How a Second-Generation Pizza Owner Doubled Revenue

0:00For noon in Philadelphia for the biggest pizza, we have a 28 inch pizza and we cut into eight and some massive slice. Oh my. Pretty much when people see the slice of pizza automatically, they already know where it's coming from. It's just like a walking billboard. Giuseppe Pulizzi is a dedicated entrepreneur, family business leader, and the owner of Lorenzo and son's pizza. Drawing from his father's wisdom and his own education, he has grown the family business while honoring the legacy that shaped him and creating one of his own. My father started back 1970 and then I started tweaking it and I wanted to double in his revenue within like eight months of being there and that's where I believe my education came in to grant me that success and do that and to flip what he did and it was just worked. What's the key to running a successful restaurant? You never have a day off. Your phone is always on, there's something that's going to happen, you've got to pick up that phone. And then if you teach the team the proper way, they don't need to call you. You're able to manage and handle things without you being there. It spans the globe like a super high school.

1:01Internet Elvis. Ready? Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over until I win. The Living Your Legacy Podcast for those who live to leave a legacy. Hey, welcome back everyone to another episode of Living Your Legacy Podcast where we have the privilege to talk to some of the best entrepreneurs around the country. And today we got a special guest. I like the shirt he's wearing, talking about pizza. We're going to dive deep into it. But yeah, introduce yourself. What's the name, where you from and what's your business? Okay, so I'm Giuseppe Beliti. I'm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and we have the place called Lorenzo and Sun's Pizza in Philadelphia. All right, cool.

2:01So is it just pizzas or come out of the filling you guys do cheese sticks? So we're known in Philadelphia for the biggest pizza. We have a 28 inch pizza. So and we cut into eight and some massive slice. Oh my god. Pretty much when people see the slice of pizza automatically. They already know where it's coming from. It's like a walking billboard basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Giuseppe. Giuseppe. Giuseppe. Giuseppe. So Giuseppe, where does your dough come from? I know pizza is all about the dough, right? So are you importing it from Italy, you're making it yourself? Everything everything's homemade. But actually for me, the best ingredient is the sauce. Is the sauce? Okay. Anyone can make a dough. I believe you can go buy it frozen in the soup markets here nowadays. But the sauce you buy. We actually make everything in-house. So the sauce is made in-house, the dough is made in-house, and I had my own line of mozzarella cheese. So which means other places can't purchase the same cheese because my name, my logo, everything is on it. So it's pretty much my brand. Nice, nice, nice. So what's the secret to a bit sauce? That's why it's a secret.

3:02Okay, okay, okay. Keep it fresh. Keep it fresh. You keep it fresh. I'm always always like keep it simple. Yes. Keep it simple. I remember overpowering a lot of people think you need to put all this spices. I love the taste of the natural like tomatoes. So especially of my other location we have in Westchester, we do a gourmet sauce. So the tomatoes are from Italy. They come over here and then we break it down and I actually make it and then I add no water whatsoever to my sauce. I want you to taste the actual flavor of the tomatoes. Who's going to water it down? Come on, you would know what's the water down sauce. Yeah, to make more money, they want to water it down so you can't tell, but I can tell. Oh, so people often they come to America and they're like, what's America food like? And I often say it's kind of like corporate food is American food. You know, they water it down, they process it, they flip it and they try to just make the most amount of money from it. And then the ingredient suffer, you got stuff in there that you know, they don't sell in Europe, right? But they allow it here.

4:03Absolutely. And it makes you question, you know, like what is going in our bodies, right? You got to keep it fresh. You got to keep it simple. You can't water it down, right? And that's where it's, I'm already wanting some of this pizza. So yeah, how's it going? How do you get into a pizza restaurant? Why? So I was born into it. My father started back 1970. So over the years, I see. That's a generational business. Pretty much. So I'm second generation. Oh, okay, great. That took over. But like I said, we started with the pizza business. I really had it in my blood and I just wanted to do something different for a little bit. So I challenged myself to steer away from the family business and then I wind up going back into the business and taking over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just funny when you're maybe when you're younger, you're like, Dad, I'm not going to do my own thing, you know? Exactly. Came out of my mouth. Yeah, yeah. Generational businesses are tough, you know, from one generation to the next, you know, that usually they don't make it. The third generation, it's like almost no one.

