Justice Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 I lost my job in July and didn't have much luck finding work, so I have decided to buy a pizzeria. I found a place for a pretty good price and has room for improvement. The current owner doesn't open late or on Sundays and he doesn't deliver ,as well. The pizzeria is a mom & pop place and I was just wondering how many of you fellow stadium wallers actually prefer mom & pop over franchise chains. I, personally, like the mom & pop places better. How about you?
bartshan-83 Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Mom and Pop, for sure. I mean, I love franchise places and frequent them often, but I will never understand peoples' bizarrely valued devotion to them. When I drive by the local Olive Garden and Red Lobster and I see 20-30 people waiting OUTSIDE, it makes my head spin. A chain called Firebird Grill opened in our area about 2-3 years ago I guess. Pretty decent steakhouse. But the first time I tried to go there, the hostess informed me it would be a TWO and a HALF HOUR wait! It floors me how people are willing to sit for 30, 40, 60, 90 minutes for any food, especially run-of-the-mill franchise cuisine. Good luck with your place...the world always needs another good pizza joint.
Buftex Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 I lost my job in July and didn't have much luck finding work, so I have decided to buy a pizzeria. I found a place for a pretty good price and has room for improvement. The current owner doesn't open late or on Sundays and he doesn't deliver ,as well. The pizzeria is a mom & pop place and I was just wondering how many of you fellow stadium wallers actually prefer mom & pop over franchise chains. I, personally, like the mom & pop places better. How about you? Man, I have been having the same urge. I have gone through a bunch of job stuff the last two years, and though I am employed, I think I will blow my brains out if I have to work at this job for too long...I am grateful for the job, and the paycheck, but, I have often asked myself, "What do I want to do with myself?". I always come back to owning and operating a kick ass pizzeria. Pizza is the one thing that never lets me down! Just curious, is the place you are thinking of buying in WNY? I live in Texas now, but, whenever I go home (just home for Christmas) I am amazed how good pizzerias still live on in WNY.
Justice Posted January 18, 2011 Author Posted January 18, 2011 Mom and Pop, for sure. I mean, I love franchise places and frequent them often, but I will never understand peoples' bizarrely valued devotion to them. When I drive by the local Olive Garden and Red Lobster and I see 20-30 people waiting OUTSIDE, it makes my head spin. A chain called Firebird Grill opened in our area about 2-3 years ago I guess. Pretty decent steakhouse. But the first time I tried to go there, the hostess informed me it would be a TWO and a HALF HOUR wait! It floors me how people are willing to sit for 30, 40, 60, 90 minutes for any food, especially run-of-the-mill franchise cuisine. Good luck with your place...the world always needs another good pizza joint. Thanks! Man, I have been having the same urge. I have gone through a bunch of job stuff the last two years, and though I am employed, I think I will blow my brains out if I have to work at this job for too long...I am grateful for the job, and the paycheck, but, I have often asked myself, "What do I want to do with myself?". I always come back to owning and operating a kick ass pizzeria. Pizza is the one thing that never lets me down! Just curious, is the place you are thinking of buying in WNY? I live in Texas now, but, whenever I go home (just home for Christmas) I am amazed how good pizzerias still live on in WNY. I live in Miami Lakes, FL, but this pizza joint is 35 miles northwest of Miami. There aren't as many spanish people there and have the clientele I'm looking for. The location has a lot of potential, too. There's a IHOP, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts and a 7-11 close by. There's a night life by there, as well, which according to Jim's Steak-Out is a great location to put a restaurant. Jim's does very well and almost all of his locations are in areas that have bars. Besides, the competition in WNY is way too severe.
Beerball Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 I travel quite a bit for work and I avoid franchises as much as possible. It is much more fun to search out local places.
Buftex Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) I live in Miami Lakes, FL, but this pizza joint is 35 miles northwest of Miami. There aren't as many spanish people there and have the clientele I'm looking for. The location has a lot of potential, too. There's a IHOP, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts and a 7-11 close by. There's a night life by there, as well, which according to Jim's Steak-Out is a great location to put a restaurant. Jim's does very well and almost all of his locations are in areas that have bars. Besides, the competition in WNY is way too severe. Funny...I have lived in Austin, for almost 20 years. Until about 3 years ago, there wasn't anyplace here, to get a decent pizza...my standards had to be lowered considerably. But then, a handful of New York style pizzerias sprouted up. Pretty decent, though not the Buffalo style I perefer. Anyways, most all of them are close to the bars, and I think they do very well. always packed. To me, I grab a slice whenever I am down in the night life area, but the older I get, the less frequent that is...good luck...living my dream! Edited January 18, 2011 by Buftex
Chef Jim Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 I lost my job in July and didn't have much luck finding work, so I have decided to buy a pizzeria. I found a place for a pretty good price and has room for improvement. The current owner doesn't open late or on Sundays and he doesn't deliver ,as well. The pizzeria is a mom & pop place and I was just wondering how many of you fellow stadium wallers actually prefer mom & pop over franchise chains. I, personally, like the mom & pop places better. How about you? My condolences. BTW franchise pizza sucks.
HopsGuy Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 My condolences. BTW franchise pizza sucks. I would mostly agree with that, except there's a chain here in CLT that makes some pretty good 'za: Brixx Other than that, family-run places tend to be much better.
