Crust Gourmet Pizza founder’s winning recipe
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Last Updated: Thursday, 24 April 2008
By James Thomson
Costa Anastasiadis evolved his business from a single pizza shop into a 17 store franchise chain, with plans for 40, in just seven years. He shares his secret ingredient.
Costa Anastasiadis, founder and managing director of gourmet pizza chain Crust, never wanted to be a pizza entrepreneur.
When he was 19, Anastasiadis was a talented soccer player and headed to the rich European leagues to try his luck. He eventually landed a professional contract with English club Scarborough FC and later played in Greece.
But things were not going well at home. The family hotel business was struggling and his mother had developed a terminal illness. Anastasiadis had little choice but to abandon his dream. “The idea of being a professional football player was very romantic, but reality hit,” he says.
When Anastasiadis arrived home at the age of 22, things had not improved. The family decided to make a bold decision – the family home was sold off, business debts were paid off and Anastasiadis, as the oldest son, was given the job of starting a new business to help the family get back on their feet. “We knew that the only way out was cashflow, and we just had to grind our way out.”
In 2001, he leased a small 45-square-metre store in the Sydney suburb of Annandale with the idea of starting a gourmet deli. But he eventually decided to return to the pizza business, which he had learnt while managing the wood-fired pizza restaurant at his parents’ hotel.
Despite having just $60,000 in start-up capital and an admittedly amateur strategy – Anastasiadis came up with the menu in his grandparents’ living room, used old house tiles in his shop fit-out and hauled in his brother, sister and cousins as staff members – the business did well and cashflow far exceeded expectations. Anastasiadis says the keys were a visually exciting shop (with the fresh ingredients prominently displayed) and good quality pizzas. “The product was good, and we kept making it better,” he says.
While winning over the customers was relatively easy, Anastasiadis soon realised that winning over suppliers would not be as easy. “Here I was, 22-years-old and these suppliers were selling me thousands of dollars of stock,” Anastasiadis says. His strategy was to launch a charm offensive, making sure he was easy to deal with and always paying on time. “That was the main thing – just being a good payer.”
Within four years, Anastasiadis had opened four Crust Gourmet Pizza stores around Sydney and it was time to take the business to the next level and start franchising. Despite the fact his family had only recently escaped from their financial problems, Anastasiadis and his business partner, Michael Logos, decided to use their stores as capital to fund the franchising move. “I always looked at it as a low-risk move. My philosophy has been that I am young enough to take a hit and get back up again.”
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