Pizza Business 101

[Antihero]

Me: Software Marketing and Sales guy that happens to make an incredible pizza. “The best I’ve ever had,” is what everyone has said. Add to that my estimated ingredient costs vs. ‘list price’ ratio is very, very good, I of course think about the financial benefits of opening my own place.

Here’s some questions I have, though:

1. If you’ve got a really good pizza place (think small shop by the beach, not Pizza Hut at the airport), how many pizzas can you expect to sell from 11-2pm and 5-10pm?
2. What type of insurance is needed when you own a restaurant and how much does it run per year?
3. How much does visa/mc charge per transaction? (Is it a percentage like AMEX?)
4. How much does a beer/wine license CA cost?
5. What’s the annual ‘incidental’ cost of running a small shop (bathroom supplies, hot red pepper shakers, plasticware, replacing floor tiles, etc.).
6. What does one need to do to turn a restaurant into a franchise?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Pizza_of_the_Month]

1. It depends how many potential customers are at the beach. With proper marketing you can serve several hundred customers each day.
2. Contact an insurance agency and give them your specifics. Every place if different. You will need workers comp insurance if you have employees. That is usually 2.5% of payroll.
3. Credit card fees average 2.5% to 3.5% of transactions.
4. Ask your liquor control board.
5. Maintenance budgets vary. Personally I would set a budget of 2%.
6. A group of highly motivated people. A great product. Also, an extremely organized system for consistency.