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How much $ can a owner earn?

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b3fam

New member
I am thinking about going into the Pizza business but before I go any further…I want to know how much salary can me and my 2 partners earn a year while we are working there.

We are think 1000SF shop, a small bar with 4 few beer taps and wine, some bottled beer and sodas. The focus will be on Delivery and Slices as opposed to a place that caters to baseball teams.

P
 
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1st mistake is asking about the potential earnings before anything else. 2nd mistake is having not one but 2 partners (although it could work, the odds are against you). 3rd mistake is wanting to serve alcohol with a bar in a tiny 1000 sq ft location.

Some owners don’t draw any salary for the first few years, all while assuming massive debts from start up. Are you and your 2 partners prepared for that? Even after you break even its still a struggle to gain profits, especially being shared by you and 2 others.

No one can really answer that question b/c they need more info. What are you projected sales? From my understanding, its common for owners to take home approx 15% of sales… And that all varies on how well you manage your food costs, labor, marketing, advertising etc etc.
 
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I am asking because I am Totally Green and I know there are answers here. OK, So projected sales…What is a good number and can call your self a successful pizzeria? Can a owner make 100K, 50K…I am asking before i commit. Just trying to educate myself and partners.

P
 
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Plan on $0.00 for the first couple years, especially if you’re starting from scratch. If you make it through those first couple years, are very successful and very good at controlling your costs, you could make about $20-30K/yr each.
 
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b3fam:
I am asking because I am Totally Green and I know there are answers here. OK, So projected sales…What is a good number and can call your self a successful pizzeria? Can a owner make 100K, 50K…I am asking before i commit. Just trying to educate myself and partners.

P
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Again, there are way too many variables… Your location, competition, determination, pizza smarts, costs/overhead etc all play a part in your profits. Its hard to project sales when you don’t provide much information.

The 15% rule is pretty standard. Go off of that for now. If you want to profit 50k, you would need to do about 350k in sales. If you wanted to pull 100k, you would need to do about 670k in sales. And so on… And remember, if you can pull 100k profit from your pizza shop, there are 3 of you all wanting the same piece of the pie…

Do you have the time and money to start up a place from scratch? It could cost anywhere between 100k and 400k just to get started. And that doesn’t include losses for the first couple months/years. Do you have money saved up to work anywhere from 50-100 hours/wk for a year or 2 without any income?

Starting a pizza shop is not easy work. And for most, its not just about the money.
 
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b3fam,

A short answer to your question would be:

An owner (single) can profit between -$1,000,000.00 and +$1,000,000.000. Like Steveo mentioned, there are a ton a variables that would move profit from one direction to another. A single shop, making huge earnings, would be enough only for a single owner. No way would it support 3 owners. If it made $50K profit for the year??? Split 3 ways??? Go figure. You’d make more, with less stress, being a delivery driver.

…just my thoughts…
 
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I have almost been open for a year now and luckily for me I have a few other business’s where I am making good money, the pizzeria business is very hard, lots of stress, headaches… Mostly caused by employees, On average i spend about 65-75 hours at the pizzeria. I am making some money, not a crazy amount. I have good pizza, wings, dinners etc… But it takes time to gain repeat customers, especially in my area we have a lot of pizzerias, I have done quite a bit of advertising as well and word of mouth has been huge … And the economy isnt the best. I can sit at the pizzeria for 12 hours and only do 300 dollars in sales or I can make 300 profit in a few hours at my other business’s. It is crazy… The other day I think we did 188.00 in sales and tonight I did 1280.00 so you never know what to expect. Good luck… 3 partners is way too much…
 
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also I wanna add I am very good controlling food costs, labor, utilities,ins… And that has saved me a lot…
 
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steveo922:
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b3fam:
I am asking because I am Totally Green and I know there are answers here. OK, So projected sales…What is a good number and can call your self a successful pizzeria? Can a owner make 100K, 50K…I am asking before i commit. Just trying to educate myself and partners.

P
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Do you have the time and money to start up a place from scratch? It could cost anywhere between 100k and 400k just to get started.
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Thrown in scare tactic imho. doesnt match up with your examples. not everybody who eventually makes 50k a year had to start with at least 100k to open the doors. Probably most haven’t.
 
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b3fam

You seriously need to sit down and work out FOR YOURSELF a good business plan. Work out your possible business revenue and expenses. Asking how much you can make is a pretty pointless question. There are people on this board who make a very very good living and quite a few who have (recently) lost their businesses so the answer is anywhere in between.

If you are seriously planning on deciding whether to commit yourself and business partners on the basis of a board discussion where you have posted almost no information is not a great idea IMO. If someone came to me to be a business partner and didn’t have a clear plan and numbers to justify the business and show they had fully researched the business then it would be a very quick discussion on my part.

If you serious about this business then my advice is to go do a LOT more research so you can answer this basic question by yourself.

