Having words with Jonathan Schwarz: co-founder, Stone Hearth Pizza

At a time when many restaurant operators are caught between a rock and a hard place financially, Jonathan Schwarz and his Stone Hearth Pizza restaurants are chipping away at creating an additional revenue stream through retail sales.

Schwarz, co-founder of the two-unit, Boston-based gourmet pizza concept, has formed partnerships with Whole Foods and BJs Clubs to sell his pizza products in their prepared-foods sections. The pizzas also are sold at Legal Sea Foods restaurants. The restaurateur, who is also the son of one of the board members of Nation's Restaurant News' parent company, Lebhar-Friedman Inc., is focused on producing a high-quality, natural pizza that tastes as good at home as it does in the restaurants.

Why did you decide to sell your pizzas in the retail market?

We always knew there'd be an opportunity for this, but we weren't sure at what point we should reach for that. We first wanted to focus on the quality of our restaurant product. But the timing worked out serendipitously, and now we're committed to working both prongs of the plan.

Whole Foods and BJs both now offer your pizza products. How does a small concept join forces with giant retailers?

It's actually a pretty funny story. The opportunity presented itself in 2007 when we were working on the FarmAid concert. The concessions manager had asked us to make something like 5,000 pizzas in 10 days, and, having spent most of my career in sales, I didn't want to say no. I told everyone we had our largest carryout order to date. We did 1,000 pizzas a night out of our Needham restaurant, working four nights in a row from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. On the fifth day I pulled up [to the stadium] in a truck that said "organic" on the side, and a Whole Foods [representative] saw it. He'd heard about our pizzas and asked for some samples. I gave him some and my card and asked him to get together after the show. We did.

How did the partnership proceed from there?

We worked on how we could do a fresh, prepared product. They told us what varieties they were interested in, but we could only do [nonmeat] varieties because our Needham restaurant was not [certified as] a USDA wholesale facility.

What did you do?

We came up with classic cheese, three-mushroom medley, and roasted red and yellow pepper pizzas. They each have par-baked crusts and are blast-chilled, vacuum-sealed and polybagged. We bring them to Whole Foods, and the next day they are on the shelf. We do that three times a week. The cheese retails for $7.99 and the others are $8.99.

How did the BJs partnership happen?

They wanted a more organic, all-natural product, so we took over the pizza program. We currently are in the prepared-food section of 70 of the clubs, but soon hope to be in all of them.

And you work with Legal Sea Foods, too?

We have a very good relationship with them. They asked us to take over their kids' pizza program, so now we're in all 33 of their restaurants.

Is the quality of the product as good as you planned?

We started with a high-quality product to begin with, and no ingredients changed. We use a high-quality, all-natural mozzarella and provolone blend, and no additives or preservatives.

How lucrative is the retail side of your operation?

It probably will end up being between 15 percent and 20 percent of our gross sales at the end of 2010.

FAST FACTS

Hometown: Sherborn, Mass.

Education: bachelor's degree, Connecticut College; MBA, Boston University

Personal: married, three daughters, two dogs, two cats

Hobbies: reading, cooking, eating out, running, golf, skiing

Career highlights: starting Stone Hearth Pizza with best friend, Chris Robbins; living and working in France for 2.5 years with Timberland; growing an international business to $3 million

Author: Elissa Elan