In 2001, Chuck Richani was living in Atlanta, Georgia, most of the time. But as a software consultant, he traveled all over the country helping companies develop software, set up information systems and understand their business data.
He’d thought many times about leaving the consulting world to start his own business. But his vision didn’t have anything to do with software. He wanted to open a restaurant. Chuck grew up in Bristol, Tennessee, with two parents who were both restaurateurs. Over the years they owned lunch counters, a steakhouse, and an ice cream shop. “I always ate very well,” Chuck remembers. “Both of my parents were fantastic cooks.”
As a kid, Chuck spent a good deal of time hanging around his parents’ restaurants, looking for ways to entertain himself. “I liked to scare the customers,” he admits. An unsuspecting diner taking a bathroom break might find the lights turned off on him. Another might encounter a fake snake made of putty. The staff would find scuba diver toys in the dishwater.
Back in Atlanta, while kicking around the dream of opening a restaurant, Chuck was a Johnny’s Pizza regular. One day, in the Cheshire Bridge store for lunch, Chuck closed the menu and saw the words franchise opportunities on the back. On September 10, 2001, Chuck met with Bruce and Scott, the owners of Johnny’s Pizza, to discuss just that. Chuck planned to sell some stock for the initial capital to open a store in Johnson City, Tennessee.
And the world knows what happened the following day. On September 11, 2001, terrorists flew planes into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center towers, sending the country into a period of shock and mourning. In the aftermath, the stock market took a nosedive of its own. Chuck’s dream had to wait.
A few years later, Chuck was in a new job, but his restaurant dreams weren’t dead. “I was bored at work. I could get all my work done for the day in about three hours.” And while Chuck didn’t know much about the ins and outs of the restaurant business itself, he knew he wouldn’t be bored. He understood how hard the work was, and he was up for the challenge.
In 2003, Chuck restarted the franchise process with Bruce and Scott, who advised him on decisions about real estate, store layout, buildout, and suppliers for what would become his first store in Johnson City. There was nothing in tri-city area like Johnny’s Pizza. There was pizza, of course. “The pizza places all said New York style,” Chuck remembers, “but they weren’t. When I tried Johnny’s Pizza in Atlanta, I knew it was different. It tasted different. It was made different. And I was sure the tri-city area would welcome it.”
Chuck was smart enough to know what he didn’t know about running a restaurant. “I wouldn’t have known what was normal, in terms of food and labor costs. The corporate support was there to tell me how I was doing and give me realistic targets.” And that’s not all the help Chuck got from Scott and Bruce. “When they came to Tennessee to check in and assist with training, they brought their tools. They helped me build shelves, and once they even helped me build out my office.”
Today, Chuck has three franchises and he plans to open another one. “One of the reasons I wanted to start my own business is that I have total control over my investment. When my money’s in the stock market, I don’t.” Plus, Chuck thrives on the bigger challenge of more stores.
Now that Chuck has developed his management team, he has a little more freedom and flexibility in his schedule. “I have great people who I can rely on,” he says.
Down the road, Chuck has more plans to travel. And this time, he’s not traveling for work. “I took a motorcycle trip along the California coast last year. I’ve done the Maine coast, too. There are a few more places I’d like to see,” he says.
Chuck doesn’t pull pranks on customers these days — no rubber snakes or lights out — though he does like to have fun in his stores, visiting with his regular customers. “The most fun I have now is hearing how much customers love the pizza.” Chuck’s not in danger of feeling bored anytime soon, and Johnny Brusco’s Pizza lovers in Tennessee are all the better for it.