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PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #173 (formerly idea #44)
Multi-Stores...One Phone Number
The challenges of marketing one, two or three stores can sometimes seem overwhelming. For those marketing 10 or more restaurants...it is a whole different world of stressful demands.
A few years back, several software and marketing companies felt the solution for multi-store operators was to centralize the order taking by using one telephone number for all stores. In theory, this was a stroke of genius. In reality, the concept was cumbersome and full of pitfalls. The reasons were many and there really isn t time to explore the previous problems.
The good news is that, today, a company called One System has developed a program and system that allows ten or more stores to centralize their call-ins with a system they call One Number Call Center.
The key to One Number Call Center revolves around an integrated central control POS system that routes the call-in order directly to the individual store s One System POS System.
The advantages of getting the phones out of a store are many. With the phones removed from the store, it can concentrate on the production and delivery of pizza; all calls are coming to a central location which allows for stricter supervision and training, which, in turn, allows for better up selling.
The bottom line is that everyone is concentrating on order taking or production and delivery and this leads to efficiencies that directly affect the real bottom line...profits!
For marketing efforts, the one phone number aspect means you can really promote the One Phone Number ease of ordering. It is really easy for consumers to remember a single phone number versus twelve different numbers for twelve different locations.
According to Stan McCabe, CEO of One System, many operators base their entire advertising message around the one phone number concept. The phone number becomes your identification and can even become a part of the store logo. And it works, we ve seen year over year gross sales increases as high as 20%.
If you are managing a multi-store operation, it may pay for you to look into the new technology that One System has developed for its One Number Call Center system. To find out more, give them a call at 1-805-965-7007 or check out their web site at www.onesystem.com.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #174 (formerly idea# 151)
Don’t Get Left Behind: Let Customers Order Online
With 143 million Americans on the Web and $15.5 billion in online sales in the first quarter of 2004 alone, online ordering has become a normal routine for most people. And because of that, online ordering for the restaurant industry is growing faster than ever before.
So to grab a share of online sales, more restaurants are offering online ordering to their customers. The way online ordering works is customers visit your menu online, select the items they want and add them to their cart. When they check out, the order is faxed or emailed to your restaurant and an automated phone call or page is made to notify your staff of the order. Customers pick up their orders, just like phone-in orders, or have it delivered if available.
By offering online ordering, your restaurant also gets its own ordering Web site (e.g., www.pizza.net/100001) to promote to customers. You can then link it from your existing Web site or use it as your main Web site if you don’t already have one. You can even have your online ordering Web site custom designed so it matches your restaurant’s look and feel.
Through a Web-based online manager, you also have complete control of your Web site and menu. This makes it easy to add items, track orders and sales or send out emails to your customers at your own convenience.
When a customer calls in an order or walks into your restaurant, you rarely know anything about them. When a customer places an online order, you not only know who they are, but also how much and how often they have ordered and how to contact them. You can even have the online service send a coupon on their birthday or on a slow night to generate sales. We also have a customer loyalty program with pie-er points to keep customers ringing up more sales. Gift cards or prepaid debit cards are also available plus many more options.
On average, restaurants taking online orders also benefit from larger tickets when compared with phone orders. Using up-selling features, customers can easily add more to their order with a click of the mouse. What might have been just a pepperoni pizza turns into a pizza with breadsticks and a two-liter bottle of soda.
In addition to increasing sales, you enjoy other benefits; time spent on the phone is reduced, order accuracy is improved, reaching your customer is easier than ever and your restaurant has a presence that is promoting your brand 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Customers find online ordering a fast, easy and convenient way to place an order. It even makes a great solution for large office orders or group events. According to the online ordering success at Papa John’s, approximately 75 percent of online orders are from repeat customers. In addition, research has shown that customers prefer ordering via the web because they like 1) seeing the entire menu; 2) being able to progress at their own pace and 3) being in control of their ordering process and not waiting on hold and having the order accurate and the custom way the customer likes it extra cheese/ well done etc.
Online ordering makes a profitable addition to your restaurant’s marketing and sales strategy. And you can try online ordering at your restaurant from a service called Pizza.net. By using Pizza.net, your restaurant can be set up and ready to go in less then a week.
For more information on online ordering, visit http://www.pizza.net, email sales@pizza.net or call 561-279-2855.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #175
Packing a Punch With Postcards
Advertisement is a key survival tool for every restaurant, and in the pizza business, it’s essential to bring customers through the door for their first time. Kendu Marketing has invented a way for them to do this for free using advertising postcards. According to president of Kendu Marketing, Jeff Mercado, his product has been around for a year now and is showing great results in New Jersey where they’ve used the postcard system.
“It’s a double sided postcard with advertisements on each side; one side’s for the pizzeria, and the other side is for the advertiser that’s paying for the cards,” Jeff said.
The advertiser, usually mortgage companies, real estate companies, and contractors, locates the pizzerias they want to use for distribution of the postcards, and contacts Kendu Marketing about getting the cards printed. “We get 5,000 printed for each pizzeria the advertiser finds,” Jeff said. The postcards are then sent to the pizzerias to be handed out with carryout and delivery orders. The usual postcard has offers from the pizzeria on the top side, and on the bottom side, it advertises whatever service or business the advertiser wishes.
Ray Ferati, owner of Piezano’s Pizzeria, the very first pizzeria Kendu Marketing approached about using their services, said his sales have increased by about three percent and are holding steady. “It brings new customers in, but also brings back my repeat customers for more business, and I can measure this because I do a specific offer on the postcards, and I know that’s the only time I ever offered that,” Ray said. Although Ray is sending his out through a mailing list, and with delivery and carry-out orders, he said the extra 22 cents postage is worth it because he’s seeing an increase in business, plus Kendu Marketing does all the printing, so there’s no extra work involved for the them.
