WEBVTT - Small Pizza Shops Want a Bigger Slice 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:23.356 Pushkin. Here are two ways of thinking about technology and 0:00:23.476 --> 0:00:28.076 the pizza business. One, technology creates a wiener take all 0:00:28.156 --> 0:00:31.956 game with economies of scale and network effects. The bigger 0:00:31.956 --> 0:00:35.316 a company gets, the better and cheaper its product gets, 0:00:35.436 --> 0:00:37.916 and so it just runs away with the game. This 0:00:37.996 --> 0:00:41.276 is the story of Domino's Pizza, which, underneath the hood 0:00:41.636 --> 0:00:44.596 is a really smart tech company that has used data 0:00:44.676 --> 0:00:49.316 and algorithms to drive incredible growth. Investors know this. Over 0:00:49.356 --> 0:00:52.556 the past ten years, Domino's stock has risen more than 0:00:52.596 --> 0:00:56.916 the stock of Amazon or Google or Facebook. On the 0:00:56.916 --> 0:01:01.356 other hand, technology can also benefit small businesses by lowering 0:01:01.396 --> 0:01:04.956 barriers to entry and creating powerful new efficiencies. But we 0:01:04.996 --> 0:01:08.156 haven't seen much of this side of technology in the 0:01:08.196 --> 0:01:11.596 pizza world, least not yet. Most mom and pop pizza 0:01:11.636 --> 0:01:15.476 shops haven't changed in decades, and if they don't change soon, 0:01:15.876 --> 0:01:22.436 they may get destroyed by the tech juggernaut of big pizza. 0:01:25.116 --> 0:01:27.836 I'm Jacob Goldstein, and this is what's your problem. My 0:01:27.876 --> 0:01:31.116 guest today is Elier Sella. He's the co founder and 0:01:31.236 --> 0:01:34.396 CEO of Slice, a tech company that works with thousands 0:01:34.436 --> 0:01:38.196 of small pizza shops across the United States. The Elier's 0:01:38.196 --> 0:01:41.356 problem is this, how do you bring the technological revolution 0:01:41.476 --> 0:01:44.756 to thousands of tiny mom and pop pizza shops, the 0:01:44.836 --> 0:01:47.236 places where they don't even have time to answer the 0:01:47.276 --> 0:01:50.596 phone every time it rings to start. I asked Elier 0:01:50.676 --> 0:01:52.676 to talk me through all the things that can go 0:01:52.756 --> 0:01:55.276 wrong at a pizza shop every time somebody calls in 0:01:55.316 --> 0:02:00.196 an order. So when you dial in, you'll either get 0:02:00.196 --> 0:02:03.156 a busy signal. If you don't get a busy signal, 0:02:03.436 --> 0:02:05.996 very likely you'll be put on hold for sure. All right, 0:02:06.036 --> 0:02:07.916 the guy's got to somebody who can hear people screaming 0:02:07.956 --> 0:02:11.956 in the background right exact phone. The guy disappears exactly. 0:02:11.996 --> 0:02:14.436 And so what we know is, you know, twenty plus 0:02:14.436 --> 0:02:17.716 percent of phone calls go unattended. And then they will 0:02:18.116 --> 0:02:21.556 take your order, but they will mishear you because it's 0:02:21.636 --> 0:02:24.436 very loud on the other side. And that means that 0:02:24.516 --> 0:02:27.556 either the quantity of something that you ordered will be wrong, 0:02:28.196 --> 0:02:31.196 maybe a topping will be forgotten, but there will be 0:02:31.236 --> 0:02:34.596 something wrong with your order. Sometimes then you have to 0:02:34.676 --> 0:02:38.396 read out your address. That's a whole other issue, so 0:02:38.556 --> 0:02:41.956 they might get the address wrong exactly exactly. Your neighbor 0:02:41.996 --> 0:02:44.676 gets a free pizza and I get nothing. You're there 0:02:44.716 --> 0:02:47.356 two hours later waiting for your pie to arrive. That 0:02:47.436 --> 0:02:50.676 kind of stuff. The bottleneck isn't the pizza oven, it's 0:02:50.716 --> 0:02:54.756 the telephone. It's the telephone. So what Elier's company, Slice 0:02:54.876 --> 0:02:57.356 is trying to do is to get small pizza shops 0:02:57.436 --> 0:02:59.876 out of the world of telephones and orders scrolled on 0:02:59.956 --> 0:03:03.036 paper and into the world where customers use an app 0:03:03.076 --> 0:03:05.316 to order and where the pizza shop runs on a 0:03:05.356 --> 0:03:09.276 computer system designed by Slice. There is a Slice app, 0:03:09.356 --> 0:03:11.676 and when you open it, it looks like Seamless or 0:03:11.716 --> 0:03:14.796 Grubhub or Uber Eats, but Slice is really different than 0:03:14.836 --> 0:03:18.876 those companies. Those are basically delivery services that charge a 0:03:18.916 --> 0:03:22.956 fee of around twenty five percent. Slice does not provide delivery, 0:03:23.076 --> 0:03:26.476 and its fee is typically around five percent. What Slice 0:03:26.516 --> 0:03:29.276 is really trying to do is to bring Domino's level 0:03:29.316 --> 0:03:32.236 technology to the mom and pop pizza shop on the corner. 