Master Menu
by Steve Coomes

Seems pizza operators have mixed opinions about doing business in college towns. Though none deny there's potential in serving a prime pizza-eatmg audience, some operators say most students are "chainwashed": programmed to buy cheap pies from big brands. Others fret that business drops too sharply when students leave campus for the summer, rendering a third of the year unprofitable.

And then there's Brad Randall, owner and partner at Aver's Pizza in Bloomington, Indiana, home - for at least nine months of the year - to 36,000 students at Indiana University. Randall is both thankful for and optimistic about his college student customers. By sheer numbers alone, he knows some of them are bound to try his pizza at one time or another. And if they don't like it, it's not a big deal, because each new school year gives him and partner Kris Kaiser a shot at 9,000 new customers.

"That's the good thing about a college town: If you mess something up, four years later, none of those people will know you messed up," says Randall, whose Cream & Crimson Pizza shared honors as one of two finalists in the Exotic Category during last February's Pizza Festiva.

Perhaps more important to Randall are Bloomington's 60,000 residents, who Aver's serves year round. Those are the folks you have to keep happy, he says.

"When we opened, we went after a more eclectic market, an older audience," says Randall. "We built our base off them just so we could survive when the students were gone."

"It was about a year and a half before we even tried to get the students in there," adds Kaiser. "And the older students who've been around, they're our big customers right now."

Randall spent six years on IU's campus earning a bachelor's degree in nutrition science before deciding that he wanted to own a business. He and Kaiser worked together for years at another Bloomington pizza chain, only to wind up frustrated, disillusioned and itching to do things their way. Randall in particular was frustrated by his old boss's reluctance to try new pizza ideas.

"I made a pesto sauce pizza once, and it didn't grab him; he said, That stuffs just a fad,' " says Randall. He later got his pesto sauce pizza when he made his own menu at Aver's. That pizza's name: "Justa Fad."

Pride in ownership for Kaiser and Randall came three years ago when Aver's opened. It didn't take long, however, before the perils of ownership set in. 'We had no money," says Kaiser. "I pretty much cried myself to sleep when the walk-in broke down."

As they were unable to afford much staff, those early months saw the two averaging 90 hours a week and experimenting with promotions that "completely bombed," says Randall.

But business wasn't flat for long. Word spread that Aver's was making uniquely flavored gourmet pies, as well as cheese- and-meat-topped standards. Good sellers like the Beckon Desire (spinach lemon pesto, artichoke hearts and gorgonzola) and the Cuban Black Bean Pizza (cilantro pesto, onion, tomato and black beans) paved the way for "pizza of the week" specials that allowed them to ex- periment with other combinations like Cream & Crimson. Kaiser credits a for- mer girifriend with the idea for the pizza, which is named after IU's school colors.

It begins with a pan-style crust Randall says uses "quite a bit of olive oil, so it's light and airy ... and retains moisture well." After a light fingertip docking, an Alfredo sauce is applied, followed by mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced red potatoes, bacon chips, Gorgonzola and cheddar cheese. It's then cooked for 10 minutes in a 450 F conveyor oven and served.

Randall says the pizza, on the menu for almost three years now, has become one of Aver's best-selling specialty pies.

An Eye for Expansion
Kaiser and Randall hope to grow Aver's through franchising. After three years, it has surpassed the partners' five-year business plan goals and convinced them that their concept could grow. They own their property to boot.

Randall also says they're working to simplify every facet of their operation. Portion controls and specs are tightly monitored, and an outside firm has been hired to pre-portion and package all spices for sauce recipes.

"We try to make it as easy as possible so we can turn big volume," says Kaiser. "We want it to be fast." What will fuel their need to speed into the franchise market is venture capital, says Randall. With $350,000 in annual sales, they're making money, but since they can't offer dine-in at their store, revenue potential there is almost maxed out.

So what's next? Randall and Kaiser say they're not sure, hut Randall says he expects the future will be interesting.

"We're still scratching our heads asking, 'Well, what do we do now?'" says Randall. "We've got a plan, a roadmap for where we want to go, but we don't even know if the streets exist yet. We'll see what happens."

Steve Coomes is editor-in-chief of Pizza Today.