Carl Comeaux is the CEO of Crust Pizza Co., a rapidly expanding pizza brand recognized for its nostalgic dining experience and dedication to quality. Under Carl’s leadership, Crust Pizza Co. has grown to 30 locations across Texas and Louisiana, with plans to expand further into the southeast US. His innovative strategies and passion for creating memorable dining experiences have been pivotal in the brand’s success within the competitive restaurant industry.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- [01:56] The vibe of Crust Pizza Co.’s taproom expansion
- [02:45] How Carl Comeaux became CEO at Crust Pizza Co.
- [04:16] The secret behind Crust Pizza Co.’s unique dough and sauce
- [06:53] Why the hybrid service model has helped drive expansion
- [08:44] Who are ideal franchisees?
- [12:39] Crust Pizza Co.’s commitment to community and global giving
- [14:35] How cutting-edge tech supports franchisees’ profitability
- [21:25] The importance of strategic grocery-anchored locations
In this episode…
The restaurant industry is constantly evolving, with successful brands finding innovative ways to stand out in a competitive market. What are the key ingredients for a rapidly growing pizza franchise to achieve success and maintain consistent quality across multiple locations?
According to restaurant CEO and franchisor Carl Comeaux, the key to success lies in a combination of factors. These include offering a unique and high-quality product, implementing a hybrid service model that balances efficiency with customer experience, and utilizing cutting-edge technology for operations and customer engagement. Carl emphasizes the importance of fresh ingredients, daily-made dough, and proprietary recipes for sauce and cheese. He also stresses the significance of selecting the right franchisees who align with brand values and are committed to community involvement.
On this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show, Rise25’s Chad Franzen welcomes Carl Comeaux, CEO of Crust Pizza Co., to chat about the brand’s rapid expansion, keys to franchisee success, and innovative strategies in the pizza industry. Carl discusses the importance of product quality, franchisee selection, community involvement, and the development of proprietary technology to enhance operations and customer experience.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Carl Comeaux on LinkedIn
- Crust Pizza Co.
- Mark Rasberry and Clint Price
- Chad Franzen on LinkedIn
- SpotOn
- Rise25
Quotable moments:
- “A great pizza has three things that have to be spot-on: the dough, the sauce, and the cheese.”
- “We want to be the local pizzeria in your neighborhood that you stop at.”
- “Once you try Crust, it’s unique. It’s different than anything I’ve ever had.”
- “They have to love Crust Pizza — they have to have our values.”
- “It’s all about creating memories with your friends or family over a couple pies.”
Action steps:
- Cultivate a passion for your brand: By genuinely believing in and being enthusiastic about your brand, you can inspire your team and create a cohesive work environment.
- Focus on community engagement: Engaging with the local community not only strengthens your brand presence, but also fosters loyalty and trust — essential components for strong leadership.
- Embrace innovation and technology: By staying ahead of technological advancements, leaders can streamline operations and enhance customer experiences.
- Maintain consistency and quality: Ensuring brand consistency through regular quality assessments is crucial for maintaining trust and reputation.
- Develop strong franchisee relationships: Investing in the development and success of your partners can lead to a collaborative culture that drives expansion and growth.
Sponsor for this episode
SpotOn:
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Partner with SpotOn today! Visit spoton.com today to schedule your free demo or to view SpotOn’s products. You can also call SpotOn at 877.814.4102 at any time. Let SpotOn help you make the difference with your business!
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Episode Transcript
Intro 00:03
Welcome to the Top Business Leaders Show, powered by Rise25 media. We feature top founders, executives, and business leaders from all over the world.
Chad Franzen 00:20
Hi Chad Franzen here, co-host for the show where we feature top restaurateurs, investors and business leaders. This is part of our SpotOn series. SpotOn has the best in class payment platform for retail, and they have a flagship solution called SpotOn Restaurant, where they combine marketing software and payments all in one. They’ve served everyone from larger chains like Dairy Queen and Subway to small mom and pop restaurants. To learn more, go to spot on.com. This episode is brought to you by Rise25. We help B2B businesses to get ROI, clients, referrals and strategic partnerships through done-for-you podcast. If you have a B2B business and want to build great relationships with clients, referral partners, and thought leaders in your space, there’s no better way to do it than through podcasts and content marketing. To learn more, go to rise25.com or email us at support@rise25.com. My guest today is Carl Comeaux, CEO at Crust Pizza Co., a rapidly growing pizza brand known for its nostalgic dining experience and commitment to quality. Carl guided the brand to 30 locations across Texas and Louisiana, with ten more under construction. He has ambitious plans to take over the southeast. His innovative strategies and dedication to creating memorable dining experiences have solidified Crust Pizza. Crust Pizza’s position in the competitive restaurant industry. Carl attended McNeese State University from 2005 to 2008. He owns and operates across pizza company Crust Pizza Co. franchise himself in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Carl, thanks so much for joining me today. How are you?
