By Ben Coley
At this point, most pizza lovers are familiar with apizza, the beloved pizza style out of New Haven that has elevated Connecticut’s pizza scene onto the national radar. But Riko’s Pizza, based in Stamford, is seeking to nationally scale a lesser-known style of pizza from the Nutmeg State.
The rising tavern-style chain is known for its Hot Oil Bar Pie, flavored to the max with a spicy oil featuring stinger peppers that’s drizzled over a super-thin crust. Riko’s president and COO Carl Bachmann recently told FSR magazine—sister publication to PMQ Pizza—about the brand’s five-point plan to grow the 11-location brand.
Bachmann—who hails from New York but has become a fervent believer in Connecticut’s pizza being the best in the country—has been part of pizza concepts before (Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings and Bertucci’s). He told FSR that the quality and presentation of Riko’s surprised him. When Bachmann visited his first couple of restaurants, he saw a sports bar. Then he turned his head and observed families with children holding pizza with “no flop whatsoever.”
Related: Colony Grill: Striking It Rich With the Hot Oil Bar Pie
“I can probably eat two or three of these pizzas and not feel that bloated because it’s light, it’s fresh,” Bachmann said. “So really high-quality ingredients, super thin crust. When I started seeing little kids, under two years old, holding a slice themselves, you see why our restaurants are doing extremely well with families. It was really this polarizing moment when I said, wow, we got this great sports bar feel on one side of the restaurant, and then the other side of the restaurant is so geared to families and organizations and community involvement, and kids just love it. The No. 1 driver right now that I see in our restaurant growth is kids driving their parents to go to Riko’s.”
The COO was also attracted to the story of CEO Rico Imbrogno, who founded the concept 14 years ago. It’s a family-run business that’s shared recipes for generations. Bachmann is used to running bigger chains and completing turnarounds, but Riko’s is a refreshing change of pace as a “10-unit high-volume startup with huge growth opportunities.”
Bachmann’s goal is to transform the brand into a nationally recognized concept. The chain—roughly 60 percent of which is franchised—has 11 locations across Connecticut, New York, Florida, and Vermont.
“The philosophy I always had is something that Rico and I were very aligned with, and he lives by it, and it’s win, win, and win and win,” Bachmann said. “What I mean by that is you’ve got to win for the guests. It’s got to be a good decision for the guests, and it’s got to be a good decision for a team member, and it’s got to be a good decision for our shareholders and our franchisees. So everything Rico has done in his whole career has been based on that philosophy, which is something I live by. So we were so aligned by that. I figured it made sense for me to really understand the business a little bit more, and that kind of mentality, and say, OK, if I can build foundation around that mentality and put these pillars of what I believe it takes to build from a unique family-run business to a chain, we have something special.”
The first pillar of Bachmann’s plan is infrastructure, which to him, is just a fancy word for employees. He believes it’s a restaurant’s most important asset, ahead of product and location. As Bachmann put it, “If you don’t have the people to manage and run it, you don’t have anything.” Understanding this, the executive seeks like-minded industry experts at all levels of the organization that support his and Imbrogno’s philosophies. When the right infrastructure is formed, culture follows, according to Bachmann.
The second part is menu, something that’s already a “home run for us,” the COO said. Taste and quality superiority is Imbrogno’s passion, and nothing gets put on the menu without his or Bachmann’s approval. Imbrogno is also a believer in flavor-forward menu items, like the chain’s Clam Pizza and Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza. The brand also serves wings and a variety of appetizers, desserts and salads that can be put on a pizza or into a bowl or a wrap.
“A lot of companies come in and take a small brand and try to turn it into a chain,” Bachmann said. “The first thing they do is they commoditize quality, and they look at, ‘How do I focus on price point and focus on good enough?’ We don’t focus on good enough. We don’t want [so] neutral that everybody loves it. I want polarizing flavors that people crave.”
Step three is redefining the portfolio, both outside and inside the four walls. That means developing a sophisticated process to finding the best locations in markets, including processes around visibility, accessibility, site characteristics, demographics, traffic, parking, patio, and other points of contention. Inside stores, Riko’s wants to ensure it has the right platform, equipment, and technology to execute speed and accuracy and achieve profitability.
Next on the list is solidifying gold standards. This involves creating rules and regulations that protect franchisees from mistakes and ignorance. For instance, Riko’s recently partnered with Opus to create a learning management system to increase success and consistency. These are task lists that take the chain from a “mom-and-pop homegrown mentality—savoring what’s great about that—and getting a process to make sure we can deliver that, whether it’s in Florida, whether it’s in Pennsylvania, whether it’s in North Carolina, or whether it’s home here at Stamford, Connecticut,” Bachmann said.
The fifth and final pillar is marketing and positioning Riko’s to punch above its weight class. The pizza chain partnered with a PR team and is learning how to best leverage its online platforms and third-party partnerships.
“In my past, when I’ve done turnarounds of companies, it was the same thing—we had to structure a roadmap,” Bachmann said. “What’s nice about here is a lot of this is new and fresh as opposed to trying to break a lot of bad habits. So, it’s really nice to be able to take these five pillars and create this roadmap of how we’re going to build our company.”
With Bachmann’s industry knowledge and a five-pillar strategy in place, Riko’s is now prepared to accelerate expansion. The COO prefers to grow like a bush instead of a vine, so expect the chain to expand outwardly from the Northeast and Florida and then connect it all along the East Coast. Bachmann says the fortressing model will help guarantee economies of scale and boost media penetration and operational and supply chain support.
Franchising will be the primary growth lever, but the percentage of corporate units will never be below 25%.
Currently, Riko’s is experiencing sales growth and positive guest counts, bucking a lot of industry trends. It also gets all of its ingredients in the U.S., so tariffs haven’t presented a problem yet either. The value play is present, too, with all the food being shareable.
“I think we’re just excited about the growth,” Bachmann said. “We’re excited about the growth. We’d love to see new franchisees join our teams.”
Ben Coley is editor of QSR magazine, a sister publication of PMQ. A version of this story originally appeared on the FSR magazine site.
