Steve Green: Rolling in Dough

Little did pizza pioneer Steve Green know in 1995—the year he launched a small, utilitarian and admittedly unsophisticated newsletter to promote himself as a marketing consultant—that Pizza Marketing Quarterly would grow into a multinational, multimedia clearinghouse of news, statistics, resources and, ultimately, all things pizza. Today, PMQ is published eight times per year and reaches 42,000 pizza professionals in the United States, 7,500 in Canada and 7,000 in Australia, not to mention 3,000 unique online visitors per day at PMQ.com. (Next year, PMQ will increase frequency to 10 U.S. issues.)Since the premiere issue of PMQ, the unassuming former Domino’s Pizza franchisee has been tirelessly devoted to the business of spinning pizzas, always thinking of new ways to deliver hard-to-find information to his readers, such as podcasting, radio broadcasts, online chat sessions and even an all-pizza TV network. With a highly successful New York City pizza trade show and one in the oven for Orlando, Fla., Green is fulfilling his own prophesy of stimulating “the economy of pizza.” He paused briefly to share with Publishing Executive a story of international pizza frenzy, how a small magazine with a singular mission is just about hitting its stride.How did you start out in the pizza business?Green: When I got out of college, I started a little TV listing in town. It was my first publishing venture. We put in a little bit of editorial, and it was a lot of fun. I was a Domino’s franchisee. I owned and managed Domino’s stores in New York, California and Mississippi. Since I was pretty good at marketing, I did some consulting for some other Domino’s franchisees. Eventually, I started a newsletter just to let people know about my consulting business, and then people wanted to subscribe to it. After a while, I hired an editor who actually had a journalism degree. I thought I was just going to do the newsletter to promote myself, but when I decided to publish [the magazine], I had to separate the two.Has your ad revenue gone up or down over the last year?Green: Sales have gone up every year since 1997. I think there are two things going on. We have created a brand and a loyalty among our readers. We have done this at the expense of our competition. … Our sales have grown greater than the pizza industry itself.How did you develop a web identity for PMQ?Green: When we were just a quarterly, we didn’t always have the space to get all the information out there. For example, we did an exhaustive study on how to make pizzas healthier. We presented it in print as, “to see the rest of this article, go to our Web site.” From the very beginning, we would always try to get people to go to the Web site because we just didn’t have enough space in the magazine. Over the years, we put every [issue] online, so everyone around the world could read our content. So it really evolved out of an editorial problem of not having enough print space. … [We also offered] access to the industry’s leading consultants online, a forum where operators could collectively share knowledge with each other and with these experts. The result was a snowball effect where each question posted online was answered by a professional who you would normally have to pay to talk to. The added input, advice and experiences of fellow pizzeria owners who … had the same problems really boosted the traffic to the site. With each question answered and problem solved, word spread about the resource we had built. We then began publishing short excerpts from PMQ.com’s message board in the magazine, demonstrating … how fast pizzeria owners could get answers. Never before had owners been able to talk to other operators who were not in their competing area and solve problems. From there we added live chat sessions and tools to help them be more successful, and our Web site took on a life of its own.How would you describe your online business model?Green: We’ve always seen our main income stream from the magazine, and then the other stuff is really to generate revenue for the magazine. When we started out, we undercharged for online advertising. But what we did was only allow companies that advertise in our magazine to be there [on PMQ.com]. It probably wasn’t the best way to do it, but we haven’t changed it. This is a privilege only for our advertisers; they pay an extra $2,000 a year for a banner ad. It wasn’t anything that Einstein thought up, but in a way it probably was really smart because we prevented a sudden migration of print advertisers to our Web site, and ultimately, a drop in ad pages.What parts of your Web site are most successful in generating revenue and visitors?Green: Well, the second most popular language on our Web site is Chinese. We hired a staffer who was educated in China. She’s married to an American and has worked five years in Domino’s Pizza stores. We thought she was perfect for [PMQ]. She is doing a lot of business in China for us. She publishes a monthly newsletter, which a lot of people read. The Chinese people really appreciate her insights and knowledge about pizza. She gets five e-mails per day from people who want to buy cheese. There are a lot of people out there who are interested in the American idea of having pizza. People want the basics. They want recipes. They’re very hungry for information, no pun intended. … By far, the most popular section is the “Think