Operations

Stoner's Pizza Joint burns bright as it grows

Stoner's Pizza Joint has 50 units and will build another 15 next year. With its systems and franchising down, owner John Stetson expects the brand to excel as it grows.

Photo: Stoner's Pizza Joint

November 25, 2024 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

Stoner's Pizza Joint isn't what you think. The brand wasn't founded on 420 principles… instead, it was named for the oven in which the pizza baked.

Still, the kitschy brand has embraced the double entendre of its name, and that's made it a favorite. With 50 units open, Stoner's has hit its stride, and there's no slowing down.

John Stetson owns and operates Stoner's Pizza Joint. Photo: Stoner's Pizza Joint

The brand was founded in 2013 just outside of Savannah, Georgia, by Joel Harn, a serial pizzeria entrepreneur. With stones around the oven, Stoner's was the perfect name for the shop. It eventually evolved into Stoner's Pizza Joint, a play on the cannabis industry.

But it's loved by far more than its proverbial namesakes.

Soon after the first pizzeria opened, Harn developed a second store, and franchising began. At 20 units, he sold the company in 2018. After he sold Stoner's, half the units left the brand, and it was left with 10 units.

John Stetson became a franchisee in 2019 in Fort Lauderdale and loved the brand so much he opened seven more units in just nine months and bought out the shareholders to become CEO and owner in 2020. It's a passion, he said, and one he takes seriously. With a financial background, he managed a private equity firm. The money needed to open a Stoner's Pizza Joint was a fraction of the cost of the big players, but the AUVs of both were about the same, he said.

"For years, I looked at becoming a franchisee of some of the other bigger QSRs — Jimmy John's, I looked at Dunkin' Donuts — and the money required, the time and some of the parameters that the franchisor put on you, i.e. you need to open X amount of stores in such amount of time, there's all these commitments and, for me, I was too handcuffed to dip my toes in and see if I liked it," Stetson said. "With Stoner's, I was able to start off with just one unit and the money needed to open a Stoner's ranges, but it can be as low as $100,000, and you just don't see that in any other pizza concept that has the ability to have the same sales as those bigger names."

With little experience in either pizza or QSRs, the AUV was attractive, and Stetson saw payback in less than one year. AUV sits at about $800,000.

Photo: Stoner's Pizza Joint

On the menu

The fact that ingredients are made fresh daily was also a big draw for Stetson. Dough is made in house every morning.

Like most pizzerias, cheese and pepperoni pizzas are the top sellers, but what's going to differentiate the brand from its competition is the fact that Stoner's sells a lot of wings, which are smoked in a smoker for two to three hours and then run through the oven, making the meat tender and fall off the bone. There are 20 rubs and sauces that flavor the wings, giving customers a bevy of choices. Garlic Parmesan, Kickin' Bourbon and Honey Mustard are popular picks.

Chocolate chip half-baked cookies are also standouts — Stetson recommends them to anyone choosing Stoner's.

"It really hits the spot and is a differentiator," he said, "that we not only have good, high-quality ingredients on our pizza … but I'll put my wings and cookies up against anyone in my space."

Stetson said the brand's pricing also makes it a popular choice. Though pricing is slightly higher than the big brands, Stoner's is still more affordable than many independents and has a great menu mix, he added.

Although the brand launched using stone deck ovens, it switched to conveyors to keep up with customer demand. It also allows for easier operations. With just a mixer for dough, smoker for wings, refrigeration and conveyors, the equipment package is affordable for franchisees.

Since up to 80% of sales is carryout and delivery, Stoner's began downsizing its square footage to reduce dining room sizes since fewer people were dining on site. Today, 1,200 to 1,400 square feet is the ideal size for a Stoner's.

Pizza accounts for about 70% of sales.

