Our life is not all tossing dough and being glamorous; we also try to keep up on the pizza trends. Part of this involves reading trade magazines (which are really good, incidentally; big ups to Pizza Today and PMQ’s Pizza Magazine. Who knew pizza-related articles could be so well-written, entertaining, and informative?!) and going online to see what’s happening in the greater world of pizza.

So we are happy to report that as far as 2011 goes, we’re doing pretty well, even if we didn’t read this report from pizzamarketplace.com until right now (uh, yeah, well, at least we read it before the year was half over…).
1. Artisan Cheese: Use flavorful cheese, which allows you to use less but keep all the flavor.

Check! While we’re not exactly sure if what we’re using is straight-up artisanal, we do use all local, Wisconsin cheese. And it is tasty. And we use just the right amount.

2. Local Produce: Visit local farm markets and buy produce from farmers.

Well, not to get all obnoxious, but we were way ahead of the curve on this one for sure–this is so 2007! One of the best things about summer is our Tomato Pesto pizza made with heirloom farmers’ market tomatoes and local pesto. And let’s not forget the Farmers’ Market Grilled Veggie slice (whatever we find at the market, we grill and put on pizza. Ta-da!).

3. Social Media: You need both strategies, online and offline.

Again, we’re feeling pretty good about ourselves in regards to this… although we’re not entirely sure we have a “strategy” (unless “strategy” can mean yapping and being goofy with people on Facebook, in which case, yeah, we’re all over it…).

4. Smaller Portions: Offer healthful, smaller pieces of pizza for weight-conscious customers.

This is one we haven’t done; if you want a big, filling slice of pizza, that’s what you’ll get at Ian’s. Although we do have spectacular salads that are so delicious they’ll make you forget that you’re eating something good for you. Does that count?

In sum: the pizza news in 2011 is about local, flavorful, conversational, healthy food. Clearly we got lucky this time around; next year we’ll try to read this news in January just to be sure.

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