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On July 7, 2006, a new pizza concept opened in Deerfield Beach, Florida—only two doors down from Domino’s. One that, according to long-time friends and business partners Vaughan Lazar and Michael Gordon, basically reinvents the wheel—of pizza, that is. “Our pizzas are long and skinny, like a healthy person would be,” Michael said of the pizzas they’ve been serving up for the past six months. Pizza fusion marries quality, certified organic ingredients with some great marketing and community involvement. “All of our ingredients in our sauces, spices, and even our sugar, are certified organic,” he said. But it doesn’t stop with all-natural ingredients; they’ve even gone so far as to purchase $100,000 worth of hybrid vehicles to deliver the pizzas and all their employees have health benefits with Blue Cross/Blue Shield!
Organics 101
“With the growing popularity of organic food, and the amount of money we were spending at Whole Foods, we came up with this idea: ‘How cool would it be to create a product in America that everybody already likes—but take it a step up and make it healthy,’” Mike said. According to CNN, organic foods have seen a rise in popularity surging at nearly 20 percent each year over the past 10 years. But what is organic? The USDA says organic vegetables and meats are raised on land that hasn’t been hit with pesticides or any kind of hormones or chemicals for at least seven years. They also contain no form of growing enhancement fertilizers. All told, the defining cornerstone in organic farming is based on creating healthy, rich soil naturally.
Finding an organic distributor was the first aspect of opening Pizza Fusion, Vaughan said. “We started out in the beginning buying from local markets, but once the business started to take hold, we had to move to a distributor,” he said. “There are quite a few actually. We use Albert’s Organic. They’re national and have distributors in eight states.”
Both Vaughan and Michael have business backgrounds—Vaughan owns a printing and marketing firm, and Mike was in real estate and marketing prior to Pizza Fusion. But, neither of them had any experience making pizzas. “We were really committed to this concept and both knew we loved pizza, and there is such a growing market and such a need for healthy places to eat,” Vaughan said. Lisa Simmons, Director of Public Relations for Pizza Fusion, said their main goal was to run with the idea that everything’s organic. “We wanted the core focus to be the organics, even going so far as putting organic fibers into the shirts we sell and that the employees wear,” she said. “We even took it to the next level by purchasing the hybrid vehicles.”
The delivery cars, 2006 Toyota Prius’, are wrapped in a bamboo covering that, according to Lisa, is very appealing and eye-catching. “A local sign company created the wrap for the cars from a file that we designed,” she said. “Just having those vehicles driving around on the streets, is one of the best marketing tools we have. People see those with their earth-friendly graphics, and it makes them curious.” Mike said it would be an oxymoron to deliver Pizza Fusion in a vehicle that wasn’t earth friendly. “Plus,” Mike said, “we use the cars as a means of advertising and promoting our motto—‘saving the earth one pizza at a time.’” And they truly are.
Giving Back to the Community
Every aspect of Pizza Fusion preserves the environment, from the organic fibers used in their t-shirts to the earth-friendly vehicles, down to the recycling of their pizza boxes. “We offer our customers a great deal on the boxes,” Mike said. “Bring them back in, and we’ll give you a quarter.” Pizza Fusion uses this tactic to help promote recycling. “We didn’t contract out with a factory in Hong Kong to have the boxes made, instead, we give the business to the community—a pizza box company in Orlando.” Mike also said that since they’re making money off the community, it’s only fair to give back to them. “Once a month, we require all the employees to do a community activity. This month we did a beach clean up and just went out and cleaned a beach for a few hours,” he explained. “We had about 40 people there to clean in full force. It was really huge for us. Everyone that showed up got a five dollar gift certificate,” he continues, “We even had a teacher bring her whole class out for the morning. Getting the children involved is what really works well because kids really do control what their parents feed them. If they want Pizza Fusion, their parents are going to give it to them.” Mike said events such as this are easy to promote by notifying the press through press releases, using their chalkboard in the restaurant, and also by using box toppers.
Pizza Fusion also hosts a class entitled “Organic Kids 101” where children of all ages are invited to learn the importance of nutrition and organic foods. The class takes place once a month at Pizza Fusion, and each month, has gained in popularity. Lisa said there has also been a tremendous response from pregnant women. “They are all becoming more aware of how the quality of food we consume not only affects our bodies, but our babies as well,” she said.
Pizza for Celiac Sufferers
In the United States, about one of every 130 people have Celiac disease. One of Pizza Fusion’s main goals in building their concept was to introduce a gluten-free pie for Celiac disease sufferers. People with the disease cannot tolerate the protein gluten, which is commonly found in wheat, rye, oats, and barley. “We thought, instead of just being your typical place, let’s fill this void,” Mike said. “Instead of just offering it to a small minority, we opened ourselves up to offer it to everybody.” Lisa said they have been able to tap into a growing segment of customers by offering a gluten-free choice for pizza lovers that maybe haven’t had pizza but once or twice in their lives. “Teaming up with some of those support groups has also been great for us—and for them,” she said. Mike said gluten-free is really just a wave of the future because it’s healthier. “You can ask any nutritionist, gluten-free is much healthier, has less carbs, and is a good alternative to the normal pizza crust. We’re not trying to tell you that you’re going to lose weight like Jared from Subway, and that’s not our angle…but what we’ve done is made health the heart of our company; the highest quality and integrity of our product is the body of our company, and the environment is the soul of our company.”
Mike said the gluten-free pizza was the hardest part when developing their menu. “We spent over 200 hours late at night and early in the morning perfecting it. In place of the gluten, there are some natural products we have to substitute in order to give the dough the right consistency. Whereas we used to sell one or two a day, we’re now selling more like 20 or so a day—of the gluten-free crust,” he said. “We make the dough in the morning (he said they have to prepare it in a completely sanitary environment with special utensils following strict guidelines), so if we run out, that’s it for the day.” He said customers are learning that if they want one of these special pizzas, they have to call ahead of time. “We’ve had people drive an hour just to come here and get our pizza,” Vaughan said. “We even have doctors recommending us to their patients because we are healthier than Domino’s and Pizza Hut.” The food cost for the gluten-free pizza is approximately 20% more than their standard pie, which is about 30% food cost, the owners said.
A Full Plate of Fusion’s Foods
Since Pizza Fusion is so closely situated near a Domino’s Pizza, I wondered how that would affect business. Vaughan laughed, “We have some great pictures of [Domino’s] employees coming to eat at our place. Since they’re in a whole different sector every single person that goes to Domino’s is a potential customer for us, but the people that eat with us would not be seen eating at Domino’s.” He said their business plan is to always open as close to a big chain as possible. “Let everyone put their best product out on the table and the consumer will be the judge,” Mike says. And so far, so well. Mike said on their busiest night thus far, they sold nearly 300 pizzas.
Although Pizza Fusion does specialize in their long, skinny pizzas, they also offer organic salads, organic meats, focaccia sandwiches, and organic sodas and teas. Vaughan said Pizza Fusion will soon offer organic beers and wines also. They offered up this advice, “Just believe in what you do. If you stand behind your product, put out the best possible product, using the best possible ingredients, you’ll be successful.