Good luck!
 
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BPLive:
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steveo922:
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b3fam:
I am asking because I am Totally Green and I know there are answers here. OK, So projected sales…What is a good number and can call your self a successful pizzeria? Can a owner make 100K, 50K…I am asking before i commit. Just trying to educate myself and partners.

P
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Do you have the time and money to start up a place from scratch? It could cost anywhere between 100k and 400k just to get started.
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Thrown in scare tactic imho. doesnt match up with your examples. not everybody who eventually makes 50k a year had to start with at least 100k to open the doors. Probably most haven’t.
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I dont know about that one cowboy… I’d be interested to see people who have started a place from scratch and spent less than 100k to start.
 
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steveo922:
I dont know about that one cowboy… I’d be interested to see people who have started a place from scratch and spent less than 100k to start.
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I bought my first pizza shop (was already in operation) for $25,000. I started my second location from scratch and spent $35,000. I took my time over 6-8 months buying up used equipment at restaurant auctions and on ebay. I also started a third location from scratch and spent $85,000. The funny thing is that with my first 2 locations I didn’t spend that much and had my initial investment back in less than a year but with my third location where I spared no expense on the equipment that I bought, I was closed and out of business within a year. I lost every cent of that $85,000! I’m proof that you can start a pizza shop on a budget and make money as well as spend a lot and not make any. So to answer your question, yes you can start a place from scratch and spend less than $100k.
 
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It cost me about 30k I did all the work myself. I lease the location and all that was there was a hood and ansil system…
 
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that’s what I’m talking about. I’m from Jersey, the best places I know probably fall into the last 2 above posts somewhere and they are packed every day just about… for years.

places I know that are packed everyday in jersey didn’t have a big budget and still don’t look like they do. And where I’m from there are pizza joints every 50 feet or so… 😛
 
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italy2003gt:
It cost me about 30k I did all the work myself. I lease the location and all that was there was a hood and ansil system…
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So you did all the permits, general contracting, plumbing (all the piping, digging, concrete), electrical, hvac, grease trap, equipment (ovens, mixer, roller, coolers, walk in, tables, smallwares etc), food/beverage stock, menus and EVERYTHING else for less than 30k? Impressive.
 
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Now I have never opened a place so maybe I have no clue. But I think in todays world, the absolute minum you would need is probably $40,000. And that is if you find a place that was already a restraunt and did not need much work done if any at all.
 
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OK… I guess I am in grumpy mood, but what the heck, I am going to tell you what I really think:
  1. You are no where near ready to open a business. The questions you are asking show that you do not have the experience needed to make success likely.
  2. If you are fortunate to have a good location, have reasonably solid marketing sense, work hard etc etc, you might make 50K out of 1000 square feet after the first year or two. Maybe a little more. Sorry, nothing left over for the other “partners”. You could hire them though at regular wages.
  3. Yes, there have been stores started with 30K. Mostly they were already pizza stores with equipment in place. Mostly, that figure does not inlcude working for free for a year or two. Mostly, it costs a lot more than that.
If you are going into a place that needs ovens, walk in, make line and other equipment, and you are trying to put together a kitchen that can handle some volume (You have to have sales volume to make ANY money):
a. you will be lucky to get the equipment USED for 30K
b. It will cost several thousand more to have it delivered and installed
c. Start-up costs for everything from rent deposits to insurance premiums, phone lines, utility deposits, initial marketing will run several thousand more.
d. 1000 feet is a good size for the kitchen (well still kind of small) and if you are doing a delco, you could consider it. You are dreaming if you think you can add seating and a bar to that size and be able to do any volume,

150K is more realistic budget and it might cost 250K or more to get profitable. Don’t get yourself into a bad position where you have sunk the $$ you have into something that can not succeed. Get some good advice, or better yet, get some real experience.

Sorry about the cold water.
 
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bodegahwy:
OK… I guess I am in grumpy mood, but what the heck, I am going to tell you what I really think:

3. Yes, there have been stores started with 30K. Mostly they were already pizza stores with equipment in place. Mostly, that figure does not inlcude working for free for a year or two. Mostly, it costs a lot more than that.
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[b] a. you will be lucky to get the equipment USED for 30K[/b]
 b. It will cost several thousand more to have it delivered and installed
 c. Start-up costs for everything from rent deposits to insurance premiums, phone lines, utility deposits, initial marketing will run several thousand more.
 [b]d.  1000 feet is a good size for the kitchen (well still kind of small) and if you are doing a delco, you could consider it.[/b]  You are dreaming if you think you can add seating and a bar to that size and be able to do any volume,
150K is more realistic budget and it might cost 250K or more to get profitable.
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:lol: … On a Steel Horse I riiiiddee!! Wanted… Dead or Aliiivvveeee. or it might cost much less. Equipment just doesn’t hold much value these days, equity. Dime a dozen.
 
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