Like many success stories, the tale of America’s Incredible Pizza Company (IPC) begins with road blocks to innovative ideas and the drive of its founders who wanted to offer an incredible and family-oriented experience for pizza lovers’ nation wide. Co-founder Larry Abbe began his career in the food industry working for his “brother’s hamburger spot.” While working on an accounting degree, he soon found that he was good at the restaurant business. Abbe met Rick Barsness in the early 1990s while in the cafeteria business. Barsness owned a franchisee in the pizza segment. Eventually joining Barsness to assist in operating the pizza franchise, the pair had a vision for the restaurant that the franchisor didn’t jive with: adding more games, go carts, and mini golf, for starters. Perhaps more importantly, however, was the declining quality of the food. “One of the main points of difference was our philosophy on food. We believed that the food is the driving force behind the concept but instead of increasing, the quality had decreased. We wanted to upgrade the food but they told us they didn’t think it would be cost effective,” explains Abbe. Their philosophy was given full credence when the pair left to start their own restaurant in the form of Incredible Pizza. The Incredible Culture In its relatively short lifespan, IPC has opened 19 stores across seven states including Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mexico with locations in Arizona, Utah, and Illinois scheduled to open in 2009. With an impressive 3,000 employees, the restaurant operates on an expected annul revenue of $100 million in 2009. “Our niche is family,” says Abbe. “We have activities for two-year olds through 80-year olds.” From an all you can eat pizza buffet to countless video games and bumper cars, Incredible Pizza has something to offer the entire family. For many of its arcade games and other entertainment ventures, the company works closely with Brady Distributing Company, a leading manufacturer of amusement and vending machines. The company also partners with Dynamic Foods, what it named its vendor of the year, for its selections. “Dynamic foods for dynamic people,” is its motto and Incredible Pizza certainly is that. The idea of “Chuck E. Cheese on steroids,” as Abbe describes it, may excite only the young at heart, but the restaurant chain also knows that service is intrinsic to the company’s success. “There is a difference between managing their experience and ‘incrediblizing’ their experience,” comments Abbe. What might this incredible experience look like? When a customer walks in the door with kids in tow, “incrediblizing” in such a situation means an employee helps escort him or her through the door and retrieves a high chair. “Anything that goes above and beyond the expectation of the customer is what we call ‘incrediblizing,’” says Abbe. IPC guarantees what customers always expect from the food service industry such as clean floors and other general requirements. For IPC, these are minimum standards for managing customers’ experience. Approximately two years ago, IPC took its vision for guest satisfaction to a new level with an incentive program. When employees are seen performing this above and beyond service, they are given lap cards, corresponding with the company’s racing team with CJM Racing that competes in NASCAR. As employees accrue more cards, they are eligible for prizes that range from gift cards to days off. This model has worked well, allowing ICP to make good on their promise of top-notch service while also retaining quality employees. For the Do-Gooders Among Them Never afraid to try their hands at something new, IPC founders began the IPC Foundation in 2007 to give back to the local and global community. Envisioned as a way to support missions around the world, IPC donated $100,000 to the cause in 2008 and promises to increase this amount each year. Listening to the Customer One of the secrets to IPC’s success: “listen to customers. They will tell you how to be successful but you have to listen to them when they tell you what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong,” advises Abbe. IPC does this in a variety of ways including email and in house focus groups. The company also uses the Internet for marketing purposes: “We understood early that the Internet is going to be the way to talk to customers,” says Abbe. To that end, IPC uses YouTube among other networks to communicate with customers. In today’s tightening economy, this is proving to be even more important to IPC’s continued success. Employee retention is one aspect of this strategy, as Abbe explains: “That plays into our financial efficiency.” Ever-prepared for what may lay ahead, in 2007 and 2008 IPC was gearing up to re-organize when the economy began to go south. “That made us act faster,” says Abbe. After spending some time re-thinking its strategy, IPC made some changes in operations that are allowing the company to continue an upward trend in today’s shrinking economy. Abbe said of IPC’s new internal management methods: “We peeled back layers of the onion, realized where there are things we can change.” These improvements were sometimes as simple as store signage or as important as new concepts on how to lower costs and increase efficiency. One thing is for sure; the implementation of such alterations has proven the strength of IPC in a tough economic climate. “We were already lean and mean and just had to get leaner and meaner,” jokes Abbe. After consolidating what was at one time two different office locations into one, IPC reorganized without laying people off but rather repositioned some employees for smoother operations. At a time when flat is considered the new up for business growth, IPC is still anticipating the construction of six new stores each year. Currently working on letters to secure new property, IPC strategically grows into new markets where it knows there is available funding. “One of the things we learned early is not to be picky. We make sure it is a market we want to go into but we are strategic,” says Abbe. Always working toward improvement, Abbe predicts that IPC will continue to evolve conceptually as well as physically. With faith in his partnership, Abbe ends on this note: “Rick and I will never run an unprofitable business.” Expecting the economy to turn around in the next two years, only time will tell what an amenable economy will mean for a company that can grow so well in today’s challenging environment.