My first introduction to pizza was in my mother’s kitchen.
She would make the dough from scratch, mixing it and then kneading it by hand before proofing it in a bowl covered by a clean dish towel. Mom would then roll the dough out on to a rectangular baking sheet before topping it with homemade tomato sauce and Italian sausage my father had made. She would cover all that homemade goodness with a blanket of mozzarella cheese, often shredded by yours truly, before popping the pie into the oven. When this amazing aroma finally permeated the house, we knew it was dinner time. If there was any leftover pizza dough, mom would fry it in oil on the stovetop and cover it with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar for an amazing dessert.
For many years, that was my view into the world of pizza. I had no idea there were regional types of pizza, such as those coming from Detroit, New York and even Naples, Italy. Nor did I realize that outside of Chicago, most thin-crust pizza slices come triangle shaped. We Chicagoans tend to eat our thin-crust pizza in smaller, rectangular shaped slices known as tavern style. This approach traces its origins to a bar on the city’s south side owned by an Italian family. As legend goes, customers that bought a mug of beer would get a small slice of pizza.
Please, pardon my nostalgia.
Pizza remains an amazingly popular menu item due to its resilience. Customers can customize it to meet their tastes. Although it escapes me as to why anyone may order this, some people like ham and pineapple on their pizza. And a brewery in my neighborhood puts the ingredients from a stir fry on a pizza and bakes it. To each their own, I suppose.
Operators continue to tinker with this beloved menu item to keep it fresh in the eyes of the consumer. They’ve learned to adapt pizza production to address various food allergies — gluten-free crusts anyone? — and to use new technologies. Despite all this change, old-school pizza making methods remain as popular as ever.
The other factor contributing to pizza’s popularity is its communal nature. True, some places offer individual pizzas or single slices. At its core, though, pizza is at its best when shared. It just tastes better that way.
Pizza’s ongoing popularity is not all that different from any business leader. Successful businesspeople adapt and evolve with the times, learning what to keep from the past, applying new technologies and maintaining an appeal to different generations and cultures.
This point was driven home to me when attending a pizza tour hosted by local manufacturers’ rep firm PB&J. The tour took a group of commercial kitchen designers to four local pizzerias to try four different kinds of pies using various kinds of ovens, including deck, conveyor and wood-fired units. The operators were as knowledgeable about their craft as they were talented. They figured out a way to put their own personal touches on something so tried and true.
The next time you are grappling with a solution to a nagging problem, consider grabbing a friend and taking a walk to your local pizzeria. Who knows, the answer may be on the plate in front of you.
