Francesca (00:02):
Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me on the New Media Retailer Podcast. If you haven’t joined us before, my name is Francesca and I’m with New Media Retailer. I am joined today by Betsey Baio from New York Pizzeria. Betsey, thanks so much for joining us today.
Betsey:
My pleasure.
A 40-year-old small business’ story
Francesca:
Tell us a little bit about yourself, about your business, how you got started. Give us the backstory.
Betsey (00:26):
The backstory is that my husband and I run our own family business, which is was originally a pizzeria, and it has evolved into a full restaurant. We opened in January 13th, 1982, which is almost 40 years ago.
Francesca (00:27):
Wow.
Betsey (00:28):
That’s how I got involved. It is amazing. How I got involved was I fell in love with the owner, and so it came with the marriage deal.
And where are you located?
We are located in the heart of thriving, New Berlin, New York. It’s a small little community in upstate New York, and our claim to fame is we’re the home of Chobani yogurt.
Francesca (01:08):
Awesome, and how many locations do you have just for those that are not familiar?
Betsey (01:13):
We tried a second location many years ago, but it proved to not be the direction we felt we were wanted to do for our balance between work and family, so we went back to one location.
Transitioning the business due to COVID
Francesca (01:28):
What new things are, I mean, I’m sure things are looking different for you this year.
Of course, as they are with many small businesses.
Any new things going on this year that you want to talk about?
Betsey (01:41):
The main new thing is that our son is now a 50% owner, and I’m phasing out more and more, but also we have not gone back to full service restaurant yet.
Francesca (01:58):
Okay. So you’re takeout because of COVID
Betsey (02:01):
Yes.
Francesca (02:02):
Okay.
And talk about that transition a little bit. How was that difficult where you already have established takeout business?
Betsey (02:11):
Right. It was more the COVID crisis — which was, you know, just horrific for the whole world — was a little easier on us because we did have a thriving takeout business already, so it was a much easier transition for us. The thing that we feel bad about is we really do like to interact with our customers and we miss that one-on-one time where they’re sitting and you get to have more of a personal connection. So we do miss that, but at the same time, we’ve had a little more balance in our home life. So I guess it’s all washes out, but overall we’re so grateful that we were able to survive the pandemic.
Francesca (02:49):
So two follow up questions there. Both actually relate to social media. So one is all over social media, I’ve been seeing restaurants and retail stores posting about difficulty finding staff right now. And I I’ve actually seen in my local area, some businesses say that they’ve had to close the things they can’t properly staff, either their store or their restaurant. Can you speak a little bit to that?
Betsey (03:15):
Yes, that is the main reason that we are not fully reopened. We would be able to comply with the current regulations, but the issue is we do not have enough staff either in our kitchen or on the floor at this moment to reopen. And, you know, there are several factors that go into that, but the bottom line is we don’t have the staff, so we’re unable to open.
Francesca (03:36):
Gotcha. That’s so interesting. And obviously that’s universal. I mean, I’ve talked to a lot of small businesses that are struggling to staff. Do you see that changing?
Betsey (03:46):
I don’t really see that changing at the moment for many reasons. One is I think the pandemic theme has made people prioritize their time in a different way and maybe they’re willing to go with less.
Okay.
So I’m not really sure how it’s all going to come out, but I don’t see it changing in the next even 18 months.
How social media helped businesses continue to connect
Francesca (04:08):
Interesting. My second question, what you were touching on before about already having an established takeout business and still not having the dining room, opens up communication with customers. What avenues did you take to talk about updates? I mean, I’m sure a lot of things have changed over the last few months.
Betsey (04:24):
I’m sure that a lot of the people listening to this podcast do not know the amazing personality of my husband, but you know, people were scared. It was hard when the pandemic first started. And I mean, it’s emotional talking about it now. Like he took his humor and made some incredible videos, which really lifted people’s spirits and also lifted sales, but they were funny. They took your mind off the panic and they were terrific — not just morally but financially — and it really helps to sustain them.
