271. Premiering a Pizza Documentary on John Arena with Tommy Schneider @PizzaTodayMagazine

Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago

This week is a very special episode of The Hot Slice podcast as we announce the premiere of the John Arena episode of The Secret Ingredient, a pizza documentary series that takes an in depth look at the pizzeria industry through the eyes of its world-class pizza makers. Tommy Schneider, owner of Tommy’s Pizzeria in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, took his love for the pizza community to another level. We’ve been working with Tommy to share his passion project.
Coming to PizzaToday.com August 20, 7:15 p.m. (Eastern Time), the World Premiere of The Secret Ingredient: John Arena (pizzatoday.com/topics/industry-news/world-premiere-of-pizza-documentary-series-the-secret-ingredient-john-arena )
The pizzeria owner turned filmmaker provides an intimate look at John Arena, pizza master and pizza community champion in his new series, The Secret Ingredient. John Arena is co-founder of Metro Pizza in Las Vegas and Truly Pizza in Dana Point, California. He’s a pizza industry icon, mentor and inspiration to many
Join the watch party and stick around after for a post-premiere panel with John Arena, Tommy Schneider and the Pizza Today team.
pizzatoday.com/topics/industry-news/world-premiere-of-pizza-documentary-series-the-secret-ingredient-john-arena

Show Notes:

CALLING ALL PIZZERIA OPERATORS : Please take 5-10 minutes to share what's happening in your pizzeria. Help us shape the conversation around critical industry trends, challenges, and opportunities. Take the survey: survey.alchemer.com/s3/8378390/Pizza-Today-s-Pizzeria-Operator-Survey-2025

Register now for Pizza Expo Columbus in October. registration.pizzaexpocolumbus.com/event/2025/regProcessStep1:05c72c9c-538b-4a37-91a0-7d9d2bb840ae?RefID=WSRF07&utm_campaign=pizzatoday&utm_content=WSRF07&utm_medium=news&utm_source=website&rp=7f98670f-de89-448c-aab8-467850f964c7

271. Premiering a Pizza Documentary on John Arena with Tommy Schneider

237. The Drop on Pizza Expo Competition Updates with Jeremy Galvin

241. LA-based Danny Boy’s with Chef Daniel Holzman

165. Desserts, Pizza & Pasta Northeast & More!

$231. Getting my Pizza into Walmart with Katie Lee Katie Lee owns Katie’s Pizza & Pasta with three locations in the St. Louis, Missouri area. Recently, the pizza company scored a huge client for its frozen pizza line to be sold in Walmart grocery stores starting in mid-to-late 2025. We get into what went into such a lucrative retail deal. There is so much more to Katie Lee’s story. She shares her background, how she started her business and what led her into the frozen market. For more details on the Walmart deal, see the following release: Owner Katie Lee and Culinary Director Chef Jake Sanderson received the news onsite at Walmart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, immediately following their pitch, which focused on Lee’s unrelenting drive to grow the brand and keep doing more to share their award-winning offerings with a wider audience. Only a fraction of the hundreds of businesses who pitch thousands of products during Walmart’s Open Call receive the prestigious Golden Ticket offer. “We did it! We got a Golden Ticket,” said Lee. “It’s the American dream come true, and we’re so proud to expand into Walmart. We’re so grateful to our St. Louis fans who have supported us as we started offering frozen pizzas through our restaurant business during the pandemic. We dreamed big and expanded into local grocery outlets, nationwide shipping, then moved into wider retail distribution, and now Walmart.” Katie’s is outperforming the strong frozen pizza category with over 100% growth year over year for the past three years, which is 10 times the growth of the entire category. What sets the Katie’s frozen pizza line apart is the team’s commitment to hand-crafting the premium artisan pizzas daily with scratch ingredients. Katie’s is the only restaurant of its size that makes pizzas and pastas by hand for retail, raising the bar on packaged frozen food. Going the extra mile ensures freshness and quality in every hand-stretched wood-fired pizza. Following the 2021 renovation of its frozen production facility, Katie’s frozen pizzas and pasta bakes became available at local St. Louis grocers Dierbergs Markets and Straubs. Growth continued with additional expansions into retailers including Fresh Market, Fresh Thyme, Kings-Balduccis, Mothers, Whole Foods Markets and more. About Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Katie’s Pizza & Pasta’s promise is to create moments of enjoyment between friends and family through passion-filled food and warm hospitality. Katie Lee’s dream to bring hand-made, in-house artisan and Neapolitan pizza to St. Louis began through one location under the ownership of her father, Tom Lee, in 2008. Today, KPP includes three locations. KPP Rock Hill opened in 2013 followed by the Town & Country location in 2017. The largest location opened in 2023 in downtown St. Louis’ Ballpark Village featuring a pasta-making station, wood-fired grill, expansive patio, private events space and in-house market selling to-go items. Katie’s portfolio of fresh and frozen pizzas, pastas and sauces are available at many grocery retailers and shipped nationwide. Since 2014, KPP’s “Giveback Tuesday” program has donated over $470,000 to St. Louis-based charities. To learn more and sign up for our newsletter visit KatiesPizzaAndPasta.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X to see the latest.$

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Behind The Secret Ingredient, A Panel Discussion with Tommy Schneider and John Arena