Pizza remains one of the most in-demand and profitable food categories, even as dining and food trends come and go in the restaurant industry.
By 2024, the United States was home to more than 74,000 pizza restaurants, with the industry’s market size surpassing $50 billion. Pizza was the most popular grab-and-go fast food in Q1 2023, with 29% of respondents choosing it over burgers and other options. Additionally, 28% ordered it weekly, 10% more than once a week, and 31% at least monthly.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the essential steps to start your own pizza shop, sharing proven strategies and the tools you’ll need to launch and grow a successful pizza business.
Key Takeaways
- Why Start a Pizza Shop: The global pizza market is projected to grow from $152.4 billion in 2024 to around $269.5 billion by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% between 2025 and 2034. Pizza remains a top choice for consumers due to its convenience, delivery appeal, and the rise of direct online ordering, which helps boost restaurant profits and reduce third-party fees.
- Define Your Concept, Service Style, and Business Model: Choose a pizza shop concept that fits your vision, such as a full-service pizzeria, slice shop, food truck, or ghost kitchen. Decide how you will serve customers: through dine-in, takeout, delivery, or a combination of these options, and align your business model with your target audience and local demand.
- Write a Pizza Business Plan: Outline your concept, menu, pricing, operations, target market, and marketing strategy in your pizzeria business plan to guide execution and attract funding.
- Choose the Right Location: Use a restaurant location strategy to find a spot with high foot traffic, delivery demand, and easy access.
- Handle Legal Formalities and Secure Funding: Register your business, choose a legal structure, and get an EIN. Secure required licenses and permits, and explore funding options like loans or restaurant investors.
- Know Your Costs and Profit Potential: Opening a pizza shop typically costs between $175,000 and $750,000. Thanks to low ingredient costs, pizza profit margins average 15–20% and can reach 25%.
- Design Your Kitchen and Buy Equipment: Set up an efficient workspace and invest in cooking equipment like a commercial pizza oven, dough mixer, prep tables, and refrigeration.
- Create a Profitable Pizza Menu: Keep your menu simple and customizable. Use combos and add-ons to raise order value and support food cost control.
- Build a Restaurant Website with Direct Online Ordering: Build a website with an integrated online ordering system. This helps you cut third-party fees, boost restaurant revenue, and control the customer experience.
- Create a Marketing Plan: Develop a detailed restaurant marketing plan that identifies your target customers, understands their habits, and outlines how to reach them both online and offline. Be sure to include strategies to strengthen your online presence and attract more orders through your website.
- Promote Your New Pizzeria: Promote your pizza business with flyers, QR codes, Google Business, and social media. Use launch-day deals to drive restaurant foot traffic and build buzz.
What Is a Pizza Shop?
A pizza shop is a restaurant or takeaway that specializes in making and selling pizzas, often with options for dine-in, delivery, or takeout.
The pizza industry is highly fragmented, with numerous independent pizzerias, regional chains, and global brands competing for market share. This fragmentation creates favorable conditions for new pizza shops to enter the market and establish their own distinct niche.
How to Start a Pizza Shop in 10 Steps
Now I’ll walk you through how to open a pizza shop. Below, I’ve outlined the key steps you need to take to turn your pizza business idea into a successful and fully operational restaurant.
1. Define Your Concept and Service Style
To open a pizza shop, think about different pizza business ideas. There are many pizza shop concepts to choose from, including, among others:
- Traditional Full-Service Pizzeria: Offers a variety of pizza options with dine-in, carryout, and delivery services.
- Fast Casual Pizzeria: Combines the quality of a traditional pizza shop with the speed of a fast-food restaurant.
- Gourmet or Artisan Pizzeria: Specializes in exceptional pizzas made with premium ingredients, focusing on a unique and elevated dining experience.
- Slice Shop: Specializes in selling pizza by the slice, often with little or no restaurant seating. Customers typically buy slices to go.
- Food Truck Pizzeria: Mobile pizza trucks serve fresh pizzas on the go, bringing convenience to different locations.
