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Derby City Pizza Co. ready to break out of the gates in Louisville

Derby City Pizza Co. in Louisville, Kentucky, has seven stores and is readying for more. Could franchising be in the future? Owner Larry Davis says perhaps, if they can find the right people.

Photo by Networld Media Group

October 24, 2022 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

It's 11 a.m. on a Friday morning, and the garage doors on at the front of Derby City Pizza Co. are wide open to enjoy the late September weather. A server wipes down counters and menus, reading for the lunch rush. It's quiet now, but by 11:30 a.m., tables will start to fill. It's a small dining room, with a mixture of high-top and regular tables, and bars lining the open garage doors. The dining room smells of marinara and dough. It is, indeed, a traditional pizzeria in every sense of the word.

Derby City Pizza Co. is the brainchild of Larry Davis. Located in Louisville, Kentucky, his seven pizzerias each reflect the communities in which they're situated, effectively making them a hometown favorite for locals.

Davis learned the ropes at an early age, working for another local chain at the tender age of 14. By 19, he'd bought into the franchise and by the age of 25, he had three more stores under his belt. But working as a franchisee for another company didn't sit well with the self-made entrepreneur. He wanted his own brand, one he could cultivate on his own, cherry pick ingredients, hire local talent and make folks happy with great pizza, friendly smiles and efficient operations.

"The franchise just wasn't for me," Davis said, sitting at a high-top table at his Valley Station location in a Louisville suburb. Davis sat down with Pizza Marketplace for an in-depth look at how his pizzerias have flourished in Louisville and what makes them tick.

Provided

He first opened up a sports bar in Pleasure Ridge Park, another suburb of Louisville, and made pizzas, sandwiches and lasagnas for bar patrons. He wanted to focus more on the food side of his business, and rented a building with a lease option to buy. He moved locations and opened up his first pizzeria in 2011. His second unit followed close behind near Sandiford Field, Louisville's airport.

He knew he was ready to open a second store quickly having done it with the previous franchise he had worked for. He ducked out of that franchise because after paying franchise fees and royalties, he just wasn't making enough money.

"I was paying my managers more than I was taking," Davis said, "and that's what made me decide, 'hey, this wasn't for me.'"

Operations

With seven stores under his belt (and five opening within the last four years) the pizzerias have hit Louisville's pizza scene with a bang. Each store initially had a different name, and Davis did some rebranding with new menus and a federally registered new name — Derby City Pizza Co. — to form a cohesive brand.

"I felt like everybody knew the Derby City with Churchill Downs (home to the Kentucky Derby) and horse racing," Davis said.

Processes are now the same at all seven units and kitchens run about the same. There's a blueprint for the kitchens to maintain consistency across the brand.

An employee makes pizza in the kitchen of Derby City Pizza Co. Photo by Networld Media Group.

There's a lot of good pizza in Louisville, so what sets Derby City Pizza Co. apart from the competition in town?

"It is the experience," Davis said. "There's a lot of pizzerias in town, but I stand out the most in that we're community related. We give back to everybody who comes asking. I hardly said no to any of them. We do school fundraisers to baseball fundraisers to Little League, you name it. It's built into every one of my business models. We make sure that giving back is part of that business plan from day one. We do a lot … and this is what I know builds a good business."

Customers come in, have a good experience and will return. Local murals on the wall illustrate the communities in which the pizzerias are situated with local colors and tchotchkes. The brand's motto, "Family Spoken Here" is indeed indicative of the way Davis runs his business. His wife operates another Derby City Pizza Co. restaurant, his brother runs two stores and his kids are involved in the restaurants as well. "It's definitely a family run business," Davis said.

The menu

The pizzas are built on a thin crust using conveyor ovens due to the amount of food that Derby City Pizza Co. puts out. Davis said he used to use a deck oven, but at the volume they're doing, a deck just couldn't keep up. The conveyors can also handle lasagnas and hot sandwiches.

There's a vat of spaghetti sauce cooking in the kitchen ready to go for the lunch rush. Spaghetti and meatballs and lasagna are big sellers. The restaurants used to sell fried foods, but with the rising cost of oil and supply chain issues, they nixed them during COVID.

Davis is proud of his health-inspection scores, regularly racking up 99-100%. "We like to keep everything organized and clean," Davis added.

When it comes to pizza, the Champ is the top seller, loaded with sausage, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, green olives, black olives and mozzarella cheese. The Chicken Ranch pizza, topped with Ranch dressing, chicken, onions, bacon and diced tomatoes and mozzarella cheese is another favorite. The hefty Runner-Up, a meat lover's pizza topped with six meats and mozzarella cheese tops the big three.

Pizza takes center stage at Derby City Pizza Co. Photo by Networld Media Group.

There are LTOs, like the Double Down Pepperoni and Taco pizzas, that change frequently to give customers something new to try. "It just keeps them coming back," Davis said.

All pizzas can be made with a thick crust for an additional $1.99 for a small and $2.25 for a large. There's gluten-free pizza available, as is a low-carb crustless pizza and a broccoli and cheese-crust pizza.

The menu has been streamlined with staffing shortages to make it less hectic for servers and kitchen staff alike. Derby City Pizza Co. employs 125 people company-wide. "I've got some good, long-time committed employees," Davis added. "I don't just hire managers outside just because you say you're a manager. You have to grow within the company."

The future

David admits he's considered franchising, but said he hears dollar signs when prospective franchisees call, and that's not what he wants his company to be about. "We've already got the things down that we would be paying them to do," Davis said. "Because of my franchise history, I kind of went off that experience. It would almost be a turn-key if I did that.

"I'm building these to be more simplified all the way around with the policies and procedures. We've already got the product. … We're not there all the way, but we're working on them."

He's interested in franchising only if a franchisee would be hands on as an owner/operator, not just because he or she has money.

Davis doesn't want to lose control of his product, and he wants a franchisee to always be present. Getting the first one open is the hardest, he said.

He's looking at opening at least four more locations, and wants his kids involved.

"We're fairly new. We've been here 11, 12 years, and we haven't even done real marketing," Davis said. "It's all word of mouth at this point. We've been doing some (radio) commercials, but nothing mass media, but we're looking to. So, I think Derby City Pizza hasn't captured a lot of the market here in Louisville yet. But we will."

About Mandy Wolf Detwiler

Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.

An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.

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