Francesca (05:01):
I’m glad we got to touch on this because obviously for those that don’t know, I am an administrator of the pizzeria’s Facebook page. So I’m able to see things like how many views these videos got and things like that. Sometimes they were upwards of 20-30,000 with a population of… what is the population of your town?
Well, 1200.
So population 1200, Facebook views sometimes 20-30,000. So to talk about that reach and how many, whether they were consumers or just people not even in your area, but that we’re able to see that and witness that. That interaction was certainly a very cool thing to watch. Can you talk a little bit about the premise of them would either be to talk about like the pizza kit that you guys made to get people in the door to buy something, but then they could go into the safety and comfortability of their home to cook them, or your hours changing or different things like that. So can you touch on some of the topics of the videos?
Betsey (06:01):
The topics were, you know, because we’re fortunate to work with such a great person like you that helps guide us. So those things that you mentioned, you know, to make people aware of what we were offering, we came up with an idea to do a family package meals, which was a great success. But the thing that I think really made the key difference was he really showed his love and his humor, and people looked forward to hearing what he had to say. And he got a little crazy at times. He dressed up, he did all kinds of skits and outlandish things, but it really lifted people’s spirits. We had so many emails and messages and notes that he made people’s days brighter.
Francesca (06:46):
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, he certainly took it to another level because of his personality. He really got into it, which I think is great, but I think that the baseline of each of the videos was you are providing some sort of information to your customer base, whether it was like your hours were changing, you needed to provide an update on how many people were allowed in the building at once or something like that, but he made it fun. So, you know, I feel like that can be more universal than any business might understand because you could have just as easily printed out a sign and put it on the door and let somebody read it themselves, but this was a really great way to utilize social media to create engagement. We’re getting comments, shares, views, likes, all of those things, great brand exposure, but you still were relaying the information in a fun way while utilizing a tool that is free to people to use. I mean, you didn’t have to provide a budget to create any of those videos. You were just using an iPhone, so I think that that’s really interesting and certainly a tool that a lot of people could apply.
Customer relationships are key to small businesses
Betsey (07:55):
Yes. And well, you were touching on something else, and one of the things about being a small business owner is the relationship you do have with your customers and our customers. Many of them have become family, friends. Now they come to maybe our children’s weddings or different events in our lives. So we felt an obligation to share the emotional part of what we were all doing, not just the day-to-day blunt facts of what was occurring. And so I do say that if you want to be in a small business, you need to really like your customers, because that’s key to your success.
Francesca (08:34):
Yeah. It’s so interesting how transferable that is, because in the last podcast I recorded, she said something so similar about like, “If you love what you do, it’s not really work. If you love the people you see every day, it’s not really work, and if you love your customer base.” So it’s interesting that she’s more in like a retail space, obviously you’re in more of a service space, but how universal that concept is in owning a small business.
Betsey (08:59):
One of the things that we have tried to relate to our — I don’t really like to call them employees, I prefer more of the word team because I feel like we’re a team to make a product – but one of the things that we have tried to relate to them is that we are really proud of the product we make, but I do believe that there’s many talented restaurants around. I don’t believe we’re the only place that makes good food, and people work really hard for their money, so for them to choose to come to us over someone else, there has to be a personal factor or something special that occurs. We believe that that’s one of the reasons we’re open after 40 years is because we care for our people, and we’re genuinely happy to see them. It’s not just about making a living.
Customer interaction on social media hasn’t stopped
Francesca (09:46):
So what is your social media look like now? I mean, things are starting to return back to normal. I know you haven’t opened your dining room yet, but are you still communicating with customers in that engaging way? What does that look like for you at the moment? Oh, your video turned off.
Betsey (10:04):
I’m so sorry.
Francesca (10:05):
No, that’s okay.
Betsey (10:04):
Am I back?