- Virtual or Ghost Kitchen Pizzeria: Operates without dine-in space, offering delivery and/or carryout only.
- Take-and-Bake Pizzeria: Sells pre-made pizzas with baking instructions, allowing customers to bake them at home.
- Pizza Buffet: Offers unlimited pizza choices for a set price, often alongside other menu items, allowing for a customizable dining experience.
- Delivery Pizza Shop: Focuses exclusively on preparing and delivering pizzas to customers’ preferred locations.
Once you choose your pizza shop concept, it’s time to decide on the service style. You can stick to one or combine several to meet customer needs:
- Dine-in: Guests enjoy their pizzas in a comfortable, on-site setting.
- Takeout: Perfect for busy customers who prefer to grab their pizza and enjoy it elsewhere.
- Delivery: Bring your menu right to customers’ homes for maximum convenience.
2. Write a Pizza Shop Business Plan
Starting a pizza shop begins with writing a solid pizzeria business plan. To build your own pizza place, include market research, your target customers, and how your concept will stand out.
Decide between opening an independent pizza shop or joining a restaurant franchise, and don’t forget a financial analysis to attract investors or secure a loan.
Your pizza shop business plan needs to include the following elements:
- Executive Summary for a Restaurant: A brief overview of your pizza shop concept, goals, service style, and why it will succeed in your target market.
- Restaurant Description: Details about your pizza shop, including its name, location, service format, and what sets it apart. You can draw inspiration from these pizzeria names.
- Market Research and Competition Analysis: Includes market analysis, competition analysis, and a restaurant SWOT analysis to assess demand, understand competitors, and evaluate your pizza shop’s strengths and challenges.
- Investment Plan (Cost Analysis, Financial Analysis): A breakdown of startup and operational costs, funding sources, and financial planning to ensure profitability.
- Financial Projections: Forecasts future performance and includes a projected restaurant profit and loss statement, break-even analysis, and sensitivity analysis to guide decision-making.
- Team (Employees, Founders): Describes the founders’ roles and experience, as well as staffing needs for daily operations.
- Restaurant Marketing Plan: Outlines strategies to attract and retain customers through restaurant branding, local promotions, social media, and online ordering.
- Description of the Vision for Further Development of the Restaurant: Defines long-term goals such as expanding locations, franchising, or diversifying your pizza offerings.
Check out this comprehensive guide on how to write a restaurant business plan.
3. Choose the Right Location for Your Pizza Shop
Choosing the pizza shop location is an essential factor in determining your pizza profit margin.
Below, I’ve outlined key questions to help you evaluate whether an area will support substantial foot traffic, visibility, and long-term success.
- What is the foot traffic in the area?
- Is the location visible to potential customers?
- Is it easily accessible for pedestrians and vehicles?
- Are there available parking spaces nearby?
- Are there other pizza shops nearby?
- What are the customers’ eating habits in the area?
- Will your pizza shop be an attractive option for them?
4. Handle Legal Formalities and Secure Funding
Having created your pizza shop business plan and selected a location, focus on the formalities. You need to register your pizza shop business and choose a business entity.
- Sole Proprietorship
- Partnership
- Limited Liability Company (LLC),
- Corporation
- Cooperative
- Nonprofit Organization
Remember that your choice of business structure will influence how you file and pay taxes.
To register your business, you will need to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN). You apply for it through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This EIN will serve various purposes, including tax obligations, banking transactions, and credit-related matters.
You also need to open a business bank account to keep your business finances separate from your private finances.
Remember the licenses and permits necessary to start a pizza business. You will need, among others, the following:
- a food service license
- a food handler’s permit
- a building health permit
- a business license
As different regulations depend on a state or even a city, make sure to comply with your local law regulations to start a pizza shop.
You’ll need to secure funding to open your pizza shop. Start by identifying your startup costs and assessing whether you have personal financial resources. If not, consider these restaurant financing options:
- Applying for a small business loan
- Opening a business line of credit
- Seeking private investors
- Launching a crowdfunding campaign
Check out this guide on how to open a restaurant with no money for more ideas.
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Pizza Shop?
