#4AD1520E_13 - Episode 11 - Andy Hooper
Doing Well by Doing Good
Jen Kern: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. And welcome back to Restaurants Reinvented. I'm Jen Kern your hostess. And today I have a very special guest with me today. It's Andy Hooper, the president and COO for &pizza. Hello, Andy.
[00:00:45] Andy Hooper: [00:00:45] Hi, Jen. Thanks for having me today.
[00:00:47] Jen Kern: [00:00:47] Thanks for being well, it's kind of funny because I'm up here in Bethesda and I feel like I can look out the window and see you down there on Capitol Hill.
[00:00:54] So we're like having a DC podcast today.
[00:00:57] Andy Hooper: [00:00:57] Indeed. keeping it home here.
[00:00:59] Jen Kern: [00:00:59] Yeah, let's take DC by storm with podcasting. Why not. I'm a huge &pizza junkie. Love the brand and this is so fun for me. Cause last week I got to talk to the head of marketing for BIBIBOP, Brian Hipsher, which is another one of my favorite brands that I feel like has taken DC by storm a little bit.
[00:01:17] But I remember very vividly when &pizza came on the scene in DC and everyone was just so stoked. So really excited to get into the show today. So with that. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself? Give us just a little bit of background and how you found your way here to &pizza.
[00:01:33] Andy Hooper: [00:01:33] Sure. Yeah. So I'm a lifetime restaurant guy. First job washing dishes and a full service restaurant. After going to school was fortunate enough to join burger King, right out of college. One of my professors at the university of Miami was actually the chief HR officer for the company, globally.
[00:01:51] And so got my start doing recruiting, in corporate HR for Burger King. I spent close to a decade there. Really interesting time to be with the brand. Obviously burger King, like an iconic brand, a lot of rework on the marketing and operations side of things while I was there. Some listeners might remember the sort of resurgence of the creepy King that came in the early two thousands.
[00:02:15] that was a time that I was there. After Burger King spent some time with a fast casual Mexican chain out in salt Lake city called Cafe Rio. Great brand. Great team. Lots of love for that group. spent six years there and then, ventured from Park City out here to Washington DC and to Capitol Hill to join Michael and the team at &pizza.
[00:02:36] And I serve as the president here today. Have the opportunity to lead the team and manage the business day to day. And just really excited to be a part of a brand that has done well by doing good. And that really understands the power of special brand combined with a great product.
[00:02:56] Jen Kern: [00:02:56] I love that. I mean, one of the things you first said to me when we were talking was, I'm an operator who understands the importance of quality brand and, I don't want to say that's there's few and far in between, but really getting it the way you seem to get it, is awesome.
[00:03:11] Andy Hooper: [00:03:11] Yeah, I think there are a lot of leaders in the space that feel like that has to be a zero sum game, right? Tension between operators and chief marketers. And I think the ones that win are the ones that understand the mutual dependency of those two things on creating excellence.
[00:03:28] Jen Kern: [00:03:28] Right you know on our show we mostly interview heads of marketing you're a first president on the show And one of the things that I'd like to discuss with you and we'll talk about the brand some more because your brand is very powerful And does the right thing all the time which is amazing but help some of our listeners understand what you're bringing to the table In terms of your background you talked about you know a dishwasher to HR recruiting understanding operations of the business What are the things that marketers need to be focusing on to get to the C suite
[00:04:02] Andy Hooper: [00:04:02] Sure I think that I'm fortunate in that starting my career in human resources and spending the lion's share of it There It's a lot like being a marketer you're just marketing to your employee population instead of to your customers But I think as an HR leader or as a marketing leader you're thinking about the same things which is what do they want what do they need And what do they not know that they want or need that we can get out in front of And I think what was really compelling for me about the pizza story was that Michael as founder and CEO had come from a brand marketing entrepreneurial background and sort of understood from the get go that a special brand would be the way to win in a category like pizza I think at the end of the day we serve a great product We serve the best possible quality ingredients we pay our tribe a living wage We do a lot of things the right way but even then you must have something special beyond the product and the offering in order to keep people engaged for the long term And I think That's where when you look out at the marketplace real winners for the longterm have a brand that transcends a season that transcends a product offering And I think I learned a lot of that doing HR early on which is that if you want to keep employees engaged The offering has to transcend the stuff that's obvious It has to be more than just benefits and pay It has to be about a sense of community a sense of belonging a sense of purpose That's deeper than just getting up and punching the clock every day I think the brands that win now and certainly on the other side of COVID-19 are going to be the brands that have something special we've been locked in or respective homes here in Bethesda and Capitol Hill for the better part of five months A lot of the things that we can consume are commoditized Now we're fortunate enough to be resourced enough to have somebody deliver groceries to our home or deliver a meal to our home what wins the day tends to be a special brand at that point because a lot of the rest of the experience gets commoditized
[00:06:13] Jen Kern: [00:06:13] Yeah That's so true today it's really different everything is so different and I've seen so many brands come out way on top and some just like barely keeping up And then there's others that it seemed to have just disappeared So what are the ingredients if you will that you're using to keep that brand really front and center really strong how are you engaging your tribe and the community and coming out with the stellar brand that you have can you unpack that a little bit more and let's dig into that
[00:06:41] Andy Hooper: [00:06:41] Sure Yeah back in mid-March when it was becoming clear that this was not going to be a blip and that we were going to be headed for some sort of lockdown as a team we got together and made some decisions and those decisions were that the very first thing we would do Was invest in our employees And in our customers in a time of uncertainty a lot of things becoming opaque at the time and people not really understanding what was going to happen a week or two weeks or three weeks from now The most important thing for us was trust from our team and from our customers that we would be there So we made a series of investments in our employees At the time we gave everybody a dollar an hour increase we partnered with Lyft to create a ride share program that would help our tribe get to and from restaurants we gave our tribe unlimited free pies to take home to their communities we enacted the same sort of health and safety pay that you saw everywhere else And we told everybody it was going to stay in place for 30 days this was a time when we were seeing millions of unemployment claims every week pizza's team was not worried about that Like they had something that could anchor themselves to and I think the relevance to brand there is in a time of uncertainty that level of trust that like I know pizza's going to be open I know I