0:03:32.596 --> 0:03:34.876 These are pizza shops that are about as far from 0:03:34.876 --> 0:03:38.116 Dominoes as you can get and still be selling pizza. 0:03:38.316 --> 0:03:43.436 These are independently owned and operated. I call them micro businesses. 0:03:43.476 --> 0:03:46.556 They're not even small businesses. They don't have a staff 0:03:46.596 --> 0:03:49.156 of ten or twenty. They are usually a team of 0:03:49.196 --> 0:03:53.196 two or three people, most often a family, and they're 0:03:53.756 --> 0:03:58.876 working alone. They're responsible for making the pizza, answering the phone, 0:03:59.716 --> 0:04:03.036 serving the person who's walking in at the counter, making 0:04:03.076 --> 0:04:06.676 sure perilous processed. Sometimes they run out of inventory and 0:04:06.676 --> 0:04:09.316 they have to run out and pick up inventory. But 0:04:09.396 --> 0:04:15.956 it's a very reactive, unpredictable, lonely job. So that's that's 0:04:16.036 --> 0:04:19.116 your client. That's what it's like, sort of behind the scenes. 0:04:19.116 --> 0:04:21.756 That the pizza shop on the corner, which everybody has 0:04:21.876 --> 0:04:25.436 right wherever you live, there's some neighborhood pizza shop. And 0:04:25.476 --> 0:04:30.076 then on the other hand you have Dominoes. Right, Dominoes, 0:04:30.516 --> 0:04:33.116 which you know you think of as a pizza company, 0:04:33.156 --> 0:04:38.396 Buddy is actually like a really savvy, big tech company essentially, 0:04:38.516 --> 0:04:41.276 right it is. And so I mean it seems like 0:04:41.356 --> 0:04:46.316 in fact Slice is not so much about you know, 0:04:46.996 --> 0:04:49.676 Uber eats or a door dash, but he is really 0:04:49.716 --> 0:04:53.916 more like a Domino's alternative. Is that right? It's fun on. 0:04:54.236 --> 0:04:59.116 So Domino's made the decision about fifteen years ago to 0:04:59.356 --> 0:05:04.036 focus on becoming a technology first company because they realized 0:05:04.836 --> 0:05:08.676 that those inefficiencies that we spoke about earlier exist and 0:05:08.756 --> 0:05:12.716 they all to realize that they can create much stronger 0:05:12.756 --> 0:05:19.476 consumer relationships customer relationships if the customer was online. Remember now, 0:05:20.236 --> 0:05:24.676 you know for a Domino's, seventy five percent of their 0:05:24.796 --> 0:05:30.476 orders are being placed digitally through their own native channels. 0:05:30.676 --> 0:05:34.396 That was a brilliant call by Dominos, right, like incredible. 0:05:34.956 --> 0:05:38.596 They made a really smart call, you know, kind of 0:05:38.636 --> 0:05:40.796 at the beginning of the iPhone era. They saw what 0:05:40.916 --> 0:05:43.436 was coming and they did it exactly. And tell me 0:05:43.476 --> 0:05:45.796 all the ways that's paid off for them. So they 0:05:45.836 --> 0:05:51.236 were the first to first national chain to invest in 0:05:51.276 --> 0:05:56.076 a best in class native mobile ordering experience. They were 0:05:56.076 --> 0:06:01.396 the first company to have a nationwide rewards program that 0:06:01.596 --> 0:06:06.036 is tied to the online mobile ordering experience. So you 0:06:06.076 --> 0:06:09.916 get all these rewards if you ordered online. And in fact, 0:06:09.956 --> 0:06:13.636 they're the first company to stop advertising phone numbers. Interesting, 0:06:13.716 --> 0:06:15.596 Dominos does not want you to call them. They don't 0:06:15.596 --> 0:06:17.836 want you to call that's the user point of view. 0:06:18.036 --> 0:06:21.196 Tell me all the reasons that's good for Dominoes. So 