Kentucky may be famous for its thoroughbred race horses, bluegrass music and fine bourbons, but its pizzas are pretty darn good, too. Seventeen teams fired up the ovens for last week's Bluegrass Bakeoff, sponsored by PizzaOvens.com. DiOrio's Pizza & Pub of Louisville (pictured above) captured the top honors with a pie called Aaron's Heat & Sweet, featuring a host of toppings, including jalapenos and pineapple, and pesto sauce. It was DiOrio's second time to compete in the Lexington, Kentucky, event, and his nieces, who'd never made pizzas before, assisted him. Greg Spaulding of Puccini's Smiling Teeth in Lexington won second place with his Campfire pizza, while Alan Rosenberg and Dustin Hernandez of Papalino's in Louisville took home third-place honors with a pie called the Righteous Pig. As first-place winner, DiOrio qualified to compete with the U.S. Pizza Team at the World Championship of Pizza in Parma, Italy next spring.

7 Signs You May Be a Bad Boss

Many times, those who are left in charge of others often ask themselves, "Am I being a good boss?" If you're a new owner or manager, you could be asking yourself this same question. Thankfully, there are some tell-tale signs that someone may be a "bad" boss. And once you have identified the problem, a solution is usually not far behind. A few symptoms include: micromanaging, stealing ideas, overcriticizing or being too friendly.

Find out more signs at The Pizza Insider. 

This Week In Pizza

Today on This Week In Pizza: Pizza Makers Compete in Bluegrass Bakeoff; PMQ Hosts Chinese Pizza Championship; and Yelpers Get Taste of the Wrong End of a Unicorn

Watch the video at PMQ.com.

Pizzaioli Vie For Honors at FHC China

Chinese food doesn't just mean chow mein and sweet and sour pork. Pizza is quickly becoming one of China's most popular culinary imports. That's why PMQ helped create the Chinese Pizza Championship, to be held November 13-15 at FHC China, the country's largest restaurant trade show. China's top pizzaioli will come together in the event's PMQ Pavilion for a grand pizza-making competition. The event will also feature pizza-making demos and seminars hosted by industry experts. FHC China attracts 30,000-plus buyers looking for quality imported goods from the hospitality, food and retail trade sectors.

To learn more, visit FHCChina.com.

The Wrong End of a Unicorn

If you thought there was no such thing as unicorns, Jay Jerrier, owner of Zoli's NY Pizza Tavern in Dallas, has news for you: They're not only real, they're edible. Jerrier, who also owns Cane Rosso, adopted the unicorn as a sort of unofficial mascot and even has a unicorn's head mounted on the wall. But Jerrier puts his own comedic twist on the mythical creature, with a graphic (posted recently on Facebook) that divides the unicorn into various edible parts, including the iconic horn (bacon), the prime cuts (reserved for action movie star Chuck Norris) and, sadly, its tears, which are supposedly used for pizza seasoning. Even the unmentionables-i.e., the "taint"-has a culinary use: It's reserved for restaurant-goers who write bad reviews on Yelp.

Read more at PMQ.com.

Promotion of the Week
This Could Be Your Lucky Day!

If your pizzeria is located in a state that has a lottery, giving away tickets can be a productive way to generate buzz and increase visit frequency and interest, especially when the jackpot reaches a sizable amount. At that point, purchase $100 worth of lottery tickets and hand one out to each customer who orders a certain menu item or spends a certain amount of money. Hang promotional posters in highly visible areas to help spread the word and build excitement. If one of your customers wins big, you'll want to promote it heavily, but even if no one earns the jackpot, this promotion will bring them back again and again. Save those posters and reuse them the next time the lottery jackpot builds up to a large payoff.

Tom Feltenstein, "501 Killer Marketing Tactics To Increase Sales, Maximize Profits and Stomp Your Competition"