How many pizzas per day does a standard pizzeria sell

[londonbeetle]

How many pizzas does a standard pizzeria sell in a fairly busy location?

[afox]

Busy places sell 300 to 500 pizzas per night. If you sell less 50 pizza per night you will go out of business.

[waltertore]

Busy places sell 300 to 500 pizzas per night. If you sell less 50 pizza per night you will go out of business.

depends on your location, rent, etc.....  50 pies a night in the right set up is a good income.  Walter

[Jersey Pie Boy]

afox,


Where did you get your number?  It sounds, uh, made up. 

[StateofMind]

Ive worked in places that sell, 75, 150, 500, and 900 pies a day. All were busy in their own way. You have to do more with fewer people in the lower volume stores and have to organize and manage much more in the higher volume stores. In my experience there is no such thing as a standard pizzeria.

[forestcall]

My wife and I  make about 60 per day (12 inch). Were only open for lunch.
Our pizza's come with a salad, miso soup and a coffee.
We usually have reservations for a few days in advance.

My other business is fresh roasted coffee bean online subscriptions.

The simple but super focused menu and being open only for lunch allows me to make a solid income.

Location: Japan

[afox]

Average time people spend on the table: 1 and 1/2 hour

Average price of a pie $13

Sodas for 4 people $12

Your average check will be $25

If you are open from 6pm to 12am and you have 30 tables you will have a turnover of 4.

Your gross profit will be $3,000 each day - $90,000 / month - $1.095m / year

Let's say your food cost is 15% and your soda cost is 10%, your food cost will be $142k/year

Then you will need to add labor cost: 8 people at $30k per year will cost you $240k/year

Then rent, insurance, water, electricity, maintenance, office etc. let's say $150k / year (in hot cities rent will be a lot more like $300k to $500k per year)

So $1.095m - $142k - $240k - $150k = $563k/year

You profit before taxes will be $563k / year

If you are busy 50% of the time your profit before taxes will be $255k / year

[Josh123]

Because of my set up, I still turn profit on 30 pies a day. If I sold 49 pies, 7 days a week, not only would I not go under, I'd make a decent living. As it stands, I sell more than that, but if I only did 49 a day, I'd be fine.

[waltertore]

Joe Beddia makes I think 40 pies a day??  It is interesting to surf the PMQ forum and see owners post their financial situations.  Many gross big $ with many shops but after all is said and done the take  home often is no where near you  might think.   A small mom/pop in an easy rent area with low labor and a nice following can make a lot more than you would think.  To open a pizzeria today in NYC, SF, Chicago, sounds like a nightmare of cost to profit.  Walter

[HarryHaller73]

Joe Beddia makes I think 40 pies a day??  It is interesting to surf the PMQ forum and see owners post their financial situations.  Many gross big $ with many shops but after all is said and done the take  home often is no where near you  might think.   A small mom/pop in an easy rent area with low labor and a nice following can make a lot more than you would think.  To open a pizzeria today in NYC, SF, Chicago, sounds like a nightmare of cost to profit.  Walter

Beddia has a lease in a tiny hole in wall at probably <600 sq feet probably at dirt cheap cost having been there from the onset of Fishtown's gentrification.  I agree when running a pizzeria or any eatery, lease is the primary cost outside of labor.  It also helps that he upsells his pizzas at $20/pie and his toppings at $3-$4 each that probably gets avg sales receipt of $30+ and at a substantial margin.  What can I say, he's a smart guy and should be a model to analyze for any aspiring pizzeria owners.  Places like this can make more net income than a slice joint in Manhattan selling 120 pies/day. 

[waltertore]

Beddia has a lease in a tiny hole in wall at probably <600 sq feet probably at dirt cheap cost having been there from the onset of Fishtown's gentrification.  I agree when running a pizzeria or any eatery, lease is the primary cost outside of labor.  It also helps that he upsells his pizzas at $20/pie and his toppings at $3-$4 each that probably gets avg sales receipt of $30+ and at a substantial margin.  What can I say, he's a smart guy and should be a model to analyze for any aspiring pizzeria owners.  Places like this can make more net income than a slice joint in Manhattan selling 120 pies/day.

