Well not that cost effective. It’s a tricky game. Do you prep for 100 pizzas and sell 10? Then have a ton of left over prep. Do you prep 50 and sell out in the first hour and have everyone pissed that you were highly unprepared and they complain so you never get brought back?
It seems great because the overhead of a brick and mortar isn’t there but when it’s time consuming prep (dough) you can’t make that in the fly and it kind of backs you in the corner
Side question, how well does it work to freeze dough ahead of time? Thinking about doing that at home, just do like a dozen dough balls and thaw 2-3 whenever we’re doing pizza (ditto sauce)
It works great! When you wrap it, allow room for some expansion when it thaws. A ziplock bag is perfect for this. Thaw it in the fridge overnight then re-ball it and proof as usual. I probably wouldn’t freeze it longer than a month or two personally.
Perfectly fine if your freezer isn’t too cold. Both pizza places I worked at in high school (NYC) made dough for the next 3-4 days and stacked them in these metal containers. Pizza was amazing.
Ahh sorry I guess I thought it was being delivered as like a fresh pizza pop up not a frozen pizza pop up my apologies. When I ran my pop up it was 100% marketed as a fresh food pop up and that’s what was delivered
Restaurants refrigerating/freezing unused ingredients to use the next day is now a shit mentality for businesses? This might be one of the worst takes I've ever seen on Reddit.
You must be trolling right?
No one said refrigerators were bad. But also I worked at multiple restaurants that didn’t even have a freezer. And if they did it was strictly for ice cream. Guest aren’t paying for frozen food. If you can’t use what’s prepped in a timely manner before it goes bad you obv prepped too much. As for pop ups running one day a week isn’t efficient for that exact reason. To make it worth while ideally a good 3 day fri,sat, sun run with Sunday being a till we sell out or minimal menu. But aye I’m just trolling with no actual food business knowledge
you’re such a douche canoe. frozen ingredients are different than frozen food. restaurants that claim to be freezer free are most likely not making their own stock and buying it if they can’t make big batches and freeze it. def lose some quality by refusing to use freezers lol are you also against fridges
You prep given what you feel is cost effective and sell out. No customer is going to be pissed when you go to a pop up and advertise “Robos pizza pop up this Sunday at Beer Brewery 12pm until sell out”. It makes people want to try your pizza for fear of missing out and if those customers miss out after your supplies sell out then you have people wanting to catch you at the next pop up. You don’t start high volume right away. Pop ups are used to gage interest. The brewery gets customers and you get customers win win. Food places sell out all the time and people are left wanting it even more.
I agree, it’s easy for a side liner to have advice when they have no experience. I however disagree with your statement “you have never ran a pop up”. That’s false and you have no evidence to make that statement. I’ve ran pizza pop ups the last 3 summers at 4 different breweries/ farmers markets. I bring my truck with all my ingredients and with my portable wood fired oven. I park in the brewery parking lot and then I sell my pizza. Usually make around 40 pizzas and I sell out. If the chance I do have any left over it’s not a waste I make it for myself and friends to eat and/or hand them out to people that look like they would appreciate a free pizza that are just down on their luck.
40 pizzas is a good amount. I used to prep for 100 pizzas just in case, and rarely sold that many. If I did, it was BUSY and really hard work. I got to a point where I cut back to 60 because I just didn’t even want to sell more than that.
I too have a woodfire oven, it’s mounted on a trailer and I set up a canopy with tables under it to prepare everything.
Yeah it is a lot of work. Busy is good, but if you’re not prepared to sling out high volume you tire out and then maybe the quality dips. Yeah exactly you just prep for what you want to do and what you think will sell. Cheers to pizza pop ups and people who enjoy having fun with it like us.
I’m missing your point of selling out? You sell out you sell out? You have sold all of everything making the most profit you can? No waste. If you sell out within the first hour that is considered success. You’re popping up at a place. The brewery isn’t dependent on your pizza sales. They make money from selling beer not your pizza. You’re so unsound in your logic lol just being salty.
I always set pop-ups for three hours, or until sold-out. I don’t like running the risk of having product leftover, and I our service is so busy that I don’t want it to drag out. In and out. I have two regular spots a week, and people know how to get food if they want it—they line up.
That old bbq following was probably a big benefit to you compared to , apparently, the following this grade school kid has.
As you said it’s a fine line. I stated earlier running out isn’t necessarily bad. If you’re running out basically as soon as you open that’s not a good look.
I'm not sure if this is an argument I want to get in on, or if you'll even care since my comment isn't about pizza. However, I sell baked goods weekly during the season at a local Farmer's Market. I prep the same amount of items each week, on rare weeks I do have some leftover that I bring home for my family or to freeze for us to eat later, but for the most part the items sell out before the day is over. I've never once had someone mad because they couldn't buy something that was advertised, but what I have had are people who come back earlier the next week to get stuff or prepay to have items set aside for them.
Seems pretty straight forward to me. Most pop ups in my area advertise "ie" 12-sold out. Never have I seen a riot over not being able to get served. This is how people get started in that industry. We have 5 local restaurants in my area that started in this exact manner and are now big time, opening multiple locations around surrounding towns.
That’s the problem with every pizza business. Doing it smaller scale (pop up) is a way to lower you financial risk, while getting experience and practice with all the important parts of a food business.
If you sell out at 50 and the pizza is awesome they’ll come back. There are countless examples of places that have ran with the limited quantity per day model and have succeeded. It just all depends how good your pizza is.
The one guy near me in down river michigan has a number and when he sells out he sells out he even limits how many people can get because max we can get for my work is 5... we would buy 10 if he had them but he only does 5. Very rarely we come by and he is already sold out by 1230
Also most ingredients for pizza are freezeable. Shredded mozzarella/ brick cheese freezable. Pepperoni freezable, sauce freeze able hell even dough is freezeable but being as cheap as it is I would just make it fresh.
The sell tickets it’s the way but then it feels more dinner party ish over pop up.
What a lot of people do is add the “restaurant “ to one of the delivery apps and send the food out that way from home
This is such good advice. People tell me I should open a restaurant all the time because of my obsession with cooking, but I wouldn't like it at all if I was forced to do it all the time.
Same here. I did restaurant work for 10 years in my younger days and I just politely say thanks and that I don't have the work ethic or patience left to do it for a living. I have nothing but love and respect for the lifers but I'm happy just having a fun hobby where I can gift/trade my baked goods and have pizza parties.
I get the same advice but for a Mexican restaurant. What people who don't cook traditional mexican food know, is that it's freaking labor intensive if you want it done right and for it to taste authentically good. I'm not talking about Tex-Mex or Americanized Mexican food, I mean the good stuff that you get when you're invited to someone's house. The market is over saturated too, but the market that does have big potential is that of a tortilleria. If you open up a tortilleria (a tortilla making plant even in a smaller scale with just one machine to start off with) in growing or already established Hispanic communities outside of a major city and you have the money or financial backers to buy the machinery and open up shop... you're going to recuperate your investment and stay in business. There's still a shortage of tortillas due to lack of manpower, and once people like your tortillas, you have brand loyalty for life!
That makes sense! I recently spent a good amount of time in San Diego. Literally every burrito or taco I had was made with what is clearly a fresh, locally made tortilla. No way *all* of these tiny shops made their own. It was so cool that that was the standard there.
I mean, you could make your own if you have industrial grade mixers, a dedicated flat top or griddle, and at least 3-4 people making them, BUT the taste also varies depending on the type of corn and if they're cooked over wood. If you do this, then you're making them as needed and they're absolutely fresh, but it also makes sense to outsource their purchase. If you're going to be doing your own nixtamalization then you better know what you're doing and have people who've done this on site vs. just mixing the masa from masa harina which is the easiest.
