Good Pizza Isn’t Enough

You can read in three minutes

September 04, 2025

Been inside this shop for a week.

Trying to help them turn things around.

Not with some shiny new trick. Just getting the basics right.

Here’s what I see over and over again in shops that are bleeding cash:

1. No systems.
Everything’s in someone’s head.
No prep lists. No scheduling rhythm. No process for anything.

So when things are slow, nobody notices.
But when it gets busy, it turns into a mess.
Tickets pile up. Customers wait too long. Staff is pissed.

It’s not a kitchen anymore. It’s a fire drill.

And when owners are stressed, they start cutting corners.
Which only makes everything worse.

You can’t fix that with hustle.
You fix it with systems.

2. The product is just... fine.
Most pizza shops are making the exact same thing.
Same cheese. Same crust. Same oven.

They’re not bad. But they’re not different either.

And if you’re not different, then price becomes the only thing that matters.
That’s a shitty spot to be in.

Because there’s always someone willing to charge less.

What makes your pizza stand out?
And I don’t mean “we use fresh ingredients.” Everyone says that.
What do people remember about your food?

That’s the only thing that counts.

3. No marketing. At all.
They post when they feel like it. Maybe once a week.
No plan. No strategy. No urgency.

And when they do post, it’s always the same slice photo with no context.
No story. No reason to care.

Look, it’s 2025.
If you’re not showing up online every single day, you’re invisible.

You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be polished.
But you do have to talk about your business.

Tell people who you are.
Show the work. Show the team. Show the food.

Otherwise they’ll forget you even exist.

Most shops don’t fail because the pizza sucks.
They fail because they’re invisible, chaotic, and forgettable.

And nobody wants to come back to that.

— Bruce

P.S. If you’ve been holding back from posting or sharing because of “what people might say,” this is your sign to hit publish anyway.

This Week’s Content

In this episode, I’m hanging with Shane from Boostly. We’re talkin’ real strategies for text marketing, SEO, and AI that actually help you get more customers in the door — without spending all day glued to your phone or computer.

Robert from Milly’s Pizza in the Pan is flipping the script on how to run a pizzeria. He only makes 65 pizzas a day, has no phone line, no dine-in, and sells out before the doors even open. This is how a tight, focused business model turns into a $500K/year operation—and what you can take from it to make your own pizza shop more profitable and less chaotic.

Meme of the week

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