Making Perfect Pizza with a Revolving Deck Brick Oven In Vegas vs. a Crapshoot

Fast Casual Pizza, Fast Casual Pizza, it's on all the modern day gold miners tongues. Places like Live Basil. Chipotle, Blaze, Spinfire, Pizza Rev, Uncle Maddio's, Revolver and the don't forget the big boys about to jump ship over to fast casual-Pizza Hut and Dominos. Now along with all these players are the dozens and dozens of start ups who envision being the next McDonalds of pizza. How do you get the odds in your favor with so much competition? How do you stand out in the crowd? What will make you better, more efficient and able to fight the big boys? Well one way a perennial favorite in New York did it, was by making an incredible pizza in wood burning Revolving Brick Ovens. The competition is fierce in New York City with pizza places coming and going on every corner year after year so when a Place like Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza has it's 21st birthday it really is cause for celebration. "Staying ahead of the game while maintaining the integrity of your pizza and always streamlining production is key" said world champion pizza maker and co-founder of Goodfella's Pizza. A game changer for them was the addition of a revolving deck wood burning brick oven which allows for perfectly uniform cooking of each pizza while eliminating the drawbacks of traditional brick ovens such as: hot spots, cold spots, hard to regulate temperatures and unskilled pizza makers. The New York Brick Oven Company will be demonstrating there Inferno series revolving brick ovens at the this years Pizza Expo in Las Vegas Nevada at the end of March in booth 231 for those interested.
The next key "ingredient" is just that: you have to use fresh ingredients these days. The pizza eating public is not the same uninformed group as it used to be and they know they have a lot of choices now as to where they want to spend their hard earned money. Why would they buy frozen dough, sauce froma jar or even worse a sauce made from reconstituted powder. Then you have your cheese. Processed, hardened oils are a thing of the past and almost any supplier can give you access to a premium fresh mozzarella so why not use it. Produce is now being purchased from local growers when feasible and helps the community while ensuring a fresh product. That being said you need a little understanding of how to best assemble your ingredients to make a good pie so you can read up on it, watch videos, experiment or take classes from a place like the Pizza School of New York which turns out top notch pizza makers from around the world(the training is priceless in the course of a career).
Once you have that mastered, you need a business model to build your restaurant after. In this case unless you have experience it can't hurt to go out and see what the successful fellows are doing and then put your own spin on it by adding your own flare or style. A good idea is to avoid head on competition till you get your feet wet and gain some experience running your own place. I say this because if you start in a place with little or no competition you have a better chance of carving out your own niche and drawing customers without going head to head with major brand recognition, huge marketing budgets and tremendous buying power which can effect final costs and offers to your customers.
The pizza game can be tremendously fun and rewarding but is not without a lot of very hard work, knowledge and skill. Simple enough to say now go and make it so.

Scot Cosentino of Goodfella's Pizza with his Vodka Pie Sensation

de Blasio Fork Sells for Thousands in Tunnel to Towers Auction for Disabled Veterans

Andrew Scudera and Scot Cosentino displaying award winning pizza

Marc Cosentino of  Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Serving Mayor de Blasio the Smoking Goodfella

The infamous fork that was at the center of the international pizza scandal involving Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio's culinary skills has finally sold at auction. The fork was donated to the Tunnel To Towers Foundation by the owners of Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza to help raise awareness for the foundation which has been a tremendous help in the community building housing for disabled veterans. "We got to work with Frank Siller and the Tunnel To Towers Foundation during the recovery efforts on Staten Island after Hurricane Sandy and we witnessed the dedication and commitment to helping the community and decided we would do what we could do to help them. My brother Marc is a veteran and decided to use the fork to help raise awareness and funds for Tunnel to Towers so we said sure, let's do it " said Scot Cosentino.  The bidding was started off by the New York Brick Oven Co. at $1000 dollars which kept rolling and ended off reaching the $2500 mark by auction end. The fork was purchased by an anonymous donor who then turned around and donated it back to Goodfella's saying " it's where this piece of history belongs". The fork is now on permanent display at the world famous Staten Island eatery.

Mayor de Blasio's Fork

Opening Bid on de Blasio Fork: $1000 by New York Brick Oven Company

Scot Cosentino, Frank  Siller, Marc Cosentino, Andrew Scudera

The New York Brick Oven Company Makes $1000 bid on fork from Forkgate Scandal. "It was only a natural since one of our ovens was responsible for cooking the infamous slice of pizza" said Marc Cosentino." It's all for a great cause" added lead instructor of the Pizza School of New York Andrew Scudera  a partner of the Original Goodfella's S.I.N.Y.

• The fork that made headlines around the world after Mayor Bill de Blasio used it to eat pizza can now be part of your kitchen.
  The Staten Island based nonprofit Tunnel to Towers Foundation began its charity auction Thursday of the infamous fork on its website. Marc Costentino, the co-owner of Goodfella's Pizzeria in Staten Island where de Blasio was caught on tape famously eating pizza with a fork, handed over the utensil to the organization Thursday. The starting bid was $1,000.
  John Hodge, the director of operations for Tunnel to Towers, expects that it will sell for much higher when the bidding ends on Feb. 21.
  "This fork is now a piece of New York history," he said. "Decades from now people will talk about this moment because it is one of those quintessential New York moments."
  All proceeds will help fund Tunnel to Towers programs, such as its annual race to Ground Zero, Superstorm Sandy relief and veterans home renovation initiative. Hodge said it has been in talks with the mayor's office and they fully support the auction.
  "We're having a lot of fun about this and Mayor de Blasio is being a big sport about this," he said.
  Log onto tunnel2towers.org to participate in the auction.

