To ease the burden of rising energy costs, start by taking a look at your HVAC system. The unit not only maintains the current climate control in your restaurant, but it also controls exhaust from the kitchen. One way to maintain climate in the back ...

Did you know that a 14-inch pizza actually has nearly twice as much area to cover than a 10-inch pizza? That’s right, believe it or not. In order to figure the area of your pizza (in square inches), turn back to your school days and recall that...

Imagine your customers ordering their pizza not by the inch –– but by the pound. And the goal? Getting them to polish it off in-house for a chance at t-shirts and cash but best of all, glory. Such is the idea behind eating challenges popping up i...

Chances are, your employees think you strike it rich with each sale. They don’t realize you have to keep your lights on, buy more cheese and market to keep customers. If you make a $10 sale, they think you’re putting $10 in your pocket. B...

Keep yourself out of IRS trouble No business is more vulnerable than a cash only business. Record- keeping is often sparse. Every day, there are hundreds of transactions that can’t be traced. The lure of taking money out of the till is great. Unles...

The venerable Benjamin Franklin is one of the most-quoted men in American history. His wisdom, it seems, still endures to this day. One of my favorite quotes by the statesman is this: “He that won’t be counseled can’t be helped.” In my case s...

There are reasons why you see so many pizzerias getting behind causes in their area. The short list includes: • Building a sense of community • Giving back • Getting your pizza/name out • Developing a common bond with customers Th...

More and more, customers are making dining decisions on the fly. They take to their phones while in transit to find their next meal. One unfortunate trend among restaurants is to display their menus online as PDFs. Not to get too technical, PDF (Port...

Recently I did a brief survey of some of my pizza pals across the nation. My suspicions proved true — business on Monday is generally half of Friday’s sales. So, can I take a ‘dog’ day and make it a star? Sometimes it is just plain hard or im...

Setting a payscale and integrating incentives With four Blue Moon Pizza stores spread about the Atlanta area, Kelvin Slater cannot make every pizza and touch every table. It’s why Slater feels so compelled to draw and hold on to first-rate employee...

Q: I want to stop living in my business, but I don’t have a manager I can count on. I go on vacation for a few days, and I have hell to pay when I get back. I know I’m not the only one in this boat. How do I get out of it? Dominic […]...

If you sell pizza, you’re a craftsman. Just as a painter, writer, architect or designer creates so, too, do you. It is your craftsmanship –– the long hours of perfecting your recipes so that your artisan pizza comes out of the oven ...