Pizza Today - June 2022 - 16

BUILDING BLOCKS N I C K B OG A C Z
easier, fi nd a city council member
or municipal board member who is
supportive of new businesses. Meet
or contact them early on so you'll
have someone in your corner in case
of any permit issues.
Make some room
Once you're confi dent that the deal
will go through, it's time to order your
equipment and materials so it's ready
to move into the store once you have
the keys. If you don't have adequate
storage space, you might get a little
crowded. Recently, my living room
and garage was fi lled with so many
boxes a delivery person asked if I was
moving. As always in our business,
though, you adapt.
Sort your equipment list by priority,
Opening a New Store Fast,
Part 1
A
s mentioned in the last
installment of Building
Blocks, I recently opened
two new locations in four months.
But the time spent between getting
the keys and opening the doors was
far shorter - 15 days for the fi rst
and 30 days for the second. Th irty
days, in fact, is the longest we've
taken to open a store - and that was
only because the building itself had
been unoccupied for three years and
needed several repairs.
Someone asked why we decided to
open our stores so quickly, and I answered
honestly: I didn't know there
was another option. I always thought
it was normal to open a store in a
week or two. So, I have a system to
make that happen. Th is month, we'll
talk about what do before you have
the keys.
First steps
As soon as you reach an agreement
on a new restaurant, it's time to plan.
Make sure to:
* Make lists of everything needed to
open a new store, from infrastructure
to personnel.
* Identify who will be working on
the new store, such as familiar contractors,
electricians and plumbers.
Alert them of the project with
a loose start date, impressing on
them how important speed will be
in the job.
* Locate all the required equipment,
either purchasing or putting deposits
on the gear.
* Connect with the local health department
and municipality to discuss
what permits are required and
order them right away. Th ese will
always take time, so to make things
ordering the most important items
fi rst and so on. Your list will always
grow - and it's easy to forget something
- so it's worth taking a walk
through the new space to spark ideas.
Get on the phone
Once you have an idea of when the
keys will be in your pocket, reach out
again to those who will be working on
the project. A quick opening depends
on the speed of others, so communication
is vital to keep everyone on the
same page. I always give contractors
a solid date to begin work, but never
a real fi nish date; I'll estimate a week
sooner to account for any delays.
If you fi nish these steps, then once
everything is fi nally signed, you're in
a great position to open fast. In the
next installment, we'll get you from
the moment you open the doors for
yourself to when you're opening them
for customers.
NICK BOGACZ is the founder and president of Caliente Pizza & Draft House in Pittsburgh. Instagram: @caliente_pizza
16 / PIZZATODAY.COM / JUNE 2022

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Pizza Today - June 2022

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