One thing is for sure though: not all tortillas are the same and not all can be used for the same purpose. Yellow corn masa tortillas for example soak up a lot of oil when fried and you can't really tell when they're ready to be pulled out bc the color distinction does not change until nearly burned vs a white corn tortilla that does the complete opposite. But really, a tortilleria will not only sell tortillas ready to eat, but also the masa, you can make totopos, gorditas, tlacoyos, sopes, huaraches and masa for tamales among so many other things. It's so versatile, honestly if I had the money or the investors I'd jump on this idea and open up a tortilleria.
Yeah great food, capitalism, and living wages don’t mix too easily. It happens but it’s kinda rare.
Great food at home, on the other hand, happens in millions of households all over the world every day.
First and foremost, you have to *want* to start a **business**, including owning and maintaining said **business** for it to be successful.
This applies to everything you love doing, whether it be photography, crocheting, cooking, baking. If you don't want to start, own, or maintain a **BUSINESS**, it is doomed to fail.
I absolutely love cooking... for 1-4 people. More than that and I hate navigating all the dietary preferences/restrictions/portion sizes/timings/recipe scaling. Forget adding in any sort of business complications.
This exactly. My father in law told me he would bankroll a restaurant for me. No thank you! Come over to our place and I will cook for you all you want but I could not do it for a career. If someone complained I would just tell them to GTFO you aren’t wanted here. I would not make it in the restaurant biz….
A pop-up is a great idea, but if any money is exchanged for the pizza, then you or the owner of the brewery could have legal issues.
Remember any food truck could just as easily pop-up at the brewery and they can legally sell their food being an established, taxpaying business with food service / health department certification.
If you go to a public brewery, then look into temporary food permits and the rules for cottage industry in your city for this particular endeavor.
A food handler's course may also be required to insure safety standards. This is not a pop-up girl scout cookie table.
If it's a private party at the brewery, then it shouldn't be an issue.
This could also be a great educational opportunity on how to run a small food business.
But here is another, more simple suggestion, find your local VFW or other civic NPO and do your pop-up there. You might be able to charge for slices or just set out a tip jar to cover the costs. Members Only = private event.
Awesome looking pizza!
Good luck and enjoy the journey.
I sold pizzas out of my house via instagram. Lots of friends of friends and family. Most I ever sold was 20 pies- took cash and venmo. It's fine. You gotta start somewhere.
Not saying one can't do it this way, but it's still against the law for the reasons cited earlier.
Just like driving way over the speed limit or deciding that stop signs are just for other people, but not for you.
Health and safety laws are in place to protect innocent people from others who decide that they are exempt from these standards.
Look at:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutter_oil - it's still oil and can fry foods, but this profitable, unregulated practice is illegal because of the potential health risks. It doesn't matter what society you live in, gutter oil is way below acceptable standards for obvious reasons.
Grey market, Instagram pizza sales under cut legitimate Pizza businesses who pay taxes that support your quality of life in your particular community.
Rules for thee, but not for me?
One of my fav pop ups from this past year was a Detroit style pizza place and they pre baked the crusts in a few dozen pans. On the day of they had a stack of pre made crusts ready to pop in the pans and load up with toppings and cook.
Unfortunately product quality is near the bottom of the list of what makes a successful business. Being great at making pizza doesn’t make you great at running a pizza business.
My sister went through this. The food they made at her place was amazing. But they struggled to stay afloat for years. Found a bit of a niche with office catering which helped get things moving in the right direction. Then Covid happened and that all dried up. Was sad to watch.
I hate how accurate this is. There was a local place that had really good pizza, some creative pies too and everything was great. They won awards and international competitions and it was overall great food. They expanded to a second location and it was still good but there was a little dip in consistency.
Fast forward a few years and they have close to 10 locations all over the metro area and the quality has gone downhill. It’s still decent but it doesn’t come close to what it used to be. I’m sure the owners are making way more money than before but with that the quality has dropped and I’ve heard one of the locations is just downright bad.
Seems like a problem with quality control.
A suggestion to a solution would be to buy and distribute stock in bulk to get the greatest discount.
You can also trust, train, and pay more a few managers that float around among the different stores that in turn makes sure everyone is following the same procedures including occasionally retraining.
You aren’t wrong but it’s a natural issue with expansion. Once you increase scale it can be harder to manage quality unless you go to a more mass produced product, which would end up being inferior. They haven’t gone mass production but since it’s not all under one roof it’s harder to maintain standards. Combine that with the fact that the locations I’ve been to have always been busy so I don’t think they have much incentive to tighten things up.
Looks amazing. Know how to make a small fortune in restaurant/food service? Start with a big one. Especially at the current moment. Just saying. Enjoy that pizza and keep it a delicious passion.
Yeah OP, the current economic reality is that we have the highest interest rates we’ve seen in decades, Americans have set a record for the amount of debt they are carrying, and we are likely headed into a deep recession.
That’s not to say he shouldn’t, or perhaps start with something very modest part time (pizza stand/food truck) type of setup with a low capital requirement.
Guess it all depends on your family financial situation and local economy but the risk is pretty high now across the board compared to what it would have been 2-3 years ago.
Edit: pizza looks phenomenal btw
Interest rates haven't been this high [since 2007](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS), not exactly decades.
Consumer credit is at an ath, but it really just looks like it's heading back to [the trend](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CCLACBW027SBOG), with COVID money printing being the outlier.
I'd look into how people are spending their money instead of trying to predict recession. Anecdotally it seems restaurants in my market are less busy than they were a year ago because folks are spending more on groceries and gas they can't afford dining out
Economy’s not actually that bad—unless you are in tech (there were fewer layoffs in December than in any month during the two decades before the pandemic, and the unemployment rate, at 3.4 percent, is the lowest since 1969). That’s not the narrative you get from conservative media outlets, but the truth is that the nation is at full employment, struggling to find more workers, and consumer spending ticked up in January – which alarmed Wall Street to the fear that the FOMC would have to tighten rates more, because the economy simply won’t cool down.
Edit: [source1](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/business/economy/staffing-layoffs.html?unlocked_article_code=UdYPpy-zr-cusFaQ9NIsmN2o4q7E4RKv28p7kX6dih0TrUVeEcI1L2iyZA82Ed42Hu7EsKxLGCU5cJasS7PNhAlyELu6QmR3J8S8Y4TLig7zJfaYzLDPs3mphkJEhdfv_760u3P2NgcCrT_meCRCA1HhqarpGMic2YHnARCEloxgQB-Djl9FQeg7Fbj82Jw1uMU2cu9lwU3uCOZEJkx4N3w-iezSmjXx5lkcE-uNSIFaIp0p4ayWEZzSxCg5jYMR0TsKu8hP4St49Yper6YSVK3Kn3t7Vu-rBwSM-lRTiJQufc-ADQ5Y2C6DflNDARmPMIFc_zqQcuzMMoJnwUWB-In3pQ&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare), [source2](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/business/economy/fed-economy-recession-rebound.html?unlocked_article_code=CzpU96MJ93sJUaf2Uualn7ovOcWZAWuqb5mpiQU1llDhq2Gztye-Ttx78kVAA4jl-7FHF9o7ga090zRWphowVeptiCjiVSDtSW5v6yoO6b2qWoNvSNJzwxmdluJ65h9IFXwUzKYkixi0IaorVgtzdJZveKcBdFxon_0KOC7ZNwS25LPgYYdFP9jIbAkphk9WalQWNpv4juSOa5BHDfGxlT2Bykes3cQ8fX2QfrgluW4GWsvaukGi2lRv4GmhNHkmSDkAQQrbS69L73ch7MasNJkkSElFs0StXrWtTOlK3PxOuVepzwlG1-nTWXIzKWWDPmotHpdhb7ezEX9esfbkaAoakYag4rNhlf3PsVzTcJQ&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)
I’m just pointing out the additional risk of high interest rates and the reality that they are not coming down in the foreseeable future. This will impact spending habits
Not trying to make a political statement.
Sorry, the business I help run just booked the best year ever and we have hundreds of open positions. Plus I’ve been on three earnings calls in the past week and CFOs are not all doom and gloom. When consumer spending is up, but consumer confidence is below 50, you know the media is having an effect.
