Building A Perfect Pizzeria

Sarillo celebrated his first restaurant's 10th anniversary last week. (The stuffed North American animals on his walls wore party hats.) Now he is working on his three-month-old second restaurant in Elgin, Ill. Sarillo calls the half-hour drive between the two a "great excuse" to ride his Harley. And, he is scouting locations for a third restaurant to be 9,000 square feet, like his others, which he plans to build next year. His goal: five locations by 2010. Sarillo's construction know-how helps keep the construction costs for each new restaurant to $3 million. "I know what can be built economically," he says. He built his first restaurant himself, with just a couple laborers, and he still keeps a tool belt in his car.

For a macho-looking guy, Sarillo runs a touchy-feely operation. "We're not cop kind of leaders. We're coaches," he says. Sarillo trains servers to create "moments of magic." "Greeting a guest within five steps. That's a moment of magic," he says. The smiles pay off: several servers have made $500 to $1,000 in tips in one night. So far, his management approach has worked too. In an industry with a typical employee turnover of 150 percent a year, Nick's is just 20 percent. Next month, Sarillo will return to NEWSWEEK's Business Edge discuss how he copes with his two thorniest managment issues: staff disputes and the training of 230 employees in two locations. He will also let us know how the development of his third restaurant is coming along.

If you have questions about the restaurant business for Nick Sarillo, or his business partner Christopher Adams, you can write to them at: nickspizzapub@gmail.com.

© 2005