Matthew Ptasienski owns and operates Windy Metropolis Pizzeria in Louisville, Kentucky. Situated in an ailing a part of the River Metropolis, about midway between the College of Louisville and historic Churchill Downs, Windy Metropolis, as its identify implies, provides its prospects a style of Chicago.
PT: You’re just about a one-man-show right here, proper?
MP: Just about. I’m the one one working. I solely have one worker. I’ve a supply driver who works evenings. He’s extraordinarily competent, and he can do just about every thing within the store besides cook dinner. And he does. And I can do something within the store, so between the 2 of us he handles all of the deliveries and I deal with all of the cooking. All the things else in between, whoever can do it … does it.
PT: You appear to have a number of common prospects who both reside or work in your neighborhood. Have you ever gotten to know most of your prospects properly?
MP: I could not know what all people’s identify is, however I do know in all probability 75 p.c of the faces.
PT: Why not rent servers? Do you not have the amount vital for that?
MP: It’s strictly a enterprise standpoint. On this economic system, it’s extraordinarily troublesome for me to foretell my enterprise day-today. Each time I stroll by means of this door, I do not know whether or not I’m going to be slammed or lifeless. And there’s no rhyme or purpose for it. There are only a few individuals on this neighborhood who’re keen to come back in and work on a Friday, Saturday night and have someday the place they make $6 in ideas and the following day they make 50 bucks in ideas. There are few individuals who may put up with that unpredictability. If I rent them and within the first two days they’re right here they make 8 bucks in ideas in 5 hours, they ain’t gonna stick round. It’s impractical.
PT: How do you go about cultivating common prospects?
MP: My philosophy is that if I can get them in there the primary time, I can get them again. We’ve bought an actual distinctive product. I feel it’s a high-quality product.
PT: Once you first opened, did you discover that individuals in Louisville have been accustomed to Chicago-style pizza?
MP: No. It took a very long time. I opened within the first week of November (11 years in the past), and I didn’t begin doing stuffed pizza till in all probability February (of the next yr). It was a very international idea to this neighborhood. This neighborhood doesn’t provide an entire lot of selection so far as eating, so it was utterly new. Some individuals took to it actually rapidly, and a few individuals have been postpone and didn’t prefer it in any respect.