“They cost between 15 cents and 10 cents apiece, depending on how many pizzerias they’re going to-the more pizzerias, the cheaper,” Jeff said. “The good thing about this for the pizzerias is that they are getting free advertisement that helps spread their name around. If they make a delivery to an apartment complex, they can leave one with the customer, and place others on the mailboxes or doors of the other tenants,” Jeff said.
This is a free way to advertise your pizzeria, and it could be a huge component in raising sales levels. To find out more information on Kendu Marketing, visit their website at: www.KenduMarketing.com.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #176 (formerly idea# 22, 137)
The Ultimate Wing MachineAppetizers are a great way to boost average ticket sales, but many of the items customers want are fried. Not a problem if you already have fryers, but if you dont, the cost to install them usually kills that idea before it really gets started. Not only do fryers require hoods and vents and increase the chance of an employee getting burned (and they nearly always do), it can also add to your insurance costs. So how can you expand your menu to include fried items without going broke? Maybe it’s time to look into a ventless and fully-enclosed fryer.
The Autofry eliminates the need for costly hoods and vents while preventing employee contact with the hot oil. It even has its own built-in Ansul fire suppression system. Employees simply load the food product into the entry chute; select the fry time on the keypad and the Autofry does the rest. Furthermore, the elimination of hoods, vents and fire suppression equipment saves thousands in renovation costs.
Cheese sticks, wings, fries, Poppers, chicken cutlets, veal, eggplant, calamari, fish filets and fried ravioli can all be prepared to perfection with just the push of a button. Let’s face it, a wing, cheese stick or chicken finger just doesnt taste quite the same when baked in an oven. The Autofry allows you to serve restaurant-quality finger foods and appetizers without using up valuable pizza oven space or compromising flavor. Furthermore, deep-frying reduces preparation time by at least 50 percent. Gary K. Santos, VP Sales / Marketing for Autofry, points out, “A wing baked in a deck or conveyor oven usually runs between 8 to 10 minutes to prepare. The same product in the Autofry can be prepared in just three minutes.”
Autofry now offers five models to choose from capable of handling every type of frying demand. Last year, Autofry introduced the Model MTI-40C, a dual basket counter-top ventless fryer capable of producing up-to 100lbs of product per hour. For Pizza operators not sure if frying is right for them, Autofry now offers a Risk-Free short-term Rent-To-Own program for less than $10 per day.
Nearly 12,000 Autofrys have been sold worldwide over the past decade. Many of these customers consist of pizza restaurants serving up a wide variety of deep fried favorites. If you have ever considered expanding your menu with deep-fried finger foods, entrees and appetizers, you owe it to yourself to look into the safe, simple and affordable alternative offered by Autofry. Upon request, Autofry will provide you with a complete information package along with a free promotional video. Contact Autofry at 800-348-2976 ext 102, email gsantos@autofry.com or visit www.autofry.com.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #177 (formerly idea# 2, 172)
A Sticky Solution
If you’re like most pizza marketers, door hanger and box-topper coupons are a consistent ingredient in your marketing mix. These are great tools for new and repeat business. The use of Post-it® Notes or ‘Sticky Notes’ as coupons also emerged as a convenient way to draw attention to special offers. Let’s face it, a well-placed coupon on a customer’s door or pizza box is hard to miss. Unfortunately, these sticky notes proved to be very limited in their use because they didn’t stick well enough to coated pizza boxes or to most door surfaces.
Significant improvements have now been made to “outside the box” advertising. Enter the new Super Sticky Post-it® Notes. 3M has been working to make a better repositionable coupon that is more aggressive and will stick and then re-stick to almost anything from glass to Styrofoam to metal and even coated pizza boxes. The new notes’ sticking ability is the result of years of research and testing. 3M eventually changed the entire chemical formula of the adhesive material and came up with a much stronger “grip.”
The new material is thicker than in the past and is raised up over the rest of the pad. To ensure its reliability, the new adhesive has been tested on doors, windows, and cardboard pizza boxes and left for days. Not only did the notes stay put, when they were finally removed, they left no scars or tears on anything they adhered to. This “no-residue” aspect was particularly crucial. Consumers use Post-it® Notes every day at home and at work so when they see a Post-it® Note, they know they can take it with them as a reminder and place it next to the phone or on the refrigerator.
Now you can take better advantage of the ad space on top of your product packaging with a Post-it® Note Ad, which is a great way to drive traffic back to your restaurant. Post-it® Note advertising puts a new twist on the everyday box-toppers, they are a familiar reminder and will cause your customer to read and react to the ad or offer. And now the super sticky adhesive will stick better on more surfaces such as, cardboard, reinforced glossy stock, or Styrofoam boxes.
Many restaurants also have ads and discounts on their fast-food or take home bags. The advertisement on the bag is likely to be thrown out with the bag itself. By placing a Post-it® Note on the outside of the bag, the consumer is prone to remove the note upon first receiving the bag. Post-it® Note coupons can even be stuck to the dash of the vehicle to be used for the next drive-thru visit! The new super sticky adhesive material is guaranteed to stick even on bags treated with anti-grease agents.
Using Post-it® Notes to replace conventional door hangers allows you to place the ad at eyelevel. Many consumers assume conventional door hangers are “junk” and don’t even look at them before throwing them away. By using a Post-it® Note, customers are sure to read the note out of habit. Consumers have to look at the ad in order to peel it off their front door. Super sticky adhesive will not blow off in the wind or leave residue on surfaces. Post-it® Notes will also stick to glass making them effective as windshield leaflets.
For more information contact Customer Service at NoteAds, Inc. (800-309-7502) or visit their website, www.noteads.com
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #178 (formerly idea# 63)
Happy Birthday Strategy Provides Dramatic Profits
Happy Birthday! Now that is a phrase people just love hearing. For most Americans, birthdays mean celebrating with family and friends. For you, this means an opportunity to bring in additional customers and larger group sales while performing a very special public relations function.
