The Loop Pizza Grill
E&S in the kitchens at this expanding fast-casual chain must be durable to handle the growing volume of freshly prepared grilled foods, pizzas and salads ordered daily.

By Donna Boss, Contributing Editor

At its inception, The Loop Pizza Grill was a risky venture. In 1980, Mike and Terry Schneider were deep in debt and needed an alternative to filing for bankruptcy after an expansion of Applejacks, their Jacksonville, Fla., restaurant and entertainment nightclub, failed. In order to pay off the bank loans they had taken for the expansion, they decided to stay in the business they knew and open a less specialized restaurant concept that appealed to a broader customer base.

“We borrowed money from a friend and transferred the Applejacks’ equipment and furniture to a site in the trendy San Marco section near downtown Jacksonville,” Mike Schneider says. “We named the 60-seat, fast-casual concept after the downtown business district in Terry’s hometown of Chicago. Some six months later, the new restaurant received a very kind newspaper review. That day, customers were lined up to get in and from that point we have continued to evolve and keep the concept fresh and current.”

Schneider spent the first six years behind the counter learning the business before expansion began in the late 1980s. Each of the next eight years saw a new Loop open in a different suburb. “In 1992, we decided that growing by expansion internally was cost-prohibitive, labor-intensive and time-consuming, so we decided to franchise,” Schneider says. “But, we had varying success, so we took a time-out to assess our support sytems, and then began expanding again.”

Today, The Loop Pizza Grill chain consists of five company-owned and 16 franchised units. Another 85 units are under construction and/or development and will open during the next five years in the Southeast. A typical unit is 4,200-square-feet with 120 seats and interior décor described on the web site as “funky, upbeat, relaxed and casual.”

At this writing, new Loop restaurant prototypes are currently under development. “Like our current restaurants, the future units will include a comfortable front-of-the-house ambiance in either an edgy urban, a softer suburban or culturally appropriate college campus motif that appeals to neighborhood customers,” Schneider adds.

In developing the interior design, co-founder Terry Schneider is collaborating with Larry Wilson, principal in Rink Design Partnership Inc., of Jacksonville. “Service will continue to be friendly and hospitable, meaning servers know guests by their names and how they like their food prepared,” Mike Schneider notes. “At the same time we want the back of the house to be up-to-date with high-quality systems, making it as efficient as possible.”

“The main changes in the prototype will take place in the front of the house,” echoes Chris Hartley, operations field supervisor who also functions as purchasing, facilities and construction manager. “The back-of-the-house equipment will be similar. Yet, because our units aren’t typically freestanding, the kitchen layouts will vary depending on the size and shape of the spaces we occupy.”

Currently, The Loop Pizza Grill units feature semi-open kitchens, which are visible to customers when standing at the front order counter. Customers can see an expediter who places food on a stainless-steel pass-through. They can also see the back-of-the-grill cook as he prepares burgers, fish, chicken and vegetables, and other staff taking pies in and out of the pizza oven. The customer side of the pass-through station features made-to-order salad and milkshake stations that are in full or partial view depending on the location of the stations in each unit. In the new prototypes, these stations will be more visible.

In a typical 4,200-square-foot unit, The Loop stores food in a walk-in cooler, a freezer and dry storage after it arrives at the loading dock. A dishwashing area is located in the back, as well.

A char grill, fryer and range are used in the grill area to prepare burgers, sandwiches and wraps, as well as steak fries, onion rings, soups and chili.

According to Hartley, the remainder of the kitchen is arranged into three basic sections. One station, where pizza is prepared, is equipped to make both the original menu attraction — authentic, deep-dish Chicago-style pizza with a cornmeal-based crust — and thin-crusted, California-style pies topped with ingredients such as spicy barbecued chicken, sausage and goat cheese, and grilled vegetables. E&S installed in this section includes an upright, single-door dough cooler, prep tables, a sheeter and a conveyor oven. Though pie dough was made from scratch in the early days, a manufacturer now produces it to spec and the individual units par-bake it daily. Toppings are freshly made and fresh herbs are chopped daily.

Along the same wall as the pizza station, but under a separate hood, is the grill station, equipped with lowboy refrigerators and char grills on which cooks prepare a variety of burgers, fish, chicken and vegetables for sandwiches and wraps. Also in this section are fryers for cooking steak fries and onion rings and a four-burner range for sautéing vegetables, heating soups and on-site preparation of chili. Stainless-steel worktables and a two-well steam table with removable spillage pans separate the pizza and grill stations.

Closest to the front counter is the made-to-order salad station. “We’re very proud of our salads,” Hartley says of the menu section, which accounts for nearly 25% of food sales. This station is equipped with refrigerated worktables and undercounter refrigerators.

In the front counter section are a dipper well and mixers for making another restaurant specialty, old-fashioned, hand-dipped milkshakes and malts. Also in this area is a glass display unit with refrigerated storage above for bottled beer and wine and miscellaneous storage below.

The dining room, which is furnished with a variety of seating arrangements, features two millwork beverage stations. Ice is backloaded out of view from the customers rather than stored on top of the beverage dispensers.

As The Loop Pizza Grill chain expands, Schneider and Hartley emphasize, food quality and variety must continue to differentiate these restaurants from their competitors. E&S that is durable, consistent and helps facilitate staff efficiency will be essential for the chain’s future success.