The Future

NIT Picking with Spin Williams

47 Comments

Header photo from flickr by Jason Lam

Today’s post comes from trend watcher, deal maker and marketing genius Spin Williams, who is always in residence at TMTNE (The Meeting That Never Ends).

Hello Economic Strivers!

Today I’m really excited about pizza!  That’s why it’s my pick for NIT (New Investment Tip) of the week!

At TMTNE we talked about how millennials are absolutely hooked on pizza! They eat it all the time – at school, at home, at parties, at sporting events, for breakfast, as a snack – pizza is the ten-cent hamburger of Now!

Faced with this indigestible fact, nay-sayers and grumpy problem-posers ask why? But I think judging others is a time-waster for self-important snobs. Face facts. The kids have a Pizza Jones. So let’s move quickly to take advantage!

That’s what the Minnesota Twins are doing! They’re planning to sell a Bloody Mary at the ballpark this season with a cold slice of pepperoni stuck in it. What a brilliant idea, because there’s lots of pizza left over from yesterday’s game, and alcoholic beverages need something extra to make people interested!

Not really, but you’ve got to admire the urge to give it that special Value Added feature.

Our nation is paved with pizza coast to coast. And that’s a good thing, because pizza is durable, just like asphalt.

Especially Domino’s.

How big is this? Super big!  When I look at emerging trends, I see pizza everywhere.

  • Young people are driving less.
    That means their food has to come to them, and nothing travels faster by car (or drone) than pizza!
  • Young people are moving back in with their parents.
    That means continued family food chaos – the kitchen is always open – for pizza!
  • Young people are less religious.
    Modern hotdish = pizza!
  • Young people don’t carry cash.
    What’s flat, fits in your pocket, and is valued everywhere?

Pizza is our past, our present and it’s a big part of our shared future because it’s the closest thing to money that you can actually eat. That’s why pizza is my latest NIT pick!

Yours in marketing,
Spin

What’s your favorite pizza?

47 thoughts on “NIT Picking with Spin Williams”

  1. Good morning. As Spin indicated, pizza is everywhere. There are so many kinds that it is hard to pick a single favorite. Our home made pizza is very good. There are all kinds of what I would call gourmet pizza with fancy ingredients and special cooking methods that are very good. Lucia’s restaurant has good gourmet pizza and so does Al Vento. My favorite pizza that is the traditional kind, not gourmet, is the ones you can get at Fat Lorenzo’s pizza restaurant. Very good crust and sauce with good topping choices and good cheese.

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    The Neopolitan style pizza, such as Punch, I find irresistable. It is so authentic and delicious. I also love my own garden pizza that I make from my own garden ingredients July through October. I love to take that to parties on a pizza stone (BBC must head to my house during this period of summer and I will make one–since it is really about being social, good food, the ideas in a book, and a baboonish, shy-party)!

    Speaking of that–I have all the emails about WHERE the next BBC is on April 12. Could someone back channel the book selections to me.

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  4. The best pizza I’ve ever had was at Pizza Bianco in Phoenix, believe it or not. Don’t remember the ingredients, but it was wood-fired and worth the one hour wait to even get a seat in the small joint.

    Otherwise, I have fond memories of GIno’s East deep-dish pizza in Chicago. The crust was more like pastry dough than pizza dough. Not for the light eater to be sure. Lou Malnati’s in Chicagoland made top-notch pizza too.

    I haven’t tried much pizza in the Cities (such a provincial old curmudgeon down here. 😉 ) But my wife loves my spinach, onion, black olive, Canadian bacon homemade pizza.

    Chris in Owatonna

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      1. Thanks for pointing that out. I knew there was something special about that place. Didn’t remember the Beard Award. Pretty impressive when you can get that for pizza!

        Chris

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  5. Pizza Luce, hands down. They have an extensive vegan menu and TWO types of vegan cheese! My favorite used to be the Pizza Athena (Greek, not surprisingly), but recently I tried The Rustler (mock duck, banana peppers and barbecue sauce) and loved it. Besides pizza, they have a vegan muffuletta sandwich, veggie meatball sandwich, and vegetarian parmigiana sandwiches, besides a very good spaghetti and veggie meatballs (and soymilk for my coffee!). My roommate loves their spinach salad. Galactic Pizza is good too, but Luce’s gives me so many choices, they’re practically my default restaurant.

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  6. Well, it kind of depends on what kind of pizza one is in the mood for. Greasy, sloppy pizza? Stuffed? High end? Flatbread? Deep dish? I’m a fan of Kona (known for their sushi) ‘flatbreads,’ which are more like pizza. For traditional flatbread, Twin City Grill in MOA. I like Green Mill for deep dish. For greasy, sloppy, if I’m in Duluth, it has to be Sammy’s but down here I really like Dulano’s. For a good middle-of-the-road that’s a step up from greasy/sloppy, try John’s Pizza Cafe on Dale St. in St. Paul.

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    2. dulanos is a good choice. i forgot about the venice cafe down around 7th and hennipen ,. great thin crust ansd soooooooo greasy. it gort anything paper based with 4 feet of the table loily. and the jukebox was to die for. hey jude….

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  7. I have some difficulty with this question. I do not eat cheese. Ever. At all. I’ve learned that this crimps my options when it comes to eating pizza. Circumstances once forced me to eat in a pizza joint in Ankeny, Iowa. When my pizza came, I had to call the server to protest. “This has cheese on it!” I cried. “I told you, NO cheese!” The server lamely said, “I thought you were kidding.”

