Again when Jay Lim used to be pursuing his bachelors level, he recalled meting out S$20 to S$30 for purchase one get one independent pizzas, which he discovered to be “illogical”.
Including to the exorbitant worth, supply occasions additionally stretched over an future, and he used to be positive to be removed from a surplus each generation as he lived unloved.
His frustrations resulted in the inception of South Korean pizza chain GOPIZZA in 2016, with a purpose to revolutionise the pizza business in phrases to hurry, labour virtue and field potency the use of automation and synthetic wisdom (AI).
I envisioned growing the McDonald’s of pizza—an idea emphasising affordability, velocity, and personal-sized parts.
– Jay Lim, founder and CEO, GOPIZZA
GOPIZZA first expanded to Singapore in 2020, and because next, the company has grown to grow to be the 3rd biggest pizza chain within the city-state by way of shop depend.
In keeping with Jay, call for for its pizzas are pushed by way of developments together with an build up in single-person families, emerging prices of dwelling, and a post-pandemic hard work crunch.
However as with every travel to luck, the trail wasn’t with out its demanding situations. Right here’s a have a look at the company’s humble beginnings and the way it controlled to propel itself to its stream heights over the day 8 years.
GOPIZZA began out as a meals truck
When GOPIZZA first began out, it confronted vital demanding situations in securing investment. “The F&B industry often isn’t a top choice for venture capitals. At the time, I was just a 26-year-old, without money, network, or experience,” stated Jay.
To store the startup incline, he operated the industry out of a meals truck on the Yeouido Evening Goblin Marketplace in Seoul, which required round US$20,000 to starting.
However issues briefly took a favorable flip for the industry from next on. On the starting of GOPIZZA’s first meals truck, the reaction used to be overwhelmingly certain, with the industry promoting about 250 pizzas each and every night time.
Recognising the excess call for, he felt the wish to flip in opposition to innovation to raised the industry’ processes and grant extra consumers, together with swapping common pizza dough for parbaked dough and the use of an automatic oven.
GOPIZZA’s parbaked dough is pre-baked and frozen, permitting the industry to get rid of kneading and get ready pizzas in a shorter quantity of generation, day the automatic oven will increase cooking velocity.
In six to seven months, the industry’ gross sales skyrocketed to 800 to 900 pizzas according to night time, marking the start of GOPIZZA’s luck.
8 years on, it has established 200 retail outlets in seven markets in Asia, and goals to extend the collection of retail outlets to over 500 inside the 12 months. In Singapore, it runs 27 retailers, having opened six untouched retail outlets in December unloved.
Integrating AI and robotics into F&B
Lately, GOPIZZA utilises diverse applied sciences spanning throughout robotics, automation and AI, utterly reworking its operations by way of improving velocity, optimising hard work utilisation, and maximising field potency.
The corporate’s parbaked dough has long gone via diverse iterations over time, optic vital enhancements in its style, comfort, cost-effectiveness and deposit holiday.
In a similar way, its automatic oven has additionally been upgraded—its warmth penetration era will increase warmth potency by way of two times as a lot when in comparison to commonplace ovens. Those applied sciences permit each and every GOPIZZA to be ready thrice sooner than a common, standard pizza.
Excluding the oven and dough, the corporate advanced a U.S. patented AI-powered sly topping desk in 2019, which identifies and selects topping components in actual generation. It additionally utilises an automatic machine that slices its pizzas into GOPIZZA’s signature atmosphere and helps to keep them heat till they’re served to consumers.
Through incorporating those state-of-the-art inventions, each pizza will also be ready inside 4 to 5 mins, as in comparison to a standard pizza, which is able to remove no less than 10 to fifteen mins.
A franchise shop in a regional mall can build as much as S$4,000 day by day
With the era that it has advanced, GOPIZZA retailers can perform at a fragment of the actual property footprint in addition to labour and condominium prices of bigger retail outlets.
In Singapore and South Korea, most of the pizza chain’s retailers are positioned inside comfort retail outlets, petrol stations, and cinemas. “They are also compact at 50 square feet and only require two employees to run the operations,” Jay provides.
This “shop in shop” technique lets in each and every outlet to right away soak up present footfall, decreasing funding prices and working bills.
In truth, related to 40 according to cent of GOPIZZA’s retail outlets in Singapore beggarly even on an EBITDA foundation of their first six months of operations. In keeping with the CEO, a franchise shop positioned in a regional mall in Singapore can build S$3,000 to S$4,000 in gross sales according to life.
GOPIZZA additionally operates better retailers, with shop sizes averaging 200 sq. ft and 500 sq. ft in Singapore and South Korea respectively. In markets the place labour and condominium are extra reasonably priced, corresponding to Republic of India, it operates extra spacious retail outlets.
We’ve an excessively miniature, environment friendly, versatile modular kitchen which may be implemented in any shop layout. We don’t perform a strict grab-and-go fashion to assure we cater to a various buyer bottom, accommodating to people who want eating in, takeaways, or deliveries.
