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Exhibitors, attendees find much to like at N.E. Pizza Expo

Show organizers estimate show numbers climbed above last year's attendance.

October 16, 2003

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Exhibitors and attendees alike indicated they found the sixth-annual Northeast Pizza Expo much to their liking - and that was much to the liking of organizers.

"I think it was a fantastic show, really," said Bill Oakley, executive vice president of operations and expositions for MacFadden-Pro Tech, the company that organizes the show.

"I think if you look back and look at the majority of the distributors, they either met or exceeded their pre-show expectations," Oakley said. "There may be a few people who are either on par for last year or a little bit down, but overall, they would say was a pretty good show. Obviously we have to wait to see if those leads turn into sales, but right now the show was a huge success as far as I am concerned."

Oakley said attendance and distributor numbers for the Oct. 8-9 show were up from the previous year. He said there were 270 booths representing between 150 and 160 exhibiting companies, while an estimated crowd of about 2,000 buyers attended the show. Last year, just over 1,800 people attended.

Big-ticket exhibitors, such as oven manufacturers, reported doing quite well at the show, Oakley said.

Ron Channing of Nick's Place in Pittsburgh, Pa., checked out a new insulated bag introduced by Rubbermaid Commercial Products.

One of those was Richard Dunfield, a sales representative for Roto-Flex Ovens in San Antonio, Texas. He said his business saw a marked increase over the previous year.

"We had a great show — a fabulous show," Dunfield said. "Over last year's show, we're probably up, as far as leads, about 15 percent. That's not bad at all."

Dunfield said he has attended every Pizza Expo for the last seven years, so he knows a good show from a bad one.

"You can't really tell until you start working those leads, but we did sell the oven off the floor. In two weeks we should have a couple more contracts," he said. "The second day of a show is usually a little slow, but today has been very good. Very good traffic for the second day."

Big-ticket manufacturers weren't the only ones who went away happy. Dave Schafer of ICI Bag Solutions, of Sugar Grove, Ill., was quite pleased with the exhibit hall traffic.

"It's been nonstop since the time it opened," he said. "We have a lot of customers out here. It's been a great order-writing show. When they opened the gates (Wednesday) morning, it was stronger than last year, I think."

ICI uses the show to introduce new products each year. Two years ago, the company brought three products to the show. This year, the company displayed 14 different bags.

Still, Rob Tayne, international sales manager for Arlington, Texas-based NTN Software Solutions, formerly Breakaway International, did not share Dunfield's or Schafer's enthusiasm. Midway through the first day, Tayne said he was concerned about the turnout.

"It started out pretty good. About half an hour to an hour ago it slowed down and it looks like it's going to stay slow the rest of the day," Tayne said. "It was not anything like Las Vegas. Actually, we had better business in Chicago. So I don't think we're looking to be back if they do Atlantic City again."

At least next year Tayne won't have to worry about making a decision on Atlantic City. Organizers will move the regional show to Chicago next year to accommodate Midwestern buyers. Future shows will alternate annually between the two cities.

Oakley said alternating the show may bolster attendance in the respective regions each year.

Demonstration cooking a hit

For the second year, organizers offered day-long demonstration cooking classes in place of the Pizza Festiva qualifying contest previously held at both the Atlantic City and Chicago shows. Pizza Today

Show attendees tried their hand at rolling gnocchi during a demonstration cooking session.

contributing editor Pat Bruno and columnist Jeffrey Freehof entertained crowds of 50 to 60 people at a time and dispensed tips on everything from making dough and doctoring sauces to blending cheeses or introducing pastas to a menu.

Lisa and Greg Kasmerek of Capo De Pizza in Schenectady, N.Y., found the demonstration cooking very helpful.

"We just bought a shop in November — an existing shop," said Greg Kasmerek. "We're an independent operator and I think, for me, it made me feel like we're on the right track."

Kasmerek, a police chief-turned-pizzeria operator, said he attended the show last year, prior to opening his restaurant, seeking to learn the basics of a pizzeria operation. This year, he said, he was interested in fine-tuning his operation.

"Last year, when we came, we didn't yet own a shop," he said. "Now, we had more focused things we wanted to come to. One of them was to see the demonstrations and be able to ask questions. We found it very helpful."

Anthony and Lisa Mastertalo of Home Plate restaurant in Maple Shade, N.J., spent a few hours each day watching and listening to Bruno, the restaurant critic at the Chicago Sun-Times, and Freehof, owner of Jeffrey's Pizza & Gourmet in North Attleboro, Mass.

"I think it's great," said Anthony Mastertalo. "We're learning fast and easy ways to prep some dishes that we can put out for specials."

