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:
Today’s episode is brought to you by SpotOn. SpotOn has transformed the merchant service industry by providing the tools and support your business deserves at a price that puts money back into your pocket!
SpotOn’s team wants to empower all of their merchants by merging payment processing with simple customer engagement tools, all in one easy-to-use platform. As a business owner, you are focused on managing your daily operations and engaging your customers. You don’t have the time, energy, or excess funds to devote to multiple complicated platforms! That’s why SpotOn is focused on helping you build long-lasting customer loyalty while saving you time and money through our all in one system.
Whether you are a merchant or a consumer, SpotOn wants to be more than an average payment processor. SpotOn aims to exceed your expectations by valuing simplicity, maintaining flexibility, and celebrating innovative collaboration. Let SpotOn help you do business the right way.
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!
Rise25:
At Rise25, we’re committed to helping you connect with your Dream 100 referral partners, clients, and strategic partners through our done-for-you podcast solution.
We’re a professional podcast production agency that makes creating a podcast effortless. Since 2009, our proven system has helped thousands of B2B businesses build strong relationships with referral partners, clients, and audiences without doing the hard work.
What do you need to start a podcast?
When you use our proven system, all you need is an idea and a voice. We handle the strategy, production, and distribution – you just need to show up and talk.
The Rise25 podcasting solution is designed to help you build a profitable podcast. This requires a specific strategy, and we’ve got that down pat. We focus on making sure you have a direct path to ROI, which is the most important component. Plus, our podcast production company takes any heavy lifting of production and distribution off your plate.
We make distribution easy.
We’ll distribute each episode across more than 11 unique channels, including iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. We’ll also create copy for each episode and promote your show across social media.
Co-founders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, RxBars, YPO, EO, Lending Tree, FreshBooks, and many more.
The relationships you form through podcasting run deep. Jeremy and John became business partners through podcasting. They have even gone on family vacations and attended weddings of guests who have been on the podcast.
Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships.
Are you considering launching a podcast to acquire partnerships, clients, and referrals? Would you like to work with a podcast agency that wants you to win?
Contact us now at support@rise25.com or book a call at rise25.com/bookcall.
Rise25 Co-founders, Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran, have been podcasting and advising about podcasting since 2008.
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]