Rob and Danielle LaBrie, co-owners of Yaghi’s New York Pizzeria in Pflugerville, show off two of their top sellers—The Works and Cheese.

According to co-owner RodLabrie, being located in a booming area with high traffic is part of the success of Yaghis New York Pizzeria, which is set in the retail center adjacent to the Wal-Mart on FM 685 in Pflugerville. But he said getting customers in the door is only the first of many steps that have led to his restaurants longevity.

"Once people try our pizza we have to give them the reason to come back,"Rodsaid. "We are a franchise, but we are not the same as our larger competitors. We work hard to stand out from the crowd with our ingredients, our products and our customer service."

Rodand his wife, Danielle, opened the Pflugerville Yaghis in April 2008, and the business has grown as the area around them has changed from a bedroom community to a burgeoning city.

Rod, who works in procurement for Dell Inc., said he has been friends with Khaled Yaghi, founder of Yaghis New York Pizzeria, for years and took on the first franchise outside the Yaghi family, he said.

Rod said part of the business model was to have an easily accessible restaurant. When Rodand Danielle settled on the strip center in front of the Wal-Mart for their new business it had only three tenants, Rodsaid.

In 2008, in the midst of the recession, we never had any idea that this area of Pflugerville would grow as much and as fast as it has, he said. Weve worked hard to give our customers what they want and to always provide them a fresh, quality meal.

There are now eight Yaghis New York Pizzeria locations, including two in Cedar Park, one in Georgetown and one in Copperas Cove, which was recently opened by the LaBries. They have considered opening a Yaghis in Hutto, Rodsaid.

Rodsaid the stone-baked, New York-style pizza begins with dough that is made fresh every day. He said only top-quality tomatoes and spices are used for the sauce, and the cheese is 100 percent, all-natural mozzarella. Yaghis makes its own sausage, meatballs, hamburger, chicken and steak toppings in-house from scratch with no added preservatives or artificial flavors, Rodsaid.

The restaurant also offers chicken wings, pasta, salads, hot subs and calzones. About 85 percent of sales come from pizza, according to Rod.

Danielle said loyal customers are discerning and recognize if even the smallest detail has been changed in the pizza.

"We changed the brand of cheese we use once, and we had people come in and tell us they could tell the difference," Danielle said. "We listen to our customers and give them what they want. A lot of the families that we see in the restaurant have been coming here ever since we openedweve seen a lot of the children grow up eating our pizza."