This Week in Pizza – May 8th, 2013

It may sound like Homer Simpson's fantasy-come-true, but eating pizza may substantially lower your risk of getting certain types of cancer. A new study from scientists in Italy suggests that lycopene, a powerful antioxidant found in tomatoes (and, thus, tomato sauce) can help ward off colon, mouth and esophageal cancers.

Read more at PMQ.com.

This Week in Pizza
Today on This Week In Pizza: "Pizza Cuz" debuts on Cooking Channel; pizza may prevent cancer; and Italy's shortage of pizza makers.
Click here to view video.

Encourage Feedback
With so many sites prompting consumers to post reviews online, many pizzeria operators have become fearful of what may be said and how it could potentially hurt business. In fact, it's a topic that comes up frequently in the Think Tank. However, instead of living in fear of that next review, embrace customer feedback – good or bad – as an invaluable tool for your business. If you don't want to steer customers online, bring back the trusty customer comment cards and ask questions about service, cleanliness, pricing and food quality. Most importantly, be open to making changes if you start to see a pattern in the answers.
– Liz Barrett, PMQ editor at large
Read more at The Pizza Insider.
 

Cheese Getting Cheaper in Canada
Canada's dairy farmers have changed the rules for classifying the milk that goes into mozzarella cheese, and some experts are predicting that pizza prices will go down in response. The new rules, effective June 1, essentially remove mozzarella from supply-management pricing, which had kept the cheese's prices artificially high compared to the world market.
Read more at PMQ.com.
 

School of Pizza
Choose a particular month during the school year to offer a free kids pizza, ice cream or other item to any child who reads a complete book during that month. Partner with local schools and/or libraries and ask them to pass out coupons for the free items to all children who have read a book and answered a short quiz or handed in a written report on it. If you're working with a school, ask the principal to announce the program over the school's PA system and/or in flyers sent home to parents.
– Tom Feltenstein, "501 Killer Marketing Tactics to Increase Sales, Maximize Profits and Stomp Your Competition"