Planning to open a 2nd location, DELCO only

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

We plan to use conveyor ovens instead of decks, and with virtually no prep done at the satellite location. Just build & bake so I/we are can employ more entry level people.

Does anyone else currently do this? How’s it working for you with all the prep being performed at one location, and supplied to the other location for building/baking pizzas?
Our hours are projected to be open from 11:00 AM to 12 Midnight, every day but Tuesdays

Due to the uniqueness of the area, and it being considered “an Income Depressed, Rural Tribal township” ,
We also plan to offer a “take and bake” option so the local residents who are using government assistance can use their EBT cards for purchases.
Does anyone here honor EBT? Regardless of personal feelings, do you think I may be getting into a mess that I do not want to have by offering this? I feel there would be very much money left on the table, and losing out on potential customers if we didn’t have an EBT option.

Alright, now I need to get researching equipment costs
I knew I saw a list someplace in this forum with an “Opening checklist” Could someone please post a link to that for me?
Maybe Mr Mills can chime in with some refurb conveyor ovens and refrigeration ideas, costs, and lead times, maybe we’ll go with new…

The location is located in a “Business Incubator” strip mall set up by the local tribal government EDC, there was a restaurant in operation there for a few brief months several years back, so I believe an exhaust hood, mop sink, fire suppression system is already in place but it will need servicing to get it up to date.

I need to submit a “Best & Worst case funding scenario” by this weekend to get this rolling.
So my task is to submit a cost list from major appliance to smallwares, car toppers, delivery bags all the way down to initial inventory of disposable and paper goods. No mixer needed since we’ll be prepping everything at our main location.
I plan to use Point of Success at that location, with Central point remote tied into our main location.

Wish me luck in getting this done correctly, and thank you in advance for any insight that you may offer.

2

We operated a satellite location for 10 years as you describe. Ours was slices rather than delivery, but we did all prep at our main location and prepared and cooked pizza at the satellite store. We delivered prepped dough, sauce, cheese, etc ready to use as well as all toppings in the pans for the make-line except meats like pepperoni and sausage which we delivered in cases.

Crew at the second location did all the dishes and returned them clean to the main store except dough trays which did not fit the sink there. We had two reach in fridge tables and a two door makeline to work from and chest freezer. If I had it to do over again, I would want a three door make line, but otherwise the storage was adequate since we delivered food items daily.

3

That is very similar to what I am planning,
I am wanting a 93" make line cooler, a 2-door reach-in, and a single glass door merchandising cooler for bottled drinks. We will utilize our walk-in cooler at our main location and all deliveries will comne in to the main location.
I’m trying to make the 2nd location an easy place for employees to run and so I can keep consistency tight as possible between the two locations, we use a deck oven here, but I do not see that working out there due to the available labor force is pretty much entry level. I am actually considering using a dough press out there too. I sure hope I can get a conveyor pizza to mimic our deck oven pizza too.

4

You can big bucks off the ebt. I know a guy that managed a pizza shop inside a discount grocery store. They did the take and bake where you could accept the ebt cards but they also baked them for $1 extra in which the customer had to pay cash. During ebt weeks they would do 20K and then non ebt weeks 8K.

5

WOW! That is impressive. So I may be on the correct track with this idea?

Did they use a press or a sheeter? And what were they doing for disposable, ovenable pans?
I have never used a conveyor oven, so this is wholly new to me. From reading this forum, I see Lincoln and Middleby Marshall ovens being the ones at the top of the list. I’m thinking i’d like at least 32" wide belts, and a double stack so if there is a failure of an oven, we can still run.
The plan is to offer a 12" & a 16" pizza, no wings, no sandwiches, no nothing besides pizza and packaged drinks. I may consider adding fountain drinks though just because of the cost difference. And the area is a local “Hang-Out” spot for both kids and adults alike.

Keep the ideas rolling guys, it is appreciated.
if I can get this to fly, I plan to document the build out, the costs, and hurdles and also post them to this forum including pictures so others can learn from my experiences.

6

Perfect Crust makes a decent bakeable tray. http://www.perfectcrust.com/Bakeable_Tray.pdf

7

We had the make-line and two more two door reach-in tables plus a glass front drink single door and fountain drinks. We needed all that and more since we had to store dough for the day in one side of the make-line.

8

I’m not sure of how the operation worked regarding pans and such. You can research them. Its called Leonardis pizza and they are located inside Winco Foods grocery stores.

9

We are kicking the idea around of opening a take n bake only store right across the street from us. Rent would be dirt cheap, around 350.00. No ovens, just a make line and take and bake pizza similar to Papa Murphys. There is a Murphys in our town that does great business thanks to EBT… we have better and more affordable pizza so we’d like to think we could do pretty well. Either way, the risk is low and for a year lease I might give it a shot.