Our pizzeria is much in the vein of Beddia as I learned this concept 50 years ago as kid growing up in the mom/pop shops -only owned 1 location.  Our prices are similar to his and our rent is dirt cheap compared to a foodie city(1,200 sq ft with seating for 30 inside and 20 outside on the patio).  We are cramped some but it is OK with me and nobody leaves because of not  having an ice machine and only canned drinks (less mess )  An average customer ticket sale of $50 is the norm with us and over $100 is very common.  A large pie costs $36.50 before tax with all our toppings and often people want double on several toppings    That is nuts to me but it is money in the bank.  Sicilians and white pies cost even more.  People tell us how fair priced we are as out west pizza is not cheap like back where I grew  up in the NYC area.   Our wait times are usually 10-15 minutes.  Occasionally like Friday night we had 1.5 hour wait times and had to stop answering the phone.  We pull this off with my wife on the register/phone/salads, 2 helpers with topping/cutting/boxing pies, and me opening, saucing, launching, tending ovens.  With my wife and I working at all open hours and me during prep hours ( have one helper during some of prep hours approx. 15 hours a week), our labor stays low.  We have 2 people with disabilities per night - one on dishes and one greeting/busing tables/folding boxes/ delivering pies to tables/carrying out pies to cars.  Both do a lot of the cleanup at closing.  During lunch it is just my wife and me with 1 person with disabilities greeting.   We are only open 23 hours a week and close Sun/Mon.  At the end of the day we make near, as much, or more, than many people that gross a lot more than we do and are open 7 days a week, 8 or more hours a day.  These kind of hours mean the owners can't be onsite during all operational hours.  Most pay someone to be a manager at each store/shift as they manage multiple stores issues/endless employee issues/consistency of product issues/no longer make pizzas or rarely do.  Labor can go way high and the vibe of the shop and quality of the products often go way south.  Also by having a very limited menu and limited topping results in $20 or less in food waste per week and keeps prep labor costs much lower than most pizzerias.  The model Joe and we use results in labor and food costs being much lower than the average pizzeria today. We will probably never have the glam appeal/recognition that foodie city shops get but that is OK with us as we have a nice life that is low on the stress side   Walter

[GlenPizza]

Average time people spend on the table: 1 and 1/2 hour

Average price of a pie $13

Sodas for 4 people $12

Your average check will be $25

If you are open from 6pm to 12am and you have 30 tables you will have a turnover of 4.

Your gross profit will be $3,000 each day - $90,000 / month - $1.095m / year

Let's say your food cost is 15% and your soda cost is 10%, your food cost will be $142k/year

Then you will need to add labor cost: 8 people at $30k per year will cost you $240k/year

Then rent, insurance, water, electricity, maintenance, office etc. let's say $150k / year (in hot cities rent will be a lot more like $300k to $500k per year)

So $1.095m - $142k - $240k - $150k = $563k/year

You profit before taxes will be $563k / year

If you are busy 50% of the time your profit before taxes will be $255k / year

You have the NYC state of mind, where as rent alone is rule of thumb, for anything any good, retail, street side, first floor, etc., $25,000 to $40,000 a month rent.  (I was a NYC restaurant owner on 1st AVe in the low 60's as well as the Columbus Circle area) and I was a commercial Manhattan real estate broker for almost 20 years specializing in retail leases from 86th St south.  However, the rest of the country is another story, that $30,000.00 a month rent can pay a full year lease in 75% of the country.  Numbers are subjective to ones overhead and cost of doing business first and hard to compare as a foundation as you have.

[NewYork]

You have found the secret to a balanced life filled with meaningful work. When you can make enough profit on being open only a few hours a day, you are doing it right. We are open 5 hours a night in fall/winter, 6 hours in summer during the week and 9 hours each day saturday and sunday. We employ many people during the summer and few during the winter. Everyone who works here earns a good living and takes great pride in serving excellent quality. You have found the same formula and I love seeing it. Well done, Sir!