have a job there I know what I'm looking at and I know that I'm not expecting the company to predict what the world's going to look like a year from now But I at least know in this moment where I need all of my faculties for all of these other fires in my life that I don't have to worry about this And I think the second investment that we made was in our community We did this Hero Pies program where from the moment we got there people could text in to the brand engage with us And if you were a hospital worker whether that was a doctor or nurse or janitorial staff or a nutritionist or an overnight custodian or a front desk worker you could get a free pizza either at the shop or delivered to you I think those two things sent a strong message to our team and to the community that we were going to be in this with them And we wanted to give them some degree of certainty The other thing it did is it maintained engagement There were a lot of people whose behaviors just changed overnight people didn't go to the grocery store the same way or they didn't go out to a restaurant or a bar like they had the previous week or they couldn't go to the movies or couldn't go bowling And our benefit was that we maintained that connection with our guests during that time through charity in that way but you know through giving them pizzas and taking care of the community and engaging our partners to help Contribute to supporting the front line heroes And from my perspective that's reflecting back now on what that has done for us Five months later that was key because it's cemented relationships with both our employees and our customers during a time when a lot of things were getting disrupted And then when people are looking to pick up the pieces of their life or try to create some sort of return to normalcy the things that are already part of their habits and considerations that are easier to grow at that point in time you're not having to Tell somebody Hey come back I know it's been four months that I've been closed Can you come back now versus the person that had been coming each week during that being fed through the Hero Pies's program and then we can talk to them to say Hey would you mind bringing your family in and buying more from us this weekend and some cookies and some sodas as well So I think that was key I think for me the importance of maintaining that connection during that time was the foundation And I think as we think about what has to happen now moving forward you have to start thinking about from a brand standpoint every touch point with the consumer feeling primary another thing that's happened for a lot of leaders is that their business models have been appended in restaurants in particular if you were like us prior to COVID 70% of the guest experiences began inside of our pizza shop and their experience with the brand involve them walking the line In our shop and interacting with a tribe member and pointing at the toppings they want it to see and smelling the smells and feeling the music and seeing the swagger and like having the experience of pizza And then overnight that's gone And for a lot of restaurant concepts what you get instead is an unmarked plastic bag And a subpar product delivered by a stranger an hour after you order it And all of a sudden like all of these opportunities to reinforce your brand are in a completely different arena And I think one of the things I'm really proud of the team for is that long before COVID they've been thinking about an innovating and investing in the things that will create that experience as primary The unboxing of your pizza at home is going to involve new packaging maybe a different menu maybe an opportunity to interact with the brand voice and personality differently And we get a lot of that through our text messaging platform which is how we communicate with customers how we communicate with them about their order And how we stay connected to them in short form prose in a way that allows them to get a little bit of that feeling that they aren't getting any more by not being inside the pizza shop
[00:12:16] Jen Kern: [00:12:16] Wow fantastic There's a lot in there but the text messaging I gotta think you guys were one of the first to market with the text messaging Cause I remember it hasn't been about five years ago now I was at the Georgetown location with my son and we were sitting at a table and there was like a table tent there and it said ask us anything text this number And it was a five digit number and he's like Oh I want to try this I bet no one will be there And sure enough he's like texting the number and the people are like Hey how can I help you That was pretty innovative back then And that I guess that predates when you were with the brand but would you say you guys were one of first to market with texting
[00:12:52] Andy Hooper: [00:12:52] Yeah I would say that certainly going all in on text pizza is very much a leader in that it takes some vision to look out ahead of that and think about getting beyond the comfort that some people have in communicating with another human being live on the phone but you can read stuff all over the place about customer service and nobody answers the phone You know this is so terrible but I think when you peel that back really what that is about is trust It's not about somebody needing to speak to someone else It's more of what you spoke to Jen which is this idea that someone will be there If I text someone will be there if I call And the team that leads that for pizza has been very responsive to the point where right now I think last month 94% of inbounds were interacted with within three minutes So like you have the opportunity to get people while they're still in the pizza shop potentially experiencing something that needs resolution and we can resolve it real time And that creates a high level of trust Same thing that we can run a promotion like we did last week or two weeks ago for text us hashtag three buck pie and we'll give you a coupon for a $3 pie And over time that trust compounds what we saw when we first did this was Adoption from a core group of customers that were tech forward and savvy and enjoyed interacting with the brand That way it's very gen Z very consistent with the way we interact with our employee base During COVID our run rate for the number of text conversations has quintupled; and the number of new registered users coming into the top of the funnel has tripled versus the run rate pre COVID. It makes sense … everyone's at home consuming all of this content on their phone the news their school Like everything And because we have built that level of trust in text messaging and that repository for interaction with the brand it really helped us make quick work of moving the experience from in the pizza shop to a digital and virtual experience that mirrored the brand And it's huge for us ... today we have about three and a half times the number of registered users per pizza shop that Chipotle has per shop and if you read about these big brands like Chipotle or Domino's doing these amazing things digital yeah I mean it's scaled triple as 2,700 units little low pizza here in DC has three and a half times the number of people per shop that are interacting with the brand in that digital sphere and we've seen that contribute not just To the interaction but to sales I'm sure there are a lot of listeners who are like okay that's great But what does that mean our suburban pizza shops like the one in Bethesda for example are seeing digital sales 600% higher than last year as a result of that
[00:16:01] Jen Kern: [00:16:01] Yeah the trust and the certainty that you keep talking about It's so true because when I think about text messaging there's so few barriers to entry and the fact that you can pick that up at any time I mean there are some websites I go on to order and it just takes a really long time and there's a lot of hurdles So I am curious on the technology side of things with the text messaging how are you managing integrating all that and keeping that a seamless experience And do you also have a phone line I mean you mentioned phone I'm curious about that as well
