About Pizza Hut in Chicago

Pizza chain enters Nashua, N.H., market

2006-02-23T10:49:00.000-06:00

Nov. 18--NASHUA -- With a new location on East Hollis Street -- its first in the city -- set to open Tuesday, Sal's Pizza will go head-to-head with one of the oldest pizza parlors in town.

So, how will Sal's distinguish itself from Nashua House of Pizza?

A 19-inch, 3-pound pizza for $8.99.

"We dwarf the competition," said Sal Lupoli, 39, chief executive officer of Sal's, a retail franchise with 24 other locations in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Florida.

"What's different about our pizza is we make our pizza from scratch every single day," Lupoli said. "We use fresh tomatoes; we grind them up ourselves, and we use the best cheese on the market."

Every pizza topping is fresh, he said, and Sal's even makes spinach pizza.

Lupoli, who founded the company with his brother, Nick Jr., is no stranger to competition. When the brothers opened their first location in Salem in 1990, there were 27 pizzerias in the area. Competition, Lupoli said, is exciting.

"That means that people in that area eat pizza; we just want to be part of that," he said. "We want to be next to all the best pizza places."

Nashua House declined to comment. Their 10-inch plain pizza sells for $4.95, while a large, 16-inch pizza costs $7.95.

Sal's has been trying to open a location in Nashua for more than a decade, Lupoli said. He prefers to own property where he sets up shop, but always found it difficult to find anything available or affordable in Nashua.

However, Lupoli heard about the 22 E. Hollis St. space owned by Barry Williams of B&S Realty of Nashua, checked it out and then signed a long-term lease. The building, connected to Meineke Car Care, formerly housed Rockin' Robins ice cream store, which went out of business last January just eight months after opening.

Lupoli said he has no question he'll survive in the 960-square-foot space, which is considerably smaller than the 2,000 or 3,000 square feet they usually occupy, because he is a family-oriented operation. Add to that the high-traffic location and lot with plenty of parking.

"With this location, we were so anxious that we really took a chance on what we typically go for," Lupoli said.

The Nashua store will be Sal's 25th location, and is corporate-owned.

The nearby locations in Merrimack and Milford are franchised, as are 45 percent of the Sal's stores.

Sal's is also opening a store in Amesbury, Mass., at the end of next week, and has signed a letter of intent to open a 27th location in Middleton, Mass.

Lupoli and his brother Nick Jr. started the $23 million a year company in 1990 after graduating from Northeastern. They decided to go into the pizza business, following in the footsteps of their late father, also a restaurateur.

Lupoli researched how McDonald's and Subway started, and learned that the fast food business is the largest food segment in the nation. Pizza, he said, is a $50 billion a year industry.

"We wanted to serve the biggest pizza out there, the tastiest pizza out there, and at the best price," Lupoli said.

About 100,000 pizzas a week are made from scratch in a 35,000-square-foot commissary, or central location, in Salem. The pizzas are then shipped to the various Sal's retail stores as needed.

Sal's has had just four price increases in 15 years, and prides itself with producing an affordable product for working class families.

"When times are good, people want to eat our pizza because the quality is superior," Lupoli said. "When times are bad, people want to eat our pizza because of the value."

"If I gave you the recipe," Lupoli said, "you couldn't buy the ingredients, make the product, and factor in your time, for cheaper than what I can sell it to you for."
To see more of The Telegraph, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.nashuatelegraph.com

Gift cards for pizza

2006-02-23T10:42:00.004-06:00

Nov. 28--PEORIA -- Monical Pizza Corp. is jumping on the gift card bandwagon.

The regional pizza chain, based in Bradley, will roll out a new gift card program in December at most of its 55 restaurants throughout central Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin as a way for guests to "put a pizza in their pocket," said Monical President Harry Bond.

"The electronic cards offer advantages to our management and guests," Bond said. "These are much easier to store and display because unlike paper certificates, they have no value until they're activated at the point of sale." The Monical's cards can be loaded with prepaid amounts in $5 increments, providing a consumer with plastic currency that works like cash, he said.

The success and popularity of electronic gift cards for other retailers and restaurants prompted the pizza company to roll out their own program, said Jim Hedge, Monical's marketing specialist. "This is something we've wanted to do for awhile," he said.

The paper certificates, while still being accepted, eventually will be phased out in favor of the plastic cards, he said.

While the launch coincides with the company's annual rush for holiday gift certificates, the new gift card program will be offered as a year-round convenient gift or payment option for consumers, Bond said.

The company predicts its conversion to plastic gift cards will result in increased year-round sales, and open the door to development of more program opportunities in the future. The plastic cards also will be incorporated into Monical's school scrip fundraising program, used by several schools in central Illinois.

An exact date as to when the gift cards will be available has not been set, but they will be available at most Monical restaurants in the area before Christmas, including the restaurants in Peoria, Washington, Morton and Pekin, Hedge said.

http://www.pjstar.com

(ALL AROUND THE TOWN) PIZZA

2006-02-23T10:42:00.003-06:00

The gang's all here — and all hungry.

SOUTH • Uno's Chicago Grill • Dense-yet-flaky Chicago-style deep crust is layered with hot melted cheese, slathered with chunky tomato sauce and buried under toppings. Makes you understand how pizza's inventors saw a single slice as a whole meal. 4740 E. Southport Rd., 797-8667

DOWNTOWN • Giorgio's Pizza • This cramped, no-frills, cafeteria-style pizzeria just off the Circle doesn't look all that promising — but the line of people waiting for a piece of good 'za frequently stretches out the door. The wide triangle of sweet sauce and plenty of cheese on toasty crust crunches just a little when you fold it in half to eat; the stuffed versions require a knife, fork and plenty of napkins. 9 E. Market St., 687-9869

WEST • Eh! Formaggio • The owner, a New York native, knows from pizza. Whether you like your pies crackly thin (the standard), stuffed two inches thick with cheese and meat (Sicilian deep-dish), made with goat cheese and artichoke hearts (fancy!), or plain old pepperoni, it's the real deal. 5570 Lafayette Rd., 217-1890

EAST • Some Guys • The cooks here approach a thin, crunchy crust as a canvas, creating masterpieces with thin brushstrokes of tomato sauce; gentle dustings of cheese; thick, round, warm, sliced tomatoes; bright green, fresh basil; and scattered chunks of garlic. It's edible art. 6235 Allisonville Rd., 257-1364

NORTH • Puccini's Smiling Teeth • When you're all about the cheese (and who isn't?), try Puccini's, where they toss mozzarella, provolone and Romano on each and every soft-crusted pie. Try one of the house favorites (the Campfire has smoked sausage, sweet onion marmalade, Gorgonzola and fresh rosemary; the Ultimate Warrior piles on sausage, pepperoni, onions, black olives, mushrooms and green peppers) or add your own goodies, from chili oil and clams to capers and goat cheese. Marina Village, 842-2356,

http://www.puccinissmilingteeth.com

PIZZA FRACTIONS

2006-02-23T10:42:00.002-06:00

Contents
» In math, ask kids to…
» In social studies, ask kids to…
» In art, ask kids to…
» In music, ask kids to…
» In P.E., ask kids to…
Create your own prompts

And 37 other writing prompts that will have your middle schoolers happily reaching for their pens.

Pizza slices, the number of "free minutes" left on a cell phone plan--these are "real-world" fractions. Why not ask kids to write about them? Whether you teach English or math, asking middle schoolers to respond to a prompt is an easy strategy that can yield powerful results. Writing to prompts allows students to express their own ideas about things they really care about (what the experts call "writing for an authentic purpose") and demonstrate understanding of what they've learned. Prompts are also a great way to assess kids' writing, prepare for a classroom test, or practice for the writing exercises they will encounter on standardized tests. Check out some of the favorite writing prompts from the experts behind the new Write to Know series from Advanced Learning Press. Then take a look at our tips for creating your own targeted prompts.

» In math, ask kids to…
* Describe the ways you might use fractions in everyday life, such as when sharing a pizza.

* Explain the long division process. Why do you think it works?

* Describe your process for determining which cell phone company is offering the best deal.

* Explain the Pythagorean theorem in your own words. Why does it work?

* Describe a ruler in detail. Describe how a ruler is used.

* Explain how you would determine the best design for a paper airplane. What data would you collect? How would the data be organized and displayed?

* Do you think there is such a thing as luck? Defend your position.
--Jan Christinson
» In science, ask kids to…

* Explain where your local weather comes from and why.

* Explain how living organisms affect the composition of the atmosphere and contribute to the weathering of statues such as tombstones.

* Explain your understanding of how a single-celled organism sustains life. How does it gain energy? Reproduce? Put your thoughts in comic-strip format.

* Write about yourself in a scientific way. Explain heredity and give examples of inherited, as well as learned, traits.

* Pretend you have discovered a new organism. Illustrate how it looks, moves, and obtains food. Write about where it lives and how its characteristics adapted to the environment.

* Imagine an unknown substance is left on your lab tray. You are not sure whether it is toxic. How would you handle it? Explain how you determine the characteristic properties of the substance in order to identify it.
--Anne M. Holbrook and Rosemary Ruthven

» In social studies, ask kids to…
* Imagine yourself into a climate that is different from the one you live in now. Describe how your house and the kinds of clothing you wear are affected by the conditions where you live.

* Explain where your town gets its water. Your city government can help you get the details. Describe the source of your water and each step that brings it to the houses in your town.

* Assume the role of one of the millions of people who immigrated to the United States in the late 1880s. Write about why you want to come to the United States and what opportunities you hope to take advantage of. Your composition should describe at least three things that the immigrants hoped to obtain and why each of these things is so important to you as an immigrant.

* After researching the culture of a tribe of Native Americans, write a description using your five senses to describe what it might have been like to live in their type of shelter, eat their food and wear their clothes.

* Prepare a brochure to help get more young people to vote. Create a catchy title. Write a good list of reasons why people should vote in elections.

* Talk with your family about the different types of taxes we pay. Then write several paragraphs describing what you think about these taxes.

* Try your hand at advertising a product. Select a product to promote and create a one-page advertisement for it. How will you make people your age want to buy that product? What will you say about it? How will you say it so it gets the consumer's attention?
--Gary "Skip" Jensen and Rosemary Ruthven

» In art, ask kids to…
* Define art based on your personal experience.

* Write your own personal art history. Begin with your first art-making memory.

* Describe the importance of painting in a world with digital photography.

* Think about whether or not photographs ever "lie." If so, how?

* Discuss whether "realistic" works of art are actually realistic.

* Defend whether or not a work of art can change the world. Heal? Cause a riot? If so, how?
--Larry Hurt and Rosemary Ruthven

» In music, ask kids to…
* Write a short story about a time when a piece of music provoked you or affected you emotionally.

* Explain why different types of music are needed for different types of ceremonies and events.

* Explain the influence music has on today's society.

* Come up with a definition of what you think music is and then develop an argument to defend your definition.

* Pretend you have been chosen to go to Pluto to be in charge of creating the band programs in the planet's schools. How would you set the programs up so that they would have the most success?

* Describe how the music industry affects the economy.
--Anne M. Holbrook and Rosemary Ruthven

» In P.E., ask kids to…
* Write about whether they perform better alone or in front of a crowd.

* Discuss where you can get additional exercise opportunities after school.

* Name some potential dangers of participating in an extracurricular sport.

* Explain why flexibility is important.

* Describe what you would say to classmates about the importance of striving for goals on a fitness test.

* Write about how the "Law of Specificity" applies to P.E. class. This law states that if you work a certain muscle group, that muscle group will benefit directly.
--Kindra J. Waters and Rosemary Ruthven
ADAPTED FROM THE WRITE TO KNOW NONFICTION WRITING PROMPTS SERIES (ADVANCED LEARNING PRESS, 2005). TO ORDER, VISIT WWW.MAKINGSTANDARDSWORK.COM.

Create your own prompts
Here are four tips from the experts.

BE CLEAR Identify the audience, purpose for writing, format, and required length.

STAY FOCUSED Design prompts that specifically address the learning questions you began with at the start of the unit.

AVOID TROUBLE Don't ask students to talk about anything personal, that may seem as an invasion of privacy; also avoid asking students to write about holidays or birthdays.

