Whoosh
February 13th, 2010More Stuff Happens
I’ll tell you what. My walk with God is turning out to be more like a ride at a water park. Don’t push. Just close your eyes and yell.
I saw someone interview Kari Jobe. With a big smile, she said God was “just wrecking” her. I get it.
This morning I hit Denny’s for my weekly prayer group. The guys around the table were ordinary Christians like me. Not pastors or teachers. But every time one opened his mouth, I felt like I was hearing God say, “Now, Steve. About the problems you’re having. Here’s what you do…” It was all on target. To some extent, I get that in the church’s services, but the things I hear in the small group are laser-guided and highly specific.
I talked to one of the guys about pizza. Two, actually, but I only talked to one about the business side. The other guy just wants to help in the church kitchen.
The other guy says he would be interested in getting involved, if I open a pizzeria. This would be a great help to me, because I’m just one person, and you can’t run a pizzeria by yourself. Even a small operation will require six-day-a-week labor, plus all the duties of management.
Right now, pizzerias are folding all over the county. I don’t know if that’s normal. It probably is. People who know nothing about cooking think they can learn it all from going to a food convention or buying a book written by someone who can’t make good pizza. Then they use bad ingredients in order to save money, and they’re undercapitalized, and they go belly-up. That’s my guess. The cheap ingredients have unquestionably been in play at a number of the places that have failed around here, and I’ve only seen one pizzeria with good food go out of business. In my entire life, I mean.
Anyway, pizzerias are available cheap. I can get into one for the price of a nice car, and that includes food, rent, and utilities for several months. That’s just insane. If I go out of business, who cares? I mean, okay, I care. But I won’t be busted.
If the first one works, I could buy two or three new ones. As soon as I can find people to man them, I mean. Eventually, I could run a circuit, consulting at each one to make sure they don’t do anything stupid.
If I did really well, I don’t know what to do with the money I’d be paid; I’d be thrilled just to have my long-dreamed-of armed compound north of Dade County, with a concrete wall and razor wire, plus trained roaming badgers with lasers on their heads. I would need to find good Christian causes to give to.
One of my problems has been the requirement that I only partner with Christians. That’s not negotiable. You can’t discriminate when you hire, but you can definitely discriminate when you choose partners. It’s not the same thing. There are no laws against it. So while I would eventually have employees of every stripe, they wouldn’t be high on the food chain, and I would not expect them to interfere with God’s efforts to make the business work. There would be no rainbow stickers on the doors, and all employees with carry permits would be allowed to provide for their self-defense.
I will not partner with a heathen regardless of whether people hate me for saying it, but I will definitely need management-level people to help me. That means I need competent Christians. Suddenly, they’re popping up. One has, anyway. Extremely solid guy. An excellent prospect.
I’m thinking the best thing is to retain over 50% of the ownership, so I can insist on my vision for the company. I want to keep the limited menu and my recipes and ingredients. But I want anyone who functions as a partner to be compensated well. I want to be a ruthless dictator, but not a stingy one.
I was hoping Mike would be available, but he’s trapped for another year and a half. That’s a bummer.
In months past, I just rolled the pizzeria idea around in my mind for fun, but now I’m starting to feel like I’m on rails, headed for the pizza business. Almost as if I have no choice. Which is fine and dandy by me. I would not mind living like Jacob, finding favor and guidance regardless of what my enemies do.
Waking up after my wedding with a homely girl, however…that I can do without.
I’m up for anything. I feel like I’m seated in the Tilt-a-Whirl car with the restraining bar firmly in place, and God is doing all the work. I could never have made this happen, and without the little shoves and nudges, I would not have made this decision, but if he wants to put it in motion, I’m on board all the way.
My judgment has always been…not spectacular…so if God wants to steer the bus, it will be hard to complain. In spite of my staggering talent for complaining.
Is this really going to happen?
Life is just too weird.
February 13th, 2010 at 1:33 PM
Leonardo DaVinci, Pablo Pacisso were blessed by God with multiple
talents. They were able to apply their creative talents in many mediums…
..and so it is, to create a place to find the Best Pizza in the city, should be quite doable for a for a multi-talented man, as long as he keeps his trust in God gives Him the glory. (see Truett Cathy)
Pray that you will learn to drink form the saucer.
