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Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart
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Are You Ready to Turn Pro, Part 4
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Saturday, 22 December 2012 06:33
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Note from Peter: We've had great response to this series by John Arena, which has been a true reality check for all of us. For those who haven't seen the previous three installments, or who may want to review them, they are all still here on the homepage (scroll down a bit), and also in the Guest Columns section. Thank you so much, John, for sharing your lifetime worth of experience!
Before we move on to the fun stuff, let’s take a look at just a bit more pizza math. Remember that in our hypothetical pizzeria we determined that we needed to make $2100 per day to succeed. That doesn’t sound hard does it? Well, here’s the tricky part. The bulk of your sales are going to be concentrated in a 3-4 hour span. You will take in 75% of your money between 11:30 AM and 1 PM and from 6 PM to 8:30PM. That works out to about $400 per hour. Let’s say that you are making artisanal pizzas that sell for $13 each on average. You will have to make 30 pizzas every hour during peak times to get to $400 per hour. That means a pizza will have to go in to and come out of the oven every 2 minutes for 4 solid hours. This is why I stress the need for speed.
I know we have all heard the stories about old school pizza makers who were famous for making their customers wait, limited the numbers of pies they made each day, and would throw anyone who complained into the street.
Sorry folks, those days are over and here’s why: Many of the legendary pizza makers used old math to run their businesses. Now, I’m not suggesting that anyone does these things today, but here’s the way it used to work. First off most of the immigrants from Southern Italy came here to escape feudal conditions at home. Let’s just say that they had a healthy distrust of the government. They ran cash only businesses. Many of these places employed only family members or friends from the old country. This meant they paid little or no taxes and had no insurance costs. They paid their vendors out of pocket and kept two sets of books, or none at all. Their restaurants were built with no permits or plans, and most of their equipment was scavenged from the neighborhood or brought from their home kitchens.
You may be thinking, “How much difference could that possibly make?” Well, here is a small example: If sales tax in your area is 8% and you take in $500,000 but only declare $250,000 you are holding back $20,000 tax-free that goes right to your pocket. Many if not most, old time pizzerias worked that way, enabling owners to keep their prices down and still make a healthy profit: DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!
Let’s say you have your kids working for you “under the table.” You pay no payroll taxes, workman's comp, overtime, or social security. You didn’t pay an architect and engineer to design your pizzeria. You are using non-commercial grade equipment that is cheaper to purchase. All of this sub-rosa activity is going to save you some money and enable you to sell your products for less than the legitimate operators, but, you won’t be able to sleep at night and you will get caught.
First off, in the modern era, 70% of your sales will be debit or credit cards that leave an electronic trail a mile wide. Your guests don’t carry cash anymore so you will lose them if you don’t accept cards. Second, your suppliers use easily audited invoices, the government can track your purchases and they know how that translates into sales. Third, Uncle Sam doesn’t trust restaurants; you will get audited at some point and it is simple to place an auditor in your restaurant to track sales for a day. They will then multiply that by the number of days you are open and assume that is your annual sales. Guess what? They will pick the busiest day of the week and calculate your back taxes based on that number. If you can’t pay, they will lock your doors, auction off your equipment, and you will owe them the balance. You will lose everything and could even go to jail.
There are many other ways that old time operators made the math work for them, not the least of which is that they overcame obstacles with an unbelievable work ethic. They often sacrificed to buy the buildings they were located in and their descendants are benefiting from to this day. In addition these landmark places paid off their investment decades ago so their financial picture is quite different from what yours will be. They rarely upgrade their facilities and invest little more than what it takes to keep the equipment running each year.
Of course there are still some artisans who seem to be uncompromising and are held up as role models of what we would like our lives as pizza entrepreneurs to be. So, let me make this clear: YOU ARE NOT DOM DEMARCO! The truth is even Dom DeMarco wasn’t Dom DeMarco for the first 40 years that he was in business. Until Dom was discovered by some powerhouse food journalists, DiFara’s was a simple neighborhood pizzeria and Dom was no more famous or highly regarded than any number of hard working Brooklyn pizza guys who labored in anonymity banging out great pies all day long. After decades of back breaking work Dom has finally reached a point where his talent is recognized. The plain truth is that, unlike DiFara’s, you will not be able to charge $5 for a slice of cheese pizza and that makes all of the difference in the world. At that price an 18-inch cheese pie is bringing in $40! With a food cost that is probably around 12% and, doing much of the work himself, Dom and a few others like him are not subject to the same economic realities that you will face as a start up operator.
Now that we have some of the basic mathematical realities out of the way we can begin to explore the development of your pizzeria. But that will be in the next installment.
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Peter's Blog, January 21st, 2013
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Monday, 21 January 2013 08:00
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I'm headed out soon for Austin, TX where my teaching tour of Texas begins (see my previous Peter's Blog for dates and cities). Not sure if there are still spaces available, so call the store near you if you want to attend. In the meantime, till I get back, I wanted to share this e-mail from Pizza Quest follower, David Maxwell, in response to my WFO 4-minute rib eye steak technique. Here's what he sent, another great idea that I can't wait to try:
"By far the best steaks I've ever cooked were boneless rib eyes we served at Christmas. Try this method, an oven-based version of sous vide:
1 - Season with salt and pepper. Place steaks on a cooling rack set into a rimmed cookie sheet.
