I’m in the early stages of opening my pizza joint.
Are there any restrictions to offering a super-size pizza? I was hoping to advertise that we have the largest pizza in the bay area. I believe there is one other store that offers a 26" pizza though. Other than the oven size, what are some of the drawbacks, if any?
there is a lot of good info on this board…thanks everyone
some thoughts:
along with:
Can you fit it through the doors
Can you get it into a car
Extra time needed to make the super large pizza
We do a 20" pizza. Its not that big of a deal. Boxes and screens are pretty easy to find at that size. Above that and you will have problems. The only complaint we get with the 20" pizza is it will not fit in a standard fridge. It is ordered all the time. Also a pizza this size is good to make slices out of.
I cannot understand this obsession to go bigger and bigger. Are you just feeding your ego to be known as having the biggest pizza or are you serious about making a better business for your self.
Gimmicks come and go just like the gimmick obsessed customers.
Why not focus on doing what you are doing better and when you have achieved that aim to better it again. You will get and maintain more customers that way.
We dropped our 18" Jumbo and now just have 10", 13" and 15". No more blocking the ovens, less box inventory, quicker output of current range (time making and cooking 18"), less ullage from disposale of 18" bases not used.
Our sales have actually increased as we moved customers from 1 x 18" to 2 x 13". Some wanted bigger slices so ordered 2 x 15" to (over)compensate the loss of the 18". :roll:
May I humbly suggest that you focus on doing what you now do better rather than try to develop a niche that will not generate anymore sales and will probably end up having an adverse effect on your total output.
Dave
I would tend to agree with Dave. There are so many obstacles involved in opening a new business that it really doesn’t make sense to purposely complicate things. As mentioned, a 21" pie does present problems, that may not sound like a big deal, but they will only add to all your other issues in getting you operation going.
If, after you get things going, you still have this burning desire to have a 21" pizza go for it. At least at that point you will understand what it will take.
Not to try and hijack this post but I just would like to ask dave if after cutting his 18" pizza off does he do a special with the other sizes? I know alot of customers with families of 4 or more will order a 16" or larger because they get more out of it. So by getting rid of it do customers order more of the other sizes?
Wouldn’t you need to offer a 27" pizza in order to advertise that you have the largest pizza?
Also, I would think the demand for such a large pie would be rather limited. Focus on building a brand that appeals to many, many people. If you’re going to go after a niche market instead, at least make sure it is big enough to support your concept.
We have always had special on 2 or 3 large (13") or 2 family (15") but no multiples on 10" or 18". We ahve always tired to push people to the 2 large as it worked out fractionally cheaper and there was about 10% more pizza area. When anyone asks now we just say why don’t you order 2 large (13") for just less of what you would have paid for a jumbo (18")and you get more. It works 99% of the time. The other 1% who can’t comphrend this are either brain dead, drunks or junkies.
After dropping the jumbo 18" our overall sales have increased.
Dave