Based on available data, the total startup cost for opening a pizza shop typically is between $175,000 and $750,000, with the average independent pizzeria needing about $375,500 to launch.
Another estimate shows that opening a pizza shop typically costs from $237,400 to $739,800, which can vary based on the location, shop size, kitchen setup, and build-out costs.
In general, most pizzerias can expect startup costs to fall between $200,000 and $750,000, depending on their concept and scale.
Here you can read more about the cost to open a pizza shop.
Before launching your pizza shop, it’s important to understand the different types of expenses you’ll face. These typically fall into two categories: one-time costs and recurring costs.
- One-time costs: renovations, kitchen equipment and appliances, furniture and fixtures (tables, chairs, cash registers, etc.), licenses and permits, initial inventory (ingredients, beverages, pizza boxes), and marketing costs (logo design, branding materials, menus, and website).
- Recurring costs: utilities, monthly rent or lease, food costs, business insurance, employee salaries, and ongoing marketing expenses.
5. Build a Profitable Pizza Menu and Find a Reliable Supplier
The next step is to design a pizzeria menu that aligns with your concept and appeals to your restaurant’s target audience. This involves deciding what to serve and how to present it to encourage sales.
- What will be the overall character of your pizzeria?
- What pizza types will you offer: Neapolitan, New York style, Chicago deep-dish, or another specialty?
- Will you include appetizers? If so, which ones?
- Will your focus be exclusively on pizza, or will you offer other main dishes as well?
- Will you serve desserts? For a traditional touch, consider Italian classics like tiramisu, cannoli, panna cotta, or gelato.
Organize your menu into clear sections (such as starters, pizzas, desserts, and beverages), just like other successful pizza businesses. Group items into menu categories to make them easy to navigate.
Set menu prices thoughtfully, ensuring they reflect your food costs, desired profit margins, and what your target market is willing to pay.
Check out our detailed guide on how to make a restaurant menu for expert tips and examples.
While opening a pizzeria and designing your pizza place menu, consider making a QR code menu.
Using a QR code menu builder, you can generate QR codes and place them on tables in your restaurant. Thanks to that, potential customers can view your pizza shop’s menu and place an order by simply scanning the QR codes with their smartphones.
Finding a reliable supplier of fresh ingredients is a crucial part of running a successful pizzeria. As a pizzeria owner, consider the following when evaluating potential suppliers:
- Option for bulk purchasing
- Quantity discounts
- Accepted payment methods
- Payment terms and conditions
You can also read reviews of different restaurant food suppliers and speak with other pizza shop owners for recommendations.
Once you’ve selected a supplier, be sure to track your inventory using restaurant inventory management software.
6. Create a Marketing Plan
To start running a pizza restaurant, create a restaurant marketing plan. Think about who your target customers are, how they spend their free time, and where you could promote your brand to reach them. How about the needs and expectations of your online ordering customers?
Include marketing strategies to enhance your brand’s online presence and attract more customers to your pizzeria. Here you can check the best pizza marketing ideas.
7. Design Your Layout and Buy Pizza Shop Equipment
Before opening your pizzeria, design an interior that reflects your brand and creates the right atmosphere for customers. Choose furniture, lighting, and decorations that complement your concept.
Essential kitchen equipment typically includes pizza ovens, dough mixers, prep tables, refrigeration units, slicers, utensils, storage containers, and cleaning supplies. Select equipment based on your menu and production needs, and consider specialized tools like pizza peels, screens, and cutters to maintain quality and consistency.
You may also want to invest in dough sheeters, pizza stones, or different types of ovens (deck, conveyor, or brick), depending on your style of pizza and output volume.
Don’t forget packaging supplies such as pizza boxes to ensure orders are delivered or carried out in perfect condition.
8. Hire and Train Your Pizzeria Team
Your team will shape both the quality of your pizza and the overall customer experience. Start by hiring a skilled pizzaiolo to craft authentic, high-quality pies, and fill other key restaurant positions to keep your pizzeria running smoothly.
Not sure which team members you’ll need? Here are the essential roles in a successful pizzeria.