0:06:21.356 --> 0:06:23.636 why is that good for Dominoes. Let's fast forward and 0:06:24.116 --> 0:06:26.476 look at it today. And as I mentioned, seventy five 0:06:26.516 --> 0:06:30.236 percent of the volume is digital. When that happens, you 0:06:30.276 --> 0:06:34.276 tip a scale when it comes to insights. Because most 0:06:34.276 --> 0:06:37.756 of the customer base is now digital, I can now 0:06:37.916 --> 0:06:42.276 predict using data, data science, and insights, I can predict 0:06:42.396 --> 0:06:45.676 what will happen at a Domino's location every single day. 0:06:46.476 --> 0:06:49.596 So Dominos for a Friday, they know how many sales 0:06:49.636 --> 0:06:53.836 they will have. So one, the experience for the consumer 0:06:53.876 --> 0:06:56.636 becomes much better because when you order a pizza for Dominoes, 0:06:56.716 --> 0:06:59.596 most likely that pie is already in the oven. They're 0:06:59.636 --> 0:07:03.236 anticipating its super sides are very powerful. They knew I'm 0:07:03.476 --> 0:07:06.036 going to order that pizza right now, and so they 0:07:06.036 --> 0:07:09.636 started cooking it five minutes before I ordered it, exactly, 0:07:09.836 --> 0:07:13.796 and I would say that's fun. Two, there's no food waste, 0:07:13.836 --> 0:07:16.196 so they don't have to they don't have to remake 0:07:16.196 --> 0:07:21.956 a pizza or throw it away. Three, it's directly connected 0:07:21.996 --> 0:07:27.396 to their entire sort of workflow, and so there isn't 0:07:27.756 --> 0:07:31.236 a ton of inefficiencies in terms of which driver is 0:07:31.276 --> 0:07:33.716 going to take which order and where it's going to 0:07:33.756 --> 0:07:37.236 be delivered. All of this data feeds into their team 0:07:37.636 --> 0:07:41.196 and gives them insights, gives them direction into how they 0:07:41.236 --> 0:07:44.516 need to handle every single customer. So when you talk 0:07:44.556 --> 0:07:49.596 about all those things that Domino's does, and how smart 0:07:49.676 --> 0:07:52.516 they are because of it. It's sort of amazing that 0:07:52.556 --> 0:07:56.556 there's so many mom and pizza shops still in business. Ah. Yes, 0:07:56.716 --> 0:07:59.276 and this is the this is the AHA moment for me. 0:08:00.596 --> 0:08:03.916 Domino's has solved a lot of the business challenges and 0:08:04.636 --> 0:08:09.476 inefficiencies of running a pizza shop. However, it asked for 0:08:09.556 --> 0:08:13.596 one major tradeoff, and that is your creative freedom. You 0:08:13.636 --> 0:08:18.116 cannot have you know, Elier's pizza shop in my own 0:08:18.196 --> 0:08:21.796 family recipe. You know, you can't bring that forward when 0:08:21.836 --> 0:08:24.996 you open up a Dominoes. You have to trade that off. Sure, 0:08:25.036 --> 0:08:26.596 I mean that's true from the point of view of 0:08:26.596 --> 0:08:29.116 the entrepreneur, but from the point of view of the customer, 0:08:29.516 --> 0:08:32.836 I mean I don't prefer Domino's pizza, Like does the 0:08:32.836 --> 0:08:35.236 shop around the corner just stay in business because people 0:08:35.356 --> 0:08:38.756 prefer the pizza there, or they like, like, why hasn't 0:08:38.756 --> 0:08:42.476 Dominoes just wiped everybody out? It's kind of the question. Well, 0:08:42.716 --> 0:08:45.276 they've they've done a great job and they've taken market share, 0:08:45.556 --> 0:08:48.756 but it's clear that the consumer loves the authenticity and 0:08:48.796 --> 0:08:52.996 the variety that comes with local. There's you know, closer connections, 0:08:53.036 --> 0:08:57.116 better connections with that local operator. And in many cases, 0:08:57.156 --> 0:09:02.716 the consumer is forging a more convenient mobile experience for 0:09:02.996 --> 0:09:06.916 better quality product. And you know, I think there's a 0:09:07.036 --> 0:09:11.036 there's an opportunity to solve for both. Okay, remember Domino's 0:09:11.076 --> 0:09:15.116 has six thousand locations. Yeah, Slice works with eighteen thousand locations. 