Come midnight on a Friday or Saturday, many grab-and-go restaurants are locking up for the night. But at Gumby's Pizza, a growing chain of takeout and delivery shops on college campuses, the rush is just getting started.
Based in Gainesville, Fla., the chain counts on phones ringing off the hook into the wee hours — sometimes until 4 a.m. — as fraternity brothers and sorority sisters place orders for post-partying pizzas and breadstick-like logs of pizza dough, topped with garlic and cheese, called "Pokey Stix."
That's Pokey as in Gumby and Pokey, the crudely crafted clay stars of a stop-action animation series that first aired during the 1950s, often appearing in later decades in off-hours like early Sunday morning, before or after such campy shows as "Davey and Goliath."
After years of controlled chaos in the kitchen, the 25-unit chain instituted a way last year to handle the crunch: it cuts its menu during those key hours to the top-selling items only. While during the day Gumby's offers dozens of pizzas, pastas, rice bowls and salads, the menu at night now is limited to pizza, Pokey Stix, pepperoni rolls, Buffalo wings and soda.
"A light bulb went off to limit products during the bar rush that take a little bit longer to make," said Chance Hippler, who co-founded Gumby's in 1985 with Jeff O'Brien, a fraternity brother at the University of Florida. "If you have 40 or 50 tickets to be made, the last thing you want to do is make a special stuffed pizza roll."
Before crunch time, a fax is sent out to stores to remind managers to change to the "bar rush" menu and refresh the computer system to the new menu. "All our exotic products are dropped off," said Hippler. Gumby's menu on a web-based campus ordering service used at many universities is changed automatically for Friday and Saturday nights.
The move has paid off in efficiency. When staffers take a phone order, and all are trained to do so from each store's five lines, they now can cut to the chase rather than spend precious time guiding a perhaps inebriated customer through the myriad options available during the day.
Not only is the menu limited, but also, Hippler said, he took a chance and raised prices for the rush, up to $1 more per item. The increase helps offset the need for more staff to handle the volume, he said. "We have seen zero effect. People don't even notice," he said. Gumby's large pies typically sell for $10.99 plus $1.40 per topping (Hippler said he raised prices from $8.99 and $1 a topping last year).
The home location in Gainesville is Gumby's busiest, with $1.4 million in annual sales. For the bar rush there, staff is doubled to 12, with 20 drivers on hand. Gumby's charges up to $1.50 for deliveries.
Because many college campuses now restrict deliveries to dorm lobbies, delivery has gotten faster, said Hippler. If six separate orders come from one big dorm, a driver can meet the customers en masse in the lobby rather than traipse around a dorm.
Gumby's has been slow to expand but is working to raise capital to grow more aggressively, said Hippler, who dropped out of college a few credits shy of graduating to start the company.
Today Gumby's has 20 corporate and five franchised locations in 16 states. Systemwide sales topped $16 million last year and are on track to grow by 20 percent this year. "We have been profitable and are growing," said Hippler, who runs a lean operation with a corporate staff of six. The restaurants employ a total of 2,000 people.
In the past two years, Hippler and O'Brien have expanded Gumby's menu with items like pasta that can be cooked quickly and topped with the same items already on hand for pizza. Pizza dough is made in each store, and produce is delivered from local suppliers.
Gumby's name was sparked by O'Brien's college nickname — he was known for wearing a green warm-up suit the same color as the rubbery cartoon character. The pair managed to secure the trademark rights for 100 years directly from Gumby's creator.
In recent weeks, Gumby's launched a new website and started using snazzy new pizza boxes that highlight their signature Gumby character on the top and bottom. This way, the branding is apparent even in a dorm garbage can, Hippler noted.