Canadian Business Awards 2020

28 CORPORATE VISION / Canadian Business Awards 2020 , Dec19346 City Pizza began as a family affair. Owner Behdade Layeghi opened the second store in 2005, with the first opened by his father in 2001. After years building up the business, working 80-hour-weeks, franchising began in 2016. In three years, the business now covers Cambridge, Kitchener and Guelph with ten locations and still growing. The secret of this amazing success is down to a focus on empowering people to work passionately. Since beginning operations, City Pizza has always been about revolutionizing the pizza world, often selling pizza slices at a quarter of the price of other franchises. Far from being a low-quality product, City Pizza often receives impressive reviews. This result is achieved by low overheads that allow savings to be passed on to the customer. The franchise is based entirely on the principle of passing down the savings as far as possible. Layeghi has always made a point of the royalty rate being a flat fee of $600 a month, instead of a percentage. This freedom creates a situation where owners are satisfied and not drained by the demands of head office. This freedom allows for a degree Most Pioneering Takeaway Pizza Franchise - Southern Ontario Some franchises get so caught up in the business of franchising that they forget the reason they began franchising in the first place. This certainly isn’t true of City Pizza, and its determined efforts to simply make sure that people can get the best pizza pie in Southern Ontario. As this exciting takeaway franchiser sees City Pizza store opening across the city, we thought we’d profile the company. of innovation to suit individual situations. The busier that a franchise gets, the more money they are able to earn. This revolution in terms of franchising is what makes him a true pioneer. For Layeghi, the role of head office is not to make millions, but to protect the franchisee’s costs. While some entrepreneurs see franchises as the chance to make money without putting in the work, City Pizza is designed to protect these businesses as well as possible. This in turn protects the growth of the franchise which keeps everyone happy. Anyone working within Head Office must have hands- on experience of owning a store, with Layeghi seeing this as essential to the success of the whole franchise. This approach has proven so successful that Layeghi has not had to attend a franchise show to promote his business. Instead, the ten business have all been opened by people working within the City Pizza stores or have heard of the business through friends or family of current City Pizza owners. This means it still retains the small-scale family feel that characterised the store when it first began. Moving forward, the focus remains firmly on pizza and thedevelopment of new delivery methods. Having always offered exceptional pizza, the need to develop this strand of the business is redundant. It is the constant that keeps customers coming back for more. Instead, the use of technology to provide new ways of working is underway, with City Pizza being the first pizza franchise in the whole of Canada to offer the option of self-service kiosk stations. With so many new locations opening, developing this system is the main priority. In terms of the franchise, Layeghi is rightly proud of his successes so far, and in the short term hopes that the franchise will be able to expand to 20 locations in the next couple of years. Longer-term he sees the potential for the business to spread across the province, then the country. When it comes to finding a high-quality pizza, City Pizza is undoubtably the one to beat. As it spreads across Ontario and beyond, the reason behind its success is simple. Every decision is driven by providing the best quality product for the customer as the lowest possible price. It is not only a business model to be emulated, but a model to admire. Contact Details Company: City Pizza Contact: Behdade Layeghi Website: www.thecitypizza.ca