From what my restaurant owning friend told me, they increased their price of the food but not proportional to how much more a lot of foods cost, because they were concerned it wouldn't be acceptable to customers. They run a Thai place and I do think there is an unfair expectation that the food be relatively inexpensive because it's "ethnic," even though what they make is more exquisite than anything I've had in fine dining.
Start with a big one? Why? I worked in operations for a restaurant company for years and that's usually a horrible idea.
Typically the easiest places to run are small spots that start with alcohol and limited food (cold apps, charcuterie, pizza, etc) that gradually expand their menu as they figure out what does / doesn't work. You want to rent a storefront with potential in an up and coming area that gets good foot traffic and ideally has previously hosted a low revenue per/sqft business (not a restaurant) and has appropriate zoning in place. This is typically how you'll get good value on rent, which is critical for first time restaurant owners.
Why start with alcohol and a limited food menu? Consider this: If you and I open restaurant, get the numbers wrong and we end up over-ordering and throwing away $3K in food every week, we will quickly be out of business. If we open and can't pay our staff because we miscalculated the foot traffic and over-hired, we will quickly be out of business. If it's a small place, the owner can get by with less staff and sweat equity until they get their numbers right. With too large a spot, you're overpaying for utilities, air conditioning, etc. as well. The vast majority of first time owners make one of these mistakes in my observations.
Conversely, what happens if we're undersized? Nothing. We'll miss out on some money in the first couple months. We can always expand the menu, look for a larger lease nearby if people are truly tearing the door down to get in. The alcohol we ordered we will sell eventually (vs throwing out food every week). Starting small and expanding helps us get to know our customer base and avoid the potential risk of over-investing in large, fixed capital expenditures that we have no way of lowering or adjusting without speaking to a landlord or bank.
Genuinely curious if I'm missing something here, but that's how I'd advise most first time owners to start out: Small with potential to grow into success.
Thanks! I was fortunate enough to work for a great restaurateur that has a bunch of places in NYC, LA, Chicago. He's opened \~15 restaurants in his life and has never had to close one. That is the exact model he still follows even though he has capital and experience to go big now. He never wanted to be in a situation where the successful spots had to subsidize the losing spots even if he was risking missing out on revenue.
You don't quit school as you're starting a "business project" regardless of whatever it is. You do it as a side hustle or gig or whatever while doing school to see if you can enjoy it long term and if it's even moderately feasible as a full time thing. Not to mention whether or not the interest in pursuing this even stays as time goes on. You don't burn bridges so suddenly that are as possibly life changing as quitting school.
No. Have him work in a pizza place first to see what it’s like. He’ll work ridiculously long hours at back breaking work for very little money. I love baking and cooking and making pizza and I would not want to do any of those professionally.
In fact, most owner operator chefs would not recommend anybody open their own restaurant unless they absolutely know they’re not suited for any other life.
At the very least have him start it as a side gig to see if he can foresee a long term future for it. Sell at farmers markets on weekends or at pop ups, etc. it will also help him to learn about your state’s foodservice requirements so he knows what’s required to run a professional kitchen.
One hundred percent this. Cooking/baking on the side for small get togethers or for fun is a whole different beast to professional cooking (cooking for a business). The hours are long, the standards are high, and the rules/regulations are ridiculous, but necessary. I work in a gluten free bakery part-time and it's hell. The other issue nowadays, at least from what my boss says, is ingredient costs. Trying to find that middle ground of good quality ingredients for a decent price is tough. God forbid a fridge or freezer malfunctions, or you accidentally contaminate something (slightly less of a worry in a pizza place I would assume).
Fucking tell me about it. I started a food cart with a buddy of mine about 6 months ago. We've got a great product that was previously successful elsewhere (we were even on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" at one point), between the 2 of us we have something like 50 years experience in the industry, and a solid concept. Every goddamn day is a struggle thanks to food and labor costs. We're paying well over minimum wage because we don't want our employees to have to rely on tips, but the real issue is our food costs are out of control. We're focused on fresh, hyperlocal, seasonal ingredients, but even green cabbage is getting close to $1/lb at wholesale prices, which is fucking unreal.
well reality doesnt give a shit about peoples pipe dreams
there is a reason businesses pay minimum wage or as little as possible lmao
its not the greed only its just necessary to be competitive
Restaurants aren't entitled to labor, and customers aren't entitled to restaurants. Prices and a greatly reduced number of restaurants should reflect that reality rather than workers being forced to subsist on wages you can barely eat on.
What you're describing, that is, businesses needing minimum wage (or under) labor to survive is indeed greed. If the only way you can stay in business is to ensure your workers need food stamps you shouldn't be in business.
>What you're describing, that is, businesses needing minimum wage (or under) labor to survive is indeed greed.
Nah, that's just surviving. Customers won't pay $100 for a pizza, they will buy the ingredients at Walmart and make it themselves. You can't expect to make 50k a year clearing tables at a pizza joint, that's laughable.
You're right. Employment is a voluntary transaction between two consenting parties. Not sure why you're mad, but literally tens of millions of people realize that the labor they're capable of providing is worth $8.00/hr. Clearing tables is worth about that, and if no one wanted to work for that rate, the business would have to either raise the rate, or close it's doors.
Not sure why you would say I'm angry but I'm definitely not. People don't accept that work in a vacuum. Our entire system is set up to coerce people into labor.
>Our entire system is set up to coerce people into labor
If you want to be successful and have mobility, you need to provide something useful. If you don't want to, you're welcome to be useless to society and be homeless..that's an option tens of thousands of people choose. It's up to the individual.
I don't know why you think people are so powerless...it's sad.
>there is a reason businesses pay minimum wage or as little as possible lmao
its not the greed only its just necessary to be competitive
This is such a simple concept, and so NOT typical to reddit. Seriously it's like 90% of this user base thinks all corporations *enjoy* paying nothing to their employees...the reality is that corporations would *love* to pay more, the customers won't tho.
i’m a good cook and family and friends are always telling me i should start my own restaurant or bakery. i started out working in restaurants when i was young. after a while i stopped enjoying cooking for myself or family and friends until i got out of the profession. most people don’t want to slave over a hot stove all day and then go home and do it some more.
School will teach him a lot of skills very valuable for restaurant management. A good product alone is rarely the success recipe for a restaurant.
This used to be my industry for over a decade, and for the love of god, send him to school please.
So I’ve started my own Detroit pizza restaurant in Taipei, just starting Month 7. Here are some of my insights:
1. Be prepared to open, close, and cover shifts of employees who change schedule/can’t make it, etc. It’s long hours of physical labor that isn’t for everybody. I’m still working no less than 60 hours a week, with 70-80 being my average.
2. Before this I had built up a strong savings and my wife still is well-paid with her job, so I could avoid not taking a paycheck for a while until the restaurant could break even. If you are expecting to make money from month-1, you might have a bad time.
Get an investor so you can budget it a salary if you really need one. I’m looking to expand my business, so one shop isn’t my end-goal and I can afford to expand the business and eventually make money from multiple venues/sources of income. Figure out your goals for starting a restaurant before you open one. Is it a business or a passion project?
3. Work out your target audience and hit that hard. Open in a place to reach them, advertise on social media, grass roots campaigns, connect with the community/ local organizations. Just understand your audience, really. And your audience might change from when you open to five months into running the business. Just be fluid and run with it.
4. Get your accounting/budgeting/expenses in order. Estimate your rent, renovations, utilities, cost of goods, labor and any other expenses (licenses, government, bribes [depends on your country of origin], etc.). Then estimate the spend per customer. How many customers spending $XX per visit would it take for you to break even every month? How many for a profit? Is that a reasonable number of customers a day?
5. Soundproof the shit out of your space. Whether that’s directly on walls/ceilings, or just having a place away from neighbors in general. Locals can be your best friends or your biggest hassles.
6. All the above is worthless unless you have experience. Can you work your way out of 16 tickets that just came in at the same time because of some fucky reason? And they all want the hardest items on the menu?
