"Over the next year, the company plans to reinvest in our existing restaurant portfolio.”
Jeff Baldwin, Vice President of Development and Franchising, Donatos Pizza Columbus, OhioSixty percent of Donatos Pizza’s transactions come via online orders: This has always been important to our business but now even more so. During the last eight months, pickup has skyrocketed for us, and dine-in is flat. It’s all about consumer confidence and, moving forward, we’ll continue to have programs to make people feel safer. We know our seating requirements may differ, as well as customer demands in terms of pickup and access, which are forever changed. We’re managing curbside in locations with no pickup window and making it easy to order and pay online.
Over the next year, the company plans to reinvest in our existing restaurant portfolio. Our remodel program places significant amount of investment in front of house, design, decor and furniture. BOH renovations are limited totechnology and in many cases new ovens that provide better efficiencies.
A number of our franchise partners in Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, also have undergone a number of store renovations. Those in more mature markets are implementing oven replacements as well, going with a triplestack conveyer model. That’s a result of a need to replace older ovens. In most cases, we kept the same hood structure and back-of-house layout. We also have changed our rolling proofer carts and now have proofers lined up inside our coolers for easier access and increased efficiencies.
In the Donatos Pizza system, we currently have 166 total locations — 111 are franchised and 54 are company-operated. We also have 79 partner locations with Red Robin Gourmet Burgers across the U.S. in all markets, where the chain now serves branded Donatos pizza as a part ofthe Red Robin menu.
We’re really excited about our future growth and have plans to ignite our existing franchise base to expand sites. We’re opening 10 new locations by the end of this year, which is a good number for us. Generally speaking, these multirestaurant franchise partners plan toadd 3 to 10 stores over a period of time.
As for our expansion plans, Donatos is developing mainly in the East —Florida is an important market for us. We also have partnerships that take us nationwide, like with Red Robin, where we’re on their menu and integrated into the kitchen: The pizza storage and preparation is integrated into the Red Robin BOH, withour typical coolers, make tables, ovens and finishing operations integrated into the Red Robin cookline.
In the next five years, we want to beat more than 500 total locations. We’re always looking for nontraditional opportunities with partners or ghost kitchens, as well. And with our operational platform, we have a unique ability to locate in fairly small spaces.
Donatos’ mission is to promote goodwill through product, promise, principals and people. We know our associates and managers are on the frontlines, and we have instituted a bonus program to increase their pay. Our founder’s motto is, “Doing good thingsand making money with love,” and we extend that into our restaurants, making sure everyone feels safe, comfortable and appreciated. It’s particularly important from a foundational perspective."