  Related

  Urbanite Jon Stewart doesn't approve of de Blasio's pizza-eating method
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If You Build it,They Will Come-Fast Casual Pizza by the New York Brick Oven Company

The Ricca brothers, famous for their bread and pastry making have just opened their new Ricca Brothers Brick Oven Bread Factory & Pizzeria restaurant in Hammonton NJ. The New York Brick Oven Company's Marc and Scot Cosentino were on hand to help with the pizza and brick oven operation and to handle the standing room only crowds. "There were so many orders, brand new staff, customers out the door, complete and utter chaos but we made it go right several hundred pizzas later. The staff was ready willing and able which was needed hour after hour making pizza from the hand built oven at an alarming rate while pastries, cakes and wings flew out of the kitchen under Mike Ricca's direction" said Marc Cosentino.  The fast casual pizza concept is a new one for Hammonton but the word is out that fresh dough, local farm grown vegetables and the ultimate gourmet pizza with incredible desserts has come to town. If your in the area be sure to visit them and if your in the market for the industry leading revolving brick ovens or want to learn the art of pizza making, visit the Cosentino brothers and Andrew Scudera at Goodfella's of Staten Island on  New York on Hylan Boulevard  also home of the New York Brick Oven Company. Happy Pizza!

Scot Cosentino

FASTEST PIZZA IN NEW YORK

The New York Brick Oven Company has just released it's latest video sure to shake up the Fast Casual Pizza Segment. With the hottest trend in the pizza industry centering around wood fired brick ovens their new Inferno series revolving brick ovens are creating a sensation.

 Now that world class pizza places such as the Iconic Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza of Staten Island NY (three time international pizza champions) is utilizing the revolving brick oven to produce what is literally  the World's Best Pizza, you can be sure this oven delivers the goods with perfect pizza at a rate to handle the crowds.  We caught up with Andrew Scudera from Goodfella's who said "this oven has made my life so easy now".You can visit with the New York Brick Oven Company at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas March 25-27th at the convention center for a live demonstration where they will attempt 100 pies in half an hour.

The Original Fast Casual Pizza: Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Staten Island New Yok

Marc and Scot Cosentino with Goodfella's Captain America Mustang

Marc's Previous Job and Cover of his Book

Back in 1992 the Cosentino brothers opened what many industry experts consider to be the first fast casual brick oven pizza restaurant in America taking New York Pizza to a new level. New York had a handful of brick ovens pizza places at the time with fresh mozzarella but none were featuring fresh gourmet toppings cooked at blazing speed in a wood burning brick oven. Within the first year of operation they were winning titles in New York and across the country while garnering unheard of press coverage for the new kids on the block. The "Vodka Pie" which won the World's Best Pizza title soon became a national trend and their signature pie. With high aspirations and incredible drive they soon had 8 locations in the tri-state area and eventually were opening  locations across the country as far away as Puerto Rico. For most this would have been enough but they then added the Pizza School of New York  which has taught pizza students from all corners of the world, including New Zealand, the art of making great pizza. As they opened pizza shops and taught pizza makers, the demand for ovens grew so they soon took over the choirs of building their own custom brick ovens to ensure quality, which lead to them founding the New York Brick Oven Company. The Inferno Series Revolving Brick Ovens are becoming the Industry Standard for fast casual concepts due to the consistent cooking temperature, product and ease of use. The boys are never ones to rest and recently swept the media with FORKGATE which is the first international pizza scandal for the new Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio who made the fatal error of using a fork to eat his pizza. "We only started this business because we love pizza and wanted to work together, who knew it get this crazy" said Scot Cosentino who added "only in America".

The Infamous Fork to be auctioned for charity.

Andrew Scudera Winning International Pizza Expo

Scot Cosentino with the "Vodka Pie"

Pizzagate at Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Staten Island NY with Mayor De Blasio and the New York Brick Oven Co.

Having Mayor De Blasio enjoy a fresh pizza with his favorite smoked mozzarella right out of the the Revolving Deck Brick Oven at the world famous Goodfella's Pizza was a lot of fun. He now joins the tradition started 20 years ago with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and his "pepperoni connection" with Borough President and former US congressman Guy Molinari who was threatening the secession of Staten Island(The Forgotten Borough) from new York City at the time. Rudy even brought his staff to Goodfella's on the day he was  re-elected because he liked Goodfella's so much.

"While we won't say pizza was the reason for the peace, it sure makes hungry Italians much more agreeable" said Scot Cosentino.
 

Then mayor Bloomberg began to follow suit, knowing that the predominately Italian borough of Staten Island enjoyed this community oriented fast casual eatery. Through three terms he could be seen eating and having his Goodfella's delivered, so it was no surprise when Mayor De Blasio made the pilgrimage after just 10 days in office to try one of their award winning pizzas. "Having had twenty years of successive New York City mayors enjoy pizza from The revolving  deck brick oven is priceless, and if we have to add New York Style pizza eating to our pizza school to avoid another scandal with the mayor using a fork-so be it" said Andrew Scudera the three time International Champion Pizza maker from Goodfella's.