Pizza, salad, pasta and dessert for $5.49?
That's the promise Ken Solomon is making for the new
Cici's Pizza set to open in August at 8675 Pulaski Highway in Rosedale.
The 3,383-square-foot shop will include coin-operated video games to attract families.
Solomon was attracted to the location across from the Centre at Golden Ring because it will hopefully get plenty of drive-by traffic since many shops and restaurants are nearby. These include Longhorn Steakhouse, Home Depot, Best Buy and Panera Bread Co.
The restaurant will not serve beer and wine.
Keeping the prices low will hopefully attract consumers looking for a bargain in a depressed economy, says Solomon, who is investing $575,000 in the franchise.
So how does a restaurant make money when its prices are so low and it doesn't serve alcohol? The key is to do brisk volume, Solomon says.
The 144-seat restaurant will hopefully attract a wide swathe of visitors, with Essex Community College and Franklin Square Hospital nearby, he says. "Around there, there's tons of traffic," Solomon says. "We'll be getting a lot of people." The restaurant will add 25 jobs to the local economy.
The average Cici's restaurant grosses $909,075 in annual sales, with the highest sales exceeding $2.3 million, according to the company.
Based in Coppell, Texas, Cici's has 650 locations in 33 states. The company expects to open between 80 to 100 restaurants each year over the next five years.
Franchisees can expect to spend anywhere from $450,000 to $727,000 to open a Cici's restaurant.
Source: Ken Solomon, Cici's
Writer: Julekha Dash