Pizza has been a major comfort favorite for decades so integral a part of our culinary sphere. More than eight in 10 consumers eat pizza at least once a month, and about half of them enjoy it once a week. Pizza clearly is one of America’s favorite go-to comfort foods.

With recipe innovation is at the forefront of product development, when it comes to pizza in order to win new customers traditional combinations are giving up space to new toppings, novel crusts, and uncommon sauces. Plant-based toppings and other natural ingredients and spices sourced from the world’s cuisines also figure large. With billions of pizza enjoyed in this country every year, there certainly must be challenges in coming up with something new enough to excite…yet not so far off the edge it falls flat.

Prepared Foods’ Executive Editor-Technical David Feder interviews Nick Fallucca, Chief Product and Innovation Officer of Palermo Villa, Inc. as nick shares his experiences and insights into creating one of the country’s great go-to food items.