Fast-casual restaurant chain Blaze Pizza promoted Mandy Shaw to president and CEO from chief financial officer, a position she held since 2018. Shaw also served as Blaze Pizza’s interim CEO since August 2019, when Jim Mizes announced his retirement.

A far cry from historic mom-and-pop concepts, pizza chains such as MOD Pizza, Pie Five, Your Pie and Blaze continue to capitalize on the fast-casual, prep-on-display model. With an emphasis on transparency, these designs play on the open-kitchen format, with prep and cook areas both in full view of customers. Operators use a combination of heat and speed to turn out a high-quality product in a minimal amount of time.

Yum! Brandsappointed CEOs for its Taco Bell and Pizza Hut divisions, effective August 5. Mark King, former president of Adidas Group North America, will serve as CEO of the Taco Bell division and Artie Starrs was promoted to CEO from president of the Pizza Hut division.

John Reale was hired to serve as chief operating officer for Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza. A restaurant industry veteran, Reale’s background includes serving in a similar role for Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen and multiconcept operators Focus Brands.

Private investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice has acquired an ownership stake in MOD Super Fast PizzaHoldings, a fast-casual pizza chain with 433 locations systemwide. The $150 million investment will help accelerate MOD’s continued expansion, per a release announcing the transaction.

LloydPans

Pizza Al Taglio Pans are designed for rectangular Roman-style pizzas. The pans are suitable for situations where operators serve pizza by the slice or bring pizza to tables. Features include 12-gauge aluminum construction and stick-resistant coating.

www.lloydpans.com

The American consumer never seems to grow tired of that irresistible combination of bread, cheese and sauce. These days, pizza styles reflect specific regions, places or traditions, with a greater emphasis on dough.

In a deal valued at $190 million, MTY Food Group has reached an agreement to acquire Papa Murphy’s Holdings, a take and bake pizza concept. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.

Unique Foods Corporation has acquired fast-casual concept Pizza Fusion, a gourmet concept with franchised locations in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

Stoner's Pizza Joint tapped Glenn Cybulski to serve as president and chief culinary officer for the quick-service pizza franchise.

Proofing cabinets are essential for pizza operations that make crust in-house and/or bake from scratch. Unlike the open air, the temperature and humidity levels reached in a proofing cabinet are ideal for allowing dough to rise to perfection.

What distinguishes a prep table for pizza production is its raised condiment rail, which situates the topping pans higher than the surface on which the staff member makes the pizza. This not only provides easy accessibility but also helps mitigate a messier worktop. This configuration is also popular for sandwich, salad and sushi prep. Equipment in made-to-order pizza operations typically has a flat surface and wider openings for topping storage so customers can easily view the ingredients available.

Pizza operations typically utilize deck or conveyor ovens. When producing Neapolitan pizza, though, operators turn to wood-fired ovens. All three ovens operate in vastly different ways.

Typically, pizza prep tables feature a raised condiment rail that keeps the topping pans higher than the surface on which staff make the pizza. Some units use a flat surface and wider openings for topping storage. Made-to-order pizza concepts, including those in the fast-casual space where customers can view pie ingredients, tend to favor these pizza prep tables.

The biggest differences between standard and pizza dough mixers are that the latter has lower RPM (revolutions per minute), utilizes gears instead of belts, has a dough hook attachment and features heavy-duty construction. This makes pizza dough mixers, often called spiral mixers, better suited for dense dough. Mixer designs have generally remained unchanged in the last 50 years.

Pizza restaurant dish rooms, like those in other foodservice segments, continue to shrink in size. These cramped spaces can be difficult environments for staff to work in as well as inefficient when ergonomics are an issue.