Marc In a position owns the five-unit PieWorks Pizza by Design, headquartered in Shreveport, Louisiana. The corporate has not too long ago stepped up franchising efforts after streamlining its operations and expects to open two new shops subsequent yr.
PT: Your title alone implies your pizzas operate as a murals. How is that carried by way of to the product?
MA: We’re specialty pizza, and now we have greater than 60 totally different toppings. We used a company chef for a number of years within the ‘90s to create a whole lot of totally different style profiles, working not solely presentation but in addition textures, colours and style. We see “works” as two various things: art work and (the) works of overwhelming selection.
PT: You provide uncommon toppings similar to alligator, crawfish and gulp scorching canine. We’ve got to ask: how effectively do these promote?
MA: It is dependent upon the place we’re. In North Carolina, we would promote 220 kilos of alligator a yr or a year-and-a-half. In Louisiana, we would promote 20 kilos in two weeks. Crawfish, in fact, is a giant vendor in Louisiana. We promote a whole lot of crawfish. Alligator is just not actually as in style because it was once and I’m probably not certain why, however crawfish is steadily turning into an ingredient of selection, particularly in Louisiana.
PT: The place most pizzerias may provide one or two seafood pies, your menu boasts 5. Why so many?
ME: Uniqueness, initially. Lots of people provide seafood, and we’re a Louisiana-based idea it’s very excessive in meals tradition right here. We’ve got a protracted historical past of meals style and culinary sophistication. Seafood simply appears to go together with what we do and who we’re.
PT: Pieworks sits at No. 71 on Pizza Right this moment’s Sizzling 100 Independents checklist. How have you ever used that in your advertising?
MA: We use it in our franchising efforts and after we open a brand new restaurant. We’ve got quite a lot of totally different awards that we’ve gained, and we wish to checklist them, particularly after we’re introducing ourselves to a brand new market. We use the Sizzling 100 particularly after we’re selling franchises.
PT: We all know Pieworks has stepped up franchising why now, and what’s your anticipated progress?
MA: We’ve been round since 1990. Though we’ve been providing franchises since 2002, we actually haven’t gone after it like we’re planning on doing within the subsequent 12 to 24 months. Primarily, I had felt that we didn’t have a powerful sufficient base. We’ve got fi ve places now, and three of them are our new prototype. Simply now, I feel we’re getting a powerful sufficient base to help franchisees no matter the place they’re. We’ve needed to evolve our idea through the years half within the altering occasions, and half to turn into extra modern. We have a look at providing franchises as a option to develop as our idea evolves.
