Romeo's Pizza vs Cottage Inn Pizza Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Romeo's Pizza vs Cottage Inn Pizza including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees

 
Romeo's Pizza Franchise
Cottage Inn Pizza Franchise
Investment $128,000 - $470,500$200,000 - $350,000
Franchise Fee $25,000$15,000
Royalty Fee 5%5%
Advertising Fee 1-2%co-op 3% local3%
Year Founded -1948
Year Franchised -1986
Term Of Agreement --
Term Of Agreement --
Renewal Fee --


Business Experience Requirements

 
Romeo's Pizza Franchise
Cottage Inn Pizza Franchise
Experience

We are looking for successful people with a history of business that have the passion to be in the food service industry. Minimally, the following criteria must be met: Single Unit $100,000 in cash or cash equivalents $250,000 in net worth Multi-Unit Development $200,000 in cash or cash equivalents $800,000 net worth Relevant food service operations experience is required by either the potential franchisee or the franchisee's Operating Partner. This is the single most important factor for success. We also require the Operating Partner to have ownership interest in the organization if the franchisee does not have operations experience.

A minimum net worth of $100,000 A minimum of $60,000 in liquid assets or financing or a combination thereof Five Star Customer Service for staff and customers alike Product Quality — using only approved ingredients and the amounts set forth by the Cottage Inn Standard Operating Procedures Professional Image — uniforms should be clean and pressed, and employees should be well-groomed at all times. The Right Personality As a member of the food service industry, our franchisees must have the right personality, too. We look for clean-cut professionals who will take pride in being a Cottage Inn franchisee. We also look for candidates who are strong leaders, can motivate a staff, and treat customers with the utmost care and respect. In the food service industry, it’s important that your store pass the white glove test every day. Safety is always a concern when it comes to proper food handling. To be a successful Cottage Inn franchisee you must also understand profit and loss statements. You need to input tools to measure your expenses on an on-going basis. We lay out what has been successful for Cottage Inn throughout our corporate stores and we want to make sure each franchisee who joins the Cottage Inn family follows the same equation to success.


Financing Options

 
Romeo's Pizza Franchise
Cottage Inn Pizza Franchise
  In-House/3rd PartyIn-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees -/--/-
Start-up Costs -/--/-
Equipment -/--/-
Inventory -/--/-
Receivables -/--/-
Payroll -/--/-

Training & Support

 
Romeo's Pizza Franchise
Cottage Inn Pizza Franchise
Training

The training program is 4-6 weeks. This program will provide the skills and knowledge to become a Romeo's franchisee. Training will occur at one of Romeo's Pizza Training Restaurants and the Home Office in Medina, Ohio. The Romeo's training includes education on the following: Station Training Management Skills Problem Solving People Development Financial Analysis Local Store Marketing Relentless Pursuit of Pizza Perfection

Cottage Inn offers a world-class training program

On-The-Job Training: 240 hours Classroom Training: 6 hours

Support

The Romeo's Executive Team will work to design a program tailored to the specific needs of the potential franchise partner. The potential franchisee and their team will be ready for revenue at the end of the training program. Throughout the process, Romeo's will work with the potential franchisee to complete a business plan. The potential franchisee's team will work with Romeo's franchise development, operations and marketing professionals which will help and assist them in developing, marketing and operating a Romeo's Pizza franchise.

On-going support to keep your store running successfully and smoothly. We want you to succeed, which is why we offer our support and advice gained from years of experience in the pizza industry. We’ve been in the business since 1948 and operate 40 locations in two states, so it’s safe to say we know how to run a business. Purchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings/Conventions Toll-Free Line Grand Opening Online Support Security/Safety Procedures Field Operations Site Selection Proprietary Software Franchisee Intranet Platform

