ROLLING IN DOUGH : Pizza Parlor Getting Bigger Piece of Pie With Marketing Strategy at Fountain Valley High

On a slow weekday afternoon, Mike and Joy Flynn, owners of Lamppost Pizza in Fountain Valley, might seem to be a typical hard-working couple consumed with shredding mozzarella, chopping pepperoni and making lots of dough--literally and financially.

But consider their 90-hour work weeks, their coffee-and-pizza diets, their ability to withstand a horde of hungry, hyperactive teen-agers, and the Flynns suddenly become more than your average pizza parlor owners.

They become. . .

Mr. and Mrs. Lamppost!

That moniker has become a popular one among those associated with Fountain Valley High School athletics, a major source of the Flynns’ business.

Like many restaurant owners who cater to--and profit from--high school athletics in Orange County, the Flynns market not only their restaurant but themselves as the place and people to come to after a sports event involving the Barons.

That marketing--through center-page advertisements in Fountain Valley’s football programs, special offers for coaches, donations to the team and good ol’ neighborly friendliness--has given the Flynns the edge on many other Fountain Valley establishments in terms of Baron business.

“In our experience with merchants in the past, we’ve gotten very little support in terms of contributions,” Fountain Valley Coach Mike Milner said. “But they came to us. No one else has ever done that.”

Before the Flynns bought the store 18 months ago--it was owned by Lamppost Pizza’s headquarters in Tustin--little was done to attract Fountain Valley athletic business.

According to Mike Flynn, since he and his wife started attracting Baron business, meeting regularly with Milner and Fountain Valley athletic director Mike Henigan, sales have increased from about $22,000 a month to $28,000.

Sixty percent of their pizza business, they estimate, is drawn from organized sports activities.

“Football probably brings in $500 to $800 each Friday night,” Mike Flynn said. “That’s about a 25 to 35% increase in sales (compared to other nights).”

In terms of capturing the high school athletic market, Lamppost Pizza, a chain of 61 restaurants, 21 of them in Orange County, is king. And the Fountain Valley store, which is a mile from the high school, has one of the closest relationships with high school teams as any in Orange County.

“Probably 98% of our kids go there after the game,” Milner said. “(The Flynns) have been very accommodating to our kids and our boosters. . . . It’s been a great relationship for both sides.”

How does Lamppost do it? Their ways are as varied as their pizza toppings (barbecued beef anyone?).

A quick look:

GAME VIDEOS

Although showing game videos after the game is by no means a concept unique to Lamppost, Mike Flynn used this idea a long time ago.

Before buying the Lamppost store, Flynn, 32, owned a video-taping service that worked exclusively with high school sports. For a small fee, he would tape the games and then rush over to a pizza place, where the tape would be shown for the players, fans and coaches.

“One night I was taping one team for Lamppost, and a guy next to me was taping the other team,” Mike said. “I asked him who he was filming for and he said, ‘Lamppost.’ I saw all the business they brought in and realized I was in the wrong business.”

With his father-in-law’s help, Flynn bought the Fountain Valley store.

Now, while Joy and their staff of about 20 prepare for the onslaught of business on Friday evenings, Mike tapes each Fountain Valley game, then rushes back to Lamppost to show it on the restaurant’s four televisions.

Copies of the game tapes are available to the players and public for $20. A special, studio-produced, stereo-sound highlight film of the Barons’ 1988 Southern Section championship season was available last year for $400.

WALL OF FAME

This is Joy’s pet project. The entire back wall of the store is decorated with framed photographs, plaques, newspaper clippings and trophies, all commemorating Fountain Valley athletics past and present.

There are charts of the school’s football records, and lots of where-are-they-now information pertaining to Baron alumni.

“It’s kind of a home away from home,” Milner said. “Ex-players continue to drop by and see them (the Flynns). It’s that type of atmosphere.”

T-SHIRTS

After each game, the Flynns award an offensive and defensive player of the game T-shirt to the team.

Of course, each shirt, worn with great pride, is adorned with the Lamppost Pizza logo.

PROGRAM ADVERTISING

Open any Fountain Valley football program--or cross-country, basketball or baseball program--and you’ll find the Lamppost Pizza logo (a soccer ball, basketball, baseball and pizza) along with their motto:

For those with a taste for great pizza. And sports.

Although the center page in the football program costs a business between $2,000-$5,000 for a season, the Flynns know it’s worth it.

“We just ask the announcer not to announce Lamppost Pizza anymore during the games,” Mike said. “We don’t need it.”

Along with these methods, the Flynns, like other restaurant owners trying to attract prep athletic team business, offer free pizzas to the coaches and discounts to the players. But the most important factor, according to the Flynns and Milner, is the atmosphere.

“If you’re lucky, as a high school football player you have one hangout,” Milner said. “If you’re not as fortunate, you’ll go your different ways. I think it helps with our unity. It prevents against having different cliques; it keeps the team centralized.

“It is the Fountain Valley High School hangout. It’s kind of like Archie and Jughead hanging out at the malt shop.”

And Mike and Joy Flynn hope to keep it that way.

“There are times, especially Friday nights, we don’t leave here until 2 in the morning,” Mike said. “And we’ve got to get back early Saturday morning to handle (the business from) little kids’ soccer. We have a cup of coffee, and say ‘here we go again.’

“But we love it. It’s a lot of fun. We’ll be doing it 20 years from now. If not us, our kids.”