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When Damiano Esposito heard there was a 20-inch pizza offered in his town of Augusta, Georgia, he began to think big. "We had been offering a twenty-inch pizza first, at my store, Roma's Pizza. Then a competitor came out with one. Our slogan is "Bigger is Better," so I thought, ‘Maybe I could serve a 28-inch.'" Beginning in January of 2006, that's exactly what he did. Now Roma's Pizza offers a daily, on-going challenge: eat a 28-inch, cheese-only pizza in 90 minutes, and Roma's will give you $200.
"Just in the past two days we've had five people try," Damiano says. "In all, 30 people have tried, and yet, no winner. We give away a free T-shirt to all who try." Damiano says he even had a customer weighing 500 pounds try to eat the massive pie and fail.
"He tried twice and couldn't do it. The first time he had half of it eaten in half an hour. I thought he might do it. Then he drank too much tea. Once you mix the crust with water, the crust expands."
Damiano notes that world's reigning competitive food eater is Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi of Nagasaki, Japan, who ate 54 hot dogs (with buns) in 12 minutes and who only weighs 160 pounds.
"There's a technique to it and it's actually skinnier people who are better at it because they can expand their stomachs. Kobayashi once consumed almost 18 pounds of cow brains in 15 minutes," Damiano marvels.
Roma's 28-inch pie, which sells for $23.99, is cut into 16 slices, each 14-inches in length. It's made using three and a half pounds of dough and five pounds of cheese, with eight to ten ounces of sauce. Normally, six pizzas can fit on his oven deck but Damiano says only two of the 28 –inch can cook at a time. He had to order 12 new cooking trays for $400. He says the big pizza has been a big hit with more than big people.
"We can cut the XX-Large pizza into squares which is better for kids' birthday parties, more manageable. I just fed 18 kids at a party using one pie." Damiano says he'd like to see someone successfully devour the 28-inch pie and earn the $200, a figure he is considering raising to $500. He even gives contestants helpful hints.
"I tell them not to drink anything carbonated and to sip, not gulp. Pace yourself. We've calculated it and best we can figure, you should try to eat at about five minutes a slice."
Under advice from his attorney, Damiano says all contestants must sign a liability release form and any contestants under age 18 have to be accompanied by parents.
"All in all, the contest has been a good word-of-mouth marketing tool."
Damiano Esposito started in the pizza business in 1988. Although from the world pizza capital of Naples Italy, he settled in Augusta, Georgia (pop.195,000) located on the Georgia/South Carolina border, about 150 miles east of Atlanta. It is the second largest city and second largest metropolitan area in the state, known for the Masters golf tournament and as the home of soul legend James Brown.
When Damiano arrived in Augusta from Italy, he made friends with the only other Italian in town. After helping out in his friend's pizzeria, the two struck up a deal where Damiano would come aboard and learn the business and eventually buy out his partner. That happened in 1988 and since then, Damiano has shown a deft hand in the pizza business. Next year will be ten years under Damiano's ownership of Roma's in Augusta. The business now employs two full-time staffers and five part-time with a seating capacity of approximately 65 and currently offers no delivery. The pies are what Damiano calls, "authentic New York-style pizza."
"We have thin crust, then the Sicilian, which is a square, thicker crust. We make it all from scratch, dough, sauces. Pizza is strong, 14-inch, 16, 18, 20 and the 28-inch which barely fits on the table."
Roma's is located across from a multiplex movie theater with 20 screens. Ft. Gordon, a Signal Corp installation, is located here and Savannah River Site, a nuclear facility, is 45 minutes away.
"If something happens we'll be the first to be roasted," Damiano chuckles. "Actually, I've been here in this location since 2000 and business is steadily improving."
In addition to the pizza-eating contest, another unique marketing ploy he credits for his sales surge is mobile billboards.
"I have two billboards around town that show my eight-year old son saying, ‘If you can eat this pizza in 90 minutes, my dad will give you $200.' The billboards are unique in that they are 6 feet by 12 feet and are mobile. The sign company moves them to different locations around town that I approve, like near the hospital, near schools, Augusta State University, on the commuters' home routes. It costs me $200 a month but well worth it."
To jump-start the 28-inch eating contest, Damiano says he advertised heavily on eight different radio stations for the first five months.
"The first person called and said he wanted the largest pizza in town that he had heard about on the radio. He ordered one for take out. I took his order and before we hung up, I said ‘Sir, Don't come in a compact car.' He showed up in a Suzuki Sidekick and the pizza wouldn't fit in his car. He had to go home and get his truck."
In addition to wings, pastas, salads, Damiano says strombolis and calzones are probably his biggest non-pizza items. He sells them fried or baked.
The marketing, the 28-inch pizza, all taken into account, Damiano says Roma's bottom line increases each year. Gross annual sales of $553,000 last year will increase to $600,000 this year, he predicts.
"If business keeps increasing, I can see us hitting the one million mark in a few years. Down the road I'd like to franchise or sell the concept."
Damiano says some years ago, he had two other stores but found that since it was his money, "everyone else was just there for a paycheck and weren't really doing their job." He sold the other two to concentrate on one, but he stills sees expansion.
"The only way to grow is to find someone willing to put up money AND willing to run it. It will be more of a motivation for them. I've met a lot of people who are interested in putting up money, but they don't want to work. They say, they'll be the ‘silent partner.' Well, I don't need a silent partner, to do that, I can just go to the bank."
"I can open ten of them if I could find people that will work."
Until then, Damiano isn't afraid to work even as he reflects on the long journey from Naples, Italy to the American South. "If you had told me when I was a young man in Italy, that I would wind up selling pizza in Augusta, Georgia in the United States, I would have said you were smoking something. Sometimes we take detours in life. This has tuned out to be good for me. Good people, good job, and I'm making a good living."
Sometimes it pays to think big.