Feeding Masses as Top 100 Pizza Restaurant Chain.

Minsky's Pizza (est.1976), was just named a Top 100 Pizza Restaurant Chain by industry leading publication Pizza Today.  The recognition follows a few years of being out of the rating by the magazine, as Minsky's had passed threshold of the Top 100 Independents, because locations were not to exceed 10.  The entry into Top 100 Chain (although Minsky's is a Independent Restaurant Group) was a significant leap, joining competitors including "The" Pizza Hut reinging in No. 1. The group's listed by gross sales numbers from the past fiscal year. 

The award parallels another Dining Destination: Osteria IL Centro's Top-rated wine list by Wine Spectator for the 16th Year!

Take N. Bake, Gluten Free, Lactose Free, New Website, and a parrr-tridge in a pear tree.

Approaching technology and product advancements as a small company has a huge advantage when it is done correctly, but many times with giant investments.  It is our belief that as long as our restaurant concepts are consistently changing to meet the demand of the customer, then a value is created. 

Never has value played a larger role, since it is catalyst to new, or reformed creations of food service, specifically applying to time and budgets.  The Minsky's Take & Bake pizza has been a success, offering a chance for the customer to cook fresh, or freeze his/her favorite pizza pies for more convenience.  The pizza has been offered at a lower price, and customers have been Taking and Baking at solid pace.  Call your nearest location for details.

Gluten Free (crust substitute) and Lactose Free (cheese substitute) are recent advancements Minsky's has grasped well.  The customer base enjoying these products are typically very appreciative of the service, as it is always more expensive to purchase these as a raw good, and more time-consuming to cook.  The lactose free pizza pies are topped with a soy based product resembling cheese.

These new products will consistently be presented with the technology advancements of Facebook and our new website.  Don't forget to comment on your favorite Minsky's Mmmmemories at minskys.com

Party The Doors Down! in our EVENT SPACES

Midland Pizza and eggtc. have technically joined at Midland and I-435.  Similar to the adjacent locatons of South Plaza Minsky's on Main Street and eggtc. next door, the Midland locations just finished a final phase connecting the spaces.

The operations now makeup 8,000 thousand square feet of about 400 seats, and thousands of good times parallel to I-435 in Shawnee.  The new party room seats 65, and is specificly designed for rehearsal dinners, birthday parties, and/or any other more exclusive settings. The food options will include chef/operator selections from the concepts Osteria IL CeNTRO, Minsky's Pizza, and eggtc. Sign up online for FREE offers throughout the year!

The 51st and Main Osteria IL CeNTRO/Minsky's Pizza/ eggtc. continues to thrive in the restaurant and events business.  Book your party early, and enjoy no room fees.

Kansas City's Best

K.C Magazine's Kansas City's Best , "Best Pizza of the Northland" and Wine Spectator "Best of Award of Excellence."

Summer is the season to vote for Kansas City's Best via numerous print and online publications serving the Metro.  

Minsky's Pizza will be in queue to receive K.C Mag's Best of award, which MP has landed before.  The Liberty Tribune, The Courier, Smithville Herald and Gladstone Dispatch recently awarded MP the Best of the Northland.

Osteria IL CeNTRO

Osteria was again awarded the world-recognized Wine Spectator's "Best of Award of Excellence," which places OIC in company of the Top 833 Wine Lists of the World in this category.   Choose from more than 1100 wines by the bottle, and 45 by the glass, including an approachable sparkling wine menu by glass. Mondays: $7 for any wine by glass, Tuesday: $22 Cellar Surplus Table Bottles, and Wednesday: Featured Sparkling Wine Bottles only $25. Half-price appetizers are nightly until 6pm.

Soccer Fans

Minsky's Pizza debuted in the impressive new Livestrong Soccer Stadium's "Oven Fresh" concessions, and in the "Shield Club."   The home opener consumed almost 600 slices of pizza in just an hour and half!  It is arguably the best buy at the concessions, and you are able to choose from cheese, pepperoni, or the most popular Papa Minsky.  Catch the next game, and grab a slice of Kansas City's Best Pizza at Kansas City's Most talked-about new venue. 

Gluten-Free Menus

Minsky's has finished implementing the Gluten Free Menus company wide.  The results have been successful, and has allowed greater versatility toward the customer who is more dietary conscious.  The locations have staff who have passed Gluten Free Service Certifications, and Minsky's Pizza is the first and only to be recognized by the National Foundation of Celiac Awareness for certified training.