We have spoken many times about the importance of communicating with your present customers and pulling at the heartstrings of potential new customers. If you will remember, birthday promotions have always been one of the most effective programs to bring customers back to your establishment and attract new ones. The key to implementing a successful in-store customer birthday program lies in your ability to collect names and birthdays. While the key to running a non-customer birthday mailing program is to find a promotional company that has birthday mailing lists and can execute your program.
Many POS systems and database software programs offer a function, which will allow you to collect and record the names and birth dates of your customers. These programs will then give you a mailing list of upcoming birthdays. You just design and print the mail piece, affix the address label and drop it in the mail.
To collect birthday info and names, many managers have an ongoing program designed to get customers to join their birthday club. As a birthday offer, it is recommended that you give a free small pizza, entrée, or sandwich to the birthday guest. You will be amazed at how many friends and family they bring in!
If you do not have a database management program set up there are a number of promotional companies that will manage a birthday program for you, one such company is Impact USA. They have developed the simplest and most effective programs I have seen.
You choose from one of two ways to run the program. The in-store program works like this. They supply you with birthday cards, which you have your customers fill out (name, address, e-mail, and birthday). You then take that card and file it in a birthday index box, which is divided, into months. Thereafter, when the appropriate month comes up, you simply pull the birthday card that the customer filled out and you send them that card. Now that is what I call simple. The full service birthday mailing program works like this. You choose from dozens of card designs and birthday messages. Then each month Impact USA prints and mails birthday cards to all the birthday people in the areas you chose, it’s that easy and very effective.
According to Adam Jay Mrowka, President of Impact USA, their program is generating a 20-70% redemption rate with average covers (size of customer group) going from 3.8 to 5.8 and beverage sales soar by over 25%.
The Impact USA programs are full service programs offering you support materials like window signage, ceiling danglers, table tents, counter cards, and employee buttons. These promotional elements are key in the implementation of a successful in-store birthday promotion. Even if you develop and manage your own program, don’t forget to promote it in-store!
If your restaurant is not taking advantage of the birthday market, maybe it is time you did. Examine the programs that are available and talk to operators who are implementing successful birthday promotions. You might give Adam Jay Mrowka a call at Impact USA, at 1-800-653-8837, and find out a little more about his birthday programs.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #179 (formerly idea# 97)
The Electric Hotbag Revolutionizes Pizza Delivery
You’ve worked hard to develop your specialty, an oven-hot pizza made with fresh ingredients and those little extras that your customers love only to have it delivered to their door soggy and cold. Well, you can kiss that delivery customer good-bye.
Don’t lose any more customers, in fact, now you can build your delivery business with Check’s Electric HOTBAG delivery system. Regardless of distance, weather conditions or traffic, no matter how long the delivery takes, the pizza will be at 160 to175º right to the customer’s door, and you can guarantee it! No other delivery system can make that claim.
It starts with the ingenious Check Electric HOTBAG, the heart of the most efficient hot food delivery system ever invented. Each bag has two thermostat controlled heating elements that are built into the top and bottom of the bag for constant, even heat. Several Electric HOTBAGS combine to create the in-store holding system that keeps as many as 72 pizzas at a constant 160º to 175º degrees on the holding rack waiting for delivery.
For delivery, the Electric HOTBAG simply plugs into the vehicle’s cigarette lighter through a 6’ power cord with a quick release connector to maintain a constant 160º to 175º temperature right to the customer’s door. And since there is no moisture build up in the Electric HOTBAG, cold, soggy food is a thing of the past. It’s an excellent way to expand your delivery area, increase your delivery business and boost your bottom line.
Here’s the best part. You can now guarantee the delivery of hot pizzas. As soon as the oven hot pizza is placed in the box, it is sealed with the Check’s Quali-Temp Seal sticker. The temperature sensitive black circle on the seal fades to reveal the words, “It’s Hot!” indicating that the pizza inside is oven hot. A word of caution, the seal sticker should only be used with the Electric HOTBAG delivery system, otherwise you can’t guarantee oven hot delivery.
The Electric HOTBAG uses 1,000 Denier black nylon for durability and Dupont’s Thermoloft insulation for maximum heat retention. The built-in heating elements are completely hidden and do not interfere with the use or cleaning of the Electric HOTBAG. All Electric HOTBAGS feature a clear plastic pocket for receipt slips, Velcro fasteners and a convenient carry strap and/or handle on the bottom. Each bag comes with a prorated one-year limited warranty and a 30 day money back guarantee.
Electric HOTBAGS, the Electric HOTBAG delivery system and the Quali-Temp Seal sticker are all products of the Check Corporation. For more information visit www.hotbagdelivery.com or call Check Corporation at 800 927-6787
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #180 (formerly idea# 115)
Credit cards on delivery? Anywhere. Anytime.
CHARGE ANYwhere® by Comstar Interactive is the feature-rich, scalable, wireless credit card solution for your shop. Comstar Interactive unveiled the CHARGE ANYwhere wireless point of sale terminal in 2001, in 2002 Comstar launched the CHARGE ANYwhere terminal in Pizza Marketing Quarterly. It is now 2006 and the CHARGE ANYwhere solution is the standard for wireless credit card processing today.
Back in 2000-2001 when Comstar came out with the CHARGE ANYwhere solution, pizza operators were skeptical of wireless credit card processing. In 2002-2003 those same operators asked how could they afford this technology? It is now 2006, and many pizza shop owners are stating they can’t afford to be without a wireless credit card solution.
For example: Pizza Rustica in Delray Beach, Florida, pays 10¢ per transaction.
“We have been using the Comstar Payment Gateway since October of 2004. We love the features that Comstar’s gateway provides us. In a time frame of five months we processed almost 4,200 transactions, just shy of $60k. This is a great solution and the return on investment is noticeable,” said Henry Abadia at Pizza Rustica, Delray Beach, Florida.