He said many of the dishes his wife learned to prepare in culinary school are good, but take too much time to prepare.

"We need to learn how to do things in a quicker fashion that are still going to be tasty. And that's what I didn't learn," in culinary school, Lisa Mastertalo said.

Both said they liked the informal format of the exhibition cooking, because it gave them an opportunity to ask questions of professionals in the industry.

"It's very thorough, very detailed," she said. "It's not just something that said over and over again. It's very diversified."

New products introduced

Adding to the overall diversity, several vendors introduced new products or services during the show.

Most noticeable was the 35-foot motor coach rolled in by Wunder-Bar, a Vacaville, Calif.-based manufacturer of dispensing products.

Mobile showroom specialist David Waller said the innovative bus, outfitted with many of

Wunder-Bar brought its 35-foot motorcoach to demonstrate its dispensing products.

Wunder-Bar's products, allows the company to take its wares directly to its customers.

Waller said he travels about 10 months out of the year visiting customers around the country. He will log about 40,000 miles a year between customers, large and small.

"We'll sell to the mom-and-pop all the way up to the larger corporate customer," he said.

Taking the show on the road with the motorcoach, Waller said, will enable the company to drastically cut down on the number of foodservice shows it attends.

"We're going to cut the shows in about half," he said. "The coach will pay for itself roughly in three to five years."

He said customers enjoy coming on board the $850,000 bus and don't feel the pressure of a typical sales call.

"The big thing is the climate of the sales," he said. "They understand that I'm strictly a show person, I'm not sales. I'll show you our equipment. Then it's your decision as to whether you want to buy it or make inquiries with one of our salespeople. We're trying to service the people we sell to."

While Waller preferred the soft-sell approach, Mike Manninen took a different one with his product, provoking attendees to blows.

The St. Thomas, Virgin Islands-based entrepreneur invited attendees to take a

Mike Manninen demonstrates how his product can be 'knocked out' to create a small box for leftover pizza slices.

jab at his Knockout Pizza Box, which features a die-cut box top that, when knocked out, can be folded into a triangular slice-sized box that fits nicely in the refrigerator.

Manninen said the idea for his patented invention came to him one night in bed, when he realized the top of a pizza box had enough cardboard to be folded into a smaller container.

He hopes to generate enough interest among operators that box manufacturers and distributors will pick up on the idea and pay him a license fee.

"I can't get into the box distribution business, so they have to go through the distributors they are using and get them to carry it," he said, referring to operators.

So far, he said, box manufacturers and distributors are taking a wait-and-see approach to his product.

"The box people and the distributors are really not in the business of pushing new ideas," he said. "If I can create enough interest and demand, then they will want to fill the demand. That's what we're doing here at the show."

Sweet Success

The National Honey Board has decided to get sweet on the pizzeria industry by promoting the use of its product as a topping or ingredient.

"Our job is to promote honey, so this is just another way that we can add value to pizza operations," said Jami Yanoski, marketing manager for the board, based in Longmont, Colo. "You can use honey in a pizza crust, you can use it as a sauce on a dessert pizza. You can use it as part of a topping on a savory pizza, like a chicken wing pizza or something like that."

To entice operators at the show, the board prepared such items as a Honey Macaroon Desert Pizza, which featured honey, coconut toasted almonds, whipped cream and fresh blueberries.

Yanoski said the Honey is being received well by pizzeria operators.

"We just started this year," she said. "We created the recipes at the end of last year and just started promoting it this year. We went to the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas earlier this year and it was very well-received there. I think, so far today, we've had phenomenal reception."

Good Things To Come

Long-time industry observer and Expo presenter Tom Lehman said he sees what he considers a subtle "changing of the guard" in the pizzeria industry.

Lehman, a director of American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kan., based his assessment on the types of questions show attendees are asking at the seminars he conducts during the Expo.

"Over the last couple shows, we found that there's really a changing of the guard taking place," Lehman said. "There are new entry-level people coming in. It's no longer the people who have owned their stores for five, six or 10 years. These are now people who've only owned their stores for year."

A trend he has noticed is that a larger number of people are attending the shows just prior to opening their stores.

"They are within six months of opening, and that is the most reassuring thing I've seen," he said. "It shows that there's a whole new generation of pizzeria operators coming on board right now. That bodes very well for the industry."

Lehman said new owners are trying to learn as much they can about the industry and asking the entry-level questions.

"It makes it exciting and just breathes new life into the industry, because now all of a sudden you've got this whole new group of people to work with," he said. "And, yes we do have to adapt ourselves by going back and reiterating the basics again. But somebody once said you never want to lose sight of the basics, because those are your building blocks for the future."