Delivering pizza is invaluable to us and the success of our La Nova Pizzeria. Out of more than 5 million dollars in annual product sales, 70% of that product is delivered to our customers. I’ll specifically touch on what our “delivery customers” break out into (we have great success due to the fact that we do not rely solely on traditional home delivery). After that I’ll review our delivery charges and what we feel is an appropriate way to justify the costs to customers, and I’ll quickly review some ‘fears’ I’ve heard in the marketplace about delivery in general.

The key focus areas for our delivery are as follows:
• Home delivery to families and individuals
• Convenience locations
• Bars and restaurants
• Institutions (e.g. hospitals and schools)

Originally, we were a dine-in establishment only; more like an Italian restaurant that served pizza. Then, in the early 80s, we developed the pizza and wings end of the business and incorporated delivery into our brand. That’s one of the most important points of development in our pizzeria’s 50-year history. Being able to not only deliver pizza, but also wings, ribs, sandwiches, and the rest of our offerings really put us on the map—no pun intended! We firmly believe that in order to maximize our sales it’s essential for our customers to be able to order and have the product delivered to their homes. It affords us more repeat business and allows our customers the convenience of getting great food without having to leave their location. That being said, the home-delivery side of the business is a huge portion of our total business, but when we felt like that was maximized, we started to look at what else we could do to drum up additional sales.

The convenience business was a real eye-opener and a nice new market that developed for us. We found that over the last few years, many of our local convenience operators were not able, or willing, to go through the expense of adding foodservice to their operations, but they still wanted to take advantage of the traffic and make some extra sales. In order to assist them (and us) we loan the operators a pizza warmer and allow them to accept delivery and resell the slices at a value to their customers. We sell cheese pies and vegetarian variations to them in compliance with USDA requirements. They then resell the slices and have a great demand and turn on the product. This has developed to a point where we’re sometimes delivering 100 pies per day before our doors are even open.

In addition to this strong area we’ve also added school and hospital delivery. These are environments that have high traffic and customer demand but generally don’t have the resources needed to manage and handle foodservice as a primary focus. We manage these clients directly, giving them a lot of attention and service, because it’s not an everyday business comparatively. Oftentimes, the hospital or school will run items on a sporadic basis, sometimes as limited as once per month. What we try to do is drive the success of the pizza in their environment to allow for running the offering at least bi-weekly. It’s not traditional delivery, but again, it’s another option for us and allows us to have pizzas sold on a daily basis before we even start answering our phones.

We are not bashful with our delivery charges. We feel, like we do with our pricing, that the customer will pay for value every single time. Ever since fuel costs have gone through the roof, we’ve charged a $2 delivery fee and sales have not missed a beat. Many times I talk to operators and they have an apprehensive tone about trying new things or developing segments of the business that are different and add detail and other work. We at La Nova feel that if anyone is able to get our food on their table in a reasonable timeframe, and in good quality, it’s a win for everyone. I can’t tell you to develop and take advantage of a program like this, but I can say that it has been integral to helping us develop a great sales volume that rivals anyone in the country.

The bottom line is, delivery adds value. As for the expense and potential “risks,” the reward of having a two to five-mile range of people able to order off of our menu any time we’re open is priceless for us.

Joey Todaro is the grandson of La Nova founder Papa Joe Todaro and President of La Nova and La Nova Wings. He has spent the majority of his life in the pizzeria and Buffalo wing business, and is responsible for overseeing stores that average $100,000 per week in sales.

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