Glenside Pizza was featured in a recent article by PMQ Pizza, a nationwide pizza restaurant industry-centric news outlet, titled “How to Do $2 Million in Annual Sales Without Bowing Down to DoorDash“.
The article discusses owner Bill Zonios’ strategy to remain popular without the use of third parties like DoorDash or Uber Eats.
An excerpt:
Glenside is a bustling, picturesque Philadelphia suburb of about 8,000 people, and there’s no shortage of pizza in the region. Competitors abound, but Zonios offers something a little different—Greek-style pan pizza, boasting an airy, fluffy, focaccia-like crust with a crispy bottom, a traditional sauce and a mozzarella-cheddar blend. Zonios learned the style from his pizza-making dad, a veteran pizzeria operator who opened Glenside Pizza in 2001.
In fact, Zonios has spent most of his adult life in the pizzeria—that is, when he isn’t jetting off to visit his extended family in Greece during the summers. (He and his wife, Jamie, got married there in 2019.) And he has watched the rise of third-party delivery apps with growing alarm. “Back in the day, your competition was the pizza shop around the corner or the Chinese restaurant, because nobody else delivered,” he said. “Now we’re competing with Burger King, McDonald’s, you name it. Any kind of food you can imagine is available on third-party apps, and that really hurts mom-and-pop pizza shops like ours.”
Owner Bill Zonios
The article also discusses a recent contest involving local schools for the shop’s 25th anniversary:
In an online contest last month, Glenside Pizza asked social media followers to nominate a local school to receive 25 free pizzas. In the end, Zonios decided one school wasn’t enough; he ultimately gave away 25 pizzas to five different schools—a total of 125 pizzas. “I have some dates set for each school and will reach out to the local news stations here, probably the NBC and ABC stations, and invite them to come and cover it,” he said.
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Photo: Glenside Pizza via PMQ.com