0:09:15.276 --> 0:09:17.796 So team Slice is bigger than team Dominoes in terms 0:09:17.836 --> 0:09:20.436 of revenue, in terms of number of pizzas sold, without 0:09:20.476 --> 0:09:23.516 a doubt. Our goal and my vision is to help 0:09:23.596 --> 0:09:27.476 that independent operator to be in business for themselves, but 0:09:27.596 --> 0:09:31.956 not by themselves. How do we create a community around 0:09:31.956 --> 0:09:35.916 this industry and empower it with the similar sort of 0:09:35.956 --> 0:09:40.356 operating system and tools and technology that Dominoes brings to 0:09:40.396 --> 0:09:45.116 their franchisees. So there's an idea that's interesting to me 0:09:45.916 --> 0:09:49.556 that is bigger than just pizza. Pizza's big. But this 0:09:49.956 --> 0:09:54.596 is not just a pizza idea, and it's about technology 0:09:55.036 --> 0:09:59.596 and how it seems like sometimes technology drives us toward 0:09:59.676 --> 0:10:03.716 a winner. Take all. Right, you know, certainly we've seen that, 0:10:03.756 --> 0:10:06.876 say with a Google or even with social media. Right, 0:10:06.916 --> 0:10:10.236 you have these very powerful network effects, but it also 0:10:10.316 --> 0:10:15.836 seems like there are instances when technology can lower barriers 0:10:15.876 --> 0:10:20.156 to entry and create efficiencies for you know, smaller businesses. 0:10:20.436 --> 0:10:22.796 And I don't know what quite the right analogy is, 0:10:22.836 --> 0:10:25.316 but I was thinking, like it reminds me a little 0:10:25.356 --> 0:10:28.076 like Dominoes, and Slice reminds me a little of like 0:10:28.396 --> 0:10:33.276 Amazon and Shopify. Right. Amazon is this giant, centralized, brilliant 0:10:33.276 --> 0:10:35.596 e commerce company, and then you have Shopify, which is 0:10:35.716 --> 0:10:39.316 very clever and lets anybody who wants to sell stuff 0:10:39.316 --> 0:10:44.196 online with a lot of like powerful smart technology. It's 0:10:43.516 --> 0:10:47.716 as well said, we get a lot of analogies and 0:10:47.756 --> 0:10:51.556 a lot of examples are sort of similar to that, 0:10:52.476 --> 0:10:55.876 you know, specifically to our customers, there's a major difference 0:10:55.996 --> 0:11:00.556 even with Shopify that that is an incredible company that 0:11:00.636 --> 0:11:04.116 has built all of these tools, and then the entrepreneur 0:11:04.316 --> 0:11:07.316 goes and leverages those tools to be to be successful 0:11:07.756 --> 0:11:11.116 and to have an online presence. The challenge in our 0:11:11.196 --> 0:11:15.276 industry is if we just built the tool and then 0:11:15.436 --> 0:11:19.036 made it available to these operators, well, that's just another 0:11:19.156 --> 0:11:23.236 job for them to do. And what the mistake a 0:11:23.236 --> 0:11:27.116 lot of people make is they say, Okay, hey, independent operator, 0:11:27.196 --> 0:11:30.796 small business owner, you can go and compete with Dominoes. 0:11:31.236 --> 0:11:34.636 And they're still gonna lose. They're still gonna lose because 0:11:34.636 --> 0:11:37.076 they're because they're alone and they don't have that experience. 0:11:37.916 --> 0:11:41.076 So the difference between even a Shopify and Slice is 0:11:41.116 --> 0:11:45.556 that Slice takes on the responsibility of partnering closely with 0:11:45.596 --> 0:11:51.836 these operators and managing the online economy, the online experience, 0:11:51.916 --> 0:11:55.716 and the digital tools on their behalf, and then giving 0:11:55.716 --> 0:11:58.596 them all the insights back so that they know exactly 0:11:58.596 --> 0:12:04.556 what's going on in this online world. So why only pizza? Like, 0:12:04.636 --> 0:12:07.196 your app looks just like a you know, a Grubhub, 0:12:07.236 --> 0:12:08.996 happ or whatever, but I open it in its own 0:12:09.236 --> 0:12:11.156 pizza and like, I mean, I like pizza. I know 0:12:11.236 --> 0:12:15.036 people love pizza, but like, why only pizza? Why not? 0:12:17.996 --> 0:12:20.876 It's a big market. It's a forty seven billion dollar 0:12:21.436 --> 0:12:24.676 industry in the US, and that's just revenue that passes 0:12:24.716 --> 0:12:28.436 through seventy seven thousand pizza shops. What share of those 0:12:28.436 --> 0:12:35.356 are independent shops? Seventy fivest most most most? Why does 0:12:35.396 --> 0:12:41.836 everybody love pizza? Why does everybody love pizza? Asking the 0:12:41.876 --> 0:12:44.676 tough questions on what's your problem? No, no, I think it. 0:12:44.836 --> 0:12:50.316 I think it brings us back to happy, celebratory times 0:12:50.316 --> 0:12:53.156 in our life. If you remember growing up, when did 0:12:53.156 --> 0:12:57.596 you have pizza? Soccer games, football game, Yeah, birthday parties, 0:12:57.996 --> 0:13:02.276 moments where you typically came together with other people. So 0:13:02.356 --> 0:13:06.476 pizza is the ultimate social food. It has eight slices. 