5:05Not in the right. Yeah. Do you have kids? No, yeah, I have two boys. And are they getting into the business? I'm sorry, not. Pass. Here we go. They're doing the same thing. They're like, Dad, you don't know way, man. You know, it's okay. I believe in them and I did the same thing. I want to do something different and then my idea was to come back to the family business. And the quick story was when I was 18 when I graduated high school, my father slid me over keys to the pizza room. And I looked at him and he's like, huh, he was so, when, you know, you get the money, paying a little by little, he goes in and the place is yours. I looked at him and grabbed the keys and I slid him right back. Oh, I was just... Yeah. Stung a little bit to him and he's like, we only spoke Italian in the house. So he's like, what are you doing? And I go, I don't want your life. I go, I saw the hard work, the long hours. I go, and I asked him in Italian, of course, I go, let me ask you a question. I said, when, when do you see me at home?

6:07Yeah. And he looked at me and I go, you're 15, 18 hour days, six, seven days a week. And he looked at me and I said, so I never saw you for breakfast, never saw you for lunch, never saw you for dinner. I saw him once a week and we lived in the same house. Yeah. And I didn't want that life. So when I slid the keys back, I'm like, he's like, whoa, what are you going to do? I'm like, I'll figure it out. I go, just, there's something out there for me. I go, then, you know, I'll let you know. Yeah. He respected it and he goes, okay, and go, go find it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I did. So find it stuck, I'll see you back here. Yeah, it was true, though. And the same thing I, you know, try to teach my kids the same thing is like, listen, family is important. Yeah. I want to be there for family dinner. So I found an occupation that I actually loved and I became a cardiovascular profusiness for open heart surgery and actually, oh, with Jesus, okay. Yeah, totally different. Okay. And people like, what do you mean? Like, well, you know, pizza, sauce, red, blood is red. So for me, that's fine for me to do it. I get it. I get it. I see. I didn't see that one coming.

7:07No one does. Yeah. So you went to like men's school and then actually right down the street. Yeah. We love to say the name to the university. Yeah. So say, say. So I graduated here from Barry University in Miami. Okay. I'm sure it's Miami and that's why my degree was from. Yeah. So what brought you back? So two questions, right? Sure. We'll brought you back to the pizza. You know, there had to be like a moment or just like, you tell me, but then also, were you able to kind of not do the long hours that you told your dad that you didn't want to do? Yeah. So there was a fork in road. So I had already graduated. I was working at the hospital in Philadelphia, a juvenile part surgery. And my father was going to retire. Yeah. My mother was diagnosed for the second time breast cancer, not going to what you survived both times. Wow. So I told my dad at the time, I said, go back, go to Florida. We had a house here in the Portean, Lucie. I said, go back to mom and I'll monitor the pizza rip. So I was working at the pizza and at the hospital.

8:09So I was pushing about a hundred hours a week. So even more than you told your dad. Yeah, but I didn't have kids at the time. So I knew when that time came to have a family. Did you get the lesson? You didn't have a life either, is that so? No. There's no girl. No, hey, I'll meet you for dinner. Did I not? No. So the key in that point where he was in Florida and he wasn't coming back. So I'm like, okay, so you're retiring. I guess. So then he was, we're going to sell the pizza. I'm like, you're going to do what? I go, you're Lorenzo. My son is Lorenzo. Yeah. My other son is Alejandra. Oh, but Lorenzo was in the family. I go, and you, the founder and the starter of such a great place. I go, and you poured your heart into it. I can't let you sell it to someone off the street. So I can't. He's like, what's, what are you going to do? He's like, you work at the hospital. I have three siblings. They're doing their own thing. And he's like, who's going to do it? Like me. I'm like, you, he's like, you're going to leave the hospital. I'm like, I'm going to leave the hospital. I go, but if I do it, I'm going to do it my way. Yeah. Not your way. There you go. So let me see what you can do.

