Welcome to Ryan’s Famous Pizza & Food Truck!
Best Pizza in Schodack and beyond!
IMPORTANT MESSAGE REGARDING OUR TAKE-OUT LOCATION.
Dear customers,
As we venture into 2026, I have decided to continue and mold our business model to adapt to the changing climate in the take-out food industry. As many of us are aware, the word “inflation” has been the most thrown around word since Covid, and for good reason.
The costs of doing business have continued to rise. Apart from high food costs, labor has been one of the biggest issues to the small business owner. As minimum wage hits $16 per hour, the standard goal of 20% labor costs has become a thing of the past.
I am not here to itemize my business costs. I could go on and on about what it truly takes to operate this business. Look at the recent spike in energy bills that has hit home for all of us, and then imagine what it has done for my business.
This is why I am more than ready, and excited, to push my business model into the new era.
The rise in popularity of the truly independent pizzeria is something I was always attracted to even before I landed in Schodack.
What does this look like?
A pizzeria operated by, seemingly, one person. Now while one-man pizzerias truly do exist, I use that title loosely as we will still retain staff.
However, to achieve this business model, and to continue to operate in Schodack as I combat the high costs of doing business, I can only rely on data and logical thinking to accomplish this model.
In an effort to operate this business in the way I see fit, and the way the data tells us, we will be reducing the menu drastically to only offer what 80% of our customers buy: Pizza and Wings.
Our menu will consist of pizza, and all pizza dough items such as Calzons and Strombolis, and shrink our appetizer offerings to just Bone In and Boneless Wings.
Cookies, Soft Drinks and Alcohol will remain.
Now some of our customers may be turned off by this change, but after nearly four years in Schodack serving take-out from a variety of food items, (and at all different hours open), the statistical sales data is staring us in the face. Pizza and Wing sales represent more than 80% of our total sales.
The reason this reduction in menu offerings is crucial, is it allows this operation to be run with minimal staff, a very key point.
With less preparation, and less variety of options, our reduced staff can handle the same volume of sales (if not more) more efficiently by focusing on our items that we sell the most.
In addition to these menu changes, the more controversial change will have to be that of the way we communicate with our customers.
We live in an ever-changing digital world, and while there have been many advantages to this in the last 25+ years, some fragments of society have yet to adapt to these changes.
While we understand that some folks prefer to make a quick call, or have trouble with online ordering and smart phones, we still have no choice but to cease phone ordering in an effort to accomplish our business goals.
With reduced menu and staff, we will not have the capacity to accommodate phone orders which takes us away from completing food orders and still dealing with customers at the register.
While the details aren’t complete at this point, those who wish to pay cash or card IN-PERSON and still order for pickup can do so using alternative methods on our website. This may be rolled out slowly, still using phones on Fridays for now.
We are going to be using a chat service on our site, where customers can type in their order and/or fill out a form that specifies their food order in which they can pick up.
In lieu of the phone, you will still be able to order without having to pay upfront or build out an order. A chat window or fillable form (like a contact form) will be for those who want to place a pickup order quickly and easily.
We are also building an ordering system that may be easier than Square, directly on our site which allows you to pay when you get here, as opposed to paying online.
I would also like to add that pizza delivery will be reduced to Fridays and Saturdays only and the honest truth is we are contemplating ceasing pizza delivery but have not made that decision yet at this time.
The last important part of these changes that brings it all together is our brand new pizza trailer. When we start to get going on the trailer with catered gigs and public events, we need to keep the pizzeria running even when resources will be working on the trailer.
This means we need a menu and an efficient system here at the shop that can be operated with a minimal crew while myself or others are working on the trailer.
As always, we appreciate your continued support and understanding of these changes. We hope we can accomplish this new business model and continue to serve Schodack, Castleton and surrounding areas through 2026 and beyond.
- Ryan
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