[00:16:31] Andy Hooper: [00:16:31] Yeah So we have one phone number for the company that we have to have for contractual reasons on a few different agreements that we have But basically It immediately gives you the transcribed voicemail which then somebody immediately gets on what we're trying to do is continue to move people to that text messaging platform because not only does it give us the opportunity to be more efficient but because of the tech stack that we've built And sitting at the bottom as a source of truth is this fusion hub of different dis-aggregated data sources that are all compiled into one composite profile when somebody calls in through the text line I can get a full picture of that human being and all of their interactions with the brand So I can literally know when somebody is texting me about an issue with their order I know what they just ordered Because if they've ordered it through our native digital platform instead of me saying Hey Jen what's the problem I can say Hey Jen I see you just ordered a Maverick and that you're in Georgetown Can I help you Is there an issue with your pie and all of a sudden the efficiency of that guest interaction and resolution is significantly greater than it would be if I got you on the phone and I'm like what's your name Where are you calling from what's going on What's the problem The text messaging and virtual environment gives us a chance to see all of that in real time And the other thing is great is if you haven't experienced that isn't as great it allows us to do guest recovery very quickly we can go right into somebody's account we can drop a credit to them and a message to them We can speak to them personally in a one on one basis about what they just new countered versus giving them sort of some vanilla customer service representative experience that Says Hey I'm sorry that your visit wasn't good here's a coupon
[00:18:25] Jen Kern: [00:18:25] Yeah And that personalization that's really one of the key pillars behind that trust And the credibility is that you know who I am what I'm ordering and that gets you out in front so much more You just you know making the guest feel special
[00:18:40] Andy Hooper: [00:18:40] if I recall correctly Jen you're a lover of the gluten free pie Right
[00:18:45] Jen Kern: [00:18:45] Yeah Yeah I'm all gluten free all the time
[00:18:47] Andy Hooper: [00:18:47] So like I mean another thing that this allows you to do right It allows you to have relevant conversations right Like we're not going to send you Information about our traditional dough and how it's made and like why it's better We can send you a message about our gluten-free recipe and what's in it What's not what flowers we use how you might be able to make it at home yourself And I think that also increases the trust and the personalization because we know you We know what you like and we're not going to talk to you about something that you don't like And you know I was thinking about this and talking with somebody who's vegan the other day who was bemoaning the fact that they were getting an ad for A deal on rib-eyes at the grocery store I mean it's like that doesn't make any sense So that personalization allows for trust for efficiency And for most importantly this sense of belonging in a virtual and digital way like I have an identity I can be my own person in this way and somebody is going to speak to me that way and it doesn't have to be promotional I should say it can be educational We can talk to people about how to interact with the brand differently We can give them an opportunity to get involved if they're concerned and aligned with some of the activism that we do as a company And I think that's where you can get a text message from a friend or you can get a text message from us and it feels the same
[00:20:05] Jen Kern: [00:20:05] And it makes such a difference today because there is so much uncertainty There just is you can't say there isn't and we all have our ways of getting aligned to getting right with the world and our space every day But when you have that certainty coming from places that you might not expect it or that don't usually deliver it it does give us as humans and people just More feeling of trust and certainty and comfort knowing that there are other people out there that I'm paying for food not necessarily expecting that That's the kind of going above and beyond part of the brand Right But I don't want to skip over cause we talked about hero pies You mentioned that earlier and I'm very familiar with it Our listeners might not be but again I think you were so fast to get to market with that but will you tell us like how did that all come about I mean you made a huge splash here in the DC area I'd love to know how many pizzas you've delivered for healthcare workers and heroes continuing to do it Cause I see it on the box I see it on the stickers so let's hear a little bit about hero pies
[00:21:08] Andy Hooper: [00:21:08] Sure Yeah hero pies was actually born out of something that we did as a brand back in January of 2019 which was during the government shutdown here in DC we immediately came out and said that we were going to give all impacted for load and severed government workers and opportunity to have a free pie on us at all of our pizza shops And we he gave away about 25,000 I think close to 25,000 pizzas in January and February of 2019 and it was a decision we made like this a decision we made that like DC is a town that made us And we thought my goodness like so many of the people in this town are government employees and contractors kind of have no choice but to take care of them they've taken care of us the whole way and it was great And it was also very much spur of the moment we did it It was very like knee-jerk we learned a lot about how to be even more effective about the administration of that at pizza shops And we were also in this world where the idea wasn't to create a line around the block during COVID right Like during the government shutdown we had tons of people or shops and lines around the block and we're like how do we do that But without creating major social distance issues And we thought about who's going to bear the brunt of this thing out of the gate and the answer was people working at healthcare institutions and it wasn't just about doctors and nurses for us It was about everybody there including the people who were going to be cleaning rooms in between patients this is back in a time when we knew significantly less about the disease than we know today we really wanted to send a message that we were here for the community So on Friday the 13th of March which is I would argue is I mean that was before we locked down before DC public schools had closed kind of before it got real bad we announced and publicize that we were going to do this and the next week out of the gate I think by the time we got to like Thursday we had given away 10,000 pies And myself included I actually took one of our mobile kitchens which are the big sort of box trucks with a pizza kitchen inside much bigger than a food truck And we parked one on the pad outside of GW hospital and foggy bottom And We're delivering pizzas to nurses doctors administrators from the parking lot so that they weren't having to leave the hospital And this was they're building the COVID testing tent outside just down the way from us gearing up at the time DC was not as acute as it then later became in late March it was great with the help of our community and partners sponsoring hero pies for the hospital heroes And we even got from our partner at Citibank a big commitment that allowed us to