Chapter 13
Dan removed the tenth pizza from the oven and put it over on the counter. With well practiced moves, he cut it into eight slices. He slipped the pizza into the box and closed the box. As he did it, he said, "That wasn't so bad. It is definitely a lot easier than cooking short order."
"It looked to me like you had it all under control," remarked the cooking instructor as he looked around the kitchen. All of the cooking areas that Dan had used were clean. He had noticed that Dan cleaned as he worked which was a very good habit to get into. The utensils had been washed while the first ten pizzas were cooking. He had been impressed with the competent manner in which Dan had moved around the kitchen. It was obvious that he had some experience cooking in a professional setting.
Dan looked over at the cardboard box in which he had put the containers with toppings. Everything was in place. He double checked to make sure that the kitchen area was clean. He went over and turned off the oven from which he had removed the last pizza. He looked around to see if he had forgotten anything. The cooking utensils weren't his, so he didn't have to worry about them.
"Thanks. This was the first time I've ever made so many pizzas at once. I appreciate you letting me use the ovens," Dan said. He had learned a few things from this experience. The first thing was that while the set up time was long, it didn't take long to actually get the pizzas prepared. He had the preparation time for a pizza to under a minute. It was particularly nice to use the dough roller that automatically rolled out the pizza into the proper shape.
The instructor said, "I would have had to cook a pizza myself tonight, so you saved me the trouble. It was fun watching you work."
Dan had discovered that the school had classes in cooking and possessed a restaurant quality kitchen with large ovens. He had asked to use the kitchen and the instructor had agreed on the condition that he cook a pizza for him. Looking over at the instructor of the cooking class, he said, "There's one last pizza cooking for you. It will be done when the timer goes off. I made it square like you wanted. I hope you enjoy it."
"I'll be handing out samples to the class tonight. They'll be trying to make their own pizzas," the instructor said. He always prepared a sample of the dish the students were cooking before class. That would give the students a chance to see what it was supposed to look and taste like.
"I hope they like it," Dan said.
"The slice you gave me was outstanding. I hope your pizzeria is a success," the instructor replied. He had taken a slice of the first plain cheese pizza Dan had taken out of the oven.
"Thanks," Dan said.
"I've got some experience in the restaurant business. If you ever want to talk about it look me up," the man said handing Dan one of his cards.
Dan accepted the card and said, "I'll be calling you."
"Great," the instructor said. He watched Dan put the small cardboard box on top of the stack of ten pizza boxes and carry them off. When Dan left, he said, "I think he has a pretty good shot at success."
Richard was setting out the soft drinks and paper plates when Dan arrived in the classroom carrying the ten pizzas. As he placed the pizza boxes on the teacher's table, he said, "Hello Mr. Harrison. I'm surprised to see you. What are you doing here tonight?"
"I've told you to call me Richard," he answered with a smile. He said, "I came here to help Nancy."
Not believing that answer for a minute, Dan asked, "Is that the only reason you came?"
"Well, I did want to try some of your pizza," Richard admitted making his way over to where Dan was standing. The aroma of hot pizza filled the air and it was making him hungry.
"Where's Professor Harrison?" Dan asked surprised that she wasn't there with her husband.
Richard answered, "She's checking her mailbox at the office. She'll be here any minute now."
George and Ann entered the room and smelled the pizza. George said, "I take it that you brought in some pizzas."
"That's right," Dan answered.
Ann went over and opened the top box. She smiled and said, "This one has everything on it."
"I made four plain cheese pizzas, three with pepperoni, two with everything, and one with sausage," Dan said.
Ann asked, "Can we have one now?"
"I think we should wait for everyone else. I'd hate for us to run out of pizza before everyone has a chance to get a slice," Dan answered.
"Dude, you brought ten of them," George said eyeing the stack of boxes.
"I know. I probably should have made twelve," Dan said. He looked over at George and patted the man's rather substantial belly. He said, "I forgot that you could probably eat one all by yourself."
George looked down at his belly and then broke out laughing. Used to getting ugly comments about his size, he realized that Dan wasn't being mean. Shaking his head, he said, "These had better be pretty good pizzas considering how much you've been bragging about them."
"They are," Dan said.
Others in the class arrived and gathered near the table. Professor Harrison arrived at the door, but the guide dog stopped just inside the room. It paused trying to make sense out of the milling crowd around the desk. She announced her presence by saying, "I take it by the smell that the pizzas have arrived."
