From Tradition to Innovation.
Sysco Knows Italian – Food is our specialty. Pizza is our passion.
Together let’s craft one great pizza at a time, with Core 4 ingredients from brands you trust and love.
Shop All Pizza Items
Shop All Pizza Items
Shop All Pizza Items
Explore Our Core Four Ingredients
to Craft Your Perfect Pizza
Flour provides the structure in the dough. The gluten-forming proteins in the flour allowing the dough to rise during fermentation (extensibility) and maintain its volume and shape during and after baking (elasticity)
- Higher protein will make firmer, stronger dough
- Lower protein will make softer dough
Because flour plays the leading role in dough formulas, most pizza operators express their formulations based on flour percentage.
All ingredients are expressed as a percentage of the total flour weight in the formula – as an example, if the formula required 50 pounds of flour and 25 pounds of water, as a baker’s percent this would be expressed as:
| Ingredient | Weight | Bakers % |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 50 | 100 |
| Water | 25 | 50 |
This water is 5% of the flour weight (50 lb. x 0.50) = 25lb. With this method, the flour percentage is always 100%.
Toppings Do’s and Don’ts
| Toppings | Issue | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Pepperoni | Cupping | – Curls into a bowl shape that holds grease. – Characteristic of pepperoni that has dried to fast of the style of casing used. |
| Pepperoni | Caring | – Outside edges cook more rapidly than the resulting in burnt product. – Often happens with cupped pepperoni or when char-proofed spice are not used. |
| Pepperoni | Greasing Out | – Raw sausage releases substantial amounts of fat when cooked, resulting in pooling |
| Sausage (Raw) | Sausage not fully cooked | – The portion per sausage chunk is too large or thick to finish cooking in the allotted pizza cook time. |
| Sausage (Pre-Cooked) | Poor coverage | – Portion size by weight is concentrated into fewer, bigger, chunks. |
| Product Toppings | Raw texture | – Toppings are sliced or diced too thick |
| Produce Toppings | Shriveled or Mushy Texture | – Toppings are too small or thin |
| Produce Toppings | Cheese is not browning | – Toppings are releasing natural moisture |
| Canned Toppings | Texture is poor | – Preservation or ingredient quality is poor. |
| Canned Toppings | Taste is too salty | – High sodium content |
| Canned Toppings | Cheese is not browning | – Toppings are releasing natural moisture |
Meet Our Italian Specialists
Daniela Paolino
Sysco Boston
Passionate first generation Italian-American, with work experience in the hospitality and events industry for 15+ years with a heart for Italian food
Tony Makhoul
Sysco Capitol Region
Sysco Capitol Region. Spent 25 years in the industry, not including messing around in mom’s kitchen
Alessandro Ricciardi
Sysco South Florida
I have spent 30 years in the food service industry, with 24 years dedicated to cooking and 6 yearsrs in sales.
Phil Castiglione
NY Metro Region
35+ years of sales/ sales leadership experience with heavy Italian segment exposure over the last 15.
Jeffrey Emerson
Sysco Portland
I have spent 25 years in the kitchen working with traditional Italian, farm to table and various pizza concepts.
Giuseppe Bruno
Sysco San Francisco
Born in Catania, Italy,17 years in food service with focus in the Italian Segment.
Nick Meurett
Sysco North Central Region
36 years foodservice experience
Jared Clemens
Sysco Mid Central Region
Jared Clemens with over 10+ years in the food and beverage
Joe Tocco
Sysco Mid West Region
I have 20 years in the Italian segment started working for my dad’s company Tocco Foods
Murat Eser
Sysco PA Region
Selling Italian Restaurants with Sysco since 1996.
Giovanni Giacometto
Sysco South Texas Region
I have been in the food service industry for over 35 years, 25 years in the Italian restaurant segment
Bennett Depew
Sysco Carolina Region
30 years serving the Industry as a chef and specialist with Italian food always in my heart.
Jeffrey Stefani
Sysco Michigan
37 years in the food service industry.
Antimo Verde
Sysco Carolina Region
My name is Antimo Verde. I have been in the Italian food and wine industry since 1993, working in sales and as a woodfired oven pizzaiolo for many years in Napoli and Manhattan.
Anthony Canale
Sysco West Coast Florida
23 years in the foodservice industry.
Barry Steinberg
Sysco Atlanta
27 years in the foodservice industry.
Ryan Hand
Sysco North Florida Region
I’ve been working in the Italian Foodservice segment for 9 years
Carol Cirilli
Sysco Capitol Region
I have been in the food service industry – specifically the Italian segment, for 5 years
Chris Paulikas
Sysco Central Florida
I have worked in restaurants for over 23 years
Micheal Hernandez
Sysco South Florida
15 years with Sysco. 30 years in Italian industry. Owner operator specializing in tomatoes, cheese and dough creation.
Mario Mora
Sysco Nashville
I have been in the food industry for 9 years and all of it primarily in Italian food between Sogno Toscano, Stanislaus Food Products, and now Sysco.
Nick Barbera
Sysco Mideast
I’ve been in food service for 20+ years in the BOH and sales. My BOH experience is all Italian and my sales experience has been on both the broker and distributor side, recently joining Sysco from an Italian independent distributor.