2 - Place into a 250F degree oven. Depending on the thickness and starting temp of the steak it will take anywhere from 15 to 40 minutes to bring the internal temperature up to 100. Use a meat thermometer and don't be afraid to poke into the meat. It isn't a water balloon - you won't lose a ton of juice even with multiple pokes. Go in from the side.
3 - Remove from oven and pat dry.
4 - Put steaks on an insanely hot cast iron pan - no oil needed. Let them sit undisturbed for about a minute, flip and go another minute.
5 - Let them rest for 5 minutes
You should have a steak that's beautifully pink all the way through with a wonderful dark sear. You shouldn't have any of the tan/gray layer that's so common in home seared or grilled steak. 100 degrees pre-sear should bring you up to the rare side of medium rare. 105 should be enough to satisfy any Red-Phobic types.
It also works for tuna steak."
Thank you, David! He mentioned sous vide, and his timing is perfect, as we will be posting the next in our Basta websiode series later this week. In this segment, Kelly Whitaker will show us how he makes his famous 48-hour sous vide/oven charred short ribs, one of my all time favorite bites.
Hope to see some of you in Texas. I will try to blog from the road, but no promises -- lots to do in the Lonestar State!
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DiNapoli Fire Roasted Tomato Pizza
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Wednesday, 14 November 2012 08:52
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 Living in Southern California, I use my grill more than I use my oven. I love cooking with fire. Fire roasting adds to the flavor complexity of almost anything you cook. There is something primal about it. We're spoiled with gas grills -- mine is even connected to the house and is ever ready to be fired up with a simple turn of the dial, which is great and convenient, but there's still something missing there. So, when I cook certain things, like a fresh piece of fish, I often choose to go the extra step and light up some lump charcoal and a little smoke wood on my Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker and use it like a charcoal grill. The smoke and fire together bring even more flavor in a way that the gas grill just can't (of course, you can always add a little smoke and wood to the gas grill with a smoker box; I've had pretty good results doing my "Gas Grill, Wood Fired" pizzas this way).
 And now, there is an explosion in the use of wood fired pizza ovens. Sure you can make a great pizza in a gas-fired brick oven too - I do it all the time even in my brick-lined home oven, or on my grill. There is a difference, though, when you get one out of a wood fired oven. The heat can be the same, but the fire and the smoke, together, coax unique flavors out of a pizza that won't necessarily be there in a traditional oven. The cooking speed is another aspect. I love watching a pizzaiolo work the pie in a wood-fired oven. Each oven has to be played like a musical instrument to bring out the pie properly charred on all sides - cooked evenly and, often, just in the nick of time!
 Okay, I know this is a recipe post -- I got lost in rumination there for a minute -- but at least we were on subject talking about fire. This post is about Fire Roasted Tomatoes, so let's just say fire is good and move forward to the pizza.
I had been wanting to make a pizza sauce with the DiNapoli Fire Roasted Tomatoes for some time. I picked up a small can of the stuff at the Vegas Expo when I met Rob DiNapoli for the first time. I had previously been lucky enough to receive a few cans of their Bianco DiNapoli Organic Tomato product as well as some of their other amazing tomato products. That's one nice perk having a pizza blog!
We had been fans of Rob a long time before he became an actual sponsor of our website. He exemplifies the type of artisan we chronicle here on Pizza Quest. He is a third generation farmer and is dedicated to bringing the best product he can to his customers. He, and others like him, are that first step in the process of bringing great food to our tables. Serious chefs know their producers, or have an intimate working relationship with them. They rely on people like Rob to start the food chain with a top quality product in order to bring the best food to their tables.
So I made a couple of pizzas to see how I liked these fire roasted tomatoes. I did! I do. Here's the first...
 Fire Roasted Tomato Pizza:
Peter's Classic Dough
Can of DiNapoli Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes (14.5 Oz)
Fresh Mozzarella
Thinly sliced Pancetta
Fresh Wild Arugula
 To do:
Shape your dough.
Build the pizza by placing fire roasted tomato solids on the dough. I left the juice in the can.
Drizzle with a little olive oil.
Tear the mozzarella into pieces and place them around the pizza.
Cover with slices of the pancetta
Into the oven…
 Special touch: When it came out of the oven, I took some more tomatoes and the juice from the can and crushed them in my hands and sort of drizzled them over the pizza. I wanted to really taste the flavors of these tomatoes and loved the idea that the first layer is baked and the second is cool. The cool tomatoes will begin to warm right away, but the varying temperature of the first and second layers of tomatoes present slight nuances in flavor.
Top with chopped fresh arugula
Cut and dig in!
That looks pretty good - and it tasted amazing.
 The fire roasted tomatoes were sweet and delicious, but had another element participating in the flavor dance. The charred bits can be seen right when you open the can and the charred flavor is just a little bit of a deeper note on top of the otherwise sweet and juicy tomato. There is an earthy burnt flavor that almost comes off as "meaty". It's interesting.