do close to 20,000 pies from their contribution alone … Today we're over 75,000 pies as part of the Hero Pies program and closing in on probably $800,000 in donated value from the company out to the community. And it's been huge because I think it's again it's kept us Grounded and connected to what's going on It's kept the community engaged and it's the right thing to do like the other thing that is front and center about the symbol of in pizza Is it's about promoting unity and one of the sort of number one ways to do that is through community And one of the ways to do that is to show up And I think there are other really great examples of this in DC I mean we had the good fortune to partner with Nate and Jose Andres and the team at world central kitchen We were able to do this not just on an individualized basis here but in partnership with them in New York city in bulk the team in New York did 4,000 pies in a day to a hospital in Harlem across the three shops that were there So just a really great opportunity to use the time and the talents that we have for good in a time when it's necessary And the combination of being able to do that from our shops and our mobile kitchens where we can roll it up to the pad of the hospital or out to a middle school in ward seven and make an impact has been great
[00:25:29] Jen Kern: [00:25:29] Yeah thank you so much for that it's definitely been inspiring to watch that and see that And now hearing the numbers at the scale that you were doing that It's a little bit mind numbing I mean it's that's a lot of pizzas and I'm thinking in the back of my mind like how are they staying in business Okay So you had a partnership you did get some donations Thank goodness from some generous supporters
[00:25:48] Andy Hooper: [00:25:48] Yeah I think all in as a company I'm not sure but probably like a third or half of that is straight pizza donation and the remaining of it has been sponsored by both individuals and companies and some of our vendor partners lot of credit to many of the people who provide services to pizza who stepped up and made sponsorships then as well
[00:26:09] Jen Kern: [00:26:09] Yeah that's awesome That's so great So appreciate you and what your company and your team is doing I'd like to talk a little bit about the theme of the show which is reinvention And so you've got this really solid brand you're front and center in the community You've got pizza which has fared better than some other segments during the pandemic What are you looking at now in terms of reinventing your business model your brand and moving forward given that we are still in fairly uncertain times where are you going to be in a year from now And what steps are you taking now to continue to reinvent the stellar brand that you have and the engagement that you're getting
[00:26:53] Andy Hooper: [00:26:53] Yeah I think for us fortunately that kind of Innovation and reinvention has been in the wood of pizza since its founding one of the great benefits to Michael's leadership as founder is this creative itch to continue looking at ways to stay ahead to take a leadership role to help chart the path for where brands need to go versus just replicate what's already been done or try to do it incrementally better for us that reinvention means a couple of things Number one I think anything that was on our roadmap for the next two to three years just gets accelerated by this pandemic not shut down we had been making significant investments in our digital marketing jobs and our data fusion hub that I mentioned earlier You pulled forward that investment because we felt like gosh now is the time And we actually need to lean on it harder than we had been in the past And we need to acquire boatloads of new customers during this time because we can't just capture them walking down the street Like I think to myself about our pizza shop on East street which is all tourism and the FBI like it's literally that's who's in the shop And the FBI is not in the office and tourists are not on the national mall So if you're going to people to the shop you have to do it creatively and reinvent yourself into that digital space we leveraged the strong base we had with text messaging leveraged the fact that we are pizza And we're in this category that's native to delivery right I think people have been more accustomed to eating pizza at home through a delivery provider than any other cuisine type in America for decades now and I think we're looking at a reinvention that also involves as I mentioned earlier recasting that experience is primary that this idea that two three years from now 70% of those orders that used to originate in a pizza shop are probably going to originate in a digital shop and therefore all of their experience with the brand whether it was music or the personality of a tribe member are going to have to come through in that digital environment So we're doubling trebling down on investments in digital looking at ways to create a more special delivery experience looking at things like packaging or pie assembly at home In fact one of the things that's happened here during COVID that's been really well received is one of our favorite pies biggest hits is the pie called the American honey it comes with arugula on top and arugula is awesome Fresh right on top of the pie it's terrible 40 minutes later after you know it's inside of a steaming hot box And the team now packages that arugula separately for delivery and then have an opportunity to do some assembly at home and sort of finishing off your experience And you think about the innovations of the past And giving the consumer a little bit more control and a little bit more participation in the process It's a good way of thinking about how do I replicate that collaboration that exists face to face in the shop where I get to say no no no Don't put that sausage here No no no I want red peppers No no no no I want this cheese here How do you give the customer the same level of control and involvement at home So I think there's going to be a lot of that And I think for us another piece of reinvention that had been on its way for some time is a real taking advantage of our cooking platform So we cook on an electric ventless oven A lot of other pizza providers are cooking on like a gas fired oven That's set to look like a wood fired oven for example like they're like mimicking Neapolitan coal fired or wood-fired ovens and those ovens are 4,000 pounds and take up 200 square feet like our ovens are not and they take up like six square feet And so that's one of the reasons why we can cook in the back of a truck as I mentioned in our mobile kitchen But I see a future where because of our ventless and electric cooking platform we can now be in all of these really interesting nontraditional spaces That other pizza companies might have a tougher time getting into And so that means more growth for us faster growth a better accessibility to unique types of real estate And a place where if we are 70% digital we can and will be in the same places that Domino's and Papa John's today because we don't have to have a dining room Like we can do it and we can do it in even smaller space We can do it with better quality ingredients and most importantly a stronger brand And I see a lot of opportunity for reinvention there which is more just an acceleration of the evolution that we had seen already within pizza
[00:32:04] Jen Kern: [00:32:04] So are you looking to have more of the mobile trucks you thinking about ghost kitchens as part of that acceleration where are all the different places or how are you going to accelerate to hit that goal that you're looking at
