Hungry? Take a hike on the New Jersey Pizza Trail

No matter how you slice it, here’s one experience that has New Jersey written all over it.

As part of an ongoing effort to promote the state’s culinary scene, the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism recently launched a handy guide to help visitors and locals discover some of the best pizza joints around the Garden State.

With an estimated 2,000 pizzerias in the state, specializing in everything from tomato pies to brick-oven Sicilian pies to thin crust tavern style to deep dish slices, there’s no better place to start – and end – the search for the perfect slice.

New Jersey’s reputation for tasty pizza is already well established, with local spots around the state frequently earning accolades from publications like Thrillist and NJ Monthly.

On the heels of the Garden State being crowned as the best pizza state in the U.S. by Food + Wine magazine in April 2021, the state’s travel and tourism division wanted to celebrate the achievement.

For the first-ever New Jersey Pizza Trail, the state said it compiled a list of 10 must-eat destinations based on fanfare from customers, community members and visitors. And, after debuting the trail over the summer, the team updated it for the fall to coincide with the start of National Pizza Month in October.

“We in the Garden State know that our Jersey Fresh grown tomatoes – pizza’s key ingredient – place us among one of the best states in the whole country in which to celebrate a tomato pie,” said Jeff Vasser, executive director of the state Division of Travel and Tourism.

“No matter where you may roam in the Garden State, these top 10 pizza establishments will greet you with a delicious Jersey Fresh slice, along with the warm hospitality that has made each restaurant a fan favorite,” he said.

Matt Verney was thrilled when he discovered that his shop, The Original Thin Crust Pizza Co., made the cut. Located in East Brunswick, the pizzeria serves up hard-to-find, super-thin crust pan-baked pizza made from a 75-year-old family recipe. Verney has also created some specialty pies, different from anything else in New Jersey’s pizza-scape, like the Hombre pizza (mozzarella, onions, banana peppers, bacon, hot sauce and Asiago cheese) and a seriously spicy pizza called Jump in the Fire.

“It’s humbling to be on a very short list, relative to pizza places in New Jersey, of destination dining,” he said. “There are some big names on the list as far as New Jersey pizza is concerned: Delo’s, Calabria, Federici’s. To be lumped in with them is something special.”

For Michael Federici, a third-generation owner of Federici’s Family Restaurant in Freehold, being named a stop on the trail is “a great honor.”

“We’ve been in business for 100 years, but have only been doing pizza for 75 years, so we’re really humbled by this,” he said. “I always knew we had an incredible product, but sometimes getting the word out is not always easy. We’re still pretty old fashioned here and just rely on word of mouth. Something like this helps!”

Getting creative

The New Jersey Food Tour Trail is just one example of how the food and beverage industry is branching out when it comes to marketing.

Dana Lancellotti, president of the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association, applauded the state’s campaign and said, “It’s all part of being creative.”

“They are trying to find ways to push and promote a niche. New Jersey is one of those states that competes to have the very best pizza on the planet, so it makes sense and it was smart to create that,” she said of the New Jersey Pizza Trail.

In the age of social media, where visuals are everything, there has been a pivot to more experience-driven promotions, such as restaurant weeks, culinary tours, food festivals, cooking classes and wine tasting events.

In New Jersey, there’s no shortage of experiential tourism for foodies, from food crawls in Jersey City to pick-your-own farms in Hunterdon County to the Anthony Bourdain food trail.

The increasing participation of food and travel bloggers in culinary tourism for unique experiences, and sharing what it is like with their followers, provides a boost to the market. Food-related television shows featuring world-renowned chefs and special events have also caused an increase in tourism over the past decade.

In fact, after Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy dropped into Federici’s Family Restaurant in March 2020 to give it a “one bite” pizza review, Federici said the kitchen saw a jump in calls. Two days after Portnoy uploaded his video ranking Federici’s pizza as an 8.8 out of 10, the restaurant filled orders for 900 pies on Friday night and 800 on Saturday night, beating the old record of 600 pizzas in a single shift.

“We use top quality ingredients, we’re consistent and we make all our pizzas on the crunchier, crispier, more well-done side. From our dough to our sauce to the cheese, it’s all very complementary,” Federici said.

As one of the most diverse culinary scenes in the country, New Jerseyans have the luxury of essentially traveling the world without ever leaving home, Lancellotti said. “We have so much culture in every nook and cranny of the state which lets people who are curious and like to explore a chance to experience different flavors,” she said.

“Maybe COVID made us more appreciative of our own state – it forced us to stay close to home and take day trips. Maybe we discovered more things that way and that gave us more culinary experiences,” Lancellotti added. “I also think the outdoor dining and ‘streeteries’ really helped to get people to explore new places and new restaurants.”

Still reeling

In New Jersey, the hospitality industry generates about $18.1 billion in tax revenue annually and employs close to 282,000 workers, making it the state’s largest private sector employer, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The majority – 203,870 – work at one of New Jersey’s 19,150 foodservice or drink establishments.

In an industry so vulnerable to economic fluctuations, travel and leisure are one of the first items people scale back on during tight times. And, the domino effect continues from there, with hotels and restaurants tightening budgets and laying off workers.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, restaurants were forced to adapt to public health concerns, state-imposed safety mandates, reduced occupancy rates and worker shortages that left many with a less profitable business in 2021, according to a survey conducted earlier this year by the NJRHA.

At one point during the last two years, a third of the restaurants in the state were closed, Lancellotti said. And while some of those places have reopened, the state did lose “a lot of much-loved, go-tos for dining,” she added.

Many of the small, family-owned establishments are still reeling and must now contend with continued staffing issues, supply chain woes, inflation and competition from national restaurant chains.

That’s why every bit of promotion helps right now, business owners said.

“The pandemic has changed the way people eat and dine,” Verney said. “Pre-pandemic, my revenue was 80-85% dine-in and now it’s around 35% dine-in. In general, dine-in customers’ average ticket prices are higher than a take-out customer because they’ll [buy] drinks, apps and maybe dessert or coffee.”

By running specials and highlighting that The Original Thin Crust Pizza Co. offers more than just a slice, Verney hopes he can attract customers to dine in or order out from the restaurant.

“That’s money not going into a national chain,” he said. “We little guys need to support ourselves and our families and we get what’s left after all the bills are paid. Some weeks, that’s very little.”