Shaz Khan and his team are building a restaurant empire around pizza, authentic cheesesteaks, and a commitment to quality. As CEO of Veronova Brands, whose concepts include Tono Pizzeria & Cheesesteaks, Frank & Andrea, and Slicecraft, Khan has helped grow their collection of brands to 16 stores and counting.

On this episode of the Twin Cities Business Show, Khan talks about why he believes in building a business with friends, what his engineering background taught him about the restaurant industry, and why he believes customer trust matters more than anything else. We got into their famous Tuesday BOGO deal and why he views it as a marketing expense.

He took us through the early days of closing the late night pizza joint before heading to his engineering job, why he brings philosophy to the office, and how he’s scaling systems to meet their growing demand.

In this episode:

• 0:00 — Meet Shaz Khan and the Veronova restaurant empire
• 0:33 — 15 locations and counting: Is Tono a chain?
• 1:41 — How customer demand drove the company’s growth
• 3:35 — The story behind the creation of Tono
• 6:03 — How to scale an authentic Philly cheesesteak
• 8:07 — The ingredients behind a great cheesesteak
• 10:22 — Applying an engineer’s mindset to the restaurant business
• 12:19 — Why Shaz believes you should do business with friends
• 16:16 — Making the leap from engineering to restaurants
• 27:29 — Why Veronova created a brand above its restaurant concepts
• 27:48 — The hidden cost of rapid growth
• 31:45 — Why protecting the brand came before outside capital
• 34:29 — How long does it take a restaurant to become profitable?
• 36:40 — The goal: profitability within the first year
• 38:12 — Pizza vs. cheesesteaks: The economics of the menu
• 41:02 — The strategy behind Tono Tuesday’s BOGO deal
• 45:04 — Why Shaz calls a discount “marketing”
• 46:41 — Building customer trust without cutting corners
• 49:16 — Shaz’s vision for the restaurant empire in 2035