"That's right," Dan said.
"Let's get to our seats for a few minutes and then we'll start on the pizza," she said. She listened to the sounds of people heading to their seats. Once she was certain that the area around the table was clear she made her way to the front of the room. Upon reaching the table, she said, "Now, I'm sure that some of you might not be aware that Dan Parker is planning on opening a pizzeria. He has been auditing this class to learn how to do the bookkeeping for his business. I asked him earlier in the semester to bring in samples of his pizzas so that he could get some feedback from future customers. How many pizzas did you bring?"
"I brought ten," Dan answered.
"Excellent. If you would be so kind as to come up here and serve up your pizzas to everyone, we'll get started," Professor Harrison said.
Dan went up to the front of the room and turned to her. He asked, "What kind of pizza would you like? I have plain cheese, sausage, pepperoni, and fully loaded pizzas."
"I'll take plain cheese," she answered.
He put a slice of plain cheese pizza on a plate. He held it out for Professor Harrison and said, "Here's a slice for you."
She reached out a hand and he put the plate in her hand. Smiling she said, "Thank you, Mr. Parker."
Dan turned around and found that the first one in line was Richard Harrison. Grinning he asked, "And for you?"
"One with everything," Richard answered.
As Dan handed him a plate with a slice of pizza, Professor Harrison said, "Oh, this is good."
Dan grinned and handed out slices of pizza. By the time the last person had been served, people had already come up for a second slice of pizza. Ann said, "I was only going to eat one slice, but that's a good pizza."
Smiling, Dan said, "Do you know what I like about pizza?"
"What?" Ann asked.
"You have to eat it with a smile. You can't eat it with a frown," Dan answered with a wink.
Ann laughed and said, "I never thought about it that way."
When George reached the head of the line, he patted his stomach and said, "I think you're right. I could eat a whole pizza."
Dan got to eat one slice of pizza before all ten boxes were empty. Professor Harrison stepped up to the front of the room and said, "Tonight is supposed to be a review before the final next week. Towards that end, I'd like to work through a real world problem. Dan, I'd like to use tonight's little meal and your bookkeeping project as the basis of our review. Is that okay with you?"
"Yes, ma'am," Dan answered.
For the next half hour, they worked through the costs of the putting together the meal. Dan was fortunate in that he still had the receipts for his purchases in the box. Richard provided numbers for the labor, rent and utilities. He also gave an estimated payment on a startup loan. Together the class put the data into the appropriate parts of the program. There was a spirited discussion about each entry.
The class was very interested in the review. They had a real product, real receipts, and real decisions to make based on their work. He had a very low profit margin based on the prices that he had paid, the estimated hourly wages, and the estimated overhead. Dan was a little stunned when he saw that the ingredients came to a little more than thirty percent of his sales price. That was well above the percentages that he had found on the web.
The discussion turned to what actions Dan could do to improve his profit margins. A few minutes before the class was over, Dan said, "All of the costs that we've been discussing are the basic day to day operating costs of the company. However, there are some costs associated with decorating the store for holidays, employee bonuses, advertising, wastage, and supplies for keeping the store clean. Before we start calculating profit margins, don't we need to take those costs into account as well?"
Professor Harrison nodded her head and said, "Yes, we do."
Richard said, "You can assume that the decorations for the holidays were included in the startup loan. However, the bonuses, advertising, wastage, and supplies are part of the general costs of doing business."
Looking at the image being projected on the screen, Ann sat back and asked, "How does anyone make any money this way?"
Professor Harrison said, "Normally one would do an analysis to determine what level of sales is needed in order to break even. I would estimate that he probably requires about thirteen thousand a month in sales to break even. From that point on, his profit margin will increase since the fixed operating costs are covered."
"That's a lot of pizzas," George said.
Shaking his head, Dan said, "I need to do an average of four hundred and thirty dollars of sales a day to reach thirteen thousand in monthly sales. Based on ten dollars for a large pizza, that works out to be forty large pizzas a day. If I expand the menu, I can introduce some items that provide a higher profit margin than pizza. Pastas are fairly inexpensive to produce and can sell at a good price. Sandwiches can have a pretty good profit margin as well. Don't forget that there are soft drinks, iced tea, and coffee which have considerable markups."
