Whoa. With a post count as high as you, I expected a little more manner and professionalism. Please refrain from quick judgment and insult towards others you hardly know.
I operate a franchise, there’s very little I can do different operationally. I can only do my best within the system. The first year in business, everything was good. Business was brisk and quality was high, around half an hour holding time for sure. Then the economy tanked, and we lost a major mall anchor, Gottschalk. Business has slowed down terribly bad. I have a choice of either trying to stay in business, or close my doors. I have invested everything into this restaurant.
No one, including myself, wants to put out and leave a shitty product. But the business model of selling by the slices already cooked, doesn’t work well when there’s very little customers for an entire food court. That’s why my plan is to sell personal sizes. Reduce wasted food cost and increase quality. My franchise agreement is expiring real soon, that’s why I’m thinking of positive changes when I go independent.
Have you ever operated or seen a pizza restaurant like Sbarro? We don’t just carry regular slices of pizza. We also have stuff pizza, thick/thin crust pizza, calzone, and stromboli. It’s not as simple as trying to sell one pizza of six slices in an hour.
And I’m not contradicting myself as to how busy or slow the restaurant is. Even though the mall is very slow, we still get small busy rushes when it’s lunch and dinner hours, like any other restaurant. And while I may not be a pizza making champion, I am reasonably fast enough to stretch, sauce, and cheese a pie. But then what? When whatever rush is over, I’m also left with leftover pies. It’s not as simple as being able to sell six slices in an hour. What happens when a customer wants a combination and I don’t have it? They could walk away. If I make them one, I now have five slices I need to sell in addition.
I don’t want to join Subway ‘bandwagon’. I’ve tried their pizza cooked in 90 seconds and frankly it sucks. I’ve done some research and was led to believed that today’s conveyor belt oven with their newest technology puts out quality pizza at a very fast time. Most of the major pizza franchises like Domino’s uses conveyor belt oven. Papa John uses Middleby Wow conveyor belt ovens that bakes a pie in three minutes as well.
Heck, read this article by Tom Lehmann, Dough Doctor, (
http://www.lincolnfp.com/docs/uploaded/ … monial.pdf). He said the new Lincoln conveyor belt oven put out very high quality pies in four minutes flat.
By the way, my pie don’t look like garbage or taste like shit. It may not have a fresh look or tastes great, but once reheated, it looks and tastes good enough. I consistently try all my food product to be sure.