Dion's

Dion's

Type	Private
Founded	1978
Headquarters	Albuquerque, New Mexico
Key people	Jon Patten and Bill Scott, Founders
Website	[1]

Dion’s Pizza is a privately owned chain of pizza restaurant based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Currently (2010) Dion’s operates 15 restaurants; 13 in New Mexico and 2 in Texas. Expansion plans include two more stores in Albuquerque and one more in Lubbock, Texas within the next 3 years.^[1]

History

Dion’s was founded in 1978 by Jon Patten and Bill Scott, long time childhood friends from Birmingham, Michigan. The pair moved to New Mexico with intention of opening a fast serve Greek Restaurant. They bought a small pizzeria called New York Pizza in Albuquerque with the intention of converting it to a Greek menu. The name for their new place was to be ‘Dionysus’, the name of the Greek god of wine. When the two got the bid for their new sign they decided to shorten the name to save money.

The Greek menu was mildly successful but the customers really wanted pizza so that became the focus of the store. Today their Greek salad is the only vestige of the original menu. Jon and Bill had no experience in the restaurant business and neither had a business background. They learned their trade as they developed it gathering help and advice where ever they could. .^[2]

Development

At Academy Rd and Wyoming Blvd in Albuquerque

In 1979, year after starting out in business, Dion’s built their second location in Albuquerque. Soon after that they got a good write up in the Albuquerque Journal which helped boost sales and sent them on their way to sustainable sales gains in the years to come.

In the early days their stores were located in strip shopping centers, and as they established themselves and built their credit they were able to open more stores in other centers around town. Their first free-standing units were made possible by the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s. They managed to get a good price on two former Mazzio’s Pizza units and moved two of their nearby stores into the new buildings. The two new locations came with drive thru windows which allowed customers to call in their order ahead and pick it up at the window. The pick up window worked very well and eventually accounted for nearly 35% of each stores sales. It became a standard feature on all new freestanding stores.

In the 1990s Dion’s concentrated on moving existing stores out of shopping centers and into separate units where the company owned both the land and the buildings. Today all their stores are freestanding and range in size from 3500 to 6,000 square feet (560 m²).

Employees

The company employees approximately 1100 people with about 175 working full time. Each store has a roster of about 60 individuals many of whom are part time teenagers. Dion’s also has a commissary/bakery with a staff of 53 people where much of the daily food preparation is done. The commissary is responsible for daily delivery to the stores dough, sandwich baguettes, sliced meats and cheeses and salad dressings as well as many other items. The Home Office in Albuquerque houses about 32 employees scattered around the many departments crucial to the operation of the company. There is also an in-house maintenance department which operates 7 days a week with six repair trucks carrying out daily repairs and routine maintenance.^[3]

Food

Dion’s has a limited menu with the main items being pizza, salads and subs. They have three sizes of pizza as well as the gourmet style pizzas. Pizzas are hand made.

Future

“World Pizza Domination by the Year 3000” is the motto the company likes to tout. Slow, steady, solid growth is the plan with a new market in Lubbock, Texas currently under development. There will be two new stores opened in 2010 with plans to look for the next out of state market.^[4]

References

1. ^ Dion's Pizza
2. ^ Dion's Pizza
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4. ^ Lubbock

External links

• Official Website