February 13th, 2010 at 4:27 PM
It’s the middle of the pizza market that’s really hit the crapper. You either try to go toe to toe with Little Caesar’s with a 12″ 1 topping pie for $5, or you have to go for the high end artisanal crowd. Obviously, Option #2 is the way to go, and it’s a lot more rewarding. The average mom and pop operation doesn’t have a chance.
February 13th, 2010 at 8:48 PM
I am excited to see this thrill ride of faith. I keep looking at the picture of the fishhook and thinking that God may use this to reach your Dad.
February 13th, 2010 at 8:54 PM
In a market like Miami, where quality pizza is in great demand yet nearly nonexistent, a truly excellent pizza in the style of a New York street parlor is the best thing to sell. Everyone wants it, nobody has it, the cost of production is low, and you can sell slices, so you don’t have the problem that is killing the franchises.
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The reason chain pizzerias are going under is that every meal they sell costs at least seven bucks. A slice and a Coke can compete with a McDonald’s dollar menu meal. A gross Domino’s pie can’t.
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Mom and pop places down here go out of business because Mom and Pop don’t know how to cook, not because they charge more than Domino’s. The place I’m looking at charges very low prices, but they’re tanking. Two blocks away, Steve’s Pizza is raking it in.
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There’s a place near me called Casola’s. It’s a very good pizzeria, which is rare down here. They sell low-priced, top-quality, non-yuppie pizza.
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The atmosphere is like a bus station. The location is inconvenient. Parking is a pain. It’s an unpleasant place to eat. Still, they keep a row of cash registers humming day and night. It’s like a license to print money.
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Business stinks for Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and Papa John’s right now; you can read up on it on the web. The good local places are doing fine.
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Yuppie pizza is not a good idea here. It’s too expensive to attract high volume, nobody wants it, and there are already places making it. It’s a commodity, which is the last thing you want to sell in a tough economy. I have never liked artisanal pizza or gourmet pizza or whatever it’s called, and nobody here expresses a desire for it. Everyone complains that they can’t get the pizza they serve in New York.
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The other problem with Gucci pizza is that it just isn’t very good. The cheap stuff is better. Mario Batali makes pizza that would gag a maggot. Moxie will probably yell at me for saying that, since she took me to his restaurant, but it was really nasty. They put arugula on the pizza, which is beyond wrong.
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If you want to start a conversation in Miami, say the pizza sucks compared to New York, and you’ll have five people giving you an earful in about thirty seconds.
February 14th, 2010 at 12:09 AM
Orthodox Jews are hardly heathens, but then they’d never be able to participate in a venture that sells admixtures of milk and meat, from which no benefit may be derived (we’re not even allowed to give it to animals).
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In theory I could open a pork restaurant in an area that is bereft of Jews, I just wouldn’t be allowed to taste what I made. Kind of throws a monkey wrench into effectively owning a restaurant with your clientele.
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On the other hand, would I be excluded from owning a dairy-only shomer Shabbos franchise of yours in Miami Beach?
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There’s a kosher Subway down the street from me. There are kosher McDonalds and Burger Kings in Israel.
February 14th, 2010 at 5:00 AM
Pizza iinside the front door, and machine shop services through the loading dock door in the rear…new business model.
February 14th, 2010 at 9:41 AM
Steve:
I have been following your travails and pizza quest for some time and have come to the conclusion that when I lose my current job due to the economy (I see this as coming in the next 24 months) opening a branch of your inspired production here in Michigan is a distinct possibility. There are 8 really bad pizzerias in town and no good ones anywhere in a 30 mile radius, unless you want to drive 100 miles to Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, and even theirs is good but not to die for. Follow the dream, I may be joining it soon…..
February 14th, 2010 at 11:42 AM
Of course their pizza sucks compared to New York.
Hell EVERY city outside of Italy has sucky pizza compared to New York, with the possible exception of Chicago. This is fact, like the Sun rising in the east, or democrats raising taxes. It cannot be argued with.
February 14th, 2010 at 8:06 PM
I had a slice in Verona Italy. It was pretty good.