Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a charity event to help raise money and awareness for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex or TSC (a rare multi-system genetic disease that causes non-malignant tumors to grow in the brain and other vital organs like the kidneys, lungs, etc.) kids effected with this disease can suffer severe seizures and mental retardation and often the failure of one or more of their vital organs can lead to death.
The event was one of celebration for the progress that has been made thus far, as well as to raise more money and awareness to find a cure. I was impressed with both the turnout and the generosity of the patrons that evening. We at Mad Pizza were fortunate enough to provide food for all of the volunteers and to donate a little money too.
It is important for us to get involved with our local community and to get "Mad" at those diseases that hit close to home for some of our team members. To that end, this event was a pre-cursor to the Slice4Life Campaign that we will start in the fall - starting with Breast Cancer Awareness month in October - Slice4Life is Mad Pizza's "Mad at _____" insert cause, campaign that we hope will allow our team members and customers to come together to donate and/or volunteer for those causes that are important to them. Fall/Winter - Cancer and Muscular Diseases. Spring/Summer - TSC and HIV/AIDS.
So look for our Slice4Life campaign to begin in October and we hope you will join us in working locally to fight disease. Coming Soon: http://www.slice4life.com/ and .net
You can learn more and donate to the cause of TSC at http://www.tsalliance.org/
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
We're Still Committed
It has been a very busy winter and the blog has been in hibernation. But we are well into spring and it's time to "Embrace the Madness again!"
Much has been happening in the world of Mad Pizza - we have made some changes in recent months to both facility and menu and we will be using the blog to get the word out on what those changes are.
We will also be hearing from our Restaurant General Managers and what is going in their "Mad Capped World."
Just a few upcoming events:
June:
- Madaccini Pasta Roll-out
- Manager and Assistant Manager Team Building Event
- "Mad Hour" - our version of the happiest of hours from 3pm-6pm. Check us out in the Happy Hour guide in the Seattle Weekly. Great specials on Draft Beer - both Domestic and Micro-brews as well as the introduction of 9 new wines. Stay tuned for more to come on "Mad Hour."
Much has been happening in the world of Mad Pizza - we have made some changes in recent months to both facility and menu and we will be using the blog to get the word out on what those changes are.
We will also be hearing from our Restaurant General Managers and what is going in their "Mad Capped World."
Just a few upcoming events:
June:
- Madaccini Pasta Roll-out
- Manager and Assistant Manager Team Building Event
- "Mad Hour" - our version of the happiest of hours from 3pm-6pm. Check us out in the Happy Hour guide in the Seattle Weekly. Great specials on Draft Beer - both Domestic and Micro-brews as well as the introduction of 9 new wines. Stay tuned for more to come on "Mad Hour."
Friday, August 22, 2008
River Rats
On July 29Th Tom and I took the management team out to river. Justin, our operations trainer is also a river guide during the summer on his days off from the pizza world. We wanted to do something different as a team building event and this sounded like just he challenge we needed.
Ten of us were sent up the river (really it was down the river) with nothing but a life vest, kayak, a paddle and a prayer. Well... we had two good guides as well. This was our first team building event of the year and I am happy to report that it was wildly successful. Not only did everyone have fun, but we got to experience the relationship between the emotional act and logical act of trust. Trust in our equipment, our guides, each other and ourselves to make it through not only the calm of the river, but the rapids as well. That in itself was no small task and it speaks volumes about the type of people we having working along side us in our restaurants. We had to set aside our own pride and ego and fully trust in the people around us and one of the end results was a new found respect in our abilities to take risks with each other, work hard together, an in the end come closer together as one, which I consider to be Grace. Pride, Respect,Grace, and Fun are 4 of the 6 six core values that we live by at Mad Pizza. The other two are Hunger to be our best and Love of great food. I am sure there were elements of these as well in our experience.
I am very proud of the team for taking on the challenge of this endeavor - for some it was a test of their own will, for other's a boost to their confidence and in the end we accomplished our goal.
