Toronto – Casual dining restaurant chain Boston Pizza will partner with Hockey Night in Canada to cross-promote their brands.

Toronto – Online restaurant reservations company OpenTable will partner with Uber Eats to provide delivery at select Canadian restaurants on OpenTable's updated iOS app.

Food cost is one of the biggest operating expenses in running a pizzeria. Ingredients are often perishable, and wholesale food costs have increased considerably in recent years.

One of my column readers asked whether an overnight cleaning service was worth the investment. Let’s review some options to clarify what type of service we could be looking at.  

Montreal – Quebec's restaurant owners are issuing a cry for help: the province needs more immigrants, they say, to deal with a labour shortage. CTV News Montreal reports. | READ MORE

Windsor, Ont. –  Arcata Pizzeria in Lakeshore, Ont., has created a rainbow pizza to support the Pride community during Windsor-Essex Pride Fest. CBC News reports. | READ MORE

Calgary – A new Calgary restaurant opening in August will feature many owners. Everyone who works at the self-professed elevated vegetable-forward restaurant is either a permanent owner or a probationary one. Global News reports. | READ MORE

A restaurant schedule that perfectly matches the business volume is the holy grail we all seek.

Buying locally, eating locally and hiring locally are considered good things to do. But what about searching locally?

St. John's, N.L. – The Association for New Canadians, the Academy Canada and the Restaurant Association of Newfoundland and Labrador together have developed a social enterprise food truck that will provide training, mentorship and work experience to refugee participants.

The way to avoid sending negative signals to your customers is to become aware of them, writes customer service expert Shep Hyken.

A new cookbook entitled No Gluten, No Problem Pizza: 75 Recipes for Every Craving – From Thin Crust to Deep Dish, New York to Naples

Toronto – Unbun Foods, a Toronto-based certified keto, paleo, grain-free and gluten-free food company, announced its Keto Bun will be available at Mr. Sub locations in Canada and a keto pizza crust will be available at a national pizza chain in the near future.

OnDeck, an online lending to small business and Upserve, a restaurant management platform, will work together to give Upserve's restaurant clients online financing options from OnDeck.

Genus dei of Italy has a line polypropylene trays in difference sizes and colours suitable for multiple uses.

A new in-depth guide to pan pizza by baking expert Peter Reinhart provides recipes for Detroit-, Sicilian-, and Roman-style pan pizzas and focaccias in a home oven.

A new cloud-based point-of-sale system called Squirrel Cloud is available to restaurants of all sizes.

Seapoint Farms has launched two varieties of gluten-free low-carb and grain-free edamame-based rice alternatives: Riced Edamame and Riced Medley with edamame, cauliflower and sweet potato.

A new vegan pizza recipe book provides everything you need to know to create delicious, healthy pizza without any meat or dairy products.

Montreal – Lallemand Baking has introduced Lal^Ferm as the new brand name and packaging for its Eagle brand fresh bakers yeast in North America.

All-Clad Canada is introducing a D3 Stainless Ovenware collection featuring seven new durable and versatile ovenware pieces that feature the brand’s three-ply bonded technology.

An interactive, on-premise, self-service beer and wine experience from iPourIt is promoting consumer choice and sampling.

Winnipeg – A Winnipeg takeout pizza place, SFC Pizzeria, is using sticky notes and the generosity of strangers to help feed hungry people who can't afford their food. CBC News reports. | READ MORE

Anyone who got their start working in a pizzeria will get a kick out of Dean Litster’s story.

People looking for home-cooked Italian fare in Cambridge, Ont., can find the real deal tucked away in a plaza near the workaday industrial area of the city.

Giuseppe Cortinovis never fails to surprise me. In the past, our Traditional Chef of the Year has wowed me with his dough experimentation, amazed me with his travels around the world in search of ideas and impressed me with his capacity to learn.

Milan, Italy – Gino Sorbillo is an enthusiastic and very successful pizza maker (with various pizzerias in Naples, Milan and New York and one about to open in Rome) who is keen to get his ideas across.

Forget Santa. We all know the holidays are about spending time with loved ones, showing kindness to others and sharing delicious food. I spoke with three pizza professionals who are helping unite their communities by making creative, delicious pizzas and serving them with love.

The five-year mark is big for restaurants. That’s one reason The Catherwood and the Kiln threw a backyard party last spring to celebrate its milestone.

Pizza and bowling seem to go together. They are both fun, shareable experiences that are easily customizable. Bowlers can take their families, friends can join a league, folks young and old can enjoy a date night at the local lanes.