TRY IT OUT Be sure you could effectively write to the prompt yourself. Plan out what you would do, as an expert writer, to satisfy the requirements of the prompt.

~~~~~~~~

By Jan Christinson, M.Ed.; Anne M. Holbrook, M.Ed.; Rosemary Ruthven, M.S.; Gary Jensen, M.A.; Larry Hurt, M.S. and Kindra J. Waters, M.A., CHES

Copyright of Instructor is the property of Scholastic Inc..

Two Halves Of The Pizza Pie

2006-02-23T10:42:00.001-06:00

Dec. 2--Wal-Mart and Kmart.

McDonald's and Burger King.

Competing retailers and restaurants are known to cluster their locations but rarely do they build adjacent branches.

Last month, however, Marcello's Pizza returned to the downtown area after a yearlong absence when it opened a 60-seat York location at the former Sara's Garden at 7 S. George St.

Next door, Giambanco's Pizzeria made its downtown debut in November when it opened its first York County location at 15 S. George St.

"I think there is a value to clustering similar themed restaurants," said Matt Jackson, the city's economic development director. "There will be healthy tension with clustering, but that's the nature of the beast of capitalism."

Marcello Mannino said he has managed to rebuild his downtown customer base despite the added competition.

"It's a free country," he said. "It looks ridiculous for York (to have two pizza shops next to each other). This is not Manhattan."

Giuseppe Giambanco said he would not have signed a lease knowing that Marcello's Pizza had plans to open a shop so close by.

"I was told (Marcello's) would be in the downtown area," he said. "I had no idea he would be right next door to me. With two pizzerias side by side, it's hard to predict how business will turn out."

Giambanco moved to York County in 2002 to take a pharmacy job with Phar-Mor. He eventually landed his current job with Target.

During the past three years, Giambanco has watched as more restaurants have migrated to the downtown.

He decided to open his own place, persuaded that York would benefit from his family's brand of pizza.

"We grew up in the business," he said.

Giambanco's father came to the United States from Sicily in 1968 and opened a pizza shop in New York. The family eventually moved the business to Pennsylvania.

Mannino and Giambanco's father hail from the same town of Carini, Sicily.

In the case of Marcello's pizza, having a shop downtown is a statement rather than a litmus test to how the business is received by residents. Marcello's operates four other shops throughout the county, Mannino said.

A York location has helped Marcello's Pizza market its brand to a host of county residents who work downtown.

"People from all over the county work in the city," Mannino said. "It's good to have that exposure."

Jackson said both Marcello's Pizza and Giambanco's Pizzeria may want for elbow room, but both restaurants add to city's ethnic menu.

"We would like to have Thai and Mexican restaurants," he said. "In the meantime, we're happy to have pizza. That area on South George Street could be seen as the place to get pizza in York."

JUST A TASTE: Here is a selection of menu items available at two Italian eateries on South George Street in York:

At Marcello's Pizza:

--Philly Steak Stromboli

--South Western Burger

--Chicken Cheesesteak

--Chicken Cacciatore

--Ham and Cheese Boat

Giambanco's Pizzeria

--Steak and Cheese Pittsburgh Sandwich

--Salami and Cheese Pittsburgh Sandwich

--Sicilian Steak Salad

--Steak Calzone

--Capicola and Cheese Cold Sub

http://www.ydr.com

Gumby's Pizza closes; Will reopen soon at Sterling Plaza

2006-02-23T10:42:00.000-06:00

Dec. 6--NORMAL -- Gumby's pizza lovers will have to wait a week or more before they can satisfy their taste buds again.

The business closed its Broadway Mall location Monday so work could start to make way for a new Main Street Bank and Trust.

Gumby's new location at Sterling Plaza, between Main and Kingsley streets just north of Hovey Avenue, won't be ready for customers until Dec. 13 at the earliest, said owner Jim Larette.

"We're shooting for the 13th to open," Larette said. "If it doesn't happen then, it will be around Christmas."

Gumby's paid the town $2,500 to stay at 103 Broadway until Monday. Originally, the business agreed to move by Nov. 24. Larette asked for an extension because the new location was not completed.

The town got the property from owner Orval Yarger through eminent domain. The building will be razed and a new facility built for Main Street Bank and Trust, formerly Citizens Savings Bank. The bank's current site at 301 Broadway is needed for the new Marriott Hotel and Conference Center which will be built on land bordered by Broadway, Beaufort, Fell and North.

The City Council agreed to give Larette $25,000 in relocation expenses Monday night. Sun-Sations, another Broadway Mall tenant, also got $25,000.

Last week, Larette asked the town for even more time at the Broadway Mall site but City Manager Mark Peterson said workers are ready to get the building prepared for demolition.

"I appreciate the extra effort from Mark Peterson," Larette said. "It's sad to go. It was a great spot for us."

Larette was able to move the pizza ovens to his new location Monday but the rest of the equipment had to be placed in storage. Some of the remaining food was taken to the Gumby's in Champaign.

"We had a real good weekend in sales so we used most of the food," he said.

This is among the busiest times for the business because of finals at Illinois State University. Students will leave Dec. 16 for winter break, he said.

http://www.pantagraph.com

Coming home to make pizza

2006-02-23T10:31:00.005-06:00

Dec. 6--PEORIA -- Rick and Pam Rice wanted to open a business that focuses on family and community.

The Pizza Factory, a West Coast pizza chain, won them over after the couple went to California, toured seven restaurants and met with the owner and corporate staff.

In October, the Rices opened a Pizza Factory restaurant at 9010 N. Allen Road in Peoria, which is the first franchise location in Illinois and the Midwest.

"We sampled almost everything on the menu and were overwhelmed with the quality of the food," said Rick Rice. "The Pizza Factory also believes in getting involved and supporting local youth sports, schools and charitable organizations. We were intrigued by the philosophy of the franchise, which focuses on family and community." The restaurant seats nearly 100 and features hand-tossed pizzas, calzones, sandwiches, wraps, salads and pasta. Dough is made fresh daily and the pizza and meat sauce is blended daily. The sandwich, garlic and pizza bread is supplied from a local bakery and the restaurant makes its own lasagna.

Amenities include a large party/meeting room for up to 26, an arcade room for kids with a security camera so parents can watch from the dining area, and a smoke-free environment. A big-screen TV and several other TVs are set up for sports.

The Rices are at the restaurant daily and several family members, including Rick's sister and two of her children, Pam's nephew and their own children Madison and Amber work at the restaurant.

Rick, who was born in Long Beach, Calif., and Pam, who was born in the Peoria area, worked in other industries in South Carolina before deciding to come to Peoria to open their own business. Rick was general manager of a beer distributorship, while Pam was a custom home builder.

The demographics of Peoria drew them to open their business here. "After 24 years in South Carolina, we felt it was time for a change, and time to be closer to family, so we began looking for a franchise to open in Peoria because of its great demographics," Rice said.

The Pizza Factory is open seven days a week; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday. A salad bar and pizza and pasta buffet is offered weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and noon to 3 p.m. Sundays. Catering is available and delivery is available in a limited area during regular business hours. Phone is 691-6780.

http://www.pjstar.com

Wake up and smell the breakfast pizza

2006-02-23T10:31:00.004-06:00

Folks sick of soggy cereal and bland bagels soon may get a morning pie-in-the-face: breakfast pizza.

That's right, pizza with your morning coffee. There's no tomato sauce. Toppings are more typically scrambled eggs and bacon, not pepperoni and mushrooms. But they're baked with pizza dough in pizza ovens.

Papa John's is testing Omelet Pizzas in the morning at downtown locations in five cities. Happy Joe's Pizza, a regional chain in Iowa, is about to move breakfast pizzas out of testing and onto permanent menu boards at some stores.

Behind all this: Sales growth is at a crawl in the $30 billion pizza industry. And current sales are concentrated in the evenings. About 80% of Papa John's sales come after 4 p.m., says spokesman Chris Sternberg. So pizza makers have to invent new ways, and times, to sell pizza.

Success for a morning pizza won't be easy. "Pizza is not in the mind-set of consumers as a breakfast staple," says Dennis Lombardi, executive vice president at WD Partners, a restaurant consulting firm.

Domino's tested morning pizzas about 20 years ago in Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, targeting delivery to homes rather than businesses. "Consumers didn't like someone knocking on their door when they might be in their boxer shorts," says spokesman Tim McIntyre. "It was an idea whose time had not yet come."

Papa John's and Happy Joe's hope that the time is here. They think pizza for breakfast can move beyond the familiar leftover pizza from the fridge.

*Papa John's. In February, Papa John's began testing Omelet Pizzas for breakfast at one store in Louisville. Now, it's testing at one store each in Indianapolis, Memphis, Tucson and Wichita.

These stores -- mostly in downtown areas -- open at 6 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. and focus on corporate customers. Louisville-based Humana recently ordered 1,000 breakfast pizzas one morning to celebrate an employee-appreciation day.

The $3.49 6-inch personal pan pizzas feature scrambled eggs and cheese. Bacon, sausage and ham are optional.

*Happy Joe's Pizza. Trying to explain breakfast pizza to some people "has been painstaking," says Joe Whitty, founder of the 63-unit Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream. He's testing Omelet Pizza in four sizes -- $4.35 to $17.25 -- at several locations. Next week, it will become a permanent item at a new store in Rockford, Ill.

Success will take time, says Whitty. "People don't recognize a pizza place selling breakfast."

(c) USA TODAY, 2005

PIZZA HUT PULLS DOWN WHITBREAD

2006-02-23T10:31:00.003-06:00

PIZZA Hut has left its owner Whitbread (up 3p at 946p) with a nasty bout of indigestion after serving up a 10% sales slump blamed on the acute difficulties on the High Street.

Investors were forced to swallow more bad news when Whitbread admitted like-for-like sales for the nine months to December 1 fell across every division except Premier Travel Inn.

The restaurants arm, which also includes TGI Friday's, reported the worst decline with sales down an underlying 3.4%.

Alan Parker, Whitbread's chief executive asked investors to be 'patient' and promised that a turnaround would start to emerge next year at his struggling David Lloyd Leisure clubs.

Responding to calls for a break-up, Parker said 'there are no for sales signs over any part of the business'.

Copyright of Daily Mail is the property of Solo Syndication Ltd..

Pizza, cocaine, murder: Mingo town quiets after being center of drug ring

2006-02-23T10:31:00.002-06:00

Dec. 18--RED JACKET -- Dusty restaurant equipment and dirty walk-up windows tell the tale of a restaurant gone under. One sign still shouts, "Pizza," another "root beer floats and orange cream floats."

But the days of pulling up to Porgy's Pizza Plus for a pizza, drink or cocaine have been over since owner George "Porgy" Lecco went to jail, accused of plotting the murder of a federal drug informant. All that remains open is the grocery business hooked to one end of the structure on W.Va. 65.

"We had the biggest business and best food around here," lamented 82-year-old Mary Lecco, pointing to the sparse amount of beer, cigarettes and a few canned goods remaining on the shelves. "And we had no choice but to close it."

Despite it being the middle of the day, no customers came into the store on Wednesday, allowing a fat gray cat lying in a chair to continue its snooze. "That's Porgy's cat, and she's just lost to death," said Mary, Porgy Lecco's mother.

Porgy Lecco is in jail, awaiting trial in the drug informant murder case. Federal prosecutors are considering asking for the death penalty.

Federal investigators believe Lecco, 56, who spent a year in prison in 1990 for a cocaine conviction, operated a thriving cocaine business from the pizza shop. Cars would pull up, drivers would walk up to a window and purchase $50 bags of the drug. And, if customers were too busy or buzzed to drive in, Lecco would have employee Charles T. "Jake" Hatfield, 31, of Red Jacket deliver it to their homes.

"We don't have anything quite like that down here now, or at least that we know of," said Mingo County prosecutor Michael Sparks.

Six Mingo County residents face federal charges ranging from aiding in the murder of drug informant Carla Collins, 33, to causing her death. So far, all have entered guilty pleas to a variety of charges, except Lecco of Red Jacket and Valerie Suzette Friend, 43, of North Matewan.

Those two are expected to go on trial in May, after U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez decides whether to allow prosecutors to request they be given the death penalty.

"They cannot prove that he killed that girl," Lecco's mother said emphatically.

In the early morning hours last April when Patricia Burton, Friend and Red Jacket resident Carmella Blankenship allegedly drove Collins to an abandoned mobile home just a few miles from the pizza shop to torture and murder her, Mary Lecco said her son was at his home in bed. In fact, Burton telephoned him, but Lecco's wife, Jean, refused to awaken him, Mary said.

"They can't say that he was doing [the killing]," said Mary, a Red Jacket native who returned home after retiring from the telephone company in Detroit. "Now they're saying he told them to."

From junior high school on, Porgy Lecco lived with his grandmother in Red Jacket because he didn't get along with others in Detroit. His mother always sent him spending money and doted on her only child.

"I've spoiled Porgy all my life," she said. "He's all I had."

She filled in working at the pizza-grocery store at times and said she never saw cocaine being sold.

Burton, 36, of North Matewan, worked there for eight years. She said Porgy Lecco would supply her with $50 bags of cocaine, containing about a half-gram of the drug, and she would sell it at one of the front windows. "People would come to the window and buy [cocaine]," she told federal Judge John Copenhaver Jr. earlier this month.

She sold as much as $1,500 worth in a day, she said, or 30 of the $50 bags. She told Copenhaver that coke customers were readily recognizable because "just about anybody who came there" wanted cocaine instead of pizza.

Burton pleaded guilty Dec. 8 to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and using a firearm in the commission of a drug crime. She also has agreed to cooperate in the case against Lecco and Friend, 43, and in return avoids any potential death penalty.

Mary Lecco wondered about some of the folks she saw hanging around Pizza Plus. She realizes now, after looking at the unpaid credit slips, that many paid for little, at least in the food and drink line. Most were not people of financial means.

"I kept asking him, 'Porgy where are you getting all this money to supply all these vagrants that are hanging around here?' He just said, 'Mother, don't worry about it,'" she recalled.

While she'll never believe her son was capable of ordering a murder, she has been forced to deal with the fact her son was a cocaine dealer. "Porgy has owed up to me now about dealing," she said quietly.

The West Virginia State Police and federal agents operating a crime task force in the county came to that realization some time ago. They arrested Lecco in February and admitted that they did not take all of his drugs and money.

Instead, they believed Lecco would cooperate with them in catching other drug dealers. That's when Collins agreed to help. She told Lecco she was wearing a wire for State Police, but was snitching on others in order to help get him out of trouble.

But in court filings investigators said they grew weary of Lecco, who provided little information on others and continued to sell cocaine. They had Collins collect information on Lecco, too.

Burton said that, by April, Lecco was convinced Collins was providing police with damaging information about him. "He had asked me to talk to Valerie about having Carla knocked off," she said in federal court.

Burton said Lecco gave her a pistol and she discussed a plan with Friend. The two drove Collins and Carmella Blankenship to an abandoned mobile home on Double Camp Hollow Road.

Burton and Blankenship tell similar stories about Collins' death. Both agreed that Collins was walking down a hallway toward the rear of the trailer when Friend allegedly shot her once.

"Carla grabbed her head and said she'd been shot and Valerie asked me to get her in the other room, which I did," Burton said under oath.

But while Blankenship said she was not aware of the plan to kill Collins, Burton said Blankenship was not only aware of the scheme but had brought a rock and a hammer that Friend allegedly used to beat Collins before shooting her two more times.

Blankenship, who has not been indicted in the case and has said prosecutors have granted her immunity, declined to speak with a reporter last week. Her husband said the couple had been run off the highway by another vehicle after doing a series of interviews last week. They believe it's not safe. Mary Lecco and Blankenship said they receive frequent hang-up telephone calls.

Burton said she saw Friend strike Collins once in the head with the rock. Collins began to plead for her life and talk about her children. "I remember Carla asking Valerie to let her pray," Burton said.

"I heard Valerie tell her she didn't bother to talk to God yesterday and why would she think he'd talk to her today," said Blankenship, who said she went to the car.

Burton said the scene was gruesome, with Friend allegedly beating Collins with the rock and hammer while Collins begged for mercy. "I asked Valerie to quit," she told Copenhaver. Instead, Friend ordered her to go to the car, too.

Investigators believe Lecco had been running the thriving cocaine business for years. Much of his cocaine came from Columbus, Ohio. In October, prosecutors elicited a guilty plea from James Michael Kitchen, 32, of Columbus.

While pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, he said that Lecco would come to his Columbus residence with Hatfield to purchase fairly large amounts of the drug. "It varied at times, but roughly about 10 or 12 ounces at a time," Kitchen told the court.

The price was sometimes as high as $1,400 an ounce, considered a hefty profit. If sold in $50 half-grams, that would produce $2,800.

Hatfield pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and agreed to testify against others.

Burton's husband, 62-year-old Charles Burton, entered a guilty plea to being an accessory to murder. He admitted burning the blood-splattered clothing of the killers, along with the lining of the car trunk in which Collins' body was transported.

Wharncliffe resident Walter Harmon Jr., 36, pleaded guilty to aiding in the cover up of a murder. Harmon told the court that Lecco asked him to torch the mobile home where Collins was killed so police could not find any evidence.

He did that and dug a shallow hole nearby where Collins' body was placed in April. Her body was not found until June.

Prosecutor Sparks says he and sheriff's deputies have to play catch up because of lax enforcement during the past eight years. How Lecco could operate a cocaine business so openly is a question he still asks, and believes federal officials might be trying to find an answer.

Since Sparks took office in January, there have been 53 felony drug convictions in the county and numerous misdemeanor convictions. "It's been busy here, and we're hoping we're starting to put a dent in that," he said.

But drug sales have not ended with the demise of Porgy's Pizza Plus.

"There's always been drugs [in Red Jacket] for years, and probably always will be," said State Police Sgt. J.C. Dotson with the Williamson detachment.

Still, he admits that things have improved since the arrests. "It's a whole lot better now that Porgy and them aren't over there selling drugs," he said.

Sparks said there are pockets of the county that still need cleansing, and there probably always will be. Cocaine, which is a problem, isn't the worst part of the county's drug trade.

"Our biggest problem is and will continue to be prescription drugs," he said. "As long as there are certain physicians that prescribe drugs freely and as long as people can get drugs over the Internet ..."

Copyright of Charleston Gazette, The (WV) is the property of Charleston Gazette, The (WV).

2005's Top Ten / An eclectic group of newcomers offers everything from pizza to pumpkin curry

2006-02-23T10:31:00.001-06:00

Edition: FINAL, Section: CHRONICLE MAGAZINE, Column: DINING OUT, pg. 14

In 2005, restaurants opened with a vengeance at the beginning of the year, grew soft in the middle and then heated up in the fall.

While it was a good year for openings, the numbers still can't compete with the frenzy a few years back. Still, there have been several interesting twists, such as Sean O'Brien leaving Gary Danko and opening the nationally acclaimed Myth, and veteran chef Loretta Keller reinventing herself by closing Bizou and introducing a new concept called Coco500 in the same space.

Last year also marked the debut of an elegant Sonoma County restaurant that competes with the best of Napa, when Nick Peyton and Douglas Keane opened Cyrus in Healdsburg.

Since October, so many restaurants opened that by the time I waited a month to begin the review and visit each place three times, the year had run out.

Scott Howard, who made a splash at Fork in San Anselmo, opened his eponymous restaurant in the grand space near Jackson Square that originally housed Cypress Club. Lissa Doumani and Hiro Sone of Terra in St. Helena were lured to Ame in the St. Regis Hotel.

Joseph Manzare of Globe and Zuppa has joined with Sammy Hagar and other investors to introduce a Mexican restaurant, Tres Agaves, on Townsend at Second Street. Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, who own Tartine in San Francisco's Mission District, debuted a full-service restaurant called Bar Tartine on Valencia and 16th.

In Yountville, Richard Reddington who most recently cooked at L'Auberge du Soleil, has opened Redd in the space that used to house Piatti.

Because they haven't been reviewed yet, I couldn't consider them for the Top 10. Look for reviews of all these places in future weeks.

Several restaurants that seemed like sure bets for my Top 10 list fell by the wayside when the chefs dropped out. Bounty Hunter in Napa, known for its excellent wine and down-home fare such as beer-can chicken, lost Jake Southworth. In Healdsburg, Barndiva is readjusting after the departure of Marisa Johnston.

The week after I visited Jack Falstaff in mid-December and found the food had hit its stride, chef James Ormsby left, which meant that the restaurant had to be axed from my top 10.

Here are those that made the cut.

The Pizza of Wrath

2006-02-23T10:31:00.000-06:00

EVER SINCE FOURTH grade, when I shocked the room mothers at a class party by eating five pieces of pizza, my appetite for the stuff has become notorious. I devour thousands of slices every year, from the desiccated, lukewarm cafeteria fare, to luscious, greasy specialty pies. No pizza-eating experience, however, can rival the sheer repulsiveness of the excuse for pizza that I once ate in Singapore.

In August 1998, my family was visiting my mother's relatives in Singapore, a small island country that resembles a cleaner, safer version of Manhattan but with a tropical climate. The varied cuisine of Singapore serves as a reflection of its diverse ethnic groups.

Italian food never caught on in Singapore, so the country is not known for its pizza--a culinary quandary for me. Because I'm a picky eater, I was forced to subsist on cereal (without the milk, which tends to be suspect) and plain white rice. The stomach-churning contents of the hawker stands that lined the street, manned by grubby, toothless, fly-swatting vendors, only reinforced my devotion to this diet. In the windows of restaurants and shops, I saw hogs' heads, their eyes peacefully closed in permanent porcine slumber. I saw pig intestines, black grass jelly drinks, and the infamous durian, a large, spiky fruit whose malodor evokes clogged toilets and rotting meat, a stench so evil that the fruit is often banned on airplanes. I saw flattened whole ducks indistinguishable from road kill, which my aunt fondly called "duck Frisbees." I saw many things, but I did not see pizza.

I was well into my cereal-and-rice regimen the day my mother, my brother, and I went to Washy-Washy, an appropriately named Laundromat near the hotel. On the return trip, we took a shortcut through an alley. The fumes emanating from it promised more hawker stands and duck Frisbees. But as I trudged past cauldrons of curry, from which wedges of okra protruded like children's fingers, I saw … the Light, glorious and lovely and exquisite. It shone with the beauty of longing and melted my despair.

It was a Pizza Hut sign.

With quickening pulse and salivating mouth, I dragged my mother, my brother, and the three bags of laundry to the entrance of this holy shrine. It wasn't crowded; Singaporeans prefer flattened fowl to flattened bread. My mother, eager to put an end to my cereal-and-rice-induced malaise, abandoned the laundry, hurried to the counter, and ordered a large cheese pizza.

"You want sotong on pizza?" the man inquired, like a McDonald's worker asking, "Do you want fries with that?"

He indicated a picture of a pizza topped with tentacles. "Pickled squid," he explained. I jumped in horror.

"No, no!" my mother said. "Just cheese."

"Just cheese?" he asked, disappointed.

"Yes, cheese."

"No gulai kambing--lamb curry? No cockles? No char siew? Not even sausage?" At each shake of my mother's head, he became more bemused.

"Cheese, please. Just cheese."

Disappointed, the man shrugged and put in the order. When he brought our pizza, I grasped my cardboard-boxed treasure, noticing that it was unusually heavy. In my haste to reach the hotel, I nearly dropped it several times. But no matter--even a marginally mangled pizza would be infinitely better than cereal and rice… again.

My family gathered around the small hotel-room table. I opened the box, salivating in anticipation. When we saw the contents, we were stunned. Was this a pizza? The mystery of the weight was solved--it looked like the cooks, encouraged by our insistence on just cheese, had layered on half an inch of the stuff. But another mystery presented itself; this was no ordinary cheese. It was pungent and gluey and grayish. My mother quickly concluded that it was buffalo-milk cheese.

My father tentatively sawed through the glutinous cheese--the cooks had neglected to cut it or perhaps had been unable to--and we were rewarded by the sight of sauce and crust. Cautiously, I took a misshapen slice and bit into it. The sauce was spicy! It seemed that the cooks had taken a few tips from their curry-cauldron neighbors. Worse, the crust, smothered underneath the cheese, was barely cooked. The cheese was as chewy and sharp as it looked and smelled. How, and why, I wondered, would someone milk a buffalo?

I managed to keep down a slice of the vile mass masquerading as my favorite food before beginning to feel queasy. My parents hate throwing away food; this time they made an exception. There may be children starving in Africa, but we agreed that feeding this "pizza" to anyone would be a crime against humanity.

Feeling contrite for subjecting my family and my digestive system to such torture, I finally decided to broaden my diet to include native foods. Soon, almost every meal, I was eating roti canai, a savory Indian bread made with eggs. I am still a picky eater, but I have learned to adapt to new situations better. The next time I'm in Singapore, I will venture beyond dry cereal and rice. But no matter how desperate I feel, both Singaporean pizza and duck Frisbees remain out of the question.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE)

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE)