Oh, and the salty pancetta with it's own crispy bits from baking, and the somewhat peppery arugula, goes so well with the sauce!
Stay tuned for my next Fire Roasted Tomato pizza - I did a few variations!
Enjoy!
*To purchase DiNapoli Fire Roasted Tomatoes online, you can go to Gourmet Sleuth - *Link
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Margherita Pizza with Mozzarella di Bufala
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Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:11
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We've been wanting to share this webisode with you for quite a while, so here it is. Last year, when we were at the Fire Within Oven Owners Conference, we taped a number of demo's in the beautiful mobile ovens built by Joseph Pergolizzi and his team of masons and metal craftsmen. Among those in attendance was Andres Salazar, who was just on the verge of releasing his first batch of Buffalo Mozzarella in the USA. As you will learn, his herd of grass fed water buffalo live in Columbia, South America, and the Salazar family has perfected the art of making gorgeous, creamy cheese from the milk. I'll let Andreas do his own talking but I have to say, this was amazing cheese -- so sweet and velvety that, after the tape stopped rolling, I couldn't stop eating the cheese. It maybe hard to find, but it will be found under the label of Annabella Cheese and at www.annabellacheese.com/
You'll notice that after Joseph's Margherita pizza came out of the oven we garnished it with threads of fresh basil that have been sliced chiffonade-style. This is different than we saw Tony Gemignani and our other featured pizzaiolos do it, but I like this method for when you're having pizza parties and have to cut the pizzas into slices for everyone (as opposed to the more traditional method of one pie per person, folded and eaten). Consider it yet another option to add to your repertoire.
We love discovering artisans doing extraordinary work, and what a treat it was to meet Andreas and hear about the commitment he and his family have made to go "all in" with their water buffalo farm and cheese business. Enjoy it now, even if vicariously on the screen, as we make a pizza with this extraordinary cheese and let us know if you've been able to find it anywhere and, if you have, what you think.
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Are You Ready to Turn Pro? Part 3
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Tuesday, 04 December 2012 20:14
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OK, so you have considered the physical challenges and demands of becoming a pizza professional. You are confident that you want to transition from being a great amateur to becoming a successful pizza operator. Allow me to introduce you to your new best friend…MATH!
I know that many of you have a dream of escaping from the mundane business world and earning a living as a pizza artisan. Math may not be why you want to open a pizzeria, but my mission is to keep your pizza dream from becoming a nightmare. If you intend to stay in business math is what’s going to keep the doors open and the lights turned on. Math is the spot where art and commerce meet. Having numbers that work is just as important as having the right equipment and recipes.
So let’s get started with some basics. Please keep in mind that although the numbers may change slightly from place to place, this is information based on what is common in our industry, so please don’t make the fatal mistake of thinking you are going to circumvent the economic realities.
Rule number 1: Everything starts with the rent. No matter how much money you take in you cannot overcome a bad real estate deal. To be safe, your rent should not be higher than about 8% of your projected sales. That means that if your rent is $5,000 per month you would have to take in about $63,000 per month to make a decent profit in your pizzeria. At that rate you are going to have to ring up about $2100 per day. It also means you will have to be open 7 days per week. My motto is “Every day that you pay rent you should be generating sales”. If you closed 4 days per month you would have to make up that $8400 in the remaining 26 days and there are no guarantees. I know a lot of the old timers closed on Mondays, but the fact is they did a lot of things that you will not be able to do in the modern world (we will get into that in the next installment).
Rule number 2: If you are starting with a raw space you should plan on spending about $200 per square foot on your build out. Sure you can try to get by cheaper but factoring in fixtures, furniture, equipment and signage this is about right. Remember that a pizzeria is a special use project that requires costly plumbing, venting and electrical work that is usually not provided by the landlord. The days of having your brother-in- law “who’s a pretty handy guy” building your restaurant are over. Local health and building codes are getting stricter as municipalities run out of money and seek revenue from licensing and fines.
Let’s review our math:
Rent is $5000 per month
Construction investment is $200 per foot. Let’s say that your restaurant is 2000 sq ft. That means it costs $400,000 to build.
Assuming that you are getting that 63k per month in sales you are at about 750k in annual sales. $100,000 per year in profit will give you a 25% return on investment. You would need a 13% bottom line to make $100,000 on $750,000 in sales. Can you do that? Under the right circumstances the answers is yes, but it won’t be as easy as you think, so here is the most important lesson of the day and it addresses the most common mistake that I see beginning entrepreneurs make: Never base your price structure on what your competitors are selling their products for! Their costs and financial considerations have nothing to do with your business. Your prices must be based on what it costs to make your pizza, including food cost, labor, rent, utilities, insurance, taxes, legal expenses, and that 13% you need at the bottom. Always keep in mind that your goal is to have a business, not just buy yourself a job.
This math stuff may not be what is calling you to a career in pizza, but understanding it and preparing yourself will make it a lot easier for you to experience and enjoy the more artisanal aspects of the journey.
Stay tuned for Part 4....
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