Passion? whats that have to do with great food!

Ok this might be a dumb question, I mean if you are a professional Chef or a weekend warrior it is that same passion that keeps you cooking right? why is it that your grand mother's soup tasted so good------------------because she loved to cook!!! it was not a chore or something she HAD to do.

So what the hell am I talking about and what does this have to do with my business? EVERYTHING "when I cap my letters THAT MEANS I AM YELLING AT YOU" :)

Seriously you need to pay attention to this, it is important, your business depends on it.

I do not have to tell you that we are in a recession, and while the fast casual segment is being impacted along with all other restaurants, Pizza is still a good seller, my personal restaurants are down about 10% and while that hurts the bottom line, I have friends in fine dinning that are getting killed!!!

I completely believe that if you are passionate about your business and LOVE to cook, you will make it through these lean times, marketing food cost and labor cost are a huge factor, but if you do not love what you do you will never survive!

The gifter of my passion is my father, I remember the BBQ's that he threw when we were young, every one would come to eat "Skis" ribs, or thanksgiving dinner on the rugged north coast of Mendocino County!

Whether pops was cooking for a few or many his passion was the same, it had to be great! and he made it look effortless.

I lost my dad to cancer this fall, I have never felt such a deep and all encompassing sadness, and at the same time so grateful for all the happy memories that will keep pops alive in my heart forever.

thanks for being such a great dad, and teaching me to be a great dad, I really miss you pops and the kids tell you they love you every night.

This is the passion that my father gave me, I will never lose it, I hope you never lose yours.

From Naples with love!

To say this trip to Naples for the " Troffeo Citta Di' Napoli World Pizza Cup-the Challenge Cup"
was special is an understatement!

On June 7th I left for the contest with high hopes and just plain ol excitement, I knew I was going to see my Chef friends from the East Coast, Dublin Ireland and of course all our friends in Napoli, the surprise was meeting all the new members of the World Pizza Champions team, Bruno Di Fabio New York, Diana Coutu Canada, and Randy Hueffmeier from Minnesota.

This trip was also special because the Food Network was in Naples with us to film a show of "Glutton For Punishment" starring Bob Blummer, the show will air early next season so keep an eye out for it! oh ya and I will be blasting the heck out of the air date too! Check out Bobs show at



www.gluttonforpunishment.tv


The challenge was to Teach Bob how to be a pizza acrobat a daunting task to say the least, but he had a GREAT! coach and our team founder Tony Gemignani 9 time World Champion Pizza Acrobat. Now I work really hard, and Tony, Bruno, Joe all of us take enormous pride in what we do but I have to take my "Chef Coat" off to Bob and the entire crew from Glutton For Punishment on how hard they work to get every shot! Vera is AMAZING, she had every detail down to the nano second, and we all learned very quickly I might add to "leave the flash off" :)
quite down or just leave the shoot!!!! Vera your great! Will behind the camera? ya he rocks too, and Francesca and Roberto pulled that equipment around like it was nothin, hell we had the easy job baking and competing!!!!! cant wait to see you all in Sonoma for the Grape Stomp

Tony G and Nancy P arranged a tour of the Buffalo Mozzarella in Salerno on Monday, so we all packed up early and drove south from Naples down the Amalfi Coast to Salerno and arrived at the Mozz facility about 10am, they were in full swing producing the freshest most unbelievable Buffalo Mozz you have ever tasted, the actual Buffalo are only 3 minutes down the road, so from milking to finish product is about 3 hours! just amazing here are a few pictures

Monday after the tour we drove a few miles to one of the best Pizzeria's in Italy owned by Vincenzo Manzi and his family, you really have to be there to feel the generosity, love and brotherhood of the Manzi Family, the pizza was great and yet another round of filming for Bob and the crew heres a few more pics!









Monday night after a great dinner we headed to the Kitchen at the Tennis Hotel www.tennishotel.it
to prepare our recipes for Tuesdays competition, and here is where it really gets fun, you have 6 different Chefs in one kitchen, just about to go head to head in the worlds best Pizza competition and everyone is helping everyone!!! Tony jumps in and starts to make dough for the team to compete in the original Margherita contest and we all start sharing whatever we have "or have forgotten" with everyone else. This is what makes the WPC the best Pizza team in the world the fact that no matter what goes on in the competition we still remain a team even in the heat "NPI" of the battle :)

The competition on Tuesday went great! my two entries were flawless!!! and I was hoping the judges would agree. The entire day was filled with seeing all our Italian Friends, baking, and all the acrobatic challenges including Bobs big show. Manzo and I did the Billy and Glenn show, color commentary for Will during the acrobatic events and yes we are working on a pilot show for future Food Network airing ;) hey dreams come true every day, why not this one lol

Jason nailed the individual freestyle, Bruno predicted and then delivered his wins in the largest dough and the fastest!!!! you Rock Bruno and Christopher "Brunos Son" rocked the house with his largest! first place and his acrobatics, made me miss my kids even more than I already did, Christopher your a pro in my book pal!!!!

