Pizza Today - November 2020 - 46

books. DoubleDave's is proud to have
weathered the storm and come out stronger
on the other side. To date, we have not lost
one location.
Instead, we opened a new powerhouse in
the San Antonio market. We're proud of our
employees, our franchisees, and our vendor
partners for their determination, patience,
and willingness to adapt.
We look forward to the day where
COVID-19 will be a distant memory. Until
then, we're ready to provide our best slice to
help out our communities...Peace by Piece."
View DoubleDave's whole Tackling the
Pandemic Peace by Piece presentation at
pizzatoday.com/covid19stories.

BUDDY'S PIZZA
- DETROIT, MICHIGAN

SLINGIN' PIZZA
- LAGUNA PARK, TEXAS

"...At Buddy's Pizza, creator of the original Detroit-style pizza, 70 percent of sales
came from dine-in visits, so quickly adapting the company's service model to adhere
to the executive order while still servicing
customers was vital for sustaining business."
"...Since Buddy's does not offer native
delivery, the restaurant made ordering food
more accessible by offering free delivery
through DoorDash."
"Carryout-Only Grand Opening -
Leading up to the Stay Home, Stay Safe
Executive Order, the Buddy's team was in
the process of opening its newest location in west Lansing, Michigan, originally
scheduled for mid-March. While the team
planned a robust grand opening celebration,
including the first 100 people through the
door receiving free pizza for one year, the
team immediately shifted gears planning for
a carryout-only opening and implementing
all new health and safety protocols at the location, which pushed back the opening date.
The company immediately began training
staff at the Lansing location on how to
perfect new protocols to keep everyone safe.
Once everyone was fully trained on the
operations and procedures, a new opening
date was set..."

"We bought extra food to sell to try and
help our customers not have to go into the
chaos that had become a typical grocery
store trip as often. Like chicken, beef, extra
veggies. When bread started to become a
hard thing to get, we started turning our
pizza dough into bread...it actually became
so popular that we now make our sandwich
bread every morning!
Then my awesome quilter Aunt Jayne
started making masks! She was using
money my amazing Grandma Audrey left
her, so she very generously donated them
to us. We got the masks in right before the
mask mandate came into effect in Texas. So
because she blessed us with them in turn
we got to bless our customers with them
and when they ordered we gave them a free
mask with each order. It just lit up my heart
being able to give masks to people that
were having trouble finding them or finding
them at a huge mark up. It got to the point
where I had to charge for additional masks
to try and get them spread out to more
families. Which honestly in turn helped us
pay some bills, so this project helped out
everyone!
What I've personally learned through
this time is that while yes, putting out a
good product is of course important...
what people are seeking is just people to be
genuine with each other again.
I'm in the process of creating "Sling' it
Forward". Basically I'm just hoping to give
our customers a safe place to help each
other out and fill needs."

- Owner Audrey Jayne

my staff stressed or just not able to keep up.
To try to cope with this I have had to
adjust scheduling, inventory (different items
selling) and hours of operations. Shortages
in the food supply chain have affected us
too, even the best manager can't guess what
suppliers will be out of next or speculate
what the food cost will be. The sheer volume
we are doing is keeping us in the black as
food cost has soared. We raised prices once
and plan doing so again..."

- Owner Scott Anthony

ROMEO'S PIZZA - MEDINA, OHIO

- Vice President of Growth Katy
Dean

PUNXSY PIZZA
- PUNXSUTANEY, PENNSYLVANIA
"Since the beginning of the pandemic we
have gone from 15% down to 30%+ increase
in sales. Sounds terrific but it's been a rough
ride. I only have 7 out of 17 of my staff left.
The increase in sales & the way business
falls - all in one big rush every day has left

"How has Romeo's Pizza weathered this
time? The brand was built with a franchise
first approach, product integrity/differentiation and to positively impact our environment and COVID-19 did not change us,
but it has made us better."
"The pandemic forced a change in
consumer behavior and the pizza industry
has been a beneficiary of this shift. We
have learned to become more proactive
than reactive in all phases of our business
operations. We are operating as a unified
team with improved communication and
enhanced trust. As a team we engage in
healthy conflict and are committed to our
mission and vision through a culture of
accountability", said Ryan Rose, CEO.
During the pandemic, the company has
opened five new locations and has laid out
an aggressive expansion plan to reach 250
units within the next five years. In addition,
Romeo's Pizza has recently signed several
Area Development deals that include: a
40-unit deal in Nigeria, a 30-unit deal in
Northeast, Ohio and in negotiations/discovery phase within multiple states..."
MORE COVID-19 STORIES AT
PIZZATODAY.COM/COVID19STORIES.

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Pizza Today - November 2020

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