[00:32:17] Andy Hooper: [00:32:17] Yeah I think the answer is yes if the return on invested capital makes sense in those cases we're going to do it And I think it's because when you pull it back if you're able to successfully create that experience in a virtual environment that feels primary then you can do a lot more and reach a lot more people Right If I can put that pizza shop closer to you that's less time and delivery It's a better quality product at home increases your frequency And if I can spend a third or a quarter or a tenth of what I would normally have to spend to build that pizza shop that I'm going to get a great return and continue to be able to do it And that sort of the flywheel starts spinning I get happier customers better delivery times higher quality ingredients more cash More efficient build out and so on And then there will always be the opportunity to come into a city pizza shop like Georgetown and immerse yourself in that space if you want to as well And I think the combination of urban credibility of being in a city center and having a physical environment that's special and worth a trip combined with the accessibility And the ability to feel like the brand experience is primary in those delivery Only units becomes really compelling and I think so you'll see from pizza dark kitchens more mobile kitchens drive through lanes more efficient pickup at a shop and certainly all built on the tech stack that we have which will improve order management logic and our ability to do really high volumes out of a really small space
[00:33:56] Jen Kern: [00:33:56] so cool I've seen pictures of the truck but I've never actually seen the truck How many trucks do you have by the way
[00:34:02] Andy Hooper: [00:34:02] We have six they are scattered about the greater DMV here in DC Maryland Virginia for listeners not from the greater DC area and we've got a few of them in places is that we are about to or planning to open a physical bricks and mortar pizza shop So they're like the advanced team out there serving pizza to the community we have a few that are testing that sort of fortress mentality that I alluded to earlier where they're essentially replacing what would be a pizza shop at a much lower capital investment in fact no capital investment and then we have some that we have used for events based work So for example right now we have been working with our partners at this community organization called broccoli city and in partnership with the team at broccoli city who have been long time friends of the brand we are providing pizza to their drive in movie theater at RFK So they're running this thing for the summer called park up DC every Thursday to Sunday night they do movies and we are serving pizza there And that's another great example of because we're fleet of foot and innovative as a concept like we can be there serving pizza and people can be ordering pizza from the truck from their car on their phone and have it delivered to their car in a specific spot at the movie theater And that's just another really cool opportunity to show how the brand is able to be flexible
[00:35:26] Jen Kern: [00:35:26] Yeah so a whole new way to do takeout and a movie theater dining That is so cool I love it I love it Oh there's so many things I want to keep asking you So I do have a question too about the make at home Are you delivering the dough that you can make the dough at home or does it not work at home Because it has to be in these ventless sort of ovens
[00:35:46] Andy Hooper: [00:35:46] No I mean the great thing about most pizza dough is that most decent pizza dough is very simple like very simple ingredients and ours is very simple clean only six ingredients very straightforward for those of you like counting and saying what six ingredients could be in there is that flour sugar salt oil like very simple stuff yeast so we have during the pandemic have played around with the ability to send meal kits to people's homes And so in some of the shops at various points in time we've actually been sending kits for you to make at home So you get the dough ball sauce cheese toppings and then you get instructions You have to text us to get the instructions for how to make it cause that's how it works and then you get back the instructions in the video for how to make it and it's been great really helpful like good learning for us And I think there's a future where It's hard to not think about the fact that as strong as the brand is that there won't be meaningful opportunity for it to go laterally into other categories Like Taken bag frozen make it home et cetera what we've done within COVID is really trying to stay as focused as we can on making sure that we're doing everything we need to on the digital business and on taking care of the community But the team is always working on these innovations to figure out like what would the pizza version of a meal kit need to look like we don't just want to Run out there and throw it out there and have it be a sort of half realized idea We want it to be primary the same way that we want delivery to be primary
[00:37:23] Jen Kern: [00:37:23] Right And I was thinking about that this morning actually when I was thinking about toilet spot cause I was like will you guys have been very focused always you're one of the few restaurants that only offers pizza you don't have wings You don't have salads you know all these other things it is hundred percent pizza Right you know I've heard a lot about these increasing check sizes and people want more food now And I was thinking about that what say you there are you thinking about getting into other
[00:37:50] Andy Hooper: [00:37:50] Yeah I mean I think certainly we have the credibility and the cooking platform to go laterally but before getting into the rest of the menu our focus had been getting the pies Right And then getting beverages Right So a lot of people might not be aware but all of the beverages that we serve in our shop are all our recipe So we have proprietary soda tea and lemonade That's our product that we co-pack and that it's us So we don't serve Coke or Pepsi or some of the boutique organic soda providers that are out there that you guys might see in some of the other brands We thought it was really important to have our flavors and things that make sense with our menu And so we've spent a lot of time on beverage we do sell a couple of things that are non-pizza today we sell garlic knots which make a lot of sense It's dough it's sauce It's stuff that we already have And we sell a couple of cookies that we bake shop that are actually phenomenal So for listeners who are familiar with the brand who haven't tried cookies yet like they're incredible generally speaking our focus has been on making sure that we have Fewer things that we get really done very well first and then start thinking about where the menu goes but it's hard not to imagine a future where pizza's menu gets broader and we're offerings get more varied because the operating model is simple So at the end of the day because it's a simple operating model adding complexity in terms of menu differentiation is less of a burden on the shop than it would be for another brand
[00:39:29] Jen Kern: [00:39:29] And I have an idea for you So a few a few weeks ago I interviewed a woman named Lokelani Alabanza and she has started her own CBD vegan ice cream And it looks amazing And she's out of Nashville right now but she's planning to make it a subscription based service So I was thinking what about if there were some like fast casual type restaurants like you guys that wanted to augment their menu I have to think about pizza Friday nights pizza ice cream You know if I want to be that indulgent I'm just going to go all out about the pizza and ice cream but I do try to tend to stay organic Gluten-free low sugar if I can and that product's phenomenon It might be something you guys want to look into I don't
[00:40:14] Andy Hooper: [00:40:14] That's great Love it ice cream is something that makes a lot of sense. We hope that we'll have some really interesting things to talk about. Come next summer around that front.