Calzones

MP just introduced FREE Birthday Calzones, as a promotion to prove what we think we have known ... If MP is the KING of KC's best pizza, then the MP Calzone is at least the most styled BEST Pizza folded over!  We have been told they are the best in the WORLD!?  Do not miss the opportunity, sign up online at MINSKYS.COM.  FREE Minsky's for Life!

Green Pizza Initiatives, Superior Product, Value

Minsky's Pizza enters its third of four stages of energy-efficient and green initiatives company-wide.  The company has installed metering devices to regulate energy usages, purchased energy-star efficient coolers, invested in high efficiency air conditioning, replaced lighting with high efficiency ballasts and lamps, replaced toilets, and hand dryers.  MP operates cardboard and glass recycling programs, and manages to package in almost entirely recyclable paper and plastic acceptable curbside. 

Most recently, five MP purchased high efficiency Smart Ovens which not only cook with 45% of current natural gas, but also run cleaner and cooler.  These ovens are predicted to bring an even more superior cooking process to the product, and in a quicker response.  The results have been incredible so far, and the MP product will likely impress even the most invaluable of our 36-year long patrons.  We cannot wait for you to try this investment, especially with the calzone, pan and thin crust options.  Amore!

Customer Comments - Thanks!

I've traveled the world and consider myself a pizza gourmet. Minsky's ranks in the top three of the best I have tasted.

- Jack Brake, Olathe

A customer wrote in the other day and promoted the "Prime Cut Pizza for President." while another customer said her and her family put a Minsky's Pizza box and cup in her father's casket, because of his amore' of our pie in the sky.  The latter obviously strikes a sentimental chord, however, as long as the Prime Cut was not responsible for a heart attack, then both comments were taken as compliments.

The calzone was also mentioned several times in the last few weeks, and arguably the best product produced by Minsky's (in my opinion). I was happy to see other patrons with similar responses... The comments were "the best calzone in the country," and "best in the Midwest." 

I have never tasted anything close to the Minsky's calzone, and perhaps it is because pizza locations use  pizza dough for their calzones.  Minsky's is far different, and plays host to at least four sauces, three types of crust (thin, original, deep dish) and also offers the same profiles in honey whole wheat (locations may vary).  These different sauces and dough profiles are made from scratch daily.  Additionally, real scratch cooking is exemplified by the fantastic daily baked breadsticks and fresh dough made especially for calzones.  This is not just your grandmother's recipe, and yes it is a guarded secret that makes the Calzone (means pant leg) much tastier than its definition. 

Minsky's is confident that the Calzone will stand against any lunch special around; it would knock the lettuce out of a $5 footlong, and its gourmet stature submits by rear-naked choke, any local deals for under $10. You can get a Gourmet Specialty Calzone and drink for under $10! 

Minsky's ownership will proudly send out 2400 Free Calzones in the Month of May.  Make sure you get registered at FREE Minsky's For Life, so you do not miss out on these promotions, and we want your feedback on this menu item.  If it is not the best around, we would like to know who is competing.

Sincerely Yours,

Feeding the Masses

Gluten free is the new option for many restaurant goers, proving beneficial for not only Celiacs (disease is exacerbated by Gluten) but for dieters wanting yet another reason to avoid carbohydrates (Gluten is in bread).  The irony is the pizza is the traditional Gluten-carb-pie, but in Gluten Free form, pizza may be the most popular "new food" sought after by Celiacs and others with gluten intolerance.  And what a blessing for restaurants able to serve another category of customer?  Some Celiacs have had very difficult lives with culinary, and likely had difficulty eating at restaurants.

The management team of The Main Street Associates (Minsky's, Osteria IL CeNTRO, and eggtc.) achieved certifications from the Gluten-Free Resource Education Awareness Training (GREAT).  It marks the first restaurant company in Kansas City with recognition.

Locations of Minsky's Pizza have established a separate Gluten-Free Menu, including appetizers, salads, and choice of mini or small Gluten-Free crusts. 

The menu item ordered is carefully handled and cooked using Gluten-Free pans and utensils. 

Call your nearest Minsky's Pizza location www.minskys.com to review the Gluten-Free options, and soon eggtc. will be serving a small menu of Gluten-Free as well.

Is there a way to send out, or give promotions a.k.a coupons for free menu items, or worth $10 off without having explanations?  There is always the "fine print" on the promotion or coupon, but doesn't it go too far for restaurants needing to add a paragraph of legal to define what can or cannot be used on what or without certain items during certain hours?  What is fair?  It is all the compromise.  If the promotion says "not valid with other offers" does that mean more than one can be applied to the cost of goods provided?  You go to the RapidLube and get an oil change with a $5 off an oil change coupon.  Before you go to pay you run over to the newspaper sitting on the dingy waiting area coffee table, and pull out the same coupon from the abandoned pile of promotion pages.  Next, you go to the counter and try to pay for the $39 oil change with two, $5 off coupons (you think will bring the total to $29). 

