Coming off the high of our successful private preview in October, I was certain we were ready to immediately open. But with winter looming, going through the licensing process and paying all the necessary fees just didn’t make sense. And so, we decided we’d officially open in the spring, a full six months later. So, we continued to learn and ideate while we waited.

I’ll never forget the very first order we took for Sips & Pies – not because it was a milestone I’d dreamt about my entire life, but because of how horribly wrong it went.

Everything started according to plan. We got to an empty lot next to my wife’s office with plenty of time to set up, get the fire roaring and have everything in place for a 4 p.m. opening. Our kids arrived shortly after school let out. The five of us were nervous but excited.

We were ready early, and with a line already forming, I took our first order around 3:45 p.m. My wife began stretching and topping each of the three pizzas. When the first one was ready, I slid it onto the launch peel, walked over to the oven and, as I began to slide it off onto the oven floor, a giant hole appeared. It stuck to the peel. First pizza ruined.

After getting rid of the mess, I turned around and put the second pizza on the peel, double-checked it wasn’t sticking, and went to launch it into the oven, when it happened again. Another giant tear, another ruined pizza.

It was now 4 p.m., we had a line of at least 15 people, already had five orders on the board, and the first two pizzas we sold were ruined. I couldn’t bring myself to turn around and tell my wife we needed to remake another pizza.

What the Heck Am I Doing?

I vividly remember resting my head on the oven’s shelf as my mind filled with self doubt about whether or not we could even do this. What was I thinking? Why did I think I could open a mobile pizzeria? Should I turn around and tell everyone we were just going to close for the day? Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this.

I took a deep breath and reminded myself that feeling frustrated is a sign that you’re learning, and it was time to learn.

I walked over to my wife, let her know we needed another remake, and strategized potential fixes with her.

By this point – probably 4:15-ish – the line was longer than I imagined it being on our opening day, we had a stack of tickets, and we hadn’t even finished the first order yet.

But the five of us regrouped and started to slowly and methodically work through our orders. Our ticket times were far too long, a problem compounded by a giant gust of wind blowing all our tickets off the prep station, mixing them up in the process, but we kept moving.

We must have apologized for the long wait and thanked customers for their patience at least 100 times that day.

By 7 p.m., we’d sold 76 pizzas, had $1,382 in sales and were as exhausted as we were relieved.

Did We Make Any Money?

The next day, after licking my wounds, I sat down and looked more closely at the numbers. I created yet another spreadsheet to track how much money we spent on that service, including supplies, commissary fees, paying our kids and our amortized insurance, and within that silo, we’d made $491 in profit. Not too shabby. (Granted, my wife and I are not paying ourselves yet. We’re investing as much as possible back into the business for now, so our profit percentage is going to be higher than normal.)

As proud as I was of my wife and kids after our private preview, I was even more proud of them after our first service. We got our butts kicked, but we kept working hard together, as a team, and got through it.

We learned a lot that night. I learned a lot. And that’s exactly what I’ll cover next week in the last installment (for now) in this series.

JASON CIPRIANI is the owner of Sips & Pies, a mobile wood-fired pizzeria serving Neapolitan-inspired pizza, in Colorado.

The post Launching a Mobile Pizzeria: Grand Opening (Part 15) appeared first on Pizza Today.

Photo courtesy of Tori T’s Pizzeria

Tori T’s is a pizza upstart with ties to a famed New York pizzeria, as Tori Tiso has set out on her own. “One of the biggest things that defines my pizzeria is that it’s 100-percent woman owned,” she says. “There are not many of us in N.Y., and I think in the next five years you are going to see more women making pizza. I am a huge advocate for women in pizza and small businesses.”

“Being that I grew up in the pizza industry at my father’s pizzeria, Louie and Ernie’s (in the Bronx), I learned firsthand how important it is to be involved with local charity, events and to give back to all the people who support you. I was just inducted into the Malverne Chamber of Commerce as a trustee member. I love that within the first year of being open, I was able to jump right in and get involved with the community. My staff and myself take pride in spreading the joy of pizza and showing that this pizzeria is much more than just pizza. We love that pizza brings people together and allows you to be creative.”

Photo courtesy of Tori T’s Pizzeria.