~~~~~~~~

By Julia Kalow

art by Brandon Kopke

Julia Kalow attends Columbia. She writes, "I am enjoying New York, especially the pizza parlor only three blocks from my dorm that has slices the size of an adult duck (flattened), but much more delicious."

Copyright of Cicada is the property of Carus Publishing.

Judge moves to aid pizza franchisees

2006-02-23T10:04:00.009-06:00

An Ontario judge has taken unusual step to protect the interests of a group of franchisees. Justice James Farley of the Superior Court of Justice has appointed an inspector to oversee 3 for 1 Pizza & Wings (Canada) Inc., whose founder has lost several civil lawsuits and been charged with fraud in the sale franchises. Seven disgruntled franchisees had accused president Reza Solhi of undermining their stores, while helping a rival chain directed by his mother. The franchisees had set out get a receiver, but Farley named Wasserman Associates Inc. an inspector to keep the company running. Wasserman is also to ensure no 3for 1 Pizza money goes -- without its approval -- to the rival company Pizza One Group Inc. of Thornhill, or to Solhi, or his associate Farzad (Fabio) Bagherzadeh. The franchisees complained they were not receiving food supplies, corporate advertising or orders from 3 for 1 Pizza's call centre. They supported their allegations with an affidavit from a man called David Huston, who stated he had worked with Solhi inside both 3 for 1 Pizza and the new Pizza One chain. Pizza One started in April last year to seek franchisees. pamphlet for potential investors boasted: "Our customers not require the 2 for 1 deal or the 3 for 1 deal or even the 4 for deal. Our prices are affordable and our quality is unbelievable." Pizza One reports that its only director is Ashraf Mirkhan. Also known as Ashley, she is Solhi's mother and the president 1265719 Ontario Inc., which owns the million-dollar home where Solhi lives in Richmond Hill. Solhi faces 25 counts of fraud over $5,000 related to the sale franchises, mainly to new Canadians. A preliminary hearing into the criminal charges was set to resume last month, but was adjourned until Sept. 9. Solhi opposed the appointment of a receiver, denying virtually every allegation in affidavits from Mississauga franchisee Anwar Tyabjee and Huston, who produced copies of void cheques to Solhi and a list of other 3 for 1 Pizza cheques. Solhi told the franchisees' lawyer, Gregory Sidlofsky, during pre-hearing examination that Huston and his wife Naila Sheikh hold a grudge against him after their 3 for 1 Pizza store in Richmond Hill failed and Huston declared bankruptcy. Solhi contended that Huston " probably the biggest liar I ever met." "I don't own Pizza One," added. "I have no interest in theownership of Pizza One. I'm not a shareholder, officer, whatsoever." Solhi, 38, said that 3 for 1 had transferred leases to Pizza One but did not pay the rent for two store locations in Toronto and Mississauga. He conceded he now uses the name Anthony, but denied he uses the family name of his mother, who is 53. Farley found that Solhi "was incredibly evasive to even the simplest relevant questions put to him." The judge requested an undertaking that Solhi would have no direct or indirect involvement with Pizza One. Wasserman submitted its first confidential report last month. At a brief hearing, Farley expressed disapproval that 3 for 1 Pizza did not pay rent for its Richmond St. call centre and that a corporate bank account was under the control of Sam Solhi, a brother of the owner. Farley called for an investigation into the removal of 3 for 1 computers. At the same time he urged franchisees and Solhi to work with the inspector to return 3 for 1 to normal operation. Some former franchisees, including other clients of Sidlofsky, are trying to collect large court judgments from Solhi and his companies. Franchise lawyer Ben Hanuka said the appointment of an inspector is a relatively drastic measure, and "is the latest in series of sanctions imposed by the courts against this operation." "Justice Farley has implicitly recognized that a living franchisor is of greater benefit to its franchisee-judgment creditors than a dead franchisor," he said. In an unusual development last March, a judge agreed to make one of Solhi's lawyers jointly liable for $140,000 in legal costs. Justice Victor Paisley made the ruling several months after awarding Sidlofsky's client, Jaffer Jan, $594,000. He had ruled that Solhi and Bagherzadeh had fraudulently locked the Dutch immigrant out and sold his 3 for 1 Pizza franchise. Paisley said in his ruling on legal costs that 3 for 1 Pizza had hired John Chidley-Hill as its vice-president and general counsel on July 11, 2001. He was to receive $160,000 a year, a private office, a luxury sedan, 1 per cent of money received from franchise sales and 10 per cent from franchise transfers. Paisley said Chidley-Hill "stood to gain from his clients' wrongdoing as it occurred, and while he was obligated to advise them as to their legal responsibilities." That put him in a conflict, said Paisley. Chidley-Hill would have had to admit his own liability if he had advised Solhi to settle with Jan. Chidley-Hill has asked the Court of Appeal for Ontario for leave to appeal. A ruling is expected soon. James Daw, CFP, appears
Copyright (c) 2005 Toronto Star, All Rights Reserved

Pizza delivery car plugs in

2006-02-23T10:04:00.008-06:00

Apr. 23--Delivering pizza is nothing new for local pizza restaurants, but Pizza Express has found a way to make it more ecologically sound.

The local restaurant unveiled its new electric car at the Earth and Music Festival on Friday in Dunn Meadow.

The neighborhood electric vehicle, or NEV, is manufactured by Global Electric Motorcars LLC, a DaimlerChrysler company. It operates on a 110 volt household current and can run 30 miles on a six hour charge at speeds up to 25 miles per hour.

Pizza Express co-owner Jeff Mease said he got the idea for the car after spending a few years down in Florida.

"I'd seen these vehicles down there," Mease explained. "I just thought it's the neatest thing."

When Mease says neat, he means it in a variety of ways. Mease said the vehicle not only looked neat, but provides the company with a cleaner way of delivering pizza.

It took Mease a while to convince his partners to purchase the vehicle. The vehicle not only provides cheaper delivery, but it also attracts attention.

"What struck me was the sense of glee people had when they saw it," Mease said of his trips around downtown in the vehicle.

The vehicle will only be making deliveries from the restaurant's campus location. Other locations have posted speed limits that are higher than the top speed of vehicle.

Another question Mease has yet to decide is who will drive the vehicle, although he joked that maybe it should be given to the employee who drives the car with the worst gas mileage.

Mease said the vehicle cost just over $14,000, with its decorative paint and logos adding a couple more thousand. A grant from the state through the office of the lieutenant governor, energy group, paid for one-third of the vehicle's cost.

To see more of the Herald-Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to

http://www.hoosiertimes.com

Pizza, sub maker moves into Capital Region

2006-02-23T10:04:00.007-06:00

Jan. 26--The operators of a Dunkin' Donuts franchise are bringing a new fast-food business to the Capital Region, and their first proposed location is a building at a busy Colonie intersection that has been vacant for 13 years.

Brothers Tom and Jerry Burke, along with partner Eddie Binder, hope to begin construction in the spring or early summer on a D'Angelo Sandwich Shop and Papa Gino's pizzeria at 243 Wolf Road. The site, at the corner of Albany Shaker Road, once housed the J.J. Naughter service station.

If the partners are successful, it will be the first of a proposed 31 new stores in the Albany and Hartford, Conn., markets over the next six years.

The goal, said Tom Burke, is to make as many locations as possible both D'Angelo and Papa Gino's stores. The two brands would operate as one restaurant that sells both submarine sandwiches and pizza.

"To a customer, it will be seamless," he said.

The Burkes already operate 20 Dunkin' Donuts locations in the Capital Region. They met Binder when he was Dunkin' Donuts' vice president for marketing. Binder, who is not a partner with the Burkes in the Dunkin' Donuts business, has since started his own management consulting firm.

Both D'Angelo Sandwich Shops and Papa Gino's pizzerias are owned by Papa Gino's Inc. of Dedham, Mass. There are 211 D'Angelo stores, which are both stand-alone sub shops and dual locations with Papa Gino's. There are 174 Papa Gino's pizzerias, all in New England.

The parent company launched an effort to expand its franchise in 2002, and Hartford and Albany were among the first sites targeted, said Vince Brown, senior vice president of restaurant development for D'Angelo.

The Burkes' and Binder's deal is a first step toward rolling out a formal franchise program for the company in the spring, Brown said.

The Papa Gino's brand was founded in 1961 in east Boston; D'Angelo Sandwich Shops were added in 1973.

The partners have submitted preliminary materials for the Colonie site to the town planning office, said planner Mike Lyons. No formal review by the town Planning Board has occurred yet.

The site housed a gas and service station, operated by members of the Naughter family, from 1928 to 1992.

Lyons said the site has seen several proposals over the years for retail and office use. Part of the concern has been heavy traffic at the busy Wolf-Albany Shaker intersection, which also is several yards from Northway Exit 4.

Tom Burke said he was aware of traffic concerns at the site and had taken steps to address them.

Lyons said the draft design Burke submitted would prevent drivers from making a left turn out of the location. That follows a suggestion made by the state Department of Transportation several years ago in response to one redevelopment proposal.

Burke said he also is looking at "literally a dozen" other locations in the Capital Region for possible stores, and still more in Hartford. He declined to be more specific because those talks are still in the early stages.

http://www.timesunion.com

Pizza Deliverance

2006-02-23T10:04:00.006-06:00

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Pizza Deliverance PRODUCERS: Earl Hicks, Drive-By Truckers New West 6069 RELEASE DATE: Jan. 25
Drive-By Truckers built their legend one busted guitar string and shredded vocal chord at a time. No band has understood the Southern white trash pathos better than the Truckers and their iconoclastic frontman Patterson Hood. Before the band moved on to an arena-rock sound and weightier topics like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Buford Pusser, the Truckers released the previously hard-to-find "Pizza Deliverance," a work of twisted brilliance that balances and blends graveyard humor and insightful eloquence. Among the topics are incest, murder, hard drinking, wife swapping, regret, dope, Jesus, Bill Clinton and punk rocker G.G. Allin. It's a collection of fatalistic and often strangely moving hard-luck songs. The musicianship-built on a country foundation--is better than some of the band's albums, including the lesser companion reissue "Gangstabilly." Profound and profane highlights are many, including "Bulldozers and Dirt," "Nine Bullets," "Too Much Sex (Too Little Jesus)" and "Love Like This." To the group's faithful, this is a holy grail and righteous stuff.

