Leading the way in pizza franchises is Captain Tony’s Pizza and Pasta Emporium.
Headquartered out of DeLand, Florida we spoke with Captain Tony’s President and C.E.O. – Mr. Michael Martella.
Q – Michael is there a real Captain Tony or is that a made-up name? Are you Captain Tony? Where does that name come from?
A – My father’s name is Tony. He was in the Navy years ago, so it just came up Captain Tony.
Q – I see you have a Captain Tony’s Pizza in Rochester, N.Y. but not Syracuse, N.Y. Why is that?
A – We’re strictly franchise driven. So, if someone comes along and wants to open up a place, we don’t have a problem.
Q – Captain Tony’s started in 1972?
A – Yes.
Q – In what city?
A – Rochester.
Q – You’re headquartered in DeLand.
A – Yeah.
Q – When you opened that first restaurant in Rochester – how was business that first day?
A – Oh, man. Business has always been good. Never really had a problem.
Q – I see you have restaurants in New York, Ohio, California, Arizona and England. Why England?
A – Again, we’re franchise driven. People who want to be in their own business, as an entrepreneur, come to us for a unique franchise program which is different. Normally royalties are based on sales. Our royalties have a cap on it which means they never pay us over a certain amount. So, the more business they do, the less they pay us.
Q – You have an office in Bombay, India?
A – No. We don’t have an office in Bombay anymore.
Q – I thought you might be planning to expand to that part of the world.
A – Well, it all depends. We get e-mails from all over the world. We don’t sign everybody up. That’s why we’re small. I’m not in a hurry to have a bunch of franchises. I’d rather have good franchises than not.
Q – What makes Captain Tony’s Pizza so much different from your competition?
A – Well first of all we don’t use any refined sugar. That’s Number One. Number Two, we still make our product on premises. A lot of places, Domino’s, Pizza Hut—–they don’t anymore. So, that makes us right off the get go—–better.
Q – When you say your competitor’s don’t make their product on premises, what are you talking about? They don’t make the sauce on premises? It’s shipped in from maybe a different place maybe?
A – It’s shipped in from a commissary. Some of ‘em use pre-made discs, but nobody makes things fresh on premises like we do. Plus, ours is a bread dough, not a pizza dough. So, it has more flavor. It’s an Italian bread dough recipe.
Official website: www.captaintonys.com
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