Our pizzeria is much in the vein of Beddia as I learned this concept 50 years ago as kid growing up in the mom/pop shops -only owned 1 location.  Our prices are similar to his and our rent is dirt cheap compared to a foodie city(1,200 sq ft with seating for 30 inside and 20 outside on the patio).  We are cramped some but it is OK with me and nobody leaves because of not  having an ice machine and only canned drinks (less mess )  An average customer ticket sale of $50 is the norm with us and over $100 is very common.  A large pie costs $36.50 before tax with all our toppings and often people want double on several toppings    That is nuts to me but it is money in the bank.  Sicilians and white pies cost even more.  People tell us how fair priced we are as out west pizza is not cheap like back where I grew  up in the NYC area.   Our wait times are usually 10-15 minutes.  Occasionally like Friday night we had 1.5 hour wait times and had to stop answering the phone.  We pull this off with my wife on the register/phone/salads, 2 helpers with topping/cutting/boxing pies, and me opening, saucing, launching, tending ovens.  With my wife and I working at all open hours and me during prep hours ( have one helper during some of prep hours approx. 15 hours a week), our labor stays low.  We have 2 people with disabilities per night - one on dishes and one greeting/busing tables/folding boxes/ delivering pies to tables/carrying out pies to cars.  Both do a lot of the cleanup at closing.  During lunch it is just my wife and me with 1 person with disabilities greeting.   We are only open 23 hours a week and close Sun/Mon.  At the end of the day we make near, as much, or more, than many people that gross a lot more than we do and are open 7 days a week, 8 or more hours a day.  These kind of hours mean the owners can't be onsite during all operational hours.  Most pay someone to be a manager at each store/shift as they manage multiple stores issues/endless employee issues/consistency of product issues/no longer make pizzas or rarely do.  Labor can go way high and the vibe of the shop and quality of the products often go way south.  Also by having a very limited menu and limited topping results in $20 or less in food waste per week and keeps prep labor costs much lower than most pizzerias.  The model Joe and we use results in labor and food costs being much lower than the average pizzeria today. We will probably never have the glam appeal/recognition that foodie city shops get but that is OK with us as we have a nice life that is low on the stress side   Walter

[waltertore]

You have found the secret to a balanced life filled with meaningful work. When you can make enough profit on being open only a few hours a day, you are doing it right. We are open 5 hours a night in fall/winter, 6 hours in summer during the week and 9 hours each day saturday and sunday. We employ many people during the summer and few during the winter. Everyone who works here earns a good living and takes great pride in serving excellent quality. You have found the same formula and I love seeing it. Well done, Sir!

Thanks and likewise it is great to see others working outside the norm and making it!  That is great you find good employees.  That is on the top of the trouble list for most places. I am 60 next month and work my age in hours for an honest wage    Walter

[foreplease]

I will probably wish later that I had just ignored this. It is so incredibly far off base that it's dangerous. This kind of approach to and view of business is largely to blame for so many business failures - although how such plans get financed is a mystery to me.

Average time people spend on the table: 1 and 1/2 hour

Average price of a pie $13

Sodas for 4 people $12

Your average check will be $25

If you are open from 6pm to 12am and you have 30 tables you will have a turnover of 4.

Your gross profit will be $3,000 each day - $90,000 / month - $1.095m / year

Let's say your food cost is 15% and your soda cost is 10%, your food cost will be $142k/year

Then you will need to add labor cost: 8 people at $30k per year will cost you $240k/year

Then rent, insurance, water, electricity, maintenance, office etc. let's say $150k / year (in hot cities rent will be a lot more like $300k to $500k per year)

So $1.095m - $142k - $240k - $150k = $563k/year

You profit before taxes will be $563k / year

If you are busy 50% of the time your profit before taxes will be $255k / year

[NewYork]

You are correct. The numbers put forth by afox are not realistic across the board. If you pay $25k a month in rent and rent should equal no more than 5% of sales, what's your daily production requirement? Almost $17k per day. That's $510k per month or $6mm a year. $25 average ticket means you need 800 1.5 hour tickets according to his math or 400 if half of your business is dine in.  And on and on.

