Franchise highlight: Pizzeria Uno checks into resorts

When Erik Frederick turned CEO and president of Pizzeria Uno in April 2020, the corporate hadn’t signed on a home franchisee in at the least 10 years. However simply two years later, the quick informal pizza chain leaned arduous into franchise growth, launching a lodge restaurant program and actively looking for lodge operators as franchisees. The roughly 80-unit chain opened its first lodge restaurant earlier this 12 months at a lodge close to Chicago’s O’Hare airport, adopted by one simply outdoors of Detroit and one other in Northern Indiana. 

Pizzeria Uno’s menu affords extra than simply pizza, with objects starting from appetizers to pasta, rooster, steak and seafood. Frederick believes this lineup may assist hoteliers present a extra strong eating expertise, he stated. If accomplice resorts use third-party supply to achieve diners past lodge friends, lodge operators may additionally profit from folks inside the area people coming to go to a widely known model restaurant, he stated. 

“Hopefully it will drive folks again to their resorts,” Frederick stated. 

Getting a restaurant arrange inside a lodge and launching on-line ordering takes only a fraction of the time wanted for ground-up web site growth, particularly since most hoteliers don’t want to drag permits for inside design adjustments. 

“You may just about construct out the placement within the time it might take to discover a location, should you’re making an attempt to get a brand new franchisee with a full-service restaurant,” Pizzeria Uno Director of Advertising and marketing Chris Dellamarggio stated. “It’s been a outstanding turnaround time.”

Whereas lodge restaurant conversions are the model’s present franchising focus, Pizzeria Uno can be contemplating franchisees for conventional eating places and is in talks with a potential franchisee. 

Growth plans: Pizzeria Uno expects to finalize agreements so as to add 10 lodge restaurant items by the top of the 12 months. Frederick estimates the chain may ultimately broaden to 100 items or extra, he stated. 

“It actually comes all the way down to what we will take up … and our capability to efficiently get anyone opened up,” Frederick stated. “We’re not going to develop too quick.” 

The corporate at present has eating places that span Maine to Washington, D.C., in addition to areas in Chicago and a few areas in Orlando, Florida. Nonetheless, Frederick believes there may be loads of white area within the lodge restaurant class since a lot of these partnerships wouldn’t work for many informal chains resulting from retailer cannibalization.  

Supreme franchisees: Pizzeria Uno is looking for out operators with a number of resorts as a result of it makes it simpler to scale operations and reduces buyer acquisition prices, Frederick stated. Supreme candidates could be mid-conversion with their restaurant so growth prices could be minimal. These operators would simply want to change colour schemes and purchase the oven Pizzeria Uno makes use of, Frederick stated.