Scott's Pizza Tour Pizza News

The International Pizza Expo is a massive trade show with everything from canned tomatoes to mozzarella-making demos to dough acrobatics and anything else you could possibly imagine relating to the pizza industry. I’ve been attending the Expo since 2006 and always find myself overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the room and the number of exhibitors it holds. Since I’m always researching multiple angles of the pizzaverse, entering the Expo floor feels like walking into a pastry shop and wanting to eat one of everything. It is truly amazing… and filling.

This year, I decided to limit my scope to just a few pieces of the pizza puzzle. Numero uno on my list was a tool we often take for granted but couldn’t live without: THE PIZZA BOX. I’ve been collecting pizza boxes from around the world ever since last year’s Slice Out Hunger fundraiser (we raised $1600 for City Harvest in just 2 hours with the help of an International Pizza Box Gallery) and my collection has grown exponentially since the event. I’ve learned a ton about the art, architecture and history of the pizza box, which all came together earlier this month at the pizza industry’s oldest and largest trade show.

First thing’s first, I saw the WORLD’S LARGEST PIZZA BOX! That’s right, this 54’ box is used by Big Mama’s and Papa’s Pizzeria to deliver gargantuan party pizzas to folks in the Los Angeles area. It’s manufactured by Whalen Packaging and requires direct shipping via flatbead truck to get to the pizzeria. The artwork is applied as a decal rather than printing directly on the box, so it’s extra clean and bright.

After a quick call to Big Mama’s and Papa’s on Hollywood Blvd in Los Angeles, I found out that the pie serves up to 60 people and costs $199.99 + tax as well as an additional delivery fee of $60. YIKES!

The megabox seemed to be the only over-sized piece on the show floor, with most manufacturers heading down the eco-friendly path of minimizing paper usage. New box designs are reducing paper consumption by 10-15% after eliminating unnecessary chunks of cardboard on the box flaps. Smurfit-Stone is the largest pizza box manufacturer in the US and their designers literally cut corners to reduce paper consumption and save their customers some cash.

As far as the eco-friendly pizza box is concerned, the undisputed leader is Ecovention, who showcased their GreenBox at the show. The lid breaks apart into four serving plates and the base folds into itself to become a storage unit for leftover slices. It’s a brilliant way to instantly reuse a pizza box and the visual design is super classy. GreenBox’s distributor, Roma Foods, even has their own branded GreenBox for nation-wide distribution, as does gourmet supermarket Whole Foods. My brother Jon is really excited about it.

Other innovative ideas came from Smurfit-Stone, who makes a box with a mylar heat-retention sheet under the hood. I’ve never seen one in action but I’d love to run some tests to see how it compares to the amazing iPack & Trade box I love so much. It looks like this one might trap a bunch of steam since there’s only one visible notch vent at the front of the box but I’ll try to get a sample and test it myself!

Pizza Box fever was on a real rampage this year. The show even had a Best of the Best Pizza Box Challenge, which awarded a cash prize for the best pizza box design. Voting was open to all show attendees but entries were limited to custom prints (no submissions from box manufacturers). Farrelli’s took home the prize (bottom row) but I thought there were quite a few decent submissions.

Sadly, the best boxes weren’t even in the contest. I’ll leave you with two of my favorites from the show floor. First up is an awesome ad-oriented box from Papa John’s (manufactured by Smurfit-Stone). PJ’s has lots of these limited edition boxes and I want all of them. Send me one and I’ll give you a prize!

And finally, the most talked-about box of Pizza Expo ‘11 hails from Milan and was used by reps from Via Tribunali in Seattle. I proudly present the pizza box you don’t take home to Mama:

I’m so confused by this scene because these four guys are just hanging out while there’s a babe holding a beautiful pizza Margherita just a few feet away. What a bunch of bozos!

This is the third post in a series about my recent trip to Italy.

Just a couple weeks before my trip to Naples, I stumbled upon an incredible pizza box that completely changed my concept of the universe. Even though I collect boxes from all around the world, I’ve never been a big user of them myself because of a mountain of negatives. My crust gets soggy, the pie tastes like cardboard, and the dang thing is a pain in the tush to dispose of. I’ve always dreamed of inventing the perfect box that would correct these major issues, but my mission was rendered unnecessary the moment I found this modern marvel at Rossopomodo in Manhattan’s Eataly Italian superstore.

After posting a video about the box’s many features, I was invited to tour the manufacturer’s headquarters in Naples. I spent a day with the owner of iPack & Trade, Diego Rubino. It was one of the most amazing days of my life.

The beautiful photo-quality artwork on the box tops are super eye-catching, but the box’s technical functions are even more captivating. Diego explained that Italy has very strict laws regarding what materials are allowed to come into contact with food. Countries that produce paper products are usually light in restrictions because of a strong paper lobby. Since Italy is not a paper producing country, paper products are severely restricted. This is why some pizza boxes in Italy feature food-safe linings and advanced construction.

The big problem is that nobody wants to invest in such a fancy pizza box when low-end options are readily available. According to Diego, 95% of the pizza boxes in Italy are illegal because they have no barrier to protect food items from direct contact with recycled paper. In fact, Diego and his colleagues at iPack & Trade are so adverse to being lumped in with common box producers that they refer to their products as containers.

“Boxes are for carting things from place to place, not for delivering carefully crafted food” is Rubino’s general sentiment. Why put so much time and effort into crafting a perfect pizza only to damn it to a life sentence of sogginess inside a cardboard coffin? It’s simple: paper goods are the easiest piece of the budget to cut and iPack & Trade’s containers are roughly three times the cost of standard low end boxes.

