The first episode of our new series "Passing the Peel" How Pizza University instructors teach, mentor, and inspire.
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00:00We're here with our master instructor and friend and pizza guru, Scott Wiener.
00:06How many times have you taught at Pizza University?
00:09And from the first time that you taught at Pizza U to today, what has changed?
00:15Wow, it's got to be at least seven or eight classes that I've taught with Pizza University,
00:19mostly the Start Smart and I've done the Pizza with Peter Reinhardt class.
00:25And I remember the first class we ever did here was a lot of fun,
00:29but since then I feel like the students have become a lot more astute.
00:35People have more background in pizza before they even step through the door
00:39and the way that we run the class has become a lot more well-tuned to our students.
00:44Do you feel like the students, I mean, from your point of view,
00:47I know that we had about 12 students today, but as an instructor, you know,
00:53what do you see, you know, from, you know, from the students?
00:56Do you see like full immersions? Are they really attentive?
01:00Do you feel like they're really engaged?
01:02Yeah, the students, well, they're electing to be here.
01:06And even the ones that are being sent here by their restaurants that they work for,
01:11I think they get to know from the first 30 seconds of being in the class that the instructors
01:16are here because we'd love to be here.
01:18And they're also getting that they have three days. It's going to be intense.
01:22They're going to learn a lot. And, you know, they're really hanging on the whole time.
01:27And every once in a while, when we realize that they've had enough,
01:32we bring out some pizza and then they spark back up.
01:34So Pizza University was born in 2018 and we're probably, you know,
01:40have graduated at almost or close to a thousand students between professional classes and also
01:47recreational classes. But in the last six years, I've seen an evolution in pizza,
01:51which is, you know, been magical, right?
01:55What do you think is driving, you know, the pizza industry today?
01:58And what do you think is the evolution of pizza in the next years?
02:03People definitely have more respect for pizza now than they did even 10 years ago.
02:07And part of that respect has to do with the fact that so many big
02:10chefs have gotten involved in the pizza world.
02:12And so many pizzerias have become mainstays of their cities.
02:16And we had a huge push when people were stuck at home with COVID.
02:22And so many people became amateur bread bakers and got into pizza making.
02:26And maybe they never thought about getting a restaurant
02:29and now have decided that they want to open a restaurant.
02:31So they come to Pizza University with some background.
02:33They learned on YouTube. They learn from three or four different books.
02:37And then in three days, we get to sort of course correct
02:40all these things that they've built up on.
02:42So I think the future of pizza is not what the past was.
02:46The past was second and third generation restaurants that are run by people who
02:51might care less about the product and more about their legacy.
02:56And what we see now are people starting restaurants because of the product.
03:01There is no legacy they're carrying on.
03:02They have no baggage from the past.
03:04It's all about the present.
03:06The notion that anybody can be a pizza maker is still out there.
03:12Because I feel like there is a sense of gullibility that
03:16anybody can be a pizza maker, right?
03:17People come here and say, it's like, oh, I've been a pizzaiolo for 10 years.
03:21And then when they come here and they go through our full immersion classes,
03:25they realize they don't know much about pizza.
03:28OK, so what would you recommend for the people that are out there
03:31that they think they know about pizza, but actually they know very little about pizza?
03:35Well, I mean, I'm an example of this.
03:38I have been involved in the pizza industry for about 17 years.
03:43I do not consider myself to be a pizza maker.
03:47I have no interest in operating a pizzeria or a pizza restaurant.
03:52And part of that is because the more I learn, the more I realize there is to learn.
03:56And that's the beauty of education is the fun of it is not getting to the end and saying I'm done.
04:02It's saying, well, now I've started the course.
04:05So this class that we teach at the end of the third day, you haven't completed anything.
04:10You've just you just stepped your first foot into the pool.
04:13And that's the most magical thing about it is that the gullibility that you mentioned,
04:17I agree sometimes the moment you think you know everything
04:22is really the last moment that you're going to make anything good.
04:26Every person who comes out of the room ends the class realizing how much more there is to know.
04:32And every instructor that we have is such a good instructor
04:36because they know that they don't know everything.
04:38When you watch Giulio Adriani, who's a master, when you watch him answer a question,
04:44he's walking you through something that he only discovered within the past five years.
