Steve Aoki plans rapid expansion for his pizza joint, Pizzaoki
There's still mushroom for improvement...
Steve Aoki's brand new pizza delivery company was an instant hit when it launched in July, but he's not stopping there.
Pizzaoki, which currently has one store in Los Angeles, is primed for rapid expansion in the near future with at least five new locations opening later this year.
According to Aoki and his business partner Lawrence Vavra, Pizzaoki is launching new LA locations in Studio City, Downtown LA, Venice and potentially Encino.
In 2019, they're going even further afield with shops opening in San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, Miami, New York and Chicago — plans to set up in Europe are also in development.
Pizzaoki is currently delivery-only and sells in LA via UberEats and Postmates, so the duo are aware of their brand's limitations.
"When it comes to the number of places we want to open, we're conservative about it," Vavra told Forbes.
"I think by the end of 2019 we'll be closer to 15 to 20 Pizzaoki locations nationwide."
As a model, it allows the pair to move quicker than competitors like Domino's or Papa John's.
"Our model, because Pizzaoki is delivery only, the costs to open a location are way less expensive than say a Domino's," added Vavra.
"It costs us, and I won't give an exact figure because I don't want other people to know it, probably one-third of what it costs Domino's to open a location."
Vavra might be the brains and business acumen behind the new venture, but Pizzaoki still has its titular genius stamped all over it.
"The Aoiki DNA is in there, the sauce we use is Mama Aoki's special sauce," said Aoki.
In fact, each pizza corresponds to "different song titles" and "represents an emotional response of what the pizza should deliver to you," revealed Aoki.
"We've got more pizzas that we're creating too for more songs and outing the character of the song in the pizza, the energy, the hotness or whatever."
This isn't the first time Aoki's delved into the food industry — in 2017 he launched his cake-shaped phone charger and followed it up with a striking range of socks that ship in cake boxes.
