John Correll CV

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If you have a question, you may feel free to contact John.

(Photo circa 2005 - Age 61)

John Correll, born 1944, has over 55 years of business, restaurant, and pizzeria experience, including self-employed international consultant, chain executive, pizza company entrepreneur, inventor, packaging designer, writer and publisher, college instructor, training director, restaurant and pizzeria manager, pizza-maker, and pizza delivery driver. He has introduced numerous packaging and pizza industry innovations and is holder of 43 patents, has authored over 120 articles on restaurant-pizzeria marketing and operations, has created and delivered numerous seminars on a wide range of topics, has created programs and manuals on many facets of pizzeria/restaurant operation, and has published a number of books including: The Original Encyclopizza® (the first book written exclusively for pizzeria operators), Full-force Conceptioning, Employee Motivation, Applied Cooking Technology for the Foodservice Operator, and Sanitation Now. For a brief bio of John, click here.

He is married to a former horticultural technologist. They said their vows in 1967, and have two children — one an urgent care physician, the other a dental hygienist.

Catering Manager, Banquet Supervisor, Cook, Dishwasher — Correll Catering, 1955-65.

Sanitation Director — Szabo Food Service (for a complex of 13 industrial cafeterias and commissary), 1969-70. Created and installed a comprehensive sanitation program that elevated the sanitation level of operations and fixed an ongoing sanitation problem.

Restaurant Manager — Hungry Charley’s Restaurant (Restaurant Associates Industries), 1972.

Food & Beverage Director — Ann Arbor Hilton (Restaurant Associates Industries), 1973.

Pizza-maker, Delivery Driver — Domino’s Pizza, Inc., 1967-68. First employee in 6th Domino’s Pizza store to open. Assisted with assembling Big Red, World’s Largest Pizza Oven. Also named the oven “Big Red.” Held the job while in grad school pursuing his MBA degree.

Store Manager — Domino’s Pizza, Inc., 1970-71. Created first Super Sunday Promotion — made, baked, delivered over 2400 fresh-dough pizzas in 8 hours, with 1500 pizzas being made and delivered in a four-hour period (for a full description, see pages 161–163, 166–167 of Pizza Tiger by Thomas Monaghan.)

Training Director — Domino’s Pizza, Inc., 1973-75. Created the company's initial Manager Training Program. Wrote the company's first complete Store Operations Manual.

Founder/President — Pizzuti’s, Inc., 1976–1984. Created and administrated world's first fast-food pizza company. Four stores: Two company-owned, two franchise-owned. Designed concept, name, product, marketing strategy, equipment, methods, systems, and manuals. Services included: Dine-in, delivery, carry-out, and drive-thru. Menu included pizza of various styles, sandwiches, salads, desserts, baked goods. Specific accomplishments include:

•  Created numerous industry innovations and advancements (described in a following section of this CV).

•  Formulated and sold all variations of pizza — thin, thick, round, square, fresh, frozen, pan, screen, stuffed, pre-baked, low-cal, individual-size, and take-n-bake.

•  Installed and operated home and industrial delivery systems including delivery from a custom-designed step van that held 250 pizzas.

•  Implemented large-volume pizza catering — up to 1000 pies per order from one store.

•  Designed and sold pre-baked frozen pizza for wholesale distribution.

Vice-president, Development — RPM Pizza, Inc., a 250-unit Domino’s Pizza franchise, 1985-88. Supervised training department, market research, and special marketing projects, including innovative Phone Selling Technology project and Sales-building Project for Canadian stores.

Founder/President — Correll Consulting, LLC, 1973-1974 and 1988–Present. The Original Pizza Industry Consulting Co.™ Clients have ranged from single-unit pizzerias to the world’s largest chains and have included pizza companies and suppliers to the industry, within the U.S. and abroad. A listing of specific consulting projects and accomplishments appears in a subsequent section of this CV. For more on Correll Consulting, go to the Correll Consulting section of this website.

