Even at high temperatures, it takes at least 10 minutes to thoroughly bake a pizza, using special pans or clay skillets and super-sized ovens. Not only are good pizza drivers hard to find, coordinating the process and paying the insurance costs are quandaries. Take those two steps out of the equation, and making and selling pizza is as easy as, well, pie. Not to mention cheaper. The most predominant restaurant chain in the segment, Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza, based in Vancouver, Wash., has stores no bigger than 1,400 square feet.
Refrigerators tend to be small because most cheeses, veggies and meats are fresh.
Labor costs are but a slice of those at most pizza chains because it takes fewer people to do the job. He's trained three operators so far. Papa Murphy's might not agree. Already, there are 417 stores in 16 states with plans to open another 100 this year, says Campbell Wilson, marketing director. Papa Murphy's is penetrating inner mountain states of Colorado and Utah as well as a handful of Midwestern states such as Nebraska and Minnesota.