“Tori T’s is very unique because of the N.Y. style I learned from my father’s pizzeria, and the style I fell in love with the most was the Detroit style. The Detroit pizza has been the biggest seller since I opened. Long Island has a lot of pizzerias, but to find ones specializing in Detroit style is rare. When I first started 10 months ago, we had only eight Detroits on the menu, and now we are up to over 15 different options that people love. … As I stay true to my roots of the old-school N.Y. style, I am always looking for new recipes and styles to learn to improve my pizza portfolio.”

“The two pizza menu items that people go crazy for are the Detroit Red and sweet chili chicken grandma. The Detroit red is a parbaked pan pizza that has a crispy bottom and soft inside. It is covered with cheddar, provolone and mozzarella, which melts down the side of the pan, formulating its own cheese crust. Once the pie is cut out of the pan, red sauce, Romano cheese and fresh basil are added to the top. The sweet chili chicken grandma has a great flavor. The chili sauce first cooks into the bread, then we add mozzarella, chicken cutlet and  – when the pie comes out – we finish it with the chili sauce. The chili sauce is a sweet and sour mix that contains chili flakes and cayenne. It has the best consistency where it doesn’t leave your mouth burning but full of flavor.”

Check out more Pizza Destinations in People & Pizzerias.

The post Tori T’s Pizzeria, Malverne, New York | Pizza Destinations appeared first on Pizza Today.

After nearly 20 years of running big-box retailers, I decided that it was time for me to chase the American dream and take a leap of faith in opening my very own pizza place.

Little did I know how much easier it was to dream the American dream than to actually live it. I have heard my entire life: “do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.” Well I love pizza, so it made sense to me to make a living making pizza.

I have an old high school buddy who has done well for himself as an entrepreneur. So I sought his advice on becoming a business owner myself. I began the conversation thinking I knew as much as I needed to know to start my place. After all I have run big box stores with teams as large as 500 and sales volumes as high as $75 million annually. I figured after all that being my own boss would be pretty simple.

One hour into the conversation I had created the biggest work list ever:

• Create a business plan.
• Get a real idea of food costs. (The first time I went to the local store to buy ingredients I spent $75 and made two pies. My wife nearly ky­boshed the whole plan that day).
• Do some real market research. (This requires a whole lot more than order­ing from every pizza place in a five-mile radius of my home.)
• LLC or corporation?
• Equipment costs (buy or lease? New or used?).
• Leasing a space (location, location, location…).
• Construction costs.
• Payroll planning and budgeting.
• Taxes.

The list literally went on and on and on.

The sad fact was and is that becoming a pizza entrepreneur is very much like having your first child. No matter how many classes you take or how many books you read, you will never be as prepared as you had hoped and nothing is as effective as a little experience. As the father of five, I am hoping the same rules also apply to the business: work real hard, love ’em a lot and in the end it’s going to be okay.

After I completed the list and did my research, I really felt like I was ready to begin. Perhaps a better way of stat­ing that is that I couldn’t wait to begin and so I jumped in and began making mistakes right away.

• I prematurely signed a lease.
• I set unreasonable timelines.
• I made ridiculous errors in the permit process.

I began the work of making the dream a reality in October of 2011. As I write this, it is June 2012 and I am praying and hoping we will finally be able to proudly serve the community of Wheaton, Illinois, a deliciously afford­able pizza in the summer of this year. But I have learned from my experi­ences. I believe I am a better man and businessperson for the past year.

Today my list is growing bigger and bigger every day. I need to:

• Brand.
• Develop a smart phone app.
• Finalize recipes and my menu.
• Select vendors.
• Complete construction.
• Hire and train the team.
• Focus on food safety.

Again, the list goes on and on and on.

In the end, I have learned a new level of respect for the men and women who came before me, paving the way in NY style and Chicago style, breadsticks and garlic knots, Caesar salad and antipasto salad.

I have found that the pizza commu­nity is a great big loving family, one that I am hungry to be a part of. I am get­ting generous amounts of advice from everyone I meet.

In the end, I can’t wait to meet and serve my customers. My appetite for pizza is bigger today than ever — and I can’t wait to see the look on their face when they taste my pies.

The post My Turn: Michael Sutcliffe, Pizza Pronto, Wheaton, IL appeared first on Pizza Today.