The Hot Slice

Send us Fan Mail October isn’t just National Pizza Month , it’s also National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Brewability is a pizzeria founded by Tiffany Fixter, a former special education teacher. We speak with Fixter and pizzeria marketer and manager Jess Runge about how they are serving up pizza and opportunities in their community of Englewood, Colorado. Brewability proudly employs 26...

Send us Fan Mail Before we jump into last-minute prep for Pizza Expo Columbus, happening this Sunday and Monday, we have HUGE news share! Jeremy has been appointed as Brand Director of International Pizza Expo , while Denise steps up as the new Editor-in-Chief of Pizza Today magazine. We talk promotions and what they mean for Pizza Today and Pizza Expo. Onto the show, we are days away from the ina...

Send us Fan Mail Tempe-based Spinato’s Pizzeria has embarked on an ownership structure that only 7,000 businesses around country and only one percent of Arizona companies offers, an Employee Ownership Stock Plan (ESOP). Since opening 51 years ago, Spinato’s has grown to six Phoenix-area locations with more than 420 employees. The pizza company is the Official Pizza of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix...

Send us Fan Mail When you are looking for an added revenue source, have you ever considered a state fair? This week’s guest, Nick Sanford went all in at the New York State Fair. Nick owns Toss & Fire with three locations and a fleet of food trucks around Syracuse, New York.  This is the third year Toss & Fire has had a presence at the New York State Fair, but this year, Sanford took over a...

Send us Fan Mail This week on The Hot Slice Podcast, we chat with a visionary young operator who bought her first Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake Pizza franchise as while she was still in high school. Lily worked at a local Papa Murphy’s before jumping at the opportunity to become a franchisee. Though savings and a loan from a family friend, Lily and her family made the purchase. Lily is the majority...

Send us Fan Mail Listen to Liane Varipapa Page, owner of Big Green Truck Pizza in Connecticut, on The Hot Slice Podcast with Pizza Today. Big Green Truck Pizza made history this month by serving more than 4,500 people at the 10th annual Apizza Feast in New Haven. The company’s lead dough maker prepared 750 dough balls ahead of the event, which served 10,000 slices and was recognized by Guinness Wo...

Send us Fan Mail This week on The Hot Slice Podcast , hosts Joelene and Joel Best shared an extraordinary discovery that has captivated their Hamburg, New York community and pizza lovers everywhere. What started as a routine renovation project at The Now Pizzeria transformed into an archaeological adventure when contractors uncovered a newspaper from 1881 hidden within the building's walls. T...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to transform a small pizzeria in Las Vegas' Chinatown into a nationally recognized restaurant? For Erica Bell, General Manager and Pizzaiola at ØØ Pie & Pub (Double Zero), the answer lies in obsessive attention to detail, authentic leadership, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. This week, we chat with Erica on the business.   In just two years o...

Send us Fan Mail From Engineering to Excellence: Inside Mattenga's Pizzeria's Rise to Pizza Today's 2025 Pizzeria of the Year The latest episode of The Hot Slice Podcast with Pizza Today featured an inspiring conversation with Matthew and Hengam Stanfield, the engineering-minded power couple behind Mattenga's Pizzeria. Fresh off their monumental achievement of being named Pizza...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we’re bringing you a fun episode with the Pizza Today Team giving our “Hot Takes” on pizza. And we didn’t even talk about pineapple on pizza. We dive into pizza styles. Whether  toppings go over or under the cheese , chicken’s place, charring on pizza, olives, best cheese on pizza, childhood pizzas and more.   We’re also inviting you to send us your “Hot Takes”. We’re g...

Send us Fan Mail Pizza Expo and Pizza Today have done it again. We’re rolling into Columbus, Ohio, with a power-packed two days of connection with products, services and tech, gathering with pizzeria people, competing in world-class competitions and learning from more than 30 education seminars, demos and workshops. Just over 60 days aways from the Midwest show, we’re dedicating this episode to ta...

Send us Fan Mail This week is a very special episode of The Hot Slice podcast as we announce the premiere of the John Arena episode of The Secret Ingredient, a pizza documentary series that takes an in depth look at the pizzeria industry through the eyes of its world-class pizza makers. Tommy Schneider, owner of Tommy’s Pizzeria in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, took his love for the pizza community...

Send us Fan Mail Darius Aram pulled into Slice Street Pizza in Dripping Springs, Texas, to find that his hop was completely cut off due to unexpected construction. In the face of huge sales dip and little information on the construction project, he decided to handle the obstacle with humor and humility. Darius’ response to the closure helped mitigate some of the impact of a near shutdown. He had h...