Carl Comeaux 01:45
Yeah I’m great. Thanks, Chad, for having me on your podcast today.
Chad Franzen 01:49
Hey, tell me when you go into a Crust Pizza Co., especially yours, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. What’s kind of like the vibe there?
Carl Comeaux 01:56
Oh, man, it’s a great vibe. You know, we actually have a taproom that we connected to the Crust Pizza side. So our normal square footage is around 2,500 square feet, but we added another 1,500 square feet to do a full bar, because we were so busy in the Lake Charles location that we had to expand. We needed 50 more seats there. So we ended up saying, you know, if we’re going to expand, we might as well do a full bar, be a great place to hang out on a Friday night. And so we did, and we have incredible cocktails. We have over 20 beers on tap and it’s a really cool, cool vibe.
Chad Franzen 02:37
So if I’m right, you graduated college in 2008 and you founded Crust Pizza in 2011. What did you do in between that time?
Carl Comeaux 02:45
Yeah, so actually, I’m not the founder. I came on as a partner in 2018, 2000, 19. So the founders are Mark Raspberry and Clint Price that started in 2011 and their elementary buds all the way through college. Okay.
Chad Franzen 03:05
So you are a franchisee of Crust Pizza but you’re also the CEO. How did your affiliation with Crust Pizza come about?
Carl Comeaux 03:14
Okay, so real quick I’m not a franchisee. So I’m a franchisor. So I’m, I’m equal partners to the founders with our fourth partner being Nick Fonteneau, which is, which is my partner that I’ve been with for over ten years with other concepts. Okay.
Chad Franzen 03:31
So yeah. So how did it come about then?
Carl Comeaux 03:35
So how it came about my affiliation with Crust.
Chad Franzen 03:38
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Carl Comeaux 03:39
So how it came about was I moved in 2016 to The Woodlands, which is where Crust was founded. And we were moving into our new house, and the kids and the wife wanted pizza. So I looked up on Google pizza places and Crust popped up as the first and with great, great review average. And so I went to pick up a few pizzas and fell in love with it. Man, it was probably the best pizza I’ve ever had. And then we ended up dining in and it was an even better experience from the ambiance to the customer service, to the fresh quality of food. And then I met Mark and Clint and then we became friends. At the time, I was scaling another concept in the restaurant space, and so I knew how to franchise. They didn’t. So that’s what I brought to the table. And then and then fast forward a few years, we ended up doing a deal to, to work together to, to scale Crust from a few stores to now 30 and, and going, I mean, we have at least ten that are going to open up in 2025. I think that we should be able to achieve 15. And so we’re growing at a rapid pace. But we’re keeping the growth within Texas and Louisiana. The goal is we will eventually get our way to Florida or the Carolinas. And so we are really focused on the southeast. So that way we could make sure that the quality and the support to the franchisees are there.
Chad Franzen 05:13
When you say it’s the best pizza you’ve ever had, what sets it apart?
Carl Comeaux 05:16
Okay. So a great pizza has three things that has to be spot on. It’s the dough. It’s the sauce and it’s the cheese. So then I’ll break that down for you. So our dough we make fresh every single day, sometimes up to eight times a day. And so our dough is incredible. We have our own signature recipe for them to make. Make it. And of course we’re named Crust. So we better have a good crust right. And so that’s first it’s thin. It’s crispy on the outside. Fluffy in the middle. It’s incredible. And then the second the sauce we have our own seasoned blend that we mix with our pizza sauce that has the perfect bite to it. And then we ended up we’ve always had an amazing cheese, but we ended up getting our own proprietary cheese about a year ago, since we hit over 850,000 pounds of just mozzarella cheese that doesn’t include cheddar or smoked or or any of the others, just just mozzarella. And so those three things make amazing pizza. And then on top of that all our toppings are premium. And then our produce is all fresh. So we prep all our produce in the morning. And so you can taste the freshness when you eat one of our pies. That’s what sets us apart. It’s truly unique. It’s not like any other pizza you’ve ever had. Once you try Crust and everybody that I tell that to, they’re like, I don’t know about that. And they try and they’re like, you’re right. It’s unique. It’s different than anything I’ve ever had.
