Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah and Ed Love.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After our children were grown and we had been in the same careers for years, we decided that we wanted a change. We started looking at businesses for sale in the Houston area.
We wanted to work together. We really love each other’s company and thought it would be great if we could spend every day together. We looked at a lot of different kinds of businesses and came across Frank’s Pizza. We had a meeting with the owner and decided to go for our first visit to Frank’s. We loved it from the first time we went. We loved the pizza and we loved the ambiance. It felt like we were somewhere else, maybe a little like New York City, After doing our due diligence, we made an offer and it was accepted.
We bought Frank’s and took over the business on December 16, 2005. We had never been in the restaurant business and really didn’t know what to expect. The previous owner made it sound easy. He said he only worked about 30 hours a week. Well, that wasn’t true for us. We easily worked 80 hours a week. It was overwhelming at first. We really didn’t know if we were going to make it.
We had invested a lot of money and we needed it to work. We are both people pleasers, which is good in the service industry. We truly wanted to make our customers happy. As we discovered along the way, if we added more employees, we could serve our customers better. We have grown and continued to do our best to please our customers.
We have been blessed with Frank’s growth over the years and now we have added a delivery location and next door is Frank’s Backyard, a neighborhood bar. Sometimes we get tired and need a break, but for the most part, we love our little pizza shop and are proud of how it has grown.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The previous owner made it sound like we had to watch every cost. He was very cheap and had very few employees. We have grown from maybe 3 to 4 employees (plus the two of us) on each shift to at least 9 employees on each shift. We now employee about 60 people at our 3 locations.
Employees are the hardest thing in downtown. Parking is an issue for employees, so most use public transportation to get to work each day. It is hard to find good employees. We have been blessed to have a core group that have stayed with us for years.
The biggest struggle has been trying to open our delivery location just around the corner from the original Frank’s. Also, building our new location Frank’s Backyard took way longer than it should have. Battling the permitting department, the city codes and all the other city bureaucracy to get our little building built was probably our toughest struggle.
Please tell us about Frank’s Pizza.
We specialize in New York Style pizza. Nothing fancy, just good old pizza. We have good fresh food, friendly service and we are open lots of hours to keep our customers happy. The thing we are probably most proud of is that we are a big family. Our employees are very important to us and we try to let them know that we really care about each of them. We have hired lots of folks that have needed help.
Some homeless and needing a place to work and get back on their feet. Some come from prison and are on parole. They need a job and need help making the change from a life that had some hard lessons to a life that they can be proud of. We have seen a lot of people with a lot of stories. Our only regret is that we didn’t journal about all these folks that have passed through Frank’s over the years.
It is a small contribution but it feels really good when some of our ex-employees come back to visit us. There have been many that come back to let us know how well they are doing.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory is going to deer camp with my family every Thanksgiving. It was a fun time that was spent with family and friends. I loved it mostly because I loved the outdoors and there was a lot of space to roam. Debbie
My favorite memories was any time spent with my Mother because she was in and out of the hospital during my early years as a child. Ed.
Contact Info:
- Address: 417 Travis Street, Houston, TX. 77002
- Website: Www.frankspizza.com
- Phone: 713-225-5757
- Email: office@frankspizza.com
- Instagram: @frankspizzatx
- Facebook: @frankspizzatx
- Twitter: @frankspizzatx
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