Send us Fan Mail This week on The Hot Slice Podcast with Pizza Today we have George Gilliam, owner of Uncle G’s Pizza in Birmingham, Alabama. George reached out to us to do a story on how he has doubled and tripled slow days at the restaurant. The conversion was so captivating that we wanted to share it on the podcast.  Gilliam set a strategy into motion to turn his slowest days into high-volume s...

Send us Fan Mail Listen to Melina Piroso Felix, owner-operator of The Pizza Bandit in Denver on The Hot Slice Podcast with Pizza Today Melina Piroso Felix had an established career in marketing and branding when the pandemic prompted her to rethink her goals in 2020. Prior to that point, she had graduated from being the night manager at her uncle’s restaurant in Miami’s South Beach district to und...

Send us Fan Mail This month Davide Lubrano has been named a Rising Star of the Pizza Industry. We sat down with Davide and Vince Gallagher, co-owners of the two-unit Pizzata Pizzeria in Philadelphia.  We talk about Davide’s recognition and his recent pizza competition winning streak at Pizza Expo and in Italy. They also share the other benefits of competing. Pizzata is growing. They recently added...

Send us Fan Mail Listen to Jhy Coulter, restaurateur and creator of Orange by Devoured in Kansas City on The Hot Slice by Pizza Today Jhy Coulter has always felt at home when working at restaurants. Even as her graphic design career grew, Coulter often kept a part-time job to stay close to the food industry. On Aug. 15, she will celebrate the one-year anniversary of her Kansas City-based pizzeria,...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we catch up with the great Mike Bausch. He brings such knowledge, energy and leadership to the pizza community. Mike now has 12 restaurants in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, including Andolini’s Pizzeria and a newer fine dining spot, Prossimo Ristorante. He’s an Oklahoma’s Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year, No. 1 Amazon best-selling author, Tulsa’s Restauranteur of the...

Send us Fan Mail Muhammad Abdul-Hadi just finished a national book tour for his first release, We the Pizza. Since opening Down North Pizza in North Philadelphia in 2021, he has been on a whirlwind of success, from creating Down North Foundation, winning a James Beard Leadership Award and publishing his book. We chat with Muhammad about the book and how its stories and recipes that work to reduce...

Send us Fan Mail Jason Cipriani always dreamed of opening a pizzeria. Years into his career as a tech journalist, the rise of portable pizza ovens got him thinking more seriously about making the leap. After months of research, trials in the kitchen and purchasing equipment and supplies, Cipriani sold his first pizza this April. As he details in his new, weekly column at PizzaToday.com , Cipriani...

Send us Fan Mail Charles Canaankamp spent 34 working at a local pizzeria in Ohio. Two years ago, he decided it was time to open his own pizzeria with his children. Pronto Pizza & Coffee in Manfield, Ohio, was born of Charles’ love and passion for pizza. He shares what he has learned in the industry over the years that has been integral to his pizza startup. Charles’ goal was to build a busines...

Send us Fan Mail George Peyton and Casey Conner never could have imagined their first year of business at Good Pizza Company in Swannanoa, North Carolina would unfold as it did. The pizzeria opened on August 15 and a mere six weeks later, the town of Swannanoa would become one of the hardest hit natural disaster areas in the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Helene. The former pizzeria that t...

Send us Fan Mail Isaiah Ruffin and Colleen Constant began their pizza business journey in a renovated school bus in Colorado, always envisioning a brick-and-mortar restaurant. After evaluating that Fort Collins, Colorado, wasn’t where they would open a brick and mortar, the couple began traveling to cities, researching areas in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Austin and others. Seattle stood out and af...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we continue our Pizza Expo Interview Series from the show floor at Pizza Expo 2025 . In this special edition of The Hot Slice Podcast, we talk to passionate franchisees and a dedicated pizza enthusiast. They are: Tyrell Reid and JR Lambert partners at Westshore Pizza in Brandon, Florida started out as employees of Westshore before becoming franchise owners. We talk Tamp...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we continue our Pizza Expo Interview Series from the show floor at Pizza Expo 2025 . This special edition of The Hot Slice Podcast with operators who bring excitement and passion to the pizza business with their pizza ownership journeys. They are:  Jimmy Casapizzaiolo from Casa Pizza in Western Massachusetts shares his passion for tinkering with pizza dough and making m...