9:09So why not buying them out? Hmm. So I took my sister as a partner and then we worked together. And then I started with the one store and then I started tweaking it. And I want to double in his revenue within like eight months of being there. Hey, just presentable cleansing. Doubling the size of the pizza. No, double size of the revenue. Yeah. Did double it? Was the pizza that big back then? He was doing like a 24 inch and then I, I believe way before I took over, we knocked it out to like 28 inch. Yeah. And then we kept it at 28 inches. Yeah. So from 1987's when we started, I think the big pizza. Okay. And still going into locations right now going strong. So how was I able to go home was back then my dad didn't have a POS system. Did have surveillance cameras. Didn't have anything. And then I went to his little registers. You push the button and it was just a ring. Ching. That's it. So I'll tell him or ask him, I'll say, so how much did you make today's like it? I don't know. Whatever register is I'm like, you think you don't know how much you sell.

10:09So what's your profit? What's your loss? What? Like what? Like speaking to my, I was speaking different languages because he spoke Italian. And I was like, let me, let me see what I can do. So when I saw how he did it, I wanted to do the total opposite tweaking it. And that's where I believe my education came in to grant me that success and do that. And to flip what he did. And it was just worked and it started working. I'm like, oh, wow, this is great. I was home every night. After I got married, of course, I was home every night for dinner. I have my kids. They sell me every night for dinner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I can control everything. I can, the micromanage from home. I can turn on my laptop, watch surveillance cameras. He was coming in. See all the rings, see the register, see everything. Yeah. So it started working out and people wanted to work with me now. And they worked for me. So what's the key to running a successful restaurant? It's hard work. It's hard work. It's still, to this day, it's still, I tell you, you never have a day off. Your phone is always on. There's something that's going to happen. You got to pick up that phone. You're not on vacation. You still got to pick up that phone. Like there's always that thing, but I don't mind.

11:12And then if you teach the team the proper way, they don't need to call you. So they're able to manage and handle things without you being there. Yeah. So yeah, talk to me about the business side of things a bit. Is it more on the Uber Eats takeaway side or you're against Uber Eats or is it more dynan? Like what's, what's so we have different locations. So like our one location and I'm feeling on South Street is strictly take out. There's no tables or anything. So yeah, that would, you had only had one location. I only had the one store. It was like a cute. You see the cube left now and how many locations now? He had passed during a COVID, not cause a COVID. He had an illness and he was able to see the ones. So the stadium in Philadelphia is where our hockey team and our basketball team, the Flyers and Sixers play. Back then was called the Wells Fargo Center. I was literally the first mom and pop store in the major stadium. Good. Okay.

12:12It's always been a franchise. It's always been, you know, Papa John's or whatever. What have you. I'm not sure what was there. And I remember going there and I was like, this pizza is horrible. Like going to a game and I'm like, the pizza should be really good. Yeah. I mean, I can stay and be affordable. And that's what a lot of people don't get. So we are like a cheap pizza. And where it's affordable or even college students can eat five, six dollars and have slice the pizza and like, oh my God, where you go to a restaurant and you drop them $30, $40. You know, so it's for the economy. That's great. I'm a $30, $40. I'm like, that's cheap, man. That's a drink here. I'm like, oh my God. Oh my God. Yeah. So here it's like, you drop in $60, $80. Okay. But that's still like, you know, we're known for like a late night cheap pizza. So our other location, we have one in Westchester. That one became more of like a sit down. Yeah. So and we're down the street from the university. So we get a lot of college students and we do late nights. So we're open to like three o'clock morning, on Fridays and Saturdays. So when all the bars lit out, that's what we're known for. And Philly, when bars lit out, it's like a mall to track it to a light.

