Pizza Today - March 2022 - 10

CONVERSATION
ERIC
FABIAN
Urban 360 Pizza Grill
and Tap House
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Concept:
I was born and raised in NYC,
so the foundation is New York
Style pizza. Pizza tastes great
with beer. We created a great
pizza and paired it with local
craft breweries. We fill out the
menu with items from all over
the world - that is a reason our
name has 360 there. We create
a top-notch customer service
environment that keeps people
coming back.
Pizza & Dough:
New York Style pizza. The New
York Style pizza dough is made
from scratch daily and rests for
a minimum of 24 hours. We
worked long and hard to create
the recipe for the dough. In the
testing phase they even shipped
in New York City tap water.
We are regularly adjusting and
tweaking all the different aspects
that go into the dough - like
weather temperature and water
conditions, especially we live in
the desert.
The dough is spun out and put
in our kitchen that is centered
around the massive beast of a
brick oven to cook the pizza to
perfection.
How have you been able to drive high sales?
During COVID-19/health and safety
protocols, we made sure we are always keeping
food quality our highest priority. No one will
come back if they are not getting food that they
enjoy. We have focused on training the frontend
staff to provide excellent service, making
sure they know they are an important asset that
represents the restaurant. Customer service
extends to social media. We have made sure to
keep our ratings high across all platforms, all while
connecting/communicating exciting information
to customers.
We have been keeping up with different trends
in the culinary world to create items that return
a high profit. The employees attend trade shows
on a regular basis, making sure they are getting
the tips and advice on anything relevant to the
restaurant industry.
One example of driving high sales is that preCOVID
we were barely doing any deliveries or
using delivery services. From 2019 to 2021, profit
went from one percent revenue from delivery to
31 percent. We adapted our menu to better fit
the boom in takeout services/home delivery apps.
Another high sales driver is always having fun
events for our customers: karaoke, live music
and painting parties. We strive to make fun
experiences for customers by giving them many
reasons to attend our restaurant.
Tell us more about your menu mix and
customer base?
Urban 360 Pizza, is 360 as in menu, toppings
and customers from around the world. We
start with a backbone of our killer New York
style pizza cooked in our brick oven. The next
goal of our menu is to keep those customers
happy and coming back for appetizers, burgers,
calzones, desserts and entrees, with influences
of American, Asian, Greek, Italian and Mexican
cooking. Our customer base, of course, is backed
by green chili loving local 505 (New Mexican)
people. It is hard to explain to other parts of the
country, but once you have a taste for that heat...
it becomes hauntingly good! All sorts of people
and families show up when they see our menu.
We actually have a huge map of the world hanging
up on our dining room wall where customers put
in a pushpin/thumbtack/tag of where they are
traveling from. We want the whole 360, as in we
want the whole world to try a traditional pizza
with an Asian topping. One great example is our
orange chicken pizza.
What community outreach programs have
you used to connect to your neighborhood and
city?
For us, connecting to community and
neighborhood is making charitable donations
to causes we believe in. Two specific causes we
help are Veterans and Leukemia. On applicable
holidays there are in-restaurant food promotions
for Veterans. When we can participate, we donate
pizza to Veteran events. For Leukemia, we have
had special events where profits from sales go to
an individual.
10 / PIZZATODAY.COM / MARCH 2022
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - March 2022

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