Pizzeria Consulting
It's here! My new book - "Growing Pizza" is now available on Amazon.com. Click on the link below to order from Amazon.com.
What if you could operate your restaurant on a level that your competitors couldnʼt? What if you could build a foundation so solid that you never had to even think about your competition? How about planting the marketing seeds that will allow you to operate with a near zero advertising budget? And what if you never had to use traditional mass advertising ever again?
Growing Pizza will take you inside the mind of pizza maker and marketing expert Michael Shepherd, who took a failing ʻMom & Popʼ pizza shop and built it into a multi-million dollar restaurant business. Michaelʼs outside the box marketing strategies, foundation laying techniques, and ʻcelebrityʼ building methods have driven his pizza success far beyond anyoneʼs expectations.
What are people saying about Growing Pizza & Michael Shepherd?
"Michael Shepherd is a legend in the pizza industry. His wealth of knowledge, dedication, and innovation has made him respected by restaurateurs from around the world."
- Tony Gemignani, 11 Time World Pizza Champion and Owner/Operator of Tonys Pizza Napoletana, ! Pizza Rock, Capo's & the International School of Pizza
-"Through a lot of hard work and smartly tweaking and modifying his businesses, Michael Shepherd has learned how to survive the pizza wars and operate profitably during the battle. The wisdom he shares in this book was earned and learned in the trenches of the pizza marketplace, not in a classroom. Any pizzeria owner would be wise to study this real-life 'how to' manual for success in pizza."
- Steve Coomes, Restaurant Industry Trade Journalist
-“Can you handle the truth? Michael Shepherd is a 'no holds barred' operator expert. Nearly 20 years of experience perfecting his craft and his restaurant concepts have made Shepherd a decorated leader in the pizza industry. His uncompromising integrity demonstrate that the American dream is achievable. Shepherd won't tickle your ears with motivational fluff, rather his straight shooting style will reveal to you ways to perfect your pizza. Growing Pizza is a must read for any serious pizzeria operator.”
- Scott Anthony, Pizza Industry Speaker, Author, and Pizzeria Owner
The pizza industry has the illusion of being an easy business to open and operate and seemingly anyone with a recipe and an oven opens a shop on every other corner. I have seen operator after operator fail because they didn't grasp the basics and were never able to get their footing. I specialize in helping the new pizzeria owner and the struggling pizzeria owner turn things around. I can help you in nearly every aspect of the pizza industry. Here are just a few areas I can help your pizzeria -
- Menu Development: Make your menu a MONEY MAKING MACHINE!
- Marketing Strategies: DEMOLISH the competition and do it spending next to nothing!
- Sales Building: Be the CEO of your business, NOT the kitchen guy.
- Community Involvement: Position you business as "THE" pizzeria of the community.
- Be the local "Celebrity": Learn how to position yourself as the local expert/celebrity.
- Product Development & Recipes: Do you really have the best pizza you possibly could have?
- Employee Training: Enable and Empower your staff to do the job they should be doing.
- Dough making & Handtossing: Build the foundation to an amazing pizza that your competition cannot touch!
- Oven training: Master the art of running a deck oven or simplely learn how to configure those pesky fingers on your conveyor oven.
- Procedures & Protocols: Put your operation on Autopilot! Create systems and procedures to streamline your business.
- Portion Control: Literally save TENS of THOUSANDS of DOLLARS by implementing simple portion controls!
- Delivery Implementation: Build your delivery service into a lean, mean and safe machine.
I have spent 20 years of trial and error figuring out what works and what doesn't work and want to help you transform your pizzeria into a successful business. I am here to help you get your pizzeria to the top of your market!
Pizza Industry Speaker
Looking for a speaker for your pizza industry, restaurant or marketing event? I am here to help!
I enjoy sharing with others my real world experiences from being "in the trenches" of the pizza business. Whether it is something as simple as how to implement a portion control program, marketing, how to get involved in your community or developing a prime vendor program I am excited to share what I know now but wish I knew then.
Past speaking engagements have included
- International Pizza Expo - Las Vegas, NV
- NAPICS (North America Pizza & Ice Cream Show) - Columbus, OH
- Sysco Foods Pizza Conference - Portland, OR
- Sofo Foods Food Show - Toledo, OH
Pizza Industry Marketing Expert
Got all the basics down? Just need to push your business to the next level in sales? I can help!
Marketing your pizzeria can be a daunting task given the thsousands of ways that you can spend your hard earned dollars. Direct mail, newspapers, TV, and Radio are all hungry for your money, but do they really work and will they really drive long term sales? I have built my pizzerias by marketing them, NOT advertising them! Let me help you build a zero to low cost marketing plan that will help you promote your business by focusing on community involvement, off the wall ideas, guerilla tactics, stealth marketing, co-op opportunities, social media and build your pizzeria into a "Destination".
