Anyone who believes that competitive eating is strictly a man's game hasn't met Molly Schuyler. A mother of four from Omaha, Nebraska, Schuyler recently won the National Pizza Eating Championship at Ian's Pizza By the Slice in Madison, Wisconsin, scarfing down 12.9 slices in 10 minutes for a prize of $1,000. With each slice weighing about 8 ½ ounces, Schuyler consumed 6.85 pounds of Ian's cheese pizza. Schuyler's victory came on the heels of another big win just days earlier in the Fried Mushroom Eating Contest at the 28th annual Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square, Penn. Schuyler is now ranked as the world's number one female independent competitive eater by All Pro Eating.

Read more at PMQ.com.

Cash In On Pizza Envy

Pizza is America's favorite food, so it's no surprise that we see so many products that aren't pizza wanting to be pizza. While these products will not cure a pizza craving, they almost always cause pizza cravings. So why not use some of these products with pizza envy in your marketing efforts, offering creative contests on social media, tastings in-store and giveaways for free appetizers and pizza.
Discover more ideas at The Pizza Insider.

This Week in Pizza

Today on This Week In Pizza: The World's Fastest Pizza Delivery Man; Measuring Customer Delight; and Flashy Promo Goes Bust in Champaign, Ill.

See the video at PMQ.com.

Study Measures Customer Delight

It's one thing to send customers home satisfied, but are they delighted with your food and service? The 2013 Quick Service Restaurant Benchmark Study measured customer delight with America's top pizza chains, and Papa Murphy's Take-and-Bake came out the clear winner with a score of 68%. In the study, QSR customers were asked to rate their recent visit to a pizza/pasta chain on a number of factors, and a "percent delighted" score was calculated by averaging ratings of overall satisfaction, value for money paid, and the likelihood that the customers would revisit and recommend the restaurant. Fazoli's came in second at 49% while Pizza Hut, Domino's and Papa John's tied at 48%.

Read more at PMQ.com.

Flashy Pizzeria Promo Is a Bust

Some marketing ideas come to us in a flash of inspiration but still turn out to be a bust. That was the case when Drew's Pizzeria in Champaign, Illinois, recently offered free pies to women who bared their breasts. As several young employees announced the impromptu promotion via Twitter, word spread quickly around the college town (home of the University of Illinois), and so did the outrage. Before long, the pizzeria's Twitter account had been shut down, and the owner quickly distanced himself from the promo. On the other hand, he told local news media that he'd never seen his employees happier and they were never late for work anymore.

Read more at PMQ.com.

Naples Pizza Tradition Helps the Needy

If you're a Naples local and down on your luck, there may be a pizza waiting for you in the neighborhood pizzeria. Just as folks in post-WWII Naples used to drink one coffee and pay for two-passing the second one forward to a person who couldn't afford it-Pizzeria Oliva has revived the tradition with pizza. The restaurant has been collecting change donated by customers with the hopes of providing at least one free pizza a day to those in need.
Learn more at Pizza Without Borders. 

U.S. Pizza Team Trials Coming Up

The U.S. Pizza Team Trials will be held at the International Baking Industry Expo (IBIE) October 6-9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas. The contest's winner will win a paid trip to Parma, Italy to compete in the 2014 World Pizza Championship next spring. USPT organizers are especially interested in uncovering hot new West Coast talent for the team, so anyone with strong dough-spinning skills is invited to participate. Pizza makers are also invited to compete in the American Pizza Championship, to be held in conjunction with the U.S. Pizza Team Trials. To register for the competition or for more information, contact Brian Hernandez at (662) 234-5481, ext. 129, or email him at brian@pmq.com.

Get more information about the U.S. Pizza Team.