I will probably wish later that I had just ignored this. It is so incredibly far off base that it's dangerous. This kind of approach to and view of business is largely to blame for so many business failures - although how such plans get financed is a mystery to me.

[afox]

to: pizza gurus (foreplease) and (NewYork)

while (foreplease) say my post is "dangerous" and (NewYork) said the numbers I posted are not realistic "across the board"
you both didn't mention any number of your pizza business or what your "correct" numbers are

specifically tell us:

1. how much do you pay each employee and how many do you have on each location
2. How much do you pay in rent per/SF and how many tables do you have per location
3. what are your pizza prices, soda prices, etc. list prices and wholesale
4. how many customers do you have average each day of the week

and we will go from there

______

in Manhattan:

1. you can buy a pie from 2BROS for $8 and other places sell it for $23

2. Minimum wage is $10.5/hour going up to $12 by the end of 2017
A full time employee 8 hours/day - 6 days a week will cost you $24k year. With insurance, vacation, state fees etc = $30k/year.
 
3. Food has pretty much the same cost anywhere in the USA

4. Rent vary but you will not find (even a small 600sf place that is vented) for less then $10k/month and
you need to be really lucky to find it at this price.

[NewYork]

The real question is not what our math looks like, but how you arrived at the numbers stated? The real variables are rent as a percentage of sales, labor as a percentage of sales and at high volume, the number of employees you need to provide the service that keeps customers coming back.

[RPCLady]

We are in a very rural and tiny town.  Our family runs our tiny Pizza business 5 days a week, and for the first time in 7 yrs we reduced our hours this Winter. We have only one PT cook if we get slammed that lives walking distance from us, he also does dishes for us at closing, but he only works for us most often one maybe 2 nights a week (Fri and/or Sat)....  Currently its just my husband and I and one son. (we have a son overseas who will be back in one year, that says he's interested in coming back and taking the business over)

We sell at most 10 a day -- typically on Fri or Sat, the other days its less than that.  (we are talking winter -- our busy season June thru August we do significantly more with tourists.) There has never been enough sales to warrant hiring a manager so that my husband or I can be gone -- it typically requires us to close for the day if any one of us is sick or has out of town appointments. We're fortunate to have an apartment included in our building rent (CHEAP!), so our living expenses are next to nothing.  We do make money and save as much as we can - since we have no retirement.   Retirement for us is, either one of our son's taking over the business, or selling the place.

We jumped into this business as our only income option 7 yrs ago, and despite the hours that take its toll on my husband and I, I think we've done well considering we jumped into this with very little to no experience and a lot of hard work.   Location has a lot to do with it for certain.  Sometimes we wish we made more, but most of the time, we're glad its manageable as it is, and would not want the headaches of being too busy.

[waltertore]

We are in a very rural and tiny town.  Our family runs our tiny Pizza business 5 days a week, and for the first time in 7 yrs we reduced our hours this Winter. We have only one PT cook if we get slammed that lives walking distance from us, he also does dishes for us at closing, but he only works for us most often one maybe 2 nights a week (Fri and/or Sat)....  Currently its just my husband and I and one son. (we have a son overseas who will be back in one year, that says he's interested in coming back and taking the business over)

We sell at most 10 a day -- typically on Fri or Sat, the other days its less than that.  (we are talking winter -- our busy season June thru August we do significantly more with tourists.) There has never been enough sales to warrant hiring a manager so that my husband or I can be gone -- it typically requires us to close for the day if any one of us is sick or has out of town appointments. We're fortunate to have an apartment included in our building rent (CHEAP!), so our living expenses are next to nothing.  We do make money and save as much as we can - since we have no retirement.   Retirement for us is, either one of our son's taking over the business, or selling the place.

We jumped into this business as our only income option 7 yrs ago, and despite the hours that take its toll on my husband and I, I think we've done well considering we jumped into this with very little to no experience and a lot of hard work.   Location has a lot to do with it for certain.  Sometimes we wish we made more, but most of the time, we're glad its manageable as it is, and would not want the headaches of being too busy.

You only sell 10 pies a day?  I must have misunderstood?  If not that is crazy good for you   Walter