13:14Everyone just goes right there. For their fix after they can drink a light. But you just brought back a lot of memories of high late nights, go into that those shops. Yeah. Everyone knows a spot to hit. Yeah. And that was Lorenzo's was a spot in Philly to go after right across street was a TLA, which is like the music venue. Yeah. So we had them and then we had all the bars and they were just let out. That's how my dad started to get his name out there was the one on South Street. Gotcha. Two things real quick. Was there any kind of special things in marketing that you did out of the box that helped you? Actually, they're everything by myself. Yeah. I didn't hire social media. I didn't hire. I didn't have Instagram back then. I don't have like the TikToks or anything. I believe the product speaks for itself. And I'm strongly about that. Is it product and location? Definitely location. I have to admit, because you can grab the best food and you put it in a nowhere's land and you're off the beaten path. Yeah. People are not going to know about it. It's going to be worth a mouth. It's going to take time. But if you have that spot like our Westchester,

14:16I'm in the borough of the town and I'm in the best corner and I get all the people coming through. Yeah. And then my trick is my window is open and then it's really more of an upscale pizza place. And then I put the screens down. I did it on purpose because when you're cooking and all of a sudden the aroma goes out the window. So people are walking by and they start coming in. They start coming in. So definitely location. And I think the pizza being so big and known as Lorenzo's like I said before, it's like a walking billboard. It's an experience. It's an experience. It's an intense, it's an Instagramable as well. So you're free marketing. So we started plugging Instagram and I started plugging on Facebook and I started putting pictures and I started getting his feedbacks and about a year and a half ago I'm like, you know what, skin too much for me. So I started hiring a social media guy and he's been doing all my TikToks and everything and one of our TikToks got over a million views for me. Like this is great. Yeah. And the people are not going to know if you don't actually broaden your knowledge.

15:19So my father didn't have the capacity to do that. So whereas I always speak highly of education, I was gifted to go to school. A lot of people are not fortunate enough or can afford it. My dad was struggling to put me in college. So I had scholarships and grants. I had a high GPA so I was able to go ahead and have my tuition paid. And then being in Florida resident was easy so I can pay out of state tuition. So that kind of helped out for me. Yeah. So yeah, real quick, we're coming to the end of the time. But how do people find you? I know they can just walk by and they'll be floating through the air, wafting, the smell of the aroma and the pizza. Yeah, sure you get. But online, how do people find you? So we have our website. It's called the Lorenzo's Westchester.com. And once you click on that, it will see my other locations. So we have a location in live casino hotel behind Sussan Bank Park. And I just didn't expansion in June. Actually, I had my mother show up. And we are doing now pizza pasta paninis.

16:21I did a new twist on it. And I was so excited to have my mom, my mother there. So what I did was first time ever, I've ever seen this was I put pictures of my whole family behind the counter at the casino of us from 1978. So you share the picture of my father, my grandfather, my siblings, myself. They show you that's actually family owned and operated. I'm not a franchise. She shed tears. So did I. Yeah. Right on that. Yeah, it was moving mode. Well, yeah, actually there's a new, I believe, right? From what I heard, because my wife is also from Italy, from Rome. But I think they just passed the law where if your grandparents or your parents are from Italy and then your kids were born in the States or another country that they can now get citizenship. So if my son's got dual citizenship. Okay, okay, great. Sure. Yeah, yeah. So that's going to bring a lot of, you know, business to Italy, people buying houses and stuff. So that is a big news. If like one of my youngest sons go in abroad to Italy, so he has Italian pass free, it

17:21doesn't need a visa. Yeah, there you go. So if you can travel within Europe with the Italian passport, so you're fine. Yeah. So it kind of works out. It's been a pleasure to have you on the show. Yeah, thank you so much for joining us. We're about to hop into your session here at the studios from studio three to studio one. And so yeah, thank you guys for joining us here. This is legacy makers, you know, where they're talking about, you know, their businesses, but the legacy they want to leave behind from the success that they've had. And yes, being a generational business has all to do with making that legacy and creating it and leaving behind a good mark in the city through large slices of pizza, also, right? Don't forget. All right. Thank you guys for joining us and we'll see you next time. Thank you, everyone.