04:48Sometimes John Arena, he's a guy who he's so proud of the fact that his pizza now
04:54is different from what it was when he started in Vegas in the early 80s.
05:00And that's the beauty.
05:00If you can see someone like John Arena, who's been making pizza for close to 60 years,
05:05and he's bragging about how much better he's been getting over the past 10,
05:11that should tell somebody who's been making pizza for 10 years that they've only just begun.
05:15Considering pizza is the king of food, everybody knows the world of pizza.
05:20You know, what is the next phase of our industry?
05:23I know that, you know, the people that are much more educated,
05:26they're much more intrigued about the dough, you know, the baker percentage.
05:31They want to learn more.
05:33And I feel like, you know, there are so many regional style of pizza today.
05:38But what's next, right?
05:40Well, I think in the past people have cared about
05:44mastering a recipe, learning how to make a specific style.
05:48But in the past 10 years, as we realized that pizza is a bread,
05:52and we get into things like understanding baker's percentages
05:55and the value of hydration and the value of mixing or augmenting your flour use,
06:02all those styles are going to disappear.
06:04And it's going to become this mosaic of personal styles.
06:08Gone will be the days of this is New York and this is Neapolitan.
06:12And we're ushering in right now the moment of
06:16somebody who decides that they want to take a little bit from this and a little bit from that.
06:19And I like this aspect of Detroit style.
06:21And I like this aspect of tavern style in Chicago.
06:24Whatever.
06:25And we're going to see this intermix.
06:28And you already see it in Naples.
06:29In Naples, for the longest time, it was this is pizza and that's all it is.
06:32And then the young cats out there said, well, I want to make it this way with this
06:36expanded cornicione.
06:38And how can you argue that that's not legitimate?
06:40It's what they do.
06:41It's what they like.
06:42And that breaks the dam wide open.
06:45And now the waters are rushing over us.
06:47And that's the beauty about our industry today.
06:50It's like we can push the boundary and let people to be creative,
06:54not only with their dough, but with their style, with their condiments.
06:58And going from a peasant food to a gourmet food today, I think it's a magical journey.
07:05And it's a great achievement.
07:06But I want to go back and say, why are you here teaching at Pizza University?
07:14The passions and the love that we have for our industry
07:18and the social purpose of a pizza university is to educate the new generation of pizza makers.
07:26And the fact that you're here, it means a lot, right?
07:29And it means a lot to you as well.
07:31Yeah, it means the world to me because I am just a perpetual student of pizza.
07:37And so to come here and teach is because, first of all, I had all these questions.
07:43And I continue to have all the questions that every student has.
07:46These are things that I've asked.
07:49And some of them that I've found answers for.
07:51I love the ability to be able to give a shortcut and explain the why and how.
07:56Because over the past almost two decades, that's what I've been doing.
08:00And also, I get to be with people who have been in the pizza business for decades.
08:05I learn from the other instructors.
08:07I'm in a facility that literally builds pizza ovens, which is the heart of the restaurant.
08:12So to understand pizza for me as a historian and educator,
08:17I have to understand the technology behind it.
08:19Because what is pizza if not just the processing of dough
08:24by an important piece of equipment, the oven?
08:26So for me, I come because I learn at least as much as the students.
08:31And whatever I can impart to them that I've picked up on is just my joy.
08:36Because I spend all my time doing research, reading about this,
08:40paying attention in pizzerias everywhere.
08:43And it's just a huge part of the puzzle for me is being able to filter that knowledge out.
08:48Because at the end of the day, it means people are going to be opening up
08:50awesome pizzerias that I'm going to get to go visit.
08:53So the reason I'm here is because I want to eat more good pizza.
08:56That's it.
08:56It's like, seriously.
08:58You don't look like you eat a lot of pizza, honestly.
09:01You got to ride your bike.
09:01I ride my bike every day.
09:03That's how you keep the pizza away.
09:05Now, the last question is the social purpose of the school
09:10is not only to educate the next generation pizza maker.
09:13But it's very important for us to make sure that we pass it on our experience
09:18to the restauranteur, to the second people,
09:22the people that choose the second chapter of their life, the second careers.