Tank,” which is our message board. Readers have written, called and come to us at shows telling us how grateful they are for the resource. Other popular areas are the “Recipe Bank,” daily “Pizza News” posts and the “Manager’s Toolbox,” which has tools and resources to help owners and managers.How has the idea of “Pizza TV” developed?Green: We had a three-man crew go to our New York pizza show. The idea was to produce a DVD for our readers for two reasons: to let those who didn’t go to our show know what they missed and entice them into attending, and to attract exhibitors. We have gone to Singapore, Italy, Germany, Paris, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and all across the United States. We have … visited cheese plants, pasta plants, pizzerias, trade shows and interviewed a lot of people. A lot of [film] companies [such as from the Food Network, CNN, independent film makers, news media and the History Channel] have followed us. We thought, “Why don’t we create our own content?” It would be nice to have more revenue streaming in and also provide a behind-the-scenes look at everything we are doing … [The Pizza TV DVD is now polybagged with an issue of PMQ and placed on PizzaTV.com as a streaming video.]What about “Pizza Radio”?Green: We have a chat session—a so-called “chat night”—every Tuesday night. We bring in an expert in the pizza industry to our chat room. You see, our readers have been typing away [to us] for eight years with questions, like how to make good dough or where to buy pizza ovens. We wanted to convert that hunger for information into a radio show. We’re having people call our PMQ help line and record a question. Then during the week, we’ll find an expert in the pizza community to answer those questions. We see this as a great way to reach the next generation. There is a lot of energy surrounding this now. … Yahoo! has a search engine in beta form for podcasting. When you type in the word “pizza,” there is not much there. We’re hoping we can change that. What is your ultimate goal for PMQ magazine?Green: I have this model in my brain. For starters, I would like to increase circulation. We are going to 10 issues next year. … I’d also like to develop an international community of pizza operators. At the same time, I’d like to build up the business. I see a “pizza institute” as something that can certify quality within the industry. We can make pizza a better, healthier product.This is where the vision comes in. I would love to create an entertainment division. We could have a Web site where people could find pizza. I would like to use the publicity from the general media and funnel it into a marketing opportunity to bring customers—people like you and me—to our PMQ readers. We are really serving the owners of pizza stores and helping them run their businesses better. After that, I’d love to deliver customers to them. On the consumer end, we’re thinking about how to develop consumer Web sites, where a pizza lover can log on and we can tell him, “Hey, this guy in Florida has a wood-burning stove, and makes a great New York-style pizza.” I think with a little tweaking and a little help, we can make it happen. That’s what it’s all about—fostering a good economy of pizza. That’s my dream. That’s what we’re working toward.What challenges face a company that has quickly evolved from a small newsletter into a multimedia clearinghouse of pizza information?Green: I work a lot of hours. I am doing a lot of things. But at least I’m focused on pizza. [He laughs.] That’s the common denominator. People wanted me to do a restaurant marketing magazine. I said no. I’m too scatterbrained as it is. I’m most concerned with “what does this guy [the reader] need?” … I don’t go around searching for things to take up my time. They come to me. My challenge is to stay focused.What we are trying to do now is create a pizza institute in Orlando, Fla. It will take a lot of pressure off us as a magazine because there is not really anybody else out there maintaining statistics on the pizza industry. The Wall Street Journal and Forbes quote us because we keep the best record of the pizza industry.What about all the different mediums used to get readers the information they need?Green: There is a synergy between all this stuff that makes it easy to sell advertising in the magazine. Advertisers are going to advertise with us because they see we really care about growing their industry. We are cheerleaders for the industry—that’s how I think about what we do. Some people like to read books, some like movies and some like to listen to books on tape. We want to cater to all of the personalities in the pizza industry, not just one type of magazine reader. We are producing audio online, live chat sessions, video and DVDs, Web sites, trade shows and, yes, the magazine. What is your favorite place in The world to eat pizza?Green: Ah, I better not say because I’ll probably make someone mad. [He laughs] But I really love Lombardi’s and Totonno’s in New York City—their pizza is just optimal for my tongue.Paul Barbagallo is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. He is a former senior editor of FundRaising Success magazine, and associate editor of the Inside Direct Mail newsletter and Target Marketing magazine.

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Steve Green: Rolling in Dough

Paul Barbagallo

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