Countdown to the International Pizza Expo!

We’re counting down! Here at Ecovention, everyone’s getting excited about the upcoming International Pizza Expo.  With three whole days in sunny Las Vegas among some of the industry’s best, who wouldn’t be?  This year, the show kicks off on March 13 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and for 3 days, we will be eating, breathing, and sleeping… you guessed it… pizza. 


Like last year, we will be demonstrating Roma Food's private-labeled "Roma Serve N Store" pizza box (which, like our brilliant GreenBox, turns into plates and a storage container for leftovers).  We'll also be showing off our brand new SliceBox product, an awesome new design that's sturdy, functional and, best of all, green. You can find us at the Roma/Performance Foodservice booth (#1035 to be exact); be sure stop by and say hello - we'd love your company!  And, hey, enjoy some pizza, compliments of Roma, and a GreenBox demo while you're at it!  Not planning to make the trip? You snooze you lose!  Just kidding. Just keep your eyes on our Twitter feed for live updates from the show! 


If you have absolutely no idea what we’re even talking about, that’s okay. We’re here to help. The International Pizza Expo is the largest pizza show in the world… basically, it’s THE place to be if you’re in the pizza industry.  It’s an incredible opportunity for pizzeria owners, inventors (like us!), distributors, and others to network and bounce ideas off one another.  The expo isn’t just for chit-chatting, though.  There will be a ton of demonstrations, games, interesting speakers, and a bunch of competitions. It’s like field day, but for big kids (who love pizza).

Now that we’ve gotten you pumped up about the event, we hope to see your smiling faces checking out our GreenBox products at the Roma booth. You can’t miss us…we’re the ones with the pizza industry’s Next Big Thing. 

Green Spotlight On Pickleman's Gourmet Cafe

If you’ve ever spent time at college, or even crashed for a weekend in a friend’s dorm, you’ll know that pizza and college students go together like, well, pizza and college students.  The Pickleman's Gourmet Café chain of stores knows this well and caters to this fact, with locations at St. Louis University's Grand Center campus and in such other college-towns as Columbia, MO; Springfield, MO; and Lincoln, NE.

Founder Doug Stritzel also knows that, like him, the college set cares about creating a more eco-friendly world.  Here’s what Stritzel has to say on the matter:  “as a father, business owner, and leader in our community it is my responsibility to try to be a little more earth friendly, not for me, but for our children and our children’s children…just a little here and there adds up over time.”  Well said, Doug!  To that end, Stritzel made sure to introduce our 100% recycled, multifunctional GreenBox pizza box (pictured above) into his stores alongside his 100% biodegradable corn-based cutlery, cups, lids and salad containers and reusable soup bowls. 

Stritzel first opened Pickleman’s doors in October 2005 in Columbia, MO and today the chain has ten locations and counting across Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahama.  He opened his first cafe as an upscale sandwich shop catering to students through late delivery hours, free wi-fi and televisions tuned to sports. In 2007, Stritzel took his student-friendly concept one step further by adding pizza to his menu.  Now, we know what you’re thinking, a sandwich shop that offers pizza, can't have good pizza.  But you’d be dead wrong in the case of Pickleman's pizza.  Pizzas with chicken are the emphasis – and with the Asiago Chicken, Chicken Giardiniera, BBQ Chicken and Buffalo Chicken pizzas, you can’t go wrong. The Hog (for those that enjoy a little pepperoni and sausage) and The Veggie (the vegetarian option) top off the store’s menu nicely – just check out the reviews… and stop by Pickleman’s Gourmet Café next time you’re in the midwest!