Give the customer what they want and watch every penny – this is the bread and butter of Dennis Sallee’s success with the Vancouver-area Pita Pit restaurants he co-owns with his wife, Laura.
The Sallees have opened three additional Pita Pits since their first in Fisher’s Landing in 2008: one in Hazel Dell, one in Orchards and one in Ashland, Oregon. Sallee hopes to open “at least two more” Pita Pits in the Vancouver area – possibly at the Westfield Shopping Mall as well as a mobile unit.
Sallee said he would choose his locations carefully, because “it takes three daily rushes to make one of these work” (lunch, dinner and catered platters of sliced pita sandwiches).
Peter Riggs, VP of brand development for Pita Pit, USA, said that there are about nine Pita Pits in the greater Portland/Vancouver metro area. Riggs also said Pita Pit’s wide variety of grilled meats, sauces, and fresh vegetables “resonates with a lot of people” in the Pacific Northwest.
Sallee has taken the idea of choice one step further, pairing two of his Pita Pits with a Yo Licious frozen yogurt location, as well as installing Southwest Washington’s first-ever Freestyle Coca-Cola machine, which offers more than 100 customizable drink options.
Sallee said the other major contributor to his success is frugality.
“In the restaurant business,” he said, “a penny saved is truly a penny earned.”
Sallee provides profit-based bonuses to his managers. This provides incentive for them to work hard and “watch expenses like a hawk.” For example, in his restaurants, they shred their own lettuce and slice their own cheese. These seemingly small efforts save about $20,000 to $50,000 per store, per year. He also saves money by being his own general contractor and building his own restaurants. Negotiating leases is another way to ensure profitability. He recently negotiated with a bank to reduce one of his leases from $42 to $20 per square foot.
Sallee said that annual gross revenues from his first Pita Pit were $500,000. This year, he explained, the three Vancouver stores will provide about $2 million in gross revenues and he expects about a ten-percent net profit, compared to the average rate of 4 to 6 percent in the restaurant business.
Now that his business is solidly growing, Sallee said one area he would like to expand in is community service.
“I’d like to sponsor a really big event,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sallee doesn’t seem to think the success he has experienced with his restaurants during a period of economic turmoil is anything unusual.
“I’m a very optimistic person,” said Sallee. “In any downturn, there is always opportunity. You can get better deals now than in the last ten to twenty years!”
