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This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.
If you've ever looked in the phone book for your local pizza shop's number, you've undoubtedly noticed hundreds of other pizzerias listed. I did a search and found that Utah has more than 700 pizzerias, not to mention all the other restaurants that have pizza on their menus.
In the mid-1980s, a BYU professor told two of his students he didn't think they could open a pizza shop in Provo and have it survive. Not willing to back down from a challenge, the two students opened 5 Buck Pizza in 1988. Sixteen years later, under the slogan of "The Home of Free Toppings," 5 Buck Pizza stores can be found across the state.
Alex Fox owns two of the 5 Buck Pizza franchises in Utah, where medium pizzas are just $5, of course. In 2000, his cousin opened a 5 Buck Pizza shop in Sandy. Alex was managing another Salt Lake City restaurant at the time, but his wife suggested he look into buying a franchise. One of Alex's co-workers told him he would manage the pizza shop if Alex put the money up for the shop. Alex took out a loan from Zions Bank, opened a store in Taylorsville and opened a second Taylorsville store three years later. It's interesting that Alex's co-worker never did come to manage his pizza shop after all.
Alex tells me business has been better than he expected. Families like the value they get at 5 Buck Pizza, especially during hard economic times. Each store is owned and operated by the owners themselves, and Alex says the customer service and quality is always excellent.
It looks as if the professor was wrong and the students were right. 5 Buck Pizza has competed with the "Big Guys" for 16 years. Alex tells me he thinks the success comes from 5 Buck Pizza's high quality and low price.
For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.
