“The advice I got during the Governor’s Cup competition was invaluable. Without it, I’m sure I would not be operational today.”

James Blood, MJ’s Pizza

MJ’s Pizzeria opened its doors for business just one year after taking first place honors in NCET’s 2009 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup. President James Blood says if it wasn’t for what he learned during the competition, his business wouldn’t be up and running today.

“When I first heard about the Governor’s Cup in 2007, it sounded like a great way to get a business plan noticed by local experts, and a great way to get details ironed out and suggestions made,” explains Blood. “We got a lot of important feedback. The judges really took the time to read the plans and try to understand them. Our original plan featured a full-house restaurant and bar concept with entertainment, nightly specials, wait-staff, etc.  The judges were concerned that it would be too much of a burden capital-wise for a start-up to handle, and several of our advisors, namely C4Cube, independently came to that conclusion as well.”

According to Blood, the feedback from both the Governor’s Cup judges and advisors from C4Cube, urged the team to scale back to a simple take-out and delivery concept similar to Domino’s, but with a specialty menu still in place. Today, MJ’s Pizzeria offers a high-quality yet convenient pizza with more than 30 toppings, gluten-free crusts and vegetarian meats and cheeses. 

“We were able to open for less than 1/5th of the capital in our original plan,” says Blood. “One major reason restaurants fail in the first six months is people get excited, take out huge loans, and buy a lot of fancy and unnecessary brand-new equipment that they think they need, and then are unable to pay back the massive loan. We hope to avoid that by scaling back and getting our product out in the market first before going for the full-house concept.”

Blood also garnered valuable, real-world feedback on his business concept through Governor’s Cup presentations.

“It’s easy to convince yourself that it will work, but after that you have to be able to convince others,” notes Blood. “I think this was the first time a restaurant was presented in the competition, and restaurants operate very differently on paper from technology, service and even retail companies, and you have to be able to explain those differences to an audience that is probably not familiar with the way restaurants operate.”

Blood also says he learned how to think through all aspects of business operation during the Governor’s Cup, a practice he is sure will serve him well down the road.

“Know your service and know your product,” Blood advises. “Don’t fool yourself into thinking, ‘I designed this from the ground up, I know everything about it.’ On that same note, don’t be afraid to take other people’s advice. The biggest piece of advice I got was the idea to scale back at first, and if I hadn’t done that, I’m sure I would not be operational today.” 

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