- Pizzaiolo (Pizza Maker): The heart of any pizzeria, responsible for preparing dough, adding toppings, and baking pizzas to perfection. A skilled pizzaiolo balances speed with consistency, so every pizza looks and tastes the same.
- Cashier: Greets customers, takes their orders, and handles payments with accuracy and a smile. A great cashier can make guests feel welcome while keeping lines moving efficiently, whether in-store or over the phone.
- Server: Assists dine-in guests by taking orders, serving food, refilling drinks, and answering menu questions. Servers are key to creating a warm, attentive dining experience that keeps customers coming back.
- Delivery Driver: Ensures pizzas reach customers quickly and in perfect condition. Beyond just transporting food, drivers act as the “face” of your pizzeria during deliveries, so friendliness and professionalism are essential.
- Manager: Oversees the entire operation, from scheduling shifts and managing inventory to resolving customer issues and motivating staff. A strong manager keeps both the kitchen and front-of-house running smoothly.
Once hired, train your team on food preparation, portion control, restaurant customer service, and safety procedures. Develop a clear onboarding process with step-by-step instructions and standard operating procedures (restaurant SOP) to ensure consistency.
A positive work environment, fair pay, and recognition for good performance will help retain great employees and reduce turnover.
9. Build Your Website with Online Ordering
Create a professional restaurant website, so customers can browse your menu and learn about your pizzeria online. Use a restaurant website builder to choose a pizza shop template, add enticing photos, and match the design to your brand.
Once your site is live, add an online ordering system to let customers place orders directly.
With an all-in-one solution like UpMenu, you can combine online ordering, a restaurant website builder, marketing tools, and built-in restaurant delivery software to manage your own drivers, assign orders, and track deliveries in real time. This improves convenience for customers, streamlines operations, and can boost your sales.
Restaurants that switch to UpMenu’s online ordering system often see a 34% increase in sales and gain more control over their customer relationships.
By owning their sales channels and moving away from third-party platforms, they also cut commission fees by up to 90%, keeping more revenue in-house.
10. Open and Promote Your Pizza Shop
Once you’ve completed all the steps above, open your pizza shop with a soft opening to test daily operations. Invite friends and family, gather feedback, and make adjustments as needed.
Then plan a grand opening with promotions like restaurant discounts, coupons, or free pizza samples.
Here you can check restaurant grand opening ideas to get inspired.
How Can I Promote a Pizza Shop?
Promoting your pizza shop effectively means combining digital tools, local visibility, and customer incentives to grow your sales and brand awareness.
Below, I’ve described some of the most effective ways to promote your pizza shop and attract more customers.
- Build a Website: Create a professional site that showcases your menu, offers online ordering, and lists your contact details, enabling customers to place orders directly with you.
- Promote on Social Media: Post engaging content such as mouthwatering pizza photos, short videos, and special promotions to keep your followers interested and attract new ones.
- Offer Deals & Discounts: Run restaurant LTO (limited-time offers), BOGO (Buy One, Get One) promotions, or family meal bundles to drive traffic and encourage repeat visits.
- Launch Loyalty Program: Reward frequent customers with points, free items, or exclusive offers to keep them coming back.
- Use Local SEO: Optimize your Google Business Profile and other local listings, so your pizzeria shows up in local search results and map listings.
- Collaborate with Others: Work with local restaurant influencers or food bloggers to expand your reach and boost credibility in the community.
Other effective strategies include:
- Distributing flyers and menus locally to get in front of nearby households and businesses.
- Hosting events or pizza nights to engage your community and build loyalty.
- Running online ads on platforms like Facebook and Google to promote your deals and events to a targeted audience.
- A checklist on how to start a pizza shop
- Start by defining your concept and service style
- Write a pizzeria business plan
- Choose a suitable location
- Handle legal formalities and secure funding
- Design a pizza menu and search for reliable suppliers
- Create a marketing plan to attract diners
- Set up your kitchen layout and buy equipment
- Build your pizzeria team
- Create a pizza shop website with online ordering
- Promote your pizza shop