09:27And we want to make sure that we prevent any mistake that we made in the past
09:32through the experience of the instructors or other students or other restauranteurs.
09:38But you also have a social purpose that is really dear to you
09:42with your nonprofit organization, Slice Out Hunger, right?
09:46Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
09:48Yeah, Slice Out Hunger is a nationwide network of pizzerias and pizza makers.
09:54We've got over 700 partners right now.
09:57And it's a network of people who have all agreed to support
10:00their local hunger relief initiatives.
10:01So Slice Out Hunger is all based on the fact that as people in the pizza business,
10:06or as me running pizza tours,
10:08we partially treat pizza not just like it's food, but also like it's entertainment.
10:13It is.
10:14I'm going to three pizzerias between here and the airport today because it's my joy.
10:19But we also have to remember that not everybody can afford
10:22to treat pizza as casual entertainment or food as entertainment.
10:28And so because of that,
10:29we take pride in the fact that the pizza industry is a community industry.
10:33Pizzerias always give back.
10:34They sponsor the Little League teams.
10:36They're there to help students out.
10:38They're the after school hangout space.
10:41And because of that, our member pizzerias are out there helping their local communities every day.
10:48So when Slice Out Hunger sees that there's
10:51something comes up in the country that's a disaster,
10:53we have a relief program where we snap into action within one day.
10:57And we have a relief program that funds pizzerias near the affected areas.
11:01If there's a hurricane, a tornado, wildfires,
11:04we support local pizzerias by buying their pizza
11:07and having it delivered to shelters, soup kitchens, people in need.
11:12And we also have programs that deliver pizza to
11:15shelters and soup kitchens on National Pizza Day.
11:17It's called Pizza Across America.
11:18And then we have a program called the Pie It Forward program,
11:21where people can sponsor deliveries to shelters and soup kitchens through our partners.
11:26So Slice Out Hunger buys food from our member pizzerias.
11:31And because of that, we're able to support
11:34their small businesses and people who are suffering from food insecurity at the same time.
11:39And that's just amazing.
11:40This is really nice that you focus on this particular purpose.
11:46I know that as a human being, we got to give it back.
11:48And we also always have to support the people in need, right?
11:52If you wanted to give a recommendation and suggestions
11:55to the people out there that they're contemplating to come to Pizza University,
12:00okay, what would you recommend to them and make sure they make the right choices?
12:05Because I know you can go online, you can learn a lot of things,
12:08but there is a difference between, you know, learning online and to come to a place
12:13in a safe and cozy place that is all about pizza.
12:17We live, breathe and eat pizza every day.
12:19What would you tell them?
12:20What would you tell them?
12:22Well, Pizza University is not a place to go to if you already know everything or think you do,
12:28because it means that you are a rock and you will not absorb water in the way that a sponge will.
12:33And the best conversation I had today when I asked one student about,
12:37well, what was your big takeaway from this?
12:39And that student said, well, I have a lot of experience making pizza at home.
12:43I even have some experience helping out at pizzerias.
12:46But all the videos and books that I could read or watch can't stand over my shoulder
12:52and tell me that I'll make a better pizza if I turn my arm 12 degrees.
12:56And that's the value of the class is you have eyes over your shoulder,
13:00watching what you're doing and telling you that that one thing that you did
13:04that you didn't even realize was significant is the reason why your pizzas all end up square.
13:10And when they're able to fix it that quickly,
13:12it does something that a YouTube video can never do, which is interact.
13:15And that's what Pizza University is about.
13:17It's about interaction.
13:18You're not just listening.
13:20I know we talk a lot, but you're not just listening.
13:23It's all about interacting.
13:24Well, we could be talking all day and talking about pizza,
13:27but I know that you have to go and drive back to your hometown
13:32and New Jersey or New York, I believe.
13:34Yeah.
13:34You're New Yorkers, Brooklyn.
13:36So thank you so much for being here.
13:38Thank you for supporting Pizza University.
13:40Thank you for being a great instructors.
13:42And we are so happy to have you here.
13:45But we're hoping you're coming back again with the trio, you, John and Julio.
13:51And thank you for the partnership again.
13:53I love being here.
13:54Thanks.