– Jay Lim, founder and CEO, GOPIZZA
In keeping with Jay, this balanced fashion has been instrumental within the pizza chain’s skill to navigate the demanding situations posed by way of the COVID-19 pandemic, “setting them apart from cloud kitchen brands that struggled during the same period”.
Good fortune doesn’t come simple
Alternatively, the developments in GOPIZZA’s operations hasn’t been with out its hurdles. Venturing into AI and robotics – grounds which might be utterly distinct from the meals component and franchise companies – proved to be a attempt.
“The integration of AI and robotic engineers into a company culture centred around pizza was complex,” stated Jay. It took 4 years to assemble a “synergistic integration” between GOPIZZA’s AI builders and its eating place section.
The corporate used to be additionally hindered by way of top prices, inferior constituent, and restricted manufacturing when it got here to the preliminary building of its parbaked dough. Alternatively, those hurdles had been conquer via in depth trying out and manufacturing facility upgrades.
Recently, GOPIZZA operates 3 factories in Korea, together with a Month Lab devoted to AI and robots, a GOPIZZA Parbake Innovation Heart for dough R&D and manufacturing, in addition to a tech centre that makes a speciality of the R&D and manufacturing of its automatic ovens.
Excluding technological and R&D-related demanding situations, Jay’s formative years and dearth of enjoy within the F&B farmland additionally posed demanding situations in scaling the industry.
Regardless of having a Grasp’s Stage from the Korea Complex Institute of Science and Generation and internship enjoy beneath his belt, he shared that the travel of starting and rising GOPIZZA used to be an “endless pursuit of problem-solving, with new challenges emerging every day”.
I take into accout managing taxes, HR, finance, laws—issues that you just don’t truly be informed from college and day by day ‘business admins’ had been vital hurdles.
– Jay Lim, founder and CEO, GOPIZZA
Alternatively, the CEO stated that he controlled to take on those stumbling blocks via “persistence”. “I personally find ‘grit’ or ‘perseverance’ to be the most important trait of an entrepreneur or any successful person.”
GOPIZZA has raised US$50 million to generation
The worldwide possible of GOPIZZA’s industry fashion, coupled with its leading edge manner within the F&B business and technological strides, has enabled it to garner vital investor passion.
To generation, the corporate has controlled to lift round US$50 million and is sponsored by way of probably the most maximum important challenge capitals in Korea, together with Capstone Funding and DSC Funding, either one of that are indexed at the Korean Retain Alternate.
This investment has been an important in fuelling its enlargement efforts and using innovation within the pizza business, specifically within the APAC pocket.
The era we’ve advanced has reached its commercialisation point, and we considerably decreased the manufacturing charge of key components, specifically the parbaked dough. Our retail outlets, each in Korea and out of the country, have additionally ramped up and stabilised.
– Jay Lim, founder and CEO, GOPIZZA
GOPIZZA’s time of enlargement reminds a few of Flash Espresso, a “tech-enabled” espresso chain that filed for a voluntary polishing off in Singapore past due extreme 12 months. At its top, Flash Espresso opened 3 retail outlets a era, which in the long run resulted in its failure available in the market.
Alternatively, when requested about GOPIZZA’s enlargement technique, Jay hopefully shared that the company’s enlargement is sustainable, with a monetary runway extending past 5 years and plans to succeed in world break-even by way of the tip of this 12 months.
Our industry fashion emphasises store-level profitability, making sure each and every shop contributes definitely to our base form. This manner, coupled with the cumulative certain have an effect on of our increasing collection of retail outlets, underpins our sustainable enlargement technique.
– Jay Lim, founder and CEO, GOPIZZA
GOPIZZA needs to determine 10,000 retailers globally
Having a look ahead, GOPIZZA goals to keep a lead 3 place within the pizza marketplace inside the later 3 years in all of the international locations it operates in and amplify its footprint to untouched areas, specifically in Southeast Asia. The pizza chain could also be “eyeing opportunities” in North The us, and probably the Heart East.
Past geographical enlargement, GOPIZZA could also be having a look to diversify its presence throughout diverse verticals by way of replicating its a success partnerships in Korea with comfort retail outlets, gasoline stations, and cinemas, in alternative international locations.
For example, in Singapore, the corporate has partnered with Cathay Cineplexes, mirroring its collaboration with Korea’s CGV, the pocket’s biggest multiplex cinema chain. “We’re also in talks with a major convenience store chain to introduce a model akin to our GS25 partnership outside Korea,” Jay added.
In the long run, it goals to succeed in exponential enlargement via its strategic partnerships and cement its condition because the “pizza everywhere company” by way of starting 10,000 retail outlets globally within the later 5 to 10 years.
With our distinctive oval-shaped pizzas, we try to develop into pizza right into a meals that’s as available and handy as hamburgers are at McDonald’s, on the subject of pricing, velocity, portion dimension, and eating partners.
We envision a hour the place GOPIZZA turns into a go-to selection for fast lunches or snacks, basically converting how community consider pizza.
– Jay Lim, founder and CEO, GOPIZZA
Featured Symbol Credit score: GOPIZZA
