Stones Pizza opened its doors in 2005 with the sole aim of creating the best gourmet pizza in Perth. A decade later and it’d be hard to argue that this is not the case!
The owner, Brandon Farrell and his partner are both qualified chefs and work at the business part time with a full time manager on board.
“Our goal is to simply be the best!” – Brandon, owner of Stones Pizza.
Brandon has been involved in the restaurant industry for 26 years now and comes from a fine dining background. Prior to opening Stones, he’s owned and managed various restaurants across three continents! It’s not a surprise then, that he’s cooked for numerous celebrities, high level politicians and Prince Edward himself.
Brandon has also competed in countless contests and proudly represented Australia at The America’s Plate World Pizza Competition in New York winning the bronze medal in 2008 as well as coming in 4th twice (2007 & 2010).
Another highlight was being awarded the State Finalist in the Dairy Farmers Best of the Best Pizza Challenge for five consecutive years.
Brandon Farrell of Stones Pizza (second from left).
Stones menu is the result of a world class chef opening a pizza store – everything is prepared from scratch. Every pizza is radically different from the next, and every week Brandon whips up a new creation, or Pizza of the Week, that tends to be even more unusual! There have been over 400 unique pizzas created to date and every week Zwift sends an email campaign to Stones' customers and promotes these amazing creations.
Apart from maintaining exceptionally high product standards, Brandon and the team go out of their way to learn their customers’ names.
“This above all makes the customer feel important and promotes loyalty. As a takeaway joint, we only have a few minutes with them, so we try to make it count. We have about 150 customers who we know by name!” – Brandon.
Stones loves to get involved in the community and have donated a whole day of sales to the Starlight Foundation in 2011. It was a friendly competition between pizzerias in Melbourne (Crisp Pizza), Sydney, Adelaide and Perth (Stones Pizza), which was organised by Brandon and called “The Great Australian Pizza Dough-Nation” where all of the pizzerias donated their day’s takings! They’re also heavily involved in the local community, and often donate products to raffles and other fundraising events, which is a great way to stay involved and at the forefront of customers’ minds.
Aside from running a successful pizza business, Brandon has been a restaurant consultant for the past 15 years. Until recently, he consulted business owners one on one, but quickly realised that 75% issues faced were common occurrences. Whereas only 25% of issues were unique to that business. As a result, Brandon is currently developing a new business at hospitalitystrategiesglobal.com that will provide restaurant owners with the tools to deal with that 75% in a far more cost effective manner than a one on one consult could achieve.
“We have some downloadable marketing strategies up so far, as the main thing all restaurants need is usually more customers, and we’re developing some online courses as well as a seminar series so it’s exciting times ahead!” – Brandon.
Stones have a solid marketing strategy and clearly understand the power of customer loyalty.
“Our sales are consistent compared to a lot of other players in the industry. I attribute this to my email marketing strategy, which is managed by Zwift”– Brandon.
Brandon’s clever strategy is outlined in detail and is available as a free download at hospitalitystrategiesglobal.com
Stones Pizza is a true inspiration and an excellent example of a well-rounded business.
So next time you’re in Perth, a visit here is an absolute must!