Seven Questions You Need to Ask Before Starting a Pizza Franchise
Do you want to start a pizza franchise? Here are seven important questions you need to ask yourself before you commit.
Where Will You Set Up Shop?
A couple of factors are at play when choosing the location of your pizzeria: affordability and accessibility to your customers. Ideally, your spot will feature heavy foot traffic and plenty of parking options. When considering your location, it’s also worth checking out some of the other nearby pizzerias to get a sense of the area’s customer preferences and what they expect from their neighborhood pizza place.
If you are buying into a franchise, it’s important to look for a brand that allows its franchisees some freedom in customizing their store’s design to the local market.
If you decide to franchise with Your Pie, we have a dedicated Real Estate Team who will help guide you through the process of finding the perfect location for your restaurant. Every Your Pie location looks a little different, but what they all have in common is a warm and welcoming ambiance. We pride ourselves on providing an environment that blends our Italian heritage with the eclectic roots of our Athens, GA hometown, inviting our customers to relax and enjoy.
What’s On The Menu?
An enticing and dynamic menu is essential for any successful restaurant. There is no doubt that Americans love our pizza. Some estimates show that Americans eat 3 billion pieces, or 46 slices (per person) every year. But within the broader pizza market, customers have various preferences. Some want traditional, conventional pizza, while others want more unique, artisanal options. There is Neopolitan, Chicago deep dish, New York style, vegan toppings or gluten-free crust options, and everything in between.
Whether you go with more conventional offerings or venture into a more niche territory will depend much on the consumer trends of your location choice, as well. What do your customers want?
You will also need to decide if your restaurant will be serving more than pizza. Other menu items may include appetizers, salads, sides, and desserts. You may also wish to serve alcohol, so keep in mind the cost and acquisition of a liquor license. These menu additions may help make your restaurant stand out from the pack and bring in more customers.
Your Pie focuses on handcrafted pizza, panini, chopped salads, gelato, and craft beer and wine. We use the freshest ingredients and innovative recipes to provide our customers with a memorably delicious dining experience. We believe in the quality of our offerings, and our “food first” way of thinking is what leads our franchisees to success.
How Much Will It Cost?
The cost to open a pizza franchise will vary depending on the brand. Franchise fees can range between $10,000 to $50,000, as part of the initial investment. This investment includes the franchise fee and offers various levels of support to the franchisee.
Your Pie has a franchise fee of $35,000 and a total investment averaging $364,750-$610,000, which includes pre-opening development assistance for site selection and analysis, lease negotiation, architectural layout and restaurant design, comprehensive restaurant build-out, starting inventory, extensive training, and total marketing and communications support.
What Kind of Training Does a Franchise Offer?
Franchisors offer their new investors training opportunities in a variety of ways, usually through training at company headquarters, on-site (restaurant) training, and ongoing training.
At Your Pie, we pride ourselves on providing our franchisees with accessible, ongoing support, starting with the real estate process, through build-out and grand opening, and beyond. Franchisees attend Your Pie University at a corporate location where they learn everything from the pizza-making process to marketing techniques, and everything in between.
The Your Pie support center is always available to help with marketing and operational needs.
What’s The Process of Opening a Franchise?
The process of opening a Your Pie Pizza franchise is fairly simple. If you’ve done your research and think we may be a good fit, reach out! We look forward to the opportunity to learn more about you and tell you all about the Your Pie Way. As the first ever quick-casual pizza franchise, we take a lot of pride in what we do are excited to bring dedicated and passionate franchisees into our family.
If you feel like it’s a fit, we will send you an application form. Once it’s submitted and approved, you will get the opportunity to meet members of our franchise and leadership team. Because our business is built on relationships, this is an important step in getting to know the brand.
Once you decide you want to join the Your Pie family and have a sense of where you want your restaurant to be located, you will sign the franchise agreement. You’re on your way to owning your own Your Pie location!
How Long Does It Take To Open a Franchise?
This will depend on a couple of factors, including your motivation to move ahead. A Your Pie franchise typically takes around nine months between signing of the agreement up to Opening Day.
What Now?
If you choose to franchise with Your Pie Pizza, we can’t wait to have you. We want our franchisees to be as proud of our concept as we are. As the first quick-casual pizza franchise, rooted in family traditions and authentic Italian flavors, we believe that we offer both our diners and franchisees a unique experience that can’t be matched. We look forward to working together with you to share our pizza in your community.
Learn more about franchising opportunities with Your Pie here.
