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Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

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Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The download.cnet.com of the pizza world.

I spoke to the my local pizza shop in NYC. He said between grubhub, uberRush, yelp and now slice, they are eating his pizza profit margins. He said he has to deal with 3-4 software / hardware POS products for EACH service. They are sucking him dry. He can't make money BUT needs them to bring the business. Slice takes a 20% "slice" per order / of his business. Flour costs going up, he makes his own mozzerella. UberRus…

20-33 percent? That's crazy! I often encounter MAVN for restaurants in Austin. Looking them up, they $50 a month and $0.25 an order, which is way more reasonable.

http://www.whatismavn.com

Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#152
post #136
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see. I typically pay with cash, however whenever my trip to an ATM is overdue I pay with credit and they have my number (and delivery address, and typical pizza order) on file, correlated with my phone number. The pizzeria I most frequently order from is a loud bar and I hear the din of the bar noise in the background quite clearly, but I've never had to repeat myself when talking with them over the phone. Often ti…

Which is just as terrifying if someone knows you order from that place .. caller id spoofing is pretty easy and I doubt it’d be hard to convince them to change the address.

Honestly I have better things to worry about. Despite that being theoretically possible, how often do you think it actually happens? It's more likely that I'll be hit and killed by a car tomorrow, a more likely scenario with a far more severe consequence. And even that is a scenario I don't find myself dwelling on.

Possible? Yes. Terrifying? Not even remotely.

Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Customers tend to be insanely price sensitive when it comes to low-end food such as pizza Then he’s in the wrong market or marketing his product wrong. Lots of cities put a premium on well-made pizza over cheap, “I’m drunk” pizza.

Hmm yes let’s tell someone they are in the wrong market and are doing things wrong when we know literally nothing about their situation. That is not supremely arrogant at all.

I asked a pizza shop owner and they said everytime they’ve raised prices in the past revenue still went up.

Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#154
post #68
post #63

Maybe I'm just out of touch, but the appeal of online pizza ordering is something I can't wrap my mind around. Calling and placing an order using the traditional telephone method seems far easier to me. I do it often, more often than I should. Furthermore it seems better for the business since presumably the phone company takes a much smaller cut of the sale than whatever web platform they may be using. Is it because…

1) having to talk over the other restaurant staff; receiver can't hear you. 2) reading my credit card number over the phone 3) explaining the details of the order. The human always messes it up. 4) getting surprised by the cost, or having to calculate the cost for all the items ahead of time. I'd rather negotiate my order with a machine in the privacy of my own home than with a person on the phone.

> reading my credit card number over the phone

I find this interesting because most places I call for carry out just take my order and name.

I then pay at the counter with my credit card when I pick it up.

Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#155
post #36

Back about six years ago now, we had a new guy come on board my team at Netflix as an SRE. He had come from Dominoes. He told us stories about how Dominos saw the writing on the wall and reinvented itself as a tech company, how every step in the pizza making process had an API. He showed us command line tools that you could use to order and track your pizza, so you could set it up in cron and then have it tell you wh…

Hang on, what? People order pizza to show up at half time? I have only been at Super Bowl parties where the pizza is there before the game starts, normally part of a giant spread of other heart attack foods.

Most people order at half time to resupply and also because for 1/2 the country it’s closer to dinner time.

Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The download.cnet.com of the pizza world.

I spoke to the my local pizza shop in NYC. He said between grubhub, uberRush, yelp and now slice, they are eating his pizza profit margins. He said he has to deal with 3-4 software / hardware POS products for EACH service. They are sucking him dry. He can't make money BUT needs them to bring the business. Slice takes a 20% "slice" per order / of his business. Flour costs going up, he makes his own mozzerella. UberRus…

You would think that competition between the tech companies would drive down prices for the shops.

Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious why he simply hasn't raised prices for orders through those platforms?

Customers tend to be insanely price sensitive when it comes to low-end food such as pizza. So you can’t just raise prices because there is a certain limit to what people will be willing to pay before they decide to get pizza from one of the five other pizzarias on that street.

If he can't raise prices then he's in a de facto war of attrition.

Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#158
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fake cheese, Fake chicken, Fake mushrooms What exactly do you think is on their pizza?

In the UK? Analog Cheese, Water Pumped Chicken, Ultra Hydrated mushrooms. If I am paying 3 pound for a pizza, I expect it to be shit. If I am paying 10 pound, I expect it to be reasonable.

Well at least it's not digital cheese.

More seriously, in America "cheese" is a term that's regulated. Cheez-wiz in a can is called something like "cheese product" because it can't legally be called "cheese". Surely this is the same in the UK too?

Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#159
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Albania and Italy are only as far apart as New York and Philadelphia, and Albania and Greece are adjacent. Americans are not inclined to draw a distinction between regions separated by so little distance. It would be like you saying that you have a favorite Mission-style taqueria in Tirana, and I countered that it's actually run by people from Sacramento. There is no difference!

By this same logic there is little difference between food from southern England and northern France.

No, im saying it's no surprise that someone can learn to cook the cuisine of the next town over. In California all cuisines at every restaurant are cooked by Mexicans. Or maybe Salvadorans but again you can't expect Americans to make that distinction.

Re: Tech Startup Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get Online

#160
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) having to talk over the other restaurant staff; receiver can't hear you. 2) reading my credit card number over the phone 3) explaining the details of the order. The human always messes it up. 4) getting surprised by the cost, or having to calculate the cost for all the items ahead of time. I'd rather negotiate my order with a machine in the privacy of my own home than with a person on the phone.

> reading my credit card number over the phone I find this interesting because most places I call for carry out just take my order and name. I then pay at the counter with my credit card when I pick it up.

In my experience it's standard to pay in person when you pick it up, whether you're using cash or credit. But if you're getting delivery they ask for your credit card number when you place the order (and obviously cash is handed over when it's delivered.)
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