CONTRIBUTORS: Jim Bessman, Keith Caulfield, Leila Cobo, Deborah Evans Price, Rashaun Hall, Katie Hasty, Todd Martens, Gail Mitchell, Chuck Taylor, Brian Teitelman, Christa L. Titus, Anastacia Tsioulcas, Phillip van Vleck, Ray Waddell, Christopher Walsh. ESSENTIALS: Releases deemed by the review editors to deserve special attention on the basis of musical merit and/or Billboard chart potential. VITAL REISSUES: Rereleased albums of special artistic, archival and commercial interest and outstanding collections of works by one or more artists. PICKS (**): New releases predicted to hit the top half of the chart in the corresponding format. CRITICS' CHOICES (*): New releases, regardless of chart potential, highly recommended because of their musical merit. All albums commercially available in the United States are eligible. Send album review copies and singles review copies to Michael Paoletta (Billboard, 770 Broadway, 6th floor. New York, N.Y. 10003) or to the writers in the appropriate bureaus.

~~~~~~~~

By R.W.

Edited by Michael Paoletta

Copyright of Billboard is the property of VNU eMedia, Inc..

Japanese Pizza?

2006-02-23T10:04:00.005-06:00

This has not been a banner year for initial public offerings, Google notwithstanding. DOMINO'S PIZZA (14,DPZ) went public in July at the same price where it lies today. In a dormant stock market Domino's hasn't helped itself with a 4% earnings dip, to $34 million, in the year's first half, on $172 million in revenue.

The uninspiring performance at the second-largest U.S. pizza chain (behind Yum Brand's Pizza Hut) has a lot to do with the rising price of cheese, now averaging $1.68 per pound, up 50% from last year. Blame for the cheese dilemma includes everything from a shortage of the hormone that stimulates milk production to a ban, occasioned by mad cow fears, on importing Canadian dairy herds. This is a big deal for a company that spends 30% of food costs on the stringy stuff. But the cheese problem appears to be an anomaly, and Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Janice L. Meyer projects a 17% drop in cheese costs next year.

Another reason Domino's stock should wake up, she says, is that the company plans a sizable 33% increase in national advertising spending. Right now the chain has a piddling 1.5% growth in same-store sales. Meyer projects that will double by next year. Plus, Domino's is poised to add to its 2,500 overseas stores, exploiting ripe markets in the United Kingdom, France and Japan. The stock offering provides some financial flexibility. The company, which has a junk-level B- rating from Standard & Poor's, used a third of the $339 million IPO proceeds to retire debt.

The 7,500-outlet Domino's has a $1.8 billion enterprise value (market cap plus debt, minus cash), up from the estimated $1.2 billion value based on what Bain & Co. and other investors paid in 1998 to founder Thomas Monaghan. The buyout firm, still in control, has every motivation to get the stock up.

Domino's stock is valued at 12.5 times estimated 2004 earnings. That compares with an average of 16 for fast-food companies with similar national cachet (McDonald's, Wendy's, Yum).

http://www.forbes.com/makers

Pizza franchise dispute was 'like piracy on the high seas'

2006-02-23T10:04:00.004-06:00

Family lost its Mississauga shop Court orders $574,000 payment

Section: Business, pg. F01

A judge has sanctioned two executives connected to the 3 for 1 Pizza & Wings franchise chain after ruling that they bullied three Dutch immigrants out of their Mississauga store, took their equipment, inventory and thousands of dollars in cash and sold the franchise to a new operator.

"It is fraud," Justice Victor Paisley of Ontario's Superior Court of Justice said in a recent hard-hitting decision at the end of an eight-day civil trial. "Commercial activities cannot be conducted like piracy on the high seas," he added later.

Paisley ordered 3 for 1 Pizza founder Reza Solhi and his associate Farzad Bagherzadeh to pay $224,457 in compensation and $350,000 in punitive damages to Jaffer Jan, his wife Saira and daughter Jennifer Jan Lee. The court will rule later on how much of the Jans' legal costs they must pay.

The ruling comes three months after Toronto police charged the same men with 13 counts of criminal fraud over $5,000 related to the sale of other franchises between 1999 and 2003. They have pleaded not guilty, and a trial has been scheduled for November.

Paisley said Solhi and Bagherzadeh conducted a planned, deliberate and dishonest scheme to oust the Jans from the pizza parlour they had operated from December, 1999, until September, 2001, serving as trainers for new franchisees.

He said the two men committed an arrogant abuse of contractual powers when they had the Jans locked out of their store on a Saturday, while the courts were deciding on the family's right to sell their franchise to an employee. Pizza chain representatives sent to take over the store pushed Jaffer Jan, whom the judge described as a man in his 60s, and told him to talk to a judge.

Before Jan could do so, two companies associated with Solhi's 3 For 1 Pizza & Wings (Canada) Inc. - Triple 3 Holdings Inc. and 3 Pizzas 3 Wings Ltd. - sued his company and family. The suit alleged they had breached the terms of their franchise agreement and were behind in their rent and certain other charges. The companies then sold the Jans' franchise for $140,000.

When asked for comment, a representative of 3 for 1 who signed a statement to the Star with the initials L.L. replied, "We were very surprised at the outcome of the trial." The company representative wrote that the franchisee had admitted owing rent, so the termination was justified. "We will launch an appeal."

But, in his ruling, Paisley found no basis for the accusations against the Jans, who had filed a counterclaim. He concluded the allegations were just a ruse - "a threatening and bullying tactic designed to obtain money" from vulnerable individuals.

The Jans had actually paid too much rent, while Solhi and Bagherzadeh had no proof they ever passed the excess payments to the head landlord, said Paisley. The actions were so outrageous the two should be held personally responsible, he said.

"It would be unjust to deny the franchisee (the Jans) a remedy merely because the personal defendants used the corporate structure for flagrantly and grossly improper means," said Paisley.

"The corporate veil is not a suit of armour to protect people who are guilty of crime or improper or wrongful conduct," he said, adding later: "The corporate veil here is nothing more than a subterfuge used by the individuals for personal gain."

Paisley made his ruling June 17. A transcript of his ruling was filed in court Monday.

Lawyer Greg Sidlofsky said none of the criminal charges filed in March relate to his clients, the Jans.

As the Star reported earlier, several other franchisees and individuals who lost large deposits are suing to recover money from Solhi, Bagherzadeh or the many corporations through which they operate. But the few that have won favourable judgments have yet to collect the money awarded by the courts.

The representative of 3 for 1 said in the written statement that one judgment creditor is receiving regular payments to discharge a court award "which was granted without us having the benefit of a trial."

Lawyer Jeffrey Hoffman said he is scheduled to question the two pizza chain executives in court starting Monday about their ability to repay two clients who applied to recover the cost of a 3 for 1 franchise. They had not received information prior to purchase that is required under Ontario's Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure) 2000.

Meanwhile, Sidlofsky is scheduled to start a new trial the same day when two other clients will allege they were defrauded out of their investment in a 3 for 1 franchise just a month after taking possession.

Jaffer Jan, a former executive of a defunct Egyptian airline, moved to Canada late in life to become a business owner. "We came with the hope we would be prosperous here," he said.

After his family was forced out of its franchise, Jan was unable to find steady work. He said he moved back to the Netherlands to rely on that country's guaranteed income system, after exhausting about $500,000 in savings in Canada.

Jan said he was delighted with Paisley's ringing endorsement of his family's testimony and evidence, and the arguments made by his lawyer, Sidlofsky. Jan hopes to return to Canada permanently if he is able to recover his money.

"I feel wonderful," said Jan. "God has helped us get out of this."
Copyright (c) 2004 Toronto Star, All Rights Reserved.

pizza in a flash

2006-02-23T10:04:00.003-06:00

A SPECIAL-EVENTS PLANNER SHARES HER 25-MINUTE FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER mexican turkey "pizza" SERVES 5

? cup canola oil 10 6-to 7-inch flour tortillas 1 lb lean ground turkey ? cup onions 1 (10-oz) can diced Mexican tomatoes or diced tomatoes with green chiles 1 (1 1/4-oz) package taco seasonings mix 1 2/3 cup shredded Mexican four-cheese mix
OPTIONAL GARNISHES sour cream, sliced black olives, chopped green onions, shredded lettuce, chopped cilantro, chopped tomatoes or salsa

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat oil in large (12-inch) cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Fry tortillas one at a time until lightly browned. Drain on paper towel. Cook turkey and chopped onions in skillet on medium-high heat until browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain fat, if any. Add taco mix and canned tomatoes (including liquid) to turkey. Set aside.
2. Place 5 tortillas in a 15 1/2-by-10 1/2-inch jelly-roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet. Spoon heaping ? cup of turkey mixture onto each tortilla. Place remaining tortillas on top of turkey mixture. Add 1/3 cup cheese to each pizza. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese melts. Garnish with favorite toppings.

"This is the one meal that brings us all together at dinnertime," says Jennifer, 22, a special-events planner from Little Rock, Arkansas, who lives with her mother, sister and brother. It's also an easy snack idea for lazy weekend afternoons.

PHOTO (COLOR): ABOVE A healthy, almost-effortless meal-and in only 25 minutes? It's no wonder Mexican turkey "pizza" is a favorite with the Black family. "The first time I made my Mexican pizza, I just winged it," says Jennifer. "Since then, I've refined the recipe to accommodate my family's tastes."

~~~~~~~~

By Jennifer E. Black

Copyright of Lifetime is the property of Hearst Brand Development.

Pizza Preachers Unseparate church and State

2006-02-23T10:04:00.002-06:00

Contents
Paper Victory
Miracle Bribes
How Lost?
How Real?
The "M" Word
Not Ready
Always New Ones
LAST October, Robert J. Marsh was surprised to see a notice from a local Baptist church announcing that a speaker named Ronnie Hill would be visiting public schools in Marion, Illinois, to lecture about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. To Marsh, something seemed amiss. Why would a church promote a public school event?

Another listing in the bulletin gave a clue: Hill, described as an "evangelist," would also be in town for a "Fall Harvest Renewal" at the church.

A little research on the Internet soon confirmed Marsh's suspicions. He quickly learned that Hill is a Southern Baptist evangelist who unabashedly talks about the need to preach to public school students. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Hill travels the nation, and in partnership with fundamentalist churches, offers free anti-drug assemblies to public school audiences.

Marsh, whose daughter is in fourth-grade at a Marion public school, soon realized what was going on: The public school event was designed to promote Hill's revival at Cornerstone Community Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in town which Marsh was familiar with. He and his family attended there until a falling out over doctrinal matters and church policies. But he remained on their mailing list.

"It really looked to me like what was happening here was that someone had 'managed to engineer a very sophisticated way to circumvent the First Amendment," said Marsh, a clinical psychologist in private practice. "I became even more energized and convinced that someone had to stand up and point this out."

Detailed materials produced by the ministry that Marsh obtained led him to believe that Hill's anti-drug spiel would be a smokescreen for an ulterior motive: persuading youngsters to adopt his version of Christianity. The plan was for Hill to spend time during his public school speech luring students to a pizza party later that evening at Cornerstone. There, the youngsters would be subjected to high-pressure evangelism and urged to make faith professions.

Marsh immediately set out to upset the plan. He contacted Americans United for Separation of Church and State, whose attorneys sent a letter warning officials at the school district not to allow preaching on campus, He took things a step further by lining up a local attorney who filed a lawsuit asking the assemblies be cancelled.

U.S. District Judge James L. Foreman wouldn't go that far, but he did sign off on an agreement that required Hill to stick to secular topics in school, and banned distribution of tickets to the pizza party/crusade one hour before and after the assembly. In doing so, the judge rejected arguments by Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Religious Right legal group connected with Jerry Falwell, which had asserted-that barring distribution of the tickets was unconstitutional.

Paper Victory
Marsh may have won on paper, but he charges that school officials circumvented the court order. Parents protested at the school and passed out tickets anyway or pinned them to children's jackets and shirts. To prevent future abuses, Marsh and his attorney plan to ask the court to issue a permanent injunction barring religious assemblies at the school.

What Marsh experienced in Marion is not unique. For years, fundamentalist groups have been using tactics similar to Hill's to fly under the radar and slip into public schools with sectarian messages designed to promote religious crusades off site.

The technique is old, but Hill seems to have refined it to an art form. In a recent article in SBC Life, a publication of the Southern Baptist denomination, Hill lays out in detail how he preaches to public school students--even recommending specific brands of pizza as a come-on.

"The key to being creative and reaching students is to remember the goal is to reach 'lost' students, not to go after the 'church' students," Hill wrote. "Each night is kicked off with a brand name food being served like Papa John's Pizza, Chick-fil-a, Taco Bell, etc. (This is a must!) The students then attend a lively service geared for them with a great praise band and then a gospel presentation that is entertaining, but centered on the cross, repentance, and being a Christ follower for life."

Miracle Bribes
Hill also recommended holding drawings for "door prizes" such as cash or even a used car donated by a church member or car dealer in town. He brushed off criticism that such promotions amount to a type of spiritual bribery, arguing that Jesus won followers by promising to heal their physical ailments.

Hill's ministry has prepared an entire booklet, "Crusade Preparation Manual," that-advises local churches on the best way to bring Hill to town to reach public school students. Every conceivable detail is covered. Among other things, the manual advises church leaders to line up a member of the congregation willing to lend a car to Hill so he won't have to drive around in a church van.

"When Ronnie goes to a school campus, he does not need to drive up with the church name on the van," advises the manual. "This might hinder his chance of getting on campus."

It was this manual, which Marsh received and-read prior to Hill's visit, that convinced him the evangelist and his allies in Marion were up to no good." That changed everything," Marsh said. "When you see that thing, it really starts to bring it home as to how covert this process is."

Marion and Illinois are not the only community and, state to experience run-ins with "pizza evangelists" recently.

Also in Illinois, in Edwardsville, a parent in a local school district complained after San Antonio-based evangelist Ken Freeman spoke at a middle school and high school in October. Parent Diane Patterson accused Freeman of using "bait and switch" tactics to lure students to a fundamentalist crusade. She said Freeman--during what was supposed to be a "motivational" speech--talked about his life and offered to tell attendees "the rest of the story" at the First Baptist Church in Maryville that evening.

The event at the, church was billed as a pizza party but turned out to be a crusade, during which youngsters were pressured to sign cards stating that they had accepted Christ as their personal savior. Patterson, a Roman Catholic, took her 11-year-olds on to the event and said evangelists from First Baptist later showed up at her house. "I see nothing wrong with other religions, but they don't belong in our school," Patterson said.

Meanwhile, in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, parents protested after a Christian comedy duo called Mad Dogs and Englishmen appeared at what was supposed to be an anti-smoking rally at Lakeview-High School on September 18. Alerted to the event after the fact, attorneys with Americans United wrote to Principal Robert duBois that future assemblies must be nonreligious in nature.

DuBois responded promptly, agreeing with this. The event, he noted, was sponsored by a local anti-smoking coalition and was not supposed to be religious in nature. Prior to the event, he insisted that religious symbols be removed from promotional fliers.

He added that while there was no proselytizing, Mad Dogs and Englishmen did cross into "many moral and value laden views that were not the intent of our consent to their performance." He told the group he was not happy with the performance and recommended that Americans United alert other schools in Michigan about "the possibility of crossing the separation of church and state doctrines."

Over in Camden and Batesville, Arkansas, Arkansas public schools have been targeted for a new fundamentalist Christian outreach strategy: evangelism by motocross bikers who engage in extreme" sports.

How Lost?
According to a recent report in the Arkansas Baptist News, about 75 Arkansas teenagers made "life-changing decisions for Christ" at "Real Encounter Weekends" featuring evangelists who performed stunts on high-performance motorcycles. The events, the paper reported, were designed by the Arkansas Baptist State Convention deliberately to attract the attention "of the secular and religiously lost young person." They were put on by Real Ministries, a group that often tries to get in to public schools.

Prior to the religious events, which took place last August and September, the evangelists held what were described as "secular character-based" assemblies in public schools. Nearly, 3,000 middle and high school students attended the assemblies, which featured pep talks by professional motocross racers.

At the conclusion of the school events, the racers invited students to attend an "extreme sports motocross exhibition and crusade" that weekend that was heavy on proselytizing. "Partnering with local churches, gaining students' respect at secular school assemblies, and using facilities that are familiar to the students are some of the reasons I feel Real Encounter is so successful," said Randy Brantley, a staffer at the state Baptist group.

How Real?
Real Ministries is active in several states. According to the group's website (www.real.ministry.org), in 2003, the Springfield, Missouri-based organization appeared at "Real Encounter Weekends" in Missouri, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois.

Elsewhere, in Charleston, West Virginia, Evangelist Rick Gage, a former, football coach at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, appeared in town to preach a revival at Emmanuel Baptist Church running from November 2-5. While in the city, Gage made visits to local public schools, where, according to press accounts, he offered a "secular message preaching against drugs and alcohol."

And in Baldwin City, Kansas, several parents complained to the American Civil Liberties Union after a minister dressed as Santa Claus visited students at Baldwin City Elementary School and lectured them on the religious meaning of Christmas. He also recommended Christian groups for students who appeared to need guidance.

According to an Associated Press account, Superintendent Jim White said he did not believe the action was inappropriate. But Stacy Cohen, a school board member, called the faux-Santa visit "completely inappropriate," adding, "I was outraged by having Santa come to the school at an assembly that all kids were required to attend."

How do "pizza evangelists" get into public schools? Sometimes they rely on subterfuge. Ronnie Hill, for example, claims to be an authority on drug and alcohol abuse. Public school officials, eager to take advantage of free assemblies that reinforce an important anti-drug message, may not bother to check and make sure a speaker is all he claims to be.

In fact, Hill apparently has no expertise in this area, and, as his own website (www.ronniehill.com) makes clear, his main goal in life is to convert people to fundamentalism. He holds three degrees, including a doctorate, but his advanced degrees are in ministry, not social work or counseling. He traveled with another evangelistic group in the late 1980s and, according to his website, has spent his entire career "on the road full-time 'as an evangelist."

Hill's biography states that he has abstained from drugs and alcohol all his life. The sum of his experience in this area is that he witnessed negative effects of drugs and alcohol on his own family.

Other groups hide or at least downplay their religious affiliation. Sports World Ministries, a group formerly based in Tennessee, has offered public schools free assemblies by former professional athletes who would lecture on the dangers of drug abuse.

One Connecticut public school teacher indicated that the athlete who came to her school talked only in general terms about drugs, offering information that was not especially useful or compelling. His talk soon veered into a sermon. On other occasions, Sports World Ministries athletes led students in prayer or asked them to fill out faith-profession cards.

The "M" Word
Sports World Ministries is still in operation, although it has dropped the word "Ministries" from its name and now calls itself "Sports World Inc." Now based in Indianapolis, Indiana, the group's website (www.sportsworld.org) gives barely an indication that Sports World is a Christian group.

Similarly, Mad Dogs and Englishmen's website (www.maddogsenglishmen.com) describes the duo merely as a comedy team specializing in improvisational routines. A visitor has to search far into the website to find any references to religion at all.

In the Connecticut case, school officials believed they were misled by Sports World and were angry over what occurred. But deception like this is not always necessary. Sometimes public school officials invite evangelistic groups in, knowing full well what they intend to do.

Despite more than 40 years of Supreme Court rulings mandating that public schools refrain from promoting religion, some school board members, teachers, and administrators will not accept the fact that they are not supposed to meddle in the private religious lives of students.

Marsh believes this was the case in Marion. After researching Hill's organization; Marsh said he presented ample evidence of Hill's sectarian ties to the principal, the superintendent, and the school board prior to the evangelist's visit but they ignored it.

