Tucked in a pocket of St. Louis called The Hill — known as the city’s “Little Italy” — is the original location of Gioia’s Deli. It’s a century-old, family-run business. In 2014, it was passed down to current owners and high school sweethearts, Alex and Amanda Donley from Alex’s parents, making the couple the newest generation to own one of the oldest restaurants in St. Louis.
In keeping with tradition, the Donleys made it a point to keep certain hallmarks the same, like its James Beard award-winning hot salami sandwich recipe. “The fact that you slice the salami fresh to order in front of the customer, at any of our locations that you walk into, you’re going to see that hasn’t been changed in 106 years, and we won’t touch that no matter what changes,” Amanda Donley told Square.
But inheriting a legacy and modernizing it to reach the greater St. Louis community challenged the couple to re-imagine how Gioia’s operates. “Alex looked at something that was done the same way for 100 years, and he was like, ‘Why are we doing it like this? What if we did it like this? We could serve ten times the amount of people we’re serving right now,’” Amanda Donley told Square.
So they reinvented: Amanda quit her job as a lawyer, and she and Alex bought a food truck to expand the business. It was this “opportunity engine,” as Alex Donley called it, that steered them toward Square and put them in the position to scale Gioia’s Deli successfully.
Unlocking new business opportunities with more access to data
Gioia’s Deli originally signed up for Square so it could take offline payments from the food truck. The partnership has since grown, and today Square powers Gioia’s five locations. The team serves up delicious eats to more than a thousand people a day during its six working hours — and that’s just at their flagship brick and mortar.
The food truck helped the Donleys carve out a growth plan for the business. After referencing its sales data, they closed down the food truck and focused on expanding brick-and-mortar locations. “That’s how we went into Creve Coeur, downtown, and Valley Park,” said Amanda Donley. “We looked back at our sales in the food truck, where our brand transferred, and what were our biggest stops. And it was like, ‘Creve Coeur is huge. We need a location there.'”
Using restaurant technology to improve order flow and guest experience
Part of scaling successfully involved rethinking the experience for both guests and staff. “We used to be a deli where you take a number and you wait, and we’d say, ‘Eleven!’ and you’d come up and get your sandwich,” Alex recalled. “It was 100 numbers, and then we had to take the numbers and put them back, and if they were out of order, it was just a mess. Finally, I decided to go to a line system with a point of sale.”
The line system they implemented with Square Point of Sale transformed Gioia’s order flow. Now customers place their orders at the counter, and Square Point of Sale logs the information for staff reference as they build out the orders. “Before, every single employee on the line you had to communicate and talk to, and that meant six opportunities to mess up your sandwich,” said Amanda Donley. “After we embraced [the ticket system], we can’t go back. There are no mistakes anymore. Our employees see exactly what you want. And then you get exactly what you want.”
Controlling costs by optimizing inventory management
The duo also fine-tuned their costs and inventory tracking, simplified staff training, and modernized Gioia’s operations.“We used to run out every single day or every other day, or we’d order way too much product. Our costs were out of whack,” said Amanda Donley. “Embracing technology and using it in this 106-year-old business is literally what’s changed it.”
At the same time, the team made sure to retain the traditions that make it special. “I’m not gonna change the sacred cows: the roast beef, the hot salami recipe, the bread, slicing everything fresh to order. That’s all gonna stay the same,” said Alex Donley. “But I’m gonna make everything more efficient. So instead of doing pizza ovens, we started doing conveyor-belt ovens. The point-of-sale system — the fact that we can now track everything we sell and we can prepare so we never run out.”
Launching new revenue streams and managing them all from one place
With their costs and their inventory well under control, Alex and Amanda Donley now focus on scaling the business with targeted marketing and new revenue streams like retail, wholesale, and catering.
“We have about 90,000 people in our database right now,” said Amanda Donley. “We’re doing a weekly email, and it’s ridiculous how well it’s doing. We’re getting, like, a 30% open rate.”
Gioia’s has grown its catering business nearly 500% since 2016. “Lots of point-of-sale systems don’t necessarily have the opportunity to invoice a client. And that became huge for us,” said Amanda Donley. “We built a customer base in catering, and Square allowed us to reach out to that customer base to meet their needs.” With Square, Gioia’s can take catering payments upon pickup through Square Terminal and connect with its clients to get paid quickly and easily.
“What did we do wrong? Or what did we do right?” With Square, there are no more mysteries.
As for all that data from Gioia’s multiple revenue streams, Alex and Amanda Donley dive in to reports to ensure they’re on track and making the right decisions for their business.
“Now instead of having a meeting about our gross sales, we’re getting more granular with these reports,” Alex Donley said. “We know that last February we sold this amount of hot salami, and this February we sold this amount. What’s the difference? What did we do wrong? Or what did we do right? It makes us a more efficient business, which ultimately makes the customer experience better.”