Richard listened to Dan discuss the nuts and bolts of running a pizza shop. From the way he was talking, one could imagine that he was describing a fully operational business. He was impressed and felt that Dan wouldn't have any difficulties getting a business loan. He made a note to discuss arranging for startup capital with Dan during their next meeting. There were a lot of ways by which Dan could float loans with his suppliers. He wondered how good Dan's credit rating was.
Sue sat down at the table while Dan was eating during his break. She asked, "How did it go in class? Did they like your pizzas?"
"It went well. They ate every slice," Dan answered with a smile.
"That's good. So are you really going to open up your pizzeria?" Sue asked with a slightly worried look on her face.
"Yes, I will," Dan answered.
"You'll be leaving us then," she said looking sad.
"Not for a year. I've still got a lot to do before I'm ready to open my own business," Dan said.
Sue brightened up a little on hearing that. She said, "I thought you were going to leave us before then."
"No, I still have to identify all of the equipment that I need. I haven't even started thinking about my advertising artwork," Dan said.
"Artwork?" Sue asked looking over at him.
"Yes. I want to have my boxes printed with Parker's Perfect Pizza on them and a picture of some kind. I'd like to use the same picture for my brochures and newspaper ads," Dan answered.
Sue was silent for several minutes while Dan ate his lunch. Finally, she said, "I'm a pretty good artist. I used to do that for a living, but I stopped. Maybe I could do the artwork for you."
"That would be great," Dan said. He wasn't sure what kind of pictures she would produce, but it wouldn't hurt to have her try.
Sue nodded her head and then said, "I had better get back to my tables."
Rob sat down at the table after Sue left. For almost five years he had watched her working around the restaurant. He said, "You know, I never thought I would see her smile."
"All she needed was a friend," Dan replied. It had become very obvious that Sue didn't want a sexual relationship with a male, but she did want a friend. He had always made sure that he didn't include any kind of sexual overtures in his conversations with her. The result was that she had opened up more and would often stop by to talk with him. He blessed the day that Tom had given him the paper on the Pursuit of Happiness. The one piece of advice about not trying to push a relationship beyond its boundaries was priceless.
"You are probably right," Rob said. He was amazed at how easily Dan had charmed all of the waitresses. He had done it by being polite and respectful; a treatment that was probably rare for most of the women working the night shift. He asked, "How did it go at school today?"
"It went well. We did a full cost analysis for running the business. It was very enlightening. I learned a lot," Dan said.
"That was your last class, wasn't it?" Rob asked.
"Yes," Dan answered. He was auditing the class and didn't have to take the final exam that would be held the next week. After spending fourteen weeks in class he was going to miss it.
"What are you going to do with your free evening?" Rob asked.
"I think I'm going to work on some more menu items," Dan answered with a smile. He was thinking that his mother's spaghetti recipe would be a nice addition to the menu. All he would need is a crock pot to keep it warm and a noodle boiler. Initially he'd probably go with prepared noodles before attempting to make his own pasta.
"Sounds like a good way to spend some of your spare time. You might want to talk to Jimmy about other menu items. He's been around and might be able to give you some good ideas," Rob said.
"Thanks, I'll talk to him," Dan said. He looked down at his plate and realized that he'd only eaten about half of it. It seemed that every time he took a bite, someone asked him a question.
Rob said, "A lot of people are rooting for you to make it."
"I noticed that. To tell the truth, I'm kind of overwhelmed by it," Dan said. He was surprised at how many people took an interest in his pizzeria.
As everyone gathered at the breakfast table, Diana asked, "So how did it go in class last night?"
"It went well," Dan answered thinking that he had answered that question a dozen times already. Everyone's interest in his pizzeria amazed him.
"Did they eat all ten pizzas?" his dad asked.
"I only got to eat one slice before they finished them all," Dan answered.
Shaking his head, his father said, "I would have held back a couple of slices."
Grinning at this father, Dan said, "I'm sure there would have been a slice or two left to hand out to the class if you had been in charge."
His father laughed at the suggestion that he would have eaten nine pizzas. He said, "You're probably right."
"Did you like the class?" his mother asked. No one had been more surprised than her when he had signed up to take a college course. Each week she had wondered if he was going to drop out. High school had been such a miserable experience for him that it was impossible to believe that he would willingly enter a school ever again.
