Miss Vickie’s returns series driven by Canadian restaurants

For “round two" of the Miss Vickie's Ristorani series release, starting July 12 Pizzeria Badiali in Toronto plans to have plenty of bags of chips in stock.

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For Toronto chef Ryan Baddeley, life at Pizzeria Badiali was a bit like FX’s The Bear last fall.

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That’s when a social media frenzy exploded over Miss Vickie’s releasing a limited-edition chip flavour fashioned after Badiali’s Vodka Sauce Pizza.

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“The shop itself kind of felt like that in the sense that we’re just a small little local shop, getting a lot of national coverage and a lot of people coming in from everywhere,” he said. “I think it’ll be exciting to see people come back just for the chips specifically, or pick up a slice and grab some chips at the same time.”

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For “round two,” available in major retailers starting July 12, the Toronto pizzeria — which has since opened a second location, in the works long before they partnered with Miss Vickie’s — plans to have plenty of bags of chips in stock.

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“It was just as hard for us to get them in as anyone,” Baddeley said.

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Family members in Vancouver sent pictures when they found a stash of the crispy beauties among the yogis and orcas. A business partner visited family north of Edmonton and bought a bag at a bona fide Prairie gas station.

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“It was pretty neat to see people in the grocery stores were grabbing these chips from a West End slice shop in Toronto,” the chef said. “They were in high demand and were hard to find, which kind of led us into this next season here.”

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To get ahead of the foodie frenzy this time around, Miss Vickie’s created a Bearish solution: The Chip Reservation.

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Snack-forward Canucks were able to visit the company’s website to apply for one of 100 free numbered chip kits on a first-come, first-served basis before they ship in bulk to retailers. The portal went live June 26 and was “fully booked” by lunch time.

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The exclusive boxes contained one bag of each of the returning flavours: Badiali’s Vodka Sauce Pizza, Ask For Luigi’s Cacio e Pepe (Vancouver), and Nora Gray’s Spicy Pepperoncini and Focaccia (Montreal).

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“The local communities especially here in Toronto know us and I think were excited to champion a local, small restaurant that was getting this national coverage of a potato chip,” Baddeley said.

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Talent search

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Baddeley said Miss Vickie’s reached out to him while they were researching the inaugural Ristoranti series, which launched last fall.

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“We were interested in doing something from the Miss Vickie’s perspective — being the best chips in Canada, in my opinion — from the Toronto perspective; I think we had something really unique to offer,” Baddeley said. “We’re a pretty well-established name here and I think it made sense for both brands to come together.”

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The vodka sauce pizza is what Badiali’s is known for, he said. When the Miss Vickie’s alchemists visited the shop, they tried that pie and the margherita, among others.

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“We got to see kind of how the minds of the Miss Vickie’s team work,” Baddeley said. “They were eating the plain, unsalted Miss Vickie’s with each bite, which was cool to see. We sent them away the next day with the individual ingredients of each pizza so they could do some more testing as well. We were happy they also thought the vodka sauce was the way to go.”