Yeah. At the moment, we’ve sort of slowed down on the video and stuff, you know, because everyone thinks it’s sort of in a lull. The last video that my husband Frank did to explain why we’re not reopened, believe it or not, that one got 38,000 views. So that’s incredible. That was a few weeks ago. So right now because the anxiety and the fear has gone, you know, the videos have sorta changed, and we’re on our way to do them less frequently, but as far as interacting with our customers on Facebook, we still do that on a daily basis.
Francesca (10:50):
So are you just on Facebook at this time? I mean, I know you’re on Instagram a little bit too, but Facebook is where you do the majority of your updates.
Betsey (10:57):
I know that as our son and his family becomes more involved, they might want to get into our, what I would call the younger people. Social media is like maybe the, the, I think they’re called Tik Toks or something like that. I was, you know, I’m a little bit older generation, so I’m more stuck in.
Small businesses celebrate their communities
Francesca (11:19):
Definitely. I mean, for sure. So while there are other platforms available, certainly there is a lot happening on Facebook, for sure, so I think it’s a good one to focus on. Talk a little bit about like your Facebook page. When I’m talking to small businesses, just to kind of paint a little picture, we try to talk and give pointers as they relate to like, “Don’t just always try to sell product, maybe talk about the local community in which you are a part of, that your business is a part of. Talk about like behind the scenes, include your staff, do maybe really quick videos on your iPhone that shows new inventory that’s come in, and things like that.” And I know that you do some of those things. Can you talk about your approach and the way that you see things?
Betsey (12:08):
I can say check, check, check to everything you said. First of all, I truly believe that you have a responsibility when you live in a community to be part of your community. So our Facebook page does not just talk about our pizzeria. We support when there’s a parade. Right now there’s a young lady in our community that was in a tragic accident, and we put updates about her, and we’ve decorated along with many people in our community, put ribbons out front to support her. And we put up who’s the Valedictorian of different communities, and when a baseball team wins the championship, or all kinds of things like that. Our community just built a brand new, amazing new fire department and a community center. We like to celebrate those moments and share them with our customers because that’s where we live, and why would we not want to share all the good things happening around us?
Social media requires consistency
Francesca (13:07):
So with that though, I mean, that takes time, and time equals money. Can you talk about where do you find that balance in terms of wanting to share all the time or when you have to be at work working? How do you balance that and find time?
Betsey (13:23):
Well in the morning, I set aside a certain amount of time to go over to look at the pages and answer emails or anything. So it doesn’t take a lot of time. It just takes a steady commitment. I think that’s the key word, is that it’s consistency. If you do it on a regular basis, it’s not a job so much, it’s just part of your normal daily routine, but if you all of a sudden get overwhelmed and try to do it all at once, you can’t. It’s then that it becomes overwhelming. So I think that, and then also I try to think of myself as a consumer, and I know I don’t like to be bombarded by any one company all the time, so I try to be aware of that too and not overwhelm people where nothing I say is relevant. So I don’t like to do more than a few a week.
Francesca (14:20):
Interesting, and I feel like that’s a balance that we try to find with our stories too, because there are posts that we’re doing that are like industry related, but then we try to work with stores to encourage them to like add that personal touch, but should they not have time that week or something? They do have peace of mind knowing that the content we’re putting there is make making sure that the posts are happening consistently and, you know, their customers are being talked to. Talk about like that transition. Has it become easier because of technology and the fact that you can share so much information from your phone, or are you finding yourself still taking the time to do that at a computer?
Betsey (15:03):
The ease of technology is phenomenal. I mean, if I had to go sit at my computer and do that, I probably couldn’t, but sometimes something will pop in my mind in between a busy moment or when I’m on break at work, and I just to grab my phone and do it. So technology has been amazing. I mean, it’s helped us in all kinds of ways, from putting in a computer system at work to too many benefits.
Small businesses can’t do it all on their own
Francesca (15:28):
Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Anything you want to talk to on there with putting a computer system in the business and how that maybe helped efficiency?
