Wynot readies for a ‘Blue Inferno’

WYNOT —There’s a new pizza place in town and its serving up a blue inferno by the slice.

Wynot High school students in Entrepreneur and Marketing classes are opening up a non-traditional pizza shop called Blue Inferno Pizza with the dough, sauce and most of the ingredients made from scratch.

“The main thing students want people to know about their business is that this isn’t just frozen or standard homemade pizza,” said Teacher Sidney Mell, who is leading the classes in the joint project.

Customers can choose from threecheese ultra, barbecue chicken pizza, Hawaiian, meatlover’s and supreme pizzas but its specialty is the Blue Inferno, topped with meatballs, spicy marinara, mozzarella, cream cheese, jalapeños, and topped with red pepper flakes. Other menu items include Caesar salad, and breadsticks of the cheesy, garlic or cinnamon variety. R

“After the closing of Donna’s Diner, it was made apparent that the community was in need of a restaurant,” Mell said. “Pizza was chosen because Mr. Grant Torpin has experience in the pizza industry and could bring his professional expertise to the table. And also, who doesn’t love pizza?”

High School Principal Torpin has previous experience working at an Omaha pizzeria. From his knowledge and expertise, he formulated the recipe used for Blue Inferno Pizza.

The school’s kitchen is being utilized for the pizzeria with professional pizza ovens being brought into the space that can reach up to 1,000 degrees - hence the name Blue Inferno chosen by the students, Mell said.

From naming the business to coming up * Knights of Columbus ranked #6 in the permanent life insuranc with an partnered inventory, with Statista marketing to independently survey and more setting than 16,000 custom up a website and social media, students are going through the entire process of starting the business, Mell said. ECOGNIZED F

They even presented their business plan to Cedar Security Bank for funding. The bank donated $500 to purchase supplies needed to get the business off the ground, Mell said.

The goals of the project include getting real-world experience in planning, running and maintaining a business as well as providing a solution to a real need that the community faces. The students are also learning safe practices and protocols for a professional kitchen.

So far, students have been using class time but will be working after-hours to prepare and serve carry-out orders to the community on designated days - the first carry-out day set for Saturday, Dec. 11.

Here’s how people can get their hands on the pizza:

1. Use the website www. blueinferno.com to place an order by Monday, Dec. 6, at midnight. (On the website, you’ll select “store” from the dropdown menu.) Be sure to select a pickup time. Customers can pay using credit card or PayPal.

2. On Saturday, Dec. 11, students will remind customers of their pickup time.

3. At the designated pickup time, customers will head to Wynot Public Schools’ front doors where students will meet them with the order.

Right now, Blue Inferno plans to offer carry-out once per month. The pizza will also be available at the school’s concession stands at basketball games.

Pizza is available to order for large events also, Mell said.

The community had its first taste of the Inferno when students sold pizza at the One-Act Festival Sunday ... and sold out.

“We know the Wynot community is very supportive of the school and that was proven through a survey we put out in early October,” Mell said. “The responses to the survey were very positive and they made us very confident in moving forward with the plans to open Blue Inferno. The community response has been amazing.”

All of the profits gained will be put back into the business.

“We have some other ideas of how we might expand Blue Inferno once those (startup) costs have been paid off,” Mell said. “We also hope to reward the students in some way for all of their hard work.”

Many students are simply excited to take the business to the next level.

“They told me they are most surprised that we are actually turning this into a reality and not just talking about it,” Mell said.

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