That’s amore!

And America’s love for pizza is no joke: We eat around 3 billion pies a year. Admit it. You probably sang the title of this blog. And, you have likely eaten pizza in the past week.

Pizza toppings are an important product of the pork industry. Pepperoni, sausage, Canadian bacon. (Anyone hungry yet?) But, that’s not what I’m talking about today. I have a whole new relationship with the pizza industry. It started Jan. 1, 2022, when my partner purchased his first franchise pizza shop.

My previous experience with restaurants has been 100% as a patron. I will be the first to admit; I have not always had realistic expectations. I can be somewhat demanding. I might not get too worked up if a wait is a few minutes longer than estimated, but I will be frustrated if service continues to be slow throughout the meal. I have sent food back for being incorrect or undercooked.

Since COVID, I find myself getting more frustrated than before when dining out. Slower-than-ever service (even on takeout orders). Inability to be seated, despite there being open tables. Establishments closing early or not answering the phone during peak hours. Oh, and why aren’t some of the things I used to order on the menu anymore? UGH!

My perspective on foodservice is forever changed based on the last 90 days, though. I can tell you firsthand that labor in foodservice is a problem. Supply chain is a challenge. And, customers aren’t getting any less demanding. In fact, they expect more, faster and better as they try to get every bit of value from their food dollar in times of almost-unprecedented inflation.

My partner’s small, local pizza place employs fewer than 10 people and 90% of them are under the age of 25. Three-quarters of the staff are in high school. If everyone shows up, he is lucky. If no one makes a customer-facing mistake, he is lucky. He inherited a staff who had a very loose culture, and he continues to tighten the reins, but he can’t afford to lose anyone right now, so that will take time.

In the last 90 days he has, at various times, not been able to get takeout boxes, large soda cups, meat sauce for pasta dishes, or breaded mozzarella sticks. Currently, he can only buy five bags of flour at a time for dough. (He typically goes through 10-15 a week.) Cheese prices continue to rise. He has been stocking up on chicken wings to be proactive in light of potential supply chain issues due to highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Most of the business is takeout. A few regulars dine in. They are generally very nice, though there have been a few instances where people got pretty demanding when a pizza was five minutes late coming out of the oven. One man demanded his entire order (three pizzas) be free because the last pie was still in the oven when he arrived to pick it up. You can’t expect a high schooler to deal with that kind of conversation — or, at least, to do it well.

There is no delivery offered (see labor issues above!), but many people order online through a third-party app, which also provides delivery services. They actually had to call a customer once and tell them not to eat their pizza because another customer coming in for a pickup saw the driver drop the food, scoop it back into the box from the ground, and proceed to load it in his car for delivery.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? And it is. (Well, most of it anyway.) Because my partner has the opportunity to train and manage young people at what may be their first job. And he has the privilege of feeding people — being part of the memories built around the dinner table.

As for me, I am proud to support him however I can. Whether that is topping taco pizzas or answering the phone or just lending an empathetic ear after a long day. Because, unexpectedly, this experience has reminded me of one of the core reasons why I love the pork industry so much — we feed people. And we do it in such a way that those people will never know how hard we work to get food on their plate. That is pretty darn noble, whether you are the one raising the pig, or processing it, or counting out the right number of pepperonis for the pie.

Now, go eat some pizza.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie …

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