Episode 622: 28 Inches of Simple: How PIE.ZAA Scales by Doing Less

Wil hosts Tyler Kotch, founder of PIE.ZAA (Asheville & Charlotte), for a candid chat about spotting late-night demand, building a hyper-focused high-margin pizza concept (five-item menu, 28" pies or 12" slices), surviving COVID, navigating a painful partner split, and scaling methodically toward franchising. Tyler shares lessons on location strategy, simplifying operations to reduce waste, ditching phones in favor of in-person/email and AI ordering, fixing third-party delivery headaches via Takeout Central, and the bigger mission: build a people-centric company, communicate face-to-face, and leave a legacy—possibly across 30–100 locations—using a mountains/city/beach testbed with the FDD in motion.

10 takeaways:

Simple wins: Five-item menu; whole 28" pies or 12" slices—less waste, faster training.

Late-night niche: PIE.ZAA launched to serve post-10pm demand; pizza delivers the margins.

Go big on product & packaging: 28" pies + distinctive black boxes = walking billboards.

Location is leverage: Foot traffic/tourism/density; first 60–90 days set the trajectory.

Market fit varies: Asheville skews to whole pies/families; Charlotte South End to slices/young pros.

Phone-free by design: No live phone lines; AI ordering + in-person/email encourage real communication.

Control the last mile: Shift to Takeout Central drivers reduced delivery damage/complaints.

Choose partners wisely: Misalignment is costly; Tyler rebuilt post-split in 2022.

Franchise runway: FDD/approval pending; “mountains/city/beach” proof points precede scale.

Culture over control: People-centric leadership, low micromanagement, purpose beyond money.