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Kelsey's Pizzeria Competes in Tough Orlando Market
Community-Service Based Marketing Concept a Winner For Chain
Orlando, FL -- (April 4, 1996) -- What can a five-unit pizzeria
chain do to compete in Orlando, where there are thousands of pizza
outlets? Nick, of Kelsey's Pizzeria, has found sustained success
in his approach to community service-based marketing.
Shortly after his arrival in Orlando from his native Sudbury, Ontario
armed with a degree in hospitality and tourism management, opened
his first Kelsey's Pizzeria in 1983, when he was only 22. He had
literally grown up in the restaurant business. His Greek-born father,
Petros, owned and operated a diner, and later, a highly successful
fine dining establishment specializing in prime rib, steaks and
seafood.
"I learned a lot about marketing and food from him," says
Nick of his father, who has since sold his restaurant and "retired"
to Florida to be an active partner with his son.
Community service-based marketing is a natural Greek phenomenon.
Many Greek restaurateurs came here from small villages where everyone
knows everyone. In that culture, people sit together in the local
coffee house or tavern and develop life-long relationships. They
help each other and rely on each other, as a natural matter of course.
Greek families develop deep bonds too, which explains the intense
involvement of Nick's father in the success of Kelsey's. Petros
spends up to five hours each day cooking the pommodoro and meat
sauces, and meat balls that are served at the Titusville location.
His recipes are used for all the other restaurants in the chain
as well, which feature Greek-influenced Italian food, with such
specialty items as Greek salad, and feta cheese featured as a pizza
topping.
It was only natural for Nick, when he started his first Kelsey's
Pizzeria in Titusville, to go the extra mile for the local schools
and community groups. Located on the space coast of Florida, Titusville
was a very small market in those days and Kelsey's was quickly established
as a winner in the town.
Nick quickly began sponsoring teams in all of the schools. Titusville
kids routinely hold their post-game set togethers and birthday celebrations
at Kelsey's. The towns people became "regulars," and a
continually growing extension of the Kelsey's family. The family
has watched local kids grow up, get married, have babies, and bring
their kids into the traditional-style pizzeria.
Originally located with a Winn Dixie super market in a quiet little
strip center, the Titusville restaurant has continued to thrive
over the years, and remains that chain's best performer. In fact,
according to Nick, it had two record-breaking weeks in February,
which is not traditionally the unit's busiest month.
A crucial component of his success is Nick's rigid insistence upon
only the freshest and best quality ingredients being used for Kelsey's
pizza, sandwiches and Italian specialties. He travels regularly
across the country for the best possible sources of such items as
prime-quality tomatoes and mushrooms, and uses only fresh vegetables
for his pizzas.
Added to his down-home marketing philosophy, featuring personalized,
friendly service, is Nick's business savvy about opening units in
small, new markets of 10-12,000 people. All these elements are blended
together on a pan style crust and baked lovingly into Nick's recipe
for successful, steady expansion.
In 1985, the Port St. John unit of Kelsey's opened up, and is now
operated by his uncle, Charles Lagges. Fashioned after the Titusville
restaurant, Nick said that "it too has continue in the Kelsey's
traditional and thrives in a relatively small market."
In January 1987, when the area had little other competition, another
Kelsey's opened near the University of Central Florida (UCF) on
the east side of Orlando. It caught on quickly and has done very
well, despite the incursion of 50 competitors within a five-mile
radius.
The UCF unit opened with the same menu and focus on community service-based
marketing with an updated, high-tech interior design in sleek black
and white and lots of art posters that clearly appeals to the local
university students and faculty members.
The fourth unit of Kelsey's opened in May 1995 in a new community
on Chickasaw Trail in South Orlando. It has a new interior design
concept that was planned for the units that follow. It includes
a "family room" with a faux fireplace in the back, complete
with old family photos, and a fresh, updated bistro style throughout.
The Oviedo unit followed quickly in October, that same year. Another
Kelsey's unit will open in June, 1996, in Ocoee, another small community
west of Orlando.
Nick's uncanny ability to manage people by letting them shine has
resulted in Kelsey's keeping many long-standing employees, an number
of whom started with Kelsey's when they were still at UCF.
For example, a UCF graduate in finance, Keith Kontny, who started
out as a driver with Kelsey's, is now Nick's working partner in
the UCF restaurant, as well as the Oviedo unit.
Scott Botyos, a UCF graduate in criminal justice, is another working
partner at the Chickasaw Trail unit, and has worked for Kelsey's
for six years. In fact, because it is a career chain, rather than
a fast food-type chain with rapid turnover, Kelsey's probably employs
that largest number of long-term employees who are UCF graduates
of any pizzeria chain in the Orlando area.
Nick also attributes his sustained success to the strong relationship
that Kelsey's has forged with its primary vendor, Bari Foods, owned
and operated by the Paparella family. According to Nick, Bari's
commitment to quality and service has allowed Kelsey's to focus
on serving their guests without worrying about prices being manipulated
or quality standards being compromised.
With over 200 employees, annual gross sales of $4.4 million, and
plans to open three or four more units in 1996, Nick's chain, Kelsey's
Pizzeria Eatery, has the right formula to compete very nicely in
the tough Orlando marketplace.
To top that off, recently, Nick has been fielding inquiries about
the rights to the Kelsey's concept from interested parties in both
South America and South Africa. Next, Kelsey's Special pizza with
green peppers, real cheese, sausage, pepperoni, chopped beef, fresh
mushrooms and anchovies (upon request), may be going international
soon before the next century.
Not bad for a guy who arrived in Florida with nothing but an idea
just 13 years ago.
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