Founder/President — Correll Concepts LP, 1992–2008. As a leading inventor of packaging concepts for the food and pizza industries, Correll Concepts created 43 patents pertaining to pizza and other food packaging inventions (listed in a following section of this CV). For more on Correll Concepts, go to the Correll Concepts section of this website.

Director, Dept. of Restaurant Management — Del Mar College (Corpus Christi, Texas), 1968-69. Instructed courses in marketing, food production, sanitation, and nutrition.

Part-time Instructor — Henry Ford Community College and Washtenaw Community College, 1976-93. Instructed courses in purchasing, dining room operations, and introduction to the industry.

•  First pizza person and restaurateur to use a conveyor oven, 1976.

•  Creator of the first personal-size pizza, 1976 ­– trademarked as the Original One-minute Pizza™.

•  Introduced lunch-time carry-out pizza served in seconds, 1976.

•  Introduced portion control methods to the pizza business, consisting of pump for sauce and electronic scale for cheese and topping weighing, 1976.

•  Pioneered 5-minute pizza baking. Introduced pizza pan with holes, anodized pizza pan, and Teflon coated pizza pan, 1976.

•  Sold first breakfast pizza (Eggzuti) — contained scrambled egg, green pepper, and ham, 1977.

•  Created and sold first low-calorie pizza (Pizzuti Lite) — under 300 calories, 1979.

•  Staged the first World’s Longest Pizza Promotion — over 100' long pizza, 1979.

•  First pizzeria operator to use a personal computer for database marketing, 1982.

•  Published the first book written exclusively for pizzeria operators, 1992.

Invented numerous packaging and marketing related innovations. Holder of 43 patents, listed below. Except for the first two, he conceptualized, wrote, and successfully prosecuted each patent himself.

•  U.S. Pat. 5,381,949 - Box
•  U.S. Pat. D356,254 - Pizza Box
•  U.S. Pat. D371,296 - Cover for Pizza Box
•  U.S. Pat. 5,549,241 - Interlock for Stackable Boxes
•  U.S. Pat. 5,553,771 - Resource-saving Box
•  U.S. Pat. 5,586,716 - Designer-cover Box
•  U.S. Pat. 5,595,339 - Blank for One-piece Octagonal Box
•  U.S. Pat. D380,152 - Food Container
•  U.S. Pat. D380,072 - Pet Treat
•  U.S. Pat. D380,965 - Covered Food Container
•  U.S. Pat. D385,785 - Sealable Container
•  U.S. Pat. 5,713,509 - Convertible Box
•  U.S. Pat. 5,752,651 - Matable Blank and Food Carton
•  U.S. Pat. D394,388 - Cover Panel of a Box Blank
•  U.S. Pat. 5,806,755 - Product-protecting Pizza Carton
•  U.S. Pat. D400,438 - Cover Panel of a Box Blank
•  U.S. Pat. 5,833,130 - Multi-function Pizza Carton
•  U.S. Pat. D402,435 - Edible Product
•  U.S. Pat. 5,881,948 - Expandable Pizza Box and Method of Use
•  U.S. Pat. 5,918,797 - Blank for Improved Pizza Box
•  U.S. Pat. 5,961,035 - Designer Pizza Box with Enhancements
•  U.S. Pat. 6,016,951 - Pizza Box with Roll-over Expandable Wall Section
•  U.S. Pat. 6,065,669 - Slanting-wall Pizza Box
•  U.S. Pat. 6,070,791 - Non-radially-symmetrical Pizza-box-fitable Food Cup
•  U.S. Pat. D427,526 - Cover Panel of a Box Blank
•  U.S. Pat. 6,092,715 - Easy-to-use Pizza Box
•  U.S. Pat. D436,533 - Cover Panel of a Box Blank
•  U.S. Pat. 6,196,448 - Heat-retaining Food Carton
•  U.S. Pat. 6,206,277 - Quality-enhancing Pizza Carton
•  U.S. Pat. 6,223,979 - Crush-resisting Paperboard Clamshell Carton
•  U.S. Pat. 6,290,122 - Versatile Pizza Carton
•  U.S. Pat. 6,533,164 - Multi-featured Blank for a Food Carton
•  U.S. Pat. 6,547,125 - Material-saving Food Carton
•  U.S. Pat. 6,748,722 - Method for Reducing Heat Loss of Hot Pizzeria Pizza…
•  U.S. Pat. 6,889,891 - Multi-featured Box and Blank
•  U.S. Pat. 6,892,932 - Efficient Food Carton
•  U.S. Pat. 6,922,976 - Method of Packaging and Transporting Pizza…
•  U.S. Pat. 7,007,837 - Box with Article-retaining Structure
•  U.S. Pat. D525,867 - Cover Panel of a Box Blank
•  U.S. Pat. D531,898 - Cover Panel of a Box Blank
•  U.S. Pat. D538,648 - Cover Panel of a Box Blank
•  U.S. Pat. D553,976 - Food Carton Cover Panel
•  U.S. Pat. 8,025,207- Material-saving Pizza Box