The CHARGE ANYwhere device has optional prompts that can be enabled to capture Tips, Time on / Time off and Driver ID. This information can be tracked on Comstar’s web-based Transaction Manager; where you can see exactly how many sales transactions each employee has done. You can even wirelessly lock out certain features of the device – such as not allow voids or returns.
The CHARGE ANYwhere has a “store and forward” feature in case the terminal is out of coverage at the time of sale. The card is swiped and the transaction is saved in the terminal. Once the terminal returns to coverage area you can process the transaction and receive the swiped qualified rate.
Comstar Interactive also supports other POS terminals, which allows them to connect to the Comstar Payment Gateway (CPG) for viewing transactions in real-time. The CPG also provides a virtual terminal free of charge for convenience of processing all types of sales transactions over the web, if needed.
Need to generate a report? No worries, with a click of a mouse, summarized or detailed reports can be exported via the CPG.
Comstars state-of-the-art industry specific software coupled with the secure, real-time web-based Transaction Manager makes the CHARGE ANYwhere solution jam-packed with features to help your pizza profits rise considerably.
Why not make your life easier and give Comstar Interactive a call at 800-211-1256 x150 and mention this article to learn more about the special promotion on CHARGE ANYwhere, or visit their website at www.comstarinteractive.com.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #181 (formerly idea# 123)
Kick Start your Lunch Sales
Pizza operators are always looking for ways to get lunch sales going. A good strategy is to aggressively target businesses and offices. One way to effectively do that is to utilize the power of faxing, emailing and a web site, but you want a way to use them that doesn’t consume all of YOUR time. There is good news. There are companies who can do the legwork for you. Here’s how you can use this medium to effectively get lunch sales jumping.
One approach is to target offices in a manner similar to delicatessens with a variety of different choices and mouthwatering product descriptions. Don’t just market pizzas; everyone already knows you have pizza. Use faxes and emails to offer a good mix of salads, sandwiches, pasta dishes or soups rather than just promoting pizza for lunch. This gives everybody in the office a choice and doesn’t limit them to just one food item. Faxes and emails give you more room to market your great products instead of offering coupons or discounts to entice customers in. You can describe what’s in each dish in detail or let them know about your daily special. Your daily fax or email can have more than one daily special included, giving them even more reasons to come to you for lunch. Here is how RFG Marketing’s program works.
You select what specials you want to promote for the day from a predetermined list they help you put together. They help you develop your fax and email lists, then send your daily specials and menu to local businesses. They also post the specials to a website they host just for you. Not only do the faxes and emails list specials and menus, it also contains daily trivia and the Chalkboard area where you can post special messages. One idea is to use the Chalkboard area as a thank you note for offices that may have called you to cater a lunch. This makes them feel special and creates more long-term business.
People want choices. Let them know you can offer more than just pizza. Rather than discount your food to get lunch customers, let your fax and email marketing strategy sell them on the product with tantalizing descriptions and variety. Do you have the time to spend tending to all of the details of faxing and emailing everyday? If not, it’s time to give RFG Marketing a call at 877-444-2099 or visit their website at www.rfgmarketing.com. Most of their clients have seen $750 to $1,000 per week increases in lunch sales. You tell them what you want to do and they take care of all the rest…for less than five bucks a day!
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #182 (formerly idea# 165)
Restaurant E-Clubs: The Unstoppable Repeat Business Builder
Besides great food and friendly staff, nothing creates more repeat business than having strong customer relations. Now you can maximize your frequency and quality of contact with customers and add that important personal touch with an email marketing E-Club from mUrgent Corporation, the restaurant industry’s first full-service email marketing agency.
An E-Club is easy to start and operate. mUrgent provides all the POP materials you need to promote and start collecting home or work emails from diners who want to be kept informed about your newest menu items and special programs. You collect the emails, and then mUrgent does the rest, from maintaining your database to sending virtually unlimited numbers of emails to your customers.
You can pick any combination of mUrgent’s three powerful E-Clubs. The Birthday E-Club sends personalized Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary offers to your customers. When they are planning where to celebrate, an eye-catching E-Club special offer message from you maximizes the chance that they will visit your restaurant. mUrgent’s irresistible call-to-action copywriting and graphics are hard to resist.
mUrgent’s E-Coupon Club features the same attention-grabbing content and design and lets you send two emails per month with up to two printable coupons per email. Your customers do not have to scan the papers and magazines to clip out the coupons. They delivered whenever you want, right to your customers’ home or office computer. Again, all you have to do is collect the customer emails, and mUrgent does the rest. There is no easier turnkey coupon program available to restaurateurs today.
The standard mUrgent E-Club lets you decide what other types of messages you want to send, with up to two emails per month to each customer. This popular program can include coupons and is most often used to promote special services and events such as catering, holiday dining, announcement of new staff and physical plant improvements or new site openings.
Whichever mUrgent E-Club you use, or even if you use all three, you are guaranteed to receive all E-Club POP materials, customized email and coupon designs, online customer profiles, an online registration page and virtually unlimited numbers of emails to an unlimited number of customers.
Discover how affordable and unstoppable a mUrgent E-Club can be. For more information, please contact Chris Conte, National Sales Director, toll-free 877.289.7250 or email cconte@murgent.com or visit www.murgent.com .
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #183 (formerly idea# 54)
Put Your Customers on Hold and Increase Sales!
It happens to every pizza operator daily. You have to put a customer on hold and when you return, they have hung up.
It is really annoying, but have you ever thought about the money you lose when you lose that phone call? Let’s say your average order is $12.50. If you lose one call per day, that adds up to $87.50 per week, $350 per month and a staggering $4,200 a year!
Ok, so how do we go about saving these customers? One effective way is to give the customers something to occupy their time while they are sitting on hold. Dead air really turns people away. Customers will stay on hold if you provide good music and a compelling recorded message.