0:13:07.076 --> 0:13:09.116 I mean, I'm sure some people will eat all eight. 0:13:09.436 --> 0:13:12.316 I've done it before and it's it's great. But it's 0:13:12.316 --> 0:13:16.876 meant to be shared. And so there's this incredible positive 0:13:18.236 --> 0:13:21.276 feeling that you get when you order a pizza. I 0:13:21.316 --> 0:13:26.836 would say two, it is um delicious, It travels well, 0:13:27.796 --> 0:13:30.476 and it just tastes really good. I mean, it's a 0:13:30.556 --> 0:13:34.356 nice combination of you know, a Doughey based sort of protein. 0:13:34.636 --> 0:13:37.956 You know, obviously that's sauce, and it's it's a really 0:13:37.956 --> 0:13:40.916 bad balanced problem. Fat is so good. You didn't say fat. 0:13:41.156 --> 0:13:44.156 That's really what's doing the lifting. Let's be honest, right, 0:13:44.316 --> 0:13:46.916 And I would say the last part is this matters. 0:13:47.516 --> 0:13:52.676 It's incredibly affordable. Yeah. For many families and many households, 0:13:52.796 --> 0:13:56.836 pizza is the night out in Yeah. And so I 0:13:56.876 --> 0:14:00.316 would say for those reasons, um, it has become a staple. 0:14:00.356 --> 0:14:04.236 It's an American institution. American is an interesting word there, 0:14:04.676 --> 0:14:07.316 not Italian, like the thing we eat is not even 0:14:07.396 --> 0:14:09.636 it used to be, but not not the pizza we 0:14:09.716 --> 0:14:13.036 consume is very American, very much in an American product. 0:14:17.356 --> 0:14:20.556 After the break, how Slice may soon be solving problems 0:14:20.596 --> 0:14:24.836 in the physical world, including how to deliver cardboard boxes 0:14:24.996 --> 0:14:34.836 to thousands of pizza shops. Now back to the show. 0:14:35.876 --> 0:14:38.956 Elier was born in Macedonia, moved to Staten Island when 0:14:38.996 --> 0:14:40.996 he was ten, and kind of grew up in the 0:14:41.036 --> 0:14:44.196 pizza business. I have a lot of family members that 0:14:44.236 --> 0:14:47.196 owned pizza shops, so hung out at my uncle's pizza shop, 0:14:47.236 --> 0:14:51.116 it was called John Anthony's in Brooklyn. You know, would 0:14:51.116 --> 0:14:53.476 make pizza's if we needed to. We did a bunch 0:14:53.516 --> 0:14:59.876 of deliveries. But most of my teenage years, whether it 0:14:59.916 --> 0:15:03.556 was the weekend or some weeknights, we would spend at 0:15:03.556 --> 0:15:06.276 a pizza shop. Elia went to college in Staten Island 0:15:06.316 --> 0:15:08.996 and started a tech support business that he later wound up. 0:15:09.796 --> 0:15:12.076 So I had that business. Because of that, family members 0:15:12.076 --> 0:15:14.436 saw me as the tech guy, and they wanted me 0:15:14.476 --> 0:15:17.156 to build them websites and online ordering for their shops, 0:15:17.396 --> 0:15:20.036 for their pizza realized for their pizza shops. And then, 0:15:20.236 --> 0:15:21.876 you know, I kind of realized that all these pizza 0:15:21.916 --> 0:15:24.796 shops were very similar, they just had a different recipe. 0:15:25.636 --> 0:15:28.276 The first version of Slice was called my Pizza dot Com. 0:15:28.756 --> 0:15:31.916 I bootstrapped the company for six years. We didn't raise 0:15:31.956 --> 0:15:35.316 any any money. Um So in the beginning, it was 0:15:35.436 --> 0:15:40.236 mostly the consumer was placing an order online. The order 0:15:40.276 --> 0:15:43.036 would make it to my telephone and then I would 0:15:43.076 --> 0:15:46.156 phone the pizzeria. I would call the pizzeria with your order. 