Las Vegas — The 2023 International Pizza Expo returned to the Las Vegas Convention Center last week. The 39th annual event is considered the largest pizza show in the world.
Breads. Cheese. Dough. Chicken wings. Frozen lemonade. Italian gelato. Meatballs. Mozzarella sticks. Pastas. Pepperoni. Sauce. Soda pop. Ovens. Wine. It was all here at the International Pizza Expo.
BakeMark showed off their new pizza fries—which are breadsticks made out of pizza dough mix.
“It’s a small breadstick and we call it pizza fries,” said Hazel Alba, a tech service advisor at BakeMark. “You only had yeast, water and olive oil. We add in herbs and spices and a lot of cheese. All of the good enzymes are in it that makes it really delicious. Less mistakes for your bakers and that’s a big plus.”
The Pizza Expo featured suppliers from across the globe, networking and educational sessions. In addition, there were pizza themed competitions as well.
Otis Spunkmeyer introduced their new shareable pizza cookies.
“We’re introducing it here at the Pizza Expo,” said Jim White, director of food service at Aspire Bakeries. “It is eight inches and 11 and a half ounces. The highlights are it comes precooked. All you do is thaw it in the oven. It’s a low labor, low cost dessert you can share with your customers.”
La Brea Bakery premiered their new quarter sheet focaccia breads.
“It’s available in both food service and retail,” White added. “We’re just offering those to the great people at the Pizza Expo. If you don’t need a large volume, go to your local grocery store and you’ll find it there too.”
Attendees were able to enjoy free samples of pizzas, pastas, chicken, sandwiches and more. Beyond meat offered samples of its new pepperoni on pizzas.
Truffle Systems debuted their cloud-based point of sale system for restaurants, cafes, bars and more. It offers online ordering and contactless food pickup with display screens.
“Truffle System is an automated system that we came up with initially during Covid to deal with delivery drivers and expanded it to any type of unattended food pickup system,” said Sean McCaughan, Vice President of sales at Truffle Systems. “When an order comes in, whether it be online or through phone, it appears on a kitchen display system. It can then be placed in a locker. We load this using a QR code so there’s no room for data error. When the system has been loaded and the pizza has been placed in, the system will text your customer a PIN and a QR code.”
Californo told me about their mobile pizza oven trailers. They can cook five to six pizzas at one time at just 80 seconds each! That’s one minute and 20 seconds.
“It’s a turn key solution which will give you the option your business the minute you receive the trailer,“ said Shali Zanzuri from Californo. “It’s a full pizza oven operated by gas or wood. We have a built-in freezer of 23 cubic feet. We have a 64-inch refrigeration, lighting, and three-compartment sink. We can deliver your oven so you can rock and roll the day you receive it. This one was sold at the first day of the show for $91,000.“
The show floor featured startup companies as well as national brands such as Tyson foods, General Mills and Door Dash.
The International Pizza Expo will return with its 40th annual show on March 19-21, 2024.
For more information about the International Pizza Expo, visit: https://pizzaexpo.pizzatoday.com/
California pizza oven trailers 
Focaccia Bread by La Brea Bakery 
Shareable Pizza Cookie by Otis Spunkmeyer 
Door Dash booth 
General Mills 
Beyond Meat 
BakeMark pizza fries 
Sean McCaughan told me more about Truffle Systems