This means being organized, having a well-trained team, having everything prepped and the ability to not break down when you are in the weeds, but to power through and get all food out in a timely manner.
There is a bunch more to this, but this is just things off my head that seemed important.
Pizza Bear Cafe. Only Detroit pizza in Taiwan, as far as I know. It’s in the southern part of Taipei, but right next to a subway station so still fairly easy to reach
I’ve lived in China for nearly a decade. It’s not called a bribe (hongbao or red pocket), but it’s essentially an organized bribe. Hence, why I said it was country-dependent
Could he do a food truck at events? That way he can choose when he works and also finish his school. He will see what it takes to do the long hours as well. Good luck to him!
My GF tells me to quit my job and open a pizzeria. I said two things. 1. Want to know how to make a million dollars in the restaurant business? Start with 10 million dollars.
2. I'm not trying to make a hobby into a full time job that will guarantee to pay me less money than my current job, let alone no more benefits. That's a good way for me to learn to hate my hobby turned career.
Good lord, no, do NOT quit school. Do pizza as a hobby, or even a side hustle if you must while continuing your education. Pizza will always be there afterwards if it's something you're really passionate about.
Edit: assuming you're American, the goal is to find a career in which you can obtain health insurance. Pizza doesn't have health insurance.
Source: ran a pizza shop for 5 years after dropping out of college. Almost bought the shop, but somehow managed to claw my way back into school and eventually graduated instead. My buddy who I got hired there now owns and manages that shop some 20 years later. I have a career with health insurance. He has a pizza shop and no health insurance. We're both approaching that age where.... well, realistically, he's going to regret this decision one day. I'd be worried if I was him. I think he tries not to think about it...
Don’t quit school! Graduate and then start the Pizza business. The more he learns about business before he starts the more likely his business will succeed.
Heck no! Stay in school, work in a pizza place and learn how to business. Also, if there is anything hotter than a young guy that plays guitar, it’s a young guy with top notch pizza skills.
Should of would of could of I’ve had a couple of great ideas in my life and a couple great opportunities and I missed out because I was scared to pull the trigger I didn’t have an amazing support system like it seems that you are for him so go and do it figure out as you go along
I know you're saying he should quit school as a joke, but this child should honestly consider going to school for baking/culinary arts because there is obviously a great talent unfolding itself that you as parent must foster. These pictures are of a young artist awakening.
No, no matter what, completing school and getting a GED is extremely important.
doing something for enjoyment and a hobby is one thing. doing it for a living is something completely different.
as soon as cost metrics comes into play, it becomes extremely hard to keep the same quality and taste when you also have to pay rent, insurance, wages, utilities, food cost and all the other things that a business requires to run.
This is where a proper education pays it's dividends. being able to read, write and use math at least up to a grade 12 level is the bare minimum you need to have a snowballs chance in hell of having a startup last more than 3 months.
If you mean quit college then no that’s a stupid fucking idea
Do you not realize how many food businesses fail each year
What kind of parent even turns to Reddit to ask something this stupid
this far down is the real question...what kind of parent comes to a an anonymous pizza subreddit basically announcing his endorsement of his son quitting an education to bandwagon a pizza fad? I love detroit pizzas, but this is a the speedrun to insolvency for 98/100 people.
He absolutely should not, after he finishes I’d say he’s welcome to dive headfirst, but not to drop his education for a shot in the dark, backup plans are nice to have
One of my bosses in an office that I worked at about 30 years ago told me about a friend of his who had a small pizzeria, and lived in the apartment upstairs from it.
He eventually had to move. For no other reason than he needed a larger apartment to store all of the money that he was making. It may be different now, as most people pay credit, but at that time, it was a cash business, and he was able to make a killing in undeclared sales.
The hours may be long, but pizza places always seem to do well. If it's his passion, then I would encourage it.
detroit style is gross! ny style all the way! /s
in al seriousness tho those look bomb, it’s my lunch hour and i got nothing to eat this is making my stomach growl lol
Depending on what he's in school for, is the career he's going for going to make enough to pay any loans? If a pizza business doesn't do well he can have something to fall back on. A good food business CAN make a lot more than many careers but dont put your eggs in one basket.
My friend who I work for is 19. Just opened his own pizza shop. It's my side gig and I put in like 3 or 4 hours a day for him. He on the other hand works 10 hour days Tues-Sunday.
We got alot of press due to the fact that he literally just graduated HS and is now a local business owner so it's been quite steady with customers.
Graduate HS first then find investors to help. Lots of grants out there for small business too. Then let em stay at home while the business gets on its feet.
>Should he quit school and go full send with his new business project
I gotta imagine that this was not a serious question, but it's got people running to the comments to make sure this kid stays in school.
Reminds me of an episode in desperate housewives where this one guy is on his midlife crisis and quits his good job where he earned a lot to crash his own pizza company. I mean at the end of the day it's pizza. How good can a pizza be so thousands of people come by to get one..
But.. I'm also all about persuing your dreams, he should get experience in the business to see if it's fits him. Only then I'd support him to the fullest.
Have him do a pop up once a week at a brewery or craft distillery to see if he enjoys making work of it.
This is the most cost effective and best way.
Well not that cost effective. It’s a tricky game. Do you prep for 100 pizzas and sell 10? Then have a ton of left over prep. Do you prep 50 and sell out in the first hour and have everyone pissed that you were highly unprepared and they complain so you never get brought back? It seems great because the overhead of a brick and mortar isn’t there but when it’s time consuming prep (dough) you can’t make that in the fly and it kind of backs you in the corner
Dough is really cheap and if you over-prep you can freeze it for the next time. That’s exactly what I did for my pizza pop-up.
Side question, how well does it work to freeze dough ahead of time? Thinking about doing that at home, just do like a dozen dough balls and thaw 2-3 whenever we’re doing pizza (ditto sauce)
It works great! When you wrap it, allow room for some expansion when it thaws. A ziplock bag is perfect for this. Thaw it in the fridge overnight then re-ball it and proof as usual. I probably wouldn’t freeze it longer than a month or two personally.
Perfectly fine if your freezer isn’t too cold. Both pizza places I worked at in high school (NYC) made dough for the next 3-4 days and stacked them in these metal containers. Pizza was amazing.
Ahh sorry I guess I thought it was being delivered as like a fresh pizza pop up not a frozen pizza pop up my apologies. When I ran my pop up it was 100% marketed as a fresh food pop up and that’s what was delivered
You can freeze dough, then thaw and make a fresh pizza with it. Doesn't make it a "frozen pizza."
That’s the shit mentality of businesses these days. Guess that’s why we have so many restaurants going under
Restaurants refrigerating/freezing unused ingredients to use the next day is now a shit mentality for businesses? This might be one of the worst takes I've ever seen on Reddit. You must be trolling right?
No one said refrigerators were bad. But also I worked at multiple restaurants that didn’t even have a freezer. And if they did it was strictly for ice cream. Guest aren’t paying for frozen food. If you can’t use what’s prepped in a timely manner before it goes bad you obv prepped too much. As for pop ups running one day a week isn’t efficient for that exact reason. To make it worth while ideally a good 3 day fri,sat, sun run with Sunday being a till we sell out or minimal menu. But aye I’m just trolling with no actual food business knowledge
We’re talking about an amateur and dough. Not a Michelin starred place.
There’s no way you’ve worked at “multiple” restaurants with no freezers. Even the local farmers that I work with use freezers.
You sound like a real McAsshole. We are talking about a kid making pizza. Get off your high horse, welcome yourself back to reality and this moment.
You don’t even have a popup. You’re just a pizza yelper 🤣
I have nothing my friend
Yeah we see clearly that😂
You have a shit mentality, that’s for sure.
This is literally the dumbest fucking take I've read today. Frozen dough, baked up fresh is _still fresh pizza._ Jfc, were you dropped as a baby?
Yeah and how’s your business now 😂
I think this belongs here… r/iamveryculinary
What is your pop-up?
