Anyone ever opened a pizza business?

Two Italian dudes opened a pizza shop in a horrific location near my house. Real deal nyc style. Best pizza ive ever had by far.
Less than a year in they sold it to a guy who's parents bought it for him after graduating culinary school. He always dreamed of owning a pizza shop. Super awesome guy but he was out of biz a few months later.
 
Ogata said:
Why does he want to kill himself? Was the marriage bad?

Anyways I agree with him with the ingredients. People are not stupid and they can recognize great food. Good quality ingredient makes a huge ass different.

Good advice!
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Long story short: He had an office job he hated. Went to Spain with his wife and daughters, opened the pizza restaurant and loved every second of it (7 years). Father in law got sick, wife said she was coming back to take care of him. My friend had to chose between staying and lose his family or come back. He did the 2nd.. took the same office job he hated and hasn't been motivated enough to open a pizza restaurant here (and he does not have the money). He is depressed but he is too old school to acknowledge it.


BTW. When he left, his former partner (who screwed him some money) started buying cheaper ingredients and had to close in less than 1 year.

A few tips my friend told me (he is very passionate):

1. He would put the pizza he really wanted to sell in the middle of the menu with a slight/unnoticeable larger font. For example, everything was on Arial 8, that pizza was 9.

2. He would open his shop right next to a big chain pizza shop. When the 2nd was full people would go to his restaurant to avoid waiting. Once they ate there it was a trap because the prices were the same and the quality was way better.

3. The oven dictates basically everything. You want it to be working in full capacity but not be overwhelmed. If your oven can manage 200 pizzas at night, you aim at selling 200 pizzas.
 
loyalyolayal said:
I'm guessing he sold his business & is sucking dicks for cash in Buenos Aires.
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What!? That doesn't make sense!

The guy was married to a chick. Went from Spain to Argentina. Yet Argentina has very good pizza culture.
 
bandicoot said:
Opening a restaurant is usually one of the worst business decisions a person can make.
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It's never seemed like something I would want to do. I knew a guy who owned a Double Dave's pizza and he was always working there. Like he was basically an employee sometimes who the fuck wants to buy into a business just to work at a pizza place.
 
SalvadorAllende said:
Long story short: He had an office job he hated. Went to Spain with his wife and daughters, opened the pizza restaurant and loved every second of it (7 years). Father in law got sick, wife said she was coming back to take care of him. My friend had to chose between staying and lose his family or come back. He did the 2nd.. took the same office job he hated and hasn't been motivated enough to open a pizza restaurant here (and he does not have the money). He is depressed but he is too old school to acknowledge it.


BTW. When he left, his former partner (who screwed him some money) started buying cheaper ingredients and had to close in less than 1 year.

A few tips my friend told me (he is very passionate):

1. He would put the pizza he really wanted to sell in the middle of the menu with a slight/unnoticeable larger font. For example, everything was on Arial 8, that pizza was 9.

2. He would open his shop right next to a big chain pizza shop. When the 2nd was full people would go to his restaurant to avoid waiting. Once they ate there it was a trap because the prices were the same and the quality was way better.

3. The oven dictates basically everything. You want it to be working in full capacity but not be overwhelmed. If your oven can manage 200 pizzas at night, you aim at selling 200 pizzas.
Click to expand...

Oh man that sucks. I know Argentina is big on pizza. Is he still with his wife?

People who are passionate about their food and quality tend to do well and have repeat success because it's rare quality.


I see so many people who get in to pizza business or franchise because want to be employers or make their own life easier. They have pride or passion for the actual pizza itself!
 
I forgot to add another one that I know who owns a shop. Again, this plays into having a niche. It has a large game room similar to Chuck E Cheese. A large portion of their revenue is from large parties on the weekend. They are only open in the evenings except on Friday-Sunday.
 
