It was a brutal year DD, just brutal. It wasn’t a job, it was pure hell. I worked 12 hours so far this week & I am a bit paranoid still about not being at the shop. But if your doing 18K+ you know how good that feels. I hope your an indy, btw.
If you’re still around- I am curious - how did the growth go?
Really - was it in spurts? Was there some “plateau” at which marketing kicked in, or repeat customer business started your volume growing exponentially? Or was it a slow steady creep?
I’m where you were -
Independent and unique. Good location. Doorhangers, newspaper ads, (and postcards soon). Excellent pizza.
Good concept. Great feedback and retention.
JUST OPENED about a month ago.
Working 100+ hours - but spending a lot of it training people…I’m not the only pie-maker or anything.
if you’re talking to me, it went like this. some may call it lucky, i call it good research and planning. i moved into a town that had 4 pizzerias. 2 of them were owned by old guys ready to retire. i didn’t like their pizza, their stores, or their service. so i built my own, hired people who know how to make pizza then learned to do it myself. i still don’t do most of the work, they do. i collect the profits and make sure they are performing well. anyway the first year one of the old guys retired (about a month after i opened) that left 3 competitors, (2 were on the other side of town) so things never died down from the initial opening surge. the following year the other old guy retired and closed so i was left on the busy side of town by myself. after that i wanted to make sure if someone else moved in i would stay on top. so i expanded to seat more customers first, then expanded to fit an arcade and pool tables and then expanded to have a sports bar. the only hard part i had was getting the money to start. i didnt know how to make a pizza but i knew people who could. i didnt have a lot of money but i knew the banks did. the main thing is to scope out a good location and know who your competition is and where they are headed. its business. i retired when i was 52 and i couldn’t even tell you if the store is there anymore, i’m done!
Ellemeno
PM me your email addy. I’ll send you a generic copy of a business plan I used. It’s in PowerPoint, so you must have that. -J_r0kk
JOHNNY,
I can see where boredom set in and you were trying to have a little fun. With that being said, you seem knowledgeable and maybe, instead of the wisecracks you should share some of this knowledge with people who are struggling and need it.
Take it from the same standpoint I do. There are some posts in here that make me come up with ideas I’d forgotton years ago. I then use those ideas in my restaurant. It’s amazing how helping others actually helps me also. My sales were already pretty strong. Now I’m up 40% over september when I first joined.
Besides, what you said in a previous post is absolutely true:
#5. Opening a business costs money. Do you have any money? Are you willing to put your house and assets on the line?
I think about that all the time when I’m in this forum. Most of these guys put everything on the line into opening their business (no matter what the reason: to make money, to supply jobs) and they’re struggling. I don’t have much to give but I do have experience and knowledge of the business. If I can give help to someone who needs it, it’s a win-win situation because he/she has just pulled himself/herself out of the toilet, and I feel great because I, in a way, played a part in helping them do so.
I’ve been broke before. I’ve struggled. I’ve opened a Domino’s and fell flat on my face because I didn’t have the knowledge, so I know how it feels to be up against a wall and not knowing which way to turn. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. The last thing I’d want to see is somebody losing their freaking house when I could’ve helped. So, that’s why I get pissed when I see your wise ass remarks. Instead of getting bored and goofing around… take an intrest and try to help.
Nobody’s in here bragging about whose got the best store. It’s not a competition. We’re all just in here trying to do the best we can. If I’ve got an idea that works on my side of the country, why not share it with somebody a state or two over from me? It might help them pay the electric bill for the month.
The greatest thing in the world you will ever experience is owning your own business and working for yourself. The worst thing in the world you will ever experience is losing it. <~~ Take that from somebody who knows.
So, in conclusion, just help. You can still have fun and make wisecracks, but a lot of people come in here depending on accurate information. It’s our obligation to provide that. If you don’t pass on the information what’s it good for when you’re gone? -J_r0kk
J_ROKK,
Excellent post. I respect what you do. I bottomed out myself once. Being broke sucks, going broke is pure hell. You obviously know what it takes to make it. I may have been a little harsh, your right. But sometimes we need to balance the encouragement with the cold hard facts. I’m not trying to be a wiseass, I’m trying to keep a couple of posters from taking the plunge (off a cliff with no parachute) & losing everyhting they have and more. I’ll keep what you said in mind, but I will stick by this & I am sure you will agree (as will many). IF YOU HAVE NEVER WORKED IN A PIZZA SHOP, DON’T OPEN A PIZZA SHOP. I have been there too J_ROKK, waiting for the phones to ring, picking up the receivers to make sure I have dial tone. Waking up and trying to figure out someway to pay my bills. So I just said F— it all. I am going for blood. And it worked. I was able to do that, few (you are one) can.
There is a reason why 90% (or whatever % it is these days) of new businesses fail. People jump into something with little or no research and with little knowledge of what it takes to run their business. They simply assume people will just come. A mexican food place opened up down the street from me 3 months ago. Best dang Mexican food I’ve ever eaten. Despite the fact that I live less than a mile from this place, I have never received a piece of advertising from them. That place is a ghost town. I can’t imagine that they will be open more than another month or two.
Stories like that are typical. It isn’t that pizza places are so difficult and that’s why some fail. It’s that people jump into things blindly. If you dissuade them from pizza, they will foolishly jump into something else.
Yes, a well thought out and well conceived plan can fail. However, that is a much more rare occurence than an ill conceived plan failing. And that is the norm.