Chad Franzen 06:45
Wow. Interesting. So what do you think is the key to kind of your rapid expansion?
Carl Comeaux 06:53
The key to the rapid expansion is first off, we have an amazing product. From the ambiance of the location to our service model. We’re limited service. So we’re not fast casual, but we’re not dine in either. So we’re in the middle. We’re hybrid. So what that means is you it’s counter service. Then you pass by the kitchen, it’s open and you’ll get to see them flipping the pies. And of course the kids love that you get your drink. You take a seat with a table tent and then we bring you your food. And then after you leave, we will pick all your we’ll bust your table for you. And so it’s a, it’s, it still has a level of service that’s not, that’s more than fast casual but that’s, that’s not full service. And guest guests love it…. And so definitely the model and the and the products that we carry are amazing. Also we have an amazing franchise team, our corporate team on the corporate side on the operations side to the marketing side, they’re phenomenal. And so they’re definitely helping us grow. And then of course, you know our AUV is 1.6 million. So we have a great average unit volume. Our ROI is strong. So those things are important because at the end of the day, as a franchise, if you don’t have good unit economics, then what are you doing? You might as well just close shop and just, just run a couple carpet stores. And so we truly support our franchisees from, from the moment they sign their franchise agreement. Teaching them how to become a business owner, because most of them are owner operators that have never owned a business before, all the way to ongoing support. For them to be successful looking at their sales.
Chad Franzen 08:35
What do you guys kind of look for? That’s what makes us successful. Okay, great. What do you guys kind of look for in a franchisee?
[continue to page 2]
Carl Comeaux 08:44
In a franchisee. So we love the corporate America employees that are making 150 to 200,000. That usually has a 401K or has a savings account of around 200,000 plus. And they’re sick and tired of working for the man. And they’re ready to own their own business. And so that’s our number one. The reason they’re working 60 hours a week right now. They usually have great skills. And they’re green. Most of them are green to the restaurant space. But that’s okay because we could teach them for the first time how to run a restaurant, how to be a business owner, and then they don’t have any bad habits. Right. And they have that work ethic and passion to make it happen. And so we love the owner operators. They do a fantastic job. And at the end of the day, they have to be in their communities. They have to become like the mayor of their community. But for Crust and when they do that, they’ll see even more, more success. And then of course, we’re looking for the multi-unit franchisees. But we know those come the bigger we get. And so they’re looking at our food even without contacting us. There’s websites where they go on and see, hey, what’s Crust doing and what’s the unique economics. So they’re going to come, usually they come around 50-plus locations. So probably in about a year, year and a half we’ll start seeing more multi-unit franchisees knock on our door. but we already have a couple of them and all of our owner operators. They’re opening up more stores, so that means that we’re doing something right. At the end of the day, we don’t want to have 150 locations and 150 franchisees. We want our franchisees to grow and have multiple stores.
Chad Franzen 10:32
So you have overseen this expansion, but you also own a place in Lake Charles, a Crust Pizza Co.
Carl Comeaux 10:40
Yeah, yeah. So we have seven corporate stores. Right. And so of the 37 are corporate and the rest of franchise. But now moving forward it’s all franchised locations.
Chad Franzen 10:51
So when somebody who is a successful who’s been successful in their career up to now and they leave corporate America to go, you know, own their own Crust Pizza Co., what would you say based on your experience? What are some of the keys to their success?
Carl Comeaux 11:06
Some of the keys to their success is they have to believe and love the brand. That’s first, right? Like they have to love Crust Pizza. And so if it’s someone that had never tried Crust Pizza before, we fly them down and we want them to try it because they have to first fall in love with who Crust is. Second, they have to have our values. That’s very important. At the end of the day, they could be a great operator, but if they don’t have our values and they’re not in line with that, then it’s not going to be a good relationship. And our values are first is commitment to giving back to the community that we love, which is big to us. When we go into a new community, we embrace that community. And we do spirit nights for schools, for churches, for organizations. This past year, we actually did a really cool initiative with Saint Jude Hospital. We raised over $100,000 this year. Gives me the chills thinking about it. And so we’re truly committed to not only giving back to the community, but now we’re giving back global through the initiative with Saint Jude. Second, it’s they have to be respectful, Respectful. They have to respect their staff and their customers. Third, they have to believe in team, to unify their team to be able to make sure the customers have a good experience. They have to have a service attitude where it’s all about the customer making sure that they’re satisfied, and then they have to be thankful and grateful for this opportunity to grow with us.
