Sunday, August 3, 2008

Starting a Pizza Business or Pizzeria With Or Without Experience






By Anna Phommatham and Luis Galarza,

Do You Really Need Experience When Starting A Pizza Business or Pizzeria? Well The Answer Is Yes and No!

When I open my first restaurant in the area of Fitchburg MA, back in 1999 I didn't know nothing about the restaurant business, I had good business sense and a big entrepreneur's mind... I was successful in every business I got into. So, I apply everything I learn about business and marketing in the new restaurant and turn it into a success.

So, what's the real answer for question? Do you or do you not really need experience to start a pizza restaurant business or pizzeria?

Yes, if...

Yes, you need experience about the pizza business environment, if you don't have strong knowledge about business planning or management, and marketing. Opening a pizza restaurant requires you to learn about building floor planning, licensing, permits, and food health issues. But, don't worry, you can get all this information at your local license commissioner office in your town's city hall. They will give you a list of everything you need to open a legal restaurant in your town.

Also, as you know, you will need to know how to cook pizza, and have good customer relationship skills.


No, if...

No, you don't need experience in working in a pizza restaurant business, if you have some basic business and marketing skills. Or if you have enough investment capitol to hire experience people to run your restaurant business. And like all business you would like to become successful. It all starts with your will power too want to succeed. You need know how to go from dreamers to entrepreneurs mind.

So, learn as much as you can before starting a pizza business or find good people to run the restaurant for you.

To Your Success,

Anna Phommatham, Restaurant Business Consultant

Pizza Business Expo With The Largest Pizza Trade Show In The World

By Anna Phommatham and Luis Galarza,

This Is A Pizza Business Expo You Don't Want To Miss!

Specially if you went to Nascent Food Service Exhibits with Bellissimo Foods at Pizza Expo, the Largest Pizza Trade Show in the World in March last year... This year the next pizza expo will be in Las Vegas on April just visit the Pizza Expo web site to get the schedule for the next trade show or any other upcoming event.

An expo is a great place to learn more about this type of restaurant business. Plus, you don't want to forget all the networking you will be doing there with other restaurant owners, suppliers, franchisees, and food industry leaders.

Hope you can make it to the event...


To Your Success,

Anna Phommatham, Restaurant Business Consultant

Pizza Business Unique Selling Proposition Marketing That Turn You Into A Celebrity

By Anna Phommatham and Luis Galarza,

A Pizza Business Needs A Great Unique Selling Proposition or USP That Can Make Your Marketing Turn You Into A Restaurant Celebrity... Today I'll Be talking About A Different Type Of USP, One That Doesn't Sell!

In my last blog post I point some of the benefits of having a good USP or unique selling proposition for pizza restaurants and also I told you how to develop a successful marketing message for your new or current pizza business.

The unique selling proposition development code that I gave you last time is a great way to create a strong tagline line that communitcate your best offer to your customers and prospects. But, that code is not the only way or the only type of USP that you can create for a pizza restaurant to turn it into a successful business, there is also those taglines that don't present any type of strong "order now" type of offer, but still can take your business to the next level and even turn you into a local or national celebrity.


How Can You Create A Unique Selling Proposition Or Marketing Message That Can Turn Me Into A Celebrity?

To do this you first need to remember that a USP need to communicate the reason why people should order pizza from your restaurant instead of just calling their local Domino's Pizza or any other competitor you may have... The message in your tagline need to communicate what you can offer different from your competitors or something your business can do:

- Better
- Different
- Appealing

But, to turn your pizza restaurant into a celebrity you need to add a few more thing to your marketing message and business strategy, you actually need to make your pizza company:

- Innovative
- Spectacular
- Incredible

If you can really finish this next phrase maybe you got it... I said maybe, because you need to make sure is true.

"We Provide The World's Only.... "

And then bingo... you're a pizza restaurant celebrity!

For a good example you can said that you provide the city's only 21 inches New York style pizza... well, this is an example because someone already have that unique selling proposition, which made them a New York celebrity. But, shows that it can be done...

