March 1 - 3, 2011: A Record-Breaking International Pizza Expo®

Record Attendance: More Than 6,400 Attendees

Record Exhibit Hall: Largest Show Floor Ever for Exhibits and Demonstrations
More Than 900 Booths, the Equivalent of 5.5 Football Fields in Size

Save the Date: International Pizza Expo 2012
March 13-15, 2012, Las Vegas Convention Center

CLICK HERE to order CDs/DVDs of Expo Seminars

2011 Highlights

Monday, Feb. 28
The first-ever New Operator Monday brought hundreds of first-time attendees to the meeting rooms for programming geared toward those planning a pizza-concept restaurant and those in the first months of operation.

Big Dave Ostrander kicked things off with an optional morning-session comprehensive workshop, "So, You Want to Open a Pizzeria," followed by afternoon seminars on subjects as varied, and focused for new operators, as "How to Hire So You Don't Fire," "Community Marketing 101" and "10 Common Restaurant Startup Mistakes." Big Dave then returned at 5:30 p.m. to moderate a panel discussion featuring veteran operators addressing the questions of attendees.

The day concluded with a lively New Operator Reception, with food, drink and the opportunity to network with other early-stages pizza operators.

Tuesday, March 1
Sean Brauser, the founder and president of Romeo's Pizza, headquartered in Medina, Ohio, jump-started opening day for the general sessions and exhibit hall with an inspiring keynote address before a jam-packed audience. Then, at 9 a.m., the ever-popular Tony Gemignani began his hands-on optional workshop, "Making Dough With Tony Gemignani, Part I," and a slate of business-boosting seminars, eight in all, were held in the meeting rooms.

At 10 a.m., attendees stampeded into the exhibit hall — the largest ever — and crowded around exhibitor spaces offering the best products and services in the industry. Concurrently, the demonstration area on the show floor offered stadium seating for those interested in pizza-making demos and competition in the traditional pizza category of the International Pizza Challenge. CLICK HERE to download all the IPC standings.

As the buzz of activity on the show floor was nearly concluded at the approach of 3 p.m., afternoon seminars — 17 in all — doled out tips, advice and encouragement on a variety of subjects. The day ended with a full-house Beer & Bull session of networking moderated by Pizza Today publisher Pete Lachapelle and sparked by some much-needed thirst-quenchers.

Wednesday, March 2
The second keynote speaker, Joe Fugere, owner of Seattle's Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, engrossed early-morning listeners with the story of his journey to Italy and love-at-first-sight encounter with the style of pizza he has so successfully brought back to the U.S. Tony Gemignani continued his dough-making classes and another round of seminars on fresh subjects — from improving service to e-marketing and social media-marketing and lessons in leadership — preceded reopening of the exhibit hall.

Action was just as intense on Day 2 on the show floor, while pizza making demonstrations drew big crowds and creative pie-builders vied for a finalist spot in the non-traditional pizza category of the International Pizza Challenge. (There were free samples for everyone in attendance.)

Another 17 afternoon seminars covering all aspects of the the business made the International Pizza Expo an educational experience for any attendee looking for business-improving suggestions. And Beer & Bull returned, again becoming a boisterous exchange of winning ideas for managing a successful restaurant.

The evening was capped, fittingly, with the World Pizza Games Finals & Rockin' Party — free for all attendees and exhibitors with food, drink and the amazing crowd-pleasing routines of crust-spinners from around the globe. Winner of first place in Individual Acrobatic, Masters Division was Eric Corbin of Tony's Pizza A GoGo in San Francisco. And the winner in Individual Acrobatic, First Division was Pat Miller of A Slice of New York in Columbus, Ohio.

Thursday, March 3
The final day featured optional workshops on dough by Tony Gemignani and menu pricing with Big Dave Ostrander, as well as morning business-boosting seminars.

The exhibit hall remained busy from 10 a.m—3 p.m. Meanwhile, the crowd grew in the pizza-making competition area for the International Pizza Challenge Finals, which culminated with a $10,000 winner in both the traditional and non-traditional pizza categories. There was also a blind box competition for finalists, using the secret ingredient (Frank's RedHot Sweet Chili Sauce), which was won by traditional category winner, Carmelo Oliveri of Verona, Italy. He was presented with another check, this time for $5,000. Farelli's Wood Fire Pizza won the first Pizza Box contest, voted on by Expo attendees. A drawing for a Hobart Mixer and the $20,000 Mega Bucks Giveaway added to the big-money day on the show floor.

At 3 p.m., the Expo officially ended. It was a great week for everyone present!