User:Shanewcunc/Gumby's Pizza

Intro
Gumby's Pizza and Wings, colloquially known as "Gumby's," is a small privately owned chain of pizzerias focused around college campuses and their students. It was founded in the summer of 1985 by fraternity brothers Chance Hippler and Jeff O'Brien who attended University of Florida at Gainesville.

History
Hippler and O'Brien provisionally dropped out of The University of Florida for a semester during the summer of 1985 to found the very first Gumby's Pizza and Wings in their college town of Gainesville. [5]The two started out in a bakery which was rented for $400 per month. [2]Funded by their parents and fueled by their success, a store in Tallahassee, Florida was soon opened (catering to the students of FSU). Seeing the success of the business ensured that Hippler and O’Brien went into the pizza business full-time. As their popularity increased another store was opened in Athens, Georgia at UGA. Gumby's stores can now be found on college campuses in North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri. Former locations include Chapel Hill, NC and Charlottesville, VA.[3] Gumby's Pizza specializes in Italian-American cuisine, but they are most famous for their pokey stix which are, according to Gumby's, "Hand tossed pizza dough covered with butter and fresh garlic, smothered with mozzarella cheese and zesty Italian spices." Gumby’s Pizza claims to be built on the core principles of producing excellent quality products, superb customer service, and great value for food.[1] Gumby's Pizza claims to use 'only the finest, freshest meats and vegetables possible', their pizza dough is made from scratch everyday.[5] A mantra of their business is "don't satisfy the customer, impress them."[5]

Products
Gumby’s Pizza is famous for the creative spins they put on the American pizza. In their flagship location near the University of Florida, they sell many different kinds of pizza. Some of the types of pizza that they sell are, a “Stoner Pie” which is made with mozzarella sticks, pepperoni, french fries, bacon and extra cheese; a “Baked Ziti” pizza, which is made with ricotta cheese, ziti, meatballs, and extra cheese, and a “Heart Attack” pizza which is made with double pepperoni, double bacon, and extra cheese. Gumby’s Pizza experiments with new versions of pizza frequently. Only their most exotic and appetizing pizzas actually make the menu. While Gumby’s focuses on creating exotic pizzas they also offer many other products besides pizza on their menu. Additional menu items include, but are not limited to; chicken wings, salad, pokey stix, pasta, calzones, strombolis, subs, and pepperoni rolls. Many of the items on their menu are named after characters from the television show “The Gumby Show,” which also serves as an influence for their pizza franchises name. There is no direct connection between any of the events that take place in "The Gumby Show" and the pizza franchise. [8]

A private store based in Columbia, Missouri at the University of Missouri created their own product mixture in 1999 which has just now begun to spread to other store locations. Called the "clay fusion," it is a mixture of pokey stix and pizza, created to address the need for both pizza and breadsticks while purportedly being a good value as well. Interestingly, according to Noah Schmidt, the general manger and historian of Gumby's, no one knows who came up with the idea for the clay fusion.[6]

Product Placement
Location is an essential part of Gumby’s Pizza’s business plan. All of their franchise buildings are located near college campuses in order to cater to their target demographic, which is college students. To accommodate the late night routines of their customers, Gumby’s Pizza stays open until 3 AM every night of the week.[1] Delivery lasts until 2:50 AM.

Competitors
Gumby’s Pizza manages to compete with the major franchises of Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut, and Papa John's through their competitive prices, innovative products, and long hours of operation. While Gumby’s can compete against these major franchises, their major competitors are other small franchise pizzerias that embody a similar market strategy to them. The most well know competitor of Gumby’s Pizza is Toppers Pizza.

Community Involvement
Gumby's Pizza strives to have a strong presence in the community. They pride themselves on giving back to the community through various charitable programs. Their Pages-to-Pizza program is designed to give free pizza vouchers to elementary and middle schools as a way of rewarding students for attendance, growth in reading, good grades on quizzes and tests, as well as solving math problems. Their Fundraising program is designed to help charities, schools, athletic teams, and any other organization interested in raising money for a cause. As a part of the fundraising program, any of the organizations previously listed can purchase Gumby's gift cards for 50% of their face value and sell them for up to 80% of their face value. Gumby's pizza also offers discounts for pizza's bought in bulk.[7]

Gumby's Today
Gumby’s Pizza can be found on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.[1] Gumby’s uses these sites to promote their specials, various deals on products, and advertise. Gumby's now appears to spread primarily through a franchise model. Each Gumby's Pizza franchisee is well trained. Franchisees are personally trained by Gumby's Franchise Department in the areas of marketing, advertising, and business administration. While a franchisee does own their own business, they are never alone. Gumby's Pizza is always there for support and advice. Gumby's does not charge advertising fees for franchise owners.[6] The costs associated with opening a Gumby's franchise are a $10,000 licensing fee and 2.99% royalty fee.[12] Gumby's claims the advantage they offer individuals looking to start their own franchise is a low cost entry fee. Gumby's estimates that the cost of starting a franchise is around $140,000 versus other companies like Pizza Hut and Papa Johns at roughly $295,000 and $230,000 respectively.[9][10] Their competitor Toppers Pizza has a total cost between 302,042 - $528,453 to start a franchise.[11]