Kansas City has some Hot Neapolitan Pizza Competition

Seems that the entire country is involved in the current gourmet fast casual pizza war taking place at a location near you. Fantastic how concepts such those mentioned in this Kansas  City Star article: http://www.kansascity.com/living/food-drink/article40322862.html are using revolving brick ovens for fast and consistent pizza.

Spin Neapolitan Pizza featuring a NY Brick Oven Co. revolving Brick Oven

The taste and flavor these hot spots are providing seem to be what the pizza eating public are demanding and this has gotten the interest of some of the big boys in the pizza world who are feverishly retooling and rethinking their concepts to provide a truly "better" pizza than the typical fast-food fare. Thus the rise in fast casual pizza concepts across the land bringing fresh ingredients made in front of the customer and baked in only a couple minutes.

Neapolitan Pizza From NY Brick Oven Co. 

Who would want a premade cardboard pizza when they have the choice to get a wood fired brick oven pie fresh from the oven? The Pizza War is the only war where we all win.

Chipotle and other Giants Join the Fast Casual Pizza Game

Once Fast Casual Giant Chipotle bought into the Pizza Local Fast Casual Pizza concept many foodies took notice, then came Wetzel Pretsel's with Blaze and Sparro's with it's new concept called Cuchinova and the floodgates for many franchise holding groups were open. They began looking for new concepts and started creating new concepts such as Revolve with namesake revolving brick ovens from New York Brick Oven Company pumping out brick oven pizza faster than can be assembled. What is the attraction? Why is Fast Casual Pizza Exploding across the US? What defines the category and who are the real players behind it. Well the pizza segment has always had it's share of the market with giants such as Pizza Hut and Domino's still dominating but what the attraction is, especially for millennials, is that it's fast, hot and fresh in a trendy atmosphere at reasonable cost. Factor in the entertainment value of watching your pizza prepared and cooked in under 5 minutes and you get the picture. Another very important part of the equation is lunch. What does that mean you may wonder since pizza was always available for lunch in most sit down restaurants with table service or slice shops dominated by players such as Sparro Pizza in a mall near you. Speed is the answer, most busy towns and commercial areas with a working clientele could not wait for a conventional pizza place to take an order, bake a pie and then serve it in the limited lunch break customer's had. Once you factor in getting to a location you see how pizza, especially gourmet pizza did not fit the equation. Then came the brick oven revolution with pies under 3 minutes and then the revolving brick oven revolution which made it possible to be even faster but more importantly to able to make a consistently perfect pizza without a highly skilled work force. This high speed production combined with a low food cost was the ticket to a successful model along the lines of a Chipotle or Panera bread. Now take this model and add  a reduced labor cost cost with a reduced  labor force since table service is not needed and less pizza men with revolving brick ovens and your set to crack the fast casual pizza code. Another big factor behind the scene has been the Pizza School of New York training and helping set up franchises, conversions, new concepts, brew pubs, pizza trucks and traditional mom and pop pizza places all over the United States and the world with tremendous results. Whatever your part in this brave new world of Fast Casual Pizza is, you are in for a big treat. From new contenders with dreams of bringing their concepts to the foreground to the small town mainstay looking to mix it up a bit there is plenty of room for everyone and the biggest winner will be the consumers with the ever widening choices being offered and a super healthy dose of competition to keep everyone on their toes and the pizza fresh. 

Courtesy of NY Brick Oven Co.

Pizza Expo 2015 Las Vegas

For pizza men, pizza fans and pizza eaters from around the world March is an exciting time because the International Pizza Exposition takes place at this time every year. It is a gathering of pizza men, manufacturers, designers, chefs, entrepreneurs, promoters, experts, novices and a host of others dedicated to making pizza. If you are remotely interested in pizza there is something for you here. As a young entrepreneur you can attend seminars with experts from their fields on things like dough making, employee training, food cost,  growth and expansion, profits, digital marketing, branding, pizza making and "So you to want own a pizzeria" with big Dave Ostrander. On top of this you will get to meet some of the top names in the Industry like when Papa John, Big Dave from Wendy's and the Founder of Pizza Hut congratulated the World's Best Pizza Winners-Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza of Staten Island New York when they won their first contest. Goodfella's in turn became a force in the Pizza World after winning the title of World's Best Pizza a whopping three times with subsequent expansion of their concept across the country. Exposure and experience is why all entrepreneurs should attend and compete in contests from local up to international because as the saying goes "You have to be in it to win it" and the press you can receive for winning is truly priceless. Beyond the contest is an overview of pizza trends such as brick ovens, fast casual, take and bake and others to be seen this year. One of the Hot trends catching fire and made prominent by the New York Brick Oven Company is their Revolving Brick Oven which is becoming a staple in the industry for ease of use, training and consistent baking. Another trend is the fast casual market with concepts like Spin Neapolitan, Revolve and Pizzeria Uno putting their hat in the ring. On top of this you get to see the latest in pizza boxes and maybe run into a real pizza aficionado like Scott Wiener  who runs the Pizza Tours of New York and has the worlds largest pizza box collection. All in all this a an overwhelmingly fun time for pizza lovers and is highly recommended for all levels of pizza makers and pizza fans.
      Looking forward to seeing you there.
      Marc Cosentino Co-founder of Goodfella's Pizza

Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Founders Marc And Scot Cosentino with Giant Pizza Box

FAST CASUAL PIZZA-THE RACE FOR A PIECE OF THE PIE IS ON

Scot Cosentino of Goodfella's Pizza, the original Fast Casual/Quick Serve Pizza Concept

The latest "Gold Rush" in the multi-billion dollar food industry is Fast Casual Pizza. Fresh ingredients, made to order and delivered quickly in a casual setting is the model being followed, with tremendous interest and investment from the such contenders as Chipotle, Blaze, Live Basil, 800 Degree, Uncle Maddio's and a slew of other contenders. What they are hard at work on is re-inventing Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza- the original East Coast leaders in Fast Gourmet Pizza and New York Brick Oven style pizza, having defined the category decades ago. "A Revolving Brick Oven from the New York Brick Company is how we create our award winning pizzas at a super fast pace while retaining a consistently perfect product" said Andrew Scudera from Goodfella's. 

The emerging concepts are following a basic format and design of how the products are ordered, assembled and cooked. The main differences is the type of pizza, dough, sauce and oven design with the more high end companies going for the now standard brick oven and the the future minded entrepreneurs jumping on the New York Brick Oven Companies Revolving Brick Oven for authentic pizza with high production potential.

After major contenders failing abysmally in the red hot New York City market, many are taking it slow and are wisely playing it safe with much concept development on the west coast before attempting to take on the capital of pizza." What is to be seen is whose concept will stand out, be easy to reproduce and have staying power in what will be an area with huge potential and fantastic competition" said Marc Cosentino co-founder of the Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza chain. brickovensforsale.com

Scot Cosentino  with his International pizza trend setting "Vodka Pie" www.goodfellas.com