Operations

Depending on the market, Stoner's utilizes third-party delivery. Just one unit uses its own drivers. "We found that it was more cost effective to outsource the driving to DoorDash," Stetson said. "We are dispatching a DoorDash driver when someone asks for delivery, and the reason behind it is – especially in South Florida and the Florida market – the insurance to have drivers in house was becoming very expensive."

In larger markets, 60% to 70% of delivery orders came in via a third party, so having its own drivers was becoming costly.

Keeping continuity across the brand is paramount, especially as Stoner's Pizza Joint enters new markets. "We are very, very hands on on the franchisor side, so with 50 units we have seven corporate employees, and we are on the road every day doing audits at these stores, getting in stores with our corporate people to do training and to make sure that everything is up to our brand standards," Stetson said. There's also a dedicated account manager for each of the franchisees whose responsibility it is to be available for franchisees by cellphone should the need to communicate arise. Stoner's also has a customer support and tech division to help franchisees.

Stetson said Stoner's has focused more on the customer during the last six months, opting to give the consumer an experience rather than consider them simply a transaction. The brand has also begun soliciting feedback from guests, opting to give them loyalty points for their observations. App downloads have gone up almost 100%, he said, because Stoner's put a huge push on the program.

"We constantly are monitoring those reviews," Stetson said. "We have a staff (member) that's full time reviewing our Google reviews and all the reviews that come online and engage with the customer there. We're very hands on and we do this as a lot of companies are using bots or are outsourcing to the Philippines for people to respond to these" reviews.

Rather than shy away from the brand's Stoner's Pizza Joint cannabis-friendly name, Stetson embraces the double entendre. He doesn't want to alienate the core customer of the family with children, so the brand is careful not to imply that the food has either CBD or THC in its products. Cannabis is not available for recreational use in the brand's home state of Florida and in many other states that have Stoner's locations.

"In different markets, we are less aggressive or more aggressive" with marketing, Stetson said. "On college campuses, we really like to have fun with the hashtags #legalizemarinara, #getbaked, #ownaJoint and in other markets that are less cannabis friendly or it's in the suburbs we even use 'Stoner's Pizza" and drop the 'Joint.'"

The brand uses simply "Stoner's Pizza" at its concession outlets at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, home of the Florida Panthers to appease more guests.

Stetson bought the brand during the COVID-19 pandemic and said labor has increasingly become one of the brand's biggest challenges, like many restaurateurs in the industry.

The cost of goods has also been challenging. Cheese and wing prices have increased 50%, and Stetson you can only pass that increase on to the customers so much — consumers simply won't pay $20 for a plain cheese pizza.

"The margins got hurt significantly with the increase in wages driven by the pandemic," Stetson said. "We had a very tough time when there was the COVID money going out. People (would) make more money sitting at home than they would working in my pizza shop, so we had to increase wages to cover that."

Supply chain and logistics have also been difficult in recent years. "The transportation to get the product has increased significantly as well," Stetson added. "You pass through as much as you can to the customer, but at a certain point margins decrease, and that's what happened."

Stoner's Pizza Joint uses Toast as its POS system, and the brand built its own app internally that is user-friendly making it ahead of the competition in the same size category.

Fifteen units are in development. Having led Stoner's Pizza Joint for several years now, Stetson offered advice to fledgling franchisees. "As a franchisor, I built this (company) so franchisees are set up for success, and every other franchise is going to tell you that," he said. "My bet is you're going to open one and hopefully open 20, and how I make you do that is we only charge 5% royalties, the bottom of the range. In addition, I don't charge anything for advertising and marketing … and then I only charge a royalty based on net sales."

Stetson gives back any rebates to the franchisee, such as those from Pepsi, Saputo Cheese and the brand's protein providers. "Other franchisors take it for themselves and that's where they make a lot of their money," he said. "It's very franchisee friendly, and then I run this like a mom-and-pop. We had a horrible August and September with hurricanes in the Southeast, and I waved two weeks of royalties on behalf of the whole company. … I always say you're only as strong as your weakest franchisee and I'm trying to do everything to protect that."

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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