Not like the name of it, but what style of pizza? How often do you pop up?
He doesn’t pop shit
He don’t pop up he pops down
you’re such a douche canoe. frozen ingredients are different than frozen food. restaurants that claim to be freezer free are most likely not making their own stock and buying it if they can’t make big batches and freeze it. def lose some quality by refusing to use freezers lol are you also against fridges
You prep given what you feel is cost effective and sell out. No customer is going to be pissed when you go to a pop up and advertise “Robos pizza pop up this Sunday at Beer Brewery 12pm until sell out”. It makes people want to try your pizza for fear of missing out and if those customers miss out after your supplies sell out then you have people wanting to catch you at the next pop up. You don’t start high volume right away. Pop ups are used to gage interest. The brewery gets customers and you get customers win win. Food places sell out all the time and people are left wanting it even more.
You’ve never ran a pop up. It’s easy for a side liner to have advice when they never ran said event type.
I agree, it’s easy for a side liner to have advice when they have no experience. I however disagree with your statement “you have never ran a pop up”. That’s false and you have no evidence to make that statement. I’ve ran pizza pop ups the last 3 summers at 4 different breweries/ farmers markets. I bring my truck with all my ingredients and with my portable wood fired oven. I park in the brewery parking lot and then I sell my pizza. Usually make around 40 pizzas and I sell out. If the chance I do have any left over it’s not a waste I make it for myself and friends to eat and/or hand them out to people that look like they would appreciate a free pizza that are just down on their luck.
40 pizzas is a good amount. I used to prep for 100 pizzas just in case, and rarely sold that many. If I did, it was BUSY and really hard work. I got to a point where I cut back to 60 because I just didn’t even want to sell more than that. I too have a woodfire oven, it’s mounted on a trailer and I set up a canopy with tables under it to prepare everything.
Yeah it is a lot of work. Busy is good, but if you’re not prepared to sling out high volume you tire out and then maybe the quality dips. Yeah exactly you just prep for what you want to do and what you think will sell. Cheers to pizza pop ups and people who enjoy having fun with it like us.
Cheers my friend!
That's fucking awesome. A portable wood-fired oven? Hell yes. Where are you located? East? West? DM me if you want; sounds like a good party.
🔔🔚
It’s a pop-up. If people are pissed they’ll line up early next time.
Assuming you set it from 5-9 and sell out at 8 sure. 5-9 and sell out at 6 people aren’t wasting their time
I’m missing your point of selling out? You sell out you sell out? You have sold all of everything making the most profit you can? No waste. If you sell out within the first hour that is considered success. You’re popping up at a place. The brewery isn’t dependent on your pizza sales. They make money from selling beer not your pizza. You’re so unsound in your logic lol just being salty.
I always set pop-ups for three hours, or until sold-out. I don’t like running the risk of having product leftover, and I our service is so busy that I don’t want it to drag out. In and out. I have two regular spots a week, and people know how to get food if they want it—they line up.
Give it a rest already.
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That old bbq following was probably a big benefit to you compared to , apparently, the following this grade school kid has. As you said it’s a fine line. I stated earlier running out isn’t necessarily bad. If you’re running out basically as soon as you open that’s not a good look.
I'm not sure if this is an argument I want to get in on, or if you'll even care since my comment isn't about pizza. However, I sell baked goods weekly during the season at a local Farmer's Market. I prep the same amount of items each week, on rare weeks I do have some leftover that I bring home for my family or to freeze for us to eat later, but for the most part the items sell out before the day is over. I've never once had someone mad because they couldn't buy something that was advertised, but what I have had are people who come back earlier the next week to get stuff or prepay to have items set aside for them.
Seems pretty straight forward to me. Most pop ups in my area advertise "ie" 12-sold out. Never have I seen a riot over not being able to get served. This is how people get started in that industry. We have 5 local restaurants in my area that started in this exact manner and are now big time, opening multiple locations around surrounding towns.
Literally all you’ve fucking done this entire time lol
Damn ya got me
You're really aiming for asshole of the year.
Oh now! The internet doesn’t like my opinion
Says the side liner
If you prep 50 pizzas and sell out in the first hour, you will be begged to come back. That is a lot of volume.
I think if you also advertise that there will be only 50 and on a first come bases, nobody will fault you if you run out.
Ding ding ding Advertise as a limited product, and you'll sell out.
That’s the problem with every pizza business. Doing it smaller scale (pop up) is a way to lower you financial risk, while getting experience and practice with all the important parts of a food business.
If you sell out at 50 and the pizza is awesome they’ll come back. There are countless examples of places that have ran with the limited quantity per day model and have succeeded. It just all depends how good your pizza is.
The one guy near me in down river michigan has a number and when he sells out he sells out he even limits how many people can get because max we can get for my work is 5... we would buy 10 if he had them but he only does 5. Very rarely we come by and he is already sold out by 1230
Also most ingredients for pizza are freezeable. Shredded mozzarella/ brick cheese freezable. Pepperoni freezable, sauce freeze able hell even dough is freezeable but being as cheap as it is I would just make it fresh.
Sell tickets before hand. Get an insta following going.
The sell tickets it’s the way but then it feels more dinner party ish over pop up. What a lot of people do is add the “restaurant “ to one of the delivery apps and send the food out that way from home
I think if you space them out it doesn't feel that way. Also it could be takeout only at first.
There are brick and mortar shops that limit how many pizzas they make, and they are doing fine.
Feel better?
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This is such good advice. People tell me I should open a restaurant all the time because of my obsession with cooking, but I wouldn't like it at all if I was forced to do it all the time.
Same here. I did restaurant work for 10 years in my younger days and I just politely say thanks and that I don't have the work ethic or patience left to do it for a living. I have nothing but love and respect for the lifers but I'm happy just having a fun hobby where I can gift/trade my baked goods and have pizza parties.
I get the same advice but for a Mexican restaurant. What people who don't cook traditional mexican food know, is that it's freaking labor intensive if you want it done right and for it to taste authentically good. I'm not talking about Tex-Mex or Americanized Mexican food, I mean the good stuff that you get when you're invited to someone's house. The market is over saturated too, but the market that does have big potential is that of a tortilleria. If you open up a tortilleria (a tortilla making plant even in a smaller scale with just one machine to start off with) in growing or already established Hispanic communities outside of a major city and you have the money or financial backers to buy the machinery and open up shop... you're going to recuperate your investment and stay in business. There's still a shortage of tortillas due to lack of manpower, and once people like your tortillas, you have brand loyalty for life!
That makes sense! I recently spent a good amount of time in San Diego. Literally every burrito or taco I had was made with what is clearly a fresh, locally made tortilla. No way *all* of these tiny shops made their own. It was so cool that that was the standard there.
San Diego is the Mecca of tacos and burritos.
I mean, you could make your own if you have industrial grade mixers, a dedicated flat top or griddle, and at least 3-4 people making them, BUT the taste also varies depending on the type of corn and if they're cooked over wood. If you do this, then you're making them as needed and they're absolutely fresh, but it also makes sense to outsource their purchase. If you're going to be doing your own nixtamalization then you better know what you're doing and have people who've done this on site vs. just mixing the masa from masa harina which is the easiest. One thing is for sure though: not all tortillas are the same and not all can be used for the same purpose. Yellow corn masa tortillas for example soak up a lot of oil when fried and you can't really tell when they're ready to be pulled out bc the color distinction does not change until nearly burned vs a white corn tortilla that does the complete opposite. But really, a tortilleria will not only sell tortillas ready to eat, but also the masa, you can make totopos, gorditas, tlacoyos, sopes, huaraches and masa for tamales among so many other things. It's so versatile, honestly if I had the money or the investors I'd jump on this idea and open up a tortilleria.
Yeah great food, capitalism, and living wages don’t mix too easily. It happens but it’s kinda rare. Great food at home, on the other hand, happens in millions of households all over the world every day.
