Four generations of the Spadarella family operate three Toto's Pizzerias in the San Francisco area, a success story that began in 1932 when Antonio (Toto), fresh from Italy, opened his first shop. What can be credited for the stores' long-lived prosperity? The traditional fare to be sure, but also a willingness to go mobile, even before Tom Monaghan began the Domino's delivery dynasty.

In 1954, Toto's introduced the Bay area to pizza delivery-but not without capitalizing on a marketing opportunity. The owners painted their fleet of delivery vehicles, including motorcycles and vans, with bright colors and vivid lettering. Not only did the pizza get to customers' doors, but everybody saw who was doing the delivering. The "Delivery Fleet" Mindset

Others have caught on to this mobile marketing strategy, creating eye-catching cars that are otherwise generic delivery vehicles. Attempting to stand out from the competitive crowd-in which, it's safe to say, the majority use window wings or car-toppers, or no signage at all-operators are opting for easily recognized fleets.

Overseas, a United Kingdom-based Snappy Tomato Pizza franchise in Coventry is well known for its fleet of delivery vans. Also in the U.K., Domino's Pizza drivers use carrier boxes attached to its fleet of 15,000 mopeds. TelePizza (the most proliferate pizza company in Spain) is known for its delivery service, supported by the company's fleet of 15,000 mopeds. Connie's Pizza delivers throughout the Chicago area using 50 vehicles, 18 that are Chevy S-10 pickups that are emissions-friendly. Connie's uses special compressed gasoline in the pickups, making for great community relations. According to Ivan Matsunaga, vice president of operations at Connie's, it's the right thing to do environmentally, and the company benefits from the long-term economic advantage of using a less expensive fuel. PizzaPapalis in Detroit has found that using its fleet of 16 bright-red delivery vehicles is an indispensable part of doing business.

"They're all kinds, cars and trucks," says Mark Sheena, director of operations. "We paint them red and letter them; they're traveling billboards for us.

"People will come up to us and ask how many cars we have," adds owner Joe Sheena. "They ask if we have 50 cars, because they're continually seeing our red cars or trucks going through the downtown area."

Just as Toto's Pizza benefited doubly by using its own fleet, PizzaPapalis sees an additional attraction, this one from applicants. While customer awareness increases, inner-city workers that are normally difficult to find-especially in a union town like the Motor City-would rather work at the wheel of a company-owned car than their own. In fact, many city dwellers don't even own a vehicle; there's no need thanks to a large city's accessibility, walking distances and taxi, bus, or subway system.

This attraction is universal, whether drivers live in a big city or Suburbia. In short, delivery drivers relish the thought of using someone else's car or truck, especially to avoid paying out of their pocket at the pump.

"Most of the time, the drivers use their own vehicles," says Jared North, a driver for Pagliai's Pizza in DeKalb, Illinois, "which can lead to a $300 gas bill pretty quickly."

To reduce the money spent on purchasing vehicles for its fleet, the Sheenas attend auctions and build rapport with people that are in "the car business." These individuals became valuable sources of information as they also attend auctions, read trade journals, and know what's available in the area. They include new and used car salespeople, lot managers and even detailers. Develop a positive rapport that stays on a comfortable, confiding level that allows you to trust the information you're receiving. The last thing you want is to end up with a fleet of lemons.

"They look around and see if there are cars they can recommend to us," says Joe. "We usually don't spend any more than $5,000 to $6,000 on a vehicle." Not bad, considering that some of PizzaPapalis' cars and trucks "go as high as 250,000 miles before we just have to let them go."

But alongside utilizing company-owned vehicles are inherent headaches. "We'll put anywhere from 2,500 to 4,000 miles on a vehicle in a month," says Joe Sheena. "With it all being city driving, we have brake problems, transmission problems. It's a big thing for somebody to take on starting a new business; you struggle with the economics of it. "A lot of times your drivers don't care about what happens to the cars, because it's not their own. So say you drop a transmission, you're talking about spending $900 to $1,500 to fix it."

Even the less drastic fixes can drain the expense account, including tune-ups, tire changes, heating and air conditioning breakdowns, and a plethora of other minor items. Within this same expense category is gas, an item that's a more indirect concern for operators not delivering with company-owned vehicles.

"Maintenance is always the big thing for us," says Joe. "With this gas crunch now, we're spending about 50 percent more." For PizzaPapalis' Rivertown location, this roughly equates to a $700 monthly gas bill. Maintaining good relations with area mechanics can offset some of the costs, however. Remember, the earlier suggestion of keeping car people in the loop during purchasing cycles? The same should be applied to mechanics. It never hurts sending a coupon or two their way, either, or buying their lunch the next time they order. Such a bartering system often reaps rich rewards later.

It's also a good idea to offer drivers the option of driving their own vehicles. Drivers working under this scenario can be paid less on the hour, and reimbursed either on a "per run" basis, or by the mile, to compensate for their car's wear and tear, as well as gas.

When utilizing a delivery fleet, keep in mind that not all drivers welcome high visibility. Driving recognizable vehicles may have the inverse effect on driver recruitment and retention. Driver concerns center on the criminal mind that sees more than market value as pizza is delivered. These issues are legitimate, and sometimes unavoidable, but often can be offset with security signage stating "Our drivers never carry more than $20" or something similar. Following through with tight security measures, and communicating them with applicants, should effectively quell any concerns that come your way.

And these concerns have been around for a while. Sam Cassel, vice president of AutoSox USA, Inc, has seen such concerns since his company began supplying mobile advertising 14 years ago.

"Pizza operators at that time were still overcoming other objections, with the most significant having to do with driver safety and the exposure of 'marking' a delivery vehicle which may be carrying money," says Cassel. "Operators were also uncertain as to how to quantify the advertising benefits of ... signage versus the expense. Flash forward to 2001-I can tell you from talking to thousands of operators over the years that the benefits of delivery sign advertising far out weigh the objections." Cassel refers to recent figures released from state and federal studies concluding that the average vehicle receives over 750,000 impressions per month, explaining why operators are well aware of the direct results mobile advertising can produce.

"Operators report between 3-10 orders per sign per shift, directly from the advertising. Incidentally, 10 years ago at the request of the operator, we rarely included a telephone number on a delivery sign. With the dramatic increase in cellular use, the store phone number is almost always included with the company logo on the signage." PMQ