Digital Hospitality

Making Dough (in more ways than one) with Smart Pizza Marketing | Bruce Irving | DH043

07.23.2020 - By Shawn P. WalchefPlay

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Drawn to the dough — in more ways than one — Bruce Irving’s rise in the pizza industry was low and slow.

Bruce Irving is a marketing strategist, speaker, and founder of Irving Media Group LLC. The entrepreneur found fame as the voice and host of the Smart Pizza Marketing Podcast and the Local Business Podcast.

In 2020, people are still looking for ways to get paid to eat pizza. Bruce Irving has found the second best alternative: he’s paid to talk about pizza.

Bruce Irving was a guest on the Digital Hospitality podcast episode 43. He and podcast host Shawn Walchef (owner of Cali BBQ in San Diego) talked about learning to master digital marketing, digital media, growing restaurants and small businesses in the COVID era, niche podcasting, and more.

 

His success didn’t happen overnight as Bruce has been working in the pizza industry for 20 years.

“I grew up in the pizza,” Bruce Irving told Shawn Walchef on the Digital Hospitality podcast.

“I wasn't a smart kid growing up. School wasn't my thing. I literally just wanted to go to school and get out. So, I was drawn to get a job and make money. I was interested in pizza and making it in the restaurant industry.”

 

BUSINESSES SHOULD LEAN INTO FUTURE:

 

As every business owner has had to rethink their operations in the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, Bruce Irving believe it’s important to learn from the tough times and lean into the future.

“Think about the future,” Bruce Irving said. “I know restaurants are hurting right now, but why are they hurting? They're hurting because people can't go into them."

”I would never, ever want to create a business where if one thing happened and people couldn't visit me, my whole business would be gone. I would make sure that regardless of what happens, as long as people are alive and they’re eating, I can get them their food. That's the only model that I would serve at and or invest in.”

This insight is not just due to COVID-19, it’s due to new habits exhibited by the next generation.

“As much as we love hospitality and we want to go in restaurants with people, that's kind of what the older generation of folks do,” notes Bruce Irving about going out to eat in 2020 and beyond. “I don't know if the younger generation is going to be doing that as much. I'm not saying that the younger generation doesn't hang out together, but I don't know if they're going to have the need to go somewhere and hang out together versus going to the beach or going to someone's house or hanging out online together.”

Open mindedness to new consumer habits and emerging platforms is at the heart of the Digital Hospitality podcast and also at the forefront of Bruce Irving’s work.

 

“If you take advantage of Yelp, Facebook, and Google,” Bruce starts, “and respond to those reviews that people are giving you, good or bad, that's going to make you stand out even more. By doing those two little things, you're going to be much better off than 8 out of 10 pizzerias in your area and you'll show up more on Google.”

Whether it’s building your business to survive in a new world or performing in the niche podcast game, the recipes may be changing but the key ingredient remains the same.

“If you stick with it, it'll work for you,” Bruce Irving acknowledges. “You just have to give it some time.”

 

WORKING IN THE PIZZA BUSINESS:

 

Bruce Irving’s career has long revolved around the pizza industry.

“My first job in the pizza industry was at Regina Pizzeria, which is a pretty popular pizzeria franchise model here in the Boston area,” remembers Bruce Irving on the Digital Hospitality podcast. “I started working there, worked there for a few years and I learned how to make pizza. I really enjoyed it. Then I moved and I met my future partner and future brother-in-law. We worked together and I grew up in that business. He taught me a lot and he mentored me a lot. We partnered in that business and we opened another location under both of us.”

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