Pizza may bring customers through the door, but it isn’t the only thing that drives sales at Smokin’ Oak Wood-Fired Pizza & Taproom.
The concept combines wood-fired food, self-pour beverages, dine-in service, takeout, and group gatherings under one roof. As a franchise owner, that means you aren’t relying on one product, one type of customer, or one busy dinner rush to generate revenue.
Here’s how the different parts of the Smokin’ Oak Wood-Fired Pizza & Taproom experience work together.
Wood-Fired Pizza Leads the Menu
The business is built on food people already know and love—served with a distinctive wood-fired twist.
Pizzas cook quickly in a real wood-fired oven, making the menu a natural fit for several occasions. Customers can stop in for lunch, bring the family for dinner, meet friends after work, or order food to take home.
Pizza may be the star, but it doesn’t have to carry the entire check. Starters, salads, and desserts give customers more ways to build out their meal. They also provide choices for groups whose members may not all want the same thing.
A broader menu can help you serve more customers while creating natural opportunities to increase the average order.
The Self-Pour Tap Wall Adds Beverage Revenue
The self-pour taproom is what sets Smokin' Oak Pizza apart from a traditional pizza restaurant.
Guests receive an RFID-enabled wristband that allows them to explore the available beer, wine, and cocktails and pour as much or as little as they would like. Someone can sample a few ounces of an unfamiliar craft beer without committing to a full glass, while another guest can return directly to a favorite.
The experience is fun for customers, but it also serves an important business purpose: it creates beverage sales alongside food sales.
Self-pour technology tracks what each guest pours and charges by the ounce. It may also help reduce some of the overpouring, unrecorded samples, and product waste that can occur with a traditional bar setup.
Read more about how the beverage side of the business is evolving in our look at taproom trends.
Dine-In and Takeout Serve Different Needs
Takeout makes the restaurant convenient. The taproom makes it a destination.
Some customers want to grab dinner on the way home. Others want a place where they can relax, share a meal, and try something new from the tap wall. Smokin' Oak Pizza is designed to accommodate both.
Takeout can help you serve customers who might not have time to dine in. Meanwhile, the restaurant experience encourages guests to stay, enjoy a beverage, and possibly add a starter or dessert to their order.
You don’t have to choose between being convenient and creating an experience. The concept allows you to do both.
Different Customers Fill Different Parts of the Week
A restaurant’s profitability doesn’t depend solely on what it sells. It also depends on how consistently the space generates sales throughout the day and week.
Smokin' Oak Pizza can appeal to several customer groups:
- Professionals meeting for lunch
- Families enjoying an early dinner
- Friends gathering after work
- Couples looking for a casual night out
- Groups watching a game or celebrating an occasion
- Customers ordering food to enjoy at home
These customers may visit at different times and for different reasons. Serving more than one type of occasion can help you build traffic beyond the traditional Friday and Saturday dinner rush.
It also gives your local marketing more to work with. You can promote lunch specials to nearby businesses, family dining to parents, new tap selections to craft beverage fans, and group packages to local organizations.
Group Events Create Another Sales Opportunity
Birthdays, company gatherings, team dinners, reunions, and club meetups can bring multiple customers into the restaurant at once.
Group events may generate larger orders, but their value can extend beyond the event itself. Every gathering introduces the restaurant to guests who may be visiting for the first time. A person who attends a company event could return later with friends or family.
Franchise owners can build this part of the business by developing relationships with nearby employers, schools, sports teams, and community organizations. It’s a local revenue opportunity that can grow as your restaurant becomes better known in the market.
One Customer Can Visit for Several Reasons
A customer may first discover Smokin' Oak Pizza while attending a birthday party. The next time, they may return for lunch with a coworker. Later, they might bring the family for dinner or meet friends to explore the tap wall.
That matters because repeat business doesn’t have to depend on customers wanting the same experience every time. Pizza, craft beverages, takeout, family dinners, and social gatherings give them different reasons to return.
The more naturally your restaurant fits into customers’ routines, the more opportunities you have to turn an occasional visitor into a regular. A loyalty program can help reinforce that relationship by giving customers an added reason to return, whether they’re stopping in for pizza, grabbing takeout, enjoying cocktails, or gathering with friends and family.
How the Pieces Work Together
The strength of the model isn’t simply that it sells pizza and beverages. It’s that each part of the concept supports the others.
The pizza brings broad appeal. The tap wall differentiates the experience and adds beverage sales. Takeout provides convenience. Dine-in service creates opportunities for larger orders. Events introduce the restaurant to groups of potential customers.
Of course, having several sources of sales doesn’t guarantee profitability. Your results will still depend on location, customer demand, pricing, labor, food costs, marketing, and day-to-day management.
What the model gives you is more than one way to attract customers and build sales—without trying to operate several unrelated businesses at once.
For another look at the concept, read the top five reasons to invest in a Smokin' Oak Pizza franchise.
Could Smokin' Oak Pizza Work in Your Market?
If you’re evaluating pizza franchises, don’t look only at what’s on the menu. Consider how the entire concept earns customer attention, encourages repeat visits, and creates sales throughout the week.
Smokin' Oak Pizza combines a familiar favorite with an experience customers can’t get from an ordinary carryout pizza shop.
Explore the complete Smokin' Oak Pizza franchise opportunity to learn about the concept, investment, and support. When you’re ready, schedule a franchise discovery call to find out whether Smokin' Oak Pizza could be a fit for you and your market.