3 for 1 Pizza & Wings and The Power of Media

As charming as is the story of how the name for 3 for 1 Pizza and Wings came about, it wasn't just a chance call from a customer that prompted my breakout. In 1991, market conditions were absolutely right for bold new players. Many small businesses were going under in the wake of the recession that hit at the beginning of the decade. This put a lot of prime real estate on the market at a price a young entrepreneur could afford.

In retail, as the adage goes, location is everything. My business got an enormous boost from my decision to enter the market when I did. I couldn't know it at the time but I'd judged the real estate bottom just about perfectly.

But in the pizza home delivery business, almost more important than real estate is the telephone number. I knew exactly the number I needed: A coveted “341” telephone prefix. Unfortunately, at that time, the Toronto Sky Dome and its hotel monopolized these numbers.

However, I had a good friend: A friend who worked for the Canadian telecom giant, Bell Canada. I arranged to have lunch with him and, over the course of the hour, I explained my business plan. He loved it. He went to bat for me and secured the perfect telephone number: One that was memorable and communicated our core value message: Three, Four, One -- Ate-Ate-Ate-Ate (341-8888).

That number was routed to the new central call center I'd opened for my two stores. It was a call center that only barely lived up to the name. There were no computer systems in which to enter customer orders, nor was there a database of customer addresses, nor was there any automated routing of caller data to our locations. Nope. I couldn't afford any of that. In fact, I couldn't even afford operators!

So it was that the first customers of 3 for 1 Pizza & Wings, when they called our telephone number, placed their order with the president of the company! I took down their orders by hand on note-paper and, when the customer hung up, I called the corresponding store and placed the same order a second time on the customer's behalf, reading from the hand-written notes I had taken.

Such a convoluted procedure was terribly inefficient and hardly made any sense with just two stores, but it was necessary if one telephone number was to function for both locations. Customers had only one number to remember. That would become increasingly important when we expanded and I had every intention of expanding.

A year and a half later, after opening a few more locations, I got a big opportunity.

One of our regular customers was an employee with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), the dominant media organization in Canada. The CBC had the rights to broadcast all the Toronto Blue Jays games.

He called and said, "Can I speak with the President of the Company?"

I said, "You have him!"

"Listen," he continued, "I love your pizza and your chicken wings. And I have an offer for you.

"I know the size of your company. You cannot afford the advertising on television but I want you to hear my proposal. CBC has an annual party. If you supply us with 100 large pizzas, I will give you three ad spots of television baseball on prime time. Each spot is worth $6000."

I knew enough to recognize a good deal when I heard it but I  really had no idea just what a massive break I'd been given.

When the ads debuted, we were inundated with so many calls, our call center nearly broke down under the strain. For 24 hours straight, our lines stayed busy. Operators went from one call to the next. Regular customers were unable to get through and our two stores had to shut and lock their doors, unable to devote any time to walk-in orders.

We were on the map.

Perhaps more importantly, I felt the power of Media. Forever-after, strong advertising and branding would play a pivotal role in our business strategy.

Sadly, that power of Media would prove itself a two-edged sword. Media could put you on the map or wipe you off the map.

At that time, no Canadian pizza franchises were advertising on television. Not even Pizza Pizza had any television advertising. Nor Pizza Nova. Today, these companies are staples on television with their commercials. 3 for 1 had the same effect on print advertising. For 10 years or more, the big Canadian companies had relied upon plain, one-color paper fliers for advertising. Once they saw that every month, 3 for 1 had a different, full color glossy printed flyer, and saw the effect that advertising had, they changed their ways.

Rapid Expansion