SalvadorAllende said:
Long story short: He had an office job he hated. Went to Spain with his wife and daughters, opened the pizza restaurant and loved every second of it (7 years). Father in law got sick, wife said she was coming back to take care of him. My friend had to chose between staying and lose his family or come back. He did the 2nd.. took the same office job he hated and hasn't been motivated enough to open a pizza restaurant here (and he does not have the money). He is depressed but he is too old school to acknowledge it.


BTW. When he left, his former partner (who screwed him some money) started buying cheaper ingredients and had to close in less than 1 year.

A few tips my friend told me (he is very passionate):

1. He would put the pizza he really wanted to sell in the middle of the menu with a slight/unnoticeable larger font. For example, everything was on Arial 8, that pizza was 9.

2. He would open his shop right next to a big chain pizza shop. When the 2nd was full people would go to his restaurant to avoid waiting. Once they ate there it was a trap because the prices were the same and the quality was way better.

3. The oven dictates basically everything. You want it to be working in full capacity but not be overwhelmed. If your oven can manage 200 pizzas at night, you aim at selling 200 pizzas.
Click to expand...

Nailed it.

Ogata said:
What!? That doesn't make sense!

The guy was married to a chick. Went from Spain to Argentina. Yet Argentina has very good pizza culture.
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What's wrong with you? I gave you the TLDR version before @SalvadorAllende's screenplay.
 
Ogata said:
Oh man that sucks. I know Argentina is big on pizza. Is he still with his wife?

People who are passionate about their food and quality tend to do well and have repeat success because it's rare quality.


I see so many people who get in to pizza business or franchise because want to be employers or make their own life easier. They have pride or passion for the actual pizza itself!
Click to expand...
Yes, he is still with his wife. And yes, Argentina is pretty big on pizza.

Argentina is a pretty rough place to make business, but if you have a nice place with good food and your prices are in a good range you will thrive. That goes for coffee, pizza, parrillas, etc.

If you are lazy, generic and try to make it a cash grab you are probably not going to make it.

I guess that is pretty much the same everywhere.
 
I’d imagine owning anything in food, in 2020 with the Internet review culture
Would be such a headache
 
SalvadorAllende said:
Yes, he is still with his wife. And yes, Argentina is pretty big on pizza.

Argentina is a pretty rough place to make business, but if you have a nice place with good food and your prices are in a good range you will thrive. That goes for coffee, pizza, parrillas, etc.

If you are lazy, generic and try to make it a cash grab you are probably not going to make it.

I guess that is pretty much the same everywhere.
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Actually that makes sense. People who take pride in their food and quality tend to be tough competition. I can understand your friend not opening a pizza shop. Argentina as you mentioned is a place that prides itself on high quality hospitality. Your friend needs more than just solid ingredient. Perhaps a reliable partner which you mentioned he had the opposite which can make a person jaded.

He could kick ass in Canada. Pizza owners tend to not care about quality or pride in pizza.
 
loyalyolayal said:
images
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wait to @Clippy sees this. he might die from excitement
 
mb23100 said:
I delivered pizzas in High School. My boss would open one, close it after two years, then open another one. This went on for like 10 years. I never understood it.
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Tax purposes. Probably using his relatives/friends' names for the business licenses.
 
DarkneT said:
I’d imagine owning anything in food, in 2020 with the Internet review culture
Would be such a headache
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This is true but you can still get it done. If you are being slandered and you feel that the review is unfairly written then you can write few reviews yourself by having a dummy account. In our place we do sometimes make mistakes and when that happens we respond with an apology and we offer them a complimentary meal as a way to make up for the screw up.

Usually this leads to positive feed back by the dissatisfied customer as well as future customers who read it and like how we can be reasonable. But if its a nonsense review then it has to be called out. Example being that a customer was verbally harassing our server and we let them know they are not welcome and we stand by our staff.
 
Had friends that started one lasted less than 3 years.

Had relatives that started another lasted less than 2 years.
 
Idk why but I like this thread. Thank you @Ogata best of luck with your pizza business!
 
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