What am I doing wrong????

[mikejackson]

I’ve watch and read this board from head to toe. I can’t locate the answers to my questions. I know lots of you own pizza parlors, and I’m 8000 miles from anyone of you. So I know it can’t be fear of competetion! I’m at a loss. I was curious if anyone would give me a starting point for the amount of meat to place on a 10" and/or 14" pie? As I noted before, I have a small hotel, restaurant in a remote village here in the Philippines. I didn’t intend on selling pizza, but I made some for a few friends, and one thing lead to another. Now I make about 5 to 8 pizzas a day for villagers. I just don’t want to loose more money. Just need a ball park guess so I can be consistant!
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :?:

 

[cowtown]

Put enough meat on your pizza to make it taste good (or better yet, great), then weigh that amount of meat along with all the other ingredients. Determine what your cost is on all of it including your packaging and paper. Then multiply that by four and that’s your selling price.

 

[mikejackson]

Thanks for the reply ‘Cowtown’, I really appreciate it. The only problem is, “put enough on it to taste good” and mind you that would normally work. However the village I’m in is lucky to have dried fish and rice everyday. So there would never be enough meat to satisfy them. I took one of my workers to the big city with me. The trip was 1 1/2 hrs. by boat, 2 hrs. by bus, 40 minutes by cab. When we arrived, I was hungry and never gave much thought to my helper. I took him to lunch in a hamburger joint. He wanted chicken and rice. One piece of chicken. During the meal, I notice he only ate the rice. When we were ready to leave, he ask if he could take the chicken home. He is married and five children. The next day his family thanked me. They all shared in the small leg and replied they only get chicken on rare occassions. The whole town is like that except the shop owners who happen to have money.
Next, they never multiply by 4! My cost on a can of Coke in the wholesale house is 16.25 pesos. The store sells it for 16.55 pesos every day! Labor is around 10 to 14 pesos per hour for a ten hour day, 6 days a week. I start my help at 25 pesos per hour or in America, $0.50 per hour.
But there again, thanks…I just needed help as I pay purchased pepperoni and sausage from my local Dominos store before I left. 25 lbs. each. :lol:

 

[cowtown]

Wow. I don’t know what to say. As Paul Harvey says, “it is not one world”.

Given all that info I don’t want to even begin to give advice.

My brother just got back from Manilla a week or so ago and was telling me about the culture there. The way he described it was in tune with what I had imagined and what you’re telling me. I’m headed to Asia myself in a few weeks; Japan and either China or Thailand. I’m interested to see and experience it. But I can’t say I want to trade you.

Best of luck. Let your conscience be your guide.

 

[mikejackson]

No, Manila is like downtown Los Angeles. Mostly crowded, but it does have it beautiful cities. And rich areas also. However, like I tell all my buddies, don’t get a girl from the city. They are already Americanized and only want more. Find one in the Provience and you’ll have someone to take care of you for life. I’m 63 and have been married just shy of 10 years. My wife just turned 29 in March.

Just the town she is from is both beautiful, laid back and poor. But the people are great! You will find Thailand very expensive and much like most of the US view people in France. Just out for the buck. Japan and China are out of sight. Both very beautiful and very pricey! Have fun on your trip, you’ll will enjoy it.

Our city won’t be small much longer. We have under construction the Philippines first Ethoynal Plant. And there are five more slated for the area, as we used to be the sugar cane capital.

Also, don’t be affraid to give me advice. I take what I like and appreciate and let the rest go to experience. That is why I wanted guide lines. Just a starting place for me. Thanks for all your effort. If you are in the Philippines, give us a call. 034 312-5589.

 

[goomba]

Hello Mike,a good starting point for a 14’'pie would be 8 oz of meats and 10 oz of chses.and an 8 oz ladel of pizza sauce.Hope this helps you out.
Don’t feed the monkeys…lol
Niccademo

 

[NicksPizza]

goomba:

Hello Mike,a good starting point for a 14’'pie would be 8 oz of meats and 10 oz of chses.and an 8 oz ladel of pizza sauce.Hope this helps you out.
Don’t feed the monkeys…lol
Niccademo

I personally would recommend around 2 to 2.5 ounces of pepperoni to a single topping 14" pizza to start with. 8oz would be a whole lot of one topping on a 14" pie by our local standards in GA. I’d suggest 1 to 1.5 oz on a 10". Sausage maybe a little more (3 oz for 14" and 2 oz on 10") depending on how much you want to lay it on. Customers will love you for more, but you were talking about price points and all . . . more meat means more $$$.

Good thing is that the 14" is almost exactly twice the 10" in square inches of area. It will make your math simple.

 

[MM1]

How about this - for pepperoni, place slices so that you get a little bit in each normal bite. A slice of pizza would likely have about 5 pepperoni slices on it.
That’s fairly typical, regardless of the size of pizza - as long as your slices are not super-skinny. Perhaps on a 14 or 16" diameter pizza cut into 8 slices. If you cut them into more slices, the pepperoni amount woulnd’t change. We do it by weight typically, but you can place them so it looks right, then either weigh or count the peices.
Similarly with sausage, you can place enough that amost every “bite” would get a bit of sausage. This also would depend on the style of sausage you’re using though (sliced, crumbled, etc)…

Just one way to try it without a lot of “standards” to start with…

 

[PizzaDiva]

mikejackson:

I’ve watch and read this board from head to toe. I can’t locate the answers to my questions. I know lots of you own pizza parlors, and I’m 8000 miles from anyone of you. So I know it can’t be fear of competetion! I’m at a loss. I was curious if anyone would give me a starting point for the amount of meat to place on a 10" and/or 14" pie? As I noted before, I have a small hotel, restaurant in a remote village here in the Philippines. I didn’t intend on selling pizza, but I made some for a few friends, and one thing lead to another. Now I make about 5 to 8 pizzas a day for villagers. I just don’t want to loose more money. Just need a ball park guess so I can be consistant!
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :?:

Best of Luck to you. My portions would bankrupt you. I bet you could have a killer fish pizza though. What do you serve other than pizza at your restaurant ? I am so interested in this diversity of culture relative to this industry.

