Nick Sarillo
- Founder and CEO of Nick’s Pizza
- Entrepreneur & Author of A Slice of the Pie
Nick Sarillo Speaker Biography
Nick Sarillo is a successful business owner, author, and speaker on the topics of business culture, entrepreneurship, leadership and customer loyalty. Nick’s own businesses serve as a great example of how living your company’s purpose and values create a world-class culture achieving award-winning customer service, higher margins, and an engaged, productive workforce.
Successful Business Owner
Nick Sarillo is the founder and CEO of Nick’s Pizza & Pub and The Trust & Track Institute. Founded in 1995, Nick’s Pizza & Pub is one of the top ten busiest independent pizza companies in per-store sales in the United States. Nick’s Pizza & Pub has margins nearly twice that of the average pizza restaurant. In an industry in which the average annual turnover rate is more than 150 percent, Nick’s Pizza and Pub boasts a less than 25 percent employee turnover rate. Incredible when you consider 70 percent or more of his employees are under the age of 25. The Trust & Track Institute, offers hands-on experiential learning, one and two-day classes, as well as online training courses.
Nick is an active member of the Conscious Capitalism and Small Giants Communities as well as serves on the board of directors for San Francisco based DABBA Restaurants.
Prior to founding Nick’s Pizza and Pub, Nick worked in the construction business. He worked as a union carpenter and then a general contractor. For 11 years, he owned a custom home building company.
Best-Selling Author
Nick credits his restaurant company’s success to its purpose-driven culture, which is the focus of his book, A Slice of the Pie: How to Build a Big Little Business (Portfolio; 2012). Nick is also a contributor to The Business Journals Small Business Works.
Authentic Speaker
Nick is a two-time TEDx speaker and regularly speaks at meetings and conventions on the topics of business culture, entrepreneurship, leadership and customer loyalty. Nick’s signature Trust & Track Leadership™ model—building trust while tracking the team’s performance along the way, and coaching and course-correcting in the moment—is his most popular topic. Past clients include Inc. Magazine, Vistage, Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), State Farm Insurance, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, Club Management Association of America (CMAA), Great Game of Business, Business Owners Groups, and the University of Las Vegas.
Media
Nick’s profile and insights have been featured in The New York Times, The Economist, Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, Newsweek, Investor’s Business Daily, American Express’ Open Forum and more. He also appeared on NBC’s Nightly News when they featured Nick’s very own “It’s a Wonderful Life” story. In addition, other authors have heard and traveled to Nick’s restaurants to learn and write about his approach to culture, leadership, and management.
Community Service and Integral Sustainability
Nick is rooted within the communities he serves through philanthropic initiatives, including the donation of five percent of all sales to charitable causes. Also, he has coined the phrase Integral Sustainability. Nick practices both natural and human sustainability. For example, all his restaurants are built with recycled barn wood. Plus, his operations have processes such as “safe spaces” and Trust and Track Leadership™ that address the mental, emotional and spiritual health of his workplaces and team members.
Awards
Nick’s restaurants have won the National Restaurant Association/American Express “Good Neighbor Award” four times and have been featured in Chicago’s Best for having “Great Pizza and [a Great] Company.”
Featured Videos
Speech Topics
Build a Positive Culture on Purpose: How to Use Purpose & Values to Create a Thriving Organization
Do your employees love to come to work? Join Nick Sarillo, author of A Slice of the Pie, and Founder of Nick’s Pizza and Pub as he shares his success secrets to turning any small business into a successful, high-performance organization. One where employees love to come to work – and it shows, each and every day through their performance. Nick’s restaurant is one of the top ten busiest independent pizza companies in the U.S Margins are often twice those of the average pizza joint, while employee turnover is less than 20% per year in an industry that averages more than 150% …which is incredible when you consider more than 70% of Nick’s employees are under the age of 25 and part of a generation in which job-hopping is the new normal. Nick’s restaurants serve as a great example of how clearly defining and living your company’s purpose and values can create a world-class culture in any organization and industry. Nick will share real-life examples from his experience detailing how you can create the type of company culture you’ve always wanted to work for. Nick also provides tangible tools that you can begin implementing in your business immediately!
Customer Loyalty: A Family Recipe For Success
Have you ever tipped your server a $1,000 for a $35 restaurant bill? At Nick’s Pizza and Pub restaurants this has happened four times. Nick Sarillo’s compelling and surreal “It’s A Wonderful Life” story about an everyday business that was able to rally and unite an entire community serves as a great example of how clearly defining your company’s purpose and values can create a world-class culture of customer service in any organization and any industry. Enhancing customer service starts with turning your employees into leaders rather than followers. At Nick’s, the word “customer” is actually not part of the language; instead the goal is to create meaningful “guests” relationships and experiences that go beyond a single monetary transaction. Similarly, Nick’s does not have a “staff” hired to perform mind-numbing tasks. Instead Nick’s dynamic “team” of leaders work together as a dedicated family, utilizing their purpose and set of values to find solutions on their own. In this session, gain Nick’s real-life examples of how to set your team up for success and provide “Unforgettable Guest Experiences.”
Trust & Track Leadership™: A Proven Method For Achieving Purpose And Profitability
Today’s ever-changing business environment requires a new type of leader to be more effective in the way we communicate and develop our people. In this session, be inspired to shift from the dated command-and-control style of leadership and join the Trust and Track Leadership™ movement. The restaurant industry is known for having 150-200 percent employee turnover rates. With almost 200 team members, Nick’s Pizza & Pub maintains less than a 25 percent turnover annually. How can that be? Being a Trust and Track Leader means operating in an environment of trust and having the ability to lead company culture, not just tell people what to do. Using real life experiences, Nick shares how to create a meaningful place to work where leaders are coaches that build and inspire their team.
Millennials and Gen Z CAN Be the Best Leaders: How to Benefit From Your Youngest Employees
Millennials and Gen Z (under the age of 19) has brought unique workforce opportunities. They expect to “feel” heard and want a spot at the table. They expect to be mentored and recognized. At Nick’s Pizza & Pubs restaurants, millennials lead the way – not only do they represent more than 70% of the workforce, they are great leaders and strongly contribute to the bottom line. Nick’s operates a “Business as a School” with processes based on company purpose and values for hiring, onboarding/training, feedback, recognition and more. Come and learn how you too can successfully integrate millennials into your workforce.
