A View From The Top

3 Ways Russo’s is preparing for dine-in surge

Anthony Russo, founder and chef of Russo's New York Pizzeria and Italian Kitchen, shares three changes he's making to ensure the business can accommodate the return of in-store customers.

Anthony Russo, founder and chef of Russo's New York Pizzeria and Italian Kitchen, is looking forward to seeing dine-in customers. Provided.

June 11, 2021

By Anthony Russo, founder and chef, Russo's New York Pizzeria and Italian Kitchen

Before COVID, three out of five meals were prepared or eaten away from home. COVID-19 restrictions and business furloughs disrupted everyone but many restaurants successfully focused on meal preparation for take-out and delivery. Winners include pizza, wings, burgers and the types of food that travel well. Packaging intended to keep hot food hot and cold food cold, yielded a consistent and flavorful product, 15 to 30 minutes after cooking.

So, in a horrible year for most of the industry, the pizza, wings and burger segments grew same-store sales and added new startup units. These are foods America loves and menu items that can be consumed off-premise by delivery, takeout, online ordering or catering. All indications are that post-COVID restaurants in the pizza, wings and burger segments will continue to flourish.

To gear up for dine-in guests' return, however, we are using lessons learned from the pandemic that indicate online ordering, takeout, delivery and off-premise catering will remain strong. As a result, we have created a three-prong strategy that focuses on a menu change to include more authentic Italian dishes and offer more dietary options; creating new units with a smaller footprint that need fewer employees; and using proactive and creative approaches to face the restaurant labor shortage head-on.

1. Change the menu
While Russo's New York Pizzeria and Italian Kitchen was able to grow and cross it's 50-unit mark during 2020, Russo's is making a focused menu change to give guests more authentic Italian dishes and more options to accommodate dietary needs. For wellness-conscious guests, Russo's is adding healthy ingredients on its menu which are hormone-free, nitrate-free, and preservative-free. Italian cuisine is not the typical go-to dining choice for diet-conscious and vegan customers, but Russo's is aiming to change that. New gluten-free and vegan-friendly additions include: a gluten-free cauliflower pizza crust, vegan-friendly pizza toppings such as squash and artichokes, and Sicilian extra-virgin olive oil that is bottled and imported from Italy.

To keep the brand competitive and dynamic in a fast-paced world of evolving food tastes, Russo's is also innovating its menu to include more traditional Italian dishes. At Russo's, we've always drawn inspiration from my New York and Italian roots; our new menu changes are going to lean even more into that heritage. Our new dishes include: Truffle Burrata Pizza, Prosciutto & Egg Pizza, Nonna's Pizza, Pasta di Mare, Pappardelle Carbonara, Truffle Mushroom Campanelle, and veal-based meatballs.

Our new menu change will also open up the restaurant to another new group of diners: guests seeking halal options. Guests will now have the option to add halal pepperoni for a pizza topping and halal chicken for an add-on on salads, pastas, and pizzas. Pepperoni is the number one pizza topping in the world and we, at Russo's, believe we needed more options so it could be enjoyed by all cultures.

2. Get smaller
Russo's restaurants are custom designed with an open kitchen concept, counter service, and limited employees for maximum revenue and lower labor costs. Russo's lower-than-average labor costs kitchen concept is designed to help franchisees to manage the restaurant successfully even with a smaller staff. Our locations are designed to serve guests through dine-in, home delivery, catering, takeout, and curbside pick-up — by equally focusing on all these segments, Russo's is really well-positioned to pivot back and forth between delivery and in-dining according to the season and circumstances.

Russo's from-scratch recipes, that use fresh ingredients, also keep food costs below average. With no additives or preservatives, our restaurants create dishes from ingredients that are safe, reliable, and from trusted brands. Our mission statement is: "If it isn't fresh, don't serve it." That is the Russo family promise." Russo's easy-to-make recipes allow both new and seasoned restaurant owners to open a franchise location. Again, this limits the dependency on trying to hire specialized workers.

3. Meet labor shortages head on

It's no secret that the restaurant industry is facing an immense labor shortage crisis. At Russo's, we have learned that it is important to create a competitive compensation package that reflects our company's culture. In our experience, paying a little above our employees' competitive wages has helped recruiting and retaining talent.

Besides compensation, we've had to look into making our overall employment arrangement more attractive. We offer a flexible schedule, including one weekend off once a month. For our key employees, we offer free meals and half price off for friends and family. We also offer a monthly gas allowance for managers. For example, $100 a month gas stipend can be positioned as a nice perk.

When it comes to recruitment, we've had to become more creative and consistent. We've built relationships with relevant colleges and high schools to hire recent graduates. Besides using Facebook, LinkedIn, Indeed, Zip Recruiter, and Google Display Ads to draw in candidates, we've also incentivized our current employees to bring in qualified candidates by offering a $50-100 referral fee. We've recently looked at recruiting candidates from our international locations who are familiar with the Russo's brand and system. We also post jobs through LinkedIn in certain countries and offer sponsorship opportunities by working with local immigration attorneys. With these proactive strategies, we are trying to stay one step ahead of recruiting and retaining talent.

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