0:15:46.396 --> 0:15:47.836 What year was this, by the way, it was it 0:15:47.876 --> 0:15:51.796 was twenty twenty ten, so the people had there was 0:15:51.836 --> 0:15:54.236 there were iPhones, it was an app store. I'd go online. 0:15:54.236 --> 0:15:56.116 I'd think I'm doing this high tech thing ordering on 0:15:56.196 --> 0:15:59.076 my phone. It turns out there's just a guy namely 0:15:59.156 --> 0:16:01.836 You just you read it and then you called the 0:16:01.836 --> 0:16:03.876 pizza shop. That's right, presumable you had to call it 0:16:03.916 --> 0:16:06.596 in because it was twenty ten, Like, they probably didn't 0:16:06.596 --> 0:16:09.276 even have iPhones, a lot of them, right, Like all 0:16:09.316 --> 0:16:11.196 they had was a telephone and a pizza oven and 0:16:11.276 --> 0:16:13.036 cheese at a cash register. Right. There would be no 0:16:13.076 --> 0:16:15.236 way with a lot of these shops in twenty ten 0:16:15.516 --> 0:16:19.436 to send them a digital order. Absolutely, And even if 0:16:19.476 --> 0:16:21.636 you had a way, they were not going to adopt 0:16:21.676 --> 0:16:24.596 that just because they were old fashioned, basically old fashioned. 0:16:24.596 --> 0:16:26.356 They didn't want to change the way that they operated, 0:16:26.396 --> 0:16:29.276 that they worked every day. Great, Remember it's it's an 0:16:29.276 --> 0:16:34.996 individual operator. Any changes to the workflow is a huge 0:16:35.036 --> 0:16:37.156 disruption to your day. You don't have the time, right, 0:16:37.156 --> 0:16:41.916 it's a big disruption. So tell me sort of where 0:16:41.996 --> 0:16:47.036 you are in the arc of figuring all that technology 0:16:47.076 --> 0:16:51.356 stuff out. Like clearly your app lets me order online 0:16:51.676 --> 0:16:54.716 from the corner pizza store, right, so it it at 0:16:54.796 --> 0:16:59.356 least provides the opportunity to move customers off of the 0:16:59.436 --> 0:17:03.796 phone and you know, off of to move customers away 0:17:03.796 --> 0:17:07.396 from calling in their order and toward placing the order digitally, 0:17:07.436 --> 0:17:10.636 which is clearly better and more efficient for everybody. Where 0:17:10.676 --> 0:17:13.116 are you on on all of the other like the 0:17:13.156 --> 0:17:15.636 pizzas in the oven before I even order it, because 0:17:15.636 --> 0:17:16.916 you knew I was going to order it? Like, are 0:17:16.956 --> 0:17:19.676 you doing that? Do you want to do that? Absolutely? 0:17:19.956 --> 0:17:22.716 Now we're on this journey to make sure that all 0:17:22.756 --> 0:17:26.396 of these locations have very similar, a very similar tech 0:17:26.476 --> 0:17:31.756 stack across the board. Once we have this consistent tech 0:17:31.796 --> 0:17:37.156 stack across all these independent shops, we now have community level, 0:17:37.316 --> 0:17:41.356 network level data and insights, and we can use that 0:17:41.596 --> 0:17:47.076 information those insights to empower the individual shops, right, so 0:17:47.116 --> 0:17:50.836 they can they can collectively now know what to charge 0:17:50.836 --> 0:17:54.556 for a large pizza, what is the expected delivery time 0:17:54.596 --> 0:17:58.716 from the consumer in that city or town? How do 0:17:58.836 --> 0:18:01.156 menuse you know, how are they evolving? What are the 0:18:01.196 --> 0:18:04.756 most popular items? So, in essence, they are not they 0:18:04.796 --> 0:18:08.116 are no longer just m you know, alone and looking 0:18:08.116 --> 0:18:11.076 at the data just from your own customer base. But 0:18:11.116 --> 0:18:16.076 they kind of know what's happening industrywide and what kind 0:18:16.116 --> 0:18:17.916 of data, if any, are you sending back to the 0:18:17.916 --> 0:18:20.436 shops now, Like what can you tell them now based 0:18:20.476 --> 0:18:23.636 on what you already know today? It's super I would 0:18:23.676 --> 0:18:28.436 say high, high level basic data about consumer insights. So 0:18:28.476 --> 0:18:32.556 we know tipping point or the threshold for the consumer 0:18:32.716 --> 0:18:36.236 delivery fee, so we know what the consumer expects for 0:18:36.356 --> 0:18:38.756 a delivery fee in a town. Is there a secret 0:18:38.876 --> 0:18:41.196 number that's the most