Everybody has their own ideas about what makes pizza great — old school vs. new school, New York-style compared to Neapolitan or Chicago deep dish — the possibilities in pizza really are wide open.

With Roma®, Performance Foodservice has been intimately involved in the American pizza business for nearly 70 years. So, we reached out to some of our top pizza experts in the field — authentic, passionate pizza chefs and industry afficionados — for a closer look under the oven hood.

Neighborhood Flavor

Born and raised in New York, Chef Andrea Maldonado experienced an epic culinary education in Queens neighborhoods like Jackson Heights and Astoria. She’s absolutely seen it all.

“Pizza is tied to your community. So, especially being a New Yorker, you have your favorite shop, and that’s the number one place in your mind. And you will fight people over it,” the Performance corporate chef said, laughing. “It doesn’t matter if you’re from Brooklyn, the Bronx. It’s kind of like rooting for your favorite sports team, right? It’s incredible the kind of loyalty pizza shops inspire.”

“It’s important to really understand your concept, your brand, so you can make pizzas that are perfect for the neighborhood,” said Enzo Ferrante, a charismatic Performance master pizzaiolo certified by the Associazione of Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN).

“You know,” Ferrante continued, “I went to Mars Pizza (outside of Pittsburgh) and helped work with them on combining some Italian and American elements, which we twisted a little bit, okay? And they’ve become very successful, so now they sell more pizza.”

“I literally just got a (message) from one of our 35-, 40-year customers,” said Joseph Attalla, an exuberant Performance chef out of New Jersey, “telling me he just won the best Sicilian pizza down in South Jersey. And everybody’s applauding them because that’s that Roma pride down there. I’m seeing a lot of the old school trends (like scratch cooking, cup ‘n’ char pepperoni) from the 80s coming back today.”

So Fresh and So Clean

As far as ingredients, Chef Attalla sees no signs of the clean revolution slowing down. “So, clean label items are becoming very, very popular and…(pizzerias) know their customers are looking for it. And if they advertise it right, it helps them increase their sales.”

He mentioned items like Roma All Purpose Flour, which is unbleached, in addition to unbromated, unbleached, enriched flour from labels like Assoluti!® or Luigi® in the Roma family of brands.

“We have the Piancone® II Famoso Peeled Ground Tomatoes,” he continued. “I use that for everything that I would do old school, from my pizza sauce to sauté dishes. It’s a clean label — there’s no acidity to it, and you don’t have to add sugar. Just add basil, add a little olive oil, and a pinch of salt, and that’s my pizza sauce.”

Ferrante agreed, “My ingredients are very, very simple. With Il Famoso, you have a good tomato. I’ll just mortar it — okay, basil, sea salt, extra virgin olive oil.”

“I do love the Il Famoso,” said Chef Maldonado, joining in the tomato party. “We have great products within the Luigi line and in our imported tomatoes as well. All our California tomatoes are amazing. So it just depends on the flavor profile that the operator is looking for.”

Attalla returned to the olive oil. “Our Piancone Unfiltered Olive Oil is the best I’ve ever tasted, which I would say even if I worked somewhere else. And there's nothing in it except for unfiltered olive oil that literally has sediment in the bottom. Absolutely fantastic.”

More Cheese, Please

For Chef Maldonado, it’s always been about the cheese: “I will gauge how you do in the pizza segment by your cheese. Because toppings will always make things amazing, but I need to see your base, so you need great cheese.

“With Bacio® Cheese, the cheese pull is such a great thing to photograph or to put in an Instagram reel. A fresh pie comes out, and you're just showing that amazing cheese — that stretchiness. It's something that will inspire you to go visit (a place) that maybe you wouldn't have stopped in, right? Bacio can do that for you.”

“The color of it coming out of the oven is pure white,” added Chef Attalla. “And it just happens to have that Kiss of Buffalo Milk®, which gives it that little, sweet twang that makes guests go, okay that tastes a little different. But what is it? And so, they’re interested in trying more.”

Slice of Creativity

In Jim Anderson’s mind, flexibility is critical to success with pizza. Anderson is a national sales manager for pizza and Italian at Performance and a Wisconsin native with 30 years of experience in foodservice.

“I’m constantly learning,” he explained. “So, you think about pizza makers — hey, maybe consider working on a Roman-style, or Pinsa, or whatever you can do to reinvent yourself. You may find something that works even better for you.”

According to Anderson, depending on where you are, pretty much everything can be served on a pizza these days. “Essentially anything you can put on a sandwich, you can put on a pizza,” he said.

“If you’re going to make a Reuben, make a Reuben pizza. Whatever it is, it can translate, so it makes pizza very versatile. The Detroit-style pizza has gained a lot of popularity. Ever since some of the bigger chains started menuing it, I’ve been getting a lot of requests to teach people how to make it. It’s a very good pizza. Let's start menuing these ideas, so people have a reason to come back to try something new.”

Chef Maldonado is feeling the heat from the swicy (sweet & spicy) trend. “I know hot honey is the biggest craze right now, and we offer FLAVORSMITH® Sweet Heat Hot Honey. Younger generations want to be super hot, like where your taste buds melt off just perfectly and so right.

“I actually went to visit CIA,” she continued, “and they did a pepperoni pizza and made their own infused honey with Calabrian chili. So, I think it's a great product to incorporate that spice, in a simple way, right? Then you can add other things later, if you want to try working with chilies to add extra heat.”

Your House, Your Story

Maldonado, inspired by her Hispanic heritage, has been experimenting with Latin fusion as well. “Other trends in pizza are looking outside of the traditional with Mexican-influenced pizzas, Asian-inspired pizzas,” she said.

“I've tried Caribbean jerk chicken, adding a super spicy and delicious hot sauce over it. It's become almost like a bit of a cultural revolution, a way for people to take pizza in a different direction. Because everyone loves pizza, so you can add your own spin to it. What if your (restaurant is) famous for a housemade fancy ravioli? Figure out a way to put that onto your pizza, too.

“Focus on putting your brand out there (via social media and marketing) and sharing your story,” the chef added. “Everyone loves a good story, and these folks…are amazing and inspirational as far as how they got here. Some of these places have been handed down (for generations), and now their children are the ones learning the art. And so, people want to know that there is some kind of history behind where they go and spend their money.”