I am often lucky enough to talk about extra virgin olive oil to pizza makers from all over Europe. I'm lucky because the pizza makers I meet understand perfectly that the yeast is as important as the tomato and the extra virgin olive oil a "good" pizza can only be done if all the ingredients are “good”.
And we often think together about how give greater value to extra virgin olive oil.
Let's start with the menu. “Margherita: mozzarella, tomato, basil, oil”. Without prejudice to the obligation to indicate the ingredients, we all know more or less what a Margherita is: even and above all foreigners. Why not stimulate the customer's attention by describing the flavor of the extra virgin olive oil, its consistency, its origin? “Margherita: mozzarella, tomato, basil, Frantoio monocultivar extra virgin olive oil, which smells of wild herbs and tastes like artichoke”. At the bottom of the menu is the name of the producer and the origin. Once ready and brought to the table, the waiter in front of the customer pours the oil from the bottle directly onto the hot pizza which immediately explodes the aromas described on the menu, astounding the diners.
The customer reads the menu, see the bottle, remains impressed by the scent and when it comes to the cashier to pay if he finds the same bottle of oil in a smaller package and sold at a significant price, he buys it, because at home he wants to try to recreate the same emotion experienced in the pizzeria. And the price must be important because in this way the customer is made to understand the "value" put on the pizza and the cost is fully justified, should it be needed.
And when he comes back – because he will certainly come back – he will certainly look for other pairings with other oils or with food.
In the starters menu, instead of "Caprese: buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and basil" why don't you dare a little more by writing maybe “Extra virgin Caprese: buffalo mozzarella with Tonda Iblea monocultivar, which has the scent of tomato leaves, marjoram, aromatic herbs”? When the sliced mozzarella arrives, the waiter pours the oil… And at the checkout another bottle is sold. Because the great impression of offering friends a caprese without tomatoes is not a trivial matter!
Someone will surely be wondering: how much does all this cost? Assuming an extra virgin olive oil that costs the restaurateur €18,00 per litre (to give a number): pour 6 to 8 grams of oil on the pizza and 10 to 14 grams of oil on the caprese. Do the math on the pizza there will be from 11 to 14 cents (cents!) of euros and on the caprese from 18 to 25 cents.
When the customer enters the restaurant and takes a seat, he immediately receives the first impulse from the menu, which stimulates him in three different ways: first of all, the description of a flavour, which is completely unusual in a pizzeria menu.
The second stimulus is given by the origin of the oil, which offers a precise identity, which describes a place and brings to mind our positive perceptions, whatever they may be. The third and no less important is being able to make the customer perceive that in that pizzeria the extra virgin olive oil is not a simple fat, a simple and anonymous condiment, but a "consistent product", which lives on its own light, essential for the dish and that if he weren't there, there wouldn't even be the pizza to which he is linked.
Therefore, the menu really becomes a very intense prod for the customer's senses, who in unknowingly asking himself some questions about what he reads, activates a series of stimuli which, despite being faced with the choice of a known and comfortable product such as pizza, fail to make him prefigure the finished product, leaving him in a of pleasant surprise.
The most delicate and important moment for the organization of the room and the service is certainly the gestural/passionate one of the waiter pouring the extra virgin olive oilAnd. After placing the plate, he takes the bottle of the matching extra virgin olive oil, opens it delicately and with a quick and safe gesture pours the right amount onto the pizza, taking care to interact with the hottest part of it. Once paid, it must be immediately closed in front of the customer, to show the importance of the gesture just made.
At this point it's up to the customer's senses which, first intensely stimulated by the aromas of the oil which the heat of the pizza enhances and then by the bitter/spicy taste perceived in the mouth to which the retronasal sensations will be added, will give an unexpected excitement which will mind an unusual way of approaching pizza.
Good pizza everyone!
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