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With their kids grown and a move from Seattle to Dallas behind them, Debbie and Dick Schmoekel were looking for a business to start, but pizza wasn’t number one on their list. Then they sampled some products from Colorado-based Nick-N-Willy’s Take-N- Bake Pizza and they were hooked.
“We were looking for a franchise to open and hadn’t really considered pizza,” Debbie said, “but after tasting Nick-N-Willy’s, here I am.” “We got so fired up about it we bought the area development rights for Houston as well,” adds husband, Dick. The two opened their Nick-N-Willy’s franchise in Flower Mound, Texas, in February of 2005, and essentially haven’t looked back – they’re too busy looking forward. Nick-N-Willy’s Take-N-Bake started in Boulder, Colorado, and is now based out of Lone Tree, Colorado. The company currently has some 56 franchise stores opened with plans to double that number. The Schmoekel’s store in Flower Mound is one of five in the Dallas area with 11 more on the drawing board. Debbie says, take-and-bake pizza was a fairly new concept for Texas, but Lone Star state pizza lovers are embracing it. Word Up The take-and-bake concept is made to order for busy parents, just as the pizzas are. The operator will assemble a specialty pizza to the customer’s specifications which they can then take home and bake, and in minutes they’re enjoying a fresh, hot pizza. Nick-N-Willy’s are known for their “gourmet” dishes, which utilize fresh ingredients not found in traditional pizzerias such as hand-chopped garlic, cilantro, freshly-shredded fontina and feta cheese, a white garlic sauce and pesto sauce with walnuts. Even with such quality attributes, the take-and-bake concept had to be “taught” to customers. 
“We’re pretty aggressive in our advertising,” Debbie said. “Take-and-bake is a brand new concept in Texas. We are aggressively educating and marketing the product at the same time. We are in two local newspapers that are mailed directly to the home every other week. I advertise in our local “Clipper” magazine that comes out every six weeks and we place discount coupons in it..”
So how does one “break through the clutter” to introduce a new concept? “I like to do what I call, an “eye grabber,” Debbie said, “Something like 51 percent off the second pizza, that’s an attention getter because everybody does 50 percent off. We offer five dollars off on our specialty pizza or two specialty pizzas. We consistently run $5.95 on our large pepperoni and large cheese, that’s a special we run everyday from four to seven. That’s a pretty common and across-the-board, well-loved pizza, especially for kids.” “The pepperoni pizza is one we make available out front in our merchandise cooler,” Dick said. “These are the only ones that we pre-make that day as part of our “grab and go” special. Adults come in and order a specialty pizza and then “grab” a pepperoni or cheese for the kids.” “Right now our record on pepperoni pizzas is 51 in one evening, for $5.95,” Debbie said. “We are currently averaging sales of approximately 800 pizzas (combination of medium, large and family) per week,” Dick added. Dick and Debbie have 12 employees, mostly part-time high school students. The seating capacity is 26, standard for a Nick-N-Willy’s TBR (Take-N-Bake Restaurant), and that includes 10 or 12 at the Pizza Bar where people can sit and eat or watch the pizzas being made. “We’ve tried to educate people about calling ahead so the pizza can be ready when they get here,” Dick explained. “It’s part of the convenience factor of take-and-bake pizza. It typically takes about five to ten minutes to make ‘em fresh. Only approximately five to ten percent of our business is the personal pizzas that we bake on site. Our emphasis is on take-and-bake or add-ons. Debbie’s really good at mechandising. We keep the front cooler stocked with salads, with the convenience items, such as the garlic cheesy rounds, the Cinn-N-Bites, (a dessert item) and a nine inch, Take–N-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie as well as a variety of freshly made salads. We sell a lot of add-ons to complement the pies.” Gratification Education Dick and Debbie have lived in Flower Mound for only three years and in that time they’ve found one of the best ways to educate their new market is by being an integral part of it. “I’m involved with local groups,” Debbie said. “We’re also volunteers at the local Humane Society. Plus we do a lot of fund-raising. I educate one person, they buy my fund-raising card, they educate a whole group by going out and selling our VIP cards, a card where they buy one, get one free. So it’s not just one method of advertising or educating, it’s several in combination.” “Our marketing is primarily focused on a three-mile radius around the store, so it’s very much local store marketing,” Dick said. Take it Home The importance of location can’t be overstated in the business world and Dick and Debbie studied their new hometown intently to place their store at its most advantageous spot. Dick says, “We’re a bedroom community of Dallas with a lot of commuters, so we were very keen to place our store on the ‘going home’ side of the road. It’s easy in, easy out, with plenty of parking so people can come in and get out quickly. We’re trying to educate the customers on calling ahead so we’ll have it ready when they come in on their way home from work.” “It didn’t take us very long to decide on our location,” Debbie added. “We live about five minutes from here. We’re located in a new shopping center that we had been looking at and kind of watching for quite a while. Because we’re anchored by a Lowes, we realized it was a great spot. It’s on the going home side of the road, it’s heavily trafficked and we’re in a free standing building that’s close to the road front.” Dick said other nationally-known chains are now building in their shopping center including, Best Buy, Pet Smart, and Office Max. Obviously, the Dallas area is a huge market. Debbie says there are four other Nick-N-Willys in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. In the vicinity are Dominos, Pizza Hut and a Godfathers plus many local pizzerias, but not a take-and-bake. “The only competitor that does take-and-bake pizza near us is the grocery store. Our business has gone up every month, we’ve been in the top five stores of the whole chain for the last two months and last week we were number one in the whole chain. It’s exciting and scary at the same time.” “You get a whole new set of issues when you’re growing that fast,” Dick added. Up numbers down the road With their sales exploding, Debbie and Dick have taken the time to consider the future of their thriving business. The Schmoekel’s current plans call for adjusting to the growth that’s taking place. 
“We’re gearing up right now for higher volume,” Debbie said. “In terms of physical expansion and making it bigger, no. What we have to do is make more room to handle more product. The concept is taking off phenomenally here as people understand take-and-bake and realize how convenient it is. We’ve exceeded our expectations in terms of production in the store and we’re now already trying to make room to handle more. I’m adding cooler space and trying to improve ticket time to make it more convenient for customers. Maybe someday there’ll be a little satellite store that is take-and-bake only, but right now we’re just continuing to ramp up this store.”
Dick and Debbie put in long hours and that’s their suggestion for novice operators. “Be prepared to work hard and put in long hours,” she said. “You have to be an owner-operator to be successful today. It takes a lot of teamwork, it’s not any one person that makes it work. As my husband says, it’s all about ‘process, marketing and customer service.’” Dick agrees. “If you’re willing to get in and commit to that and execute on those three things consistently, you can make it a success.” – PMQ – |