One company that has pioneered the marketing applications of on-hold recording technologies is Message-On-Hold. Message On hold’s system centers on the right mix between licensed music and customized messages.
UPSELL EVERY CUSTOMER EVERY TIME!! In addition to standard Message-On-Hold devices, Call Sequencers are tremendous at raising average ticket and reducing hang-ups. These products answer the phone automatically even before the phone rings in the store insuring that every customer hears a consistent professional upsell message every time. These devices have raised average tickets as much as a dollar per order.
You might be interested to learn that a study done by AT&T and Nationwide Insurance has shown that companies with Message-On-Hold instead of plain music, a radio, or silence were able to reduce hang-ups by 50% to 80%. In addition, the amount of time callers were willing to hold increased 130%, plus 90% of callers learned about a product or service they had not known about. Now that is compelling!
According to Mike Wick, representative of Message-On-Hold, suggestive selling moves more profitable products and increases your average check tremendously. Wick says, “When you have got a customer on hold, you’ve got a captive listener who’s already sold on your product. It is very easy to sell them on a new product or suggest that they add an item to their order. It’s a simple concept: you stop losing calls and you increase the average check by as much as $.54 per order.”
It really adds up! Utilizing a telephone holding system just might make a significant difference to your bottom line.
If you would like to find out more about the Message-On-Hold system, you can reach their sales office at 1-800-392-4664.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #184 (formerly idea# 142)
Peel-A-Deal® = Profitable Community Involvement
How many times a year are you hit up by a school, church, youth sports association or other fundraising group wanting money for this or that? Community involvement is a necessary part of running a successful business, but is there a way you can do it that is both hassle-free and profitable? Yes, there is!
The answer is Peel-A-Deal®, a unique fundraiser peel off coupon card. The cards give pizzerias an opportunity to partner with local schools and non-profit organizations while at the same time increasing pizza sales and customer loyalty. The idea behind these cards is simple. The pizzeria purchases their custom designed cards from Peel-a-Deal® (Vision Marketing, Inc.) and either sells or gives them to schools, churches, soccer teams and other groups in their area. Then students, parents or volunteers sell them in the community for a fee, say $10.
Peel-A-Deal cards are typically sold to schools and groups on a 2-3 week consignment basis. For example, if a school gets 500 cards and each child participating sells five cards for $10, the profit is $5,000. If the pizzeria charges four dollars a card and gives the school the other six, the profit for the school is $3,000 and the pizzeria gets $2,000. Schools love this program because they can raise a lot of money in a short amount of time with no risk, as they return unsold cards to the pizzeria. Pizzerias love this program because they make money on every card sold and the coupons redeemed, and establish new loyal customers. Customers love these cards because after one or two uses, the cards pay for themselves. The card is used by the customer as a savings card. The savings coupons are on the back and customers peel them off and turn them in with their purchase. The coupons have an adhesive back and can stick right on a cash register receipt, thus providing easy coupon redemption and tracking for the pizzeria.
Many pizza franchises have significantly increased their sales while supporting their local communities by offering their own Peel-A-Deal pizza fundraising program. They advertise this program on their box toppers, table toppers, at the register, and in local advertisements. Schools contact them and sign up for the program. One pizza franchise sold 11,000 cards in less than six months, earning them a “prepaid” income of $55,000 (at a profit of five dollars per card). That’s prepaid income, meaning the profit was realized before any of these customers ever stepped foot in the restaurant! And what should be done with all of that extra profit? One franchise allows their managers to use the money they make from the sale of the cards as extra advertising dollars for their local market.
This is also a good idea for smaller pizzeria owners who are hit up for donations of products and money repeatedly over the course of a year. By implementing a Peel-A-Deal fundraising card program, these requests can be met and it can be a win-win for everyone. You can obtain new customers from word of mouth advertising, gain consumer respect in the community, as well as profit from the sale of the cards and the increased customer traffic.
The company offering Peel-A-Deal®, Vision Marketing, Inc., can supply you with all the tools to start and run a successful fundraising program. They will work with you on designing a customized card for your pizzeria and consult with you on how you can market it to nonprofit groups in your area. For more information on Peel-A-Deal®, please visit www.peeladeal.com or contact Vision Marketing, Inc. at 877-563-5654 or email info@peeladeal.com.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #185 (formerly idea# 144)
Make a BIG Impact on a Tight Budget!
A Purdue University study has shown that on average, a person opens the refrigerator 20 times a day. Sometimes, the trick to getting a customer’s business can be as simple as whose information is the most readily available. Memo boards give you exposure 24 hours a day, seven days a week in high traffic areas. If you promote your pizza restaurant on Vision Marketing, Inc.’s 8.5” x 11” Full-color, Magnetic Memo Board your advertisement will be seen 7,300 times by one person in one year and 29,200 times by a family of four. Your customer’s fridge will become a permanent billboard for your restaurant.
These inexpensive, damp or dry erase memo boards command attention and will motivate your customer’s taste buds to order more pizza, more often. Just like the sign that hangs on the outside of your restaurant, Magnetic Memo Boards are effective marketing tools used to communicate your message to prospective and current customers.
Customers can use them in their kitchen to make a list of chores, errands or to remind them to order pizza for dinner. The best part is that your name and phone number is always there, and they will see it every time they walk by the fridge. Your advertising message will also be much larger than you competition’s business card size magnet! Not to mention, they have a high perceived value and last for years. To double the impact of your memo board promotion, add your menu on the front or back to increase pick-up and delivery sales, making it easy for your customers to order exactly what they want from the convenience of their home.
This highly visible marketing piece is also a big winner among local businesses. Memo boards are ideal in break rooms at offices. Secretaries love them because they can leave notes reminding the office staff of important meetings and messages. They can also use them on their filing cabinets as a reminder center, reducing the number of fly-away post-it notes. Then your restaurant’s name, menu and phone number will be there when they get ready to order lunch for the office or line-up a caterer for their next party or event.