On Tuesday night after the competition we all went to down town Naples to Vera Pizza, Ernesto Cacialli's pizzeria, and in my opinion the worlds best pizzeria! check out these pictures, close your eyes and you might even taste it!

















Wednesday was spent reaping the benefits of all the hard work that went into the competition, we had a chance to hang out poolside and relax a little and catch up with all our friends. The competition awards night is filled with local talent acts that were just awesome, and the Pizza? well that is the best part, all the local pizzerias start cooking and the crowds start arriving. I will try to give you a feel for what is going on here, the crowd reaches about 3ooo people, there are ten wood fired ovens with pizzioli's firing 5 to 8 pizzas at a time, now remember theses ovens are at about 800 degrees, and the pizzas cook in just one minute so they are cranking them out really fast and the lines are still 30 people deep at every oven THE ENTIRE NIGHT!!! yes its a party, lots of great TAB beer, wonderful people form Naples and all the competitors from all corners of the Globe, the best of the best are invited here to compete and it is an honor to just be here, of course its also great to come in 1st in North America and Canada but hey who's counting.

Bob was awarded his WPC Team Jacket! all of the team members that won collected there trophies, Tony Gemignani was recognized for his lifetime acheivments with a beautiful trophy and well deserved it was, in fact both Tony and Nancy Pugliesi worked tirelessly to represent the World Pizza Cup in this contest, form the bottom of my heart you guys are the best.

For a list of all the awards go to www.worldpizzachampions.com

I cannot thank everyone enough for the support in getting to Naples here is just a few, Pop's I love you! Ray and Cheri no words describe my gratitude for all your hard work and support, Michael well pal without you we would not be where we are! you are amazing. All my friends VJB winery, Henry Belmonte, Jeremy Forcier Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. Dereck O'Connell

And my sponsors, Pepsi, Castino restaurant supply, Alcatraz SeaFood, Bank Of The West, Stinger Sportwear, La Nova Wings and Revention POS systems THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS!!!

I will leave you with a few more pics of the awards night,

Ciao

Crusty! How about a beer? crust that is

Yep just made an awesome beer crust, and everybody loves it! so what are you waiting for? how does your crust crisp up ya its a mouth full huh :)

Ok I am going to give you a great recipe for a beer crust and if you give it a try don't worry no one will get drunk, what they will get is an awesome crust that is yeasty, bakes up with the perfect amount of chewy sponge and yet has a crispy bottom that will crunch as you run the slicer across it!

every great pizza starts with the crust its the foundation of "your" pizzeria, every body says they have a great crust but the truth is most are bland at best. I am introducing a thick crust pizza at Fregene's and have been reading a lot about different techniques on blending the right flour to get the perfect crust, but when it came right down to it I really wanted to make my own-----so I did, and

Here it is

160 Oz. Flour
1/2 qt filtered Hot water
72 oz of beer "I use a local Micro Brewery" and so can you any good amber ale will do
1/4 cup yeast
1/4 cup sugar
one cup Olive Oil

Place the flour in the mixer and turn it on, add the yeast to the hot water and mix well, at the same time pour the olive oil and water/yeast mixture into the mixer "a slow pour is best" when that is done begin to pour the beer into the mixer at an even slow pace, the mix will be quite set but let the mixer do its work and mix for 10 minutes. When your mixing is done then "ball " your dough into the regular size you normally use "this batch makes 10 27oz dough balls" that is my large size. I let my dough proof at room temp about 68degrees and it is ready to bake in two hours, and will last 24 hrs with refrigeration.

Now most of you use a deck oven, but let me tell you I use impinger's and at 550degrees this pizza cooks perfectly in about 5 minutes, so make a note of that and adjust your ovens or cook times accordingly.

More importantly MIX IT UP, use your imagination and make your pizza crust zing with a little cajun seasoning, or a touch of red peppers it is a great way to run a special and your customers will appreciate a new addition to the menu and it is easy to do.

Let me know if you have any questions about the crust, I hope you have fun with this one!

Chef Glenn

Your crust should NOT be doughy at all, you wil get a great sponge and crisp bottom every time

Pizza is recession proof--------isn't it?

LOL! Well, let's hope so anyway. Here is the truth about pizza, the recession and President Bush's bail out plan. I just wrote a lengthy email and sent it to the white house. In short this is what I said.

Hey Pres, forget the cash refund and just send out gift certificates for Pizza! You see I could use the cash and there are a lot of Pizzeria owners out there that can use it too! Not sure how far that is going to get us but its a try!