Justin Tanada, a sales trainer from Hamilton, Ont., loves pizza so much that he started an Instagram account dedicated to it. Known as Pizzatography the profile features photos and videos of pizza from all over the world.

The uniqueness of Maurizio Mascioli’s pizza has made his season-driven shop popular with locals and a must-do for visitors of Parry Sound, Ont., and surrounding area.

A beautifully prepared sweet treat is not only the perfect way to round out a pizza order, it can also boost sales significantly. We’re not talking about days-old packaged cookies here – we’re talking handcrafted goodies made fresh daily that will have customers spreading the word on your behalf.

Vancouver – The EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival is a full day of pastry, expert cooking classes and chefs from across Canada and the United States. The Georgia Strait reports. | READ MORE

Beef heart bolognaise sauce, a favourite dish at Primal in Saskatoon, is made with ground beef hearts.

Primal Pasta in Saskatoon, Sask., exudes everything married chefs Christie Peters and Kyle Michael stand for: sustainability, environmentalism and mouthwatering, handmade food.

Edmonton – Despite the increasing popularity of plant-based protein alternatives like Beyond Meat hamburgers, a new University of Alberta study suggests that changing attitudes about meat consumption is a slow and complicated process. The University of Alberta reports. | READ MORE

Saltair, B.C. – Retired Vancouver Island University baking instructor Martin Barnett has opened Seraphina’s Oven, a training centre for artisan baking that employs five red seal certified instructors. The Ladysmith Chemainus Chronicle reports. | READ MORE

Never underestimate the importance of great dough. As few as five simple ingredients become the base of your pizza, and good or bad, it all starts here.  

Pincher Creek, Alta. – Alberta farmer Dan Berezan has launched an “online farmers market” called CultivatR to help consumers feel more connected to their food and to sell to them directly, Elizabeth Chorney-Booth reports in her column in the Calgary Herald. | READ MORE

Did you know the most effective tool for pizza marketing is right under your nose? Your menu design and layout can increase your pizzeria’s bottom line profit by three to five per cent.

Following a tasting event at the Après Wine Bar in Toronto featuring Parmigiano Reggiano in a fusion menu with cocktail and wine pairings, the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium shared fun facts about what it calls “the King of Cheese.”

Sardinia – Delicate and impossible to replicate, su filindeu – or the “threads of God” – is a pasta made of hundreds of tiny strands by a single woman in a hillside town in Sardinia. Pocket/Saveur reports. | READ MORE

Denver, CO – The Annex by Ardent Mills will partner with Colorado Quinoa to clean, mill and market quinoa grown in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.

Chicago – In order to drive sales of pasta and noodle dishes, operators should offer a unique draw that customers won’t be able to find elsewhere, suggests a new report from research firm Technomic.

Dozens of third-party delivery services have been cropping up in the last few years – Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes, DoorDash and Foodora, to name just a few.

Texas – DoubleDave’s Pizzaworks, based in Austin, Texas, is serving up a Maple Leaf-shaped, poutine-topped pizza that’s named after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Daily Hive reports. | READ MORE

Value remains a vital component in the path to purchase, suggests a new report by research firm Technomic.

Restaurants Canada recently launched its 2019 Foodservice Facts Guide featuring research, insights and a forecast of trends shaping the restaurant industry, including the top 10 food and drink trends of 2018.

Chicago – Restaurant digital orders, which are defined by meals or snacks ordered via mobile app, internet, or text message, have grown by 23 per cent in the U.S. over the past four years and are expected to continue to grow by double-digits through 2020 across all service modes including delivery, on premises, and carryout, says a new report by the NPD Group.

Toronto, Ont. – In case you were wondering why you should enter or attend the Canadian Pizza magazine's Chef of the Year competitions on Oct. 21, here are the definitive Top 10 reasons you need to BRING IT!

Toronto – This October, the Canadian Pizza Summit adds a new event to its lineup – the Mystery Ingredient Challenge!

Restaurants Canada recently hosted a webinar on search trends and how restaurant operators can attract more diners by using relatively simple strategies.

Montreal, renowned for its creativity and cultural diversity, is now home to a growing number of pizzerias for all tastes.

A lot of Canadians are interested eating at home more often. I know this for three reasons. First, research reports have been predicting this trend, which goes hand in hand with tough economic times. When money is tight, people tend to hunker down with family and scale down their spending until the economy improves.

Chicago – A new report suggests the growing popularity of alternative proteins will increasingly overshadow beef and pork for health-conscious Canadians.