[00:40:24] We'll just leave it there.
[00:40:26] Jen Kern: [00:40:26] Stay tuned, I want to talk about one of the campaigns you did recently. You alluded to it earlier, you had shared some of the numbers and results with me. When we talked, can you quickly take our listeners through that campaign? How it was structured, the ROI. We talked about CAC, we talked about lifetime customer value.
[00:40:45] You had those numbers, all right. At the top of your head and rattled, which I just was loving. So impressed with. what was that campaign all about?
[00:40:51] Andy Hooper: [00:40:51] I'm trying to remember which one I shared with you. I'm thinking I shared with you the campaign that we did last fall, tied to Bryce Harper's return.
[00:40:58] Jen Kern: [00:40:58] Oh, we did talk about that one. Let's talk about that one too.
[00:41:00] Andy Hooper: [00:41:00] Yeah. So I think you mentioned that your son is a big Bryce Harper fan. So last fall, Bryce Harper, and the Philadelphia Phillies returned to Washington DC for the final series of the regular season and a playoff spot was on the line for the Nats.
[00:41:17] And we looked at the opportunity as a DC brand to how do we put ourselves in the middle of this conversation? It's going to be a big thing in the city for the week. And the team did an exceptional job of coming up with something really creative. So they decided to create this flash sale where every time Bryce Harper struck out.
[00:41:36] Anybody that was watching the game could text in to our text line with hashtag you're out. And if they texted within 60 seconds, it was either 30 or 60 seconds. It was something very tight of him striking out. You would automatically get kicked back code for a $3 pizza. So it was like three strikes, $3 pie, three strikes you're out.
[00:41:57] And it was amazing. So Bryce struck out in the first game, struck out once I believe. And we got 3,000 text messages in 60 seconds and all these people then redeemed their pie, like over the course of the next couple of days. And it started to gain some virality to the point that by the time it was the fifth game, cause they were like making up a game from earlier in the year.
[00:42:21] The fifth game that he struck out twice. And before his last at bat, literally like all of Nats' park was chanting, we want pizza. And then you imagine 17,000 fans all texting our text line at the same time.
[00:42:36] And it was exceptional from a customer acquisition standpoint because if you peel back the cap on that, it's really just the cost of the discounted pie, which we were selling it three bucks in that case, which was still profitable on a gross margin standpoint for us.
[00:42:53] And essentially customers were paying us to be acquired.
[00:42:58] And what was really exceptional though, was not just that initial conversion, but what we got in a mini LTV of those guests in the months to come because the NATS ended up sweeping. I think sweeping the Phillies. Getting into the playoffs as the wild card. And then ultimately as many people know that they can remember back to last baseball season, winning the world series.
[00:43:20] And for the remainder of the time in the playoffs, we had this group of customers that we knew were both &pizza customers and baseball fans, because they were watching the game and had redeemed this offer. And so it was a really great opportunity for us to be able to talk specifically and directly to a group of customers that we knew what their interests were.
[00:43:48] We knew what was important to them. And we knew how to speak to them. And so for the remainder of the playoffs, we were able to send them offers, give them different customer journeys. And ultimately, it gave us an LTV in that period of time of call it two, three months where we've got in some cases, three, four, five visits out of some of these customers.
[00:44:07] So not only was the CAC grade, but it was an exceptional sales driver for us in September, October, and November of last year.
[00:44:15] Jen Kern: [00:44:15] Well, and you totally tapped into the psyche of disgruntled sports fans, particularly baseball fans in DC. We all felt so betrayed when Bryce left us. It was devastating. It was devastating. For my son, well, we won't get too into this, but he decided to go with Bryce to the Phillies.
[00:44:38] He left his, yeah.
[00:44:40] His team of 15 years and said that's how much he loved Bryce. But the fact that you were able to tap it, he was, I think, maybe alone in that, so the rest of the stadium, as you said, wanted him to strike out and wanted that free pizza. And that is just phenomenal and to get that sort of return rate over just a couple months.
[00:44:58] And then the customer acquisition that you talked about is amazing. So that's great. And then there was another campaign that you told me about. I think it was a couple of weeks ago. It was at a three for one sort of deal or...
[00:45:10] Andy Hooper: [00:45:10] Yeah. So I think what you're referencing is the three buck pie promo. And so we ran this a couple of weeks ago and same sort of general idea. But it was like flash sale like. Basically sent out a note. Promoted on social. Even did a little bit of paid media acquisition in this. But talking to people about how on Tuesday, if you texted us, we would send you back a note with a redemption code for a $3 pie.
