Franchise Focus
Kansas City's Spin Pizza gearing up for the ride of its life
Spin Pizza Founding Partner Ed Brownell discusses how the brand's recent rebranding will help it grow.
January 31, 2019 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
Spin Pizza, a 15-unit chain based in Kansas City with locations in Los Angeles, Dallas and Papillion, Nebraska, has rebranded in an effort to stay in the growth lane, said CEO Ed Brownell. He and Gail Lozoff founded Spin Neapolitan Pizza in 2005, after working together at Bagel & Bagel, which eventually became Einstein Bros. Bagels.
Although Lozoff, who had founded Bagel & Bagel, retired from Spin two years ago, Brownell stayed on as CEO to help fuel growth. To him, that meant dropping the word, "Neapolitan" from the name, updating the menu and website and simplifying the menu boards by replacing most of the Italian words with easier-to-pronounce English equivalents.
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| Spin's Double Pepperoni pizza |
"Our new menu, inspired by James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Smith, who helps develop our menu, has been in test mode at a Kansas City location since summer,” said Brownell, who recently shared his growth strategy during an interview with FastCasual. "Based on feedback from our guest survey, the revised menu has been a huge success."
Q. Why have you decided to franchise in some areas but stay company-owned in others? How do you decide which way to go in what areas?
A. We have franchised in areas where uniquely qualified, experienced restaurateurs who match our culture and vision were interested in opening in markets that offer strong demographics for our brand.
Q. What are your growth plans? Where and when is the next opening, for example?
A. Our next location, which is under construction, is scheduled to open this summer in Topeka, Kansas. In addition, we are looking at other cities in the Midwest where Spin will be a good fit.
Q. How do you measure success? Is it a certain sales number or a number of units, for example?
A. We don't measure our success in sales as much as how the local community embraces Spin. We strive to be an extension of our guests' kitchens and consider ourselves part of the neighborhood family.
Q. What makes Spin different from the otherfast casualpizza brands?
A. We focus on making our food from fresh ingredients daily including our award-winning pizza dough, homemade soups and made-from-scratch salad dressings. Every morning, we roast our toppings in stone fired ovens to heighten their flavors before they're placed on pizzas. Our menu items and recipes are inspired by a nationally recognized James Beard Award-winning chef.
Q. Why was it important to come out with a new menu? Do customers like it?
A. It was a combination of two things: 1. Ensuring that after 13 years in business, we were providing the best possible guest value and experience and 2. Preparing for growth.
We began testing a new menu last summer. By extensively testing the changes under consideration and conducting a guest survey, we were able to evaluate which changes should be implemented on a permanent basis. We've gotten terrific feedback from guests regarding the new menu and we've continued to stock some of the ingredients for items that no longer appear on the menu so that we can serve them upon special request.
Q. What is your favorite thing on the menu?
A. Our new Double Pepperoni Pizza. It features our new zesty red sauce — made from a combination of Spin's herbed olive oil glaze and our traditional red sauce — topped with two layers of our signature cheese blend and two layers of pepperoni. It's phenomenal.
A close second is our Chicken Cobb salad with house-made buttermilk ranch dressing. We introduced it as a seasonal salad last summer, and it quickly became our most popular salad so we incorporated it into our menu.
About Cherryh Cansler