Before heading to Naples, I was able to figure out most of the iPack’s features. There’s ample ventilation; the interior coating helps retain heat; containers are 100% recyclable; and the printing is super high quality. Tons of features, but I missed a few and Diego was more than willing to show me.

As Diego demonstrated, the innermost section is an extremely thin sheet of polyester. The purpose of this sheet is three-fold; it retains heat, deflects grease (keeping the materials recyclable!) and prevents food from coming into contact with recycled paper. This contact is fine for some foods but not when humidity or solvents such as oil and other fats are present. Pizza fails both tests, so particles of recycled paper break down in its presence. That’s why take-out pizza tastes like cardboard. He also showed me that only a thin film of water-soluble glue is necessary to adhere the polyester to the recycled paper, so running it under warm water for a few seconds is all it takes to separate the two materials for recycling. This polyester layer is extremely durable, so the standard pizza wheel cannot puncture it.

The final feature utilizes several cardboard tabs created by the opening of ventilation ports around the perimeter of the container top. These tabs form a “U” shape inside which an additional pizza container can fit. When stacking several pizzas, this has the effect of holding multiple containers in place.   

There’s some pretty impressive stuff going on here but it’s all very simple. The heat retaining / humidity dispersing features of the container reminded me of an object I’ve seen in a few Neapolitan pizzerias around New York and Naples called a stufa (literally a stove). These little tubs were used to carry stacks of pizzas around the streets of Naples to be sold as snacks for a few cents apiece. Carrying them was usually the job of a baker’s son, who would hoist the copper case either on his head or tied over his shoulder. That’s right, it’s the world’s first pizza box.

It turns out that Diego used to be a stufa boy in Naples (although that’s not him in the photo) so this pizza box of the future is actually based on the archaic pizza box of the past. My pizza box collection wouldn’t be complete without a stufa so Diego tracked down the craftsman who makes them just a few blocks away. We made a quick stop, thanks to a call from Rossopomodoro’s CEO Franco Manna, and saw a freshly finished stufa as it was being prepared for shipping. This one wasn’t going back to New York with me, but I have a feeling I’ll be placing an order for the next round.

So keep your eyes peeled for amazing pizza containers from iPack & Trade. As of this moment they are only available at Rossopomodoro, with one location in New York and another in Naples, Florida. After my experience with Diego, I can honestly say I will never look at a pizza box… errr, container… the same way again.

This is seriously the coolest pizza box I have ever seen. I found it at Rossopomodoro in Eataly, the Flatiron district’s essential Italian food market. The pizza is pure Neapolitan, so it requires a truly unique box unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Some say it’s from the future. Some say it mirrors thermal principals of the past. Everyone agrees it’s rad.

Thanks to @pauliegee for the heads-up about the TSA’s pizza box top recruiting campaign. I really need one of these for my pizza box collection. Read more about the TSA’s recruiting campaign and send me a box if you find one.

MORE INTERNATIONAL PIZZA BOXES!

Tonight’s the night for our $1 slice fundraiser for City Harvest, featuring Pizza Boxes of the World. We’ll have so much pizza it’s insane. Please come and eat it. Pizza will be provided by Arturo’s, Lombardi’s, Joe’s, John’s, Pizza Suprema, Luzzo’s amd Lazzara’s. Most of those places don’t even sell pizza by the slice so this event is your big opportunity to try them all in one place!

This video features boxes from the Netherlands, which will be on display tonight. See you there!

Slice Out Hunger
Thursday, May 27
6:30 - 9 PM
GAP Adventures
364 Avenue of the Americas
www.gapadventures.com/store/newyork
www.cityharvest.org
www.scottspizzatours.com

GOODIES FROM THE SPT MAILBAG!

Scott’s Pizza Tours will be holding a “Slice Out Hunger” fund raiser for City Harvest on May 27 at GAP Adventures in NYC from 6:30 to 9 PM. We’ll have pizza from New York’s finest pizzerias available for $1 per slice. Most of these places don’t even sell pizza by the slice, so this is going to be a real treat. Our goal is to raise a billion dollars.

We’ll also be hosting an exhibit called “Pizza Boxes of the World,” which features several international pizza boxes. So far, we have boxes from Hungary, China, Czech Republic and more on the way! They are all beautiful and they will most certainly blow your mind.

Event Information:
Slice Out Hunger
Thursday, May 27
6:30 - 9 PM
GAP Adventures
364 Avenue of the Americas
www.gapadventures.com/store/newyork
www.cityharvest.org
www.scottspizzatours.com

PIZZA BOXES OF THE WORLD!!!

Scott’s Pizza Tours will be holding a “Slice Out Hunger” fund raiser for City Harvest on May 27 at GAP Adventures in NYC from 6:30 to 9 PM. We’ll have pizza from New York’s finest pizzerias available for $1 per slice. Most of these places don’t even sell pizza by the slice, so this is going to be a real treat. Our goal is to raise a billion dollars.

We’ll also be hosting an exhibit called “Pizza Boxes of the World,” which features several international pizza boxes. So far, we have boxes from Hungary, China, and today’s SPT mailbag contained a bunch of boxes from the Czech Republic! They are all beautiful and they will most certainly blow your mind.

Event Information:
Thursday, May 27
6:30 - 9 PM
GAP Adventures
364 Avenue of the Americas
www.gapadventures.com/store/newyork
www.cityharvest.org
www.scottspizzatours.com