1-on-1 with Pizza Leadership

How Fat Boy's Pizza expanded despite pandemic

Louisiana-based Fat Boy's Pizza is set to open its seventh unit next year, taking the brand outside its home state. The company has managed to grow despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Provided

December 10, 2021 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

"Size Matters" at Fat Boy's Pizza. There's the company's 30-inch pizzas and oversized slices, sure, and Fat Boy, the company's mascot. But there's also the fact that the Louisiana company will amass $11 million in sales this year after just opening their fourth store this fall. Owner Gabe Corchiani says there's "More to Love" — another Fat Boy's motto — at the company, and he's betting on the support team he's put into place to help him grow the brand outside Louisiana.

Pizza, it seems, has been well positioned during the pandemic with carryout and delivery, and the fast-casual concept managed to skirt real disaster and even grow during COVID. After opening in Metairie, Louisiana, a New Orleans suburb, in February 2019, Fat Boy's has managed to expand with some strategic planning. Three more stores are slated to open within the next year and all are corporate owned.

Corchiani originally saw a concept in South Florida that sold large pies and slices and he liked it. Coupled with the fact that he spent summers in New Jersey as a kid, he enjoyed New York-style pizza and thought it would be a great addition to his home state of Louisiana. There wasn't another concept like it in the New Orleans area. He originally planned to run just one store almost for fun, but demand was so great he expanded the Metairie store and quickly opened a second on the campus of LSU across from Tiger Stadium.

"It just took off and it had legs of its own," Corchiani told Pizza Marketplace in a phone interview. "It's grown and I brought on high-level management to help run it."

Two stores are pushing AUVs of $3 million each. "Our Metairie store, as well as our Covington store, we're putting up as good or better numbers in COVID than when we were regularly open," Corchiani said. "Our delivery and takeout business were through the roof.

"The pizza industry, in my opinion, didn't really get hurt that much."

In the public

Fat Boy's hired a branding company about a year-and-a-half ago to polish its image and create some catchphrases that would help it pop, like the "Size Matters" and "More to Love" slogans. Nowhere is this more evident than the company's 30-inch pizzas, which are sold whole and by the slice.

Think that's a lot of pizza? Imagine eating nearly five two-pound slices in just 10 minutes. That's what International Federation of Competitive Eating champ Geoffrey Esper threw down to best eating legend Joey Chestnut and reigning Fat Boy's Pizza Eating Championship winner in November. The second annual pizza-eating contest brought in more than 3,000 spectators to the LSU location. It was fun, but the media coverage was outstanding, Corchiani said. And if you can't beat Esper or Chestnut, there's the local challenge — eat two feet of Fat Boy's cheese or pepperoni pizza in seven minutes or less and win a t-shirt and gift card (there's a $20 fee for the pizza). Do it in less than 40 seconds — Chestnut and Esper tied to hold that fastest time — and there's a cash prize on the line.

"It creates a lot of excitement in the store," Corchiani said. "It's pretty neat to watch. We have a leaderboard in each store with the time (competitors) got. It's something we do inside each of our stores to create a little local excitement."

Indeed, Fat Boy's stores are "woven in the fabric" of their local communities. They participate in numerous fundraisers each year for schools, churches, parks, etc. and donated more than 1,000 pies to hospitals and first responders during the crux of COVID. "We did it, of course, to help out, but it was very highly publicized and over the past year and a half (hospitals and first responders) have come back to promote it and came in and patronized our business," Corchiani said.

Fat Boy's has two food trucks that also travel to events which helps promote the brand.

On the menu

The concept is simple. Pizza is king at Fat Boy's. There are a few sides like chicken wings and salads, but pizza is really at the heart of the concept. Dough and sauce are made in-house and meats are purchased from a company in Chicago and processed locally. Even mozzarella logs are made and cut in the restaurants.

Corchiani admits he's struggled with the price of grade A chicken wings this year. He's passed that price on a bit to his customers, "but you can only go so high because people don't want to pay for them," he said.

Cheese prices have been fluctuating, and Fat Boy's used to use Grande before moving to Bacio. "We'll put that cheese up against anybody's cheese," he said.

Prep is done in each individual kitchen rather than at a commissary. They'd talked about using one in the past, but making everything fresh in the store is an earmark of what Fat Boy's is about. "It makes people feel a little bit better about the freshness that we have instead of everything being frozen," Corchiani said.

Pizzas are sold in 16 inches, 30 inches and by the slice. The Skinny Boy features fresh Gulf shrimp, baby spinach, Roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, garlic oil and shredded mozzarella. The Fat Boy itself is a supreme with pepperoni, Italian sausage, ground beef, green peppers, black olives, mushrooms, red onion, house-made tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella. The Hog is topped with slow cooked pulled pork, bacon, the brand's own Smoky Hog Sauce, red onions, pickled jalapeños, Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce, shredded mozzarella and cheddar.

Employees are key

Corchiani admits that, like most pizzerias, hiring and retention has been challenging over the past months. To combat that, he's put an employee package in place. Compensation is competitive and attractive. "We pay them very well, but we also have tip sharing where all the hourly employees are on a tip share for that shift, so whether you're in the kitchen or in the front of the house or bartending, everyone shares in the tips and that helps to create a little bit more morale," Corchiani said. "If you show a great passion and a little bit of enthusiasm about what you're doing, it sort of funnels down and it grows on them as well."

They've also put into place an employee appreciate program where employees can earn Fat Bucks for anything from longevity to good reviews on social media. Fat Bucks can be redeemed for prizes ranging from gift cards to TVs or even trips. "It's something they can build over time for higher, more valuable prizes or they can redeem them as they feel they'd like to," Corchiani said. "It's something nobody out there is doing to help them feel attached to the business."

Management is paid above industry level, he added, with three managers in each store. One is an operating partner. There's a bonus program tied into revenue as an incentive to sales "so it gives them ownership in the store. The better the store does, the more money they have the potential to make," Corchiani said.

Ready for growth

The third store was the company's biggest to date at 3,500 square feet. They're seeking out locations with patios especially, and bonus points if the unit has garage doors to open a restaurant to the fresh air. "Down here in Louisiana, the climate that we have enables us to use (a patio) nine months out of the year," Corchiani said.

Fat Boys has considered franchising but has been working to put systems in place in the four stores already open. The company will expand to Mississippi and Texas next year. They've got a list of 35 potential franchisees when they're ready to expand, which could come as early as the next year or two.

He's put a management team in place from HR to operations and training in anticipation of future growth and it's to that team that he attributes much of his growth and success, especially having expanded during COVID-19. That includes a regional director of operations who ran 10 Chili's and a director of operations with seven years at Harrah's and Caesars. That's a lot of experience being put to good use at Fat Boy's Pizza, Corchiani said.

Now they hope to open 10 to 15 corporate stores before they consider franchising. That way, systems are firmly in place and have been tested across multiple units.

"I'm trying to do everything the right way to try to keep the control to where we can change things if we have to right away," Corchiani said. "Once we do get it to a point where we feel comfortable and we do have it as good as we can, I think franchising will come."

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.

Connect with Mandy: