Pizzeria Uno is aiming to turn the drop in traffic at hotel restaurants into a franchising opportunity for the full-service pizza chain.
The chain is pitching lodging properties on the conversion of their dining rooms into sit-down Pizzeria Unos. The advantages it touts is the opportunity for the host operation to branch into pizza delivery and sport a brand that is well-known to local consumers, while still offering a dining and delivery option to overnight guests.
Those benefits were readily achieved at three Midwestern hotels that turned their dining rooms into franchised Pizzeria Unos earlier this year, according to the franchisor.
“Every one of them has seen significant sales growth. Their lowest week since converting would have been a record week for the restaurant pre-conversion,” Pizzeria Uno CEO Erik Frederick said in a statement. “We have one location that is bringing in around 10 times the amount of volume on an average day."
The chain is also touting the ability of restaurants without kitchens to offer Pizzeria Uno-brand pizzas by using pre-made frozen pies.
However, a participating hotel would need another outlet if it intends to serve breakfast. The Uno facilities will only offer lunch, dinner and late-night service, according to a spokesperson.
The pizza chain’s initiative comes as hotels are still awaiting a bounce back in business travel, typically the industry’s bread-and-butter business during the week. Business-travel revenues for the U.S. industry are projected by the American Hotel & Lodging Association to fall short of the pre-pandemic level of 2019 by $20 billion.
Parent company Uno Restaurant Holdings operates and franchises 80 pizzerias in 18 states.
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