The Growth Plan

Figlio 2.0

Caring & Sharing

Spread the Sauce, Spread the Love

How to "give away" a restaurant — and sow the seeds for 100 new ones.

Figlio was founded in 1991 by Peter and Laurie Danis. They met at The Ohio State University College of Law and married shortly after graduation. Seven years later their first daughter was born — Peter delivered the baby, and that night they decided that "life is too short to practice law." So they traded their law books for cookbooks and found happiness in the kitchen rather than the courtroom.

The first of their three highly successful Figlio locations opened in 1991. In the years since, they achieved everything they set out to do: featured on the cover of Pizza Today magazine three times, named Independent Operator of the Year by their restaurant peers, Peter served as President of the Central Ohio Restaurant Association, and the two became guest lecturers at Ohio State and local high schools on everything from entrepreneurship to mindful eating. Figlio gave them a successful business and a career they were proud of — one that let them raise and support their three daughters while doing work they loved. Life was good.

"What's left for us to do?"

When they each turned 65, Peter and Laurie asked themselves that question. The answer was twofold — and it became the heart of Figlio 2.0.

Help others

achieve their dream of opening their own restaurant.

Help feed

less-fortunate people in every new community.

So Peter came up with a crazy idea: digitize every aspect of the restaurant and share all of their trade secrets, recipes, plans, and procedures — everything — with 100 people across the country who want to open their own place, and welcome them into the Figlio Family.

This is not a franchise.

There's no franchise fee and no one looking over your shoulder — just people who want to help you succeed. Name your restaurant whatever you choose. Modify the plans to fit your situation. Tweak the recipes to your standards. (Think the marsala sauce needs more cream? Add more cream!)

You'll be starting from what has worked for us for 35 years — and we want to be your mentor. Think of us as your favorite gray-haired aunt and uncle, the ones who always gave better advice than your parents.

Everything, digitized

What's in the Google Drive

Once you're part of the Figlio Family, you'll have digital access to everything we've used to open and run our restaurants for the past 35 years.

Architecture & Construction

  • Floor plans
  • Furniture specifications
  • Construction cost estimates

Equipment

  • Equipment specs & pricing
  • Smallwares specs & pricing

Administrative

  • Checklists
  • Insurance, banking, payroll
  • Licenses & permits

Personnel

  • Staff manuals & job descriptions
  • Store management
  • New-hire packet, evaluations, logs

Dining Room Operations

  • Point-of-sale configurations
  • Menu formats
  • Server & bartender training
  • Digital reservation setup

Kitchen Operations

  • Recipes — menu & specials
  • Training cheat sheets
  • Order, prep, par & inventory forms
  • Supplier details & ingredient specs

Your Commitment

All of the information above

No charge.

Ongoing technical support — the "Figlio Hot Line"

$150/month for 5 years, collected up front (you decide when to open). Call us for help with anything — design issues, your POS, a recipe, personnel, marketing, and more.

A donation to your local food bank

2% of gross sales. If you're doing a million dollars a year, that's a $20,000 gift to the food bank. You didn't pay anything for this concept — we were good to you, so be good to others.

And show your Figlio pride: put the word "Figlio" on at least one menu item, and give us a little shout-out on your website.

Joining the Family

  1. Submit an application and convince us to pick you. (The application is still being finalized.)
  2. Check us out — make sure we're legitimate and not a couple of kooks. Talk to our references: bankers, lawyers, suppliers, and former staff. We've told them you might reach out.
  3. Once accepted, send in your payment for the Help Desk.
  4. Wait for the release of the Google Drive, when you'll receive everything we're providing. Target date: 12/31/27. (If we miss that deadline, your Help Desk fee is refunded 100%.)

Opening Your Doors

  • Find a site — you know your city better than we do.
  • Hire a development team: an architect and a contractor.
  • Figure out financing. (A bank or friends may be easier to convince when your concept has a 35-year proven track record.)
  • Hire your staff.
  • Have fun running your own restaurant for the next 35 years!
  • And… treat Laurie and me to our first meal at YOUR new restaurant.

And that's it. We're giving you the benefit of 35 years of hard work, mistakes, and lessons learned, and asking you to share your success with others. Because that's what being a member of the Figlio Family is all about: taking what someone gave you and paying it forward to people who need it most.

We were good to you. Be good to others.

— Peter & Laurie Danis

This is an early draft of the Figlio 2.0 concept — details will continue to evolve.