Casinos have proven to be a safe bet for Villa Pizza and Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen. With six units in casinos, the Morristown, N.J.-based company plans to open more casino locations. Those stores ring up higher volumes than traditional units, help build brand awareness and give the company another outlet for expansion.

Parent company Villa Enterprises opened its first casino unit in 2001: a Villa Pizza in the Santa Fe Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The casino had approached Villa about opening on the property. The QSR typically opens in high-pedestrian locations such as shopping malls and airports. But because there were fewer shopping malls being built, Villa Enterprises decided to try it. “The casinos were kind of a natural spinoff from the malls,” says Vice President of Business Development Adam Torine. “It's a similar type of environment.”

Villa Enterprises has since opened two more Villa Pizzas and three Villa Fresh Italian Kitchens in the food courts of casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J. (The company reconcepted Villa Pizza into Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen two years ago with a more upscale look but the same menu.) According to Torine, casino units yield higher sales and average checks than traditional locations, but he won't release exact figures. He attributes the higher numbers to the units having longer hours.

Compared to a traditional location, it costs 10 percent to 30 percent more to open a Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen in a casino because of union labor and flashier signage.

It's not only the restaurants that reap the rewards of their casino locations. The casinos also benefit from having national restaurant brands like Villa on their properties, according to Torine. Casinos can concentrate on gaming knowing that an experienced restaurant company is handling food and beverage services.

“The brand recognition is very comforting for their guest,” Torine says. “People are traveling very far away at times. And to see a brand like a Villa or a brand like Panda [Express] gives them a warm feeling that they're going to get a quality product at a good price. And it just enhances the overall experience. The better the overall experience the guest can have, the more money everyone's going to make—the casino, the restaurants, the theaters, the bowling alleys, etc.”

While there is money to be made, it comes at a price. Opening a Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen in a casino costs about 10 percent to 30 percent more than a traditional unit. Most casinos use union labor. And to fit in with its glitzy surroundings, a Villa casino unit sports flashier elements such as a digital menu board with lights and rotating food photos and larger-than-life signage that features art such as a big slice of pizza.

Despite these challenges, Villa is committed to opening more casino locations and has its own set of site-selection criteria. If a new casino is connected to a hotel, Villa benefits from the hotel expanding in the next few years because that means more customers down the road. The company also prefers to open in casinos that have entertainment and retail components such as a movie theater, bowling alley and lifestyle center in or near the property. According to Torine, casino visitors are looking to occupy their time with activities beyond gaming.

For example, when the developer of the Green Valley Ranch Station Casino in Las Vegas opened a lifestyle center within walking distance of the casino two years ago, the Villa Pizza unit in the casino saw sales go up 10 percent. The Villa Pizza in Santa Fe Station also experienced a sales boost when the casino brought in a movie theater, a children's play area, a new bar, and additional meeting and convention rooms.

Out of the 38 Villa Fresh units opening this year nationwide and in Mexico, Italy and the Czech Republic, four to six of them will open in casinos in Las Vegas and some other cities that Torine can't disclose at this time. In addition, Villa is looking into bringing two of its other concepts to casinos: Green Leaf's, a salad concept, and Bananas, a smoothie and yogurt brand.

“[Casinos are] a great line extension,” he says. “We're very comfortable with it. We're making a bigger push for it. And wherever there's an opportunity, we're going to seek it out, and hopefully the casinos seek us out as well.”