Chad Franzen 12:39
I saw that you guys use kind of what’s considered cutting edge technology. Tell me a little bit about that.
Carl Comeaux 12:44
Yeah, man. So my business partner, Nick Fonteneau, we’ve been together for over ten years in business, but we’ve been friends since we were 18. I’m 38 now, so over 20 years. And Nick has an amazing tech background. We’ve with previous concepts have created proprietary software to run a restaurant, run the franchise development side and so pretty much a one stop shop for all all tech stack. And we weren’t going to do that for Crust. We were actually planning on using third party tech companies, but we’re spoiled. We’re so used to having a custom software to do exactly what we want it to do, and we’re not used to standing in line waiting for new features to come out. So about nine months ago, I went to Nick. We were having issues with our current POS company and I said, look man, I know we were going to just build custom technology around at this point of sale since they have an open API, but it’s just not working. And so we ended up deciding we’re going to create our own, and we’re launching it in two months at one location. And then by the end of 2025, we’ll have all 30 and then plus the new ones. So over 40 locations onto the new point of sale, which is going to be not only a point of sale, but also an app, customer app, a franchisee app, gift card program, a loyalty program, and the list goes on. Inventory management, it’s going to accomplish many things, and we’re going to do it in phases, but the franchisees are going to be so happy with it because it’s going to give them better optics. So that way they can make better decisions on the daily basis in their business, which will then lead to higher, higher profit margins and higher AUVs.
Chad Franzen 14:35
As you kind of oversee expansion. What are some of the keys for you in terms of kind of maintaining brand consistency and things like that?
Carl Comeaux 14:42
Yeah, brand consistency is everything, right? If one location is ordering a different cheese or doing things a different way, then then that’s not a that’s not what a franchise is. And so one thing that we do is we have a quality assessment review that we do every three months, every quarter to all locations. And it’s not an audit like I got you kind of idea. It’s more of, hey, look, I’m I’m coming unannounced, but I’m going to then grab the manager or the owner operator, and we’re going to walk together through this evaluation, and I’m going to coach you on things that you need to improve, because we need to make sure that every franchisee and every location is beating to the same drum.
Chad Franzen 15:37
You know, given the kind of commitment to freshness, commitment to freshness that you guys have, what goes into that for a franchisee in terms of, you know, supply chain?
Carl Comeaux 15:47
Yeah. So supply chain, we have an order guide and they have to order on that order guide. They cannot order at the restaurant depot down the street or grocery store like our order guide is our order guide. And that’s it. And so that makes sure that our quality remains the same no matter what location you go to.
Chad Franzen 16:08
I have one more question for you. But first, how can people find out more about Crust Pizza Co.?
Carl Comeaux 16:13
Yeah, man. So you could go to crustfranchise.com. Also, I’m on LinkedIn, so I’d love for you to connect with me there and. Yeah. And see what we’re doing. We have all our PR releases on on crustfranchise.com. So you can keep up with where we’re going and what we’re doing. It’s exciting. We’re small but mighty.
Chad Franzen 16:34
Yeah, yeah. Sounds awesome. Hey why why only the South or Louisiana? Texas right now.
Carl Comeaux 16:42
To keep quality control and to make sure that every store is feeling supported from day one. If we get outside to Florida or Carolina right now, like it would be hard to support them because it would be so far from us versus now. Any location that we have, we can drive within the same day and be there and then drive back. And so that’s the reason. But we are looking at some franchise prospects right now in the Carolinas. And so we are going to expand. That’s for sure. But we’re being really strategic with it as far as why not outside the southeast? It’s for that same reason. It’s for supply chain support. And just it would be really challenging to make sure that our brand is consistent across the board.
Chad Franzen 17:34
I was hoping you’d come to Colorado where I am. It sounds good.