"Yes, I did. Being able to listen to the textbook really helped," Dan said. He had been able to get a lot more out of that course than any of his high school classes. His time had been spent on understanding the material more than on trying to read the text.
His mother asked, "Are you planning on taking any other courses?"
Dan frowned as he considered her question. He had not considered doing that. He answered, "I don't know. I might take a business course if they have one."
"That might be a good idea," his mother said. She was very pleased that he had completed the course. It was a shame that he didn't take the course for credit, but she recognized that he had no intention of getting a college degree.
He smiled and said, "From now on, I'm going to work on putting together a menu for the pizzeria. It looks like you guys are going to have to suffer through my experiments again."
Posturing in a dramatic fashion, Diana said, "Oh no! Not that!"
Everyone laughed at her actions. His mother asked, "What are you thinking about adding to the menu?"
"Submarine sandwiches, pasta dishes, and salads," Dan answered. He had spent some time on the web looking at the menus offered by other pizzerias. Jimmy had given him basically the same advice. He was to go with simple foods that could be prepared quickly.
His father asked, "What about desserts?"
"I'm not sure. We don't usually have dessert after eating pizza," Dan said.
His mother said, "If you offer birthday party facilities, you'll want to have birthday cakes and ice cream."
"I hadn't thought about that," Dan said. There were still a lot of gaps in his plans for the business. If he offered party facilities, then he would probably need to have a separate room from the main dining area. His estimate for the size of the shop went up another two hundred square feet.
"I'd go for cinnamon sticks," Diana said.
Nodding his head, Dan said, "That's not a bad idea."
"Will you do those pizza dunker things they are always advertising on television?" his father asked.
"Probably," Dan answered with a worried frown. It seemed to him that the menu was growing much larger than he had imagined. The initial concept was to sell pizzas.
"Are you feeling a little overwhelmed by it all?" his father asked.
"At times," Dan answered. There were times when it all seemed a little much, but so far there hadn't been anything that he couldn't solve to his satisfaction. He would add another item to his list and resolve it when he could. His list was growing, but items were getting removed.
His mother said, "You've been working on it too much. Maybe you should take a break from it for a while."
Dan looked over at his mother and answered, "Did you know that I'm having more fun with this than anything I've ever done? I enjoy thinking about it. I like the idea that I'm trying to build something that should last me a lifetime."
"I didn't realize that," his mother said.
His father looked across the table at him. A lot of his concerns for his son's future were proving unfounded. Nodding his head, he said, "I can see where it would be exciting."
Dan picked up the article on taking control of your life. He opened the article to the section about keeping control over the day to day details. Despite the fact that he knew the article by heart, he read that section once again.
While it was important to have long-term goals, it was also important to take care of the little details. Even if you were planning on climbing Mount Everest in a month, the lawn still needed mowing, the dishes required washing, and the oil in the car had to be changed every five thousand miles. Taking control over your life required that the little things were attended to before they grew into major things.
The to-do list and the calendar were the two most helpful tools that one had in their arsenal in the fight against chaos. The to-do list allowed one to track what needed to be done and what been done. It needed to be visited frequently and every item had to be assigned a priority. Occasionally, one needed to revisit the priorities because the importance of some tasks changed with time. The calendar allowed a reminder of the periodic tasks that would crop up.
Dan grabbed the calendar and opened it to the current month. He started writing entries in it of when major things had to be done. He added birthdays and anniversaries knowing that he would have to make time to purchase presents. He wrote down when Tom and Alison would be returning home. He scheduled oil changes for his car every six months. As he flipped through the calendar, he noticed that it already had an entry for tax day.
Finished with filling out his calendar, he picked up his daily to-do list and checked off another item on it. He had another dozen lists, each keeping track of different things. He looked at the next item on the list and turned to his computer.
It took him two minutes to get to the school website to see what courses were being offered in the spring semester. He had missed all of the first semester courses and would have to wait until summer if he wanted to take an introduction to business course. It wasn't that he had been late to register. It was that the introductory courses were only offered in the fall. Frowning, he said, "I didn't think that I would be taking business courses back in August. Oh well, I'll take them in summer."
Looking over the website, he grabbed his calendar and added an entry
as to when he had to register for the summer sessions. Shaking his
head, he picked up his list and checked off another item. Frowning at
the number of things remaining to be done, he said, "I wonder if I'll
ever get all of the items off of these lists."