Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Marge and Ed Imo built one of St. Louis most iconic institutions—Imo’s Pizza—forever heaping praise on the city that allowed them to do so. Six months ago, their son Carl (while delivering pizzas, no less) discovered a large, vacant piece of property in downtown St. Louis that is now being transformed into the company’s new headquarters. The heir apparent says that although Imo’s has given back a lot over the last 50 years, he plans to give back even more.
The company chose to relocate (and consolidate) into much larger quarters downtown? Why not go to say, somewhere out west? We have an obligation to give back to the City of St. Louis. Imo’s started on the corner of Shaw and Thurman—in the city. If it wasn’t for the city of St. Louis, we would not exist.
Consolidation like this seems so obvious. Why didn’t you do this sooner? Being headquartered on the Hill made sense because we grew up there; building production facilities in Waterloo made sense at the time; this building and land is absolutely perfect for us. And it only recently became available.
Imo’s pizza shell and sauce making plant is in Waterloo, Ill. What are the plans for that facility? Except for a storage warehouse that we’ll sell, it will remain as is, but all future investments and growth will be here.
What’s the time frame? Move personnel in by Nov 1. Begin filling the warehouse after that. Completing all the phases will take two-plus years.
How did you find the property? When the property went up for sale I thought it would be the perfect place for us to consolidate. I showed it to my mom, laying out what I envisioned for each part of the complex. She said to drive my dad by, tell him you have an idea, but don’t tell him we’d already done the same thing. He loved it, then said something like “now go do the same thing with your mother.” Within a day we had it under contract.
Your conference room incorporates some Imo’s history. The long wall mimics the façade of the original brick building on Thurman. The original window has been backlit and become part of it.
Talk about the new facility. It was a Car Quest distribution center built in 1986. We purchased the 4.1 acres and two buildings, one 72,000 square feet and the other 10,000—for just over $5 million. One building will be warehouse, offices, and retail; the other will be my restaurant we’re relocating from 1828 Washington, plus private room space, and more offices. We’re looking to establish the site as a campus and every campus needs a restaurant. We are also petitioning to change the name of 17th Street where it passes between the two buildings to #1 Imo’s Square.
And you’re aiming to make the Imo’s complex a tourist destination as well? We’re downtown, on the trolley route for Touring St. Louis, a block from the City Museum. People are aware of our beer, why not make them aware of our pizza? I say take the A-B beer tour, then visit the home of St. Louis’ most iconic pizza.
Very comprehensive. Our advertising firm, MSW Marketing, will rent space there…we’re trying to get all of our partners together. The original 20 foot high neon sign from the Hampton store was relocated here and a larger LED one was installed in its place. From the restaurant you can see the big sign, the bus on the roof of the City Museum, Imo trucks loading and unloading, the beautiful architecture across the street… It’s a great snapshot of the city.
How will the new and improved Imo’s interact with charities? I don’t want to be the guy just presenting paychecks—here we have space to entertain, to interact, to be one-on-one with the kids. I just want to play a bigger part, to basically further what my parents started.
Besides consolidation, how else will Imo’s become more efficient? We’ll have four times the capacity, which means better cost control, so we’ll avoid price spikes on staples like Provel cheese. We’ve also set aside an area just to rope and grind that cheese, so all the stores can get the exact same product. In the future, we may put in an automated pizza line.
Your parents had other business interests before Imo’s came about, correct? My father was a tile setter and my mom was busy raising kids, six of us.
How many of your siblings are involved in the company? All six of us. My three other brothers own stores and my two sisters work in the office with my mom.
How did they decide on the pizza business? My parents liked to get a pizza on Friday nights, but being Catholics in the 60s meant they couldn’t eat meat that day, so they waited until midnight to place their order, and then would have to go pick it up. They thought someone should be delivering pizzas, to people’s homes, which was the basis for Imo’s and for pizza delivery in St. Louis. My father continued working in flooring, but he cut our pizza the same way he cut floor tiles—into neat, clean squares.
Did your parents invent St. Louis-style pizza? No. Places like Pirrone’s and Parente’s were already selling that style of pizza, but Imo’s was the first to deliver it.
Is Imo’s pizza all about the cheese? Provel cheese is synonymous with Imo’s pizza—it made Imo’s what it is. Most natives love it; others say they’ve never tasted anything like it before but admit that it grew on them after giving it a second or third try.
Explain how Imo’s became synonymous with Provel. In St. Louis, Costa Grocery had the rights to sell Provel…Imo’s was not the first pizza place to use it. My father kept buying more and more, eventually approaching the owner and offering to buy the company, which he did, and that gave him the rights to distribute it here. Provel is still made by the Churny Company, which is now a subsidiary of Kraft, which incidentally recently merged with Heinz.
Would you agree that St. Louis-style pizza is very divisive? It’s a love or hate thing. Many people get hooked on it, like a lot of St. Louisans have. And the people who love it can’t find it in anywhere elase—that’s why we ship so much of it out of town.
