Article

You CAN take it with you: Super-portable pizza cones set to conquer the world

Easy entry for franchisees and portability for customers are helping Kono Pizza expand around the world.

June 10, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

From a boomer at the height of her career responsibilities to a millennial parent juggling kids and commitments, portable food is a necessity. And that preference is only increasing as more consumers find themselves with less time in a world that keeps getting faster.

The lack of portability has traditionally been a problem for pizza restaurateurs.  After all, the likelihood of a lawsuit-ending accident when equipped with a sloppy slice of pie in hand can be prohibitive to customers in some situations. 

Enter the pizza cone — an idea whose time has come?

While the idea behind Kono Pizza's funnel-shaped specialties smacks of being an all-American invention, the founders of this growing chain said the original idea was actually born from the mind of an Italian chef, right in the original home of the tomato-sauced pizza, Italy, about 12 years ago. 

But in that Southern European country — where hours-long meals are a national passion —  the chef who invented the original cone pizza created it mostly to appease the snacking habits of his countrymen and women. And, to this day, that's how the product is used around that country. 

But Kono pizza founders, David Ragosa and Carlo Ruggiero, predicted that US consumers who have a hard time sitting down for a meal would embrace the cone pizza. And the duo said they became particularly aware of that fact early in the process when their own families were sampling the cones.

"I have three small kids and Carlos has three small kids," Ragosa said. "So we started bringing friends and family over to try them. … And I said, 'Let's give a cone to the kids and let them try it to see if they eat it, then what they say about it.'

"Well, when you give a kid a cone, they just naturally know how to eat it. So I was just sitting there watching them, and I see my wife, holding a cone, pushing a stroller and I thought, 'That's the picture.' That's when I knew this thing had legs to it."

Building a business
The first unit opened in 2013, in Edison, New Jersey, 30 to 45 minutes outside New York City, and the partners said the first couple of years involved a lot of learning about what restaurant formats would work best for building a customer base and attracting franchisees. They've learned — like those leading other portable food service chains — that they needed to locate their restaurants in places with lots of walk-by traffic and did not necessarily need the large footprint required for more dine-in-style concepts. 

"We looked at fast casual, and it was all the same for pizza," said Ruggiero "But we knew we had something unique with a customizable cone, speed of service, and affordability. So we look at millennials as our customer base — you know — a mom with kids on the go? There are, I think 80 million of them in the country today, and most use social media and have an average of 300 friends, so we really took advantage of that. They are a perfect audience."

Ragosa added that the first two years of the chain's life were also largely about learning about the needs of their potential franchisees and responding to those interests. 

"From 2013 to 2015, that was really a period where we were tweaking our model concept, testing our model and figuring out what works best before we pushed it out to everybody," Ragoso said. 

2016 is a big growth year
That growth push began early this year, and the ensuing popularity of both new and older locations is lending itself nicely to expansion, Ragoso said. That is equally true for interest from potential franchisees. Since the stores are small and compact with relatively low start-up costs, the possibilities of franchising with Kono are open to many more individuals. That's one reason that this February the chain began something of a franchising odyssey with 62 franchise locations awarded this year; it receives about 150 inquiries monthly. The chain expects to open at least one store each month over the next year.

"These are typically people, who have the same entrepreneurial spirit we do," Ragosa said. "So we're seeing a lot of early adopters jumping on the concept because it's a simple, clean model and we're committed to keeping it simple and keeping it fresh."

Growing beyond US borders is a trickier proposition, but one that the two have begun to embark upon as part of their growth strategy. 

"The one difference in the European market is that there, it's more where families sit down for a one or two-hour dinner, whereas here in the US it's obviously all grab-and-go, so not as many kiosks (in Europe)," Ragosa said. "And we're in Asia and markets like that, and those markets really like in-line store versions, but they don't have malls like we do." 

Listening to the customer
Kono's success has a lot to do with how the founders listen to what their customers want, Ruggiero said. For example, the chain recently launched a line of mini pizzas that cater to smaller appetites and those who are working for smaller waistlines. The less caloric, downsized versions of the pizza cones also come in a new dessert line. 

"These give (customers) a way to get something fresh and sweet that's a real treat, Ruggiero said. "We have that in 200 or 300 kiosks alone."

So whether it's tucked into a corner in a Walmart SuperCenter or moving around a popular venue in a mobile cart, Kono is making its models fit its customers' needs. That flexibility has helped the brand open 130 locations in 20 countries. 
 

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.