Just take a look at the pizza picture on this blog post, yeah that's a pizza with the shape of a guitar. Go to Angelinas Pizza Restaurant web site to see how she turn her small business into a celebrity by selling celebrity named pizzas. And please order me a Paul McCartney while you're there :)


To Your Success,

Anna Phommatham, Restaurant Business Consultant

USP or Unique Selling Proposition For A Pizza Restaurants

By Anna Phommatham,

Did You Know That An USP or Unique Selling Proposition Was The Single Most Powerful Tactic Use By Some New Pizza Restaurant Owners Long Time Ago, Which Turn Them Into The Most Pizza Franchise That It Is Today... Yes, The Name Is Domino's Pizza!

I started this article with a successful life example of the power of a good USP (Unique Selling Proposition Or Message), because I wanted you to understand that this single marketing strategy can turn your new pizza business into a instant success... And that's what every new restaurateur dream of, a successful business that can generate a good steady income for years to come.

Domino's Pizza unique selling proposition or message was "We Deliver Your Pizza In 30 Minutes Or Is Free". What a strong USP, don't you think? But, can you learn anything about how to create or brainstorm a powerful USP or USM for your pizza restaurant that can turn you into the next super hero in your market. Of course, read that tagline again and see if you find the next qualities:

- It's simple
- It's direct
- It's Clear
- Targets a Problem
- Has a hook or unique offer

Most businesses or restaurants don't have a USP with all this ingredients, they usually have only the first 3, but that doesn't mean their unique selling proposition is not good. Some times you need to make it stand out by using better copywriting or headlines techniques and point your best selling benefit to your prospects.

If you want to build a powerful USP make sure you add this ingredients into the your marketing tagline recipe, you never know... you can hit the instant success button for your pizza business.

So, how can you come out with a strong unique selling proposition for your restaurant tag line?

Start by checking out your competition, tagline or slogan, see if they are using a good UPS, ask people what they think about their pizza and their service, ask what will be the local pizza restaurants are missing, and what will be the best solution to those problems. Asking is a very powerful research tool that can give you insides about what your target market really want.

Also, pay close attention to the big players in town's offers, coupons, prices, delivery time, and their advertisement.

Then analyze that information and look for your positioning in the market by offering something different or better, like:

- Lower prices
- Better Discounts
- Reward Program
- Faster Service
- Quality Customer Service
- A Good Guaranty
- Several payment options
- Many order channels
- Give Something For Free
- Etc.

Well, you get the point... so, first research your competitors offers and then follow the unique selling proposition or message points that I talked about at the beginning of this blog post.

To Your Success,

Anna Phommatham, Restaurant Business Consultant

Pizza Restaurants Advertising That Does Not Work For Local Stablesment

By Anna Phommatham,

Building A Successful Pizza Restaurant Marketing Campaign It Is Not It's Not Base Only On The Your Strategies... It's Also Base On The Advertising Channel or Method That You Choose!

Yes, that it's completely true specially for pizza restaurant businesses, where choosing the right advertising methods to deliver your marketing message to pizza eating prospects can make or kill your opportunities to generate more orders (takeout or delivery), increase your customer base, and make more money. Also, a bad advertising channel will eat your investment budget without bringing any sales.

Remember that keeping your ROI (Return On Investment) high is what a good restaurant marketing strategy is supposed to do.

Is a saying "Advertising is not expensive, if delivers the result that was plan to."

Here is a list of advertising methods or channels that does not work for a local pizza restaurants:

Offline Marketing

1.- Print Tiny Classified Ads
First let me ask you one question, how many times have you seem a classified ad selling pizza? and how many times have you order a pizza through one of those ads? Well, it does not work... It is one way to generate local leads, brand awareness, and buzz (viral marketing) about your restaurant business using tiny print ads, me and Luis Galarza a marketing consultant did a test with a local pizza restaurant and we got some great results. You will be able to get your hands on this case study in are new book which will be launch next month, don't worry I will be posting an update about the book in future blog posts.

2.- Basic Yellow Pages Directory Listing
This one is very simple... when you go through the local yellow pages looking for any type of service what do you check first? Off course the big or small ads, and then you check the basic listing. Another bad thing is that basic listing will not add your tagline with your USP or Unique Selling Proposition or any other good offer that can make potential pizza buyers your customers.

3.- National Newspaper Ads
It doesn't matter if your ad is a order pulling machine... it will not do any good if the prospects that are seeing your ad can't order from you from across the country. Just keep it local. Don't get me wrong it will work if you own a franchise chain of restaurants like Domino's Pizza.

