Please give me some feedback.

[az420sel]

Hi everyone! My wife and I are achieving our dream of owning our own pizzeria. We have named it "PEPPERONIES". We are using a "Rich's" par baked hand thrown prepared frozen crust baked in a oiled pan (aluminum 1" deep) , heated chunky marinara with extra paste added for thickness, and a 50%-50% blend of grated whole milk mozzarella and provolone cheese, baked in a 400 degree convection oven for 9 minutes. We then brush on garlic butter on the edge crust as a topper. Really crispy bottom, chuncky tomato flavor, great cheese consistency and flavor. Our cost? $4.45 ! Almost no labor cost, and because of the short bake time, my throughput is phenomenal! We charge 15.99 for a 16" cheese, 1.49 for each added topping. $5.99 for gourmet baked fried chicken wings . 5.99 lunch buffet, 1.99 large drink not included. We are located in a very affluent area. Business is SUPER SUPER great. I would appreciate any and all suggestions. Thanks az420sel@yahoo.com

[Foccaciaman]

 :)Glad you are doing well with your new business, so because of your sucess with the current recipe I am reluctant to offer advice on changes at all.
However it does seem that your out of pocket cost per pizza is still a little too high. You should probably be looking into making your own custom dough in the future.
But if what you have now is what your customers are used to then I would hesitate to change.
You could however start offering an alternative crust first to see how it goes over and then wean the other out slowly if successful.

Good Luck with your new Adventure  

[Pierre]

You could however start offering an alternative crust first to see how it goes over and then wean the other out slowly if successful.

That would be the way to go... give a try at making your own dough, calculate labor costs in addition. I think though that is where you can make the biggest cut in costs. Offer the 2nd crust extra, maybe even giving samples for free to your regular customers to see what they think about it would be a good way to get direkt feedback.

Pierre

[DKM]

I would also consider intruding a second crust type.  I have found the best way to do this is not offer it "for sale" but just to put it on the buffet and get peoples reaction it too it.

DKM

[az420sel]

Considered making my own dough, but labor costs and inconsistency of product do not out weigh the great pizza I am producing now. My food cost is coming down and should stablize around $3.50. My throughput is about 30% greater than other pizza places. I did not mention that I have a icecream bar, and that I give away free icecream to children under twelve years of age, $1.99 to everyone else. I also give each customer garlic buttered bread stick bites with marinara dipping sauce when they order (icecream and breadsticks are low cost items). So far I have captured 100% customer return, and customer loyalty, and have captured the market away from any competition. The pizza business is actually 50% marketing and 50% pizza. My lunch buffet is "standing room only" busy. While my lunch buffet price is $5.99, my drinks are $1.99 and I'm cleaning up as far as profit. All- you- can- eat buffets are a "percieved" good value to the customer. Starting delivery now and I am absolute capacity. Should be able to franchise this money maker. Am picking out my new Mercedes and trading in my old 420SEL.

[Foccaciaman]

Sounds like you have got some good hooks for the customers there.
What is you customer capacity?
Where is you location?
mall or otherwise.

[az420sel]

My store is 2000 sq. ft. I have ten four-top tables and five 2-top tables. The secret to getting this much customer capacity out of this much space is this- Because I use a parbaked crust, I was able to cut the space for my kitchen in half. Don't need a walk in refridgerator, no dough mixers, no deck or conveyor oven. I use a double convection oven (five racks on top, five on the bottom). My kitchen, because of it's size is super efficient.When ordered, the pizza goes from prep table, to oven, to cutting station, to customer in about thirteen minutes or less. Because of lowered bake and prep time, I can get the customer served and out the door, to free up tables much faster over conventional methods= about 30% more business per day. Location is everything! We very carefully looked for just the right spot in just the right center. We are at a right angle in front of SAFEWAY (grocery), in a center that is about two years old. I have done NO advertising! No competition close by either! The average house hold income? $122,000.00 in surrounding area. SWEET... We did ALL our homework in advance. Now the pay off is here.

[Big Al]

Sounds really good, my only comment would be real consideration to making the dough yourself.  I did not use a par baked dough but I have had experience with prepared frozen dough balls.  That is one of the things I would have done differently, the cost is a lot higher if you buy the dough vs. preparing it yourself.  

As you are aware the consistency and convenience factor are great when you use par baked or frozen dough balls, byt the way, I saw no difference in the final product from a frozen dough ball to ready made dough.

The cheese mix sounds great.  You may want to consider a blend of Asiago in addition to the provolone and mozzarella mix.

Good Luck, I miss the pizza business.