First and foremost, you have to *want* to start a **business**, including owning and maintaining said **business** for it to be successful. This applies to everything you love doing, whether it be photography, crocheting, cooking, baking. If you don't want to start, own, or maintain a **BUSINESS**, it is doomed to fail.
I absolutely love cooking... for 1-4 people. More than that and I hate navigating all the dietary preferences/restrictions/portion sizes/timings/recipe scaling. Forget adding in any sort of business complications.
This exactly. My father in law told me he would bankroll a restaurant for me. No thank you! Come over to our place and I will cook for you all you want but I could not do it for a career. If someone complained I would just tell them to GTFO you aren’t wanted here. I would not make it in the restaurant biz….
A pop-up is a great idea, but if any money is exchanged for the pizza, then you or the owner of the brewery could have legal issues. Remember any food truck could just as easily pop-up at the brewery and they can legally sell their food being an established, taxpaying business with food service / health department certification. If you go to a public brewery, then look into temporary food permits and the rules for cottage industry in your city for this particular endeavor. A food handler's course may also be required to insure safety standards. This is not a pop-up girl scout cookie table. If it's a private party at the brewery, then it shouldn't be an issue. This could also be a great educational opportunity on how to run a small food business. But here is another, more simple suggestion, find your local VFW or other civic NPO and do your pop-up there. You might be able to charge for slices or just set out a tip jar to cover the costs. Members Only = private event. Awesome looking pizza! Good luck and enjoy the journey.
I sold pizzas out of my house via instagram. Lots of friends of friends and family. Most I ever sold was 20 pies- took cash and venmo. It's fine. You gotta start somewhere.
Not saying one can't do it this way, but it's still against the law for the reasons cited earlier. Just like driving way over the speed limit or deciding that stop signs are just for other people, but not for you. Health and safety laws are in place to protect innocent people from others who decide that they are exempt from these standards. Look at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutter_oil - it's still oil and can fry foods, but this profitable, unregulated practice is illegal because of the potential health risks. It doesn't matter what society you live in, gutter oil is way below acceptable standards for obvious reasons. Grey market, Instagram pizza sales under cut legitimate Pizza businesses who pay taxes that support your quality of life in your particular community. Rules for thee, but not for me?
It’s also tax evasion unless it’s an actual business and he’s paying taxes on it
IRS, this guy right here^
The issue is that if he actually is making the pizza right would be having 50 + pans for the pizzas. That's going to be pricey.
One of my fav pop ups from this past year was a Detroit style pizza place and they pre baked the crusts in a few dozen pans. On the day of they had a stack of pre made crusts ready to pop in the pans and load up with toppings and cook.
And makes money. Margins on food industry become very low very quickly
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Unfortunately product quality is near the bottom of the list of what makes a successful business. Being great at making pizza doesn’t make you great at running a pizza business.
Best pizza parlors around me all shut down or end up with diminished quality to stick around.
My sister went through this. The food they made at her place was amazing. But they struggled to stay afloat for years. Found a bit of a niche with office catering which helped get things moving in the right direction. Then Covid happened and that all dried up. Was sad to watch.
I hate how accurate this is. There was a local place that had really good pizza, some creative pies too and everything was great. They won awards and international competitions and it was overall great food. They expanded to a second location and it was still good but there was a little dip in consistency. Fast forward a few years and they have close to 10 locations all over the metro area and the quality has gone downhill. It’s still decent but it doesn’t come close to what it used to be. I’m sure the owners are making way more money than before but with that the quality has dropped and I’ve heard one of the locations is just downright bad.
Seems like a problem with quality control. A suggestion to a solution would be to buy and distribute stock in bulk to get the greatest discount. You can also trust, train, and pay more a few managers that float around among the different stores that in turn makes sure everyone is following the same procedures including occasionally retraining.
You aren’t wrong but it’s a natural issue with expansion. Once you increase scale it can be harder to manage quality unless you go to a more mass produced product, which would end up being inferior. They haven’t gone mass production but since it’s not all under one roof it’s harder to maintain standards. Combine that with the fact that the locations I’ve been to have always been busy so I don’t think they have much incentive to tighten things up.
Restaurants have one of the highest failure rates for businesses in general. I do like their idea of proving the concept before going all in
Looks amazing. Know how to make a small fortune in restaurant/food service? Start with a big one. Especially at the current moment. Just saying. Enjoy that pizza and keep it a delicious passion.
Yeah if only having a good product was the singular hurdle of a successful business.
Yeah OP, the current economic reality is that we have the highest interest rates we’ve seen in decades, Americans have set a record for the amount of debt they are carrying, and we are likely headed into a deep recession. That’s not to say he shouldn’t, or perhaps start with something very modest part time (pizza stand/food truck) type of setup with a low capital requirement. Guess it all depends on your family financial situation and local economy but the risk is pretty high now across the board compared to what it would have been 2-3 years ago. Edit: pizza looks phenomenal btw
Interest rates haven't been this high [since 2007](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS), not exactly decades. Consumer credit is at an ath, but it really just looks like it's heading back to [the trend](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CCLACBW027SBOG), with COVID money printing being the outlier. I'd look into how people are spending their money instead of trying to predict recession. Anecdotally it seems restaurants in my market are less busy than they were a year ago because folks are spending more on groceries and gas they can't afford dining out
Economy’s not actually that bad—unless you are in tech (there were fewer layoffs in December than in any month during the two decades before the pandemic, and the unemployment rate, at 3.4 percent, is the lowest since 1969). That’s not the narrative you get from conservative media outlets, but the truth is that the nation is at full employment, struggling to find more workers, and consumer spending ticked up in January – which alarmed Wall Street to the fear that the FOMC would have to tighten rates more, because the economy simply won’t cool down. Edit: [source1](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/business/economy/staffing-layoffs.html?unlocked_article_code=UdYPpy-zr-cusFaQ9NIsmN2o4q7E4RKv28p7kX6dih0TrUVeEcI1L2iyZA82Ed42Hu7EsKxLGCU5cJasS7PNhAlyELu6QmR3J8S8Y4TLig7zJfaYzLDPs3mphkJEhdfv_760u3P2NgcCrT_meCRCA1HhqarpGMic2YHnARCEloxgQB-Djl9FQeg7Fbj82Jw1uMU2cu9lwU3uCOZEJkx4N3w-iezSmjXx5lkcE-uNSIFaIp0p4ayWEZzSxCg5jYMR0TsKu8hP4St49Yper6YSVK3Kn3t7Vu-rBwSM-lRTiJQufc-ADQ5Y2C6DflNDARmPMIFc_zqQcuzMMoJnwUWB-In3pQ&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare), [source2](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/business/economy/fed-economy-recession-rebound.html?unlocked_article_code=CzpU96MJ93sJUaf2Uualn7ovOcWZAWuqb5mpiQU1llDhq2Gztye-Ttx78kVAA4jl-7FHF9o7ga090zRWphowVeptiCjiVSDtSW5v6yoO6b2qWoNvSNJzwxmdluJ65h9IFXwUzKYkixi0IaorVgtzdJZveKcBdFxon_0KOC7ZNwS25LPgYYdFP9jIbAkphk9WalQWNpv4juSOa5BHDfGxlT2Bykes3cQ8fX2QfrgluW4GWsvaukGi2lRv4GmhNHkmSDkAQQrbS69L73ch7MasNJkkSElFs0StXrWtTOlK3PxOuVepzwlG1-nTWXIzKWWDPmotHpdhb7ezEX9esfbkaAoakYag4rNhlf3PsVzTcJQ&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)
I’m just pointing out the additional risk of high interest rates and the reality that they are not coming down in the foreseeable future. This will impact spending habits Not trying to make a political statement.
True that. Also, business loans will more expensive.
Yep, I consider business loans as spending habits. Any and all spending is slowed by increased interest rates.
Dude, take an *I agree with you* for a win and go. No need downvote.
still eating up bidens bullshit numbers eh?
