Hold the Ice Cream!

How do you reinvent one of the world's favorite quick snacks? Competing teams of culinary inventors think they have a novel answer: pizza in a cone. Eating a slice on the run can be messy, so food scientists have cooked up a new conical concept that is catching on in Europe and will soon hit the U.S. This summer Konopizza expects to open shops in Indonesia, Kuwait, Spain and Greece. The chain was founded by Rossano Boscolo, a well-known Italian chef, who prides himself on the fact that the shops' single servings are hustled out of a high-powered oven in just three minutes.

Konopizza has an American competitor in Crispy Cones, founded by culinary entrepreneur Nir Adar, who developed his own version of portable pizza. Adar is opening a shop in Los Angeles this fall and has investors lined up to support a frozen version to be sold in grocery stores. He wants to take the concept beyond pepperoni and prosciutto. Crispy Cones' menu features not just pizza but also a range of conical chow, including chicken, chili and fruit. Besting the Konopizza prep time of three minutes, Crispy Cones is counting on partially prebaked cones to cut retail oven-to-plate time to just 45 seconds. "Food should be as portable as a phone," says Adar. "Cone pizza will be the iPod of food this year." --Jeremy Caplan