profit wise what type of business is best dine-in with carry-out or a delco? For you indies why did you pick the type your in?
To address the market we are in.
Because doing all three service types gave me the best chance of being profitable sooner.
really depends on what you are shooting for? I would think having all 3 would give you the greatest chance for winning.
The dominos and Papa Johns pretty much only do Del/co and do great Pizza Hut does all 3 and does great.
Dont think many of the big chains are just Dine in and Carry out tho. Beyond maybe Little Ceasars who is just carryout if I remember right. Been years and years since they have been around me. I managed at one in the early 90s, then it was only carry out.
There are always exceptions to the rule. Mostly think it comes down to what you are shooting for.
I am still in the planing stages. Looking at doing a NY stlye place by the slice. with just Dine in and carry out. Running it with alot less crew. Mostly me and the wife with a cpl of other employees.
Still have a franchise in mind also.
There is less risk in del/co. Think about it… PJ’s is the most recent entrant into the big 3 market and they only do del/co. There’s a REASON they don’t do dine-in. Domino’s also only does del/co. Pizza Hut used to be dine-in/co (back in the day). They still have some dine-in joints but I’d venture to bet that they have more del/co than dine-in. Pizza Hut DOES still open dine-in places, so it’s not like they’ve abandoned the practice completely.
Rent is lower, less issues for the health inspector to find, and fewer things to maintain.
That having been said, my pipe-dream place is a dine-in joint.
Everyone does say a delco is less risky and costs less to open. I’m in a college town and am in the planning stages myself. Still trying to decide which venue to take. I’ve always wanted a dine-in c/o type of place but thinking maybe I should go with the delco first.
I opened my del/co last May. It didn’t take long for me to realize I should have had a dining room. I am now in the process of adding one. The main thing to look at in making that decision is what your area is like. For mine, there is very limited dine-in restaurants within 5 miles of me so it should have been a no brainer. However, I was like most others and wanted to get in the game with the least amount of expense. I think if I had done dine-in from the start I would be much better off right now.
IF you are opening in a college town. A way to get around the big 3 cheap guys is to go slice business. I went to OSU and Flying Pizza there was a ny style slice place and they are packed pretty much all the time.
Alot of us in college didnt want to all pitch in and get a pizza so we would load up and drive down to Flying Pizza. For like 3 bucks you could get a slice or 2 and a drink. The slices are huge was a 16 inch pie cut into 8 slices.
Of course that 3 buck cost was 91-93. All tho I have eaten in the one here in cinci and the prices have not gone up much.
For a college kid he wants to be full for cheap first. If it taste great you have won a customer for all of his 4-8 years. They never discounted whole pies. The slices if you sold 8 slices was more then buying a 16 inch pie.
It is one of the ways I am leaning as I work taword opening my own place. SLow and steady. Get your info and ducks in a row before you jump in. Also work in a place if you havent. I have spent 16 years working in pizza either part-time or fulltime. It is like a sirens call to me that I cant shake lol.
I’d go for a dining room and invite the college kids to come in. Make it a place they can study or watch TV sports or whatever. You need to define WHAT the activity will be and then advertise it to the school. This assumes it’s a DORM campus, not a commuter only. Be prepared for “free refills” to hurt you though. College kids can sip on coke for hours. We used to go to a Denny’s just to get out of the dorm. We didn’t order much and drank a lot of tea, but they were open, the booths were empty and it was quiet and we could study. It helped that they were close and open 24 hours.