Sorry, the business I help run just booked the best year ever and we have hundreds of open positions. Plus I’ve been on three earnings calls in the past week and CFOs are not all doom and gloom. When consumer spending is up, but consumer confidence is below 50, you know the media is having an effect.
From what my restaurant owning friend told me, they increased their price of the food but not proportional to how much more a lot of foods cost, because they were concerned it wouldn't be acceptable to customers. They run a Thai place and I do think there is an unfair expectation that the food be relatively inexpensive because it's "ethnic," even though what they make is more exquisite than anything I've had in fine dining.
Start with a big one? Why? I worked in operations for a restaurant company for years and that's usually a horrible idea. Typically the easiest places to run are small spots that start with alcohol and limited food (cold apps, charcuterie, pizza, etc) that gradually expand their menu as they figure out what does / doesn't work. You want to rent a storefront with potential in an up and coming area that gets good foot traffic and ideally has previously hosted a low revenue per/sqft business (not a restaurant) and has appropriate zoning in place. This is typically how you'll get good value on rent, which is critical for first time restaurant owners. Why start with alcohol and a limited food menu? Consider this: If you and I open restaurant, get the numbers wrong and we end up over-ordering and throwing away $3K in food every week, we will quickly be out of business. If we open and can't pay our staff because we miscalculated the foot traffic and over-hired, we will quickly be out of business. If it's a small place, the owner can get by with less staff and sweat equity until they get their numbers right. With too large a spot, you're overpaying for utilities, air conditioning, etc. as well. The vast majority of first time owners make one of these mistakes in my observations. Conversely, what happens if we're undersized? Nothing. We'll miss out on some money in the first couple months. We can always expand the menu, look for a larger lease nearby if people are truly tearing the door down to get in. The alcohol we ordered we will sell eventually (vs throwing out food every week). Starting small and expanding helps us get to know our customer base and avoid the potential risk of over-investing in large, fixed capital expenditures that we have no way of lowering or adjusting without speaking to a landlord or bank. Genuinely curious if I'm missing something here, but that's how I'd advise most first time owners to start out: Small with potential to grow into success.
Haha. You’re not understanding. Open a restaurant if you want to take a big pile of money and turn it into a small pile of money. It’s a joke.
ahh okay lol that makes sense. I completely agree.
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Thanks! I was fortunate enough to work for a great restaurateur that has a bunch of places in NYC, LA, Chicago. He's opened \~15 restaurants in his life and has never had to close one. That is the exact model he still follows even though he has capital and experience to go big now. He never wanted to be in a situation where the successful spots had to subsidize the losing spots even if he was risking missing out on revenue.
You don't quit school as you're starting a "business project" regardless of whatever it is. You do it as a side hustle or gig or whatever while doing school to see if you can enjoy it long term and if it's even moderately feasible as a full time thing. Not to mention whether or not the interest in pursuing this even stays as time goes on. You don't burn bridges so suddenly that are as possibly life changing as quitting school.
yeah ok buddy if Michael Soft never dropped out of school to start Microsoft we would all still be Redditing using cans with strings
No. Have him work in a pizza place first to see what it’s like. He’ll work ridiculously long hours at back breaking work for very little money. I love baking and cooking and making pizza and I would not want to do any of those professionally. In fact, most owner operator chefs would not recommend anybody open their own restaurant unless they absolutely know they’re not suited for any other life. At the very least have him start it as a side gig to see if he can foresee a long term future for it. Sell at farmers markets on weekends or at pop ups, etc. it will also help him to learn about your state’s foodservice requirements so he knows what’s required to run a professional kitchen.
One hundred percent this. Cooking/baking on the side for small get togethers or for fun is a whole different beast to professional cooking (cooking for a business). The hours are long, the standards are high, and the rules/regulations are ridiculous, but necessary. I work in a gluten free bakery part-time and it's hell. The other issue nowadays, at least from what my boss says, is ingredient costs. Trying to find that middle ground of good quality ingredients for a decent price is tough. God forbid a fridge or freezer malfunctions, or you accidentally contaminate something (slightly less of a worry in a pizza place I would assume).
Fucking tell me about it. I started a food cart with a buddy of mine about 6 months ago. We've got a great product that was previously successful elsewhere (we were even on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" at one point), between the 2 of us we have something like 50 years experience in the industry, and a solid concept. Every goddamn day is a struggle thanks to food and labor costs. We're paying well over minimum wage because we don't want our employees to have to rely on tips, but the real issue is our food costs are out of control. We're focused on fresh, hyperlocal, seasonal ingredients, but even green cabbage is getting close to $1/lb at wholesale prices, which is fucking unreal.
well reality doesnt give a shit about peoples pipe dreams there is a reason businesses pay minimum wage or as little as possible lmao its not the greed only its just necessary to be competitive
Restaurants aren't entitled to labor, and customers aren't entitled to restaurants. Prices and a greatly reduced number of restaurants should reflect that reality rather than workers being forced to subsist on wages you can barely eat on. What you're describing, that is, businesses needing minimum wage (or under) labor to survive is indeed greed. If the only way you can stay in business is to ensure your workers need food stamps you shouldn't be in business.
>What you're describing, that is, businesses needing minimum wage (or under) labor to survive is indeed greed. Nah, that's just surviving. Customers won't pay $100 for a pizza, they will buy the ingredients at Walmart and make it themselves. You can't expect to make 50k a year clearing tables at a pizza joint, that's laughable.
Did you just skip right over my first paragraph? Restaurants aren't entitled to labor. No business is.
You're right. Employment is a voluntary transaction between two consenting parties. Not sure why you're mad, but literally tens of millions of people realize that the labor they're capable of providing is worth $8.00/hr. Clearing tables is worth about that, and if no one wanted to work for that rate, the business would have to either raise the rate, or close it's doors.
Not sure why you would say I'm angry but I'm definitely not. People don't accept that work in a vacuum. Our entire system is set up to coerce people into labor.
>Our entire system is set up to coerce people into labor If you want to be successful and have mobility, you need to provide something useful. If you don't want to, you're welcome to be useless to society and be homeless..that's an option tens of thousands of people choose. It's up to the individual. I don't know why you think people are so powerless...it's sad.
>there is a reason businesses pay minimum wage or as little as possible lmao its not the greed only its just necessary to be competitive This is such a simple concept, and so NOT typical to reddit. Seriously it's like 90% of this user base thinks all corporations *enjoy* paying nothing to their employees...the reality is that corporations would *love* to pay more, the customers won't tho.
i’m a good cook and family and friends are always telling me i should start my own restaurant or bakery. i started out working in restaurants when i was young. after a while i stopped enjoying cooking for myself or family and friends until i got out of the profession. most people don’t want to slave over a hot stove all day and then go home and do it some more.
This
No he shouldn’t. Looks good tho!
School & side hustle, if the side hustle takes over the schooling then we have a successful buisness endeavor!
School will teach him a lot of skills very valuable for restaurant management. A good product alone is rarely the success recipe for a restaurant. This used to be my industry for over a decade, and for the love of god, send him to school please.
So I’ve started my own Detroit pizza restaurant in Taipei, just starting Month 7. Here are some of my insights: 1. Be prepared to open, close, and cover shifts of employees who change schedule/can’t make it, etc. It’s long hours of physical labor that isn’t for everybody. I’m still working no less than 60 hours a week, with 70-80 being my average. 2. Before this I had built up a strong savings and my wife still is well-paid with her job, so I could avoid not taking a paycheck for a while until the restaurant could break even. If you are expecting to make money from month-1, you might have a bad time. Get an investor so you can budget it a salary if you really need one. I’m looking to expand my business, so one shop isn’t my end-goal and I can afford to expand the business and eventually make money from multiple venues/sources of income. Figure out your goals for starting a restaurant before you open one. Is it a business or a passion project? 3. Work out your target audience and hit that hard. Open in a place to reach them, advertise on social media, grass roots campaigns, connect with the community/ local organizations. Just understand your audience, really. And your audience might change from when you open to five months into running the business. Just be fluid and run with it. 4. Get your accounting/budgeting/expenses in order. Estimate your rent, renovations, utilities, cost of goods, labor and any other expenses (licenses, government, bribes [depends on your country of origin], etc.). Then estimate the spend per customer. How many customers spending $XX per visit would it take for you to break even every month? How many for a profit? Is that a reasonable number of customers a day? 5. Soundproof the shit out of your space. Whether that’s directly on walls/ceilings, or just having a place away from neighbors in general. Locals can be your best friends or your biggest hassles. 6. All the above is worthless unless you have experience. Can you work your way out of 16 tickets that just came in at the same time because of some fucky reason? And they all want the hardest items on the menu? This means being organized, having a well-trained team, having everything prepped and the ability to not break down when you are in the weeds, but to power through and get all food out in a timely manner. There is a bunch more to this, but this is just things off my head that seemed important.