The memo boards are also a great tool to capture your local college market. College kids love free stuff and one of the first things on a student’s shopping list is a memo board for their dorm room. Why not be the provider of these memo boards and advertise your business in every dorm room on campus?
You can sponsor your own memo board or partner with other advertisers and make arrangements with the college to distribute them to students on move-in day or in their orientation packets. Contact the college or university’s Residence Life Office or Student Life Office and tell them you want to provide free memo boards to the students. Find out how many dorm rooms are on campus and provide one per room or one per student. To further entice the school to allow you the opportunity, you can offer to imprint the school’s logo on the boards. If a student is not familiar with the area, they will remember your name and call you first when they want pizza. This is also a very effective way to promote any student specials or discounts you may offer.
Whether you pass them out to customers, local businesses, or to college students full color memo boards make a big impact on a tight budget. For more information and a FREE sample, call Vision Marketing, Inc. at 1-877-563-5654 or visit www.memoboardsrock.com.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #186 (formerly idea# 23)
Polo Shirts - Selling Pizza with Style
The next time you are at a mall or busy street corner, count the number of people who pass by wearing a shirt with a company logo. While you are counting all those polo shirts, make note of the messages printed on the shirts. Chances are, you are going to see many local retail identities, especially eateries. People love to wear polo shirts and t-shirts, and for the retailers who sold or gave the shirts away, they are a great form of advertising. These shirts are literally mini-bill-boards that promote your business and products.
We all know that shirts can be a great form of advertising, but do not lose sight of the fact that shirts are merely a promotional tool. They should not be considered a new-found profit center. Just because the Hard Rock Cafe or Fudpucker’s can charge $35 to $40 per shirt does not mean that you can. Your goal should be to get shirts on the street. According to Manny Chazan of Shirts Unlimited, pizza operators should price the shirts at a level where the customer sees a real value. “I always suggest keeping the price at 20 percent above cost. At this price, you are covering cost with a small mark-up,” says Manny. He also suggests making the design very eye-catching. After all, you want people to notice the shirt and your message, and you want your customer to wear the shirt often. Imagine moving two dozen polo or t-shirts out your door every week. That is a lot of walking endorsements for your establishment and product.
T-shirts can also create marketing opportunities. If you would like to see one great example, read the article on page 30. Here Carmen’s Pizza offers a free t-shirt to any customer who can eat their giant pizza by themselves. They have some customers who keep coming in and attempting the feat just to get the newest version of their shirts. There is one pizzeria in California called Pizza My Heart that offers a free slice to anyone who buys a t-shirt and they sell thousands each year. That’s a lot of walking advertisements. The owner said he was once on vacation in Hawaii and saw one his t-shirts there. Starting to get the idea?
Since shirts should be seen as a part of your marketing efforts, be sure to use them as a key part of a marketing promotion. For example, you could offer your customers a free shirt for buying 10 or more pizzas, or after the customer has purchased a certain dollar amount of product. There are many ways to make shirts sell more pizza. If you would like to explore the possibilities of polo shirt and t - shirt promotions, I suggest you contact Customer Service at Shirts Unlimited, 800-291-6016.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #187 (formerly idea# 35)
Stuffed Toys Can Stuff Your Register!
Want a quick idea on how to bring new customers thru your doors? Just offer them a cute cuddly little bear or cozy creature. Just look at the tremendous success McDonald’s has had with its two Teenie Beanie Baby Promotions. Now that that promotion is over, dealers are selling the complete sets for over $130. Everyone seems to be collecting the little critters. And you can capitalize on this trend by offering your very own customized stuffed creature creation. Creature Comforts is a company I recently discovered that makes really cute stuffed characters. Imagine how your customers would react if they were able to buy a little bear wearing a t-shirt with your logo on it. Imagine how many pizzas they would buy to get the little guy FREE! Well, Creature Comforts can custom design or provide you with one of their stock creatures for as little as $1.50 per unit. Creature Comforts even offers the toys voice activated with your jingle or a brief message. According to Lorne Kotzer, Vice President of Creature Comforts, the sky is the limit. They can design almost anything imaginable...from giant lobsters to tiny pizza slices that ring out your jingle. And if you can’t think of any clever ideas don’t worry – they have over 100 stock items for you to choose from. This is a great opportunity to put your logo on a collectable keepsake that constantly reminds the proud owner of your restaurant. If you would like to put a little creature to work for your restaurant, give Lorne Kotzer a call at Creature Comforts. 1-888-228-5001 or email him at lorne@cctoyscustom.com
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #188 (formerly idea# 21)
Scratch and Win Game Cards
It’s human nature... everyone loves to win something. It’s no wonder so many state governments are wild about their lotteries. Now imagine what would happen if every scratch-off ticket was a winner! You’d have lotto lines that would run for miles. OK, now imagine if your store implemented a scratch & win game where every ticket was a winner. You’d have a lot of happy customers and sales figures that would go through the roof.
I’m sure you’ve noticed how the large national chains like McDonald’s have been using scratch & win type game cards for years. You probably assumed that only a giant restaurant chain could afford to produce and implement a scratch & win promotion. Well, here’s the good news – you can offer customers a scratch & win game where everybody wins. Today, small businesses can participate in the scratch & win game craze for just pennies. A leader in this field is Direct Check Marketing of Clearwater, Florida, who produces the Jackpot Scratch Match & Win Game. This Popular scratch & win promotion allows your store a supply of personalized game cards that are imprinted with your business logo/name, address, phone, etc. You select three attractive house prizes or offers, which are then printed, on your game card. These prizes are called one, two, or three Cherry Jackpot Prizes. Give a game card to each customer every time they visit your store. The play area is scratched off to reveal one, two, or three cherries, and your customer wins the appropriate matching prize on their next visit. Prizes can include free food items, discounts of food products or free premium items. You can even use your regular coupon offers as prizes and increase your redemption rates.
