Book Review: Pizza - A Global History

I recently read the book, Pizza - A Global History, by Carol Helstosky. This is a great book for anyone in the pizza business, or even a big pizza fan.

It describes the origins of pizza in Naples, Italy, including why it was popular, what it was made with, and who likely ate it. It then explains the growth of pizza in the US and worldwide, including chains like Pizza Hut and Dominos.

It also spends some time discussing pizza references in pop culture, including a scene that I left out of my top 10 pizza movies list, in Saturday Night Fever when John Travolta eats a slice.

Nick Out and a Good Book

Nick announced today that he's being (temporarily) transferred to another store. I'll miss working with him for sure, and hope he's back soon.

In the meantime I'm reading a great book, Pizza Tiger, by Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's pizza. It's quite interesting, describing the early days and the growth of the franchise.

WEOL Radio Interview

I was interviewed on WEOL this morning about the robbery attempt I prevented on Saturday night. Other interviews this morning are David Frankel, the director of the upcoming dog movie Marley And Me starring Jennifer Aniston (pictured on right) and Owen Wilson, and Richard Cohen, author of the book Coming Out Straight. This book is about understanding and healing homosexuality.

My interview was really pretty boring, but if you want to hear it you can listen to the mp3 online.

My interview was unpaid, in contrast to my wife who earned a $200 shoe gift certificate when she was interviewed about her ebay auction for Good Friday Miracle Fish Sticks back in March.

And if you didn't catch it, here is a link to the Chronicle article about my incident.

Catching Up

Here are a couple miscellaneous items I've accumulated over the past few weeks that I intended to post.

First, a Yahoo! article about some lawsuits filed against some top NYC restaurants that relate to tip-sharing. We have no tip-sharing where I work. A few years ago I used to regularly make $50-60 in tips and share $5 or so with the cooks. Lately I have been getting half of that on a good night so tipping out the cook has become pretty rare.

Next, a link to a work-in-progress book being written by a fellow pizza driver called Topless Delivery. Beware, the book is not just about pizza. Predictably, the driver / main character meets and falls in love with a stripper!

There's one more item, saferoadmaps.org, but I think I will give it it's own post.

A Diner's Bill Of Rights

(from the book Service Included)

1. The right to have your reservation honored.

2. The right to water.

3. The right to the food you ordered at the temperature the chef intended.

4. The right to a clean, working bathroom.

5. The right to clean flatware, glassware, china, linen, tables, and napkins.

6. The right to enough light to read your menu.

7. The right to hear your dining companions when they speak.

8. the right to be served until the restaurant's advertised closing time.

9. The right to stay at your table as long as you like.

10. The right to salt and pepper.

Service Included - Book Review

I recently read the book Service Included by Phoebe Damrosch. The subtitle is Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter. As someone who works in the restaurant business, I was intrigued.

Well the book is by this girl who got a job at a fancy restaurant in New York City called Per Se. The book started out interesting, talking about her early days as a waitress and how she got the job at Per Se, and some of the training she went through.

It then jumps around, spending several chapters discussing her love life and relationships with her coworkers.

My favorite part was the discussion about how they prepared for and served Frank Bruni, the restaurant critic from the newspaper.

Per Se is a very fancy restaurant where they offer a "tasting menu" for $275 per plate. I'm a picky eater so I would probably hate it. And it really has nothing in common with the pizzeria where I work.

Still, if you want to see how the "other side" lives (or rather, eats), check out this book!

Christmas Gifts - Pizza Style

Since we are less than 2 weeks from Christmas, I wanted to post on Christmas gifts with a pizza theme. Of course you could always give a gift card to a favorite pizza place, but I wanted to mention some other items also.

Melissa and Doug Pizza Party - This is on sale at Amazon for $12. Ages 3 and up, it's a wooden pizza set. I've never actually seen one but it seems they get rave reviews.








For the younger toddler, check out Pizza Party Elmo. You can find him at WalMart for $20. Not only does Elmo sing, but the pizza (having a face and all) sings as well. My son George will find one of these under the tree this year.




