Operations

Pizza Ranch focuses on small-town operations

Buffet concept Pizza Ranch focuses on towns with populations of 5,000 and less. Pizza Marketplace talked with Adrie Groeneweg, Pizza Ranch's founder and president, to learn what makes the brand tick and what sets it apart from the competition.

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May 13, 2022 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

Adrie Groeneweg started Pizza Ranch with some pennies and a prayer. What began as a pipe dream in 1981 has since expanded to 212 pizza restaurants across 11 states, with more in the works. Groeneweg, founder and president of Pizza Ranch, "didn't have anything to lose," he said, when he launched his pizzeria. Instead, he gained everything.

Just out of high school, Groeneweg had been working in a pizza restaurant part-time while welding full-time. He told his father how busy the pizza restaurant was, and his father ran some numbers of his own. Could they open a pizza place in their own small town of Hall, Iowa, an area of just 1,800 people? There was only one way to find out.

Adrie Groeneweg, Pizza Ranch's founder & president

Groeneweg's parents bought a building on Main Street and some used equipment from a pizza place that had closed. "I think my dad has $73,000 stuck into the whole thing," Groeneweg said in a phone interview, adding the interest rate was a whopping 17.5% at the time.

The first year, Groeneweg didn't get paid for running the restaurant. February was the slowest, and they brought in only $8,700 for the entire month. The second year was better as word spread, and Groeneweg actually took home a salary.

Then residents of Orange City, Iowa told Groeneweg they wanted a pizzeria in their town, so Groeneweg and his parents opened a second store. "We weren't ready, but we did it and we made it work," he said.

The next year, a man from Mountain Lake, Minnesota, called Groeneweg and made him a proposition: he wanted to buy Pizza Ranch's pizza recipe. Instead, Groeneweg sold him a franchise.

Over the next six years, Pizza Ranch grew to 50 restaurants in states including Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, where small towns thrive.

"It wasn't even planned, Groeneweg said. "It just happened. Our niche? Towns of 5,000 or less because nobody wanted those towns. Some of our towns were 1,000 people, but it worked."

Today, six stores are corporate-owned and the rest are franchised. Groeneweg owns 27 franchised stores with two partners.

Pizza Ranch expects to open 10 stores this year in Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois. In the future, it plans to turn its attention to Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, and Arkansas. What it won't do it jump to the coasts where distribution would be more difficult and the brand isn't as well known.

Buffet operations

Eighty percent of sales is buffet-based. Groeneweg initially didn't want to run a buffet concept, but a franchisee talked him into letting him try it at his own store.

"His sales took off and went up 23% to 24% immediately," Groeneweg said. "If sales go up even 5%, you've got to take a look at what's going on, let alone 23% to 24%. It took off, and people just wanted it."

Groeneweg said he is "very strict" about cleanliness in the stores, and Pizza Ranch is continually updating its concept because he doesn't want a "worn-out" pizza place.

The menu is kept small so items are hot and fresh. The buffet is basically chicken and pizza, with a few ancillary items like mashed potatoes and a salad bar.

"The items out there are as high quality as you could get in any restaurant," Groeneweg said. He's proud to say his concept is a buffet now even though it took him "a while to get there."

Delivery and carryout accounts for 20% of sales, but during the pandemic that number rose to 40%. Pizza Ranch did have to close a few stores during the roughest part of the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Post-pandemic, Pizza Ranch is back to 73% buffet operations, with carryout sitting at 33%. "We don't want to lose what we had gained there," Groeneweg said.

On the menu, the all-meat Bronco pizza is a fan favorite, as is the company's chicken. Half of Pizza Ranch's carryout orders contain chicken. The brand started with deck ovens but eventually moved to conveyors for ease of use.

Modern-day challenges

Like most restaurants, Pizza Ranch is fighting supply chain issues and staffing shortages. Groeneweg estimates each store is probably short 10 to 15 team members, including management. To battle staffing challenges, Pizza Ranch has created a task force to find ways to work with less people.

"We don't have a choice," he said. "We're going to have to."

One move the company is making is to test bussing robots in a couple of restaurants in which customers place dishes in the robot's bin as it rolls by the tables.

Third-party delivery has also been a boon to the brand, as it doesn't need its own drivers or cars.

"We're looking at anything we can look at, even if it just saves three hours a day somewhere," Groeneweg said. "That all adds up."

On supply chain issues, Groeneweg said Pizza Ranch's chicken vendor called him up several months ago and announced they were dropping the company, and Pizza Ranch had been with the vendor for some 17 years.

"They were like 270 people short, and if they got rid of our line, that's like 240 people," Groeneweg said. "These are problems you just never heard of five years ago."

In the zone

One of the biggest points of differentiation for Pizza Ranch has been the addition of its FunZones to 40 stores. By the end of the year, Pizza Ranch plans to have FunZones added to nearly 60 units. The game rooms came about when a franchisee, located in a strip mall, had some extra space and added a handful of games.

Bigger FunZones have space for party rooms with seating for up to 20 people and up to 60 games.

"I'm surprised at how well they do," Groeneweg said. "It's a game changer for us. For our bigger markets, it's more of a destination. Any time you can become a destination, especially in higher-populated areas, that's a good thing."

About Mandy Wolf Detwiler

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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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