YOU CAN VIEW A COPY of any of the above patents as recorded in the USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office).

Master of Business Administration degree, Major: Hotel and Restaurant Management; Michigan State University. 1969.

Bachelor of Science degree, Major: Business, Minor: Biology; Adrian College. 1967 — Member: Theta Chi fraternity - Offices held: Pledge Trainer, House Manager, President

Written numerous manuals and guidebooks on wide range of pizza topics including Promotion Management, Phone Selling, Pizza Preparation, Commissary Operations, Manager Development, Security, Delivery, and Employee Recruiting and Retention.

Designed and conducted seminars for various pizza and restaurant industry organizations on various subjects ranging from sales-building to operations, including:

•  Pizza Technology — Blodgett Oven Co.

•  Pizza Wars 2000 — Domino’s Pizza FORUM, and Saputo Group (Canada).

•  Delegation — Pizza College, RPM Pizza, Inc.

•  Promotion Management — Michigan Restaurant Association

•  3-Phase Leadership — Sales-building 2000.

•  Pizza Trends  — Sales-building 2000.

•  Competing in the '90s — Four Star Pizza.

•  Growing in Recessionary Times — ARA Services Marketing Group.

•  Competing Against the Big 3 — Sofo Foods; Presto Foods.

•  Managing the Four Kinds of Performers — Food Service Executives Association.

•  Managing for Greatness — RPM Pizza Annual Supervisor Conventions.

•  Helping Operators Build Profits — Multifoods Speciality Division.

•  Performance and Progress Management — 12-week seminar for Area Supervisors, Marco’s Pizza, Inc.

•  Pizza Potpourri — Maplevale Farms.

•  No-Bullshit™ Management ~ Winning the Pizza Wars ~ Competitive Marketing Strategy ~ Buying Smarter ~ Handling the Rush ~ Equipment Selection ~ Motivating Employees ~ Competitive Strategies for the 21^st Century — Seminars provided at various annual Pizza Expos (National Association of Pizza Operators annual exposition).

Michigan Restaurant Association (former board member; Chairman for 1986)

Hospitality Industry Advisory Board, Henry Ford Community College (1979 – 2013)

Contributing Editor, Pizza Today magazine (1990-98)

~ This is a partial listing. See Correll Concepts home page for up-to-date listing. ~

Full-force Conceptioning, 2012. How to create a powerful loyalty-maximizing marketing strategy.

Employee Motivation, 2012. The Top Ten Ways to Motivate Employees to Superior Performance and Job Satisfaction.

The Original Encyclopizza®, 2012. Covers all aspects of pizza ingredient preparation -- over 425 pages.

Applied Cooking Technology for the Food Service Operator, 1978 — the first book on cooking equipment technology for the restaurant industry.

Sanitation Now, 1972—the first book on restaurant sanitation management.

Published over 120 articles (listed below) — focusing on the topics of pizzeria marketing and operations.  

