About Pizza Rock Taiwan
關於搖滾披薩台灣
My wife and I opened the first Pizza Rock restaurant in December 2011, in beautiful Taichung City. Prior to opening our first branch, we visited Italy, the land of my ancestors on my father's side. There, we visited dozens of pizzerias across the country, and ate pizza 3 times a day. The main reason behind this trip was to find inspiration. And inspiration we found!
It became obvious from the start that our pizza would have to be thin-crust and stone-baked. Another thing that I realized quickly during that trip was that we would not be making neapolitan-style pizza, as it is too thin in the middle and cannot be eaten by hand. I wanted to have a pizza that could easily be held while standing, without the need of a plate, fork, and knife, as is customarily done in Italy. The reason behind that was simple: I knew that if we were to penetrate the to-go and delivery markets and make our way into offices, schools, and birthday parties, the pizza had to be "holdable" and not too messy. So the answer was neo-neapolitan crust, which is somewhat of a breed between neo-neapolitan and New York.
Another realization that came out from that exploratory journey around Italy was that electrical ovens were producing equally tasty pies as their wood-fired counterparts, which solved one of the biggest headaches I'd had while investigating the type of equipments we would be using in our kitchens. The key was not really the type of heat used; it was all about the contact surface... the STONE! Since day 1, we've been using the highest quality of imported, thick, food-grade stone to bake our pizzas, and that's part of what makes Pizza Rock's crust so tasteful.
As our customers, employees, suppliers, and partners have witnessed over the years, we have never compromised on quality. Most of what we use (apart from veggies) is imported. Cured meat is either from Europe or the USA. Cheese is from Australia or New-Zealand. Olive oil is from the Mediterranean region, usually Spain, Greece, or Italy. Our flour is the best we can find in Taiwan, and is produced in Japan.
I would rather close, and no longer be in business, than to sell food that I would not be proud to serve to my own family or my friends. I would never sell anything that I would not personally eat or give to my wife and daughter. All the suppliers around Taiwan know that they cannot send us packages of mystery powders which magically turn into soup or sauce once water is added and it's heated up in a microwave. I have personally called these food suppliers sales managers to tell them Pizza Rock wants nothing to do with that kind of "food". By the way, microwaves are illegal at Pizza Rock. We have never used them, and will never use them either. I've been suffering from ulcerative colitis, a form of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) since 2008, and I try my hardest to avoid processed food with additives and preservatives for my own diet, and that attitude is reflected in the way we prepare food at our restaurants.
Obviously, Coca-Cola is not healthy. Pizza is not something one should eat every day, or even every week. Beer is bad for your health. And so is sugar; zero doubt about that! But we still sell those. I am not claiming that Pizza Rock's food is good for you. I am not saying either that all our ingredients are 100% free of additives and preservatives. A lot of the packaged ingredients that are available in Taiwan, such as pepperoni, bacon, tomato sauce, mayonnaise and mustard, all have some form of preservatives.
My point is that we are determined to use the best possible ingredients available. We do go through the list of ingredients from everything we use, and we refuse what seems over-processed. The shorter the ingredients list, the better, no matter the cost. I am somewhat fanatical about this part and I believe it has paid off over the years. Customers have voted with their mouth! :)
We are one of the only restaurant chains on the island that does not have a central kitchen. Central kitchens usually mean frozen, then re-heated. At Pizza Rock, everything is made fresh in-house. We make our own soup, our own Alfredo sauce, salad dressings, dough, bread, pizza sauce, and dips. Even our chicken is baked daily (at each store) in our own marinade. We could save a lot of money and time, and increase profits, by making all those in a central kitchen, freeze, ship, thaw, and use. Or just buy from a supplier, which would undoubtedly mean, more food preservatives and chemicals and flavoring agents. That is the way that most chains work. Not at Pizza Rock. We believe in freshness, and we work (really!) hard to bring it to every meal we make, bake, and serve.
That being said, we still have room to improve on many fronts, and we are open to your suggestions, comments, and/or complaints. If you wish to contact me, you can do so at the following address, and it will be my pleasure to reply you as soon as I can.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Ugo Ortolano
Another realization that came out from that exploratory journey around Italy was that electrical ovens were producing equally tasty pies as their wood-fired counterparts, which solved one of the biggest headaches I'd had while investigating the type of equipments we would be using in our kitchens. The key was not really the type of heat used; it was all about the contact surface... the STONE! Since day 1, we've been using the highest quality of imported, thick, food-grade stone to bake our pizzas, and that's part of what makes Pizza Rock's crust so tasteful.
As our customers, employees, suppliers, and partners have witnessed over the years, we have never compromised on quality. Most of what we use (apart from veggies) is imported. Cured meat is either from Europe or the USA. Cheese is from Australia or New-Zealand. Olive oil is from the Mediterranean region, usually Spain, Greece, or Italy. Our flour is the best we can find in Taiwan, and is produced in Japan.
I would rather close, and no longer be in business, than to sell food that I would not be proud to serve to my own family or my friends. I would never sell anything that I would not personally eat or give to my wife and daughter. All the suppliers around Taiwan know that they cannot send us packages of mystery powders which magically turn into soup or sauce once water is added and it's heated up in a microwave. I have personally called these food suppliers sales managers to tell them Pizza Rock wants nothing to do with that kind of "food". By the way, microwaves are illegal at Pizza Rock. We have never used them, and will never use them either. I've been suffering from ulcerative colitis, a form of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) since 2008, and I try my hardest to avoid processed food with additives and preservatives for my own diet, and that attitude is reflected in the way we prepare food at our restaurants.
Obviously, Coca-Cola is not healthy. Pizza is not something one should eat every day, or even every week. Beer is bad for your health. And so is sugar; zero doubt about that! But we still sell those. I am not claiming that Pizza Rock's food is good for you. I am not saying either that all our ingredients are 100% free of additives and preservatives. A lot of the packaged ingredients that are available in Taiwan, such as pepperoni, bacon, tomato sauce, mayonnaise and mustard, all have some form of preservatives.
My point is that we are determined to use the best possible ingredients available. We do go through the list of ingredients from everything we use, and we refuse what seems over-processed. The shorter the ingredients list, the better, no matter the cost. I am somewhat fanatical about this part and I believe it has paid off over the years. Customers have voted with their mouth! :)
We are one of the only restaurant chains on the island that does not have a central kitchen. Central kitchens usually mean frozen, then re-heated. At Pizza Rock, everything is made fresh in-house. We make our own soup, our own Alfredo sauce, salad dressings, dough, bread, pizza sauce, and dips. Even our chicken is baked daily (at each store) in our own marinade. We could save a lot of money and time, and increase profits, by making all those in a central kitchen, freeze, ship, thaw, and use. Or just buy from a supplier, which would undoubtedly mean, more food preservatives and chemicals and flavoring agents. That is the way that most chains work. Not at Pizza Rock. We believe in freshness, and we work (really!) hard to bring it to every meal we make, bake, and serve.
That being said, we still have room to improve on many fronts, and we are open to your suggestions, comments, and/or complaints. If you wish to contact me, you can do so at the following address, and it will be my pleasure to reply you as soon as I can.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Ugo Ortolano
Contact us: ugo.ortolano@pizzarock.com.tw