So how are you doing to do in these uncertain times? Ignore the 5% 10% 15% drop in your business or do something about it. This post may not speak to the long time pizzeria owners that have a great customer base and can ride out the dips in sales, but if you just opened or have only been in the business for a few years this is for YOU! Ok, let's get to some really basic stuff that will make a big difference in your bottom line.

One of the first ways to boost profits on flat sales is to look at the costs of business that are flexible. Your lease is not. PGE? Nope...Yellow Pages, uh uh, so what is flexible? LABOR and FOOD COST. Sorry...didn't mean to yell but you'd better listen.

Your employees are great aren't they? Young great people and they really need their hours, huh? Do you keep them busy when the sales are slow, or do you let them go for a few hours during the slow time? Can you cut your payroll back and keep everyone happy? Let me ask you this way: if you do not cut back, will you stay in business? Ya, thought so! It is that important so take a good look at the labor cost you will probably be able to cut back without harming your customer service at all.

Your food cost is another story and a much easier one because you really just have to look at your stock. How much cheese are you holding? How much perishable food are you storing..., fresh meat, veggies salads?

Here is what you need to do:

Don't over-order your cheese, Take a look at your past year's same month sales and see what you were ordering then, and make sure you are ordering only what you need each week. This could cut out as much as two-thirds of your normal ordering cost in your overall food order.

Veggies and meats are just as important so make sure you are only prepping what you are using on a three-day cycle, and you should save money on your orders. You may still be surprised at how much food and paper goods you have on your shelves. And while you may say: "But what if I get busy on Thursday night and don't have enough food for the weekend. Believe me, your distributor rep will make sure you get the food you need, and as soon as business picks up, you can stock up because you will have the extra cash.

This is just about good business. If you have to scale back and put in more hours yourself DO IT! It will do your store, employees, and you a great deal of good.

Making sure your food costs are in line is crucial to your success, and the real kicker here is not only will you carry less product and save money. Your customers will also reap the benefit from always enjoying the freshest ingredients and that alone is worth the work. Happy customers tell other customers and your reputation is what will really get you through the tough times.

I just went through my kitchen and I did save 2/3 of one week's food cost and not because my sales fell 2/3 it's because I had so much stock rotating each week. So I know what I am talking about, and I am not sitting in my million-dollar house writing a blog for profit, or trying to tell you what to do, as if I am not doing it myself -- I am . And by the way, I feel like I am in a ten million dollar house writing this blog, because the dog is sitting by the fire, the new kitty is scared to death of the dog, and my kiddos are all snoring away in bed!

Life's good !

Keep the questions coming this is really getting exciting for me to see how many people are reading this and are getting great ideas too, I will answer them all.

Send any Qs to chef@fregenes.com

Chef Glenn

So let's eat!!!!

And yes that means I have some great restaurant reviews for this week so lets get going!


The first is ROSSO Pizzeria & Wine Bar
53 Montgomery Drive, Creekside Center
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
707-544-3221

Ok so I went up to ROSSO on Tuesday to see what all the buzz was about, and to say the least I was very pleasantly surprised, a great wood fired oven, the decor is warm and inviting "even for a strip mall" and when I was walking up I noticed the Host NOTICE me and welcomed me as I stepped in the door, Bravo! the place was packed, two tables remained and I sat in a booth close to the kitchen so I could watch the Pizza Chef and Co Owner John Franchetti work his magic.

My Waiter was Carl ASK FOR CARL!! he was great! Carl knew his menu inside and out, and his knowledge of the wine list was great and while the place was packed the entire wait staff seemed relaxed and in control, I ordered a starter of Burrata and Prosciutto a house made Mozzarella in cream wrapped in Ricotta Cheese finished with a drizzle of E.V.O.O. and at .9 it was worth every penny!

On to the Salad, Mixed Baby Greens, sweet walnuts, crisp slices of tart apples and nuggets of Point Reyes Blue Cheese, a perfect combination. Salads range from .8 to .12

Now for the Za! and here is where it gets a little tough, learning how to use a real wood fired oven is tough, and it is easy to go from charring your crust to burning bubbles, but there is a learning curve and I am sure the staff will get it right! I ordered the Fungi and it was great, the Za menu is unique and fresh and ALL the ingredients are organic, even the wine!

Now I had the honor of participating at the Troffeo Citta' Di Napoli original Margherita Pizza Competition in Naples last June and I admit I am a bit of a snob when it comes to a traditional Margherita pizza made the Old World style, Chef John is such a delight to watch in his kitchen and the love he has for his product is palpable, but the pizza fell a little short of what I had expected BUT ONLY A LITTLE John :)

ROSSO gets 5 out of six slices, and I am going to be looking for the sixth slice real soon Chef John,thank you so much for the wonderful fair, and to Carl------you rock!

