry-wide movement. In fact, he wants pizzeria owners nationwide to join together to put 1 million free books into the hands of the children in their communities. And PMQ Pizza is behind him 100%.
The idea is beautifully simple: On designated Wednesday nights, Big Apple Pizza hosts a Read to Succeed event for a local elementary school. Every child who shows up gets a free slice of pizza, a Pepsi product and an age-appropriate book (or books). The books were donated by Scholastic as well as local and regional nonprofits, and Pepsi donates the beverages. Importantly, the schools handle all the marketing, creating and distributing flyers to every kid and parent, so that doesn’t cost Scott a dime. But, hoo boy, talk about making a difference in your community and driving customer loyalty that will endure for years to come!
Read to Succeed nights have blown up into standing-room-only community events. To top it off, Big Apple Pizza gives 50% of the evening’s sales back to the school. It’s a win-win-win, Scott tells me. “I challenge anyone to tell me who it’s not good for,” he says. “It’s good for the pizzeria owner. It’s good for the schools and has helped raised our literacy scores in Port St. Lucie County. And it’s really good for the kids. I’ve done a lot of events in my 43 years in the pizza industry, and this one is a home run.”
‘It’s Like Christmas’
Read to Succeed isn’t just a guaranteed winner for independent pizzerias. Franchise operators with a heart for their local communities will reap the same benefits. “Whether you’re part of a major chain or a mom-and-pop shop, you can use this to make a difference in your community. Just imagine how much good we could do if the major chains got involved. We’re looking for anyone who wants to help their community, whether they’re with Domino’s, Papa Johns or Marco’s or smaller regional chains. We welcome one and all. If the chains joined in, man, we could reach our 1-million goal in no time. So I challenge them to be a part of it. If we all work together, imagine what kind of impact we can have.”
Scott has worked tirelessly to put all the pieces in place for a successful Read to Succeed campaign that will work for any pizzeria, anywhere. And Scholastic, a leading publishing, education and media company, shares Scott’s vision. Scholastic is now offering a generous 77% discount on children’s books for pizzerias that host Read to Succeed nights. Operators can buy books at the discount rate or, better yet, your local government, PTA, nonprofit partners, civic organizations and individuals who care about their hometown schools and literacy can purchase and donate them for the events.
Scott and I are calling on every PMQ reader to consider implementing the Read to Succeed program. You can change the lives of countless children while making your shop the hottest ticket in town. As Scott told me, “When the kids come in and find out they can take three, four, five books home, they think it’s like Christmas. It’s really moving! It’s a feel-good program that brings real change, and with that relationship you build with the schools, it will come back to your business tenfold.”
Rick Hynum is PMQ Pizza’s editor in chief.
