1 size of pizza

[mike40308]

In about 4-6 weeks I'll be opening a Pizzeria that will serve my bar and a a new area that seats about 40 more people. I'm considering only selling 12" pizzas. My deck oven is maxiumized with 12", I could also make 1 size dough balls, 1 size of boxes, 1 size pans and so on. Does anyone else offer 1 size?

[TXCraig1]

That's how I'd do it.

[sodface]

Mike, this is the opposite end of the spectrum, but, I peeked in the door of a relatively new pizza joint here in Charleston called Benny Palmetto's, looks like there's a bunch of different Benny's with the second part of the name being different based on location.  They just do a 28" pie and also slices from same.

Completely unhelpful I know but I wanted to comment somewhere on it because that 28" pie was enormous! 

[Pete-zza]

I am pretty sure that Walter makes only one size of pizza--18" in his case.

Peter

[norma427]

I am pretty sure that Walter makes only one size of pizza--18" in his case.

Peter

Peter,

Walter makes two sizes of pizza.

Norma

[Pete-zza]

Norma,

Thanks for the clarification. I did a search and found instances where Walter mentioned only a single size. Maybe that was before Nevada.

Peter

[norma427]

Norma,

Thanks for the clarification. I did a search and found instances where Walter mentioned only a single size. Maybe that was before Nevada.

Peter

Peter,

This is Walter's menu in Nevada.

http://www.smilingwithhopepizza.com/menu/

Norma

[scott r]

I only sell a personal pizza and I don't make a traditional neapolitan pizza.   People don't seem to mind.   Im sure I have lost some customers who wish we had a larger pizza for take out so they could feed their family for less money, or they wish we had slice pizzas at lunch, but our model seems to be working.   For the most part everyone is happy to have their own pizza made exactly the way they like it. 

[waltertore]

Thanks Norma and Peter for thinking of us.  I use to sell only an 18" out of the Smiling with Hope Bakery when I was working in the public school system. At the Smiling with Hope Pizzeria we do 12" and 18" NY and 12" Sicilian.   We have a very simple menu and it confuses a lot of people out here in Reno but once they taste the pies they come back for more.  I am of the school of - do one thing right vs. a lot of things so-so.   I don't think this approach will work very well unless the area has a high food conscious.  Most of America is drowned in a boat load of choices on menus and if one can't get A-Z at one shop they will go to one that has.  Quantity/convenience wins out most times over quality outside of food hotbeds. I learned that firsthand in rural Ohio. 

For Smiling with Hope Pizza I wanted to do only 18" pies but am glad we offer what we do and I am also glad my wife convinced me to not do "cash only" as 90% of our sales are credit cards.  This week we sold out of small dough by Friday lunch.  Saturday we had about 15 small pie/calzone orders.  Fortunately when we informed the customers large or sicilian were the only options all ordered one or the other.  With all that said I say go with your heart.  That is what we have done and have been quite successful despite our limited menu and hours of operation.  We could make a lot more money if we extended our daily hours, went to 7 days a week, had pasta/sandwiches, sold booze, and did delivery, but that would make our life a failure   walter 

[mike40308]

Thanks guys. I am going to sell wings too with several sauces and some sandwiches and salads. Also a lunch buffet with salad bar. I live in a town of 4,500 with a Pizza Hut and a few gas stations that sell different degrees of pizza quality. My bar has been open 7 years on the 23rd without food. I have 14 and 16 inch pans but my oven can only hold 4 16" at a time.

[Pete-zza]

Walter,

In line with your personal philosophy, I think you will relate to this piece written recently by a finance blogger but where the message is much more general than the finance world, where the blogger lives. In this case, the blogger is a young man, with a young child and a recent homeowner but interacts with some of the most successful and wealthiest people in the field of finance. I think he has his head on straight.

http://awealthofcommonsense.com/2016/12/the-personal-success-equation/.

Peter

[waltertore]

Walter,

In line with your personal philosophy, I think you will relate to this piece written recently by a finance blogger but where the message is much more general than the finance world, where the blogger lives. In this case, the blogger is a young man, with a young child and a recent homeowner but interacts with some of the most successful and wealthiest people in the field of finance. I think he has his head on straight.

http://awealthofcommonsense.com/2016/12/the-personal-success-equation/.

Peter

Thanks Peter.  Those are wise words and I will keep them in my heart!  Walter

[landras]

That's how I'd do it.

 

[jrs86211]

Thanks for the link Walter. Excellent Read and very true. It is pretty scary and very real to fall into the trap of comparing someone's "success" by their bank account.
Thank you again for the read .

[jrs86211]

Sorry on my iPhone, noticed Pete posted that link. Thanks again. 

[HarryHaller73]

I'd also go with 1 size only.  People have figured out optimal size for each style over many many years.   I couldn't imagine eating an 18" wood fire Neapolitan pie, it probably would not taste the same, the same goes for smaller NY style.   I've tried places that offered a medium or personal size, it tastes very different for some reason.  These different sizes came when chain delivery pizzas got popular.  I don't ever remember NY pizzerias ever offering different sizes growing up.