Ten of us were sent up the river (really it was down the river) with nothing but a life vest, kayak, a paddle and a prayer. Well... we had two good guides as well. This was our first team building event of the year and I am happy to report that it was wildly successful. Not only did everyone have fun, but we got to experience the relationship between the emotional act and logical act of trust. Trust in our equipment, our guides, each other and ourselves to make it through not only the calm of the river, but the rapids as well. That in itself was no small task and it speaks volumes about the type of people we having working along side us in our restaurants. We had to set aside our own pride and ego and fully trust in the people around us and one of the end results was a new found respect in our abilities to take risks with each other, work hard together, an in the end come closer together as one, which I consider to be Grace. Pride, Respect,Grace, and Fun are 4 of the 6 six core values that we live by at Mad Pizza. The other two are Hunger to be our best and Love of great food. I am sure there were elements of these as well in our experience.
I am very proud of the team for taking on the challenge of this endeavor - for some it was a test of their own will, for other's a boost to their confidence and in the end we accomplished our goal.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Dough Elf Sighting Possible
Well July has been a month already full of surprises. As Tom said we are gearing up for some improvements to our menu in addition to our wine list and we also say goodbye and hello to some of our team members.
Gary our chief Dough Elf at the commissary has bid us adieu as he is getting married at the end of the month and has some new adventures planned (although I am a bit suspicious as we are only a few months away from Christmas and I am convinced he is headed up to the North Pole). Wherever he lands we will miss his cheerfulness and handiness at the commissary and we wish him the very best. We welcome our newest Dough Elf - Christian to the team, he joins Barney at the commissary and they are working like MAD producing the freshest, best tasting dough in the Land.
Everyone loves a parade.... Our Madison Park location was on hand during the children's parade in that neighborhood last weekend to provide some madness for the participants by giving them a slice of cheesy pizza. Everyone had a great time and we were glad to be a part of this neighborhood event. Mitch and his team didn't disappoint.
Fireworks a plenty at Stafire... James and his team took part in the city of Tukwila's annual Fireworks Display at Fort Dent park on the 4th, by having a pizza booth at the event so that those patrons who had already spent the summer barbecuing and were looking for something a little different, could get a slice of cheesy or pepperoni pizza and a soda pop. The weather held up and great fun was had by all. Next year maybe one of the elves will show up!
Gary our chief Dough Elf at the commissary has bid us adieu as he is getting married at the end of the month and has some new adventures planned (although I am a bit suspicious as we are only a few months away from Christmas and I am convinced he is headed up to the North Pole). Wherever he lands we will miss his cheerfulness and handiness at the commissary and we wish him the very best. We welcome our newest Dough Elf - Christian to the team, he joins Barney at the commissary and they are working like MAD producing the freshest, best tasting dough in the Land.
Everyone loves a parade.... Our Madison Park location was on hand during the children's parade in that neighborhood last weekend to provide some madness for the participants by giving them a slice of cheesy pizza. Everyone had a great time and we were glad to be a part of this neighborhood event. Mitch and his team didn't disappoint.
Fireworks a plenty at Stafire... James and his team took part in the city of Tukwila's annual Fireworks Display at Fort Dent park on the 4th, by having a pizza booth at the event so that those patrons who had already spent the summer barbecuing and were looking for something a little different, could get a slice of cheesy or pepperoni pizza and a soda pop. The weather held up and great fun was had by all. Next year maybe one of the elves will show up!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
And We're Back
We apologize for the lack of activity here, but it is not because we have been inactive. We've been really busy.
South Lake Union continues to grow monthly, and we are excited to introduce some cool wine options in the next month.
We've been experimenting with some new Chevre, and boy are we excited about the differences in taste, texture and appearance with some new options. More to come on this in the future.
South Lake Union continues to grow monthly, and we are excited to introduce some cool wine options in the next month.
We've been experimenting with some new Chevre, and boy are we excited about the differences in taste, texture and appearance with some new options. More to come on this in the future.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Team Building with Microsoft
On Thursday May 8Th Mad Pizza had the privilege to be a part of a team building event for 100 Microsoft employees. The idea was, they would break into 20 teams and each team would compete for the most creative and best tasting pizza.
