PAPPA’S PIZZA? OR MAMMAS PASTA?

By Darrel Vecchio | BIZMATRIX

As I write this article we are experiencing a World wide credit crunch. Fortunately the Australian economy is weathering some of the financial turmoil with a very solid financial economical foundation.

As a business owner it would be very easy to start panicking, however the with the recent 1% decrease in interest rates the Australian Reserve bank has put some relief to the Australian public and some confidence with your customers. So in a time where the world is suffering a financial crisis you would expect business to be very tight. Over the past 10 months, business has been very tight , the 1% has had a positive effect. What surprised me even more was when my wife went to book dinner for 14 people for a Saturday night in Brisbane and much to our surprise, 8 out of the 9 restaurants we tried to book were full and solidly booked through to January 2009?Yes, I am confused, however I will predict the pizza industry will have great sales through to December/ January so it is really important you take advantage of this period and make certain your pizza and customer service is in peak condition!

It is easy to forget what is you core product and what is your core business, what makes your customers want to keep returning and what attracts them to our business. If your pizza sales are low and the quality of your pizza is not good, don’t introduce another product to be the saviour.The same goes with a shop where the pizza sales are great. If you are known as a pizza shop and you introduce pasta to the menu, if the pasta doesn’t meet the same or better quality as your pizza you could destroy your business.

There are areas in Australia where pizza and pasta are a must in a pizza shop, or should I say a pizza restaurant... noticed I said,“restaurant”.Yes there is a major difference in pizza shops and pizza cafes, restaurants and bars!

In Melbourne you will find many of the pizza shops to be complete restaurants where the choices range from pizza to pasta and other meals like steak, chicken and fish.At Caroline Springs, at a relatively new suburb I found a pizza joint called Aces Place Pizza Café.They offer 23 pizza choices in 3 sizes, 5 rice dishes, 14 pasta dishes, noodles, chicken and seafood plus side dishes salads.The pasta dishes where the same prices as the large pizzas... around $11.00 average.The portions were generous and very tasty.The same scenario is evident in Brisbane, Adelaide , Perth and Sydney.When the shop advertises pizza and pasta you will find the shop to be a full menu service.

Internationally, in the country where pizza originated, the same rule generally applies.You won’t find pasta in a pizza café or pizza bar, but you will find mouth watering pizza.

What is the lesson in these examples? Pizza, unlike pasta is a convenience food and the method of consumption is different.When eating pizza you use your hands and when eating pasta, it is a sit down meal with a plate and fork.

Pizza is an easy to assemble food that can feed a family cheaply and conveniently. Pizza is a celebration and casual food and can be complimented with beer as opposed with pasta which is a more formal food, more difficult to prepare and more difficult to consume, but is great as a gathering family food complimented with red wine. Note; when consuming pasta never use a spoon to help twirl the pasta. In Italy it is considered bad manners to use a spoon... and never wear a white shirt.

Can pasta be a convenience food? Unfortunately it doesn’t lend itself that way. Does it pair well with pizza?

Where pasta may not work? In 2008 we have seen many of the pizza chains introduce pasta to the menu. In many cases they have limited the selection of pastas to around 6 choices. I predict this pasta choice to be very short term, similar to other short term items which have been and gone like chicken wings, salads and cheese puffs.They will return to new pizza tastes and options.

If you have an urge to introduce pasta to your pizza menu, ask yourself these questions first!

How does your pizza quality rate? Will it win prizes?
Does your pizza taste have the wow factor?
Can you afford to lose a percentage of pizza sales to pasta?
Are you a pizza shop, and is your core business pizza?
Do you have sit down facilities, cutlery and plates, dishwashers and staff to serve?
Are you licensed to serve alcohol or have a BYO license?
What is the cost of preparing pasta, the extra costs needed for equipment ingredients a specialist cook, extra labour and utensils?
How will you serve the takeaway or pick up pasta dishes?
Will you lose focus on your core business (pizza)?
Will you need to work more in your business to achieve little more or no extra profits?
Are you a pizza shop or pizza restaurant?

If any of the answers are no, then consider fixing the problems and then think carefully before introducing additional products to the menu, like pasta. Pasta isn’t the magic solution if the pizza product isn’t excellent.

Where pasta could work! In the last article, I mentioned a pizza restaurant which serves a great pizza, pasta and other menu items, plus is alcohol licensed and have BYO alcohol. He introduced a small 9 inch personal pizza that was better priced and pasta to match...his sales went up exponentially. In this case the pizza restaurant has the following:

The shop has been trading for over 20 years with well established clientele.
The pizzas are award winning quality with mouth-watering tastes.
There are 120 seats for sit down dining full service.
The pizza sales are in excess of 1000 pies a week.
The pizzas were getting too high in price and the customer couldn’t finish a whole pizza. With the high prices the customer would rarely buy a pasta and pizza dish together.
Introducing the smaller personal pizza helped increase the average order by $21 to an average of $42 per order... around a 100% increase in ticket sales!

Pasta is a high profit food and is also cheap to make. If the sauces and the pasta choices are high quality, you use fresh herbs to flavour, plus have the ambience of sit down dining; it is a great option with pizza and other menu items.

Oh yes, don’t forget, you should serve a nice wine with pasta...a white wine with a seafood pasta or white sauce ( sugo) and a nice Cabernet. Shiraz for a meat or tomato base sauce (sugo), and beer should be served with pizza or if you do not like beer then a nice Chianti for pizza and or pasta. If you don’t drink alcohol, a Sprite or chilled water.

Just recapping where and how pasta could work well and be profitable, let’s look at the main points again.

A sit-down dining restaurant.
A licensed establishment or BYO.
If you have pizza, the pizza sales need to be good and profitable. Keep the flagship product excellent in quality.
Limit the pasta choices to the most popular, and look at pasta- and pizza-only nights.
The pasta sauces need to be made fresh. Use fresh not canned ingredients and slow cook the sauces for more flavours (Just like mamma’s).
Pasta is a good seller and is a high profit food if the pasta is great tasting and fresh.
Have pasta to compliment your pizza sales.
If pizza sales are low, pasta sales will cut into your sales and won’t replace your sales.
Pasta is a complimenting sales product.
Pasta isn’t a convenience food but rather a romantic food best served in an intermit dining experience and is great for special family moments- Sunday night dining. Pasta is best suited in a restaurant with other menu items, in a choice of entrée or main meal options.
Use clever matched personal pizza and personal pasta meal deal options.
Work on great pizza toppings before introducing the pasta to the menu.

I love pizza and pasta, and I have the physique to prove it...they are both great foods.They say the Chinese invented pasta over 2000 years ago. Maybe they did BUT the Italians perfected it and made the dish romantic.

Being of Italian heritage we live to eat, just remember when eating pizza use your hands and wash it down with beer, when eating pasta it tastes better reheated the next day and compliment with red or white wine and in the company of a loved one.