The bottom line is that customers love these scratch & win games and so will you! Effective scratch-off campaigns will generate repeat business, create a fun atmosphere and customer good will and are a great way to introduce new products. If you would like to bring an exciting in-store promotion to your restaurant, I invite you to investigate the possibilities of the Jackpot Scratch, Match & Win Promotion. For more information, please contact Gretchen Oswalt with Direct Check Marketing at 888-313-8054.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #189 (formerly idea# 156)
Keeping Your Crust Crispy
Every pizzeria does their best to put out some form of a great pizza. Several years ago, in order to both increase sales and compete in the market, many pizzerias began offering delivery to their customers. What makes the difference in a decent and a great delivered pizza is the form in which it arrives.
Steam and grease work together to reduce the tastiness of a delivered pizza. Most pies sit in their own grease, becoming messy and soggy before ever making it to your customer’s door. Sure, some products are on the market that are supposed to help fight the sogginess prevalent in delivered pies, but only work part of the time. Things like corrugated cardboard slips to put in the bottom of pizza boxes have been around for years. Problems with corrugated cardboard are obvious. For one thing, many pizzas actually absorb the taste of the cardboard. To combat this, some pizzerias have started using wax paper, which only holds the moisture and grease to be reabsorbed by the crust. Innovations in box designs allow steam to escape through carefully placed vent holes in the boxes, but do not do much to help the bottom of your pie.
However, to really cut down on extra moisture in your delivery box, a product like Dri Pie is your best option. Dri Pie is a plastic grid that you put in the bottom of your box (instead of the corrugated cardboard piece). The grid allows the pizza juices to seep from the pizza into the box below without soaking your crust in the mess. Dri Pie helps soothe the fears of those who refuse to deliver their pizzas because of quality issues and allows them to deliver with much more confidence. With the issue of soggy pizzas lessened, feel free to add delivery to your menu and be sure that your pizza will represent you well away from your shop. Cutting the pizza in the box won’t damage the Dri Pie, so there are no worries about pieces of the grid getting lodged into the pizza. They can, however, be easily cut with a pair of scissors to ensure the best possible fit for your pizza boxes.
The bio-degradable, FDA approved mats come in three different sizes to ensure the proper fit for your pizza boxes. The sizes are 12 inches by 12 inches with the smallest size at 9 inches by 9 inches. For more information on Dri-Pie or to check on prices, check out their website at www.dripie.com or call Ken Mull at 203-723-1514.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #190 (formerly idea# 146)
Affordable Sign Solutions for Your Pizzeria
For most restaurants, their most important asset is their menu. For restaurants that do walk-up counter service, a colorful, easy-to-read, attention-getting menu system can be a very strong sales tool. Its imperative that your customers be able to see it and easily read the menu.
Chalk Talk offers one of the most unique menu systems on the market today. Their staff of artists can create unique, hand-drawn, custom menu boards for customers all over the United States.
One of the biggest decisions you need to make in selecting a menu system is ease of changing items and prices. Many restaurants have seasonal menus or offer specials at different times of the year. With a changeable menu board it would be very easy for you to put specials on the menu. Chalk Talk offers an affordable solution for pizzerias wanting to change their menus or add a wall menu. Chalk Talk can make your boards as flexible as you want it to be. Their menu boards feature erasable chalk pricing, which allows you to change your prices anytime you wish by yourself using the price change kit that comes with each board.
Maybe you want to offer a line of wings and sauces or pastas. You could leave your menu as is for the pizza and add a new panel with the new menu items. You may also want to offer a package deal like two slices, a salad and a drink. Chalk Talk allows you to do this with removable menu strips that are applied to the board magnetically.
Do you have a great wall in front entranceway of your restaurant? You could put in a floor-to- ceiling chalkboard menu. The menu would catch the eyes of customers who enter the restaurant. Are you in a high foot traffic area such as a shopping center? Chalk Talk makes outdoor A-Frames that you can use to advertise your lunch specials or a buffet night.
Because Chalk Talk custom makes all signs, you can order other boards to act as marketing tools in your restaurant. Counter displays are guaranteed to up-sell items like sides and desserts. Do you have a new pasta dish? Put it on a counter display, or offer a special. This is an inexpensive way to advertise your products.
Lots of pizzerias with counter service and dine-in service have two areasone for pickup the other for dine-in. Chalk Talk offers a solution to differentiate these areas with their Order Here and Pick Up Here signs. They even make restroom signage.
Chalk Talk makes everything custom and can make boards in any shape or size to suit your needs. The menu artwork can be drawn in any number of styles from real-to-life to animated. For more information on Chalk Talk please call them at (714) 841-4411 or email info@chalkmenus.com.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #191 (formerly idea# 30)
Throw Dough Like a Pro
Mastering the art of dough throwing comes with years of working in a pizza shop, but teaching new employees how to hand-toss can waste a lot of dough. Not only do operators learn the craft of dough tossing to make pizzas, but some have used it as a marketing tool. You have read about U.S. Pizza Team dough tossers in USA Today and hundreds of other newspapers, seen them on the Food Network, CNN and countless other national television shows. As a result, these acrobatic dough tossers have gained thousands of dollars in free publicity as the Harlem Globetrotters of pizza tossing and nearly every one of them have one thing in common…they used Throw Dough to master their skills and used their status as pizza throwing champions to sell more pizza. There is something very special about dough tossing that fascinates the public and they seem to be suckers for stories about pizza making and pizza making contests. Cash in on the dough tossing craze by becoming the first pizza athlete in you area, but you need to practice first. You can improve dough tossing by practicing anywhere. If you don’t already know how to toss dough, order the “Learn to Throw Dough” CD featuring the US Pizza Team Trainer Chris Green. The CD comes free with the Throw Dough pack.
