Thing: 99c pizza

>> How Madona turns a profit on the cheapest fast foodstuff in town

By PHILIP PREVILLE

Wax poetic all you want about poutine, smoked meat or BBQ chicken, but Montreal's meal of the recession-weary '90s was that hairshirted 99-cent slice of bare-bones pizza. Nothing's more fun to buy than something you're sure is being sold at a loss. But smart entrepreneurs can make money on it. Maher Morgan, owner of the Pizza Madona at St-Denis and Mont-Royal, agreed to share his business secrets with the Mirror.

(A) The crust: Morgan makes his dough from scratch; a 19-inch pizza spreads two pounds of dough into a wafer-thin layer. Ingredients: the usual flour, eggs, milk, yeast, etc.--plus a dash of 7UP to help the yeast rise. Total cost for one slice: 15 cents.

(B) The sauce: Morgan makes his sauce too--says it's tastier and cheaper than ready-made. Starting from crushed tomatoes, add oregano, basil, thyme, chilies, real parmesan, fresh garlic and more. One large vat prepared in the morning gets him through the day. Cost for one slice: 6 cents.

(C) The cheese: Oh, the wonders of vertical integration. Says Morgan: "Cheese is the most expensive thing on any pizza. That's why I started my own cheese distribution company." He sells to himself, other Madonas and numerous competitors. A sprinkling of mozza and cheddar costs 27 cents per slice.

(D) Other costs: Then there are the fixed costs, which Morgan actually bothered to calculate on a per-slice basis. Labour: 11 cents a slice. Rent: 15 cents a slice. ("Cheap rent is the first ingredient in 99-cent pizza," he says.) Everything else--including electricity, equipment, phone lines, and these paper plates--adds up to only four cents a slice.

Final factoid: Add up all those measly little pennies and the total cost for one slice of pizza comes to 78 cents. Sell it for 99 cents, and keep 21 cents in profit. Morgan won't say how much he makes selling pizza and cheese, but says it's more than he made in his old job--as an aeronautics engineer with Pratt & Whitney. :