Are You Sure It’s Time To Add A Pizzeria?

Pizza Market Place:

So you’ve got just one pizzeria, when you wanted 100. In fact, you’d be happy with two, but you’re not sure it’s time to add one.

Well, join the crowd. The expansion question isn’t an easy one to answer. Where most mortals fidget and fret over opening a new store, pizza giants like Frank and Dan Carney, Tom Monaghan, John Schnatter and Mike and Marian Illitch had the nerve to make it look easy. The truth is, the task of opening thousands of units is so hard, it’s likely we’ll never see it recur.

But what about store No. 2? No big deal, right? Find another unit in your area that can serve your demographic, duplicate the brand, the food and the staff, and off you go. Of course, it’s not that easy. Ask the many thousands who’ve failed.

Apparently a second pizzeria isn’t even that desirable for some. The fortune gained from one kept the Todaro family owners of a single La Nova Pizza unit for 47 years before adding a second. And, well, why rush when store No. 1 is raking in $5 million a year, right? The five-year-old second unit remains the runt of the litter, pouring a mere $3.5 million into the family pot every year.

Mark Gold and Louie Sicinski grew Pizza Shuttle to three units in 17 months before realizing all they had was three mediocre pizzerias. When they closed two and poured all their interests into one, they created a monster that chewed through the $5 million annual sales mark in 2005.

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