PD

 

[mikejackson]

PizzaDiva,

I don’t think your toppings would bankrupt me. My wife has a heart attack everytime I make a pizza or tacos or country fried steak. It just goes on and on. To tell you the truth, I don’t know where you are located, but if you took a Costco premade hamburger, where you and I it would make a normal sandwich. Here it would feed a family of four (4) a complete meal!

As for other foods, I bake my own bread for the restaurant, now most of the well to do in town ask me to make a loaf for them. Bread in this town is 25 pesos for a loaf. I can’t make a loaf for 100 pesos! The flour here sucks. So I have my sisters load up on King Arthur and send it to me by boat for $85.00 per each 20x22x20 box with unlimited weight. I usually get 150 lbs per shipment.

I serve almost every type of American food you could think of. My tourist love it. If I cook too much, I give it to employees of other businesses, as they usually only make 100 pesos per day. So a Cheeseburger at 175 pesos is out of sight for them.

If it keeps going good, and I can swing a warmer, I’ll start selling pizza by the slice and then they can manage. At this time, Thursday at 5 PM, I have to make a 12" pizza for 8 people. The price is 290 pesos for a 12". That is 36.25 pesos each. Or about $0.78 or 3/4 of a days pay. :lol:

 

[Daddio]

I have emailed you a Pizza topping guide that may help in determining your topping amounts. Note that it gives amounts for three different qualities of pizza for each size.

 

[goomba]

NicksPizza:

goomba:

Hello Mike,a good starting point for a 14’'pie would be 8 oz of meats and 10 oz of chses.and an 8 oz ladel of pizza sauce.Hope this helps you out.
Don’t feed the monkeys…lol
Niccademo

I personally would recommend around 2 to 2.5 ounces of pepperoni to a single topping 14" pizza to start with. 8oz would be a whole lot of one topping on a 14" pie by our local standards in GA. I’d suggest 1 to 1.5 oz on a 10". Sausage maybe a little more (3 oz for 14" and 2 oz on 10") depending on how much you want to lay it on. Customers will love you for more, but you were talking about price points and all . . . more meat means more $$$.

Good thing is that the 14" is almost exactly twice the 10" in square inches of area. It will make your math simple.

Wow Nick I have to move to Georgia.2 oz of meats on a 14’’ topping? I would be stoned in the streets if I tried that here.lol As far as pepperoni is concerned I don’t way that we just do a count using 8 large slices on a 14’‘.But chix.,sausage we use just under 8 oz. and 10 oz. on our 18’'.

 

[PizzaDiva]

mikejackson:

PizzaDiva,

I don’t think your toppings would bankrupt me. My wife has a heart attack everytime I make a pizza or tacos or country fried steak. It just goes on and on. To tell you the truth, I don’t know where you are located, but if you took a Costco premade hamburger, where you and I it would make a normal sandwich. Here it would feed a family of four (4) a complete meal!

As for other foods, I bake my own bread for the restaurant, now most of the well to do in town ask me to make a loaf for them. Bread in this town is 25 pesos for a loaf. I can’t make a loaf for 100 pesos! The flour here sucks. So I have my sisters load up on King Arthur and send it to me by boat for $85.00 per each 20x22x20 box with unlimited weight. I usually get 150 lbs per shipment.

I serve almost every type of American food you could think of. My tourist love it. If I cook too much, I give it to employees of other businesses, as they usually only make 100 pesos per day. So a Cheeseburger at 175 pesos is out of sight for them.

If it keeps going good, and I can swing a warmer, I’ll start selling pizza by the slice and then they can manage. At this time, Thursday at 5 PM, I have to make a 12" pizza for 8 people. The price is 290 pesos for a 12". That is 36.25 pesos each. Or about $0.78 or 3/4 of a days pay. :lol:

Thanks for the fantastic response. I am still so interested.

In my shop, we did a maidrite frozen burger. I was opposed to this until I perfected it on the char. We could not keep up with them.

My best seller was a LOADED. Start with my fantastic sauce, layer the roni, load it with Grande Diced Cheddar Blend then, hamburg ground and cooked with a variety of spices, fresh sliced sausage, fresh sliced meatball, fresh sliced salami, our cooked bacon, fresh sliced ham and top it with a bit more cheese. Very often, I was asked to do this with all the veggies. Yeehaw. What a pie.

Bankrupted yet? : )

 

[NicksPizza]

goomba:

Wow Nick I have to move to Georgia.2 oz of meats on a 14’’ topping? I would be stoned in the streets if I tried that here.lol As far as pepperoni is concerned I don’t way that we just do a count using 8 large slices on a 14’‘.But chix.,sausage we use just under 8 oz. and 10 oz. on our 18’'.

I just gotta stay away form wherever you guys are that you are hacking off huge hunks of animal to put on pizzas :shock: We aren’t much different from our competitors some 15 miles away in portioning . . . maybe just a little leaner in terms of the 16" pie, and we are looking at that this summer.

I’d LOVE to be able to afford putting a half pound of one topping onto a pizza . … much less for $1.50 if I read your menu correctly. I would never keep my head above water unless we did twice the volume we have now. That ain’t happening any time soon, though.