How does an aspiring fighter pilot wind up in a tub of tomato sauce?

Well, Guy Goodwin’s budding military career ended abruptly when he failed an eye test at Royal Roads Military College.

But there hasn’t been much wrong with the Edmontonian’s vision in the pizza business.

Goodwin and Pizza 73 took flight in 1985 with innovative concepts such as takeout and delivery and two-for-one deals, and it has proven to be a high flyer in Alberta business circles, even with the influx of major U.S. chains arriving in Alberta.

Al Popil, for Business Edge
Edmonton entrepreneur Guy Goodwin saw opportunity in the takeout business.

Goodwin, president and majority owner of the company, aptly dubbed the business Flying Pizza 73 Inc.

And judging by the company’s rapid growth from a single store in Edmonton to 34 stores in Alberta and B.C., you might say Goodwin has earned his stripes.

1. Did you aspire to follow your father’s footsteps into newspaper journalism?

“I always found it interesting, but I was not the same as my dad (former Calgary Herald reporter Dick Goodwin). He was an articulate, eloquent person. If he went to university, which he didn’t, he’d have been in the arts. I’m more of a number kind of a guy.”

2. What was your boyhood dream?

“I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I did attend Royal Roads Military College for one year at Esquimalt, B.C. To get in, you have to pass very extensive eye exams. At age 18, I passed the vision test, but at age 19 I didn’t pass. I was on the rifle team and it was taking me longer to shoot my targets. When I took the exam, they said I needed corrective lenses. I was fit for air crew, but not fit for being a pilot. Since I knew I couldn’t be a pilot, I went to the University of Manitoba where I studied mechanical engineering.”

3. Who has had the greatest influence on your life?

“My dad. He was a wonderful man and a well-rounded individual who was liked and respected by people. He pursued excellence in a quiet sort of way. He led by example.”

4. What do you remember about the launch of your first Pizza 73 store in 1985?

“It was just off Fort Road in northeast Edmonton. We thought we had a winning formula, but we wanted to open a store to prove it to ourselves. At that point, I’d been in the pizza business for 11 years. We thought we recognized an opportunity in the takeout and delivery market, which wasn’t really being exploited in Alberta at that point. Two-for-one pizza was a growing trend in the States, but it wasn’t happening here. We pulled these disparate elements together and wanted to try them in this marketplace. We delivered flyers in the area and sat back on the first day and waited for the phone to ring. And it did.”

5. How did you know there was a hot market for pizza takeout and delivery?

“I saw the market for delivery during my eight years in management with Boston Pizza. It was difficult to get delivery then (before 1985). I remember having to tell a customer: ‘If you really want it delivered, we can send it out in a cab.’ The customer ended up paying for the cab.”

6. What did you have to sacrifice to get the business off the ground?

“There was a time when I didn’t take a day off for six months. I’m not working 80 hours a week anymore. I remember one of my neighbours saying they hadn’t seen me in so long and they were wondering if my wife and I were separated.”

7. So your wife Linda has played a huge role in the success of the business? “My wife’s always been a rock and let me pursue my dreams and ambitions. Back in the days when I was articling, she was out there teaching and bringing home more bacon than I was. She’s been a wonderful mother for our two sons. I never had to worry about the homestead. It was always in great hands.”

8. Describe your business philosophy?

“Generally speaking, I’d say we believe in dealing fairly and honestly and openly with people and expect the same in return. We work hard, try to execute well and stay focused. We stick to our knitting, I guess you’d say. We think like a customer and try to listen to the customer’s wants and needs in any way that’s reasonable so we can make a buck.”

9. What are the benefits of joint-venture ownership in your Pizza 73 stores as opposed to the franchising system?

“Unlike the franchise concept, we own 50 per cent of every location and we have an owner-operator-partner who owns the other 50 per cent. Franchisees are told: ‘You’re in business for yourself, but not by yourself.’ But I can tell you when the going gets tough, you’re kind of by yourself. In our business, we really are partners and that changes the focus. The franchisor is interested in sales because sales is how he gets paid. In our business, we’re not top-line focused, we’re bottom-line focused. Both our partner and we want to have a profitable store because we share in the profits.”

10. Are you looking at further expansion from your current roster of 34 stores and focus on the Alberta market?

“Again, the difference between us and a franchisor is that there’s more involved in us opening a location and, because of our bottom-line orientation, we like to do a lot of business through less stores. Yes, we’re expanding, but it’s not a numbers game for us. We like to go into markets we think we understand.”

11. Time out for a commercial. Why does your pizza taste so good?

“Because we work hard at it. We’ve developed our own recipes and formulated our pizza specifically for delivery and takeout. Obviously, the best pizza you can get is the pizza that comes straight out of the oven and you burn your mouth trying to eat. Everyone knows there’s going to be some deterioration in terms of the quality when you have to transport it. We’ve worked hard at minimizing that deterioration. For instance, it used to be somewhat traditional to put mushrooms under the cheese, but if you do that you’re going to have a soggy pizza. We put ours on top.”

