The Hot Slice

Send us Fan Mail The Editorial Team at Pizza Today gather to reflect on 2021 and look forward at 2022.  Get 2021 highlights and 2022 pizza predictions. Learn more details on the quickly approaching Pizza Expo 2022 and competitions happening at the show. Happy New Year. Wishing you great success in 2022.

Send us Fan Mail We revisit a great conversation with Nicole Russell on her Pizza Wars video series, Last Dragon Pizza and the pizza community. She dishes on the show, her business and what direction she wants to take it, pizza mentors, women in the pizza industry, traveling to Italy and Pizza Expo.

Send us Fan Mail Eno’s Pizza Tavern in Dallas, Texas, is currently in strategic growth mode. We “sit down” with Shane Spillers to talk concept, pizza style, planned expansion, staffing and bringing a commissary online in this week’s The Hot Slice Podcast.

Send us Fan Mail This week we chat with Anna Crucitt of Mercurio’s in Pittsburgh, PA. The family business started with gelato and grow into multiple full-service restaurants and gelato distribution. Listen to her story. Episode Notes: We mentioned a code to receive $40 off your Pizza Expo 2022 Registration, here you go: EMRF20. Click the link to register today. http://registration.experientevent.c...

Send us Fan Mail Meet our 2021 Pizzeria of the Year: Razza in Jersey City, NJ. Enjoy a conversation with owner Dan Richer. His passion for the pizza, dough and his people is infectious. Listen to his inspiring journey. Read the full story: https://pizzatoday.com/departments/features/2021-pizzeria-of-the-year-razza-jersey-city-nj/

Send us Fan Mail Happy Thanksgiving! We’re revising a fun conversation with the one and only John Gutekanst. We talk pizza toppings, latest pizza trends from the International Pizza Challenge and learn what’s happening at Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio.

Send us Fan Mail This week, the Pizza Today team answers your pizza industry questions. We received several questions via social and e-mail. See our take on some of the industry’s hottest topics: long-term forecasting, pizza trends, influx of new competition, pizza styles and more.

Send us Fan Mail Thomas Reinhard is both a co-owner of a successful pizza company and an attorney. He goes in-depth into applying his legal knowledge for the pizzeria, Cascadia Pizza Company, with brick-and-mortar locations and mobile units near Seattle, Washington. You won’t want to miss the essential legal pro tips he shares.

Send us Fan Mail Bill and Cheryl Crawford co-own Righteous Slice in Rexburg, Idaho. They’ve pooled their talents together to bring their small city Neapolitan pizza and Rexburg loves it. But they’re not stopping there with the upcoming launch of a New York-style pizza. Read more about Righteous Slice at https://pizzatoday.com/departments/features/destinations-righteous-slice-rexburg-id-u-street-pa...

Send us Fan Mail Pizza Champion Derek Sanchez brings a contagious positive energy to the pizza industry. He is also fascinated by the science of pizza dough. Sit back, listen and you’ll learn all about bacteria’s impact on pizza and how that helps him win pizza competitions. You’ll also get the scoop on his upcoming restaurant opening in San Antonio, TX. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Cope started with one small pizza shop in Oklahoma City less than 10 years ago. Once Empire got rolling, the pizzeria crushed annual sales of $3 million and climbed from there. Today, she owns 84 Hospitality with seven different concepts. Listen to her story of fortitude, growth and business instincts. Empire Slice House was Pizza Today’s 2018 Independent Pizzeria of the Ye...

Send us Fan Mail It’s National Pizza Month so we have brought back our resident Pizza Master John Gutekanst to talk pizza toppings, latest pizza trends from the International Pizza Challenge and an update on what’s happening at Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-hot-slice/message

Send us Fan Mail Carrie and Anthony Lepoma opened Lepoma’s Pizza in Georgia in 2015. Passionate about pizza, growing the business was the couple’s unflinching mission. While the COVID-19 pandemic left many restaurants in trouble, it hit the Lepomas especially hard on a personal level in August of 2021. Carrie shares her touching story of loss as well as her uplifting drive to continue growing the...

