Here’s a fun fact: Did you know that Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza a day? That’s about 350 slices per second. Just in the United States alone, there are about 61,269 pizzerias. With those statistics, it’s pretty hard to be a stand out in the pizza industry. But with excellent food, good management, and strong marketing, it’s not impossible. Take it from Spiro Barbalios from West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, who is the proud owner of Neapolitan pizza joint Keystone Pizza.
Source: Keystone Pizza Facebook Page
ABOUT THE BUSINESS
In September of 2010, Barbalios opened up Keystone Pizza in West Conshohocken after running a seven year business called Phoebe’s BBQ. Since then, the restaurant has turned into a local favorite among the community, known for their delicious homemade food and excellent service. It seats about 50 people and offers a delivery service within a 7 mile radius.
Their hand-tossed Neapolitan thin crust pizza, made with homemade dough and sauce, is definitely their best seller, but their menu comes alive with a variety of other delicious choices as well – such as pastas, wings, sandwiches, and salads. Another community favorite for them is their charbroiled chicken that people keep coming back for.
Source: Keystone Pizza Facebook Page
SMALL BUSINESS CHALLENGES
However, any small business owner can attest to the fact that it takes more than just having excellent products and services to make it in the industry – and it doesn’t happen in an instant. One of the reasons small businesses don’t make it to their second year of business is the lack of credible employees. Barbalios shared that, for him personally too, one of the biggest challenges of running a small business is staffing.
“When you staff a business with less than 50 people, it’s tough to find good people,” he said. Due to it being a small business, there are people who think they can get away with anything. Barbalios emphasized the importance of finding people who you can trust and who share the same vision as the business.
Source: Keystone Pizza Facebook Page
WORDS OF WISDOM
According to 2016 statistics published by the Small Business Administration, around half of all businesses don’t make it after five years. One big reason for this is their lack of preparation and knowledge about what they’re getting into. With his experience with Keystone, Barbalios stresses the truth to this.
“Before you start, know what you’re doing. Do your homework. Make sure you have everything – financing, capital, and inventory – in place,” he said as advice to those who want to start their own small business as well.
He also added that another key to success for small businesses that he lives by is know how to market your business. They have an active Facebook account where they post photos of their food daily and have also utilized direct mail marketing by mailing their menus to their community – a perfect way to use traditional and digital marketing to achieve reach and success in all areas. He said that a good amount of the financing they received were put into marketing and it was a decision he does not regret.
Source: Keystone Pizza Facebook Page
The last piece of advice he gave for small business owners is to “grow into the community.” It’s important for small businesses to remember that in order to compete with big companies and chains, they must appeal to their local community by actively being a part of it. Build the brand with your local audience and work your way into being a household name – just like what Keystone Pizza has become.
THE IRONWOOD DIFFERENCE
Barbalios avails of Ironwood Finance’s services in order to be sure that he always has enough operating cash to run his business. Ironwood is an alternative lender that aims to help small and medium sized businesses from across the United States grow with funding customized to their needs.
“Ironwood helped me with cash flow, making sure that I have enough of it. They’ve been very helpful. Kevin (Ironwood Finance CEO) did a great job for me,” he shared.
If you’re a small business owner looking for some help with your cash flow too, you can apply for our different services here.