Pizza Today - November 2015 - 16

conversation

VINCENT LOSCHIAVO
ANTONIO'S PIZZA / PARMA, OHIO

VINCENT DISHES ON
BEING A THIRD-GENERATION OWNER AND
COMPANY CULTURE
The family-owned pizza company operates
11 units in the greater Cleveland, Ohio, area, with
two more units opening soon. Antonio's recently
received the 2015 Family Business Achievement
Award from Smart Business Cleveland.

On being a third-generation
owner - My preparation
goes back to my childhood.
I grew up in a pizzeria and
saw a lot, and my father and
grandfather taught me a lot. I
remember many conversations
with my grandfather over a
glass of wine after a long day
of managing the store. He was
grooming me, teaching me,
sharing his wisdom of hard
work, honesty and integrity.
My grandfather (our founder)
started to pass the business to
my father and my uncle. Seven
years into their partnership, my
uncle wanted to do something
different and put his location
up for sale. It was then that
my brother and I saw an
opportunity to partner with our
father and lead the direction of
the company.
On its family-ownership
model - Many advantages. A
few years back, our company

started to function with a
corporate mindset and though
there are many advantages
of corporate structure, it just
didn't work for us. During that
time, we experienced very
little growth in sales, store
openings and team building.
We decided to go back to
the family structure and saw
immediate results. Same-store
sales are up 15 percent and
we have more store openings
and projects planned than ever
before. Running our business
as a family is much more
productive, decisions are made
faster and are more genuine
and projects are completed
faster. We see faster, more
effective team building
because we are involved in
the hiring and the new hires
are people that fit our culture
of hard work and values.
Although franchising can be a
great way to grow a business,
we prefer to keep it one big

1 6 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5

VINCENT LOSCHIAVO, father Fred
and brother Anthony run the nearly
50-year-old family business.

family. Many franchisors
can try to say that all their
franchisees are one big family
but it just isn't true.
Family is the structure and
culture. Our employees are
family. We laugh with them, we
cry with them, we celebrate
with them, we even argue
with them. We have found
the best way to incentivize
them is to treat them like
family and listen to their ideas
because our business is best
directed by good ideas, not
hierarchy. We also encourage
our team members to better
their lives. Our company
has a mission statement: To
deliver exceptional restaurant
experiences by building an
organization where people
are inspired to better their
lives. We pay well. Many of
our management team receive
company cars and other great
benefits.

Family Values
On staying true to values of
a family business with multiple
units - People and product. You
need super stars to create super
products, and super products make
our traditions. Good people want to
work with good people and people
that don't fit our culture of hard
work usually weed themselves out.
We invest in the development of
our staff in many ways. Currently
we are partnering with a great
resource called RightNOW
Media@Work, a media library
to help our team members with
things like relationships, marriage,
parenting, leadership, recovery,
personal finances, physical and
spiritual health. It even has great
content for our team members'
children. Our team is the future of
the business and if we don't invest
in their future and their well being,
how can we expect our future to
look bright?
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Pizza Today - November 2015

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