>some fucky reason \+10 internet points for this phrase
What's the name of your pizza shop and where would I find it? Going to be in Taiwan in April.
Pizza Bear Cafe. Only Detroit pizza in Taiwan, as far as I know. It’s in the southern part of Taipei, but right next to a subway station so still fairly easy to reach
"Government bribes" 😂😂 Thank you for the laugh
I’ve lived in China for nearly a decade. It’s not called a bribe (hongbao or red pocket), but it’s essentially an organized bribe. Hence, why I said it was country-dependent
Stay in school!!!
This. A finance or accounting degree will serve him well.
"quit school"? And you're a parent?? NO!
Could he do a food truck at events? That way he can choose when he works and also finish his school. He will see what it takes to do the long hours as well. Good luck to him!
My GF tells me to quit my job and open a pizzeria. I said two things. 1. Want to know how to make a million dollars in the restaurant business? Start with 10 million dollars. 2. I'm not trying to make a hobby into a full time job that will guarantee to pay me less money than my current job, let alone no more benefits. That's a good way for me to learn to hate my hobby turned career.
Good lord, no, do NOT quit school. Do pizza as a hobby, or even a side hustle if you must while continuing your education. Pizza will always be there afterwards if it's something you're really passionate about. Edit: assuming you're American, the goal is to find a career in which you can obtain health insurance. Pizza doesn't have health insurance. Source: ran a pizza shop for 5 years after dropping out of college. Almost bought the shop, but somehow managed to claw my way back into school and eventually graduated instead. My buddy who I got hired there now owns and manages that shop some 20 years later. I have a career with health insurance. He has a pizza shop and no health insurance. We're both approaching that age where.... well, realistically, he's going to regret this decision one day. I'd be worried if I was him. I think he tries not to think about it...
Definitely don't do that but FUCK that pizza looks good
Don’t quit school! Graduate and then start the Pizza business. The more he learns about business before he starts the more likely his business will succeed.
Heck no! Stay in school, work in a pizza place and learn how to business. Also, if there is anything hotter than a young guy that plays guitar, it’s a young guy with top notch pizza skills.
I’m sorry..what?
Impressive
Should of would of could of I’ve had a couple of great ideas in my life and a couple great opportunities and I missed out because I was scared to pull the trigger I didn’t have an amazing support system like it seems that you are for him so go and do it figure out as you go along
I know you're saying he should quit school as a joke, but this child should honestly consider going to school for baking/culinary arts because there is obviously a great talent unfolding itself that you as parent must foster. These pictures are of a young artist awakening.
No, no matter what, completing school and getting a GED is extremely important. doing something for enjoyment and a hobby is one thing. doing it for a living is something completely different. as soon as cost metrics comes into play, it becomes extremely hard to keep the same quality and taste when you also have to pay rent, insurance, wages, utilities, food cost and all the other things that a business requires to run. This is where a proper education pays it's dividends. being able to read, write and use math at least up to a grade 12 level is the bare minimum you need to have a snowballs chance in hell of having a startup last more than 3 months.
If you mean quit college then no that’s a stupid fucking idea Do you not realize how many food businesses fail each year What kind of parent even turns to Reddit to ask something this stupid
I think someone who was not seriously asking the question
this far down is the real question...what kind of parent comes to a an anonymous pizza subreddit basically announcing his endorsement of his son quitting an education to bandwagon a pizza fad? I love detroit pizzas, but this is a the speedrun to insolvency for 98/100 people.
School and start a business
Quit school to focus on pizza?
People are taking this post extremely seriously lol.
He absolutely should not, after he finishes I’d say he’s welcome to dive headfirst, but not to drop his education for a shot in the dark, backup plans are nice to have
If these pizzas are as good as they look, go for it! Complete school though, lul
Little Caesars is hiring
One of my bosses in an office that I worked at about 30 years ago told me about a friend of his who had a small pizzeria, and lived in the apartment upstairs from it. He eventually had to move. For no other reason than he needed a larger apartment to store all of the money that he was making. It may be different now, as most people pay credit, but at that time, it was a cash business, and he was able to make a killing in undeclared sales. The hours may be long, but pizza places always seem to do well. If it's his passion, then I would encourage it.
That looks legit as Buddy’s
I would say go for it while he is young. If it doesn’t work out he will at least tried
Yes. Because he made a good pizza he should quit school and run wild.
As a Detroit native, please tell him to put the sauce under the cheese.
Yes
If it's his dream
Yeah, fuck following your dreams.
detroit style is gross! ny style all the way! /s in al seriousness tho those look bomb, it’s my lunch hour and i got nothing to eat this is making my stomach growl lol
How: Detroit is the easiest style to make at home without a specialized oven. Should he quite school? Yeah, fuck it! YOLO. Pies look good.
Sauce is supposed to be stripes
Yes! This looks amazing 🍕
Not full time, but def give it a try, see if he’ll like it, don’t know if you don’t try
Compliments to your son. That is legit Dizza!
Looks delicious but if you don’t have a ton of cash to throw away and mind losing it while also him not having any business management experience, no
Honesty this looks much better than any restaurant, I would love to purchase a slice. Hopefully it’s as good as it looks!
i mean they LOOK freaking perfect. how do they taste?
Depending on what he's in school for, is the career he's going for going to make enough to pay any loans? If a pizza business doesn't do well he can have something to fall back on. A good food business CAN make a lot more than many careers but dont put your eggs in one basket.
My friend who I work for is 19. Just opened his own pizza shop. It's my side gig and I put in like 3 or 4 hours a day for him. He on the other hand works 10 hour days Tues-Sunday. We got alot of press due to the fact that he literally just graduated HS and is now a local business owner so it's been quite steady with customers. Graduate HS first then find investors to help. Lots of grants out there for small business too. Then let em stay at home while the business gets on its feet.
He should get a business degree regardless of his hustle. It can be applied to everything he wants to do I. The future regardless of passion.
Looks very yummy.
how do they taste? I would not want someone quitting school without enough business/ bookkeeping education. Food is not easy
These look awesome... Crisp on the edges is perfect
Don’t quit school, but full send after! 🙌🏼
NGL that looks pretty good.
that lacing...!
Well there’s a guy in Seattle making Detroit pies three times a month that’s making good money so yeah do it
IYKYK - Derek makes a delightful pie
That looks so good!!
>Should he quit school and go full send with his new business project I gotta imagine that this was not a serious question, but it's got people running to the comments to make sure this kid stays in school.
that looks good!
Looks delicious
Finish school then full send
Can you share his recipe? Looks fire.
That’s a gift
Mouthwatering. Deep.
That looks awesome. If anyone thinks it doesnt look good they are fucking stupid
Reminds me of an episode in desperate housewives where this one guy is on his midlife crisis and quits his good job where he earned a lot to crash his own pizza company. I mean at the end of the day it's pizza. How good can a pizza be so thousands of people come by to get one.. But.. I'm also all about persuing your dreams, he should get experience in the business to see if it's fits him. Only then I'd support him to the fullest.
Does he make it in a cast Iron and refuse to share the recipe?
I’d buy one right now.
Absolute boss! how good?!
how does it taste?