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25 years makes Papa Luigi - the pizza daddy
IT'S 25 years since the Papa Luigi Dial a Pizza business set up in Peterborough, during which time it has, arguably, become a household name for fast food. The high quality of its pizzas coupled with the company's own inimitable style of promotion are well-known.
IT'S 25 years since the Papa Luigi Dial a Pizza business set up in Peterborough, during which time it has, arguably, become a household name for fast food. The high quality of its pizzas coupled with the company's own inimitable style of promotion are well-known.The business has developed a reputation for being innovative, and sometimes controversial, when promoting its pizzas.
Papa Luigi is not far away when it comes to innovation in business – it made the first pizza delivery service in the UK and, courtesy of partner Stef Malajny, created the concept of Buy One Get One Free.
The opportunity to make your own pizzas on its redesigned website – "innovative work courtesy of Nick Hillson of ESC Creative" says Stef – and a special online ordering system are among its latest initiatives.
It is this innovation that has helped owners, the Scibelli brothers, Sebastian and Tony, along with Stef, to develop the business into five franchised operations – two in Peterborough, and the others in Huntingdon, Northampton and Milton Keynes.
The threesome go back much further than 25 years, to the time when they were school friends at Orton Longueville and their very first business was planned after a game of five-a-side football at the Orton Youth Club.
In July 1977, the young "apprentices" put on their first money-raising project at The South Grove Community Centre. It was a Tamla Motown night, and made 32 profit and it gave them a hunger to put on more of these events.
They continued hiring venues such as The Cresset and the Wirrina, under the banner of S & M Entertainments; then set up an entertainment agency, and they lay claim to also running the first Kissogram agency in the UK.
It was a far cry from pizzas, but they found it a grounding for what was to come in the promotional fun side of the business.
The entertainment set-up ran for several more years before finally closing when the pizza business took off.
In 1983, Sebastian bought a restaurant that was being run at the time by his brother-in-law, Mario, who, although Italian, ran the business as a Greek restaurant, The Kebab House, and serving the first kebabs in Peterborough. It was felt that with a pizza house in Cowgate, another Italian restaurant would be one too many.
After a few months of trading, Tony and Stef joined Seb, and they decided then that there was room for two Italian restaurants.
The new business was named after Luigi Scibelli, who is famous for his log-fired pizzas in southern Italy with his special homemade family tomato recipe. This was backed up by the Scibellis' mum, Rosa, who made some of the most delicious pasta in the Italian community.
"The Papa Luigi restaurant was opened, the log oven was built and the trade instantly doubled," said Stef.
"But we soon realised that the early part of the week was much quieter than the weekend, so the idea of delivery was brought in."
In 1984, Papa Luigi Dial a Pizza was born. Unbeknown to the businessmen, they had created the first pizza delivery service in the UK.
A small phone booth was built in the kitchens and the aim was to get the pizza delivered in 30 minutes. A second-hand Mini was purchased as the delivery vehicle, and it was fitted out with a home-made heated oven to ensure the food was hot on arrival.
All was going well until the day before the first delivery when the new bespoke delivery vehicle was stolen from outside the restaurant.
The Evening Telegraph helped, asking for members of the public to look out for the van. That same day, Papa Luigi received a call to say the van had been found. The call came from an unemployed youngster, Mark Shinn, and he was offered a job as delivery driver. The Evening Telegraph did a follow-up story and this was noticed by the local TV news channel, which did a five-minute feature. Dial a Pizza was back in business.
Its first customer was Vince Brown, of Queens Gardens, who, like many other early customers, still uses the service which the business is very proud of.
It was then decided that the restaurant could be combined with the pretty Kissogram girls serving the customers and the restaurant name was changed to Viva La Rock.
But, according to Stef, "although it was a great hit with the fellows, unfortunately the females were not quite so keen."
Over the next few years the business grew into a small franchise, with shops in Peterborough, Lincoln, Huntingdon, Northampton and Milton Keynes, always sticking to the quality ingredients that Luigi had recommended.
In the late '80s, with the tough economic times similar to those of today, it was realised that if the high quality of pizzas could be matched with some great offers, then the business would continue to flourish and the customers would be even happier.
Financial guru Stef Malajny then came up with the "original" buy one get one free offer.
He said: "It was a calculated risk, but was put on trial with the Thomas Cook workforce one evening, with the trade nearly tripling. It was agreed that this would be a great promotion."
The three entrepreneurs next came up with what they thought would be a great way to raise money for charity and have some fun at the same time – pizza eating competitions. It was officially called the World Pizza Eating Competition. Another great success.
Papa Luigi has won several awards at The National Pizza and Pasta award days – Tony Scibelli picked up Pizza Personality of the Year award in 1988. Stef has always carried on the tradition he started with chef Dave Thomson of pizza demos for young and old alike, once again recognised by Pizza and Pasta.
A few of the crew are celebrating the full 25 years with Papa Luigi. Franco Baylis, who joined as a young driver and Abby Bahnam, who was a student and part-time kitchen assistant, are not only still with the team, but they have also recently joined forces and have franchised the two Peterborough shops.
Papa Luigi is often making headlines with its charity fund-raising and fun events. In 2002, there was controversy when, to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee, Stef decided to make a pizza depicting the queen's head. the story was front page news in The Evening Telegraph and picked up by TV crews.
Some members of the public thought it was a step too far. Stef added: "It was all done as a bit of fun depicting a modern twist to the Royal family, and the Liz's Great Big Golden Pizza has always proved to be very popular."
Stef, Seb and Tony hope that 2009 will be the start of another 25 years of Papa Luigi success.
The online innovation and expansion plans to open a shop in King's Lynn, are a sure sign that the business is heading in the right direction. . .
Papa Luigi s website - www.papa-luigi.co.uk
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