Marketing -

We collaborate with a digital marketing agency to help make Cottage Inn the top-ranked pizza company in relevant markets across Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Cottage Inn employs an in-house creative team and offsite agency to produce a myriad of digital marketing vehicles, including e-blasts, mobile CRM, social media (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, FourSquare, Instagram). We also leverage traditional print solutions such as bulk mail menus, EDDM (every day direct mail) cards, magnets, box toppers and door hangers. We also invest in branding the Cottage Inn name, making us more desirable across all relevant markets. Cottage Inn is the Preferred Pizza Provider at MIS (Michigan International Speedway) where we serve over 100,000 guests at NASCAR events and the Country Music Festival. Cottage Inn engages franchisees in strategic marketing meetings to receive their input on marketing campaigns and new product development. We also help franchisees market their specific stores via community fairs, business expos, entertainment venues and more. We are family first at Cottage Inn, having been owned by the same family for over 65 years! How we market each of our franchises: Dynamic corporate website with pages dedicated to each franchise location Convenient online ordering A loyalty program to attract and retain customers Mobile marketing to engage with the on-the-go world E-marketing to offer the best deals to our dedicated customers Traditional print marketing menus, direct mail, door hangers, box toppers, magnets and specialty pieces Social media to engage our most dedicated consumers. Branding by way of special event sponsorships

Operations

The franchisee or a designated Operating Partner will be required to actively manage the day-to-day operations of the business. As such, the franchisee or the designated Operating Partner must live in the area to be developed and possess prior restaurant/retail supervisory experience commensuration with the number of restaurants that are planned for development.

Cottage Inn maintains control of its product and distribution by operating a 22,000 square foot commissary in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Fresh products are delivered weekly and our warehouse staff is always on call in case of emergency. Cottage Inn produces fresh dough daily. For locations more than 200 miles away from Ann Arbor, we encourage and assist franchisees with setting up their own dough production. This assures a fresh, high-quality product and will help you secure a customer for life.

Absentee Ownership Allowed

Number of Employees Required to Run: 15


Expansion Plans

 
Romeo's Pizza Franchise
Cottage Inn Pizza Franchise
US Expansion YesYes
Canada Expansion -Yes
International Expansion --

Company Overviews

About Romeo's Pizza

Romeo's Pizza is inviting entrepreneurs to explore franchise ownership opportunities with Romeo's Pizza. Romeo's Pizza is ready to fuel growth, especially in the Columbus market, and is seeking seasoned restaurant operators, entrepreneurs or investors who have interest in joining this award-winning brand. We're looking for franchise partners who are passionate about customer service and who possess a strong desire to provide award-winning pizzas to the members of their community. Romeo's Pizza has a proven business model and many franchise partners have multiple stores because of the success they experienced with their first store. We have been voted Best Pizza in Columbus 4 years running. The Columbus DMA offers a great potential for us. We've only just scratched the surface in this market with our 9 stores and there is room to add an additional 10-20 stores in this market. Romeo's Pizza has single and multi-store opportunities available in Ohio. Area development opportunities exist outside of Ohio. Romeo's Pizza offers ongoing training and support in leadership skills, financial analysis, local store marketing, strategic planning, product training, safe food handling and business development. If your passion is pizza and you want to join an award-winning brand, please review additional information at http://romeospizza.com/franchising.php. We are looking for successful people with a history of business that have the passion to be in the food service industry. Minimally, the following criteria must be met: Single Unit $100,000 in cash or cash equivalents $250,000 in net worth Multi-Unit Development $200,000 in cash or cash equivalents $800,000 net worth

The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Restaurant under a franchise agreement is $128,000 to $403,000. This includes $25,000 that must be paid to the franchisor or their affiliate for the initial franchise fee.
The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Restaurant under a development agreement depends on the number of Restaurants that you are authorized to develop and ranges from $143,000 to $470,500. This includes $25,000 that must be paid to the franchisor or their affiliate for the initial franchise fee for your first Restaurant and a development fee of $7,500 for each additional Restaurant that you are authorized to establish under the development agreement.
Under a development agreement, the minimum number of Restaurants that you may be authorized to develop is three and the maximum number of Restaurants that you may be authorized to develop is ten.

About Cottage Inn Pizza

At Cottage Inn we believe that if you're going to craft a pizza, it should be to a certain degree of perfection and that you should never skimp on the quality of your ingredients. It's these two simple statements that drive our process for constructing truly gourmet pizzas.

Veteran Incentives  10% off franchise fee