dec-2017

126 127 n BizCompass www.BizCompass.net BizCompass offers managed IT services for servers and desktops, and has one of the most comprehensive managed services offering in New England.Their solution not onlymonitors over 1100 items on a server but also is one of the most budget-friendly. Services are all included in lowmonthly fees and they do not charge for remedial or proactive services per device. PREFERRED VENDOR OTTO PIZZA program. What’s ahead for 2018 and be- yond? Allen says,“We have a plant in Massachusetts where we make all the dough and distribute it to the shops.We have a proprietary, glu- ten-free pizza shell that we make for ourselves–we’re going to increase scalability of that and begin whole- saling it, along with our dough, to smaller supermarkets.We may even do a bread line. It’s exciting for us to go in that direction. “In terms of store growth,we’ve taken the past year for self-re- flection.We have a lot of critical foundation work ahead to ensure our vertical platformmakes sense –from the dishwashers, to the general managers, to execs.That’s a bi-product of growing fast; building a culture and a team.With just under 500 employees, communication hasn’t been perfect, and we want to circle back and invest time and energy into making sure what we have is super strong, formidable, and ultimately, sustainable. “We’ve had a lot of fun,met great people, and assembled a teamwe love working with.That’s been a privilege.We also give something back to our customers and that always feels good.Whether it will be 12 stores, or 25, or 100, I don’t know. But what we have is very solid, and we want to continue to fortify it.” chusetts stores are all stand-alone, functioning restaurants that do their own cooking. “We’re the biggest independent chain in Boston,” says Allen.“Our closest competitor is Flat Bread Company, based in Vermont.They operate a dozen units throughout the country, and have a tremendous product.They’re heav- ily oriented toward organic sourcing–a little ‘hippyish, earthy crunchy’,where we’re more eclectic. I take a lot of personal pride in our team that we’ve never closed an Otto. Even as good as Flat Bread is, and as well capitalized, they’ve opened and closed three restaurants. I only use that as a barometer. It’s a tough busi- ness.We work hard and don’t take anything for granted. In other words,we’re only as good as our last slice.” Eric Shepherd,Otto Marketing and Commu- nications Director, adds,“We don’t just look at pizza as our competition. Because of the eclec- tic nature of our pizza–the focus on unusual ingredients and an elevated pizza experience –we also look at other types of restaurants as competitors. In downtown Portland,we are right there in the mix when people are decid- ing whether to have Japanese, or Asia fusion, or Otto.We like to say,“There’s pizza and then there’s Otto.”That’s part of the strength, that we can cut into the market of existing pizzeri- as, but also fight for that fast casual, and even full-service dining.” One of the challenges for an independent pizzeria is competing with huge technolo- gy-backed companies like Domino’s and Pizza Hut that have a slew of developers working on proprietary tech. But even without venture capitalist funding,Otto is right in there adapt- ing with its own app, and a generous rewards