Recent content by smiling_with_hope

The attacks here are why the greats like Tony G, John Arena, Chris Bianco, and their peers, do not post on pizza forums. I continued to post our story with the hopes it might inspire a person considering opening a pizzeria or an established shop looking to find a different way. At least a 1/2...

It is ok you don’t like them and shouldn’t like them for Detroits. We have the top pizza guys in the USA endorsing ours as they are made for Sicilian/Grandma, not Detroit. Allied pans are completely different than llyods and they started them in 1946. They are the gold standard for Sicilian and...

Thanks for sharing you have been to our shop. Did we have time to talk? I hope so. I am an old school guy with pizza. It was hard to let it go seeing how so many pizzerias are mediocre to poor who now rely on a continually new item/mega fancy toppings/and they know little to nothing of dough...

December asked in their post, “Wow I am jealous. How did you find someone to buy it?” I simply shared how we got to the sale. All I have posted is part of how we were able to get a bidding war going for the shop. For the record, I have been around pizza making 65 years, involved with pizza...

I am just sharing who was interested. There were others very well known in food as well. Doesn’t matter how long or how many hours you do. That does not equal success. What equals success is knowing every facet of fermentation, matching/balance of ingredients, business, customer relations, and...

If you are asking me, no, and sorry we were so successful and showed what a great pizzeria can do vs. a franchise like set up. Pushing 70 and the way we do it, is too much on the body and soul. We will continue to sell our Sicilian pans, endorsed by John Arena, Tony G, and Chris Bianco, and lots...

Owning the building is the way to go. A broker will look at your P/L numbers and give you the selling price at no charge. Here is a couple of stories the news did and a mention of the guy, who owns a dozen subway shops, showed up at 5am when he saw the story live with a check in hand wanting to...

Sorry, but we are keeping that private. What I will gladly share is we were able to purchase a new house, own 2 new Toyotas, are debt free, and have enough money in the bank to live the rest of our life comfortably. Before pizza we worked in education and were in debt. Pizza changed all this in...

If I am full of shit, do some research on Smiling with Hope Pizza. We were on lots of TV news with the sale. We did just as I wrote. We were at 50% profit margin. Less is more when you do this with no food/labor waste. A 16" NY pizza or 12" Sicilian was $25 without toppings, and a white 16" NY...

Your business is worth to most buyers what the formula says for buying a business -P&L history. Ours didn’t fall in this category and we convinced the broker to list it higher than the formula. We didn’t have access to Zuck or the King/Queen when we started. We developed this kind of audience.

No BS. We were a one-of-a-kind shop that also employed people with Cognitive Disabilities. I made every dough, every pizza, did all the preps by myself, shopped daily for our produce, and my wife did the register, phone, books, salad. We used to be open 5 days a week for lunch/dinner but that...

We had over 100 people from around the world interested and 30 active bidders. It was a wide array of people from a former bodyguard to the Queen of England, to one of Zuckerberg’s personal chefs. We went through a local broker.

Congrats! We sold Smiling with Hope Pizza last month and are also done.

I used to say " People in Reno don’t know their name" The cell phone is the cause of all this. People are all over the map while using it. Johnny ordered, Bill is going to pick up but gets busy, so has his son get it. Son is named Joe. There is a Joe order waiting to go so you give it to him. My...

We are a small mom/pop shop and take orders with pencil and paper. The 3% we charge is a statement about how CC companies gouge business owners to give their card holders perks. We have a sign on the register about the charge which makes it legal here and the 3% charge basically covers the...