Around The Industry: Australian Pizza News - Right from the Source

Crust’s Tick Approved Pizzas Rated Most Innovative Food Product in Australia

Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars’ six Heart Foundation Tick approved pizzas have been named the 15th most innovative product out of 861 products in Australia in Australian Anthill’s inaugural ‘SMART 100’ index, which recognises the 100 most innovative Australian products on the market. Ranked first amongst food products, Crust has been awarded for developing a product that contributes to its customers’ health.

Crust’s six Tick approved pizzas were first launched in February 2008 and contain up to half the fat and saturated fat of comparable pizzas from other takeaway outlets, between 50-70 percent less sodium, virtually no trans fat and each provide up to 80 percent of the recommended daily fibre intake for an adult.

Crust Managing Director, Costa Anastasiadis is delighted with the ranking, commenting that that Crust has always aimed to provide customers with healthier, high quality pizzas. “We spent a considerable amount of time in product development to ensure that the Tick pizzas could offer a higher quality, healthier choice of takeaway to our customers while still tasting great,” says Costa. “The feedback we have had from customers has been fantastic, and awards such as this are further testament to the fact that there is a growing market in Australia for healthier takeaway foods.”

The SMART 100 ranking is a very welcome addition to Crust’s list of outstanding achievements. The products, Company and its founders have also been listed as a finalists and winners in numerous award programs including the Slimming & Health Healthy Eating Awards, National Retailer Association Rewards for Excellence, the Ernst & Young Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards and the BRW Private Business Awards.

The Middleby Corporation Completes Acquisition of CookTek LLC

The Middleby Corporation announced it has acquired “CookTek”, a leader in the manufacture of induction cooking and warming systems for the commercial foodservice industry with approximately $10 million in annual sales. The purchase price for the acquisition was $9 million, which was financed under Middleby’s senior revolving credit facility.

The addition of CookTek’s induction line of cooking and warming systems complements Middleby’s existing portfolio of innovative technologies. Induction technology uses electromagnetic energy to heat metal cookware and other warming devices. Cooking and warming with induction technology offers significant performance advantages over traditional heating methods:

• Energy is directly transferred to the metal pan or warming device resulting in significantly faster performance than traditional cooking and warming methods.
• Induction cooking is 30% to 50% more efficient than traditional gas and electric ranges.

In addition, when you remove the pan from the induction cooking surface, the cooktop immediately goes into standby mode, providing even greater savings as compared to gas ranges, which often remain on throughout the day, even when not in use.

• Induction is safer than gas or other electric surfaces since there is no open flame, hot coil or other radiant heat source to ignite fumes or flammable materials.
• Traditional gas or electric ranges produce significantly greater amounts of ambient heat in the kitchen increasing building cooling costs. Induction results in almost no ambient heat resulting in a cooler kitchen and reduced costs.
• Induction cooking can be utilized without a vent or hood.

Selim A. Bassoul, Middleby Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Customers continue to seek out “green technologies” that provide more energy efficient cooking and warming solutions. The two acquisitions we have completed this year, Turbochef and CookTek, both provide eco-friendly equipment that reduces energy consumption, while cooking at greater speeds. Additionally, both these technologies provide customers with a cooking solution that does not require a hood or ventilation system, providing significant savings over traditional cooking equipment.”

HELL Domination

The pizza industry has been roasted all kinds of gourmet in the last twelve months as Hell Pizza threw their hat into the fire and took over. Never afraid of a challenge, Hell Pizza launched in Brisbane with their first store on Monier, and has since proved to be not only a forceful player but a dominant one in the industry.

In less than 12 months, Hell has opened 6 stores, with plans for a further 4 in the coming months effectively surrounding Brisbane by Hell. Mike Hird, Chairman of Hell Pizza Australia, leads the ranks of the damned holding the pitchfork over taste testing, quality control and company morale. His passion for the Hell brand has set a new standard in organisational theming, often pushing the boundaries, but attracting attention to the business none the less.

“We have created a really fun environment, enabling us to play around with the current mundane status of fast food, like delivering the pizzas in a hearse,” he said. “The fact that we are so unique in taste and attitude, gives us an edge over our competitors.”

Whilst Hell maintains an unparalleled theming approach, their focus is on setting a high standard in the gourmet pizza arena.