But its success story involves a lot of hard work, innovative marketing, and learning on the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1993, restauranteur Arthur Nicolakakis purchased a struggling pizza restaurant in Pretoria with the intention of turning it around. This was Little Caesar\u2019s, but it would eventually be rebranded to Roman\u2019s Pizza in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arthur\u2019s son, John Nicolakakis, grew up around the fast food business in the family\u2019s restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom a very young age, about 12 or 13 years old, two pretty girls walked into our first restaurant at that time, and my dad said \u2018here are menus, go serve them\u2019,\u201d he told kykNet<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo I\u2019ve grown up with food. Food is in my blood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He started his formal business career as a currency trader, but in 2001, at only 23 years old, he joined the family business and was given free rein to grow the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn hindsight, it\u2019s possible my dad played me,\u201d Nicolakakis jokingly told Entrepreneur South Africa<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had always been adamant that I was going to be a stock trader in New York, and yet here was this business with all the right foundations, ready for someone with completely different growth objectives to take over and run with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although he had grown up helping with the family business, Nicolakakis was still very inexperienced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was very green, so it was just how hard could I push the pedal and just run and see what happens,\u201d Nicolakakis said on the Big Small Business Show<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo there was more excitement than anything else at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though the business had already grown to about 28 units by the time Nicolakakis joined, the business was only run by a secretary, a warehouse manager, and one woman who did admin and accounting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs soon as I joined, I just wanted to open shops because, for me, the more shops you open, the more money you make,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His father\u2019s first love was always serving customers, and the only real reason there were franchises was because he allowed his friends to open restaurants when they found good sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For Nicolakakis, though, growing the business was his first priority. When he looked into whether potential franchisees had expressed interest, he found an entire filing cabinet full of franchise enquiries the secretary didn\u2019t know what to do with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the early 2000s, they received many franchise enquiries, and Nicolakakis had to learn how to run the business as he went. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had to learn from scratch. How do we open a shop? How do we get a system in place to some degree to be able to leverage the base that we had and grow fairly rapidly?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd unfortunately, it didn\u2019t go very well in the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The very first cheque Nicolakakis received was a R10,000 joining fee after signing a franchisee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He was incredibly proud, but when his father met the franchisee, he knew he was going to take them for a ride. Nevertheless, his father agreed to go along with it and back Nicolakakis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot even a week before opening, this gentleman phones me and says he doesn\u2019t have the capital,\u201d Nicolakakis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe had to step up and help him get the business up and running. We basically loaned him the money to buy a franchise from us. And we had to do it. The brand was more important than my mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though his father\u2019s \u201cI told you so\u201d, came immediately, he felt very fortunate to join him in business at such a young age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe gave me a lot of rope; he allowed me to make many mistakes, and every time I made a mistake, he just used to tell me \u2018, I hope you\u2019ve learned from it. It cost you a Porsche Boxster\u2019,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rebranding from Little Caesars to Roman\u2019s was another challenge Nicolakakis had to face early on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe did our first campaign, and we physically took money out of our own pockets to fund the rebranding,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the first time, the business really had to focus on marketing, which Arthur had done very little of up to that point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They did their first radio campaign, \u201cand sales took off\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt that time, there weren\u2019t as many marketers, there weren\u2019t as many brands. So, the impact was far greater than it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMarketing is critical. The current fast food space is extremely competitive in South Africa, and 50% to 60% of our sales are impulse. So you need to be front of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest challenge for Nicolakakis, however, was growth. \u201cAt the time, as we started growing, I was doing everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He realised that he wouldn\u2019t be able to grow the business on his own, but in those days, a manager\u2019s salary was about the same as a full store\u2019s profit, which made the transition very difficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou try to learn from the market, and you try to allocate resources where you need them best, but it is challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roman\u2019s was built on the idea of selling high-quality products at a low price point. This meant that he had to be extremely clever in cutting costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way he did this was by keeping the head office and distribution centre as minimal and functional as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe strip out all unnecessary expenses. The aim is to keep costs down, and other than our ingredients, every buying decision is made through that lens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nicolakakis also did something counterintuitive to keep the costs low. At the time, all of their competitors offered free delivery services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He saw this as unnecessary, though. Not only was it not suitable for the South African fast food model, but it was expensive and drove up the cost of the food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His idea worked, and the affordable price points led to them having some of the busiest pizzerias in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBeing green behind the ears has actually played to our fortune in many ways. We were the first branded pizzeria in the township.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said that any established restauranteur would have questioned how someone could go sell pizza in the township.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know any better. I took a gamble, and fortunately, it paid off.\u201d For that reason, he said that it is crucial that any entrepreneur go with their gut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, Roman\u2019s Pizza has more than 250 stores, with some selling over 2,000 pizzas per night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be able to be aggressive. You\u2019ve got to fight for what you want in life,\u201d Nicolakakis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you\u2019re not going to fight, no one\u2019s going to give it to you. So that really is the culture that we try to embody.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Kirsten Minnaar<\/a><\/strong>. This article was first published by Daily Investor. Read the original here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dailyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Centurion-Gauteng-_-South-Africa-April-19-2020_-Romans-Pizza-known-for-delicious-pizzas-in-Centurion-South-Africa-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nExpanding Roman\u2019s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dailyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-58-1024x576.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n