Carl Comeaux 17:37
Yeah, I mean Colorado. Yeah, I love Colorado. I love I’m there probably 2 or 3 times a year to ski or to hike. So I wouldn’t mind one maybe in 10 to 15 years. But the next ten years we’re pretty locked in on on southeast, the goal is to open up 250 stores in the next nine years. And so this year we should open up closer to 15. Number mark. So the goal is to get to 25, which means that we’ll need to open up development. So far all of our growth has been organic. We haven’t spent $1 on advertising our brand, but this year that’s changed. We are starting to advertise in markets that we want to go into. And so that way we could get to that 25 store openings per year.
Chad Franzen 18:21
So when you open up a new location, you just do. You just open it up and people come or what do you do to get the word out?
Carl Comeaux 18:29
Oh no man, it’s a full process. After we get the CEO, we have of course, the training that takes 2 to 3 weeks. Our training team will go and meet with the franchisee and their manager and, and we do a full on training with their complete staff. And then after that we do a friends and family where we will test out the kitchen. And then we’ll do a VIP day where we’ll invite 4 to 500 guests for the day. They have a specific time. They come in and they get a free meal. So they get a free pizza or pasta or salad and they get to experience it. And we really test the kitchen from a From friends and family, which is more intimate. Around 50 people to 4 to 500 people in a day. And then from there, if the kitchen does really well, then we will open. We will open it up, do a soft opening, and then usually a week or two later we’ll do a grand opening event, which is a big deal. I mean, we have a blow up house, we have a DJ, we have Tavi is our mascot for Crust, like we have tavern cut pizza. So his name is Tavi. He’s a little pizza guy and so kids love taking pictures with him. We have a little Tavi plushies that we give to the kids, and the grand opening is a big deal. And then from there, you know, we have ongoing PR that happens where we interview the franchisee, and usually we’re in the newspapers and the TV station and in that local area, and then of course, ongoing, ongoing marketing. Then it’s all about boots on the ground grassroots marketing. We usually spend around 3 to 5 hours per week on meeting every car, dealership, hospital, school, church, etc. we want to meet everyone and we want everyone to know who we are and that we are ready to not only serve the community, but also give back. And so that’s our strategy from opening to ongoing to make sure that we’re getting the traffic we need in our locations to be wildly successful.
Chad Franzen 20:42
In terms of location. What makes a good location for a place like this?
Carl Comeaux 20:47
Okay, so first off, we look for neighborhood grocery anchored shopping centers. And so that’s that. We want to be in a place where there’s around 7,000 to 8,000 people population within a one-mile radius. And so we love being in the shopping center with great co-tenants that’s connected to the local grocery store, for example, Texas, its HEB or in Louisiana its houses. We love to be by those guys. And the reason is because how often do you grocery shop Chad or your wife?
Chad Franzen 21:23
Maybe once or twice a week?
Carl Comeaux 21:25
Once or twice a week. Right. And so if you’re shopping once a week to your grocer, then every time you go, you’re passing by Crust Pizza. We want to be the local pizzeria in your neighborhood that you stop at. Most people will eat pizza at least twice a month. And so if we’re convenient to you and we have a great product and great service and we have that great awareness since you’re passing by that grocer every week, then we become that. We become that place that you frequent with your family. And we are a family and friend concept. So it’s all about creating memories with your friends or family over a couple couple pies. And so that’s important to us.
Chad Franzen 22:11
Very nice. So last question for you. When you go to Crust Pizza as a customer, what’s kind of your go-to combo of items?
Carl Comeaux 22:21
Yeah. So I usually start with the pepperoni rolls. Man they are fantastic. And I dip it in our homemade ranch dressing. And then from there I usually like our Wyatt’s barbecue chicken pizza. Which is delicious. And then usually I always finish with a cookie monster, which is a chocolate chip cookie in a skillet with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top with drizzled chocolate. That’s my go-to when I’m ready to cheat and I go full in on that cheese bread, pepperoni roll wise barbecue chicken pizza, and then finish it with a good cookie monster.
Chad Franzen 23:04
Nice. Wow. Sounds incredible. Hey, Carl, it’s been great to talk to you. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
Carl Comeaux 23:10 Yeah. Same here Chad. Thanks, man.
Chad Franzen 23:12 So long everybody.
Outro 23:13
Thanks for listening to the Top Business Leaders Show, powered by Rise25. Visit rise25.com to check out more episodes of the show and to learn more about how you can start your own podcast.