“How to motivate a teenager,” Slice of Pizza, 1973.
“The new manager’s lament,” Restaurant Business, June, 1980.
“Four Unexplained Dimensions of Hospitality Marketing,” a chapter in The Practice of Hospitality Mgt.” 1982.
“Adding Pizza to a Restaurant or Foodservice Facility,” The Consultant, Spring, 1994.
“Pizza Perplexities,” Domino’s Franchisee Association magazine, Summer, 1998.
“Satisfied Customers,” Nation’s Restaurant News, August 3, 1998.
“20 Ways a Pizza Chain Can Rout the Competition,” Domino‘s Franchisee Association magazine, Fall, 1999

The Following Published in Pizza Today magazine:
“Five Questions About Delivery,” 4/1990.
“Deck Check,” 5/90.
“Phone Selling Psychology,” 6/90.
“Franchising: Why, When, and How,” 7/90.
“Dealing with Distributors,” 8/90.
“Computerizing: A Bit of Advice,” 9/90.
“Mixers: Planetary vs. VCM,” 10/90.
“Dough Management,” 11/90.
“Crust Q & A,” 12/90.
“Pizza Delivery Update and Predictions,” 12/90.
“Pre-rush Prep,” 1/91.
“Discount Addiction,” 2/91.
“How to Select an Oven,” 3/91.
“Sorry, Wrong Numbers,” 4/91.
“Pizza Start-up,” 5/91.
“Crispy Crust,” 6/91.
“Consistent Methods to Obtain Consistent Crust,” 7/91.
“If Delivery Was Easy, Everyone Would Be Doing It,” 8/91.
“Selling with Signs,” 9/91.
“How to Design a Special Crust,” 9/91.
“Financing a Start-up,” 10/91.
“The Basic Executive Cop-out,” 11/91.
“Streamlining Take-out,” 12/91.
“Production Commissary: Pros & Cons,” 12/91.
“Pizza Predictions: 1992,” 1/92.
“Enhancing Pizza Eating Pleasure,” 2/92.
“Winning Customers with Creative Packaging,” 3/92.
“Safe Driving,” 4/1992.
“Pizza Takes on the Drive-thru Market,” 6/92.
“How to Avoid Crust Bubbling,” 6/92.
“Uniform and Business Image,” 7/92.
“Controlling Food Costs,” 8/92.
“Dough: Developing a Winning Formula,” 9/92.
“Choice Seating,” 10/92.
“Evaluating Distributors and Brands,” 11/92.
“Take-n-Bake,” 12/92.
“Strategy Plays a Role in Pizza Predictions,” 1/93.
“For Good Sauce Consider Color/Flavor First,” 2/93.
“Steam-jacketed Kettles,” 3/93.
“Revenue Center Planning,” 3/93.
“Parbaked Isn’t Just a Half Baked Idea,” 4/93.
“Delivery Essentials,” 4/93.
“Dough Handling with Sheeters,” 5/93.
“So You Want to Be a Chain?” 5/93.
“Pizza Wars,” 6/93.
“Refrigerated Prep Tables,” 7/93.
“Buying into a Franchise Requires Homework,” 7/93.
“Wood-burning Ovens,” 8/93.
“Pizza Platforms: Peels, Screens & Pans,” 10/93
“Power Packaging: Part I,” 11/93.
“Power Packaging: Part II,” 12/93.
“Trends and Issues: 1994,” 1/94.
“Sauce Enhancers,” 1/94.
“Purchasing and Preparing Onions,” 2/94.
“Peace of Mind…by the Slice,” 3/94.
“Ovens for the New Age,” 5/94.
“The Conveyor Revolution Rolls On,” 6/94.
“Planetary Mixers,” 7/94.
“Cut to the Chase with Cutter-mixers,” 9/94
“Deck Ovens: Tried and True,” 10/94.
“High-volume Equipment,” 11/94.
“Small But Mighty Countertop Ovens,” 12/94.
“New Rap on Packaging,” 12/94.
“Pasta Machines,” 1/95.
“Profile of Papa Romano’s,” 3/95
“Quality Wars,” 3/95
“It‘s All in the Delivery,” 5/95
“Signs of the Times,” 5/95
“Boxer Evolution,” 5/95
“Profile of Donatos Pizza,” 7/95
“Profile of Hungry Howies,” 7/95
“Top 10 Dough & Crust Problems,” 9/95
“Commissary Considerations,” 11/95
“Equipping a Commissary,” 11/95
“Famous Eastown Pizza,” 12/95
“Major Magic,” 12/95
“Getting a Handle on Your Dough,” 1/96
“Operations are an Obsession at Marco’s Pizza,” 2/96
“Pizza Wars: The Differentiation Front,” 2/96
“Driver Robbery: We Can End It Now,” 3/96
“Caveat Emptor,” 4/96
“Improving Staff Performance.” 5/96
“Dream Box,” 5/96
“Sure Hires, Fewer Fires,” 6/96
“Buddy’s Pizza,” 6/96
“Mixers in Orbit,” 7/96
“When the Sanitation Inspector Calls,” 7/96
“Pizza Pit,” 8/96
“Decrying the Cult of Leadership,” 8/96
“Cutting to the Quick,” 9/96
“Image is Everything,” 9/96
“Keeping It Hot: Delivery Holding Technology,” 10/96
“Minimize Delivery Risks with Agreements,” 10/96
“High-test Pizza,” 11/96
“Signs of Strength,” 12/96
“Pizza Promotion,” 1/97
“Recruiting and Retaining Drivers,” 2/97
“Maneuvering Through the Menu Expansion Minefield,” 3/97
“Pizza Wars ‘97,” 4/97
“Delivering Quality to the Max,” 5/97
“Trends in Pizza Distribution,” 6/97
“Pie R Squared,” 7/97
“Pizza Pioneers,” 8/97
“Four Steps to Being a Pizza Business Leader,” 9/97
“Make a Point with Your Package,” 10/97
“Big! Big! Pizza Wars,” 11/97
“10 Easy Ways to Enhance Your Pizza,” 12/97
“Tracking Tricon,” 12/97
“The Value of Your Business,” 1/98
“U-mix Dough System,” 2/98
“Calzone Sub,” 3/98
“LaVan, the Brand,” 2/99
“Special Delivery – David Brandon,” 5/99