How does Imo’s ship pizzas out of town? Our new retail center will have a storefront with all our products available, to take home or to ship—grated, sliced, and roped Provel; pizza sauce; salad dressings…as well as several varieties of frozen pizzas. You load up an insulated box and we’ll dry ice and FedEx it, right from there.
Imo’s is a vertical organization—the company supplies and/or manufactures many of the products used in the stores. Good thing or bad thing? You take on more debt, but the quality control that results is well worth any headaches.
Imo’s has always been a big charitable contributor. How and why did that all come about? My parents are very generous people by nature, the most charitable people you’ll ever meet, and they couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity they’ve been given. Our charity of choice is Variety Club, but I guarantee that my mom writes more checks to charities than to bills coming in.
How many Imo’s stores are there now and how many are planned for say, the next five years? Currently, there are 97 independently owned franchises and one corporate store, the one at Hampton and Oakland that my parents own. It’s possible to do 50 stores in the next five years, a lot of them in C-Stores, where we make and cook pizzas from scratch, but Imos’ focus today is on standardizing the stores we have. That’s what all this consolidation is about.
Are C-Stores is a growth area for Imo’s? We’ve experimented with four so far and it’s gone very well. We’ve got a C-store prototype in the works to streamline that process. Using fresh cooked product is better and the operator will make more money.
So is Imo’s accepting new franchisees? For the last eight years, all growth has been from within, to existing franchisees. Right now, our goal to better service them. As soon as we feel good with that, we’ll open up franchising again.
How has store design changed over the years? Not much. The biggest change was in the kitchen, switching from traditional deck ovens to conveyor ovens, which turn out a more consistent product. Recently, our new POS system integrates with on line ordering, credit cards, gift cards, and the biggest thing today--loyalty programs. The new system also keeps track of inventory, so it’s helped both the customer and the store operator.
Talk about online ordering. Big and getting bigger. For better or worse, every day we have less contact with our guests. User-friendly websites like ours make ordering easy. Young people look at that as part of the experience—“Let’s see how their webpage works.” And it’s interesting that check averages are higher with online ordering than with placing orders by phone to a human who may, in fact, be trying to upsell them. My guess is they have more time to browse the menu and maybe discover a new item or add onto something they already ordered. Adding toppings to a house salad, for example, can double its price. This all may result in fewer order takers but more pizza makers.
What’s been Imo’s biggest challenge (or two or three) over the years? Franchisees accepting the changes, especially in the digital realm. A lot of them have become very successful using old systems and see no reason to change. The company’s changed, the consumer’s changed, they have to change, too. Things like loyalty programs are crucial to our growth. Oh, and getting a grasp on social media—the pros and cons— especially how to handle the cons. A different game is being played now. We have a systems guy, Dutch Guidici, who created manuals for everything we do and answered every question I think a franchisee could ask. He’s made it easy to update a store. Nobody has to rethink it —Dutch has already done that.
Pizza companies roll out new food items constantly and Imo’s is no exception. What’s been the biggest hit? Provel bites. We are currently testing different flavored batters for them—like jalapeno and buffalo wing.
I’ve always loved the EGGceptional pizza, the one made with beaten eggs, cheese, and toppings. And that’s the one that never caught on, which is too bad, because I love them, too. They’re still available but not pushed because it’s such a hard item for people to grasp. If people would just try it, they would like it. It’s the biggest sleeper product we have.
Who comes up with the new products? Mostly it’s the franchisees who present new items to us. They know what’s feasible using the product on hand.
What is critical to future success? The new POS system is vital for corporate communication. It can’t be an option. Franchise renewal will hinge on it.
What innovations are planned? Increasing communication with our existing customers using proven tools like loyalty programs…which also tend to attract new customers.
Pizza went from a dine-in to a pick-up and delivery business. Today, there are more dine-in stores, like Pi and Dewey’s. Is the pendulum shifting back in that direction? Each of those places has a different product and occupies a different niche—and they’re all successful within that niche. Ours are Provel cheese and that we deliver better than most. When we introduce ourselves into smaller markets, it may make more sense to have a dining room. In an urban market like St. Louis, that’s not as important.
Pizza has long been a couponing business? Will that continue? Putting coupons in the newspaper, no. Doing that digitally, absolutely. People always want a deal. We’ll continue to oblige.
How does a delivery-based business keep its drivers safe in what has become an unsafe town? Common sense, for starters. I could keep my downtown store open till 3 in the morning, take deliveries all night long and kick ass, but I choose to close at midnight, before all the crazy happens. If the customer says go around back, don’t go around back. If the porch light is not on, make a call to make sure the delivery’s legit.
Do you think Imo’s will ever change hands? No. The business will stay in our family with me running it. I’m loyal to the brand, I have the desire, the passion, and the credibility—all six of my stores were successful. That helps.