Betsey (15:40):
Well, you know, first of all, it cut down on errors. I mean, it’s much more accurate. It cuts down on — this is not necessarily good — it cuts down on an employer too, because it’s much more efficient, you know, things can be done quicker. The other thing that I would say about technology is as great as it is, you have to remember, one person cannot do it all. So to reach out to companies like you, and a thing that took me a long time was to reach out and hire a bookkeeper which was also a financial decision and my personal work-life balance routine. We’re not all experts in everything, so to focus on the parts of the business that I can really make a difference is vital. To know that there’s people that can do certain things better and more efficient than me or my husband or son can do is also a very important thing to remember when you’re running a small business.
Francesca (16:42):
Yeah, I think that that’s very well said. I think especially, I’m obviously very familiar with all the hats that a small business owner wears, but I think too, in the industry I work in in particular, things just change so often so fast, if this isn’t your primary focus all the time, I can’t imagine how overwhelming of a situation that would be to try to keep up. I mean, algorithms have changed and the way that they even show posts on Instagram has changed, like the order in which they display them, all of those things. Then you always have to be trying something new or posting at strategic times to make sure you’re really hitting your widest base possible. So yeah, I think you’ve said that very well. Jumping back to social media a little bit, do you feel like you’re hitting a broad customer base with social media, or do you feel like there’s different generations that you’re talking to when you’re on Facebook than you are maybe in other avenues?
Different social media tactics reach different demographics
Betsey (17:51):
I feel that people — I don’t know the exact age — but I’m having a feeling maybe the 30, that 35 and younger, I’m not hitting as much with Facebook.
Okay.
I feel like they kind of think Facebook is more for people my age.
Okay.
But I think that they’re aware that we’re there and they know how to find us, but I think that the people I hit the most are the people from 40 years old to 65 years old on Facebook, but I have nothing to back that up with. It’s just a feeling I have.
Francesca (18:31):
No, no, I think it’s an interesting concept. I think it’s an interesting thought. I think what really helps expand that, too, is your customer base sharing your posts, which I do know happens very, very often. You know, and how much that increases your exposure because sometimes people are more likely to see posts when they’re shared by friends instead of just by a business, so I think that certainly can help open up your reach as well. But if you feel like you’re not hitting a certain audience at this point, what are you doing to try to talk to them if anything, at this point?
Betsey (19:10):
I think that we’ll probably be consulting with New Media Retailer.
Francesca (19:19):
I stumped, you know, but I think what I would coach you to say in that answer is, video has become single-handedly one of the most valuable tools you can put on social media, and people are just so much more willing to engage with video. I know that your husband has done posts where he’s touched on like current events topics. He’s touched on things that relate to pop culture in some instances. And so I think, you know, getting creative in that way is certainly allowing you to open up your customer base and reach new people that are on Facebook that do span different demographics. Maybe that’s a very good point.
Yeah.
Younger generations have changed business
Do you feel like this new generation has impacted the way that you run your business? You might just want to like tip the camera up a little more. There you go.
Betsey (20:13):
Yeah, I do feel that way, because first of all, younger people seem to really be wanting to have some more healthy choices. That’s back to the menu, and younger people also aren’t missing the dine-in experience as much because they tend to be on the go. They don’t seem to miss it as much as middle-aged retired people that want that socialization. So that’s something that’s also on our mind. Young people, as we know, one of the trends in our industry is a lot of people are going to the you know, you go up and sort of design your own food places, that’s because this generation tends to want to experience many things in life and not maybe spend an hour and a half in a restaurant, but they’re also very particular about what they want. They know a lot about food. They’ve been raised on the Food Network, and so they’re aware of what they want and how they want it, but also they want really good nutritious food and they want it fast.
Francesca (21:33):
Yeah. No, that makes sense. Which, I mean, it sounds like this is a totally different business at that point than a full restaurant. So I’m sure that’s an interesting exploratory phase, right?
