Pizza Hut veteran packs in crowds at Italiano's pizza-pasta-burger joint

Nation's Restaurant News, March 22, 1993 by Jack Hayes

WOODSTOCK, Ga. -- A 15-year veteran of Pizza Hut's field management team is cutting a triple-decker slice in the rapidly evolving "Italian-American" casual-dining scene with a combination pizza, pasta and burger eatery called Italiano's.

Operating in a former Burger King location in this remote suburb of northwest Atlanta, the 1-year-old concept is mixing drive-through, take-out and home delivery with a full-service dining room that keeps seven waiters jumping on Friday nights.

Calling the Italiano's menu "slightly upscale for fast food," founder Thomas Sliger said his target market is the affluent suburbs. Average per-person checks are $5 at lunch and $7 at dinner.

And with the restaurant registering 35-percent gains over last February and March, Sliger said he hopes that Italiano's will hit the $1 million mark in sales this year. Volume for 1992 was $600,000.

In the meantime, he has signed a joint-venture deal to debut the Italiano's concept in West Palm Beach, Fla., with another former Pizza Hut field manager and is scouting for a second and third location in north Atlanta.

"We opened quietly but we've been packed," he reported. To help accommodate additional diners, Sliger converted the 2,500-square-foot restaurant's former outdoor playground into a dining deck with umbrellas.

Sliger said that Italiano's prepares all pastas from scratch -- and preps canneloni, lasagna and manicotti 100 trays at a time -- moving them from freezer to cooler to steam table in rapid rotation. Nevertheless, the concept is geared for speed, and the drive-through window is able to deliver pasta in two minutes.

"People are blown away getting their pasta that fast. And I'm blown away, seeing lunch customers at the drive-through order shrimp fettuccine at $7.99; it's incredible," he declared.

During his tenure with Pizza Hut, Sliger helped to launch delivery stores in Florida, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas.

On a busy Friday night, Italino's three-station kitchen operates with seven staffers -- two each at the grill, the pasta table and the pizza line and one employee assembling appetizers. On average weeknights, however, that number is downsized to four.

Italiano's features a four-item, daily changing Italian-American lunch buffet -- offering spaghetti, ziti and manicotti with hot wings -- at $3.99.

The menu features 10 appetizers, such as breadsticks, fries, chicken fingers and Greek salad; 12 sandwiches, including five burgers and a popular Philly Cheese Steak; pan and thin pizza in four sizes; stuffed pizza in three sizes; 16 topping choices; and 11 pastas, from spaghetti marinara priced at $5.49 to chicken parmigiana at $7.69.

"People get variety here, and that's what they want," said Sliger, who added that his average pizza delivery also includes a hamburger with cheese sticks or fries.

Sliger also said he is emphasizing large portions at Italiano's. For example, a spaghetti dinner-salad bar combination with bread sticks sells for $5.49, while a freshly made one-third pound hamburger sells for $2.69.

As a result, Italiano's is running a food cost of about 34 percent.

But even with his complex kitchen, labor cost is a modest 20 percent. "We get productivity out of people. I go from eight people on weeknights to 16 on Fridays, not including the delivery crew," he said.

In what Sliger characterized as a weak lunch market, Italiano's is generating 35 percent of its total sales from mid-day customers.

Overall, carryout accounts for a quarter of the store's volume. Delivery -- including off-premises catering, which ran $5,000 in March -- is 30 percent. And full service is 45 percent.

Meanwhile, pasta accounts for about 30 percent of total menu sales. Pizza and sandwiches average another 30 percent each, with burgers alone at 10 percent. Beverages make up the remaining 10 percent.

Sliger spends only 1 percent of sales on advertising -- putting it all into what he calls "on-sight" image items -- banners, magnets, jackets and catering truck decals.

"When new customers walk in, we hand them our refrigerator magnet with the phone number," Sliger added. They also receive a note reading "We accept most competitors' coupons -- $3 for your second medium pizza, $5 for your second large."

"Before the curtain goes up on tonight's movie, Italiano's delivers variety," reads a carry-out bag stuffer Sliger developed with a local video rental operation.

Italiano's also capitalizes on the current pizza and burger chain promotions, and Sliger matches daily prices on his outdoor letter sign.

"I play on everybody's specials. When McDonald's and Wendy's advertise, I'm with them," he said.

And when it comes to comparing his concept with that of his former employer, he quips, "We want to be a little better than Pizza Hut."