HOW ICEBOX CAFÉ BROUGHT QUICKER, TASTIER PIZZA TO MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

IceBox Café has been a well-loved South Beach eatery for decades now, and their focus on well-balanced, quality ingredients has also been a great match for travelers at Miami International Airport since 2010.

While it's easy to see why IceBox Café have been repeatedly named one of the best eateries at Miami International, they didn't offer pizza until Corporate Executive Chef Antonio Garcia decided to expand their menu and found Donna Italia's pizza solution while researching a fresh, tasty option online.

"We were looking for a solution for selling pizza in the airport with a fresh product. We took a meeting, tried the pizza, and loved it! It reminded us of something that was homemade … something that you'd actually get from a local pizzeria. It was very light and airy, and it had a good crust on it," says Antonio, who has been with IceBox Café for four years.

Antonio also liked that the Donna Italia pizza doesn't use preservatives, baking enhancers, or added sugar, which matched IceBox Café's long-standing commitment to offering deliciously healthier fare to travelers. Each pizza is premade, wood fired, and shock-frozen to preserve nutrients, but then baked fresh on site in the café.

Since space at the airport is limited, Donna Italia's double-decker pizza oven also helped give the cafe a way to offer something hot and fresh without needing a full kitchen. Even better, they didn't need to bring in new staff, and training existing staff was a breeze. According to Antonio, "When we started making the change, Donna Italia's solution really was the best option for everybody. You don't need to be a chef to make this pizza. Our cashiers actually make the pizza."

He continued, "It's also great for customers to only have to wait three minutes for a pizza. You can't get a fresh, hot pizza anywhere else in the airport in just three minutes. People love that."

He also liked that IceBox Café didn't have to commit to buying an oven, since Donna Italia provides a professional, stone-brick oven free of charge (complete with training and maintenance support) with their subscription models. "You know, we looked at several pizzas that we might go with, and one of the biggest draws with Donna Italia was they provided an oven that we didn't have to buy. They provide the oven as long as we move the product."

The 100% natural ingredients and risk-free investment made trying the plug-and-bake pizza solution an easy decision for Chef Antonio.

The Donna Italia pizza solution has even been a big help since COVID-19 began affecting eateries around the world. "During COVID, we didn't know what we were going to do. We really toned down the products that we serve, but pizza still sells. I think the product speaks for itself."

Travelers looking to try the delicious new pizza option can find IceBox Café in the North Terminal, Concourse D by Gate D-8.