If you're shopping for a reader, you may want to consider best-selling author John Grisham's latest novel, Playing For Pizza. This book is about a pro football player who loses the championship game for the Cleveland Browns and flees to seek refuge in Italy playing in the Italian NFL. It's available at Amazon for $12.







For the baker in your life, another option I found is this neat Pizza Gift Basket, available for $80 at Gourmet Gift Baskets. It contains various pizza ingredients, as well as a pizza cutter and a pizza stone.




Finally, for the gift that keeps on giving all year long, consider a membership in the Pizza Of The Month club. For $31.95 per month (plus $13 shipping) at Clubs Of America, your friend will get 3 different gourmet frozen pizzas in the mail each month.

Book Reivew - How To Make Up To $38 Per Hour Delivering Pizza - Dave Shelson

I'm ashamed to say I've had this book since March and am just now getting around to writing the review. It is a fantastic book for pizza delivery drivers. I actually read it three times before deciding how little or how much of the information I could post here.

This is a great book on getting started in pizza delivery. It explains the basics of the job as well as outlining the many benefits of pizza delivery jobs, including a flexible schedule.

The book describes the one thing that a driver can do to best affects their tips - have a positive attitude!

Mr. Shelson writes a great chapter on how to choose the right restaurant for you, examining things such as how many drivers they hire and the average number of deliveries per shift.

Also included are chapters on Pizza Catering and Mobile Pizza Retaling.

Not every driver in every location will make $38 per hour, but if you read this book and follow the advice, you can probably increase your income at the shop you're at. And it's definitely possible to approach the $38 per hour rate on good shifts in the right location.

The book used to be sold through a website called http://www.doublecrust.com but it seems to be down. You can buy it from Amazon.

Pizza In The News

Last week there was a girl stabbed to death in Cleveland, allegedly over some dispute about making the cheerleading squad. Four family members were arrested in this case, including one who was also arrested but not charged in this case. The man was a cook at a Pizza Hut in Texas when a manager and a delivery driver were shot dead.

Sticking with the crime theme, this story describes how a man claiming to be Jesus pursued a pregnant Dominos employee into the pizzeria, offered her drugs, and fondled her.

On a lighter note, this Cleveland Plain Dealer article notes several factual errors in John Grisham's latest best-seller, Playing For Pizza. The book is about a disgraced Cleveland Browns quarterback who goes to Italy to play football.

How To Open A Financially Successful Pizza & Sub Restaurant - Book Review

This book is written by Shri L. Henkel & Douglas R. Brown. It is part of a series of books that includes "How To Open" books on Bakery, Bed & Breakfast, Coffee Shop, & Gourmet Food Shop.

This book is 480 pages and I highly recommend it to anyone considering purchasing or opening a pizza shop. It would also be useful to pizzeria owners and general managers.

It starts from the beginning, including such topics as finding the potential site and evaluating whether or not to buy a franchise. It covers how to write a business plan and how to obtain financing.

The book includes 39 pages of recipes on how to make everything from dough to sauce, from chicken marsala to reubens to strawberry gelato.

This is a very detailed and very current book. It includes hundreds of website URL's on each topic from government requirements to where to restaurant furniture suppliers. There is also a very useful CD that has sample business plans, as well as various forms, charts, and lists included in the book.

There are chapters on Controlling Costs, Menu Planning, Staffing, Employee Relations, Kitchen Management, Marketing, Sanitation, and many more. This book covers so many topics useful to a pizza shop manager I can't even mention them all.

There are only 3 pages directed towards delivery drivers. These pages address delivery driver tips (advice), a delivery driver kit, and driver safety. I was hoping for a little more on the delivery aspect but that obviously is not the topic of this book.

All in all this is a terrific book, very practical and up to date, well organized, and easy to read. I would strongly recommend it to all pizza shop owners and general managers, as well as anyone considering such a career.

Carnival News, Book Review Coming

First I want to thank Gary at The Garage for including me in this months Carnival of Wheels. He made some funny (but true) remarks about my pizza wagon!

Second, I just picked up the book, How to Open a Financially Successful Pizza & Sub Restaurant by Shri L. Henkel & Douglas R. Brown from my local library. I will be reading it and posting a review in the next few weeks.