Wooderson Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Mom and Pop for sure. I'd much rather grab a nice breakfast or lunch at a mom and pop restaurant with fresh ingredients than an IHOP or Denny's. There's no comparison in quality, IMO.
Chef Jim Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 I would mostly agree with that, except there's a chain here in CLT that makes some pretty good 'za: Brixx Other than that, family-run places tend to be much better. And I would also add that not just mom and pop places make good pizza. Some of those suck too. There are some real high end places here in SF that make fantastic pizza. And I'm a big fan of the thin crust and I mean the super thin crispy crust.
KD in CA Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Most chain food is crap; at best it's ok, but never great. And that goes double for pizza. Just be sure you know what you are getting into. Study his books carefully and make sure you have a plan to make money that isn't based on unrealistic increase in sales.
Acantha Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 It's ovbious, but it's all about the quality of the food. I don't like any of the nation wide chains, but I've had decent state/region chain pizza. As Chef said, there's also a LOT of really bad Mom and Pop pizza out there, and for whatever reason I think people would rather go to the chains for bad pizza over mom and pops. Better deals, faster service, simple familiarity, more options, etc... Whatever the case may be. You have to make sure you have what people want or no matter how bad it is Pizza Hut will bankrupt you. I read an article a long time ago about how hard it is to make it in the pizza biz. Can't remember too much of it now unfortunately, but a huge portion of the article was the sauce. Apparently creating and keeping a great sauce recipe becomes like working for the CIA.
Buftex Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Mom and Pop for sure. I'd much rather grab a nice breakfast or lunch at a mom and pop restaurant with fresh ingredients than an IHOP or Denny's. There's no comparison in quality, IMO. I gotta admitt, while I agree with you, mostly, I do like IHOP!
CountDorkula Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Ma and Pop pizza places. Bella Pizza I could eat there almost everyday and never get sick of there pizza!
Wooderson Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 I gotta admitt, while I agree with you, mostly, I do like IHOP! I guess I'm just not much of a pancake guy. I'm all about the over-easy eggs, bacon, rye/sourdough toast, and freshly cut homefries. Mmhmm, I should've had some breakfast for my lunch today.
Dan Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Looking at the voting results.. it makes you wonder how these franchise chain places stay in business!! I travel quite a bit and always prefer a local restaurant over the chain places. But, I'll say that the overriding decision point (for me) usually revolves around quality of food and appearance of the place. Quality of food is a given... if your food sucks, why would I go there. The advantage of a larger franchise place is you know pretty much what you're going to get walking in. IHop is IHop, Texas Roadhouse is Texas Roadhouse. You expect a certain quality of food, cleanliness and type of staff when you walk in those places. You don't always get it, but that tends to turn you off on that one restaurant not the chain overall. The problem, as I see it, for the local shop is... how do you get someone to walk in your door and determine that you have better quality food? You get some business just by being local and it's easy for people living/shopping nearby to walk in. But, that's probably limited business. If you've got enough of that business, you can have a dirty hole in the wall and you stay alive. I find those places when I'm with a local that says... trust me the food is worth it. There's a place in Idaho Falls (Rutabega's) that's like that. From the outside, you'd probably never walk in. It's in a small building, you can't see in, you'd hardly know it's a restaurant at all. Walk in and the place is great with some of the best food anywhere I've been. Anther great one is Vino's in Little Rock. Pizza place that looks a little skeevy to walk in based on the neighborhood but a local said I had to - best pizza in town. It is - I go every time I'm back there. But, if you want to try and get a completely new customer. You do that by having a clean, well-lit restaurant; professionally signed with a cleaned parking lot and exterior. Essentially, you need to look like a clean, safe, inviting place for a stranger to walk into. Giuseppe's Ritrivo in Bexley, OH (Columbus) is a great place. Driving down the street, you can see inside the windows, clean place, lots of hot girls waiting on the tables; a little bar area for lounging while you wait. Why wouldn't you go in to try it out? I did and it's one of my favorite places anywhere - a little pricey, but hey... what's money, right? Interesting that no one here has said anything about price, either. I guess we're an elitist bunch here - no chain food and damn the price! But, I'd add that if you're in an area with other restaurants, especially pizza places, you need to be priced comparatively. There's a pizza place in Chicago - Bacci's (it's a local chain place). They don't have the best pizza in town; but I can get a ginormous slice and medium coke for $5. That's a great deal for lunch. Hence, they get my business when I'm in a hurry and just need to eat and go. Bottom line: IMO, make a great pizza (maybe calzone too) first, then figure out the best way to get the customers you want in the door. Just a few things to think about.
Dr. Fong Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Mom and Pop, but please don't fall into the trap that a lot of Mom and Pop places fall into. They get set in their ways and begin to make things difficult for their customers. I understand why a lot of them don't want to accept payment with debit cards, but it gives me another reason to not visit your store. Also, when possible update the look of your place.
PromoTheRobot Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 No question Mom & Pop vs chains...assuming mom & pop know what they are doing. The one thing about chains is when you are on the road and your picky wife doesn't like surprises at least you know what you are getting at a chain. Congrats on buying the pizzeria. But know you are buying a full days work and then some. Ditto to Buftex, working for yourself is great once you can get it rolling, but I'm sure Chef Jim can attest you are not going to be working any less. PTR
Fezmid Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Offer wings. Real wings. I have yet to find a place that sells great pizza and great wings outside of WNY.
PromoTheRobot Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Figure out how to make a decent crust. Then find a good sauce. PTR
Recommended Posts