Marsh called Superintendent Wade Hudgens prior to Hill's talk and offered to share with him the results of the research he had done on Hill. "I told him there were separation of church and state problems," Marsh recalled. "I said I would bring it in. He basically told me he was not going to cancel the assemblies. He said I could meet with him if I wanted to, but it wouldn't do any good."

Marsh also took his concerns to the school board, which allowed him to speak for five minutes during a public meeting before cutting him off. The board president, he noted, is a member of Cornerstone Church, which had sponsored Hill's visit.

Undaunted, Marsh took his case to the media by alerting a local radio station. When his lawsuit became public, media interest intensified. Marsh has since contacted officials at the Illinois State Board of Education, who asked him to put his experiences in, writing as the first step toward a possible investigation.

Not Ready
Marsh's stand was not popular with some In the community. After local media broke the story, the Associated Press picked up on it and sent a dispatch nationwide. Marsh was pleased with the publicity, believing it would up the pressure on school officials, but he was unprepared for what followed. His home and office were deluged with negative calls, he received threats, and his car was vandalized.

"We had hate calls at the office," Marsh said. "One woman called and said she was a good Christian woman and that she hoped our daughter would end up on drugs because of this. My wife was in tears for hours over all of this."

In response to his critics, Marsh released an open letter explaining his actions, taking issue with Hill's tactics and calling them deceptive. "Our only protection, as Christians under the Constitution of the United States to not have other religions use our schools as a place to manipulate our children toward any other faith that we as parents have not chosen for our families, is to hold the line of separation of church and state firm, especially in the schools, as our forefathers intended," Marsh wrote.

He continued, "How would you feel if a child of yours was lured under false pretense to a 'pizza party' only to find out later that it was a covert attempt to convert them to the Muslim faith? The public schools should give all parents the comfort that such a situation cannot occur regardless of what faith their family believes."

The letter apparently persuaded at least some of Marsh's detractors. After it was released, he said several people who had called to complain about his lawsuit called back and apologized.

But in other parts of the country, disputes over "pizza evangelism" don't end on a positive note. Americans United's Legal Departments regularly receive complaints about these types of incidents in public schools. Its attorneys say that, often, complaints don't come in until after the event has been held. Then, the AU legal team often writes to school officials and tells them that future assemblies must be free from proselytizing and promotions for off-site religious crusades.

What can schools do to protect themselves? AU attorneys recommend using the Internet to research groups that offer assemblies. But they caution that web-based research, while it can be useful, should be viewed merely as a starting point. Some evangelistic groups hide their true character on websites or bury the information so that it Is not readily apparent to online visitors.

Guidestar, a comprehensive database of nonprofit groups, can also be useful. If a group is religious in nature, this information will often be included in its Guidestar profile. The site can be accessed at www.guidestar.org. (Free registration is required to access some areas of the site.)

Another good source is the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (www.ecfa.org). This is an umbrella group that provides financial information about evangelical organizations that engage in fund-raising. Since ECFA does not include secular charities, if a group is listed with ECFA, that alone is evidence of an evangelical Christian slant. (But remember that ECFA is completely voluntary, and not all evangelistic groups belong to it.)

Always New Ones
Americans United is also ready to help. It monitors activities relating to religion and public schools and is happy to share this information. AU may have useful material about specific organizations, but parents and school officials need to keep in mind that groups come and go and new ones spring up regularly.

For example, last year an AU intern undertook a special project to research proselytism in public schools. Two fairly new groups offering public school assemblies--Team Xtreme and Rage Against Destruction--were among the organizations studied. The groups claim to be legitimate anti-drug efforts, but research showed that both are affiliated with fundamentalist ministries and talk openly about preaching to students.

On its website, Team Xtreme talks about preaching "the uncompromised message of the Cross with such power, passion, and simplicity that everyone can understand and be saved." Rage Against Destruction which is affiliated with Joyce Meyer, a Missouri-based television preacher closely allied with the Christian Coalition, speaks of reaching "unsaved" youngsters and says its goal is "to share the Gospel in a way that these teens would embrace."

In the end, Americans United says, the best defense may be a healthy dose of skepticism. School officials, teachers, and parents should be aware that any group offering a free or near-free program to public schools may have an ulterior motive.

"Giving 'pizza evangelists' access to public school students violates freedom of conscience and parental rights," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "All religious groups have the right to seek converts but they can't expect the public schools to assist with this goal."

~~~~~~~~

By Rob Boston, From Church & State

Copyright of Education Digest is the property of Prakken Publications.

The Cheese Board Cookbook: The Collective Works; Bread, Pastry, Cheese, Pizza (Book)

2006-02-23T10:04:00.001-06:00

Cheese Board Collective. The Cheese Board Cookbook: The Collective Works; Bread, Pastry, Cheese, Pizza. Ten Speed: Celestial Arts. Nov. 2003. c.304p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 1-58008-419-2. pap. $21.95. COOKERY
The Cheese Board began as a small cheese shop, not much more than a hole in the wall, in a quiet Berkeley neighborhood in 1967. Soon thereafter, Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse across the street, and eventually the area became what was referred to as "The Gourmet Ghetto." Today, the cheese shop has larger quarters (but there's still always a line out the door) and has added a morning cafe and a pizzeria, a few doors away. Here are the recipes for the breads, pizzas, scones, and other baked goods that have gained a legendary following, along with details on selecting, storing, and serving cheese, including informative suggestions for a variety of cheese plates. The book is as much the story of the shop's evolution as it is a cookbook, and numerous reminiscences and anecdotes from loyal longtime members of the collective are scattered throughout. For area libraries and most other collections.

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By Judith Sutton, New York City

© 2003 Library Journal, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc.

Belleville, Ind., Pizza Delivery Drivers' Jobs Come with Hazards, Memories

2006-02-23T10:04:00.000-06:00

Aug. 25--Jeff Muelchi opens up the Papa John's hot bag to double-check the address on the pizza boxes. As he does, the smell of pizza perfumes his entire car.

He slides out the car with pizzas in hand and steps to the front door.

For a pizza delivery driver, every door is like a new fingerprint: He or she never knows what is going to happen when the door opens.

Pizza delivery drivers encounter memorable events every day. Many are humorous tales, but some are life-changing events.

Last month, Muelchi, 36, was sent to an upstairs apartment on Lindbergh Circle near Belleville to deliver a pizza.

After he made his delivery, he walked out the building toward his car when a young man came up to him holding a gun. He said he could not tell whether the gun was real or not, so he handed over an estimated $380 to the robber.

"At first I thought it was a joke, so I walked away towards my car," Muelchi said. But the man started cursing and pointed the gun at Muelchi, who gave the gunman the money. "So I went to my car and said to myself, 'I need to call the police,'" Muelchi said.

Muelchi left his car and went up to the apartment where he delivered the pizza to call the cops, but the robber was standing on the steps with the gun.

This was the third pizza robbery in the Belleville area in the past year. On Oct. 12, Christopher Lowe was making a pizza delivery for Pizza World to Arthur Street in Belleville when he was robbed at gunpoint and beaten severely by two men.

One week later, Alysia Wierciszerski, a Papa John's delivery driver, was robbed by the same men at Garrettsen Drive, prosecutors said.

The two men were arrested, and one has been sentenced to eight years prison.

"Immediately after the robbery, I was furious," said Muelchi. "I would have never thought I would have been a target. Never in a million years."

Sgt. Dave Thornton of the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department said no one was arrested in connection with the Muelchi robbery, but police have a suspect in mind and are looking for him.

Rebecca Mosher of Belleville was a delivery driver for Papa John's for the past 2 1/2 years, until a car crash temporarily ended her driving career.

Mosher suffered minor injuries and now answers phones at Papa John's

She said one of the misconceptions is that most people think a female delivery drivers is like a female waitress, receiving bigger and better tips.

"Most people think a girl will make a better tip, but it's just not true," Mosher said. She believes people are going to give the same tip whether the delivery driver is male or female.

Imo's Pizza deliver Kris Bergen said he is the typical pizza delivery guy. At age 22, Bergen is a full-time student at Southwestern Illinois College and full-time pizza delivery driver.

Bergen said he hasn't been faced with any life-threatening dilemmas, but he got a lifetime's worth of outrageous memories.

"I was driving up to a house to deliver some pizzas when I saw a pool full of girls in little bikinis. The girls jumped out the pool and ran towards me. That kind of caught me by surprise," Bergen said.

He also said it's almost impossible to deliver pizzas without running into his friends and college buddies asking for freebies.

"They're always asking for free food," said Bergen. "But hey, that's what friends are for."

http://www.belleville.com

Down Cane Toad tinnies with a crocodile pizza

2006-02-23T09:55:00.002-06:00

Section: Business, Business Travel, pg. 36 From the airport: A taxi to town costs Pounds 12 and takes 40 minutes. Airport Link trains run every ten minutes to several stations, Pounds 4.50 one way http://airportlink.com.au. Stay in style under Pounds 100 ... Ravesi's has small but plush rooms. The bar and restaurant are a definite plus, but best of all is the expanse of Bondi Beach across the road. Rooms from Pounds 50 (00 612 9365 4422). ... or splash out: Westin Sydney is housed in the General Post Office and has "heritage rooms" in the old building and rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows in the tower. Health club, business centre, restaurants and shops on site. Tower rooms from Pounds 200; heritage rooms, Pounds 240 (8223 1111, http://www.westin.com.au). Cutting-edge eating: Luke Mangan is a culinary demi-god and a visit to his trendy Darlinghurst restaurant, Salt, is a must. Punters pore over the boutique wine list (including 25 by the glass) while waiting for inspired Mod Oz dishes that mix and match influences from Asia, the Med and Middle East (9332 2566). ... and a local classic: The Australian Hotel at The Rocks sells more than 80 types of Oz beer (including South Australia's Red Ant lager and Queensland's "Cane Toad") and has a fine line in pizzas. If barbecued emu pizza doesn't appeal, try seared kangaroo or creamy crocodile (9247 2229). Insider tip: Shops stay open until at least 9pm on Thursdays. Don't miss: Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge for an adrenalin rush. Bridgeclimb company does day and night climbs for Pounds 58. (8274 7777, http://www.bridgeclimb.com). Contacts: British Consulate-General (9247 7521, www.uk.emb.gov.au. Copyright (C) The Times, 2003

Pizza Wars

2006-02-23T09:55:00.001-06:00

History Repeats Itself

Pizza Wars: History Repeats Itself. Videocassette. color. 26 min. with tchr's. guide. Noodlehead Network. 2002. $89 (+ $6 s/h).
Gr 8-12- An actual high school class engaged in a mock global war simulation is documented. At stake is a pizza reward, but the situation is an analogy for the connection between the distribution of world resources and conflict. Physics students designed launch systems, using tennis balls to test their trajectory and jell rounds for actual firing. The video is hosted by a female student who shows footage of the Pizza War simulations, and then shows still photos or film of an actual counterpart in history. For example, students who fired an untested weapon risked failure, just as the U.S. did when it tried the untested Patriot Missile in the Gulf War. Motivation for war paralleled real life when students announced their aggression depended on how hungry they were. Students with the better weapons and more ammunition had the upper hand, as did the U.S. against Japan in World War II. These and ten other elements such as propaganda, pacifism, sanctions, and friendly fire are discussed in separate sections. The scope and logistics of this project, played out on the school's football field, are impressive and will captivate viewers. The historical context, which covers conflicts from 1860-1991, is cursory but invites discussion about global resources and war. The program will be most useful for high school humanities and history classes.

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By Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY

© 2003 School Library Journal, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc.

Allergies won't stop pizza lover

2006-02-23T09:55:00.000-06:00

Q: I have many allergies including wheat. Can you recommend a bread recipe using millet or spelt flour? I'm also allergic to tomatoes. Can you give me an idea for making a pizza topping with red peppers?-Debbie Millan, Weston, Fla.

A: My favorite book for baking with alternative flours is ``The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread'' (Holt and Co., 1999) by Bette Hagman. Baking without gluten is challenging and this book explains everything you need to know about it.

It includes more than 200 gluten-free recipes including breads and muffins. You also will find a wheat-free pizza crust recipe, which I've tried with great results. I bring you the recipe here. As far as a tomato-free pizza topping, try my Red Pepper and Herb Puree.

Q: I bought a bottle of white balsamic vinegar instead of red. What can I do with it?-Claire Turner, Pompano Beach, Fla.

A: There are vinegar aficionados who think the only real balsamic vinegar is red. So if you're a purist, return the bottle of white. If not, you can use it for anything that the red is used for. Some cooks actually prefer the white vinegar in dishes that are light-colored because red balsamic darkens these recipes.

Q: Can you tell me where to buy hard-to-find spices? I've been looking for turmeric and can't seem to find it anywhere.-Anna Rapaport, Deerfield Beach, Fla.

A: Turmeric is not as unusual in our kitchens as it used to be given the renewed interest in ethnic cooking. It can be found in most supermarkets and specialty food stores. It belongs to the same family as ginger, and its brilliant yellow color is almost identical to the compound that gives much more expensive saffron its hue. However, it has a different flavor. Turmeric is a little bitter, but this dissipates with cooking. Try it sparingly in rice dishes, cooked beans, lentils and marinades to impart a lovely color.

---

RED PEPPER AND HERB PUREE

Use to top a pizza crust or base of choice. Add cheese or nondairy cheese and bake.

1. tablespoon olive oil
2. large red bell peppers, chopped
3. small onion, chopped
4. cloves garlic, minced
5. tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
6. basil leaves

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add peppers, onions, garlic and Italian seasoning. Saute 5 minutes until vegetables are softened and most liquid evaporates. Add basil and puree roughly in a blender or food processor fitted with the metal blade. Makes enough for 1 large pizza; 1 { cups.

Per (1-tablespoon) serving: 11 calories, 49 percent calories from fat, .19 gram protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, .31 gram total fiber, .57 gram total fat, no cholesterol, .22 milligram sodium.

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WHEATLESS SEASONED PIZZA CRUST

Once you make this crust and bake it until browned, spread on your choice of sauce, cheese and toppings and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes. All ingredients are available at natural food stores.

1. }cups white rice flour
2. \cups tapioca flour
3. tablespoon xanthan gum

{(7-gram) packets unflavored vegetarian gelatin (x)

1. tablespoon powdered egg replacer
2. tablespoons sugar
3. 3 cup dry milk powder
4. {teaspoons Italian seasoning
5. teaspoon salt
6. {teaspoons dry yeast granules
7. egg whites
8. tablespoons olive oil
9. teaspoon white or cider vinegar
10. {cups warm water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or 2 (12-inch) round pizza pans with oil or no-stick cooking spray.

Stir together rice flour, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, gelatin, egg replacer and sugar. (Mixture keeps in a jar on your pantry shelf for a month.)

Combine this mixture with the milk powder, Italian seasoning, salt and yeast in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Place the egg whites, olive oil, vinegar and 1 cup water in a large mixing bowl. Stir to blend. Gradually add the dry mixture to the liquid ingredients. Add enough of the remaining { cup water to form a firm dough that can be spread. Using an electric mixer, beat 3 minutes.

Spoon the dough onto the prepared pans and spread into a circle 12 inches in diameter. Make sure the edges are slightly raised. Let rise about 10 minutes and then bake 10 minutes until lightly browned. Makes 2 (12-inch) thick pizza crusts; each crust makes 6 servings.

Per serving: 204 calories, 21 percent calories from fat, 5 grams protein, 35 grams carbohydrates, .81 grams total fiber, 5 grams total fat, 10 milligrams cholesterol, 236 milligrams sodium.

(x) Make sure you check the gelatin you purchase as many are not vegetarian based. Look for one made from kudzu, a form of arrowroot or sea vegetables.

Recipe adapted from ``The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread'' (Holt and Co., 1999) by Bette Hagman.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com

Naples nurtures Greek and Roman heritage & serves great pizza

2006-02-23T09:54:00.001-06:00

What's it like to live in a far-off place most of us see only on a vacation? Foreign Correspondence is an interview with someone who has lived in a spot you may want to visit.

Adrienne McPhail operates the Worthington Agency, a writing/photography service in Naples, Italy. She is from Manhattan, has lived in Naples for two years, and gives her age as "old enough to be a grandmother."

Q. When does tourist season start in Naples?

A. When does it stop? This has to be one of the top 10 destinations in the world, honestly. Naples is one of the largest cities in Italy, and more Europeans tend to come to Naples. Americans tend to go to Florence, Venice and Rome-though not necessarily in that order.

Americans just don't think about visiting here. Europeans, though, want to see Pompeii and Herculaneum. They have a whole different attitude toward Italy. In fact, one of the major British destinations-Sorrento-is right here in the Naples area.

Q. Isn't Naples famous for seafood?

A. Yes, but as an American in Naples, you have to get used to it-raw octopus, raw squid.

And the best pizza you'll ever have is in Naples. You'll never want to eat Domino's or Pizza Hut again.

Q. What's your favorite place for pizza?

A. A little place downtown called Di Matteo. It's right by the Duomo, the cathedral.

Q. Is what we call Neapolitan ice cream-with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry sections-eaten in Naples?

A. No. I've never seen it. It's not Italian. We do have a soft kind that's very good, though.

Q. In recent years, Naples had a reputation for high crime and problems with sanitation. Have things improved?

A. I can tell you in one sentence: This city is like a beautiful woman with dirty feet.

Q. Did "Gladiator" go over big?

A. People loved it. Naples being in southern Italy, they love anything connected to the Roman heritage. Unlike other parts of Italy, people in Rome and Naples feel like they're in a very old place. Naples goes back to the ancient Greeks. Maybe 4,500 years. There's a saying in Naples: "If it isn't at least 2,000 years old, it's new news."

Q. Pompeii is just south of Naples; Herculaneum, destroyed the same day, is closer to Naples but less known. How do they differ?

A. More Americans and Europeans go to Pompeii, but Herculaneum is better preserved. Herculaneum was right on the seacoast in A.D. 79 when Mount Vesuvius erupted; Herculaneum was covered in mud.

Pompeii was destroyed by volcanic eruption and covered in ash.

Now, thousands of years later, Herculaneum has been better preserved-the mud encased it. It's as though the city was entombed. You can see entire buildings where they were.

Q. How big are Pompeii and Herculaneum?

A. They're very, very vast. Here's the difficulty: Local communities have been built on top of them for centuries, layer after layer. The net result is that we don't know how vast either site is. They'd have to tear down existing structures and dig many layers down.

Q. So people live close by?

A. There are buildings that go right up to the edge. This gets into politics. And if you could evacuate all the people within 10 square miles of Herculaneum alone, you might not still find the outskirts of it. So they uncover a bit at a time, just like in Pompeii.

Q. Are there active digs?

A. Oh, yes. All over Italy. When an Italian citizen buys a piece of property and wants to build on it, 75 percent of the time it seems they find some kind of antiquity while the foundation is being dug. The government goes in to stop it. We have subways in downtown Naples that will never be completed because of this.

Q. It seems like this would cause a lot of hassles.

A. When you first live here, you say, "Oh, this is ancient Greek art, this is an ancient Roman temple," and so on. After a few years, you just walk by "another old building." That's how Neapolitans feel.

Q. What's an undiscovered gem worth seeing?

A. One thing is the islands off the coast of Naples and along the Amalfi coast. It's how the ancient Greeks arrived-they came in from the sea and had settlements on Capri, Procida, Ischia. Naples is a part of the sea and the sea is a part of Naples. If you were a real traveler you'd be like St. Peter, who landed right in the little bay where I live, at Pozzuoli. Like him, you'd see all those places before ever setting foot in Naples.

Q. What about Renaissance attractions?

A. You see more of the Renaissance in Florence and Tuscany; the Renaissance wasn't really part of the Neapolitan experience. Antiquity is what you have here.

There are also palaces-some in very good condition, some archaic. The bottom line is that you can still tour them.

A more powerful influence was the Benedictine movement. St. Benedict was from right here, Monte Cassino, which is about halfway between Rome and Naples. He went to this mountain and was told there was an ancient site where Romans used to worship. He went up there in 529 and founded the abbey, which is a big influence in southern Italy.

Q. What about San Gennaro? His severed head is kept in the cathedral, and every Sept. 19 and Dec. 16, they say, his dried blood turns into liquid. Did you ever see it?

A. I was there one September when it was liquid, but not as it was turning liquid. Hundreds of people stay in the Duomo and watch it liquefy, though.

Q. So what does his head look like?

A. Like a head. It doesn't look mummified. Actually, it looks rather fresh. It's kept in the Duomo because he's the patron saint of Naples.

You can't live here, even if you have no religious faith, and not believe in miracles. They're all around you.

DROP US A LINE

Know someone who lives in an interesting city or country who would like to give us the inside line on visiting there? E-mail, in English, jbordsen(AT)charlotteobserver.com.

http://www.charlotte.com/

Vancouver, Wash., Coffee, Pizza Eatery to Get Unconventional Drive-Through

2006-02-23T09:54:00.000-06:00

Oct. 4--Randy Anderson figured out how to have a three-lane, drive-through restaurant without sending the pizza and coffee traveling overhead through plastic tubes, arriving as goulash to lanes two and three.

But it will be a couple of more weeks before he discovers what other challenges may come from his novel concept.

Cosmic Coffee/Planet Pizza opened in September at 5101 N.E. 112th Ave., south of the

YMCA and a new Applebee's. The original Cosmic Coffee continues serving coffees and desserts on Mill Plain Boulevard in Cascade Park.

The new establishment has whole pizzas, chicken, sandwiches, tacos, coffees and desserts. Customers can eat in the silver and black, 3,400-square-foot restaurant, or they can get orders to go at the drive-through.

The restaurant portion opened first; the unconventional drive-through will open later this month, once all the kinks have been ironed out in the restaurant's conventional operation.

Cosmic Coffee/Planet Pizza is a $2 million project inspired by Anderson's visit to a gourmet drive-through restaurant in Southern California. That restaurant was built on pillars, with dumbwaiters delivering food from the elevated restaurant above to drive-through customers below.

Building restrictions would have made it difficult for Anderson to build elevators to handle the dumbwaiters at his Clark County restaurant. So he improvised.

Every drive-through customer will start in the same place to order, but then will be directed to lane one, two or three depending on the order. Two lanes are for easy orders; the third will handle more complicated stuff.

As far as Anderson knows, his particular version of the three-lane drive-through is original, but he doesn't consider himself all that inventive.

"I don't believe that people come up with any new ideas," he said. "I just picked a lot of ideas from a lot of different people."

The drive-through lanes are ready, but the implementation is on hold. One lane is open now, and the rest will follow once everything else is running smoothly.

Already open, above the drive-through lanes, is an adults-only living room. It's another peculiar element in Cosmic Coffee/Planet Pizza's unusual arrangement.

That room has a fireplace and six leather couches that can seat about 20, but it is conspicuous more in what it doesn't have.

No television. No food. No kids.

It's an opportunity for patrons to enjoy their coffee in a calm atmosphere. Anderson said he built the "No one under 21" living room for no other reason than he wanted to have one.

"I just put in things I like," he said.

That extends to the rest of the decor. Besides the living room and the expanded drive-through, Anderson said he likes the rose-colored cement floor and the blue neon lighting high up in the ceilings.

The food, again, is all stuff he likes.

"I have been doing nothing but sampling for the past six months," he said.

http://www.columbian.com

COSTS DRIVING PIZZA CHAINS TO ADD ORDER SURCHARGES

2006-02-23T09:14:00.014-06:00

While the nation's largest pizza chains continue to offer free delivery in most stores, a growing number of franchisees on the West Coast and in the Midwest are looking to offset rising utility, labor and gasoline costs with customer surcharges, carryout specials and higher driver reimbursements.

Most pizza operators traditionally have resisted adding fees to orders, but the category's pricing pressures over the last year have become so competitive -- particularly as the national chains frequently promote pies for less than $10 -- that it has driven them to pass higher costs on to customers, operators said.

Dallas-based Pizza Hut, the category leader, said some of its franchisees charge for delivery, but the company has yet to expand a limited test that it launched more than a year and half ago at an undisclosed number of restaurants nationwide to study consumers' attitude toward a delivery fee.

No. 2 Domino's Pizza, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., said it has a policy in its franchise agreement that none of its restaurants nationwide can charge for delivery. But in light of the skyrocketing utility costs on the West Coast, Domino's instituted last month in 42 franchised stores in San Diego a nearly $1 energy surcharge to all pizza orders, not just those that are delivered. A Domino's spokeswoman said the details of the fee are explained to all customers before they place their orders in an automatic telephone greeting.

Although Louisville, Ky.-based Papa John's, the nation's third-largest pizza chain, does not charge for delivery at most of its restaurants, at least two franchisees in the system recently have experimented with a small service fee.

Alex Samios, a 30-unit Papa John's franchisee based in Newport Beach, Calif., recently initiated a delivery fee that ranges from $1 to $1.25 per order in all of his stores. Samios, who is president of PJ West, said he had no choice but to pass on some of the higher utility and labor costs to his customers.

"We have taken the phrase `free delivery' off all our coupons and marketing material," Samios said. "Our customers' reaction has been mixed. Some people understand what is going on and are willing to pay more, but certainly we will lose some price-sensitive people that line up for coupons every week."

Looking to offer his customers something in return, Samios has invested in and rolled out to all of his units Papa John's new heated delivery bag system, which is a program the chain has made optional to franchisees. In addition, he is experimenting with toppings like chicken and baby roma tomatoes, which are not available chainwide. Samios said that in an effort to promote the two new ingredients, his stores now are featuring a $9.99 chicken fiesta pizza with the new tomatoes.

"We are constantly making investments in trying to deliver a better product," Samios said. "We can't increase prices because of the competitive nature, but we are constantly battling Southern California price increases. There is only so much we can do, so at the end of the day we have to pass some of the cost onto our customers."

Allen Hertzman, a 43-unit Papa John's franchisee with restaurants in San Diego and Columbus, Ohio, said he has received very little negative customer feedback since recently adding a $1 delivery fee per order. He said he first began to experiment with a service surcharge at his Columbus locations because several competitors were charging customers for delivery as a way to ease the labor shortage. Hertzman explained that the delivery fee allows him to pay his drivers about 20 cents more per run.

Notably, Donatos Pizza, which is based in Columbus and has been closely watched by the segment's national players since McDonald's Corp. purchased it, always has charged for delivery in the range of $1 to $1.75.

Like his fellow Papa John's franchisee Samios, Hertzman also recently has added the chain's new hot bags to all of his restaurants, and his San Diego stores have offered ice cream since September.

"We have two flavors of ice cream, which is a good complement to pizza," Hertzman said. "Ice cream is a simple product because you don't have to make anything, so it doesn't take away the focus from making pizzas."

Some operators, particularly those in extremely tight labor markets, have increased the amount of money they are reimbursing their drivers but haven't passed the added costs on to customers.

Wisconsin Hospitality Group, a 87-unit Pizza Hut franchisee based in Wauwatosa, Wis., increased its driver reimbursement from 50 cents to 75 cents per run in an effort to compensate for higher-than-normal gas prices, which in May were about 20 cents more per gallon than a year earlier.

"This is the second time in less than one year that we are up against this, so on a restaurant-by-restaurant basis we have increased driver reimbursement to a higher level," explained Rick Spicher, vice president of operations for Wisconsin Hospitality Group.

Spicher said he is cautiously optimistic that gas prices will level off later this summer. If they do, the company would consider reducing the reimbursement fee back to 50 cents, he said.

East of Chicago, a 135-unit pizza chain based in Willard, Ohio, used to mandate free delivery to the system, but in anticipation of this summer's higher gas prices, the company changed its policy by making delivery fees optional for franchisees, Chain officials considered a similar move last summer when gas prices surged, but eventually they decided against it.

To date, about 15 percent of the stores in the chain have instituted a charge that ranges from 50 cents to $1, according to Dennis Stevenson, East of Chicago's director of marketing. He said that number is expected to rise to 40 percent by the end of the summer.

Striving to reduce the delivery load, East of Chicago also is featuring carryout specials in select markets, such as a large one-topping pie for $6.99, which compares with at least $8.99 for the same product when it is delivered.

"Customers seem to understand that we are doing this because of the higher gas prices," Stevenson said. "I no longer promote free delivery on any marketing pieces. We are trying to convince our new stores that it is easier to open with a delivery charge than to convert to one after offering free delivery for a few years."