Betsey (21:45):
Yes. You know, there’s a lot of factors involved, and hopefully a new wave is not coming and hopefully we continue to open society. So, you know, there’s a lot of factors before you can make those kinds of big decisions.
COVID has had a large impact on supply chains
Francesca (22:01):
Absolutely. So just touching on that, I mean, obviously COVID impacts your business, your dining room was shut down. You were allowed to remain open for takeout as an essential business. Are there other impacts that like affected your day to day?
Betsey (22:20):
Well, yes, because it’s not just affected our business, but I can speak to our business and it’s affected the whole supply chain. So we’re not getting things as quickly or as easily as before, when it just wasn’t an issue and you just placed your orders. I mean, some companies are still doing a salesman coming in some, some phone-in, whichever way they do the ordering, but it was just standard. You just gave the order and there was no questions. And every week there is an issue of “Something’s not on an order” or “It’s not available for right now,” or “The cost has changed dramatically due to all the other businesses suffering with the same issues.” And so they’ve had to raise their costs substantially. For example, right now we’re not offering regular chicken wings because the cost is so high and we never know week to week how many we can even receive, so it’s just taking them off the menu for right now.
Francesca (23:18):
Okay, and is that something you feel like you’ve had to keep your customers in the loop on, or you’re sort of just reserving that information on like a ask basis?
Betsey (23:27):
What we did was Frank had a video about it, and then we also for two weeks told each and every person that called and explained it to them.
Okay. And then how did you do that?
Yep. You get a little script that we printed and had by the computer.
Francesca (23:44):
Okay. So you use social media to talk about it. So, I mean, supply chain is affecting every small business right now. Whether it’s retail, home and garden, pet feed and farm restaurants, whatever it is, supply is affecting everyone. So you use social media to talk about those things. You had a script on the phone, but is that something you’re continuing to investigate? Or do you feel like those two new avenues kind of cover your bases at this point?
Betsey (24:13):
Yeah, we feel like we’ve covered our bases with those two.
Okay.
That’s it right now. Yeah.
Francesca (24:19):
That’s awesome. And I think that that’s something a lot of businesses can think about anyways, as supply chain issues I don’t think are going away anytime soon. How can they continue to communicate? And maybe that’s a post a month, maybe it’s a post on social media a quarter to talk about, you know, the impacts of the supply chain and how that can affect them, but I can imagine on a real-time face-to-face basis that that can get frustrating for customers as well as the business.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yes, but most people have been pretty understanding because we’re not isolated. I mean, they do understand they’re not even getting their two day prime shipping anymore from Amazon.
Francesca (24:59):
Yeah. No, that makes sense. That makes sense. I feel like we really touched on some really good points here, especially about social media, which I think you leveraged very, very well through COVID through supply chain issues and through hiring issues. You know, I’ve seen posts that you guys have done about the struggles of doing that, and obviously why that’s prevented you from being able to open your dining room at this point. So I very much appreciate your time and I just kind of want to wrap it up with one question, and that is if you were to give a piece of advice to someone who is wanting to start a business today, what would that be?
Small business owners love what they do
Betsey (25:41):
You have to, as we touched on, you really have to believe in and love what you do, because it takes a lot of time. I mean, it kind of becomes your family. I mean, you’re married to it. It’s not an eight to four job.
Right.
You know, it’s very consuming, but at the same time, it’s also very rewarding. So, you know, if you’re passionate about something, you can make it happen. But you know the highs maybe are higher than a regular 8 to 4 job, and maybe the lows are lower, but I wouldn’t trade the last 40 years for any corporate job.
Francesca (26:21):
Oh, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Thank you so much for your time today. We’re so grateful. I know a lot of businesses are really going to enjoy listening to this and we appreciate your time and your insights so much. Thank you.
Betsey (26:32):
I thank you for all your help with our business. Have a great day.