The Following Published in Pizza Marketing Quarterly magazine:
“Pizza Gems,” Summer, 1999.
“Healthy Pizza, Healthy Sales,” Spring, 2000.
“Pizza Predictions,” Winter 2000.
“Packaging That Delivers,” May/June 2004
"Open It Right, or Not At All," June/July 2006
"In Selecting a Franchise, Only One Thing Matters," September 2006

A selective listing of consulting projects undertaken by Correll Consulting, LLC from 1988 to present include:

•  Creation and start-up of total pizza system (Liberty Pizza), including name, logo, product, promotional strategy, store design, equipment, commissary procedures, management system, and manuals. For Sunshine Food Stores (convenience store chain).

•  Pizza market research in U.S. and Canada; various clients, including Marco’s Pizza, McNeill Enterprises, RPM Pizza, Domino’s Pizza International, Packaging Concepts.

•  Breadsticks marketing research and product design; RPM Pizza, Inc.

•  Business analysis, store layout; Pizza Queen.

•  Business plan analysis; DeMello Group.

•  Commissary production system and product design; Greenwich Pizza (Philippines).

•  Competitive planning and marketing strategy; RPM Pizza.

•  Concept and product development; Pizza Corner Ltd. (India).

•  Crust research; Alfy’s Pizza & Pasta, Inc.

•  Deep-dish pizza design and testing; RPM Pizza.

•  Delivery safety report for McDonald’s; HTH, Inc.

•  Dough/crust development; Bosco’s Pizza.

•  Dough research report; Senechal, Jorgenson, Hale.

