Business Overview:

If you are a food lover who has always dreamed of opening a restaurant of your own, you should consider starting a pizza business. Pizza is popular in many different countries. As one example, in the United States, 93% of the population eats pizza at least once a week. That translates into about three billion pizzas a year in the U.S. alone. As you can see, there is plenty of room in this industry for a newcomer. Opening a pizza shop is not difficult if you have a good business plan and some helpful hints from experienced restaurateurs who have been there and know how to open a pizza shop. You’ll find when researching this business idea that there are a variety of ways to run a pizza shop. You can have a two or three-person operation and cook the pizzas yourself while one or two employees serve them and run the cash register. Or, you can have a more formal restaurant with a complete kitchen staff and wait staff. In this case, you would most likely manage the whole restaurant, keeping an eye on your staff and ensuring your customers are happy. There is a long list of items you will need to purchase before opening your restaurant so this is not a small investment. However, your return on investment can still be high if you only use quality ingredients, have a well-trained staff and keep your prices reasonable. When looking into how to open a pizza place, keep in mind it might take some time to turn a profit but if you do your research and have an excellent business plan, you can be a successful restaurateur before you know it.

A Day in the Life of a Pizza Business Owner:

This article brought to you by Business Ideas! If you enjoyed this article, make sure to subscribe to the Business Ideas Newsletter to get ideas sent straight to your email inbox.Your day as a pizza business owner will begin with purchasing food items for use that day. Some items like flour will not need to be bought everyday but you will want to have fresh vegetables most every day. You’ll open your shop and ensure the staff from the day before has properly prepared it for business. Next you will meet with your kitchen staff to go over any new ingredients or specials for the day. If you have a wait staff, you’ll meet with them to make sure everyone is present and presentable for service. Once your shop opens, you will either run the front of the house, making sure customers get seated and their food arrives in a timely manner or, if you prefer to work in the kitchen, you’ll make sure pizzas are leaving the kitchen as quickly as possible. At the end of the day, you’ll record the day’s earnings, meet with your staff to go over any announcements and then close up the shop for the night.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be hungry pizza lovers looking for either a quick snack on the go or a full-service sit-down meal.

What You Need to Start:

• Business Plan
• Storefront
• Health Department License
• Pizza oven
• Refrigerator
• Pizza ingredients
• Drinks (sodas, water, ice, etc.)
• Pizza utensils
• Serving items (plates, cups, napkins, silverware, etc.)

The Good:

• Once you have a good recipe, making pizzas is simple.
• The pizza business is recession-proof.
• You can charge more for a high quality product.
• If you choose to run a small operation, overhead is relatively low.

The Bad:

• Opening a pizza shop is a sizable investment so turning a profit might take some time.
• If you have a staff, it will take patience to train them to your standards.

Resources:

• National Association of Pizzeria Operators
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Food Service Managers
• Wikipedia on Pizza

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