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18 Replies Last post: May 21, 2009 9:08 PM by ABOFFA

Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please

Jul 14, 2008 1:52 PM

Click to view rontowns25's profile Mogul rontowns25 76 posts since
Jun 24, 2008
I'm motivated, i'm passionate, i''ve set goals, but what are the first steps I take to start a business? I have a passion for pizza and have always wanted to own my own pizza joint. Where do I begin?

I've found that asking the community as well as reading some of this info www.readtheanswer.com/index.php?RTA=web2
are the best resources for starting a business so far.

Anybody have some great ideas?
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Click to view Iwrite's profile Mogul Iwrite 1,100 posts since
Dec 29, 2007
1. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Jul 14, 2008 2:49 PM
Are you serious? How did you get from advertising to pizza?

Click to view LUCKIEST's profile SCORE LUCKIEST 7,926 posts since
Aug 6, 2007
2. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Jul 14, 2008 3:40 PM
in response to: Iwrite
Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please

I write, you are SO RIGHT 47 posts but al least he is motivated, passionate, and set goals
but what are the first steps I take to start a business?

Should I tell him about SCORE or maybe I did already??
Click to view Iwrite's profile Mogul Iwrite 1,100 posts since
Dec 29, 2007
3. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Jul 14, 2008 4:19 PM
Okay, I'll bite. Although i think I am missing something in your post.

If you are serious, then you start by researching the business. What
does it take to own and operate a pizza place. I think a person needs
to know what they are getting into - maybe work in a place part time.
Pizza is a hard business, you have to have the right recipe. I think
you research the area and the competition - taste what they have to
offer.

That's just the beginning.

After you have done the research, you need to decide what type of pizza
place is best for you - dine-in, carryout, delivery or you going to
sell by the slice.
If you are a dine-in, are you going to serve alcohol?
What about menu items?
Are you going to use a brick oven or a more traditional oven or one of
the conveyor belt models? Each has its advantages. What price point are
you going to enter in at?
What are your hours of operation going to be?
What type of soda are you going to sell?
Are you going to buy a franchise or go independent?

You still need to secure a location, equipment and employees. And of course there is funding.

I believe the more you know, the better prepared you are. But having
run a pizza place, I have to say there is nothing like experience.
There is nothing that can prepare you for employees not showing up,
dough running out, bad weather, robbery or the list of other things
that you will encounter. Pizza looks easy but there is an art to making
and selling a great pizza, and staying in business. I loved it when I
did it but after I was out I wonder how I made it so long. I have much
respect for anyone who can make it work.

As you do your research, you work on your recipes! The crust, sauces and ingredients have to be right.
Click to view rontowns25's profile Mogul rontowns25 76 posts since
Jun 24, 2008
4. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Jul 15, 2008 5:36 PM
in response to: Iwrite
Iwrite, thanks for the awesome tips. Where was your pizza place located? Pizza is a popular thing everywhere. What are the best target pizza markets geographically speaking, at least in the US?
Click to view Iwrite's profile Mogul Iwrite 1,100 posts since
Dec 29, 2007
5. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Jul 16, 2008 9:43 AM
in response to: rontowns25
I opened, closed and reorganized stores in Atlanta for 8 years.

As for the best location, it really is the "best locations:"
  • Around colleges is great but purely price driven - mainly a delivery unit but some dine in but very seasonal
  • Upper class neighborhoods are good for bigger orders but less on frequency - dine in with delivery works better here
  • Lower class neighborhoods are high frequency but smaller orders - delivery and dine in are strong here. This are the most stable sells, they handle bad economic times best
  • Industrial/business areas are great for both frequency and size of order in the daytime but amazingly slow at night
I was fortunate to have one unit that actually bridged all four of these once and it was amazing!! $2000 orders to one location in the daytime, family and party orders at night! Talk about a perfect storm.

This unit taught me the power of getting out and meeting people. We went door to door to the bigger companies and offered a special deal for large orders and our sales blew up! We got to the point where we didn't have a true slow period.

If you can get any combination of these in one location and are willing to work hard, you should have no problem.

A lot of the advice I have given about food places or marketing comes from this period. We once sold 15,000 mini pizzas at an event in a single day!! I talked my boss into taking the catering truck to an event that some of our employees were going to attend, and because no other vendor was there we made a killing!! I was scary selling that much product.

Learn to look for opportunities and create them.

Click to view tim13ga's profile Mogul tim13ga 32 posts since
Jul 17, 2008
6. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Jul 18, 2008 9:36 AM

There is a website that says they offer a great pizza crust recipe. It can either be a $40.00 bust, or a $1,000,000,000.00 time saver. The choice is yours.

go to www.pizzeriasecrets.com and decide for yourself.