~~~~~~~~

By Amy Zuber

Copyright of Nation's Restaurant News is the property of Lebhar - Friedman Inc.

MARK GOLD: REAL WARHOL ADDS ARTSY ACCENT TO PIZZA SHUTTLE

2006-02-23T09:14:00.013-06:00

Contents
How did you get your money's worth from your authentic Warhol?
So the investment is paying off?
Why "Cow"?
When Mark Gold saw a signed Andy Warhol silkscreen of a purple cow being auctioned at Sothebys.com last fall, he wanted it to adorn Pizza Shuttle, the high-volume Milwaukee business he runs with partner and co-founder Louis Siecinski. Figuring the offbeat artwork would fit into the restaurant's bohemian neighborhood, Gold posted the winning bid of $3,900. which grew to nearly $5,000 after commissions and shipping. However, the proudly hung pop-art trophy attracted little attention from customers, who didn't know it was one of only about 100 "Cow" prints signed by the late artist and one of fewer still personally autographed, not stamped. However, Gold quickly raised the print's profile, turning it into an emblem of the 60-seat, dinner-only pizzeria, which generates 70 percent of its $3 million-a-year volume from delivery.

How did you get your money's worth from your authentic Warhol?
A critic wrote about it, and people would come over to see it, so I finally put up a plaque to tell them what they were looking at. Then I hired an art student to redo our menu cover, replicating lots of images of "Cow" in different colors, like Warhol's Marilyn Monroe montage, and we used the slogan "Come see the original Warhol."

So the investment is paying off?
We just had a record year. And I've had the print appraised for $9,000. I know Warhol's Campbell's soup can sold for $1 million. This is one form of advertising I could sell back for a profit.

Why "Cow"?
Andy Warhol was a unique artist, "Cow" is a unique piece of art and we're a unique restaurant. It just made sense to me. Pizza Shuttle is not just a pizza joint. We've become an East Side tradition, and we do whatever we can to enrich the lives of our customers, inside and out.

Mark Gold, left, his cow-costumed daughter Hannah and partner Louis Siecinski with Warhol's "Cow."

Copyright of Nation's Restaurant News is the property of Lebhar - Friedman Inc.

PIZZA WARS

2006-02-23T09:14:00.012-06:00

How to make it at home

Fantasize of riding a Vespa through narrow, cobblestone streets, encountering the warm smiles of fellow villagers. The fruit and vegetables of an open outdoor market await your selection. You can almost taste the lunch you'll make with the fresh ingredients. A vibrant tomato sauce on top of a chewy pizza with homemade mozzarella - it's delicioso.

I'm forced to live the Italian way vicariously, through food. My cookbooks from Marcella Hazan, Italy's Julia Child, are worn and spotted. Pizza is my Italian specialty'. Granted, it takes time to prepare, but the result is ample reward.

If you make pizza from scratch just once, you're spoiled. You'll never want to go back to delivered or frozen pizza. There are some tricks to remember, but excellent homemade pizza is within the reach of the home cook. First you'll need two crucial tools - a baker's peel and a pizza stone, which is a large, flat stone that sits on an oven rack. A hot pizza stone is the secret behind a crisp crust all the way across the bottom. It absorbs the moisture in the dough, leaving behind a crisp pizza. I used to line my oven rack with quarry tiles for the same effect, but they eventually cracked and broke. After trying both, I find the pizza stone easier to use and virtually unbreakable.

A baker's peel will get the pizza onto the stone easily. I went without a peel for a long time, thinking it unnecessary, but I finally bought one with a credit at a kitchen store. It makes a world of difference. Without a peel, I would curse as I tried to transfer the pizza from an upside-down baking sheet onto the stone. The pizza would stick, and I'd use my hands to slide it onto the hot stone, thereby burning myself.

Another mishap was that part of the pizza would end up hanging off the stone, and toppings would fall to the bottom of the oven. Save yourself the headache: Get a peel. With a slight jerk and a lot of flour rubbed into the peel, the pizza slides right off onto the stone. Before you transfer the pizza to the stone, jerk the peel back and forth to make sure it will slide off easily'. If it sticks, lift the pizza and throw some flour underneath.

As for the dough, since convenience is key, use unbleached, all-purpose flour and active dry yeast. Both can be purchased at a supermarket. I like to work the dough by hand. Not only is it fun, but it's impossible to overknead it; just be sure to flour your hands well before you start kneading, as the dough will be wet. (Wet dough makes a crisp pizza.)

Let the dough rise until it's doubled, about an hour and a half. You may be tempted to punch the dough down but don't. A baker friend told me to take my frustration out somewhere else, because punching the dough presses the air out, causing it to be dense.

When stretching the dough, flour your hands and work surfaces thoroughly and press the dough into a flat circle. (Do not use a rolling pin, for it presses the air out, too.) Lift the dough off the surface and work your hands all the way around the edge, letting the weight of the dough pull and stretch it. If you can't get the dough to stretch to the desired 9 inches to 10 inches in diameter, don't fight it. Instead, let it rest for a few minutes. The dough will relax and easily stretch.

