Pizza Today - February 2019 - 36

FOR MANY SLICE OPERATIONS, LOOKS
ARE EVERYTHING AS CUSTOMERS PEER
INTO A DISPLAY CASE OF AVAILABLE
SLICES. For others, customers eye slices

on white paper plates drifting past them
at the counter. Gilbreth offers a few
suggestions for better slice presentation.
"If you have the time, wait for the pie to
cool a bit before slicing it," he says. "Hot
cheese and grease just fall into the cuts.
If you carefully cut a cooled pie, everything stays right where it should, and
it looks like the slice just magically was
lifted from the whole pie. He also says
portioning ingredients and even slice
cuts are also important. "For in house
orders, we use one classic white plate per
slice," he adds. "Custom printed hinged
slice boxes set our to-go look apart from
our competition."
Grant also advises: "Always have the
same slices available all day. They can
change day to day but keep it consistent
daily and always have a pepperoni and
cheese available. Have your slices visible,
they will sell themselves. Don't over cook
the pizzas. Nothing looks worse than a
3 6 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 9

dried up slice of pizza."
GRANT, GILBRETH AND MONTANILE
OFFER THREE TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL
SLICE BUSINESS.

Grant has three rules for That's A
Some Pizza's front counter employees:
* "Always keep the slice warmer
stocked.
* Throw away any pizza they wouldn't
eat themselves!
* Always have one set of back ups
ready to go in the oven, so when you
see a large crowd coming in for slices
you can feed everyone timely. The slice
business is all about instant gratification.
Teach your customers they can always
depend on you for a quick lunch."
Gilbreth offers three by-the-slice keys.
"Don't offer pies that are very wet by
the slice," he says. "Pies like a 'supreme'
just have too much liquid and don't hold
well. If you must, store them on a screen
on top of a pan or get some of the pans
with the bumps that raise the pie up
above the surface of the pan a bit.
"For optimum slice quality, hold the

slice pies at room temp and toast the
slices to order. We toast slices on individual small sheets of foil, which keeps
the oven stones clean and makes the
slices very portable for staff. We switch
to holding them warm during peak
periods because the fresh pies come out
of the oven and get sold before they lose
that fresh-from-the-oven flavor."
Lastly, Gilbreth says, "Don't try and
pass off old slices. Don't be afraid to
leave an ugly slice aside for staff to eat
later, or to give it to a good customer
who may not mind an imperfect slice as
a little thank you. Some waste is inevitable with slices. Embrace it, figure out
how to minimize it, and build the 'loss'
into your prices."
Montanile says that maintaining pizza
slice quality comes down to three priorities: types of slices; not prepping extra
pies until needed; and not putting too
much cheese or sauce so the slice looks
presentable. n
DENISE GREER

Pizza Today.

is executive editor at
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - February 2019

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