Pizza Today - March 2022 - 80

ficult enough without diverting from
the original concept, which already has
a business plan and systems in place.
We talked to three operators who took
the risk to create spin-off pizzerias in
their markets.
John Gutekanst recently added
Avalanche Slice House. The original
Avalanche Pizza is the pizza spot in
its small college town in Ohio, with 10
pizza styles, 60 toppings and a multitude
of specialty pizzas. " We wanted
the slice house to concentrate on New
York-style pizza (by slice or whole
pie) and a few large specialty pies, "
Gutekanst says. " Our new place is very
small, so we had to zero-in on 'Uberpopular'
items and throw out the 'niche'
items. So, our topping count is below 10
items. We also wanted to present items
not at our original store to give a feeling
of difference.
" We wanted to mimic a real NY
slice house and have upscale salads and
not-to-be-found items like Prosciutto
di Parma, smoked salmon, avocado, etc.
We started with capicola, mortadella,
etc but some people here in Appalachia
don't know those items. Plus, it's such a
small town, we thought a " subtitle " with
our original name was more appropriate.
Because we wanted to get a handle
on food cost, labor, etc., we started
doing a separate LLC. This is harder
than it seems. The big food companies
still had a weekly delivery minimum of
$500-$1000 and if we aren't moving
that much stuff, we have to add stuff. "
The new slice house uses the same
social accounts and the same websites
that allows visitors to pick Avalanche
Pizza or Slice House to go to its online
ordering. But there are some differences.
" A slice house definitely has many
different variables than a whole pizza
place. The food and labor are different.
Keeping the food costs low is fairly easy
but labor is tough. "
Tony Gemignani owns 22
concepts across the country. The
80 / PIZZATODAY.COM / MARCH 2022
flagship Tony's Pizza Napoletana in
San Francisco has reached worldwide
acclaim and awards. So why not just
replicate that? " If you were to look
at Tony's Pizza Napoletana and The
Original Slice House, which are two
businesses separated but as one, and
Pizza Rock ... the vibe, logo and decor
is different with about 90 percent of the
same menu, " Gemignani says. " Downtown
Pizza Rock for example is a fullservice
restaurant with a Slice House
inside of it, not separated like Tony's is.
I call it Fast & Full - fast casual meets
full service. Pizza Rock is almost like
Tony's on steroids - larger kitchen,
more tables, bigger footprint. For me,
Tony's was a legacy restaurant, only one,
an institution. "
The pizza champion and restaurateur
didn't stop at those restaurants. " I also
have the Original Slice House and my
new franchise Slice House by Tony
Gemignani, " he says. " We have
licensed this, and it's also franchised.
This concept is in casino, arenas,
ballparks and brick and mortars. The
concept has evolved to a different logo,
more seating, expanded styles in several
combinations. You can get a Sicilian,
Grandma, Detroit, NY 20-inch, Gluten
free, and 12-inch pizza in any of our
combinations. We have more options
by the slice, pasta and state of the art
upgraded digital menu boards. "
Tony says he's heartfelt for the flagship
Tony's but rolling out new and
different concepts has its advantages.
" You are always learning and improving
your restaurant, equipment, layout
and business model when you move
from one to two and two to three, etc., "
he says. Each new concept has its own
logo, branding, licensing and business
structure.
Knead Market is known for its
wood-fired Neopolitan pizza in the
Broad Street Market which has been in
operation since the Civil War in Harrisburg.
Co-owner Jennie O'Neill says
they wanted to go with a completely
different pizza style with their new
location. While the delicate Neopolitan
works well in a market environment,
Neill says, " Our new spot is a NY style
corner slice joint, open seven days a
week. We're only three blocks from the
original. But we also think the NY style
is better for an everyday, neighborhood
spot. "
Switching styles with the new spot
was an education process. " We had to
make sure that our customers knew that
the style of pizza was different, which
was a challenge, " Neill says. " Customer
outreach and education has been a huge
focus. Having a good CPA is essential,
I'm lucky enough to be married to one,
so he was able to optimize the business
structure and make sure we were covered
in the compliance and insurance
side. For branding, we kept the same
familiar bones and just changed the
content. Our logo was created with the
idea that we would be able to modify it
for future projects, so we just swapped
out the text at the bottom. Our menus
look similar with slightly different
content. "
Neill says they've worked hard to
optimize the two spaces. " The throughline
of our business is a love of hospitality,
food and community, " she
says. " There's been great collaboration
between the two teams, and we've also
been able to use the increased size to
order some better-quality ingredients. "
In the end Neill says though the spinoff
is different, " Remember what you
learned from the original location and
copy as much as possible for the new
spot, " she says. n
DENISE GREER is the Executive Ediitor
at Pizza Today.
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pizza Today - March 2022