For toppings, keep it simple. Classic versions such as pizza marinara and pizza Margherita (tomatoes, garlic, oregano and olive oil) exist for a reason. Toppings should enhance the crust, not hide it. So scatter toppings lightly; too many will make the dough soggy. Other favorite combinations include caramelized onions with olives and parmesan cheese; prosciutto with fresh mozzarella and arugata; and garlic, oregano and olive oil. When using fresh herbs or arugala, add them sprinkled over the pizza after it has come out of the oven so that they won't blacken from the heat.

Now you've mastered the perfect pizza. Pour the wine, set the table and let the pizza taste transport you to the Italian village of your dreams.

PIZZA DOUGH
1/4-ounce package active dry yeast 1 cup warm water 2 3/4 to 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
Dissolve yeast in water in a large bowl and let stand 5 minutes. With a wooden spoon stir in 1 1/2 cups flour and salt, stirring until smooth. Stir in 1 cup more flour. If dough sticks to your fingers, stir in more flour slowly (2 tablespoons to 1/2 cup) until dough comes away from the side of the bowl. The dough will be wet.

Knead dough with well-floured hands about 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Halve dough and form each half into a ball. Transfer balls to a well-floured surface and sprinkle with flour. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Makes enough dough for 2 9- to 10-inch pizzas.

TOMATO SAUCE
2 tablespoons olive oil 2 garlic cloves, halved lengthwise Pinch of dried red-pepper flakes 1 28-ounce can whole, peeled Italian plum tomatoes 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
In a large skillet heat oil until warm. Add garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook 30 seconds. Do not let garlic get brown.

Using your hands, crush tomatoes into skillet and add tomato juices and oregano. Simmer over moderate heat, uncovered, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Makes enough for 4 pizzas.

PIZZA MARGHERITA
Flour Dough for 1 pizza (see recipe) 1/2 cup tomato sauce (see recipe) 2 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced thin Fresh basil
Place pizza stone on oven rack in lowest position of oven (remove all other racks) and preheat oven to highest temperature, 500 degrees to 550 degrees (it will take about 1 hour).

Rub flour into baker's peer. Working with half of the dough at a time, dredge dough in a bowl of flour to coat. Pick up dough using both hands on top edge, letting bottom edge hang down, and move hands around edge of dough, letting weight of dough stretch it into roughly a 9- to 10-inch round. Carefully transfer dough to peel.

Spoon tomato sauce over pizza, leaving a border. Arrange mozzarella over sauce. Line up far edge of peel with far edge of stone and tilt peel, jerking it gently. If dough sticks, lift dough and sprinkle flour underneath. Once edge of pizza touches stone, carefully pull back peel, completely transferring pizza to stone. Bake pizza 10 to 15 minutes, or until dough is crisp and browned. Scatter basil, torn in pieces, over pizza. Cut pizza into wedges and serve. Makes 1 pizza.

GARLIC, OREGANO AND OLIVE OIL PIZZA
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano Pinch dried red-pepper flakes Coarse salt Dough for 1 pizza
At least 45 minutes before baking pizza, put pizza stone on oven rack in lowest position in oven, and preheat oven to highest setting, 500 degrees to 550 degrees. It will take about 1 hour.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except dough. Rub flour into baker's peel. Dredge dough in a bowl of flour to coat. Pick up dough using both hands on top edge, letting bottom edge hang down, and move hands around edge of dough, letting weight of dough stretch it into roughly a 9- to 10-inch round. Carefully transfer dough to peel. Top dough with oil mixture.

Transfer pizza from peel to stone as described above. Bake pizza 6 to 7 minutes, or until dough is crisp and browned. Cut pizza into wedges and serve. Makes 1 pizza.

PHOTO (COLOR): Once you make pizza Margherita from scratch, with fresh basil and mozzarella cheese, you may never want frozen or delivered pizza again.

~~~~~~~~

By Maria K. Wisdom

Copyright of New Orleans Magazine is the property of MC Media.

PIZZA WARS

2006-02-23T09:14:00.011-06:00

In the fast and loose world of advertising, every product hawked is the best, or at least better than something else--not to mention new and improved. In this respect, at least, we customers aren't dumb: We know that this is a bragging game and that we shouldn't take every claim literally.

But apparently we aren't smart enough to figure that out about the slogan, "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza," used by the Louisville-based chain Papa John's. In January, a Dallas judge ordered Papa John's to stop using the slogan, and to pay Pizza Hut almost $500 million for the damage the ads had allegedly done.

The war began a few years ago, when Papa John's launched an ad campaign comparing its ingredients to what "other chains use," making particularly derisive references to dehydrated tomato paste. Pizza Hut responded with a "Stoppa the Poppa," campaign, which included such inspired silliness as putting Papa John's name on miniature punching bags and doormats. Finally, Pizza Hut sued its upstart rival for deceptive advertising tactics, arguing that Papa John's could not prove its pizza and ingredients were "better" than the Hut's.

Papa John's is appealing the ruling. In the meantime, it has apparently decided that it can play the legal game, too: It has asked the U.S. patent office to reject Pizza Hut's slogan, "Best Pizzas Under One Roof."

~~~~~~~~

By Mariel Garza

Copyright of Reason is the property of Reason Foundation.

PIZZA MAKER EXPANDS WENATCHEE SITE TO SPEED SERVICE

2006-02-23T09:14:00.010-06:00

Shannon Hendrickson wanted to eliminate congestion and confusion for customers and employees at Papa Murphy's in Wenatchee.

That's why the pizza restaurant recently added 200 square feet of space and created a special area just for customers picking up pizzas they ordered by telephone.

"It's frustrating for people to stand in line especially if they have called ahead," said Hendrickson. Hendrickson manages the Wenatchee pizza restaurant, along with the East Wenatchee Papa Murphy's for her parents, Richard and Sharon McDonald.

With 40 percent of Papa Murphy's business coming from telephone orders, Hendrickson said it wasn't uncommon to have customers lined up and waiting outside on Friday nights even if their pizzas were ready. The new area, however, eliminates that problem.

"We have a very small store in Wenatchee and we do 50 percent more business than East Wenatchee," Hendrickson said.

In Wenatchee, Hendrickson said they now rent about 1,300-square-feet of space from building owner Fred Zitting.

The additional square footage was taken from an empty space next to Papa Murphy's, the former Excell Foods location.

Cost of the remodeling project was $10,000 to $12,000, Hendrickson said, which includes costs of additional equipment such as another cash register.

"This makes it more convenient and less confusing even for our employees," she said. "We live in a fast-paced lifestyle. The last thing you want to do is wait in line."

Copyright of Wenatchee Business Journal is the property of Wenatchee Business Journal.

Perfect pizza pulls

2006-02-23T09:14:00.009-06:00

Admittedly Judy Peck Prindle's recipe for the perfect pizza includes a few odd ingredients - an emery board, a few thumbtacks.

Prindle, a Los Angeles-based food stylist with more than 30 years of experience, specializes in ``cheese pulls.'' That's when a slice of pizza, taken just so from the whole pie, reveals a drippy web of luscious melted cheese.

To stylists, pizza and ice cream are the two most temperamental food groups.

On a location shoot for a national pizza company, Prindle once spent 10 days prepping hundreds of pizzas. Working from a portable kitchen hauled in on a semi- truck, she hired four or five assistants for what turned out to be a 30-second TV ad.

Prindle demonstrated her skills at Food on Film IX, a recent conference in Minneapolis.

Wearing two pairs of cotton utility gloves (less clumsy than mitts), she pulls barely cooked pizza crusts from the oven. When the crusts are cool enough to touch, she begins ``grooming'' them, using an emery board to sand off rough edges.

On an imperfect pizza crust she spreads a mound of grated cheese and toasts it to a light brown. After allowing it to cool, she uses tweezers to remove each crisscrossed ``eyelash.'' Later she'll reapply them to the rim of the crust to give it more character.

The pepperoni is cooked separately in a 325-degree oven 2 minutes, then she blots each slice with paper towels and sprays them with an antioxidant to prevent curling.

When it's time to construct the pizza, Prindle uses a soft paintbrush to spread a token amount of sauce on the crust. Then come the cheese and other toppings, before the pizza is lightly baked, about 15 minutes in a 400-degree oven.

Prindle had hidden a few thumbtacks under pepperoni circles to keep the pizza from sliding off its board and a triangular spatula under a precut piece to ease removing it. She had ``laced'' some extra slices of cheese to hide the cuts.

For melting the cheeses laces, she uses a clothes steamer. When the laces look good and gooey, she lets the pizza rest a bit before pulling the piece up and out, freezing the motion at the moment the cheese is stretched to quivering.

http://www.kcstar.com/

PHILIPPINES LICENSEE TO CO-BRAND PIZZA INN

2006-02-23T09:14:00.008-06:00

DALLAS -- Pizza Inn Inc. said its master licensee in Manila, Philippines, plans to implement a four-store co-branding test this summer with a petroleum company there.

The plan calls for Pizza Inn Express units to be opened in Cstore locations. Also, the company said it plans to open four traditional stores in Saudi Arabia by July, raising its unit count there to 18.

Copyright of Nation's Restaurant News is the property of Lebhar - Friedman Inc.

Styrian pumpkin seed oil; Red Baron's Bake to Rise pizza; Mazola Pro Chef cooking spray; Kraft's Easy Mac

2006-02-23T09:14:00.007-06:00

Chicago Tribune

Pumpkin pizazz We marveled at the intense, rich flavor of Styrian pumpkin seed oil from Austria's Finest. It's made entirely from pumpkin seeds that are roasted and cold- pressed. It's not inexpensive-an 8.5-ounce bottle costs $14-but a little goes a long way. Find it at Treasure Island stores. Also available are bags of roasted pumpkin seeds (plain, salted or chocolate-covered), starting at $3.70 for a 4.4-ounce bag of plain.

Pizza plus We liked Red Baron's Bake to Rise pizza, yet another entry in the frozen- pizza-with-a-fresh-baked-crust category. Red Baron's crust has cornmeal, which accounts for the nice, chewy texture. The pizza travels directly from freezer to oven, andcooks up in about half an hour. Six varieties are offered: sausage, pepperoni, meat trio, four-cheese, supreme (pepperoni, sausage, green peppers, onion and mushroom) and special deluxe (pepperoni, sausage, green and red pepper, black olives and onion). Each 12-inch pizza costs $5.70 to $6 at Sunset Foods and most Jewel stores.

Turn up the heat The test kitchen staff loved working with Mazola Pro Chef, a new non-stick cooking spray that contains 20 percent more lecithin (a non-stick, non-fat ingredient made from soybeans) that can withstand higher temperatures without smoking or burning. A 6-ounce can, original or olive oil, costs $2.85 to $3 at Sunset Foods, Treasure Island and most Jewel stores.

Easier than ever You thought Kraft Macaroni and Cheese couldn't get any easier? Think again.

Kraft's Easy Mac gets the job done in 5 minutes and does so in a kid-friendly way: no boiling water, butter or milk is involved-but you do need a microwave. Zap the noodles about 4 minutes, then stir in the cheese sauce mix. It is as easy as advertised and the very familiar mac-and-cheese-from-a-box flavor is duplicated, though the noodles are a little softer. A 12.9-ounce box with six individually packaged 3/4-cup servings costs about $3 at Sunset Foods, Treasure Island and most Jewel stores.

-Product information compiled by Renee Enna, Chicago Tribune.

http://www.chicago.tribune.com/

PIZZAS AND PUTTERS

2006-02-23T09:14:00.006-06:00

40-CITY TREK TARGETS FAMILIES DIGIORNO LINKS WITH PGA TOUR

Kraft foods' Digiorno brand and the PGA Tour, both trying to reach families with kids, have hit the road together in a mobile marketing effort that combines pizza and golf.

The 53-foot-long, 32-ton PGA Tour Rolling Club House is the centerpiece of Kraft's ``Rise & Roll With DiGiorno'' integrated marketing campaign, the largest-ever on-site effort for the line of frozen pizza.

``Rise & Roll'' first hit the road in March with the Club House, plus two traveling pizzerias and a hot-air balloon shaped like a pizza. The pizzeria vehicles distribute hot pizza samples and coupons.

3-D GOLF, EXPERTS' TIPS
The PGA Tour Rolling Club House offers an array of golf-related activities including a computerized golf swing analyzer for kids as well as adults, a 3-D golf game, Internet access and hands-on golf tips from experts.

The Club House is visiting more than 40 cities this year, including all major PGA Tour events, but it also goes to supermarkets, fairs, festivals and other public events off the tour route, fulfilling the goal of the PGA Tour to expose wider audiences, including children, to golf.

``Working with DiGiorno presented an ideal way to expose the game of golf to a broader audience including kids, and it's already achieving the goal in a fun and interactive way,'' said Tom Wade, PGA Tour senior VP-corporate marketing and new business.

Within seven months, more than 250,000 consumers had been through the Club House, exceeding Kraft's goal of 100,000 for the year.

A key to the effort's success has been the involvement of Kraft's direct sales force in local markets, said John Bikus, associate brand manager on the DiGiorno Rising Crust Pizza brand at Kraft's pizza division.

``The local sales force in each market is heavily involved in our visit to the area, and as a result, we get to the right events and the right stores,'' he said. ``Our own sales people come up with some of the best ideas of how to utilize the Club House.''

PIZZA BALLOON
The Club House has put in an appearance at about 10 PGA Tour stops, often in conjunction with a DiGiorno mobile pizzeria. The pizza vehicle dispenses samples as the 92-foot-wide pizza balloon -- with its 10-foot pepperonis and 61/2-foot olives -- drifts overhead. Kraft expects to dispense more than 600,000 pizza samples during the ``Rise & Roll'' tour.

Elsewhere, the two mobile pizzerias split up, hitting different events within one market; the hot-air balloon also has its own itinerary, visiting some locations where on-site sampling is impossible.

CROSS-COUPONING
In some markets, the ``Rise & Roll'' tour has executed cross-couponing efforts for the DiGiorno line of pasta and sauces, but the tour is primarily focused on the pizza line.

``The goal is to use integrated marketing, on-site marketing and advertising to reach as many consumers as possible at once,'' Mr. Bikus said.

The tour ends next month and will resume next year.

AGENCIES COOPERATE
The cooperation of several different agencies on the DiGiorno integrated marketing effort also has been crucial, Mr. Bikus said, adding, ``It takes constant cooperation and teamwork across a variety of agencies to make something like this click.''

Foote, Cone & Belding, Chicago, is DiGiorno's primary ad agency, and creator of its theme line, ``It's not delivery, it's DiGiorno.'' Davidson Marketing, Chicago, handles promotions; Bozell Sawyer Miller Group, New York, handles publicity for the effort; GMR Marketing, Brookfield, Wis., created the vehicles; and California Dreamin', San Diego, handles the balloon.

Kraft also markets Tombstone pizza, the No. 1 frozen pizza with a 17% share, but the company says the $200 million DiGiorno line is rapidly gaining on the longtime leader, already claiming a 14% share since its 1996 introduction.

PGA Tour officials say targeting families has become an important objective and future sponsorship efforts may involve more activities for children, though no specifics have been revealed.

Current PGA Tour sponsors include Anheuser-Busch, Bank of America, General Motors Corp.'s Buick and Charles Schwab & Co., each with various levels of on-site marketing at PGA Tour events.