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    1. i was recently in the restraunt in the basement of macys and having lunch with my mom
      i had tea and when she asked if i wanted another i said yes, she said just water i sad no new tea bag too would be great and leave the old one. she did and she came back and asked again, again i said yes and she said i will have to charge you for another 250 for it. i said thats ok if you dont mind it coming out of your tip. she looked horrified. i wish i could have seen her face when she received 15% minus 2.50. she was a mean look down your nose waitress accustomed to serving blue hairs who never say boo and can be pushed through lunch without a protest.
      no pizza on the menu there.
      good popovers though(i enjoy popovers.

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  8. I second Jacque’s choice. Punch’s Neapolitan style pizzas are amazing. Now that I think about it, it has been way too long since I’ve had one.

    At home I make mostly flatbread style pizzas with caramelized onions, roasted garlic and peppers, fresh mushrooms and spinach or arugula, and, of course, provolone and mozzarella cheese.

    Red’s Savoy pizza is pretty darn good too.

    Thanks, Dale, for planting this seed. I know this day will have to include pizza one way or the other.

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    1. i know lots like punch. i am not among them. its like eating on a cracker to me. i like the pizza in italy which is not like the pizza here but its not like punch either. i didnt spend a lot of time in naples area with the dirt people in italy but it is beautiful. milan is where i love to eat. you cant get bad food up there.

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        1. I can be impatient with people who get upset when celebrities get sick or die. After all, we don’t know them. It seems pretentious to mourn people we have never met. But I was surprised this morning at my reaction to Joni’s medical emergency. I guess I’m stuck with an image of her as a hippie chick singing songs that defined my generation. It matters to me that she gets well.

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        2. I think that’s laudable, Steve. Even if we don’t know them personally, sometimes celebrities can bring a warm memory or inspiration to our lives. I stayed in bed all day (reading) after Agatha Christie died; I loved her books and was sad there wouldn’t be any more. If I could have stayed in bed last month after Leonard Nimoy died, I would have done that too!

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      2. I appreciate that, vs. My uneasiness with people who go into mourning over the loss of a celebrity dates to the death of Princess Di. Some people really went to pieces about that. That seems pretentious, and yet I acknowledge that celebrities inhabit a sort of community in our heads, and even if we don’t know them we can care about them.

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    2. I’ve just been reading about Joni Mitchell. Wow. Poverty, depression, bizarre illness, divorce, turbulent relations with just about everyone . . . she has had a terribly messy life. Amazing how a person who has been through what she has can produce works of transcendent beauty.

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      1. i hadnt heard at all. i love joni jazz folkie,,, name another. she was magic in her creative stretch, almost ot the same extent as dylan. she is someone i know because we artists hearts all know when it is bs and when its not. you cant make up emotions and feelings and views and takes on love and life and opinions and stuff you throw out there. painters poets writers songwriters are transpearent and if they put it out there we can see and touch and feel as if we were having a deep meaningful discussion that is the blessing and the curse of being a writer joni laughed and cried celebrated and mourned in our presence and i will miss her when ever she is gone. i do every time i see her in the stack of albums i have of hers. i miss the time when she shined and always hope for a small glimmer of renewed creativity.
        i hope she has a little more left. her interview with rosanna arquette was wonderful
        thanks for keeping me up on the news.

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  10. Morning all. I am also very fond of Punch and Pizza Luce. But my fondest memories are of the thin crust cheese with extra cheese pizza at Bill’s Pizza Palace in Northfield – back when I was in school. Probably just my rose-colored glasses, but it makes me smile just thinking about evenings I spent there.

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  11. Onions and peppers and cheese. Meat is nice, but not strictly necessary. Pepperoni is tasty if you want to go the meat route. The picture at the top of the page today is making me kinda crave pepperoni.

    I like Punch Pizza, and Black Sheep is a good option too. Also, Morelli’s on the east side makes a nice selection of take-‘n-bake pizzas, plus you can pick up some beer or a bottle of wine at the same time.

    I was planning to try Papa Dimitri’s on Hamline, but it looks like that’s no longer an option.

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  13. I think the nicest thing about pizza is how nicely it goes with wine… or beer. I like how whenEVER (well, almost) you take part in moving someone to a new residence, there is pizza at the end of the workday.

    I’ll eat almost anything on a pizza, but prefer thin crust. I love love love mushrooms, and little balls of sausage like they had on Campus Pizza’s famous Sausage and Mushroom pizza (Ames, IA circa 1969)… For greasy sloppy, Zeno’s in Marshalltown nailed it, and they cut them into little squares instead of wedges, so you could manage to pick it up.

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  16. Any pizza someone delivers to my home. There’s just something about getting warm food right at my door. I have a funny thing about popcorn, too. In general, I really dislike it, but every time I go to a movie, I eat a whole bag (I take my own seasoned salt, however).

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  17. This time of year I want my homemade pizza with asparagus (it must be fresh from the farmers market), chives (from the garden), and a little smoked Gouda and Parmesan. A bit of good ham is a nice addition, but not necessary. Put it on my semolina crust, bake it for 10 minutes at 500 on a pizza stone, and that’s a good meal.

    But I’ll have to wait a bit for that; it’s not asparagus season yet.

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    2. ill take a slice.
      i need direction in your seminola crust. mine are not great.
      i am working on a califlower crust these days and it is tasty. interesting combinations on top of that taste. steve cheese gone would be less of a game breaker with this crust

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      1. I’ll try to remember to post the recipe in the kitchen congress when I get home. It is a very very good crust.

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