12. Are people ordering pizza online from your website?

“We get orders every night over the web, but it’s a relatively minuscule part of our business. It’s just too convenient to order over the phone.”

If I look at my own family, we’ve got two very computer-literate sons with a complete awareness as to how our website works. But when it comes to ordering pizza, there’s no way they’d think to order over the Internet. I have to make them do it that way so I can get their comments. This is your supper. You want it in 30 minutes. You want that human-type assurance that we’ve got your order.”

13. Why weren’t your Bullwinkle’s restaurant franchises in Edmonton and Calgary successful when you even had a talking moose?

“My friend Dave Tougas and I opened the second and third Bullwinkle’s franchises in Calgary and Edmonton. This is going to sound funny actually, but it was very kid-oriented. The first franchise was in Silicon Valley in California and business people would come in at lunch and play the video games. But here I’d have people say: ‘I like your place, but I don’t have any kids. What am I supposed to do, rent a kid?’ Unfortunately, kids don’t have car keys and wallets.”

14. So was it essentially a special-events restaurant?

“Yeah, it was the place you took your kids for birthdays and Christmas parties. People would leave, saying: ‘I had a wonderful time, see you next year.’ I’d say: ‘How about next week?’ We did enough business to keep our nose above level, but it was like pushing a rock up the hill, and Pizza 73, which we operated concurrently, was a rock going downhill.”

15. What’s the best advice you can give a young entrepreneur?

“I think it’s great if you can get some business experience on somebody else’s nickel. Learn something about the business before you go it alone. Then, get involved with good people and that may well be by way of a franchise or joint-venture operation. It’s tough to build a winner and there are models where a lot of the right decisions have already been made.”

16. Based on your experience, what makes a successful entrepreneur?

“Entrepreneurship is typically a team thing. I didn’t build this place by myself. There are lots of other good people here who have contributed tremendously to it. I guess I don’t think that entrepreneurs walk on water.”

17. Why do you think so many restaurants fail?

“It’s a demanding business and there is, in some respects, a comparative ease of entry so you get people in the business who probably shouldn’t be there. And it’s a grind. My analogy on managing restaurants is that it’s sort of like a car on cruise control. You’re sitting at the steering wheel and you don’t think you’re doing much, but if you take your hands off the wheel and hop in the back seat, you’ll be in the ditch in a hurry. Management by presence is very important.”

18. Is there any celebrity you’d walk over hot coals in bare feet to have lunch with?

“I can’t think of a living person, but I’d love to have lunch with Winston Churchill. I think he was such a fantastic leader and excelled in so many different aspects of life. He was a painter and a bricklayer. He had quite an amazing sense of humour. He was not just a theoretical genius, but put it to practical use.”

19. Do you entertain other goals beyond business?

“I’d like to build a plane that I could fly. It would probably be a kit-built aircraft, but that’s part of my dilemma. I don’t have the hours to spend building it.”

20. So when will you build it?

“I don’t know. It’s kind of my persistent daydream, but I haven’t gotten off the dime.”

IN PROFILE: Guy Goodwin

* Born/raised/age: London, Ont.; Calgary, Medicine Hat, Winnipeg; 53.

* Title: President/majority owner, Flying Pizza 73 Inc. (Pizza 73 chain).

* Family: Wife Linda, sons Christopher, 23, Garth, 22.

* Education: Royal Roads Military College, University of Manitoba (mechanical engineering), chartered accountant.

* Career: Goodwin was a chartered accountant in Winnipeg before moving to Edmonton to join Boston Pizza where he spent eight years in management, including general manager. He also was a co-owner of two Bullwinkle's pizza-and-games restaurant franchises prior to co-founding Pizza 73 in 1985.

* Award: Goodwin is a recipient of the prestigious Pinnacle Award for entrepreneurial excellence.

* Idol: Sir Winston Churchill.

* Passions: Bicycling, skiing, aviation, reading historical novels.

THE COMPANY: Flying Pizza 73 Inc.

* Brass: Guy Goodwin, president, majority owner; Dale Moran, vice-president, co-owner.

* Profile: Pizza 73, founded in 1985, is a chain of 34 pizza delivery and takeout stores, including 15 in Edmonton and 11 in Calgary. All are in Alberta except one in Prince George, B.C. Flying Pizza 73 owns 50 per cent of each outlet with the other 50 per cent owned by the store’s operator.

* Mission: The Pizza 73 Team aims to completely satisfy each and every customer by providing first-rate food, fast, friendly service and true value.

* Website/online orders: www.pizza73.com

* Office address: #1700-10303 Jasper Ave., Edmonton, AB T5J 3N6.

* Phone/Fax: 780-498-3490, 780-498-3480.