Good Luck,
Tim...
Click to view usarose1's profile Professional usarose1 2 posts since
Sep 14, 2008
7. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Sep 14, 2008 10:49 PM
in response to: Iwrite
I just joined this eveing and am a "PDE", Pizza Delivery Expert, Pizza is a hard gig and can be profitable if the person who owns it runs it in the beginning. Also Some of the Big Boys actually sell their dough to other pizza places, I think starting a pizza business in a college town is a good bet but if you are new to the market,

What is going to set you apart from Domino's, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars, Papa Johns or an upstart like Toppers, Hungry Howies or Denatos.

Bring your passion for the business out if you were in advertising before then you can probably make the ads that people wont forget and could corner the market that way... Never stop being creative and bring in people to your business you trust like and can help you grow bring on people who bring something you do not. In other words put together a team if you are a creative person then bring in the cook/chef to do the food, bring in an assistant to make appointments with the local businesses or better yet join the chamber. Great networking opportunities and act like a big company have a soft opening a few days before you open for the public o work out the bugs invite friends family and your local newspaper or favorite radio personality. they always like free food and if it is good they will talk about it on the air but then again the other could happen to. oh and make sure the staff is NICE. The worst thing is having someone on staff who runs off customers by the way they talk or act towards customers.

Matt in Charlotte
Click to view GrowthCurve's profile Mogul GrowthCurve 152 posts since
Jan 25, 2008
8. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Sep 15, 2008 12:06 AM
If you have never worked in the pizza business, then I suggest you take a full-time job as a pizza-maker for a start. You think I'm joking, but I'm not.

The restaurant business is hard. VERY hard.
Click to view Mybizfiler's profile Mogul Mybizfiler 35 posts since
Aug 20, 2008
9. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Sep 26, 2008 8:37 PM

Hi,

You can start you own business and can be your own boss. As you have goals, motivation which makes you easy doing market research and preparing business plan.


We at ICS, Inc, help you to incorporate your business and provide complete incorporation services.


At ICS (www.mybizfiler.com), we, at a very competitive price (1/4th of charges a typical CPA charges) take care of your complete Incorporation Services.


You can reach Mr. Kiran Kumar(Senior Manager) at 979-633-4221 and can mail him @ kirankumar.tummala@mybizfiler.com, as he is very well experienced and has considerable knowledge in incorporation services.

For more information and details please visit ICS web site http://www.mybizfiler.com/.


You can also visit our informational blog site: http://mybizfiler.wordpress.com/.


Disclaimer: ICS does not offer legal services or legal advice, but only generic information on legal subjects. ICS is not an attorney or law firm and not a substitute for an attorney or law firm

Click to view pizza_pizza_1's profile Start-up pizza_pizza_1 2 posts since
Nov 30, 2008
10. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Nov 30, 2008 4:04 PM

Pizza Business info is available online. There are many pizza business sites, but have you tried pizzabusiness.com ? They have lots of free samples that are very helpful if you're starting a pizza business. They also have pizza business consulting. Also, try going to a pizza expo when it comes to town. That expo helped me out a lot.
Click to view pizza_pizza_1's profile Start-up pizza_pizza_1 2 posts since
Nov 30, 2008
11. Pizza Business Nov 30, 2008 4:13 PM
in response to: pizza_pizza_1

Also, don't forget to see who your pizza business competition is. Often, your local competetors can make or break your pizza business. If there are 4 pizza shops all offering $5 pizzas near you, then forget it! Don't forget www.pizzabusiness.com that is sight is helpful for starting a pizza business.
Click to view FullAccessExp's profile Mogul FullAccessExp 30 posts since
Dec 12, 2008
12. FullAccessExp.com [Free Pizza Boxes] Dec 13, 2008 9:42 PM
Hi There,

By reaching out to the community for insight you've taken a very important first step! I can provide you with low-cost or FREE pizza boxes. I'll find advertisers for you who would be willing to use pizza boxes to advertising their product/service. In turn, you'll get low-cost or free pizza boxes. Since you don't have an established clientele yet, it probably would be low-cost. Once you have a strong customer base the boxes would likely be free!

FullAccessExp.com | Call: (800) 231-7814
Click to view conceptgroup's profile Authority conceptgroup 7 posts since
May 23, 2008
13. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Jan 23, 2009 10:40 AM
Where are you located. Feel free to contact me for an initial consultation. We have over 175+ years starting, running and expanding restaurants and retail brands.

Tom Kelley
Managing Partner
Concept Branding Group
tomkelley@conceptbrandingroup.com
Click to view totogo's profile Authority totogo 11 posts since
Nov 25, 2008
14. Re: Help Me Start My Pizza Business Please Jan 27, 2009 11:23 AM
Check out this great resource to help you...Pizza Magazine Quarterly (PMQ) -The Pizza Industry's Business Resource.

http://www.pmq.com/

Lots of info there to help you get started...they have marketing information...a recipe bank...even Pizza TV and Pizza Radio!.

I hope this helps you and best of luck...long live entrepreneurs!!!

Michael
http://writing.comze.com

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