By Tracy Morin
The idea of downsizing a menu can strike fear into the hearts of pizzeria owners. What if customers flee for the local competitor? What will you tell the disappointed guest whose favorite topping or specialty pie didn’t make the menu?
But for some owners, embracing menu minimalism has created maximum success. While meeting goals like streamlined operations, lower costs and optimal employee efficiency, these three operators are proving the adage that quality is more important than quantity.
Case Study #1: Focused, Intentional—and Award-Winning
For Marisol Doyle, co-owner/pizzaiola at Leña Pizza + Bagels in Cleveland, Mississippi, having a minimal menu clearly isn’t inhibiting her performance—she was recently ranked No. 38 in the U.S. by 50 Top Pizza and No. 77 worldwide by The Best Pizza Awards. In fact, slow, steady progress has always been a top priority, as well as a necessity, for her and her husband, co-owner Rory Doyle.
“We started with a very small menu while doing pop-ups at Leña,” Marisol recalls. “In the beginning, we couldn’t find workers for a long time, but we needed to open. With a limited team, a small menu made it possible. It also helped us train our staff, streamline ordering and work through operational issues. We gradually added more items to the menu, but starting small really helped us troubleshoot and grow more intentionally. If you start with an expansive menu, you risk upsetting customers when you start cutting out items.”
Related: Designing a Menu With Both Healthy and Indulgent Options
No restaurateur wants to tell customers their usual favorites, like pasta, wings or ranch dressing, aren’t available (though, since Leña is a Neapolitan concept, certain items wouldn’t likely make the menu anyway). “It can be tough to explain that we focus on doing a few things really well, rather than offering a wide variety,” Marisol admits. “Neapolitan pizza is best with minimal ingredients so you can really taste the dough and the sauce. But in the Mississippi Delta, that’s a challenge—people expect to see lots of toppings. For us, the meat lover’s pizza became a must-have. When it wasn’t on the menu, customers asked for it all the time.”
Starting with staples like the Margherita and pepperoni, the Doyles built from there—adding a veggie option and some of their favorites, like prosciutto and arugula. After listening to customers, they also created the popular Truffle Ricotta Mushroom. “One thing that really sets us apart is our weekly special, where we try to offer something completely new, or bring back a pizza that was really popular when we offered it as a special in the past,” Marisol says. “This is where our creativity shines, and it keeps our customers excited.”
Finally, a focused and intentional menu allows Leña to make the most of what’s always on hand: quality tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and dough. “A smaller menu helps reduce waste,” Marisol explains, “and ensures that everything we use is fresh and at its best.”
Case Study #2: The One-Slice Wonder
The Cheese Board Collective, a worker-owned cooperative in Berkeley, California, takes minimalism to the max: There’s only one specialty pizza, always vegetarian—available by the slice or in whole and half pies—plus one salad of the day, both of which change daily. Small accompaniments, like housemade hot sauce, roasted garlic bulbs, ice cream, cookies and drinks round out the tiny menu.
“We work in very high volume at a low price point, and having a lean menu allows us to meet that volume in an efficient way,” says Vanessa Vichit-Vadakan, worker-owner. “We can build and bake pizzas continuously, and while the line might be down the block, it moves fast. When each customer orders, it usually takes less than 30 seconds for us to get the pizza to them, because there is a constant stream of pizzas coming out of the oven. Having this trim menu is great for service, helps to streamline our produce ordering and often allows us to get better prices.”
Related: Why Your Menu Should Include Vegan and Gluten-Free Options Done Right
The biggest challenge with a minimal menu, says Vichit-Vadakan, is handling the natural ebbs and flows that occur with only one pizza on the menu. Customers tend to look at the menu ahead of time and decide what day they want to come—instead of just dropping by to get whatever is on offer (or whatever they may want) that day.
However, Cheese Board sweetens the deal by offering a “pizza sliver,” a free bonus half-slice or two, depending on how much pizza the customer orders. “It started as a way to make up for unevenly cut pizza slices and carried on as a little gesture of generosity, which is a core ethic of our business,” Vichit-Vadakan explains. “Our menu also stands out because we use interesting cheeses, sometimes locally made—either blended with the mozzarella, as part of the build, or as garnish.”
The worker-owners also try to create a menu that’s as seasonal as possible (while still rotating favorite pies even off-season, like a basil pesto in winter or a roasted potato in summer). “Corn and tomato are so popular in summer that we feature ‘corn week’ and ‘tomato week’ to really highlight the wonderful local produce we have available,” says Vichit-Vadakan. “Last year, we went through about 1,700 pounds of fresh heirloom, Roma, Early Girl and cherry tomatoes for tomato week! We’re also good about finding other uses for leftovers—rolling them into a new pizza or salad topping, usually. When we’re able to, we donate extra produce, salad dressings and other ingredients to local food justice organizations.”
Case Study #3: Survival Skills
During the COVID era, Rebecca and Dutch van Oostendorp, owners of Tribecca Allie Cafe in Sardis, Mississippi, were looking for ways to downsize as customer visits slowed. They pared down a fuller menu of pizza, meals and specials to five specialty pies (plus create-your-own pies and calzones), three flatbreads and basic desserts. Hours were whittled to three dinner services weekly, and table service changed to counter ordering (handled by a volunteer) with customer-bussed tables.
“It became cost-prohibitive to try to maintain a lot of different ingredients,” Rebecca explains. “We were able to reduce our refrigeration as well as our inventory by eliminating the meals. It’s disappointing to some folks, but on occasion, I still do them, as a surprise. Going from full-service to basically self-service saves us an enormous amount on costs as well.”
“We always had the goal of keeping things simple, like Pizzeria Bianco in Arizona,” Dutch adds. “It made sense to streamline our supply chain during the pandemic, and it allows us to not tie up a lot of cash in inventory. So when it came to paring down, we had to ask: What pizza gives me the most margin for the revenue dollar? Taking certain things out allowed us to just keep the things that we sell the most of and then sell the most of those.”
Dutch notes that downsizing the menu reduces the number of variables—front and back of house—while cutting hours to the busiest time slots reduces variables like labor and overhead costs. “We simplified the way we looked at things,” Dutch says. “In the five years or so since the start of COVID, I can think of maybe five times where somebody left because we didn’t have something they wanted.”
Tribecca Allie also boosts its bottom line with an easy add-on: fresh bread loaves from its wood-fired oven. “Some days, they’ll sell out completely,” Dutch notes. “Other days, they don’t. But I can cross-utilize—I’m already buying flour and yeast, and it’s a relatively low-food-cost item. The bread is a little bit higher in labor cost, but it’s a good complement—it increases our revenue a little and fits with the rest of the concept. Customers can come in, grab a pizza, and go home with a loaf of bread to make a sandwich the next day.”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