PHOTO (COLOR): A long drive: The PGA Tour Rolling Club House, visiting sites across the country, is part of Kraft Foods' integrated marketing campaign for DiGiorno frozen pizza.

~~~~~~~~

By Kate Fitzgerald

Copyright of Advertising Age is the property of Crain Communications Inc. (MI).

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF PIZZA MONEY

2006-02-23T09:14:00.005-06:00

Ideas are fragile. People who least understand this are those who have yet to have a creative idea beyond deciding what to watch on TV tonight.

That acknowledged, the NCAA, governing body of collegiate sport, has come up with an idea that positively stinks. This idea defines skunk at a picnic. It's this: College students who attend on athletic scholarships can now have jobs during their competitive seasons and earn up to $2,000 a school year.

Why this has happened is clear: The NCAA has been unable to figure out how to stop wrongdoing when it comes to slipping tainted money into athletes' hands - primarily males playing football and basketball - so it has given up.

This is desperately sad for college sport.

To fold one's ethical tent like this is perfectly in line with: "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.'' This is the concept of acquiescing to adversity, turning backs on the problems, and seeking pleasure to distract from real concerns.

For openers, schools that have larceny in their hearts and on their records probably are already arranging (wink, wink) jobs for their young scholars. Will the scholars show up to sell clothes or work in the car dealerships on jobs that largely will be arranged by coaches and provided by athletic boosters? What do you think?

Then, of course, what will happen is the now legitimized play-for-pay -gosh, remember when we naively thought college athletics were secondary to education and that an athlete getting school paid for was a darn handsome reward? - will have checks providing a quasi-proper paper trail. What is not addressed is the cash that also will be passed by these boosters, with their new cozy access, under the traditional twin covers of darkness and deceit. Supporters who have indescribable interest in winning and no interest in law abiding are already smirking.

The further problem is that a lot of football and basketball programs are roughly equal. Athletes, for the most part, want to go to school where they see the most athletic advantage for themselves. Nothing wrong with that, really. Self-interest is alive and well in most areas of life. Athletes don't pick a school based on history-department strength. The problem is that a $2,000 check for a job, even if work is not part of the job description, can't compete with a $2,000 check plus $10,000 cash, all yours, son, just keep your mouth shut.

The thought behind the change is it wasn't fair for scholarship athletes to be prohibited from working whenever they want, just as academic scholarship students can. No one addressed the obvious: Scholarship athletes already are loaded up with sport demands, and we idealists continue to hope, academic demands. This adds up to two full-time jobs. They don't have time for a third job called a job.

This half-baked scam is extolled by Kenneth Shaw, Syracuse University chancellor and chairman of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors: "We are delighted to give student-athletes the opportunity to work in this way.''

His delight will be short-lived. Mr. Shaw admits there "likely will be changes,'' which is encouraging. And he says ominously, "We should consider this a work in progress.'' He knows this won't work. Everybody knows.

What the supporters of this charade are relying on is the basic goodwill of man. Alas, those who are willing to leave it at that have never been close enough to collegiate sport to know how desperately winning is coveted.

The lament has been athletes need to have ways to get money to buy a pizza or go to a movie. That's reasonable. Yet, there is no reason for the university to take responsibility for everything financial for a student-athlete. Parents should still have responsibilities, even if Bruno can shoot 18-foot pull-up jumpers with drop-dead accuracy. If things are tight financially, extended families have responsibilities.

Bruno doesn't have time for another job nor should Bruno be put in the position that leaves him ripe for ethical compromise. It's harder than you know for a young, impoverished college student to return a $100 bill slapped surreptitiously in his palm.

College athletics are on such a slippery slope. Giving into the dark side is not a reasonable solution.

Watch the cheating begin.

~~~~~~~~
Douglas S. Looney, Senior sports columnist of The Christian Science Monitor

PIZZA, ANYONE?

2006-02-23T09:14:00.004-06:00

McAin Foods, the Canadian company best known in the United States for its French fries, recently closed a $150 million deal. BancAmerica Robertson Stephens was the lead.

There were reportedly three tranches: a 10-year bullet that priced at 115, a 15-year bullet that priced at 122 and a 20-year bullet that priced at 130.

The deal was unrated, but it was viewed as an NAIC-2 credit quality. The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

McAin is a well-known name in countries throughout the world, but it attracts more name recognition in the U.S. for brands such as Ellio's pizza.

Copyright of Private Placement Reporter is the property of SourceMedia.

COMAC FOOD GROUP AXES PLAN TO BUY PIZZA DELIGHT CORP

2006-02-23T09:14:00.003-06:00

CALGARY, Alberta -- Comac Food Group Inc., franchisor of some 300 stores across Canada, including Domino's Pizza, Grabbajabba specialty-coffee houses, Pastel's Cafes and Company's Coming Bakery Cafes, said it called off its previously reported March 31 acquisition of Pizza Delight Corp. Ltd. of Moncton, New Brunswick.

The $16 million stockswap deal was awaiting the approval of Domino's Pizza International, which refused its consent.

"Our objectives for Comac remain unchanged," said company chairman Grant Lovig. "We will continue to expand Domino's throughout Canada, particularly in Ontario. Plans are also in the works to expand our Grabbajabba specialty-coffee division through acquisition."

Copyright of Nation's Restaurant News is the property of Lebhar - Friedman Inc.

Dallas Pizza Chain Opens First Arlington Location, Offers Gourmet Menu

2006-02-23T09:14:00.002-06:00

ARLINGTON, Texas--Dec. 12--David Lopez had a choice. He had a couple of job offers to run nightclubs in Cleveland. Or he could come to Texas and help open the first He came to Texas.

Lopez, 30, is manager of the just-opened The chain, founded in 1988 by Gary Decker in Dallas, is famous for inventing a "designer" pizza known as the "white pizza" that uses alfredo sauce in place of tomato sauce.

"It was a weird item when it was first introduced, but it started to sell," Lopez said.

Lopez says he thinks this sets The restaurant's menu lists 16 "designer pizzas" priced from $12.75 for the 12-inch to $22.75 for the 20-inch gourmet pizza. The "traditional" pizza ranges from $8 for a 12-inch plain pizza to $22.75 for any seven of the 27 toppings listed in the menu.

The menu also lists various appetizers, salads, sandwiches and desserts. Specialties include Florentine soup, chicken pesto, pasta rolls, and blackened Cajun pasta.

"People come here when they are looking for something different," Lopez said.

Jeff Dicks, who discovered the Arlington site as a franchise consultant, says the The Arlington restaurant seats 78. The chain's smallest location in Dallas seats 55, and the largest seats 120.

The new restaurant serves beer and wine, fills orders from a drive-up window and offers home delivery.

"Half our business is in delivery," Lopez said.

Lopez pays his drivers on a commission basis. "They keep 12 percent of pizza sales," he says. He says this makes them feel like part-owners.

Owner Jimmy Bharmal of Dallas says the opening has been stressful.

Having put up a lot of money, he is nervous.

"New ventures are not easy to get started, but I'm confident it works in the end," Bharmal said. Bharmel said he believes that Lopez says he is excited "about the opportunity to experience the day-to-day challenges in running a business in the mature restaurant market."

http://www.star-telegram.com
http://www.arlington.net
http://www.netarrant.net

DOC, CAN YOU GET THIS PIZZA OUT OF MY BOUFFANT?

2006-02-23T09:14:00.001-06:00

For those of you eager to keep up on the latest trends, it's time to let your fingers do the walking. According to a study by the Yellow Pages Publishers Association, the steepest growth in Yellow Pages listings these days is under the divingequipment heading. The runner-up in listings growth is cellular-phone equipment, followed by collectibles, consignment services, marriage counseling, karate instruction, mailing services and pawn brokers. The Yellow Pages heading most often referenced by consumers is for physicians and surgeons, with the restaurant category a close second. (Ptomaine, anyone?) Cars, car parts and car repairs claim three slots among the top 10. Other leading categories: pizza, lawyers and beauty salons. What else does one need in this life?

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AT A US BASE IN SAUDI, PIZZA AND PREPAREDNESS

2006-02-23T09:14:00.000-06:00

Contents
Constant vigilance
American culture, to go
Behaving as guests
Gulf War lessons
The memory of the Khobar Towers bombing still lingers among American troops in Saudi Arabia, its most obvious daily effect being one of the tightest security plans devised for United States forces overseas.

On June 25, 1996, a truck bomb killed 19 American servicemen when it was detonated in front of a housing complex in Dhahran, eastern Saudi Arabia. Since then, the US Air Force has moved lock, stock, and barrel to this remote base 80 miles south of the capital, Riyadh.

"Everything in my tent came from Khobar, and it's all marked up," says F-16 fighter pilot Capt. Randy Redell of Westlake, Calif.

"We ask ourselves: Are they old, or is it from the blast? The mirror is broken down the side with a very jagged edge," he says.

Even the coffee table in the tent quarters of Brig. Gen. Bentley Rayburn, 4044th Wing Commander, has a plaque noting the source of its damage.

Constant vigilance
"The best thing is that we are now in the middle of this enormous Saudi base," says General Rayburn. "But Khobar is kept in front of us. People have learned how to break into Fort Knox, so we don't let up our vigilance here."

Part of the "force protection" mantra means a life of confinement to base for those who are not flying. Even for pilots, contact with Saudi "culture" is often limited to radio banter with air-traffic controllers.

The Air Force has been creative in making the humdrum day not only bearable, however, but sometimes pleasant. Many say that they expected to find something akin to a bare cot set in Death Valley.

American culture, to go
Imagine their surprise to find Death Valley - sure enough - but one decked out with many familiar amenities: Baskin Robbins ice cream, a Pizza Inn shop, and a pre-fab Burger King.

Still, not far from this "mall" of shops stands a stone memorial for the Khobar victims. "Their sacrifice shall blaze as a flame in our hearts," it reads.

Several tents away, a two-seat bench has been made into a swing. The sign is painted: "Attitude adjustments for free."

"Saudi doesn't look too different [from the US], other than it is flat with a lot of sand," says Airman Kim Sanchez of Langley, Va. "I'd never know I was in a different country."

The only other clues are tough security regulations. She is escorting 11 foreign building workers on to the base, and it took 4-1/2 hours to clear them. As a newcomer here, she thought at first that the Indian and Sri Lankan workers were Saudis.

Just as Air Force bases were renowned during the Vietnam era for their livability - especially compared with Army bases - so, too, standards here are high.

Tents are air-conditioned, there are several swimming pools, and one unit peddles snow cones. The number of activities designed to occupy free hours overwhelms.

Behaving as guests
But some adjustments are required, and senior officers with previous Middle East experience say they hinge on remembering this fact: Know who is the guest, and who is the host.

"I get to talk to a lot of Saudi military people," says Staff Sgt. Jeffery Martin from Bradford, Ohio. "I realize I am in their house and try to accommodate. The majority of us try real hard to do that, to treat our hosts with respect."

For women, the task is harder. For those few who do come in public contact with Saudis, the Air Force issues black shrouds, called abayas, that are required wear for Saudi women.

Senior Airman Michele Vetterick, from Gainesville, Fla., says she has trained while wearing an abaya. As a security specialist, she has also interacted with Saudi officers while wearing her normal camouflage uniform.

"I try to maintain respect," she says. "If there is a problem, and the chance that a male [soldier] can take over, I would step aside in a minute, if that's what it takes to do a good job and to abide by their customs."

The abaya, she adds, is "just like another uniform."

Gulf War lessons
More than 4,000 Americans are deployed at this base, most living in a "Tent City" that was first established during the 1990-1991 Gulf War. It lay vacant for years, but now bustles.

Commanders say that with strict rules - no alcoholic drinks or mixing of the sexes in tent accommodations - there are no discipline problems.

Compared with the Gulf War, there are also other changes.

"There was a lot of soul-searching for people during the Gulf War, because most of us hadn't seen war," says Maj. Joshua Jose of Newark, Calif., navigator of a C-130 transport plane.

"Now we know the threat and are confident about what is going on," he says.

Other pilots report the surprised reaction of friends at home when they told them they were posted to Saudi Arabia to patrol over Iraq.

"What?" fighter pilot Capt. Ross Anderson, from Portland, Ore., remembers being asked. "You mean we are still over there?"

PHOTO (COLOR): RAISING CONCERNS: A June 1996 blast rocked Khobar Towers in Dhahran, which housed US military personnel.

PHOTO (COLOR): GOOD TO GO: An American fighter jet is made ready for patrol at prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. More than 4,000 Americans are deployed at the base.

MAP: Sudi Arabia

~~~~~~~~

By Scott Peterson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Copyright of Christian Science Monitor is the property of Christian Science Publishing Society.

HIGH CHEESE PRICES WEDGE IN PIZZA OPERATORS

2006-02-23T09:13:00.000-06:00

Contents
The spiraling price of cheese per pound:
Although the spiraling price of cheese caught the foodservice industry off guard, most pizza operators say they haven't passed the higher prices on to their customers.

Cheese is used in all segments of the foodservice industry -- from fine dining to fast food -- and it is one of the most important and costly ingredients for pizza operators. While cheese prices have climbed higher this summer than most restaurateurs expected, the country's largest pizza chains including Pizza Hut, Domino's and Papa John's, have not raised their menu prices nor have they reduced the amount of cheese they use on their pizzas.

"We are not going to do anything knee-jerk to offset costs," said Dru Milby, chief financial officer of Louisville, Ky.-based Papa John's International. Milby added that cheese accounts for about 40 percent of Papa John's food costs.

"Cheese drives our food costs, but the last thing you want to do is change your product," she said. "We don't allow our managers to change the make-up of the pizzas. That last thing you want to do is impact the product going out the door."

Last year the average price of cheese on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange hovered around $1.30 per pound and never exceeded $1.44 per pound. But this year, after hitting a low in early May of $1.18 per pound, prices began to climb, reaching a high of $1.65 per pound in the beginning of August.

Weather seems to be one of the major factors driving cheese prices. The price of cheese is controlled by milk production, which has been relatively flat for the year, according to Larry Salathe, an economist with the USDA's Office of the Chief Economist. He said California, which is the nation's leading milk-production state, generated less milk in 1998 than it has in recent years.

"One thing that happened this year is that the El Nino weather pattern dropped a lot of rain in California earlier this year and that has had a negative effect on milk production," Salathe said. "There is not much increase in milk production, and there is substantial growth on the demand side. That has led to a tightening up on cheese prices. That is the reason prices have increased so dramatically in the last couple of months."

Although most operators are not making menu, price or product adjustments, they still are feeling the pressure on their profit margins.

"It is definitely impacting us," said Lou Romanus, president and chief operating officer for San Ramon, Calif.-based PacPizza, a Pizza Hut franchisee with 150 units throughout Northern California, Nevada and Oregon. "It has made a significant impact on the foodcost line. We are feeling it."

Domino's Pizza of Ann Arbor, Mich., the country's second-largest pizza chain, also is feeling the squeeze from the higher cost of cheese.

"Anytime there is a cost increase, it is detrimental to the company, and cheese is obviously a main staple for Domino's," said Maggie Monaghan, public relations manager for the pizza chain.

At Tulsa, Okla.-based Mazzio's Corp., the higher price of cheese is having a greater impact on the food costs at its 250-unit pizza chain than at Zio's Italian Kitchen, its dinner-house concept, according to Greg Lippert, Mazzio's vice president of marketing. He said pizza generates 70 percent of the volume at Mazzio's, but only 17 percent at Zio's.

"In the pizza segment you have sauce, cheese, crust and toppings, whereas in casual dining you have a lot more variety, and cheese is not one of the key components," Lippert said.

Pittsburg, Kan.-based NPC International, the largest Pizza Hut franchisee, addressed concerns about the cost of cheese in its most recent quarterly financial report, which was for its first fiscal quarter, ended June 30. The report said "management expects cheese costs to exceed last year's levels during the second quarter by 20 percent to 25 percent based upon current prices and available forecasts."

Although some analysts said they were under the impression that California farmers would recover more quickly from the heavy rains in the spring, Salathe said the El Nino effect was "significant and larger than people expected. Farmers didn't recover like people thought they would."

Salathe added that the recent heat wave in the South -especially in Texas, which also is a major milk supplier -will continue to limit dairy production and keep prices elevated for several more months. He said he expects milk production to increase in the fourth quarter as a result of lower feed costs for the cows, and that would in turn bring cheese prices down toward the end of the year.

But David Trossman, a restaurant analyst with BT Alex. Brown, Baltimore, said if costs remain elevated for more than a few months, some pizza operators will be forced to take action.

"The problem is that no one knows how long it will last," he said. "If it is a two-month problem, you don't need to do anything. But if it is a 12-month problem, you might cut back on discounting and cross your fingers in hopes that your competitors do the same thing.

"I think the good news along those lines is that we are seeing people talking about other things besides pricing," Trossman added. "Pizza Hut is spending time talking about new products. Domino's is talking about its new heated delivery bag. That might be good. It means that they are not pushing the price buttons. They are saying come to us for variety, or to try our new heated delivery bag. That might make it easier for people to do less discounting in an environment where costs are high."

Although operators expect higher cheese prices to drive food costs during the third quarter, Pizza Hut and Papa John's said they do not expect it to impact their financial forecasts.

PJ America, Papa John's largest franchisee, agreed.

"We think we will at least meet [Wall Street] expectations," said Ross Davison, chief financial officer for the Birmingham, Ala.-based PJ America. "Our company momentum and our comps are running above plan. We are doing well. If a commodity throws you a big curve ball, you don't have to like it. But you have to maneuver around it the best you can.

"In some respects this is a good thing to have happen now and then," he added. "You look yourself in the mirror and see what you are made of. This is not to say we have ever been happy with the status quo. We are always trying to improve the top line and the bottom line."

Mazzio's Lippert concurred: "We have tried to focus on operations," he said. "It gives us a chance to make sure there is little waste at the restaurant level. This helps lower our food costs and makes us more efficient."

While no one can predict exactly when prices will stabilize, operators said they are comforted by the fact that cheese costs have seasonal fluctuations and higher prices are not permanent.

The spiraling price of cheese per pound:
April 30, 1998 $1.18 May 28, 1998 $1.35 June 19, 1998 $1.55 July 9, 1998 $1.60 August 6, 1998 $1.65
Source: Chicago Mercantile Exchange

~~~~~~~~

By Amy Zuber

Copyright of Nation's Restaurant News is the property of Lebhar - Friedman Inc.