[00:45:37] So we sent this out to, I think, like close to 13,000 people. We have 20,000 inbounds related to this. And mind you, like, we're not a big brand. We don't have a ton of pizza shops here. So 20,000 inbounds, about 7,000 of those were brand new.
[00:45:54] So acquired close to 7,000 new customers in a single day. We converted over 35% of those people to a future visit already. And again, cost of the acquisition was that discounted pie but a very conservative six month LTV on it is that one day, one Tuesday was worth about half a million dollars for us in terms of LTV.
[00:46:18] And so, again, like just a really low friction, playful, fun, interactive way to leverage the text messaging platform, to get an opportunity to speak to people directly, to create visibility in transactions, gathered data, and then most importantly, give us a direct line to these people for future engagement.
[00:46:39] Jen Kern: [00:46:39] Wow. Again, tapping into where people are, we want free stuff right now. We want discounts and those results, I mean, at 35% conversion rate is so high, I assume that kills like your other campaigns or...
[00:46:53] Andy Hooper: [00:46:53] Yeah. it's funny. We do a lot of traditional paid media too. And test all the time. And I'm not sure what other listeners might be finding but like we're finding that there's definitely some arbitrage in paid media right now because there's just a lot of people sitting on the sidelines.
[00:47:08] But I think what the team at &pizza does a great job of is that we're not out there just like blanket paid. It's very targeted. Very segmented. Very intentional. And it's blended with these other earned acquisition tools. So you get this blended CAC in some cases that is between all channels less than the total retail price of a single pie.
[00:47:33] And when that's the case, you just keep doing it all day, right? If you can acquire a customer for less than the cost of the first sale, and you've got line of sight to them redeeming multiple times between now and the end of your measurement period, it's a no brainer.
[00:47:47] You just do that all day, every day, because it gives you a larger and larger universe of people with whom you can communicate.
[00:47:54]Jen Kern: [00:47:54] Yeah, that's fantastic. Let's talk about digital a little bit? I mean, you've, touched on it throughout. You clearly have a very robust tech stack. It sounds like different technologies. And you've got the texting in there. You've got your app. I know you have an app that you recently updated and worked on.
[00:48:12] How do you stitch together all of that to get that one view of the guests that you talked about and what are your biggest challenges when it comes to technology? Because let's face it. Technology, from my experience in this industry, is one of the number one barriers for a lot of operators across the board.
[00:48:29] Andy Hooper: [00:48:29] Yeah, I think the key first and foremost is it has to both reduce friction for the guest experience and reduce friction for the employee experience. The breakdown comes when you're asking something unreasonable of either party in that transaction. And then you end up with the execution risk outweighing your best laid plans.
[00:48:51] So in our case, the text messaging first is of reduced friction environment for the shop, right? Like somebody is not answering the phone, taking a phone order. You're eliminating order accuracy issues there. In some ways the most important component of the text stack is the order management software inside of the shop, right?
[00:49:13] You have to be able to get the order accurately, onto a chip, or onto a screen. It has to make sense in terms of building the pie the right way. And you have to have everything schematically designed in a way that makes it efficient. So we've spent a lot of time tweaking, helping order management, helping the user interface on the app or the web, tweaking the communication with delivery providers.
[00:49:36] We have native delivery but we also partner with third party aggregators that everyone's familiar with out there. And instead of having those discs aggregated from our stack, they are all directly point to point integrated in our tech stack.
[00:49:50] And I think that's really important because we then have visibility to the details and the ability to communicate with customers. In fact, back at the beginning of COVID, I believe that we might've even been the first that I can think of that could offer contactless delivery, which has now become cliche, I think.
[00:50:08] But in early March, we were able to do it because the way that our text messaging platform is set up is, we're communicating to people with their order from start to finish. And so we could pass the phone number, anonymized phone number, of the driver to the guest in that text message.
[00:50:25] You would order a pie from us in mid March and you'd get it a message back that said, Hey Jen, and is on her way with the order. If you want her to have it be contact list, you can just text her here. And now it's like the default setting on Uber Eats, or Door Dash, or Caviar. Back then we were the only person doing it.
[00:50:42] And I think that's the power of thinking through the friction reduction from start to finish. And for us and for anybody out there, that's listening, that's like, how do I build the right kind of digital infrastructure to support my ambitions? The most important thing is an investment in the data and the data fidelity. But you have to get that core system of truth correct.
[00:51:07] And it's hard work and expensive work. And most people aren't willing to put in that time. Because they can't imagine what the return on that investment is. Cause it's a big chunk of capital upfront, and an unknown on the other side. But I think the last five months are showing many people how an underinvestment in digital can potentially put some really great brands out of business.
[00:51:32] And that foundational data integrity and fidelity is central to being able to do all the other magic tricks.
[00:51:39] Jen Kern: [00:51:39] A hundred percent. Well, you're speaking my language now. I mean, we actually here at Qu rebuild our whole POS a couple of years ago to have that one central data repository. And like you said, a lot of hard work. Getting that one modern code base, everything, API first and an integratable, if you will.
[00:51:59] It's a lot of work, but it's the core architecture that you're talking about. That's so important and foundational and I think people are starting to prioritize that today, given everything you've seen. But the fact that you guys were prioritizing it early on, kudos. Kudos all around there.
[00:52:15] As we wrap here, I'd like to hear what advice you would have for marketers.
