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Calling all pizza operators: Here is a marketing idea that will bring in customers AND raise money for a worthy cause. As you may recall, PMQ contributor, Dino Ciccone, is working on a project that is now rolling… the Pizza Bike. He plans to unveil this super-bike at the PMQ New York Pizza Show, March 4-6, 2007. The idea is to cash in on the popularity of motorcycle-related TV shows like Orange County Choppers. Dino’s plan is to build yearly souped-up, customized Pizza Bikes that can be auctioned off through a series of raffles with the money going to charity, and all the glory to participating pizzerias across the country.
Dino even foresees a television show too: The Adventures of, “Dino the Pizza Dude”. The adventures would take him from town to town spreading the gospel of pizza. Pulling into town on this radical custom chopper, he would talk with locals and find a good mom and pop pizzeria. He would then meet the owner(s) and discuss the life of owning and operating a pizzeria, including all the ups and downs. Each episode would include sharing tricks of the trade plus helping each other improve the business. They will also go shopping later for some great local ingredients and create a killer new pie. In addition – oh yes- he would then use the bike to make pizza deliveries that day.
The show would meld two of Dino’s passions, motorcycles and pizza. (Dino opened his first pizzeria in 1990 and has won 21 different pizza championships.) He envisions the TV show as focusing on both bikes and pies. Each show would include a topic like sauce, dough, toppings, ovens, staff and so on. Then, after all the cooking and marketing are done, as Dino the Pizza Dude is ready to leave, he jumps on the Pizza Bike as all his new friends gather around. Starting up his pizza stallion and revving his steed, the crowd goes wild. The emotional crowd would wave goodbye and escort him out of town on other bikes and classic cars. As the procession motors out others would join in like children running giving chase, parents pushing a stroller, farmer Joe on his tractor in the field and even a beautiful old couple in rocking chairs on their front veranda, all waving with BIG smiles. Dino could wind up being a kind of Pied Piper of Pizza, everyone wanting to go with him to his next great pizza gig. There goes Pizza Dude off into the sunset toward his next great pizza adventure! This really sounds like something that could be very cool.
Sounds great, right? Well first, he has to get the bike built. Dino says it will definitely be an uphill battle, but the project is starting to take shape.
“We’ve got the frame done, and that’s a big step,” he told us recently. “Now we kind of have a handle on the dimensions. Keep in mind; aside from the motor and the tires, everything else has to be built from scratch. You are talking about an over $100,000 bike that will be built like a watch. We’re also factoring in the inevitable screw-ups, which can slow construction.”
The Pizza Bike can be customized in any fashion, including having a pizzeria’s logo prominently displayed. Dino says the project can be as creative as a participating sponsor would like to make it.
“We can make the handle bars look like a dough roller. The mirrors can be built to resemble a pizza cutter. The seat can even be made to look like a pizza with different colored textured leather. If you can think of it, we can just about come up with it.”
The marketing opportunities are plentiful, to say the least. An aspiring pizzeria could sell tickets for chances to win the bike, and the pizzeria that sells the most tickets would then be rewarded with a grand prize with many more great runners up prizes and tons of incredible PR that you could not put a price on. Prizes and the media attention would be a once in a lifetime lottery win for the blessed pizzeria. A national charity like the Red Cross or the Shriners would be a natural sponsor.
“We’re in talks with both those groups right now,” Dino said. “I could see the Shriners helping us out and then when the bike is raffled off, how good would it make everybody feel to know, some child is getting a much- needed operation, thanks to the Pizza Bike.”
Traveling from city to city with the bike, Dino would visit signed up pizzerias along the way, and customers could have their photo made astride the hog. This would help with local media attention and increased ticket sales alternatively, the winning pizzeria owner could possibly designate a local charity or someone in the news who has had an unfortunate event or accident, and a portion of tickets sold at that location could go to benefit his community for further direct benefits, “WOW”.
Again, first, the bike has to be built, and Dino is looking for sponsors.
“I’d like anyone in the pizza industry or beyond to take a serious look at helping us out. We are also going to need an enclosed trailer to take the bike around the country, we will need wheels, motors, extra parts and we are going to need insurance. Pizza people know everyone in their community because everyone eats pizza. Today somebody is delivering pizza to an insurance company, or a trailer company or a parts place. If we can get some grassroots support I think this thing could really fly.”
A Flying Pizza Bike? Why not?
To support the Pizza Bike, contact Dino Ciccone at 519-455-5444 or email at cicconedonato@yahoo.com. You can also listen to the interview with Dino at www.pizzaradio.com …and be sure to be at PMQ’s New York Pizza Show on March 4th through the 6th, 2007 because that is where the Pizza Bike will make its national debut.