Send us Fan Mail We continue our interview from Pizza Expo with two pizza operations that opened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Janet Duran from 550 Pizzeria in Laredo, Texas, has found success and incredible community support since opening in 2020. Dani and Alex White brought their vision to a Las Vegas commercial kitchen to launch Yukon Pizza. Listen to these inspiring pizza business startups sto...

Send us Fan Mail This week we continue sharing our mini session interviews from the exhibit hall at this year’s International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. Guests are Que Wimberly of The Missing Brick in Indianapolis, Indiana and Neil and Richie Syal of RockFire Grill in Goleta, California. Both operations have created unique products that sell well in their markets. --- Send in a voice message: https:...

Send us Fan Mail Marc Schechter and Danny Stollers of Square Pie Guys in the San Francisco, California, rallied 15 West Coast pizzerias to celebrate National Pepperoni Pizza Day (September 20) by donating proceeds to a charity. On the chat is also Dennis Lee of Sunset Squares, Leah Scurto or PizzaLeah and Matt Lucas of Evolution Bake. We talk Bay Area pizza scene, collaboration, pepperoni pizza an...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we pulled two pizza professionals from the International Pizza Challenge competition area to talk shop. First up, Andy Brown, who owns Andy’s Pizza with three Washington, D.C. locations. He was still abuzz from winning the non-traditional pizza category when we brought him up to the studio to learn more about his business and his winning pizza. Next, we chat with Hassi...

Send us Fan Mail As we continue our coverage from Pizza Expo, we are talking to pizzeria professionals in person from the expo hall. This week, we chat with Sammy and Molly Mandell and Phil Bossart at Dallas, Texas-based Greenville Avenue Pizza Co and Ali Haider, owner of 786 Degree Wood Fired Pizza in Sun Valley, California. These pizzeria leaders bring a lot of energy to the pizza industry and h...

Send us Fan Mail We brought The Hot Slice Podcast to Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. Find out what hot pizza industry trends Editor in Chief Jeremy White and Executive Editor Denise Greer have found in the exhibit hall. There’s a big one that you couldn’t miss: plant-based options. See what else they discover in this episode. Find out more about International Pizza Expo at http://pizzaexpo.com . --- Send...

Send us Fan Mail It’s Pizza Expo week so we are bringing back one of our favorite episodes of 2021 with Giovanni (John) Cesarano, one of Long Island’s King Umberto’s youngest partners. We talk continuing the family business and infusing fresh perspective. John loves to bring new and innovative products to the menu. Don’t miss John reveal his biggest menu success and worst flop. This episode is hos...

Send us Fan Mail Serhan Ayhan grew up in the pizza business at his family’s restaurant, Boston Pizza in Queens, New York. But what happens after the family retires? That’s what Creative Director Josh Keown and Executive Editor Denise Greer explore with Serhan on this week’s The Hot Slice Podcast. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-hot-slice/message

Send us Fan Mail This week, we get a primer on the mobile pizza business from Siler Chapman, mobile operator and vice president of PerfectingPizza.com. He shares who’s getting in the business, startup costs, challenges and profit opportunities with mobile pizza units. This episode is hosted by Editor In Chief Jeremy White and Executive Editor Denise Greer. Want to go more in depth? Siler will be i...

Send us Fan Mail Pizza Expo Update after Bill Oakley’s recording: In accordance with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guidelines, the state of Nevada has instituted the following face mask directive: Everyone, both vaccinated and unvaccinated , are required to wear face masks in ALL public, indoor spaces in the state of Nevada. Please note: these public, indoor spaces include ex...

Send us Fan Mail This week’s guest, Nicole Russell, just wrapped Season 1 of her hit series, Pizza Wars on First We Feast. On the show, Nicole competes with leading chefs, making some of the most trending pizzas today for a panel of celebrity judges. Nicole owns Last Dragon Pizza in Rockaway, Queens, New York. She dishes on the show, her business and what direction she wants to take it, pizza ment...

Send us Fan Mail The first year of running a pizza business is tough enough without throwing in a worldwide pandemic and a worker shortage. Hear the story of Bart Weidlich, who opened Kidder Street Deli in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, just four months before the COVID-19 shutdown. This episode is hosted by Pizza Today Editor In Chief Jeremy White and Executive Editor Denise Greer. --- Send in a voi...