Since 1987, Steve Greenberg has used wood-fired ovens to craft his popular, handmade, artisan pizzas. Steve’s Wood Fired Pizza has tracked between 400 and 700 new customers each month, leaving them to believe expansion would be a huge opportunity. Their current location is a small, 1200-foot sit-down/carryout unit, which Steve says has been great because it leaves room to concentrate on every customer. “I’ve run places that were 6,000 square feet and, yeah, you make a lot of money, but it’s a headache. When I started, I wanted to do something small so I knew I wouldn’t HAVE to depend on other people.” Steve says when they first opened in 1999, it was just himself, his wife, and one other person running the operation. But that operation has since grown into a booming business with more than 35,000 customers last year in his 40-seat restaurant—with absolutely no advertising and lines literally out the door every night.

Steve says he’s been very fortunate that several of his employees have worked for him more than three years. “I’ve been an employee with other organizations, so I know you have to be fair. If you rule like it’s a dictatorship, your employees aren’t going to be happy. You have to be flexible. When they enjoy the money, enjoy the atmosphere, and feel like they are doing something that other people really appreciate, they want to stick around.” Employees at Steve’s Wood Fired Pizza can also be accredited for helping bring in many of the new customers, which Steve tracks using his point of sale. “We see between 400 and 700 new guests each month. I have a card printed up called ‘Be My Guest’ that I give to all my employees. They have the employees’ names on them and on the back of the card it says ‘Receive one free pizza with the purchase of a soda.’ The only thing we ask of the customer is to fill in their name, phone number, and email address on the back of the card.” Out of the 40 some odd pizzerias in and around Boca Raton, Steve’s Wood Fired regularly wins ‘Best Pizza’ from the West Boca Times and the Sun-Sentinel, including the 2007 award.

“The staff takes these cards with them wherever they go: the supermarket, the mall, football games…wherever they are. It’s the best way to get people in. I could advertise and spend $10,000, or I could give away 10,000 free pizzas and gain all these new customers.” The good thing about this deal is that Steve doesn’t lose any money at all—in fact, he’s breaking even AND gaining new customers. “After they buy the soda, that makes up for my cost in the pizza. Most of the people that come in for the first time come back to eat here again because the pizzas are that good.” Steve says they track every person that comes into the restaurant by entering the information from the cards or by having the wait staff get their information and enter it into the POS.

Steve Greenberg got into the pizza business in the early ‘80s after partnering with a friend in 1984. He decided to sell his portion of the business and shortly thereafter stumbled into a coffee shop in 1987 and noticed their wood-burning oven. “I sold the other business and started making pizzas in this little coffee shop. We built up a really nice business…when I first started anyone could come in and get a pizza anytime, but because I could only cook two at a time, it soon took off and people had to make reservations for their pizzas.” Soon, word reached CPK’s Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield and Steve Greenberg was hired on as a trainer in California. “I learned a lot about the operations, training, customer satisfaction.” 

Steve says he still loves working in the restaurant, but for times when he’s not there, he has instant access to his business through remote video cameras and mystery shops. “I pay for that twice a month so I can better track customer satisfaction and quality,” he says. Since Steve strives for quality and customer satisfaction so strongly, he also meets with his staff at a different restaurant each month. “We measure our service and everything compared to these other restaurants in our area.” From the service to the pizza, Steve says they’re almost always as good or better in all areas—especially their crust, which goes through quite a process. The dough is proofed in a special way and time period that allows the flavors to develop through fermentation. “It isn’t just a quick process. It’s like a beer—in order for the flavors to develop, it takes time.” He says the dough process takes about three days, and they always keep 300 to 400 dough balls ready to go. “About 40% of our business is take-out,” says Steve. “We prefer customers come in because I hate putting the pizza in a box. People still appreciate it, but we always encourage them to come in and eat because that’s how the pizza’s going to taste the best.” They use a tray in the restaurant called ‘Pizza Pleasers’ that keep any juices off the crust.

Steve’s Wood Fired Pizza uses four different wood-burning ovens: two Woodstones, a Renato, and a Mam from Italy. “We use cherry, oak, and sometimes I’ll burn a little hickory.” Steve explains that burning wood is about $400 per month with pallets of wood arriving from up north every five to six weeks.

Currently, Steve’s Wood Fired Pizza is gearing up for a new marketing plan that was prepared with the help of Kamron Karington. Although he did say the plan is ‘top secret’ for now, he revealed the bulk of the marketing campaign is going to be based around VIP marketing for existing customers. “We’ll be doing follow-up calls, guest rewards with the new POS platform we’re working on, and we’ll be tracking customers’ purchases with their frequent diner card. They’ll get a free pizza just for signing up for that.” The new guest rewards program will allow guests to swipe their cards and earn points and credit for food. “We want someone that comes twice a month to come three or four times a month,” he says.

With an arsenal of great pizza, a loyal following, and customer satisfaction to boot, Steve’s Wood Fired Pizza is looking towards the future. With several serious prospects for franchising his brand, he says he has the plans in motion to open a second store before the end of the year since acquiring the UFOC (Uniform Franchise Offering Circular). For more information, visit www.steveswoodfiredpizza.com.

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