4.- Magazine Ads
Same as national newspaper ads they only work if you have a big chain of restaurant all over the country. Remember that magazine ads are really expensive, and their readership target a niche or a demography area of a few towns, which is a bad investment of your advertising money.


I also ask Luis Galarza about what type of online advertising methods he does not recommend for pizza restaurants? Bellow is the list he gave me.


Online Marketing

1.- eBay or Any Other Auction Site

2.- Affiliate Program Marketing Through a Network

3.- Free Traffic Exchange

4.- Banner Ads Exchange

5.- Save List Building Tools

6.- Front Page Ads On High Traffic Portals Like Yahoo

For more information about online advertising check Luis Galarza's "Internet Marketing For Beginners Blog"

If you tried other type of pizza restaurant advertising methods or channels that didn't work for you please feel free to share it with us, just post them on the blog post comment area for this article.

Hope this little advice help you get better results from your marketing plan.

Thanks

Anna Phommatham, Restaurant Business Consultant

Pizza Restaurant With Poor Service

By Anna Phommatham,

Poor Or Bad Service IS The Biggest Mistake That Can Make A Pizza Restaurant Fail Hard On The Ground!

Yes, if you plan to build a long term successful pizza restaurant business you need to know that it doesn't matter how good is the food you offer or how expensive or cheap is your menu prices... What can rip the success path out of a pizza restaurant is poor service!

A restaurant that offers poor or bad service to their customers and visitors will kill their own chances to make big profits and to survive in this thought business industry.

Now what type of poor service is the worst. Well, research has teach us that sometimes slow service can miss by customer eyes, but when it comes to rude service their bad buzz and word of mouth will destroy your pizza business faster than you can say "let's fix it".

So, make sure to implement the best service that you can to keep customers and to let their good word of mouth generate a bigger customer base.

To Your Success,

Anna Phommatham

21-Inches New York Style Pizza

By Anna Phommatham,

The Only New York Style Pizza That Won't Fit In Your Car!

No this news is not about the movie "The Pizza That Wouldn't Fit In My Car" is actually about real New York style Pizza Restaurant that sells a 21-inches pizza that wouldn't fit on a normal sport car, it doesn't matter where you plan to put it because even the trunk will be a tide fit :)


Is a lot what you can learn from Redballs R & R Pizza restaurant...

Redballs R & R Pizza restaurant is a successful New York business simple because they took a creaive idea put it together with pizza and turn it into a money making small business.

From the idea to make the popular New York's pizza even more popular by making it bigger to having a really inviting place, so inviting that you will prefer to eat your huge pizza there and forget about the movie.

"If you drive a Mustang or anything like it, that pizza box won't fit in the front or back seats and barely makes it into the trunk. So, OK, just get it delivered.

But then you wouldn't get to enjoy Redballs R & R Pizza's décor, which is, along with the Hoboken sausage and peppers wedge, a high point of the experience.

The faces of rock musicians from the last 30 years look down from walls papered with black-and-white concert posters, music magazine covers and clips, backstage passes, tickets, band photos and other memorabilia from the owner's 20 years of collecting. Lighting fixtures are snare drums suspended from the ceiling like chandeliers. The floor is done in hexagonal black-and-white tiles reminiscent of the East Village. And the tables are each covered in a different pattern of black, white and red — polka dot, plaid, stripes.

Behind the counter you'll usually see a guy who fits right in with the music-biz aesthetic. Clothed in pizza-cook whites, he's wearing an enormous tam that covers a head full of dreads. Meet David Vieira, who not only owns Redballs Rock & Roll Pizza, but also co-owns, with his wife, Petra, the shop next door — Redballs, a well-known purveyor of stage wear for rock musicians (leather jackets for the likes of X and the Misfits).

The pizza joint is the love child born of a conversation between Vieira and Elliot Easton, guitarist for the rock group the Cars. The two friends, former New Yorkers, used to bemoan the dearth of good pizza in their part of the Valley — until Vieira decided to do something about it. He moved his clothing retail outlet from Universal CityWalk to this spot on Topanga Canyon Boulevard across from Westfield Topanga mall and, persevering through a two-year start-up process, opened Rock & Roll Pizza last December."

Full Story

The pizza restaurant business is a very competitive market, but if you willing to take your idea to the next level you can overcome any of your competitors by making your offering a unique idea. Learn more about what's an USP or Unique Selling Proposition.

All the best,

Anna Phommatham