U. S. Air Force Senior Master Sergeant (also referred to as First Sergeant) Raymond Munger and his wife Teri, also a U. S. Air Force veteran, signed a multiple unit development agreement for the Dayton, Ohio, market with the Columbus-based Mama Mimi’s Take N’ Bake Pizza chain. Ray and Teri are the chain’s first franchisee.
SMSgt. Munger, an Air Force veteran for 27 years, will soon complete his second tour of duty in the Middle East, first serving in Baghdad, Iraq, and now in Kuwait. His wife, Teri, a 22-year veteran of the U.S Air Force, is finishing her degree in Physical Education at the University of Dayton and will join her husband in developing Mama Mimi’s Take ‘N Bake Pizza Franchised Restaurants in the Dayton market upon Ray’s return from Kuwait in the early spring of 2009. They are already considering several locations.
SMSgt. Ray Munger’s job is people. Very few enlisted personnel in the in the USAF carry nearly as much authority and responsibility as a SMSgt. Ray’s required breadth of experience and professional knowledge makes him an expert in personnel counseling, discipline, evaluations, public speaking, pay problems and procedures, budgeting, family advocacy and support, benefits administration, law and overall personnel administration, which experience lends itself to the successful operation of a business; and, specifically, operation of Mama Mimi’s Take ‘N Bake Pizza restaurants.
Ray and Teri decided on the Mama Mimi’s Take ‘N Bake Pizza concept after investigating several other take ‘n bake pizza concepts they experienced during various postings around the country. A friend told them about the great pizza Mama Mimi’s offered. They made the short trip to Columbus, loaded up on a number of ready-to-bake pizzas and lasagnas and headed home for a little wine and a lot of pizza.
“Great pizza, very good people operating the concept, super support and outstanding continued sales growth all contributed to our decision to become a Mama Mimi’s Franchisee”, says Ray. “They even provided a contact, who they work closely with, for financing our project”, added Ray. “The take ‘n bake pizza business is simple to operate, lower in cost to open and is leading the surge in popularity of the take-it-home-and-bake-it concept”, Ray says, with just a small grin.
Mama Mimi’s same-store-sales for each of the trailing 12 months, from August 2007 through September 2008 increased anywhere from 14.0% to a huge 37 percent each month of that period.
National purchasing contracts and reliable distributors, who do everything they can to hold wholesale prices down, minimize the impact of increasing food costs. Mama Mimi’s continues to achieve enviable Food Cost and Labor Cost operating margins, while never sacrificing the quality of its award winning pizzas.
Since opening their first shop in 2000, Jeff and Jodi Aufdencamp, owners of Mama Mimi’s Take ‘N Bake Pizza won several “Best of Columbus” awards, three “Best Pizza of the Year” awards in the prestigious Annual National Pizzazz Competition, and an international award for “Best Pizza in North America” at the World Championship Pizza Competition in Italy. “Because the majority of our menu items and sales mix are gourmet pizzas, competitions like this are really important to us,” says Jeff Aufdencamp.
Jeff and Jodi spent the last two years perfecting a franchisee business support system. “We knew we made great pizzas,” remarked Jeff and Jodi, “but we also knew from our restaurant experience that it takes more than a great product to be successful in the restaurant industry.” They are now comfortable with offering a complete franchised business system, from site selection, restaurant design and development, training and store opening assistance, distribution, marketing, cost controls and ongoing field support from staff experienced in the Mama Mimi’s concept from the day Jeff and Jodi opened their first restaurant.
