I just finished cleaning after my first day as a business

LeHabanero · Addict Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 786 City: hagerstown

I've decided to start a pizza delivery service out of the kitchen in my apartment. I make some bomb ass homemade pizza with a friend from school (he's a culinary student so he's helped out a lot, but not as much as you'd think.) so we decided to go into business. Tonight I handed out a couple fliers with a basic pizza menu and our number to a handful of people from the apartments. Within 10 minutes we got 3 orders. (that was all that we got, but not bad for a first day). The pizzas are costing ~~$6 to make, and are selling 8 bucks for a cheese. We need to find containers so we can add pasta to the menu (even cheaper to make), and are adding calzones to the menu ASAP because they cost about half as much, but can sell for about as much as a pizza.

I am very stoked Very Happy

, I hope that this will be able to cover my living expenses through the rest of school.

ky1e · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 2693

LeHabanero, that is awesome man!! But you are going to need to boost the price up a bit to be able to make it worth it. To make 3 pies and only make $6 off of them is not enough, especially when you are splitting it with your buddy, then the extra money your energy bill is going to be. If they are truly awesome pizzas, charge at least $10-12. Most companies charge 100% of what the costs are, and if it is a LARGE pizza, $12 delivered is a good price. Let's see some photos of a sample pie!!

joedirt00 · Posted: Apr 07, 2009 4:29 am Post subject:

I hope you have explored all the legal implications and requirements to distribute food to the public. If you have, rock on with your venture and I hope it works out for you.

Lop · Posted: Apr 07, 2009 5:33 am Post subject:

you may try advertising and carry out...

flixmaster · Site Owner Joined: 30 Oct 2003 Posts: 7488

You might want to look into the food preparation laws. It might be ok while on the downlow but if you start moving a large amount of food products the health inspectors might have a problem.

You can find a local place where you can prepare the food in a certified kitchen for a small price. That way you are covered with all the health certifications that you need. If your buddy is in school you might be able to use the school kitchen to do all the preparation and cooking. Ask his instructor.

you guys could end up being the next papa johns... Good luck....

LeHabanero · Addict Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 786 City: hagerstown

ilubronix, once I get legit pizza boxes I'm going to raise the price up a good bit, but for now they are just being wrapped in foil. I'm also looking at keeping the price low until word spreads of the pizza.

I haven't looked into the food prep laws just yet, but I have been practicing the sanitation steps that we used when I worked in a restaurant.

We can't use the kitchens at the school because there are classes in them pretty much all day everyday, and right now our hours are 6pm-3am, so the school would close anyways. the school is also like 15 minutes from the apartment complexes.

I've got a loooooooooong way to go still to make this legit, but at this point its fly or die. Its either make pizza or slang to survive.

flixmaster · Site Owner Joined: 30 Oct 2003 Posts: 7488

If the school will not do it...look for something called a food incubator(sp?). They offer up places for cart vendors to prepare food and other people that need a certified place to work without having to worry about all the food health laws etc.

LeHabanero · Addict Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 786 City: hagerstown

flixmaster, Thanks! I'm actually going to look into that.

Dragonlady8 · Black Widow Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 9198

Your profile states you live in CA. If that is the case, check out Smart & Final's food containers to see if they're what you're looking for.
They have pretty good deals on bulk items too and no membership required.

flixmaster · Site Owner Joined: 30 Oct 2003 Posts: 7488

overnight me a pizza... Smile

Brit Rider · Posted: Apr 07, 2009 2:11 pm Post subject:

Me too!

LeHabanero · Addict Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 786 City: hagerstown

I will not sell you guys cold pizza. I'm sorry.

Steven M · Criminal Joined: 30 Apr 2008 Posts: 63 City: Merced

LeHabanero, but cold pizza is SOOOO good in the morning after a night of drinking.

scott a · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 9810

LeHabanero, how about warm pizza?

