Jason and his “Hot Stuff” pizza, cooked to perfection in his Marra Forni Rotator oven.A slice of pizza and a beverage — that’s a classic combination that shows no sign of decreasing in popularity. And when it comes to pizza, the traditional favorites are still what customers want, according to 2023 research from Datassential. The old standby cheese pizza reigns on 49% of menus, followed by veggie (42%), Margherita (41%), BBQ chicken (36%) and meat lovers’ (36%). Tradition holds sway when it comes to what goes on top of the pizza, too. Pepperoni and sausage are the most prevalent proteins; each show up on 73% of pizza menus. Chicken comes in next at 66%. Onions (77%), tomatoes (74%) and mushrooms (72%) are the toppings seen most frequently.
But despite the continuing popularity of the old favorites, there’s still room for innovation in the segment. The same research shows that the items that have made the largest jumps on menus are cauliflower (perhaps due in part to the skyrocketing proliferation of cauliflower crusts), hot honey, plant-based proteins and vegan cheese.
Newer regional varieties are also popping up on menus, notes Datassential. Quad Cities style (malty crust, spicy sauce and fennel sausage); New Haven’s “apizza” (chewy charred crust, tomato sauce, optional cheese); and Chicago tavern-style (crispy crust, herby tomato sauce, cut in squares) are all making inroads with pizza aficionados.
Whether you offer a sip, a slice, or a sip and a slice, the next few pages are loaded with stories that will give you some ideas for running your operation more efficiently.
Ninety-Nine Beers... and Delicious Pizza
“Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall...” goes the old song. But if you’re at Tap99 in Washington, D.C., the wall has 99 taps with beers, wine, hard kombucha, seltzer cocktails
and a variety of other beverages. Located right across from Nationals Park, it’s a go-to location for baseball fans or anyone looking for drinks, food and fun. “We offer everything
a full-service bar would have but the difference is it’s obviously self-pour,” says Jason Cherry, Tap99 owner. Customers buy a value card and then use it to pour their own selections from the wall of taps.
Sampling is integral to the Tap99 experience and is encouraged, says Cherry. “The concept is, you start the tab with us, and you sample. To be in tune with that, we introduced a menu that very much encourages sampling.” The menu is made up primarily of smaller and shareable items. And topping that menu is
a variety of pizzas. Naturally, there are the traditional favorites, such as cheese, veggie and meat lovers’. But “we’ve introduced and are actively developing other recipes,” Cherry says. For example, he calls the “Pickle Me Silly” pizza a “deconstructed fried pickle,” with Boursin cheese, mozzarella, dill pickle chips and ranch dressing. The “Hot Stuff” pizza features chorizo slices, pickled hot peppers and mozzarella with a drizzle of hot honey.
Delicious Pizza Made Easy
The heart of the pizza program at Tap99 is a Marra Forni Rotator oven. Before deciding on which oven to buy, Cherry consulted other operators. “We wanted to go with a high-quality oven,” he says. “What drove me to choose Marra Forni was that other restaurateurs had recommended it, and everyone in the industry and around our area referred to it as kind of the Ferrari of pizza ovens. I pop [the pizza] in the oven, I go about doing whatever I’m going to do, and 180 seconds later, I’m pulling out a pie.”
The Rotator oven’s ease of operation has been a big selling point for Cherry. “In our kitchen, we have a pretty good-sized menu for how small the space is,” he says. “I think that if we didn’t have the Rotator, we certainly would be lending ourselves to more labor in the kitchen.”
Tap99’s pour-your-own drinks system means that Cherry doesn’t have to hire experienced bartenders.
Along those same lines, because the Rotator oven is so easy to use, he doesn’t have to hire people with lots of kitchen experience to produce delicious pizzas — a big plus in these labor-challenged times.
For a restaurant that specializes in pizza, having a dependable oven is critical. The Rotator oven “is as solid as could be,” Cherry says. “We’ve been in operation with it for the last two-and-a-half years, and we haven’t had a single issue with it.” And he calls Marra Forni’s customer service “exceptional. The knowledge that these guys have is second to none. You feel like you are part of the Marra Forni family.”