There is no way this would be honored.  Is there a difference?

The example is very common.  The four customers ask for the check to be "split" at the end.  Then, each couple provides one each of the particular promotion, essentially asking for twice the amount off, despite the two pieces saying "not valid with other offers or package deals." 

Server tells the table he/she cannot take more than one per ticket.  The couple says split the ticket.

Server tells the table he/she cannot turn in paperwork accepting more than one per ticket.  The couples say we are split ticket.  Server takes one after argument and/or asking for management, and couples tip server 0-10%. Ouch.  This is not necessarily bad service.

This is not to say this happens more than 4%, but what is appropriate for other businesses to allow or not?  What is the right way to respond? 

Does something always need defining?  A gift of gesture i.e. the promotion or discount, or free item ...  in any business at this time should be appreciated.  It is hard out there for everyone, and employees behind the sale of almost anything.  Fair should be Fair, and not giving miles for inches. 

This is where the discount purchase sites are niche.  Sites like Soup-on (spic) and Dine-aroo (spic) are exactly the avenue for people who want a better-than-gift deal on dining.

Year MMXI (Roman for 2011) marks the 35th year of Minsky's pizza in Kansas City, Osteria IL CeNTRO's 16th, and eggtc. breakfast+lunch+events enters its fifth year of operations.  On the subject of anniversaries and conception, our concepts happily send out thousands of birthday items to our registered customers.  Our accountant thinks we are crazy sending out $300,000 worth of FREE menu items each month, but we are happy to thank the people supporting our restaurant group for decades.   Visit our websites to sign up for FREE Minsky's for Life, FREE eggtc. for Life, or Osteria IL CeNTRO's VIP Diner's Club.

The concepts of 51st and Main have experienced major challenges in 2009/2010, and markedly it may have been the most instrumental year 1/2 of restaurant business in the past decade.  It is the first time our restaurants felt a legitimate confluence of the less-frequent diner coerced by health concerns and economic woes (breaking long-time upward trend of spending on food outside the home).  Our diner is now being guided by financial media, diet-suggestions, government-enacted food labeling, and massive discounting and undercutting of prices i.e. the competitor's $10 pizzas, and the menu-pricing intervention driven by companies rhyming with Soup-on.  All of these forces attempt to drive the same conclusion:  if you are going to eat out, eat out less.

What does it mean to operate Independent Restaurants in these conditions?  It means there must be driving force to superior product, customer appreciation, environmental consciousness , and hopefully unconditional "hospitality" rather than "service."

A few of the issues our 14 associated metro locations have been boiling on the front burner since 2009:

Revisiting "best in the business" partnerships with long-time food purveyors responsible for efficiency, and assertive toward quality and value i.e. Burke Meats, Escalon Tomatoes, Lawrence Paper and Saputo Cheese; preparing all recipes in our kitchens to ensure gourmet; implementation of cardboard and bottle recycling; overhauling restrooms and lighting toward energy efficient electricity and water use; use of 100% recyclable pizza boxes (according to Pratt Industries, our use of 100% recyclable pizza boxes in 2009 saved 1300 trees and 351,000 gallons of fresh water); curbside-acceptable plastic carryout containers; Gluten Free for customer's dietary needs; purchasing more efficient a/c and furnace units, and coolers; employee training for safe food serving.

Perhaps if 2011 is vying for the "Year of the Restaurant," (considering this January's increase in sales over 2010) then feel assured that making Minsky's Pizza, Osteria IL CeNTRO, or eggtc. your "go to" gourmet dining destination will not go unnoticed.  Your business is greatly appreciated, and leads to the employment of hundreds in KS/MO, and has truly helped feed the masses in Kansas City and beyond for generations ...

"I grew up just blocks from the original Minsky's and is part of many happy childhood memories. I am so glad there are more locations now so no matter where I am I can enjoy this awesome pizza!" - Jennifer Richmond, Olathe "We have been fans for 20 years as long as we have been together, You're No. 1 to me." - Michael Craddock, Lee's Summit "Being in the military I 've been all over the world and eaten pizza all over the world.  Minsky's is my all-time favorite. Delicious and well worth the drive to the city." - Jeremy Graviett, Whiteman Air Force Base "Better than Star Wars ... Almost." - Tommy Gray, Prairie Village

Happy New Year! and kick the diets to the curb, and head into your favorite restaurant concepts in Kansas City!  2011 is the year of the restaurant!