Page 10 - Donatos Pizza

10 | Donatos Pizza
ingredients, Krouse says managers are better
able to focus on their staff and customers.
There are appreciable variables for
franchise partners. Donatos offers custom-
ization in terms of site planning. Their real
estate division can help build out stores that
align with community demographics. This
can result in a sit-down restaurant approach
or delivery-only model, or other. Krouse says
the strategy is flexibility. This translates to
flexibility in financing too. Krouse says in-
vestment with Donatos is on the low side
and he makes a point about prices charged by
other companies. “Some want you to invest
millions of dollars, but with our model, one
could build more than half a dozen stores
and spread throughout an entire market for
that price,” he says.
An interesting testament to Donatos
potential occurred in 1999. At that time,
McDonalds of burger fame was looking for
growth vehicles to diversify and drive their
future prosperity. After researching more
than 60 pizza-related franchises, the respect
for the products and culture at Donatos led
McDonalds to purchase the chain. It was
owned for almost four years, but undevel-
oped and following a change in corporate
leadership, Jim Grote successfully repur-
chased the business he had helped so capa-
Works Pizza