Throw Dough is a life-like, rubber dough that thousands of pizza makers across the globe have used to master the art of dough tossing without the need of making fresh dough. It allows you to train new employees or practice acrobatic tricks any time or place you get the urge. Once you are comfortable with a few tricks, consider having a “Throw Dough With a Pizza Pro” night at your restaurant where you show kids how to do it and let them give it a shot. You can even sell Throw Dough to them as a fun game to practice and play with at home by purchasing Throw Dough by the case at a discount.
Even if you do not have the athletic skills you have seen the U.S. Pizza Team acrobatic dough tossers demonstrate on TV, you can get a crowd to watch your own local version of a pizza contest and generate plenty of local publicity. Call the newspaper and invite a reporter down for a free meal and to watch you do a demonstration for kids….use your imagination. If you get good enough, you could even win a free trip to Italy to compete as a dough tosser with the U.S. Pizza Team. For more info on Throw Dough, visit www.throwdough.com or contact Caroline Felker at caroline@pmq.com or call 662-234-5481 ext 125.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #192 (formerly idea# 28)
Door-hanging: The Secret to Success
Nothing shows the customer that we really want their business like door-hanging. Because the pizza industry is a service business, the customers take our commitment to service more seriously when they see us going to the trouble of actually coming to and visiting their home. Simply put, this strategy works because when you door-hang homes, there will be increased sales that same day. When door-hanging does not work, it is usually because the door-hangers never made it to the door.
There are some solid proven ways of managing door-hanging crews that work. Recruiting trustworthy groups, like Boy Scout Troops, Girl Scouts and such to canvas the neighborhoods are effective methods by simply trading out a few pizzas for the service. However, some new methods have come to light with the wide use of POS computer systems. One method is to print out a list of customers who haven’t ordered from you in certain areas. If you want to get immediate sales relief, then just door-hang these known customers with some light offers. You can even use this list to give all of your non-customers an offer they can’t refuse. In addition to homes, you can also work with hotels in your area by talking with the manager and offering a point system for each order from the hotel. Employees or staff can redeem points for free pizzas and you get all of the orders.
Using a full line of products that includes starburst die-cut door hangers, flyers, menu box toppers, magnets, post cards, and table tents is an excellent marketing strategy. Accuform can help business owners utilize these marketing tools to create the greatest sales impact in their community.
Want real impact? Try door-hanging in combination with a direct mail. How about selecting a different postal carrier route each week you door-hang and drop a mail piece simultaneously. You will get maximum impact but your sales will not endanger your Friday night operations.
Happy door hanging and may the wind be at your sales. For more information, contact Gail Johnson at Accuform Printing & Graphics. Her phone number and email address are 313-271-5600 and gailjohnson@accuform.net, respectively. Accuform’s website is www.accuform.net.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #193 (formerly idea# 3)
Capture Your New Neighbors
Demographers tell us that, on the average, you can expect to lose an estimated 20% of your customer base within the next 12 months. How? For the most part they are simply moving out of your trading area. That’s the bad news. The good news is that you now have an opportunity to expand your customer base by reaching the new families moving into your trading area. That’s right, as current customers move away, the door is left wide open for your new neighbors to become loyal customers. However, to make this happen, you must move fast. These new families must be reached as soon as they unpack! According to market researchers Yankelovich and Partners, 40% of new movers change their toothpaste immediately after a move. Timing is everything! For a few months these people are establishing new buying patterns and a new neighbor strategy can play an important role in the acquisition of these new customers. And, the fastest, most cost-effective way of reaching the new move-ins is through direct mail. A personal letter, along with an irresistible gift certificate, will go a long way in winning your new neighbor’s loyalty, especially now that they are actively trying to replace their old connections...favorite places to eat, shop, bank go to church, etc.,etc! The first step in developing a new neighbor’s mailing program is to contact a reputable direct marketing company and inquire about obtaining monthly listings of new residents. Next, plan out your mailing strategy (what offers to make, how often to communicate to prospects) and estimate your printing and mailing cost. You can make this process really effective and hassle-free by using a direct marketing company that specializes in this type of mailing program. These companies can plan strategies, design your mailer, obtain the mailing list and see to it that your mail gets to the prospect in the most cost effective way possible. If this marketing approach sounds like something you would like to investigate further, you should consider contacting Moving Targets at 800-926-2451 or www.MovingTargets.com.
PMQ's Classic Idea Forum #194 (formerly idea# 7)
New Power For Telephone
Imagine your telephone system having the power to increase your average check through recorded suggestive selling. This unique system, which was designed for use in pizza restaurants, is being marketed by Fidelity Communications, a leader in the tele-communication industry, servicing over 16,000 pizza restaurants. The process works by utilizing a call sequencer, which allows calls to enter your system in the order they are received. Once the call is captured, a recorded digital message relays a thank you and a brief message concerning daily specials or simple menu suggestions. Next, the system puts the caller on hold and explains that all lines are busy and the next available operator will take their order. At this time, the caller will hear another short message about daily specials or possible job opportunities. The next voice heard will be that of the counter person ready to take the order. You already know how effective personal suggestive selling can be... this is simply the next step. And, according to Rick Standbridge of Fidelity Communications, key to the success of this type of system lies in the individual stores ability to change the messages whenever the need arises. For example, it is two hours before closing time and you’ve got more prepared pizza dough left than you expected. Now everyone who calls in will be offered the large pizza special. Another important aspect of a system like this is it’s ability to be local...the voices on the phone are the familiar voices of your staff or a professional pre-recorded message. The system comes in sizes from two lines to 12 lines and will increase your average ticket by a dollar or more. Payback can be less then one month! There isn’t much you can buy to enhance sales with that quick of return. This unique telephone system is a great example of how high tech is helping to sell more pizza. And remember, keeping pace with technology is paramount when trying to outplace the competition. If turning your phone system into a selling machine sounds interesting. Call Fidelity Communications at 248-380-5000. The in-store Call Center experts.