The Second is Finbar Devines Irish Pub
145 Kentucky St
Petaluma, Ca 94952
707-762-9800

And there is not much to say about Finbar except for WOW! FB is really one of if not the best authentic Irish Pub in Sonoma County and that is not just because it has the largest collection of Irish whiskey and a great beer selection.

It is because the food is fantastic, the menu is full of great appetizers but the real winner is the Shepherds Pie! yep this is amazing, a nice side of sautéed veggies in a real butter sauce, perfectly cooked I might add, then the pie fresh ground beef in a light but very flavorful gravy along with peas carrots and topped with mashed potatoes finished in the broiler to give them a finish that is to die for.

The ultimate comfort food, thanks Frank well done!
Six slices pal, its the best!


So what are you waiting for? turn off the computer grab your favorite accomplice and go EAT!

Try one of these great restaurants, you will be happy you did.

Cheers, everyone

Chef Glenn

New Year! New Pizza Sales!

So how's business? you do ok last year? pies flying out the door right? I get emails from all over the country from Pizzeria owners with a variety of questions but the question I get the most often is "How do I market my business" I need more pizza sales!!!!

So here is a news flash WE ALL NEED MORE SALES!! want more sales and while business may be good, we want it GREAT. I have written about this in previous blogs and have tried almost every form of marketing available to boost sales, and lets face it there are a lot of guys out there that will try and sell you the tools that "they think" you need to boost sales in your town.

I am going to share a few of the marketing Ideas I have used, the success and failure's and you decide if any of them would help you.

1. Great products! are your products outstanding? do your customers refer new customers on there own? if not then its time to hit the books, websites and whatever else you need to do to make your pizza the best in town. I have won over 40 culinary awards with my pizza, sauces, crusts etc you know why? because I enter every contest I can, I participate is fund raisers and I promote myself and my pizzeria's every where I go. This is your first line of attack in the war of Marketing! promote your self, Promote your pizza, and share your products to create a buzz in the community.

2. Make sure you call your local newspaper to let them know you are in business! I know this may sound a little silly but the fact is they may not know you exist, send a pizza over to the editors office and make sure you include a menu and a HAND WRITTEN NOTE asking them if they can do a story on your business, new or not it is something the local papers DO all the time but you have to ask!

3. I have a school program that has made a huge difference in our sales and good will in the community instead of trying to explain it just go to my website and see it for yourself at www.fregenes.com/raise , now heres the kicker, I rarely donate money or pizzas to anyone that comes in and asks, why? glad you asked! let me ask you a question, the last time you donated a pizza to some organization how many sales came in from that donation? did you track them? did it help you boost your business so you could afford to donate next time someone asks? ya I thought that was what you were going to say I dun o? ok here is what I say when someone comes in to asks for a donation.
I tell them about our generous school program "and we do the same for fund raisers"! and then I tell them we would be happy to give them a printed fund raising coupon for there individual event at no cost to them, all they have to do is hand them out! and we will donate a portion of every sale to the cause.
Everyone will ask for something for free for a cause, and while we all want to help we also need to promote our business, so you are accomplishing two things here, the most important is giving back to your community! because they support you right? so its a win win, the coupons do not have to be fancy just make sure your menu is on one side with all your contact info and then make sure you specify that the fund raiser is not valid with any other promotion.

We support a lot of schools and organizations, and they support us it is a great ways to promote and give back at the same time, and here comes the shameless plug, Fregene's uses Revention POS systems and they are great, they track all our coupons easily and lets us know exactly who is buying and who is not. Contact Revention they are a great company "and no they do not pay me or give me stuff to plug them" they are just a great company to work with.

4. Direct mail works, but it is expensive, so make sure you concentrate on the 3 to 5 mile radius around your pizzeria, give your customers a good coupon, include your menu and a little about how great your products are. You also need to make sure your budget is big enough to do direct mail at least a couple of times, before you really start seeing a profit, sure you are going get a response right away and that is exciting, but make sure you are ready for it so your order flow goes well and the NEW customers are happy with the Pizza.

5. The new rage is Post It notes! and from my experience there are a few significant draw backs, now I know I wrote about this in an earlier post and was excited about the potential but the "Post it" campaign ran into major snags, the first was the fact that it was illegal to put them on cars in my area! check with your local police for your area. Then you have to deal with the actual placement make sure you hit the local neighborhoods fast and concentrate on apartments and condos with these post its, I found that that market gave the best response to the campaign.

I have been known to run out to the car are get someone a menu! I carry them all the time, because I talk about my pizza "almost" all the time, you and your product are your most valuable marketing tool you have use them.

If you have any questions that you would like help with just drop me an email at chef@fregenes.com and I will get back to you right away.

my new years resolution is to rock out new blogs twice a week, so keep in touch and if you do not have a subscription to Pizza Today magazine GET ONE there are so many great articles and idea's shared buy the top professionals in the field read them they will help you achieve the success that you want.

Thanks

Chef Glenn