How do you turn North Dakota Nice into North Dakota Nuts?
You change our beloved Pizza Corner pizza.
Just last month, Bernatello’s Foods, a Maple Lake, Minnesota, company took over the Pizza Corner brand frozen pizza business, thus eliminating an estimated 150 jobs from the Valley City, North Dakota, factory.
Bernatello’s was said to be working with Dave Zubrod, the founder of Pizza Corner, to make sure that the pizzas stayed the same. If they are using the loose interpretation that a pizza is a pizza, then, yes, they succeeded (loosely).
By my estimation, the new Bernatello’s-produced Pizza Corners hit the stores within the last few days. One could even find older pizzas alongside the new ones.
I creeped around Facebook (epic journalism on my part, I know) and discovered a Bernatello’s spokesperson on the Pizza Corner Facebook page allaying concerns that the pizza is different. According to Adri Frelich, a marketing manager at Bernatello’s Foods, Bernatello’s is still using all of the same distributors that Pizza Corner used under Valley City ownership. The only admitted change is that the hamburger is now cooked (and we can all agree how wonderful cooked, frozen, reheated hamburger tastes).
Except that the pizzas look different, taste different, and even smell different. Now, I’m not a food expert or anything, but Pizza Corner is an institution in these parts of North Dakota and Minnesota, and I’ve eaten enough of them to see, smell, and taste a difference.
Most recently, I cooked up a Pizza Corner Sausage and Pepperoni pizza for my family to enjoy. I can forgive poorly placed ingredients (automation), I can even forgive cheese on the crust, but I cannot forgive the pliable crust, the lack of Pizza Corner’s signature spice, or the weird-tasting sausage. I found a whole fennel seed on my slice, for gosh sakes.
Does this look like an evenly-browned Pizza Corner pizza? NO! It looks like a pizza I bought during a 6 for $10 sale.
It remains to be seen whether or not Bernatello’s will fix the issues with Pizza Corner pizzas or if we will have to adjust our taste buds for the sake of Corporate Responsibility. The latter would be a fatal blow to the brand due to the sheer quantity of stubborn Norwegians in our midst.
As a lifelong North Dakotan, I’m not ready to give up on Pizza Corner just yet, though. After all, Minnesota Nice is a thing, too, and Minnesota-based Bernatello’s just might take our concerns seriously and fix the pizzas. North Dakota is not willing to compromise on our pizza. Pizza Corner IS North Dakota, no matter where it is manufactured.
It’s possible Pizza Corner will never be the same again, though, because it will always lack one key ingredient in the now-mechanized process: love.
