By Tracy Morin
Any experienced pizzeria owner can look back and say, “If only I’d known…” and fill in the blank with endless streams of wisdom gleaned along their journey—often learned the hard way.
Fortunately, with time comes knowledge, and those who have decades of experience in the pizza business have seen it all (well, almost). Here, four of those operators—Ruth Gresser, Michael LaMarca, Lisa Dahl and Joe Farruggio—share their most crucial operations-based success tips with PMQ. Read on and learn from the masters!
Ruth Gresser, chef/founder, Pizzeria Paradiso, Washington, D.C.
1. Be intentional. Everything in this industry moves fast, and it’s easy to fall into a reactive rhythm. But success—sustainable, meaningful success—comes from being thoughtful and deliberate. Whether you’re designing a menu, opening a new location or hiring your first employee, every decision should be grounded in your values and your long-term vision. That clarity helps weather the hard days and keeps your business true to itself.
2. Create a support network. I once read, “If you’re working in your business, you’re not working on your business.” This quotation had a profound impact on me, as it helped me to understand that business development (in all its many definitions) was unlikely to come while working the pizza oven or doing payroll. If I could change any one thing in my journey in this business, it would be understanding this truth earlier in my career. I would have taken steps when I established my business to help me maintain this dual focus of working on and in my business simultaneously. I would have started by creating a board of advisors to ensure I would have a network of business support from day one. I would suggest this for anyone thinking of opening a business.
3. Know your worth. Valuing your own work is not arrogance—it’s leadership. This truth is for everyone, but I see it as especially relevant for women. So many women receive the message that we are worth less, so we undersell ourselves. We shouldn’t charge too much, ask too much or take up too much space. I remember a moment, early in my career, when a customer asked to purchase a bulk order of biscotti. Without thinking it through, I quoted a price that barely covered the cost of ingredients, thus completely devaluing my time and expertise and erasing any profit. I essentially gave my work away for free. Recognizing our strengths and skill, and valuing them appropriately, is the foundation of a leadership of success.
Related: Experienced Operators Share 4 Strategies for Keeping Food Costs Down
Michael P. LaMarca, owner/CEO, Master Pizza Franchise Group, Mayfield Heights, OH
1. Stick to your principles.
I believe that one of the most important things you can do for your business or organization is to have set principles. These set principles are the building blocks to your culture and ultimately the road map for every decision that is made by you and everyone in your company. Having set principles gives the people in your company an overall direction on how and why certain decisions are made.
2. Have a vision.
You, as well as your team, need to know what the short-term and overall long-term goals are for your business. Having a stated vision and/or goals will get everyone looking and rowing in the same direction. It does not matter if your goals are small and immediate or long-term and huge—just make sure everyone knows what their expectations are.
3. Plan ahead.
Visions and goals have costs and must be planned out, not just stated to your team. The difference between an idea and a plan is that an idea is in your head and a plan is on paper. Write out each step and check off your progress. This will make you accountable to your idea and plan. This is one of the best lessons I was ever taught.
4. Communication is vital.
No matter how good your idea is and no matter how well it is planned out, it will fail if it is not properly communicated. Good communication takes a mammoth amount of time and effort. Never assume that anyone understands what you are trying to do. It is impossible to overcommunicate and super easy to undercommunicate. Technology can aid in communication, but the follow-through is what will take your message from a text or email to a value.
Related: Why Some Pizzerias Ferment Dough for 5+ Days—And Why Others Don’t
Lisa Dahl, chef, owner and CEO, Dahl Restaurant Group, Sedona, AZ
1. Establish your customer service credo.
I think establishing the credo for hospitality is the most important step, no matter what business you’re in. Having a list of your top 10 non-negotiables for how you handle customer service issues—protocols from greeting to phone etiquette—is fundamental to longevity. I’m personally present to hire every position, from dishwasher and host to general manager. How that host answers the phone can influence whether that party will actually walk through our doors.
2. Cultivate your culture.
Second, and equally important, is establishing your culture with both the employees and the guests. People have to know who you are, what you stand for, and what makes you different from the rest. Training is vital, so the specific training style and information that goes into these roles is key. Without the employee’s buy-in to our culture and our credo, there is nothing that would set us apart from everybody else.
3. Mind your managers.
Place your management team (and the hiring of those assets) at the top of the tree in importance. If your business requires multiple managers, it’s important to have diversity so that there are those incredible front-of-the-house people and back-of-the-house people. And create a culture that embraces both. In a specialized business, as much as you can, trying to find managers that come from that specific type of business is always a really good approach, because they will bring something to an owner in their knowledge bank that might really help in the startup phases.
4. Cherry-pick quality vendors.
Sourcing establishes who you are in the marketplace. If you partner with chosen vendors, they can also help to cut out a lot of the middle-of-the-road items that dilute your individual style or concept. Purveyors I have known, worked closely with for decades, and maintained a rapport with at the highest level have greatly helped to safeguard our reputation of being best-of-breed for our brand.
Related: From Near Catastrophe to Pizza Brand: The Story of Ranger Joe’s Pizza
Joe Farruggio, owner and founder, Il Canale, 90 Second Pizza and A Modo Mio, Washington, D.C.
1. Pay attention to the payroll.
Train people and set up systems so that everything gets done with the least amount of people—without making the customer suffer. I spent a lot of time on getting the right equipment and ensuring more efficiency through the layout. That way, one person has enough space to serve and prepare at the same time, versus having an area to prepare and an area to serve so that you’d need two people. After a pizza [assembly] is done, the employee can cut tomatoes, onions and sausage. At 90 Second Pizza, I need only one person for the back and one person for the front.
2. Don’t be afraid of giveaways.
I put somebody outside, giving away free samples, to increase sales. Of course, that also will increase the payroll. The way I calculate it, I bring in maybe 10 pizza sales for those four hours, which is about $70 to $80. So [financially], it’s a wash, but I have a chance to pick up some new customers.
3. Streamline when possible.
I firmly believe if you have a good product, you won’t need to have ice cream, coffee, potato chips, all those things. Having too many dishes requires different skills of people working, which can create a lot of mistakes. My concept of 90 Second Pizza started with only pizza, and we go through about 40 bags of flour a week, at 50 pounds a bag, so we make a lot. We also have a restaurant, with pizza, pasta, steak and fish, but we change the menu: During the week, the menu is a little bit quicker, and during the weekend, we’ve taken out all of the complicated dishes to make the pizza faster. So we have a weekend menu, a lunch menu, and a rest of the week menu. Ninety or 95% of customers won’t even know, because most don’t come every day, but we can still accommodate people’s requests if needed.
4. Establish and enforce procedures.
Let’s say your employees take the broom and put it behind the oven tomorrow, put it behind the sink the next day, then later put it behind the back door. Say they also do that with a knife, a pen, a fork, the scoops—all of the equipment that you use. Every item has a place, and every place has an item. This ties into point No. 1, payroll. Without procedures, you’re slowing down the system. When I go to the restaurant and see something that’s out of order, I take a picture and send it to the to the group to correct the problem. You want to fix problems right away, so employees don’t get into bad habits. Bad habits grow like mushrooms—better than good habits, that’s for sure!
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