Mitchell · Posted: Apr 07, 2009 5:20 pm Post subject:

my friends neighbor makes homemade pizza and sells them to local bars and makes some good extra cash doing that.

BrtnDan · Addict Joined: 19 Feb 2003 Posts: 609

just sling, its easier

Skicross · Soul Rider Joined: 13 Sep 2004 Posts: 301

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

Do you deliver to Canada?

LeHabanero · Addict Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 786 City: hagerstown

ontrider, Bubb Rubb canadia.

well, I looked over alot of things, and there is no way I'll be able to do this legally. I would have to alter my kitchen which isn't allowed. It'll still be clean for sure though. I would never sell anything i wouldn't eat, and I'm nearly germophobic.

I'm just going to try to keep it underground, and just work up my credit history slowly.

its a bad idea, but atleast I can't go to jail for slangin pizza

eeven73 · Posted: Apr 08, 2009 8:37 am Post subject:

JeffreyCH · Posted: Apr 08, 2009 10:25 am Post subject:

Way to go man, gotta love the entrepreneurial spirit. Very Happy

Hope it works out for you. I would defiantly charge more then 8 bucks, more like 12-15 for a large. Another thing to boost profit would be bread sticks, or cheesy garlic bread, very cheap to make. Another thing you might look into is delivering sodas with the pizza's, you can get a 12 pack for 3 bucks, charge .75 a can and boom 2 bucks profit on just 4 soda's. The idea is to up sale as much as you can since you are dealing with small customer numbers. You take a sale the would net you 2 bucks right now, raise your price to even 10 bucks (still cheap) = $4 profit, add garlic bread (prob under a buck to make 4 slices) charge $4 = $3 profit, toss in 4 sodas = $2 profit, there you have just taken the same sale and rather then make 2 bucks, you make 9 for hardly any extra effort.

LeHabanero · Addict Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 786 City: hagerstown

JeffreyCH, basic breadsticks are already on the menu, looking at adding more variety soon. Our prices will go up in a week or two, we just have to get our name out there first. Once we get boxes i think the price will go up to about 10-12 per pizza.

pasta is another good profit item, just need to get cheap containers and such.

I am also looking at marketing some sweet tea to sell with the food since it takes nearly nothing to make, but can sell for as much as soda.

eeven73, this is something I'm aware of. but like I said, it's a lot better than the alternative.

Chad H · Posted: Apr 08, 2009 12:34 pm Post subject:

LeHabanero,
Sweet tea in california? Do they know what that is out there?

joebananas · Posted: Apr 09, 2009 5:48 am Post subject:

LeHabanero,

half bake a pie and set it to me. I will do the rest.

you have an untapped customer base here!

LeHabanero · Addict Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 786 City: hagerstown

well.... today my housing director came up to me and was like

~~"the general manager of grand marc (the student housing I live in) came up to me about this flyer he got. blah blah blah blah. I said it was one of my students. blah blah blah blah. try not to get in trouble. blah blah blah. I'm just glad you guys weren't smoking pot again. blah blah blah."

i forgot what he said, and other than the first sentence that is fairly unaccurate... but I like it.

well. moral of the story, the owner of the apartments got hold of one of my flyers and is shutting my business down. I'm not sure of any repercussions yet, but I've done a good job of cleaning my tracks enough so I can't get nailed for it.

what trips me out though is how he got hold of one. I personally hung up my flyer on customers fridges, I didn't leave any lay. I smell a rat.

Buuuuuut..... I'm wondering if there are any loopholes that I could exploit to keep this business running? Right now I think my options are to either make an agreement with the manager to use their kitchen, and give them a good bit of profit, or still run the business out of the basements (use several different kitchens)

I would really like to get through college a legit way like this rather than something really illegal. Evil or Very Mad

Its got me smoking cigarettes again that's how stressed I am Confused

J.unio.R · Outlaw Joined: 23 Feb 2009 Posts: 154 City: E-City, NC

Overnight one to NC. Im a big fan of pizza and overnight delivery. The best of both worlds for me.