[00:52:20] Andy Hooper: [00:52:20] Gosh, I think that from my perspective, one of the most important things that marketers can do today in the restaurant space is get close to the operators in the business and understand what's happening today. Like a lot of people have been away from their business over the last five months.
[00:52:43] They've been quarantined. They've been less likely to go to their units if they are a multiunit. And there's a level of detachment that comes with that from what frontline restaurant workers are living and experiencing every day. And I think the idea that you're in this world too, where there's a news cycle, that is just crazy.
[00:53:07] I'm looking for an eloquent way to try to summarize the complexity of the current news cycle and I'm failing. It's crazy. And so I think all of that creates a tendency to be a bit disconnected from the reality and the best thing that great marketers can do right now is really understand what's going on on the front line and get close to their operating partner, to be able to build the kind of solutions that are gonna make the difference. Because right now, a level of empathy for the people serving on behalf of your brand and an understanding of where those pain points are, can really unlock great marketing opportunity down the road.
[00:53:48] And I think, I'm biased. As I mentioned to you, I told you I'm an operator first, but I think great brands need great execution in order to fully realize the work that's put into the brand. And so this is a good time in history to look at those relationships and try to build empathetic partnerships with your operators.
[00:54:08]Jen Kern: [00:54:08] Yeah, absolutely. Love it. Amen. Amen to that. so &pizza and the future, you talked about acceleration, so I'll ask about locations. It's not necessarily about locations, maybe trucks or those kitchens or dark kitchens, but for listeners that may not be familiar with your brand and you are mostly in DC, are you looking to span out to other locations and other geographies?
[00:54:31] And what's that looking like over the next year?
[00:54:34] Andy Hooper: [00:54:34] That's a great question. Yes. We do have a very distinct point of view on growth at this stage. Which is that the closer we are to home, the easier it is for us to deliver a great experience. Obviously if you're asking somebody who manages a pizza shop in, you know, Tyson's to go to Ashburn, that's not all that far away.
[00:54:55] If you're asking somebody who manages a pizza shop and Tyson's to go to Seattle, that's a little bit further away. So the short term growth plans for the brand are to be aggressive, quick, and relatively close to home. But that said, we will have not one, but two shops opening in Richmond, here in the coming weeks and months.
[00:55:16] And then the majority of the rest of the business will be between our home base of the greater DC area today. Up to New York City. And so we have some shops in North New Jersey, Jersey City, coming on King University, in New Jersey coming on a shop in Willow Grove, outside of Philadelphia, coming on a few more Philadelphia suburban deals early next year. And then a bunch of shops in and around DC, Seven Corners, Maryland city.
[00:55:44] Another Alexandria deal, a couple more in Arlington County, a couple in Fairfax County. lots of growth in and around this area and expansion to Richmond. And then, ultimately we'll continue to go organically down the coast.
[00:55:57] Jen Kern: [00:55:57] Nice. So slowly crawling North and your count of locations now, what are you at? Like 20. Where are you about?
[00:56:05] Andy Hooper: [00:56:05] We have 40 in total and then we've got our mobile kitchens as well. Now, a few of those are licensed locations like in the airport, so they're not owned and operated by the brand.
[00:56:16] And then we have a couple of shops like in DC today. That are temporarily closed at this point in time and we've combined the sales from, like, our shop in Chinatown to our shop at East street. Our goal is to take it from that base today and get close to doubling it in the next 18 months, which sounds crazy in the midst of a pandemic, but it's actually really makes a lot of sense because if you have something that's working.
[00:56:41] And you have something you're confident in. This is exactly the time to press forward. It leads to good conversations with landlords, leads to a lot of trust with your employee base, and they see an opportunity for growth and development. And it allows you to maintain momentum and keep people focused on the future.
[00:56:59] Jen Kern: [00:56:59] Yeah. Awesome. That is aggressive. Growth and acceleration. So all my best to you. As we wrap here, any parting words of wisdom for our listeners. You gave a lot of great advice, a lot of great insight into the brand. I really appreciate it. So appreciate your time here today.
[00:57:16] But I'd like to leave the last minute for any infomercials or shout outs to some of your community partners or just words of wisdom.
[00:57:23] Andy Hooper: [00:57:23] Yeah. I think first of all, &pizza could not do what it does today without the multiple hundreds of tribe members who have continued showing up to work every day during this pandemic. They are essential workers. That's a phrase that has shown up now in this chapter in our history.
[00:57:45] And it's absolutely true. Our shop leaders and the people working in our pizza shops have been essential to supporting their community, to keeping people fed, to feeding frontline heroes in the hospitals. It's taking care of one another. And so my shout out would be to them. Without them, this business would not be what it is.
[00:58:05] And certainly, without them, it would not be what it's going to be. And my, I guess parting words to listeners would be, remember that right now, in this moment, investing in your people is probably the most important investment you will make for the long term. There are a lot of folks who don't have their employees showing up and who moved quickly to look for ways to cut costs. Some cases, because they had to. For those of you that have the position and the ability and the financing to do so, there is no investment that yields greater return than that goes into your team and we've seen that pay dividends to us. And I would encourage everybody else to look at the ways that they can support the frontline workers in their restaurants, because that is what is making the difference.
[00:58:57] Jen Kern: [00:58:57] That is beautiful. I think that is a great way to end. And the way that you talk about your tribe and your people is truly exemplary. And so I thank you for setting that really high bar and that high standard for all of us. It's just wonderful to see. It's very heartwarming. So thank you, Andy.
[00:59:13] Really appreciate your time today. All my best to you and &pizza. I can't wait to see the truck around.
[00:59:19] Andy Hooper: [00:59:19] Alright, sounds great. Thanks so much for the invite. Take care.
[00:59:49]