This is how it worked: each team had a few minutes to strategize on what their pizza's would look like - our team had the toppings perfectly portioned out and on display for each team to pour over. Once they had their list they had to return to their table to sauce and cheese their pizza skins (hand tossed by some of our brightest Restaurant General Manager's, right there in front of the contestants). Once that was done their team captains only had a few minutes to race to the pizza topping area and get their toppings, but if they weren't quick that perfectly planned pizza could turn into an all mushroom extravaganza!
A good time was had by all, the contestants were very savvy and creative in the way they constructed their pies... one team constructed the space needle on their pie and some even found a way to mix it up by taking some toppings from the Daniel's Hors 'd orderves table! Can we please get a ruling from the judges on that? All the contestants were great sports and a pleasure to work with we look forward to seeing them as custoemers on our resturants.
Our great thanks to our new friends at Daniel's for putting a great spread out for these folks as well as a bite for us at the end of the event. Yes they got pizza, check out the pie with the Daniel's Logo.
I also want to thank Jodi and her team at the Zella company for getting us involved and putting on such a great event. Nothing says team building like constructing the perfect pie.
Lastly I want to thank my team headed up by Norm from our First Hill location - they did us proud and were true "Mad Performers", great job Norm, Greg, and Nick!
This is how it worked: each team had a few minutes to strategize on what their pizza's would look like - our team had the toppings perfectly portioned out and on display for each team to pour over. Once they had their list they had to return to their table to sauce and cheese their pizza skins (hand tossed by some of our brightest Restaurant General Manager's, right there in front of the contestants). Once that was done their team captains only had a few minutes to race to the pizza topping area and get their toppings, but if they weren't quick that perfectly planned pizza could turn into an all mushroom extravaganza!
A good time was had by all, the contestants were very savvy and creative in the way they constructed their pies... one team constructed the space needle on their pie and some even found a way to mix it up by taking some toppings from the Daniel's Hors 'd orderves table! Can we please get a ruling from the judges on that? All the contestants were great sports and a pleasure to work with we look forward to seeing them as custoemers on our resturants.
Our great thanks to our new friends at Daniel's for putting a great spread out for these folks as well as a bite for us at the end of the event. Yes they got pizza, check out the pie with the Daniel's Logo.
I also want to thank Jodi and her team at the Zella company for getting us involved and putting on such a great event. Nothing says team building like constructing the perfect pie.
Lastly I want to thank my team headed up by Norm from our First Hill location - they did us proud and were true "Mad Performers", great job Norm, Greg, and Nick!
A Weekend of Food in Seattle
I spent the weekend with my good friends Ted and Sara of Berkeley, Aana of West Seattle and my loves Anita and Sam eating our way around Seattle. Tilth on Friday night, an incredible meal with Jeff and Jenny Long on Saturday cooked by Chez Ted from ingredients picked up at the U District Farmers Market and the fish shop in Fishermans' Terminal; oysters at Chinooks; Cafe Campagne for brunch on Sunday; a slice of cheese pizza at Starfire Mad Pizza before the Sounders' game, and, post-Sounders victory, a late dinner at How to Cook a Wolf.
The highlights for me were:
- the fried basil leave on top of a seared scallop by Ted.
- the surf clam ceviche topped with finely diced serrano peppers at How to Cook a Wolf.
- Ouefs en Meurette at Campagne.
- the good times that seem to happen with good food and wine and friends.
It was one of those weekends in Seattle that makes tourists want to move here: U District street fair, Cheese Festival in Pike Place Market; Norwegian heritage parade in Ballard.
As Mad Pizza moves forward, we need to reinforce the localness of who we are; the ingredients available to us is stunning at times, and we will find a way as we move forward to utilize them in more special ways.
Blooming arugula anyone?
The highlights for me were:
- the fried basil leave on top of a seared scallop by Ted.
- the surf clam ceviche topped with finely diced serrano peppers at How to Cook a Wolf.
- Ouefs en Meurette at Campagne.
- the good times that seem to happen with good food and wine and friends.
It was one of those weekends in Seattle that makes tourists want to move here: U District street fair, Cheese Festival in Pike Place Market; Norwegian heritage parade in Ballard.
As Mad Pizza moves forward, we need to reinforce the localness of who we are; the ingredients available to us is stunning at times, and we will find a way as we move forward to utilize them in more special ways.
Blooming arugula anyone?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
