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NAPICS Update: Eagle Boys Pizza founder to speak at NAPICS

Tom Potter's presentation to deliver triumphs and travails and ample doses of humor.

January 17, 2005

Tom Potter is not your average keynote speaker (read also Who's Who: Tom Potter).

And that's precisely why the planning committee for the 2005 North America Pizza & Ice Cream Show wanted him to come from Brisbane, Australia — a 24-hour flight to Columbus, Ohio, where the show will be held Feb. 26-28.

Either Potter, the founder and managing director of the Eagle Boys Pizza chain, is a masochist, or he's really looking forward to speaking to the crowd on Feb. 27. Those who know the former professional Australian-rules football player could argue both perspectives.

"I think it's going to be a good time, and I like coming to America — even though it's bloody cold there

Tom Potter, Founder and Managing Director, Eagle Boys Pizza

right now," said Potter, whose country is in the middle of its summer season. "I'm looking forward to talking to other operators who might learn a few things about what I did, what they could do and what not to do. Maybe they'll laugh some, too."

Or maybe they'll laugh a lot. Known throughout Australia as an engaging and entertaining speaker — skills he picked up after becoming a successful pizza entrepreneur — Potter's presentations blend operational expertise, candid stories of his business triumphs and travails, and ample doses of humor.

"The guy who can't laugh at himself isn't much fun, is he, mate?" Potter said. "I'm as serious about my business as anyone, but when you're in the pizza business, you've got to have a sense of humor."

And a strong will to succeed. At 15, Potter left high school with a vague notion of pursuing a career in the food business, and wound up a baker's apprentice for the largest bakery and flour mill in the Southern Hemisphere. After three years under supervisors who "treated staff terribly," he was terminated the day his apprenticeship ended. The experience convinced him to become his own boss ASAP.

At 19, he and a friend started their own bakery, which was a success. But since neither had any business management experience, they blew most of their profits on "things people that age want. At the end of it all, we had about nothing to show for it."

At 21, Potter began working for Dino's Pizza, found he rather liked it and advanced within the company. Two years later, however, a disagreement with management led him to resign and open his own pizza delivery company, Eagle Boys Pizza.

The company grew steadily throughout Southern Australia until 1993, when a still-ongoing pizza price slide began. (Customers once paid AUS $9 (U.S. $6.90) on average for a 12-inch pizza, but since then the price has plummeted to an average AUS $5 [U.S. $3.80]). Potter was forced to trim Eagle Boys' ranks by 30 percent and learn to operate more efficiently.

Though the result has been a tough struggle to stay profitable, Potter said Eagle Boys has learned to focus less on competition and more on differentiation and innovation, including:

* A patented double-stack pizza box, that allows two pizzas to fit into one container

* A "2-minutes guaranteed" carryout pizza system

* An "Express" drive-through window system that also meets the 2-minute guarantee standard.

In the 18 years since founding Eagle Boys, the chain has expanded throughout Southern Australia and into New Zealand, where it had 60 units before Potter sold them all to Pizza Hut. Eagle Boys' furthest flight from home is a unit on the island of Fiji, opened in December of 2004.

The chain generates $80 million in annual sales.

What to expect

Potter's hour-long presentation will include a brief overview of the Australian pizza market, as well as a glance at the Southeast Asian market, where he sees Eagle Boys roosting in the future.

"I want to show some video of how our 2-minute drive-through system works," he said. "It might sound simple, but perfecting it hasn't come that easy. This is not a phone-ahead system, this is about driving up, getting served in 2 minutes and getting out."

NAPICS chairwoman Ann Reichle said the show is "very fortunate to have a pizza operator the caliber of Tom Potter come halfway around the world to speak to our group."

Attendees will identify with and be inspired by Potter's tales of competing with Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza (Australia's first and second-largest chains, respectively).

"I have no doubt attendees will get a lot from his presentation because he knows what he's talking about; he's not just some motivational speaker sharing the latest catch phrases. He's been in the operator's shoes and knows what it's like to build a successful pizza company from the ground up."

Potter will speak at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 27. His presentation is free to all paid NAPICS attendees.

He will also serve on the Pizza Maker's Panel scheduled for noon on Feb. 28. Joining him on the panel will be Ed LaDou (owner, Caioti Pizza Café, and the father of California-style pizza), Jeff Aufdencamp (co-owner, Mama Mimi's Take 'N Bake Pizza) and Tony Palombino (founder Tony Boombozz Pizza e Panini).