Many who love a great Richard’s pizza pie or a tasty steak sandwich do not know just how much of a Hamilton mainstay the company has become. After 63 years in business, Richard’s Pizza is one of the longest-standing family-owned restaurants in Hamilton. It is also one of the businesses that has remained on Main Street through times of major change and into our current era of city revitalization.
The Richard’s Pizza company owns multiple shops, with the original pizza restaurant opening in 1955 and the current Main Street location opening in 1970. In that time, they’ve become a household name for their pizza, their mouthwatering fudge for dessert, and their Italian steak sandwiches that they ship for the holiday season.
As other shops and restaurants join Richard’s on Main Street, we sat down with Karen Underwood, co-owner of Richard’s Pizza and daughter of Richard Underwood, to talk about the “secret sauce” that makes a business last. Underwood, from the beginning, insisted that it wasn’t rocket science, but rather a daily commitment to quality and reliability.
“My Dad was very analytical and systems-oriented,” she said. “We use the same systems and recipes he implemented. It has to be consistent: good food, high quality, all the time.”
Underwood also discussed how she and her sister Gayl hold all food they serve to a high standard of quality; if a supplier brings them food that they wouldn’t eat, they refuse to serve it in their restaurants.
Even though consistency is essential to the Richard’s story, there have still been innovations over the years as times change. From adding homemade salad dressings to the menu, to developing vegetarian pizzas, the business has responded to the changes in customer tastes by innovating when necessary.
Another essential quality of the Richard’s Pizza success story is a commitment to excellent bookkeeping. The iconic Richard’s billboards around the Hamilton area, for instance, are possible because of a carefully allocated marketing budget.
“You have to make sure you are keeping good financial records,” said Underwood. “You have to calculate your costs versus income and generating monthly profit and loss statements… It may sound cliche, but the cliches are often exactly what works.”
Karen Underwood’s points about good business sense apply to almost any kind of business.
“It’s not a magic formula,” she said. “It’s plugging away at the basics every single day; you have to reinforce it with staff, and do the job of a restaurant: offering good food, with good service, in a clean space.”
Now that Richard’s has an established reputation for quality, however, they have room for fun collaborations. For instance, they recently updated their Main Street location’s decor with new art prints on the walls; photos of their menu items and ingredients were photoshopped by a local artist and framed at Pop Revolution.
The business has also benefited from having a 2nd generation of strong leadership when Richard turned the business over to Gayl and Karen in the 1980s. As many new businesses join Richard’s on Main Street, we can all hope that we’ll be seeing them beginning legacies that last for decades to come as well.