Extreme Pizza vs Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Extreme Pizza vs Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees

 
Extreme Pizza Franchise
Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen Franchise
Investment $209,200 - $462,500$295,000 - $750,000
Franchise Fee $30,000$49,500
Royalty Fee 5%7%
Advertising Fee 1%2%
Year Founded 19941992
Year Franchised 20001998
Term Of Agreement 15 years10 years+5
Term Of Agreement 15 years10 years+5
Renewal Fee --


Business Experience Requirements

 
Extreme Pizza Franchise
Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen Franchise
Experience
  • Industry experience
  • General business experience
  • No Restaurant experience necessary but helpful Minimum financials are $175K to $400K in investment capital and a $600K to $1.0MM net worth

    Financing Options

     
    Extreme Pizza Franchise
    Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen Franchise
      In-House/3rd PartyIn-House/3rd Party
    Franchise Fees No/Yes-/Yes
    Start-up Costs No/Yes-/Yes
    Equipment No/Yes-/Yes
    Inventory No/Yes-/Yes
    Receivables No/Yes-/-
    Payroll No/Yes-/Yes

    Training & Support

     
    Extreme Pizza Franchise
    Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen Franchise
    Training While our pizza may be extreme, you don’t have to be. The Extreme Team is dedicated to providing you everything you need for success. All Extreme Pizza franchisees are thoroughly trained in all facets of the business operations, marketing, finance, inventory control, food preparation, purchasing and scheduling. Our training, combined with our negotiated vendor pricing, allow our restaurants to maintain impressive overall cost controls. Our intensive and extensive 6-week training program we believe prepares you for everything that might come your way while owning a local fast-fresh, made-to-order pizza business. Prior to opening a new location, we require that all franchisees be thoroughly trained in all facets of running a pizza business. As part of the initial franchise fee, we provide hands-on training at our Extreme Pizza® corporate offices and restaurants in San Francisco and on location as well. While in San Francisco, new franchisees work with the corporate training team for up to 4 weeks where they learn food and product preparation, food and labor management, human resource management, customer relations, financial management, inventory and cost control and marketing. Additional on-site training in the new restaurant for 2 weeks solidifies the training in your actual local restaurant kitchen and community.8 Week GM & Key Supervisor Training and Certification
    Support Of course it’s impossible to learn everything in six weeks that our team has learned in more than twenty years of a doing business. Which is why we provide you with a rock-solid support system to help you throughout your entire Extreme Pizza franchise experience. Once your store is up and running, an Extreme Pizza business coach, and the rest of the corporate team, will be available for ongoing support and training. As necessary, we will make visits to your location to provide one-on-one counsel. Additionally we will provide group training sessions open to all franchisees throughout the year, and will offer the opportunity to attend regional meetings and seminars that will enable you to meet and mingle with other franchisees in the Extreme Pizza system.-
    Marketing Co-op advertising, Ad slicks-
    Operations

    Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 7

    Absentee ownership of franchise is allowed. (90% of current franchisees are owner/operators)

    On site pre and post opening training and operational support with quarterly QA Visits.

    Expansion Plans

     
    Extreme Pizza Franchise
    Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen Franchise
    US Expansion --
    Canada Expansion No-
    International Expansion No-

    Company Overviews

    About Extreme Pizza

     Extreme Pizza® began in 1994 in a small 20 seat location on Fillmore Street in downtown San Francisco. Since then we have added new menu items and have been awarded many accolades over the years including "Best Pizza in San Francisco”, the East Bay and in other Bay Area communities numerous times.

    Extreme - From the Start

    Todd Parent-Founder It’s only natural that CEO Todd Parent would be the founder of a fresh concept named... Extreme Pizza. Born within the New York Metropolitan Area, Todd grew up on pizza. An avowed fan of extreme sports such as mountain biking, windsurfing, sailing, kite sailing and downhill skiing, Todd used his love for fierce competition and his culinary roots to formulate a concept devoted to serving the perfect pizza.

    About Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen

    Using the family recipe for hand-tossed dough, the sauce made from fresh-crushed California tomatoes, and imported Italian cheese blends, Anthony became the sole owner and chef of his first restaurant Russo’s Pizza in the early 80’s. "It was 800 square feet. I had a pizza oven, a dough mixer and two tables. That's it. I could only sit eight people.” A few years later, he created Anthony’s Pizzeria, located in Clear Lake, Texas, and soon moved to Houston.

    For almost a decade, Anthony refined his menu using classic Italian family recipes and zeroed in on the perfect New York-style pizza. In 1992, Russo’s New York Pizzeria opened in downtown Houston, Texas and proved to be a success.

     
    Russo's Restaurants is a national and international franchisor of the fast casual and casual dining brands Russo's New York Pizzeria and Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen. Based in Houston, Russo's Restaurants are composed of a mix of corporate and franchised locations across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida and Hawaii. Russo's has entered international markets as well, with locations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. There are an additional 20-plus units in development both in the United States and internationally. Chef Anthony Russo has created his concepts from years of applying his unique, family recipes featuring New York-style pizza along with a broad variety of handcrafted pasta creations, calzones, salads, sandwiches, soups and desserts, reflecting his commitment to his New York roots where food and family come first.