people will pay for delivery? I 0:18:41.316 --> 0:18:43.556 know it varies from town to town. So if you're 0:18:43.556 --> 0:18:45.876 in New York, you have to have free delivery that 0:18:46.036 --> 0:18:49.036 is the expected delivery fee from the consumer. If you're 0:18:49.076 --> 0:18:52.916 in LA you can probably get by with three or 0:18:52.916 --> 0:18:56.796 four dollars delivery fees. It literally varies town to town 0:18:56.876 --> 0:18:59.196 or cities a city. What else do you know already 0:18:59.556 --> 0:19:03.676 we know what is the threshold for delivery time, so 0:19:03.756 --> 0:19:08.516 what is the optimal ETA estimate time of arrival? And 0:19:08.636 --> 0:19:11.796 that is all so geography based, but it's also time 0:19:11.836 --> 0:19:14.036 of day, day of week based. So we know that 0:19:14.116 --> 0:19:15.916 on a Friday night the consumer is a little bit 0:19:15.916 --> 0:19:20.116 more tolerant for you know, a wider delivery time, but 0:19:20.156 --> 0:19:23.956 if it's lunchtime on a Monday, they expected really really fast, 0:19:24.316 --> 0:19:27.036 and that also varies by geography. What else you know? 0:19:27.236 --> 0:19:30.076 We know what is the average price of a pizza, 0:19:30.236 --> 0:19:32.716 of a large cheese pizza by town. We know when 0:19:32.716 --> 0:19:35.356 the price is super high. We know when the price 0:19:35.516 --> 0:19:39.556 is probably on point or when it's too low, especially 0:19:39.596 --> 0:19:43.276 relative to the quality score of the shop. So what 0:19:43.436 --> 0:19:45.756 do you what do you not know yet that you 0:19:45.756 --> 0:19:47.196 hope to know in the future. What are some of 0:19:47.196 --> 0:19:50.436 the data sort of problems you haven't solved yet. We 0:19:50.516 --> 0:19:54.196 don't have a ton of visibility from the shop side. 0:19:54.316 --> 0:19:58.036 So what are they paying for different supplies? What are 0:19:58.036 --> 0:20:00.796 they paying for cheese? What are they paying for you know, 0:20:00.956 --> 0:20:03.916 dough and all these things? And so how does that 0:20:03.996 --> 0:20:08.076 differ from from location to location. So we really want 0:20:08.116 --> 0:20:10.876 to do better is connect the insights and the data 0:20:10.996 --> 0:20:14.836 from the from the seller, from the shop side, so 0:20:14.876 --> 0:20:17.556 that we can sort of create a closed loop of 0:20:17.916 --> 0:20:21.116 insights and information. You give any pushback from shops who 0:20:21.156 --> 0:20:24.356 are like, wait, I got my secret cheese, guy, give 0:20:24.436 --> 0:20:26.236 me a great deal on cheese. I don't want my 0:20:26.356 --> 0:20:28.956 rival across town to know about it. I'm not going 0:20:29.036 --> 0:20:32.596 to tell you that, not really, because every single independent 0:20:32.836 --> 0:20:36.396 is being price gouged because they don't have the leverage. 0:20:37.636 --> 0:20:40.396 You mean, they're paying more than Dominoes anyway. So if 0:20:40.396 --> 0:20:43.356 I got, if I got a corner shop, my competition, 0:20:43.396 --> 0:20:45.676 who I care about is not the other corner shop 0:20:45.716 --> 0:20:49.156 across town. It's Dominoes. Is that what you're saying? Exactly? 0:20:49.236 --> 0:20:51.116 Or to be quite honest, if I can, if I 0:20:51.156 --> 0:20:53.956 can band together with the other shops in town and 0:20:54.036 --> 0:20:56.556 lower the price, I'm willing to do that. Mom and 0:20:56.596 --> 0:20:59.036 pop pizza shops of the world unite. You have nothing 0:20:59.196 --> 0:21:03.956 united but your expensive mazzarella. Exactly exactly. And so I'll 0:21:03.996 --> 0:21:08.796 give you an example. We launched a pilot to bring 0:21:09.116 --> 0:21:14.116 packaging supplies two pizza shops. We filled a warehouse, a 0:21:14.156 --> 0:21:17.116 ten thousand Squareford warehouse with a bunch of pizza boxes 0:21:17.196 --> 0:21:19.956 to an order of magnitude. How many pizza boxes is that? 0:21:20.156 --> 0:21:25.596 It's a good question. Is it a million? Not quite 0:21:25.596 --> 0:21:27.956 a million, but some are in the tens of thousands 0:21:28.036 --> 0:21:31.036 or hundreds of thousands, okay, And there's more orders coming 0:21:31.076 --> 0:21:34.036 because it's it's like the first first order that we placed. 