Earlier this week, as you may remember, we asked pizza operators if they would answer the question: What have sales been like during the last week compared to what you would have expected had the attacks of 9/11 not occurred?

After tabulating the results of over 50 responses by pizza operators, we would like to share with you what we have learned. These answers have been volunteered from pizza operators like yourselves and were not randomly selected, so we don't know if these numbers are representative of the pizza industry in whole. However, what we are looking for are explanations as to why sales are down in some areas and why they are up in others. If you have learned something important about building sales during this time we would appreciate it if you would share your ideas.

Fifty-five percent of those who responded stated that sales were down at least five percent compared to what they expected, 37 percent said sales were about what they would expect and eight percent said sales were up at least five percent compared to what they expected.

One segment that appears to be feeling the affects is pizzerias located near military bases. One franchised pizza company (with about 217 locations nationwide) said their stores in southern states that are near military bases are seeing about a 50 percent drop in sales. Another pizzeria in Missouri that is near a B2 Stealth Bomber base said sales were off 50 percent since the attacks. Another in Oklahoma said sales were down about $2,000 for the week after the attacks.

Distributors are also reporting declining sales. One distributor who supplies 4,300 locations (primarily in convenience store locations) in 24 states said sales were slightly softer than normal for the third week of the month, but this week is typically the slowest week of the month. Another manufacturer representative who supplies distributors said he saw a considerable reduction in orders for the past few weeks. He also reported that they are seeing some backup of inventory and some lowering of prices for plastic goods. He said that is the good news, the bad may be more pressure on the supply of disposable products once the airlines resumes normal travel and begins to consume more of these products.

Of those reporting that sales were about what expected, several mention that sales during the day of the attack were up, but fell back to normal or slightly below for the following week. One pizzeria reported a 100 percent increase the day of the attack and strong sales until the following Sunday (Sept. 16th) with sales tapering off the following week. Another pizzeria from a college town said the same with sales on Sept. 11th up 35 percent. Others with sales increases were a new location open for only a few weeks and a Canadian pizzeria.

Response also came from Mexico and Canada. One Canadian pizzeria in Montreal reported his sales were double what normal Tuesday sales are for that day. He said his location has seven TVs where customers watched the events unfold, which may have helped since many workers were sent home early. He also said he usually does not have deliveries until 4 p.m., but saw steady deliveries from 2:30 on the night of the attacks. One respondent from Mexico said his sales were down 10 percent.

PMQ will continue to track what is happening in the pizza industry over the next few weeks in an attempt to identify emerging trends. Comments from pizza owners show there is concern, but most are optimistic.