Pizza Today -March 2023 - 54

C
hicken sandwiches are not the
only poultry centered menu item
soaring in popularity these days.
And even though chicken has long had
a presence on pizzeria menus, there has
been a renewed love of chicken on pizza.
With chicken prices at an all-time
high, you might be tempted to take it
off your menu altogether, but remember
this: consumers are well aware of what it
costs to buy groceries, including chicken.
To make this decision, it is important to
understand the mindset and behavior of
your customer base. In my experience,
people are still spending money, and a lot
of it. They are not shying away from
$68 pizzas, but what they expect in return
is quality and value.
A good quality chicken breast
speaks for itself and means that you
can expect your guests to pay a fair
price. Conversely, tough, gristly or dry
chicken is a poor argument for rising
menu prices.
What you must ask yourself is, is it
more offensive to your guests for you to
charge appropriately for grilled chicken,
or take it off the menu altogether? When
I engineered our latest menu, I found that
a pizza with the least amount of protein
on it (chicken) carried the highest COGS.
I seriously considered taking it off the
menu, but instead, I increased the price,
and it is now one of my best selling
10-inch pizzas.
I also discovered that most of the
20-inch pizzas I was selling were one
topping, BYOs - rarely specialty pies,
and never chicken on its own. This
meant that the bulk of the specialty pies
featuring chicken were 10 inches and
carried a much better profit margin than
20-inch pies. This prompted the decision
to only offer our specialty pies as a
10-inch. If a guest would like to build
their own 20-inch specialty pizza, they
certainly can, but at the build your own
price. This more than adequately meets
my target margin when chicken and other
expensive proteins are chosen.
All chicken breasts are not created
equal, therefore even in the face
54 / PIZZATODAY.COM / MARCH 2023
of supply chain issues, consistency
is key! While less expensive - lowerquality
chicken breast may seem like a
good deal on its face, you may find more
" funny business, " which requires more
trimming and yields less usable product.
Lower-quality chicken breasts can
also be injected with saltwater to make
them appear larger but tend to shrink
considerably when cooked and can be dry
and tough. Using higher quality, larger
chicken breasts, even if you are not serving
them as an entree, will cook more evenly
and will be juicier than smaller breasts. A
larger breast can stand up to the process
of being reheated on a pizza which opens
the opportunity for cross utilization on
sauté, pantry and dough products. Using
a better-quality chicken breast may be
a little more expensive, however fewer
operators are using them, which may
help with availability. I also never allow
unapproved substitutions of my key items
including chicken. Although I have an
approved substitution just in case we run
into an issue, I still want the heads up
from my broad liner that we will have to
make the temporary change.
Quality assurance is important in all
things. Our line cooks are encouraged,
if not required, to taste everything they
prepare, and this goes double for chicken.
There is a phenomenon in the chicken
business called " woody breast " . It is an
unforgettable texture that is created by the
mass production of chickens, and it can
spoil your appetite. While it can happen
with any chicken breast it is less common
with higher-quality chicken.
When I am thinking about adding
chicken to a pizza, I want the chicken
to stand out. Chicken in and of itself
does not taste like much. It is really the
spices that you prepare it with that shines
through. For me, quality and flavor profile
are more important than the convenience
of a precooked and diced chicken breast.
Therefore, I use IQF chicken breasts
seasoned with a dry rub then grilled for
use in salads and pasta dishes. I minimize
waste by then taking the unused grilled
chicken from the previous shift to use on
the pizza line.
I do not recommend using raw
chicken anywhere on the pizza line. The
opportunity for cross contamination is too
risky and won't really add anything to the
finished product.
Another way to reduce your
cost on a pizza featuring chicken
is to combine it with other lower
cost ingredients that pack a lot of
flavor. For example, you could use a
white sauce or even cream cheese as your
base, add grilled chicken, fresh sliced
jalapeños, red onion, fresh diced mango
and cilantro. None of those ingredients
are terribly high in cost and it makes for
an interesting specialty pie. Think about
what goes well with chicken. One of
my favorite pies was a pesto pinwheel
pie made with high-quality olive oil,
provolone, grilled chicken, pesto and
roasted red pepper. The big flavors of the
other ingredients are a nice compliment
to the grilled chicken, requiring less of the
expensive protein.
Because chicken is rather neutral in
flavor, it can be paired with a multitude
of unique flavors and sauces. At Wholly
Stromboli the newest star on our summer
menu is " The Queens Hot Honey " ,
featuring a cream cheese base, Italian hot
sauce, provolone cheese, grilled chicken,
sweet picante peppers, drizzled with
our house made hot honey, and finished
with fresh basil. It is a favorite with team
members and guests alike - so don't be
a chicken! Give chicken a crack on your
next menu!
Try the 10-inch Queens Hot Honey
with two ounces cream cheese sauce or
your favorite white sauce, Italian hot sauce
that is pinwheeled over the cream cheese,
four slices Provolone cheese, four-ounce
scoop diced grilled chicken, two-ounce
scoop sweet picante peppers, hot honey
drizzled before and after the bake (we
make our hot honey in house.) and
finished with fresh basil.
MELISSA RICKMAN is co-founder of
Wholly Stromboli in Fort Lupton, Colorado,
and member of the World Pizza Champions.
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Pizza Today -March 2023

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