Dewey’s Pizza’s focuses on values, tight operations

Regional pizza chains are the bread and butter of the trade, with clusters of 10, 15 and 25 shops dotting the pizza panorama. Cincinnati-based Dewey’s Pizza is not any exception. The model was based in 1998 when Andrew DeWitt moved again to his hometown and began a pizza firm.

Chuck Lipp, president and CEO of Dewey’s Pizza. Offered.

The primary Dewey’s Pizza opened in Oakley, a suburb of Cincinnati. DeWitt’s nickname rising up was “Dewey” and it made for a fantastic pizzeria identify. At the moment, the model operates 25 company-owned pizzerias as far west as Kansas Metropolis, with shops in Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Western Illinois.

The eating places are all firm owned with no franchising.

“Initially, the imaginative and prescient of the corporate was to be a little bit extra of a carryout and supply possibility, and the primary truly opened with paper plates,” Chuck Lipp, CEO and president of Dewey’s Pizza, advised Pizza Market. “We’ve positively put much more care into curating a fantastic expertise for the dine-in client. We provide nice craft beers. We provide a small however mighty wine listing with very curated choices there, and we have simply began to do cocktails at considered one of our new areas.”

Lipp stated he is seen a transition to off-premise eating because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and so they’re embracing that now. The enterprise has been refined and Dewey’s has higher choices for shoppers than prior to now.

The model opened its second retailer in 2001. “We positively had some rising pains going from one to 2” shops, Lipp stated, “after which even two to 3 as a result of we did these in fast succession.”

The second retailer was nearly double the dimensions of the unique Dewey’s Pizza. They did not have sufficient kitchen house and doubled the dimensions of the seating capability. “We realized lots from that second iteration of the model,” Lipp added.

On the menu

Apart from conventional cheese and pepperoni, The Bronx Bomber is a fan favourite. It is topped with a pink sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, inexperienced peppers and black olives. The Edgar Allan Poe, with olive oil, mozz, fontina, mushrooms, entire roasted garlic, kalamata olives, goat cheese and tomatoes and parsley added after the bake can be standard, as is the Inexperienced Lantern, which is topped with a pink sauce, mozz, minced garlic, mushrooms, goat cheese artichokes and pesto.

Six to eight seasonal pizzas are rotated all year long. The taco-flavored Tito Santana a seasonal favourite. Salads are additionally massive movers at Dewey’s, and the model provides seasonal salads as nicely.

Dough is made recent every single day at a centralized commissary and delivered every day. There are two commissaries that service the eating places – one in St. Louis and one other in Cincinnati. Dough is made domestically in Kansas Metropolis and Cleveland. The crust is barely thicker than a New York crust. “It stands up a little bit higher to the specialty pizzas and the variety of substances we placed on our pizzas,” Lipp added.

Different substances are produced in-house, equivalent to slicing greens and making salad dressings, A small, native producer makes the sausage for the model, and so they’ve used the identical proprietary cheese since they first opened.

“Once we discuss product, we take a look at high quality first, deliverability second and the worth third,” Lipp stated. “We’re not all value pushed. We’re positively in search of high quality No. 1.”

The model has used a number of ovens, together with Baker’s Delight decks, till about three years in the past when it switched to Scorching Rocks ovens at new areas. These give the pizza a hearth-baked crust.

Lipp estimates that 75% of gross sales is pizza-based, with 10% beer and wine gross sales.

Offered

Operations

Dewey’s prides itself on a powerful tradition and dedication to its values, which had been created by a group of 30 staff. Dewey’s likes to position its shops in neighborhoods by which they’ll turn into ingrained, together with partnerships with college and group organizations. There are not any city downtown areas.

“We’ve a powerful dedication to our function and values,” Lipp stated. “We do not have them on our partitions in our eating places, however we use them to make all of our selections. We’ve spent a whole lot of effort and time and cash to get them proper.”

How does the corporate preserve high quality throughout the model because it grows farther from Cincinnati? There’s a robust operational management group and working companions in all their markets. “There’s any person in that market that is guaranteeing the standard and consistency,” Lipp stated. “We’ve nice coaching supplies and an effective way of distributing them, after which we’ve got a good quantity of conferences to make sure that everyone understands the expectations.”

The model has a director of operations who travels to the eating places and checks on the standard of the meals, the consistency and the coaching.

Lipp stated Dewey’s persons are what set it other than the model’s competitors. “We make investments a whole lot of time in interviewing and hiring nice individuals,” he stated, “after which we spend the time to make sure they’re educated accurately and we do not simply throw them on the ground or throw them in a restaurant.”

Lipp added that Dewey’s trains managers twice so long as different restaurant manufacturers, with 4 to 5 months of coaching for somebody getting into the corporate. There’s much less coaching for somebody shifting up from the within.

Like different operators, Lipp admits it has been a problem to search out nice individuals, however they’re studying what it takes to search out and maintain staff.

The corporate’s largest problem, nonetheless, has been guaranteeing they’ve the best know-how to satisfy the altering wants of each staff and shoppers, “and altering in a means that’s digestible,” Lipp added. “We have all been by means of a lot change — good change, I feel as nicely. Over the previous few years, there’s been a whole lot of issues thrown at individuals, so there’s a little bit little bit of fatigue. How will we maintain our groups from getting fatigued with the fast tempo of change/enchancment that is been occurring within the enterprise?”

Change has come not solely with an improved tech stack but additionally with the vast majority of enterprise going from dine-in to off-premises because of the pandemic. Making a reference to the patron is tougher with a shorter quantity of face time for the staff as friends choose up their orders as a substitute of eating in.

Future plans

Dewey’s Pizza plans to open two to 3 shops a yr for the foreseeable future, fleshing out present markets. One restaurant is predicted to open within the first quarter of 2024 in Union, Kentucky. They’re different websites in St. Louis as nicely.

“From a geographic standpoint, we predict we are able to do this in our present markets,” Lipp stated. “We’re not in opposition to leaping out of our at present markets, however proper now we predict we are able to fill in our present markets.”