0:21:34.036 --> 0:21:36.596 But what we did was we went to the largest 0:21:36.636 --> 0:21:41.276 pizza box manufacturer in the US and we negotiated a 0:21:41.436 --> 0:21:45.276 rate that is similar to what Dominoes negotiated for their franchises. 0:21:45.676 --> 0:21:47.396 And do you think, I mean, are you going to 0:21:47.476 --> 0:21:49.956 get into the cardboard box business? Like? Is that going 0:21:49.996 --> 0:21:52.476 to be part of what Slice does? It's looking really 0:21:52.476 --> 0:21:56.836 really promising that there's an incredible demand in an appetite 0:21:56.916 --> 0:22:00.036 from pizza shops to pay twenty dollars for a bundle 0:22:00.116 --> 0:22:02.756 instead of thirty five. The reason why I love it 0:22:02.796 --> 0:22:05.316 is because then we can pass that saving back to 0:22:05.356 --> 0:22:08.116 the consumer. By the way, that's that's the secret of 0:22:08.156 --> 0:22:13.316 Dominoes is because of their efficiencies, they didn't raise prices 0:22:13.356 --> 0:22:17.516 for fifteen years, dominos has kept the same prices. So well, 0:22:17.516 --> 0:22:20.836 that's I mean, technological change, driving efficiencies and making things 0:22:20.916 --> 0:22:23.436 cheaper is good, right. That is the long term story 0:22:23.436 --> 0:22:26.436 of how the world gets richer. Exactly so will we 0:22:26.476 --> 0:22:29.916 get into it at scale to be determined, but it's 0:22:29.956 --> 0:22:33.276 certainly looking promising, and we will do anything that is 0:22:33.396 --> 0:22:39.956 necessary to help independent operator small businesses succeed. I gotta 0:22:40.036 --> 0:22:43.876 say I love the story of the startup tech Unicorn 0:22:44.236 --> 0:22:47.996 getting into the cardboard box business, partly because it's just 0:22:48.036 --> 0:22:52.196 so physical and real, but also because it's a reminder 0:22:52.236 --> 0:22:55.996 that this story is really all about slice trying to 0:22:55.996 --> 0:22:59.876 bring the benefits of scale in every dimension. In order 0:22:59.876 --> 0:23:02.356 to compete with dominoes, the mom and pop pizza shops 0:23:02.796 --> 0:23:05.796 need to use the same tech stack and aggregate their 0:23:05.876 --> 0:23:08.996 data so they can use analytics to accurately predict custom 0:23:09.196 --> 0:23:12.836 or behavior. But also they should bend together and buy 0:23:12.876 --> 0:23:19.196 cardboard boxes in bulk because they're cheaper that way. In 0:23:19.236 --> 0:23:23.276 a minute, the lightning round with lots of questions about pizza. 0:23:30.996 --> 0:23:33.116 That's the end of the ads. Now we're going back 0:23:33.156 --> 0:23:36.636 to the show. Okay, let's do the lightning round. Great 0:23:37.156 --> 0:23:43.636 anchovy or pineapple neither neither very good. What's one piece 0:23:43.636 --> 0:23:45.516 of advice you'd give to somebody trying to solve a 0:23:45.556 --> 0:23:50.436 hard problem. Hard problems take a long time to solve. 0:23:52.956 --> 0:23:57.756 Be really passionate about solving the problem. But don't just 0:23:57.836 --> 0:23:59.636 do it because you want to make money or for 0:23:59.676 --> 0:24:03.676 some other reason, because then you will not have the 0:24:03.796 --> 0:24:08.356 patience to stay with it long enough to actually solve it. 0:24:09.516 --> 0:24:14.636 What's the most overrated pizza topping? Mushrooms? What's the most 0:24:14.716 --> 0:24:21.836 underrated pizza topping? Hot honey, hot honey. That's right. I 0:24:21.956 --> 0:24:24.036 never even heard of it, that's how underrated it is. 0:24:24.436 --> 0:24:27.756 There you go, Chicago Pizza or New York Pizza. Just kidding, 0:24:28.036 --> 0:24:30.796 obviously New York Chicago pizza is a pie. It's not 0:24:30.836 --> 0:24:38.716 even pizza. It's not even pizza. Thank you. What do 0:24:38.756 --> 0:24:41.356 you understand about the world Because you grew up in 0:24:41.396 --> 0:24:45.436 Staten Island, people have to work really, really hard for 0:24:45.476 --> 0:24:49.996 a long time to earn more than fifty or sixty 0:24:49.996 --> 0:24:56.716