•  Dough system analysis; Pro Pizza.

•  Drive-thru concept planning; RPM Pizza, Inc.

•  Driver recruiting and retention research and planning; RPM Pizza, Inc.

•  Equipment selection; Pizza Twice.

•  Expansion feasibility analysis; Sportsmens Bar.

•  Expansion strategy consulting; Pizza Pit.

•  Experimental product development; Domino’s Pizzazz Division.

•  Franchise feasibility analysis; Adornetto’s Pizza.

•  Kitchen layout & design; Hugo’s Pizza.

•  Kitchen layout and equipment selection; Bhatia.

•  Marketing and operations audit; Fantilini’s Pizza.

•  Marketing and sales strategy; Schoemaker’s Sourdough Pizza.

•  Marketing consulting; Best Bred Products.

•  Marketing consulting; Midcom computers.

•  Marketing planning; Packaging Concepts.

•  Marketing reconnaissance; Washington Information Group.

•  Marketing research and planning; Rich Products Corp.

•  Marketing strategy & positioning; Rocky Rococo (First Madco, Inc).

•  Marketing strategy & product; Ollie’s Coliseum Pizza.

•  Menu planning and pricing; Peppina’s.

•  New product planning; Malcolm Foldvary Co.

•  New product design, competitive reconnaissance and analysis; Pizza Hut, Inc.

•  New product sales evaluation; Adler Group.

•  Operational and marketing analysis (Winnipeg); Domino’s Pizza International.

•  Operational audit and re-conceptualization; Jeffery’s Restaurant.

•  Operational audit, strategic planning, operations manuals, training program; Topper’s Pizza, Inc. (Canada)

•  Operations Manual; Poppa Dino’s Pizza

•  Operations review and analysis; Gambino’s Pizza.

•  Parbaked crust market report; The Hale Group.

•  Pizza-catering planning; National Association of Pizza Operators.

•  Pizza packaging consulting; Inland Container.

•  Pizza packaging seminar; Jefferson Smurfit.

•  Pan pizza research and manual; RPM Pizza, Inc.

•  Pan pizza start-up, Domino’s Pizza R&D.

•  Pizza concept evaluation; Sheetz C-stores.

•  Pizza Industry Report; McKinsey & Co.

•  Pizza kitchen layout; Fun Factory.

•  Pizza knife testing; RPM Pizza.

•  Pizza operations consulting; Sofo Foods annual trade show.

•  Pizza system start-up; Jerry’s Roadhouse.

•  Pizza technology sales rep training; Master-Therm Ovens (Blodgett Ovens).

•  Point-of-sale system promotion; FoodTec Solutions

•  Price shopping game; RPM Pizza, Inc.

•  Product design and formulation; Andrea’s Pizza.

•  Product design and formulation; LaPizzeria.

•  Product design and formulation; Mr. C’s.

•  Product design and formulation; Ollie’s Mainstreet Pizza.

•  Product design and formulation; Papa Gino’s.

•  Product design and operations audit; Cedars Pizza.

•  Product design and procedures; Hooty Moon’s Wild West Pizza.

•  Product feasibility; Tredegar Film Products.

•  Product, operations, and management development, Marco’s, Inc.

•  Profit-building strategy, Costello's Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant

•  Service and quality audit; Matheson Greens.

•  Store layout; ICT, Inc.

•  Strategic marketing; FoodTec Solutions.

•  Supervisor development program (with James Graham); RPM Pizza, Inc.

•  Telephone consulting; Booz, Allen, Hamilton.

•  Training videos, RPM Pizza, Inc.

•  Seminars on various subjects including pizza industry trends, marketing strategy, promotional planning, purchasing, delegation, motivation, and pizza technology — For various clients including RPM Pizza, Pizza Expo, Michigan Restaurant Association, Midwest Pizza Show, Sofo Foods, Saputo Group, ARA Services, Four Star Pizza, Blodgett Ovens, Bellissimo Foods, Presto Foods, Maplevale Farms.