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How many new employees do you hire each year and then have to fire? If you’re anything like the average restaurant owner, your turnover rate could be as high as 300 percent. That means you hire and train a completely new staff four times in one year. And considering it costs an estimated average of $2,000 to $3,000 per new employee, it’s a very expensive way to do business.
Now with Quick Service Restaurant Manuals and Employee Training Templates you have access to the same training materials – and profits – as the big chains and franchises.
Quick Service is a job description based training program that forces you to hire people who can perform the job and then forces you to train, test and evaluate to the job description. If you track it, you’ll find you lose most of your employees within the first 90 days of hire. With that in mind, most restaurant owners don’t invest in an employee training program because they don’t think their employees are around long enough to make the investment worth it. But the funny thing is, that’s exactly why employees leave — they don’t know what their job is or how do it because they haven’t been properly trained. Restaurant owners perpetuate this problem by not investing in training.
Individual job descriptions, and a training program complete with testing and employee evaluations are essential to running an efficient and profitable restaurant. And if you’re tired of having to explain to your employees how they should do their jobs — over and over again — it’s time for the new Quick Service Restaurant Manuals and Employee Training Templates.
Quick Service makes the complicated task of training each and every employee so simple, ensuring when they hit the floor they are prepared to deliver the best product and service your restaurant has to offer.
Quick Service is customized with job descriptions and evaluations for positions most common in a pizzeria, including positions in the lobby, drive-thru, delivery, an expeditor and a line cook. Each position is outlined and coupled with tests to make sure each team member understands their positions. In addition, there is a trainer’s guide to make sure the program is implemented successfully and as intended.
Quick Service was developed by David Scott Peters, a restaurant coach and trainer, and Tracy Yandow, president and owner of The Manual Solution. These two have more than 30 years of combined experience in the restaurant industry and they know what it takes to build and retain a restaurant team of employees.
Quick Service Restaurant Manuals and Employee Training Templates retails for $1,497. Plus, if you want to add individual positions from the original Full Service version, you can purchase them separately. Each additional position comes on disk and retails for $250.
For more information, contact David Scott Peters, Smile Button Enterprises, LLC, 16156 N. 87th Dr., Peoria, AZ 85382, 623-266-9611 or visit www.smilebutton.com.
What would you say about a product that puts your name in front of all your hungry customers when they’re opening their refrigerators, at their most vulnerable point of hunger?
My Pizza Promo, based in Ontario, Canada, has rolled out its newest product that does just that! It’s a 5 _” by 11”, full color oversized, magnetic postcard with cut-off coupons displaying your special offers. Most importantly, it can be used as a stand-alone mail piece, so it doesn’t get lost in the pages of your town’s newspaper or that envelope mailer that’s crammed full of all your competition’s offers. My Pizza Promo is a print and design company that specializes in the pizzeria industry, so you know they’re experienced in dealing with your menu needs. Their designers are the best in the industry and offer their menu engineering skills when designing your print materials. You can be assured that this magnetic postcard will not be overlooked in the mailbox as the designs are very eye-catching.
Some companies are offering similar products, but My Pizza Promo has found a way to bring these magnetic mail pieces to you for less than 15 cents per piece! That’s nearly half of what the other companies are charging for the same product.
Direct Mail Manager Alex Izzo said, “People who have mailed with us have seen their sales increase by 20 to 30%. We have taken the time to test and research what works in the industry, we’re not just a mailing house; we specialize in marketing for pizzerias.”
Throughout the month of April, My Pizza Promo will be offering these magnetic postcards at a special 15% off rate to all pizzeria owners that would like to utilize the most effective direct mailing products on the market. For the independent pizzeria with one or two stores to the large chains, this is a very effective way to keep your name in front of your customers year round. The oversized magnetic postcard has enough room for up to 10 coupons, but Alex suggests using between four and six coupons to keep your customers wanting more. After the customer cuts the coupons away, the magnet with your logo and phone number will stay behind on their refrigerator.
My Pizza Promo handles all the design, printing and mailing for you. They will fully customize the product to fit your restaurant’s needs. Alex said this is something you’ll want to send out during a mailing campaign, and depending on how much business your establishment can handle, you may want to send them out every 3-4 months. “People look forward to getting these when you’re consistent.” The more you purchase, the less expensive the campaigns become. If you order 25,000 and want to send 5,000 each month, this will allow for 5 months of use throughout your mailing campaign.
Smart Marketing Solutions of Montreal sees its patented SmartMemo® board as a breakthrough marketing tool designed exclusively for the pizza industry. They produce a magnetic, erasable memo board featuring four detachable coupons, room for weekly specials and a complete delivery menu printed on the back. Each SmartMemo® board comes neatly wrapped in a glossy cellophane bag suitable for distribution by the post office. In fact, SmartMemo® boards are the only magnetic memo board to be approved for postal distribution at the same postage rate you pay to mail fliers or postcards.
Jay Wheeler, president of Smart Marketing Solutions, says that 93% of clients who distribute 10,000 or more units for a single location report double digit sales increases that last for months.
“SmartMemo® boards really stand out,” he says. “You get one in the mail box, and you have to open it. You just can’t ignore it. People love to stick notes on their fridge so they see the memo board as having practical value. That gives our customers the unique advantage of having their offers in front of the entire family every time they go to the refrigerator.”
Robert Jobb, a Domino’s Pizza franchisee had this to say: “Since distributing the memo boards our sales have jumped as high as 29%. Prior to this for several months we were flat to 5% up, so I am 100% convinced that the boards have been the catalyst for an awesome sales increase. I have also never seen a marketing piece that customers were literally excited about getting.”
If location, location, location is the mantra of business, the SmartMemo® board certainly puts your menu in the right place. “The product is right there on the refrigerator every time people are deciding what to eat, which is when your marketing has its greatest influence.” Jay points out. “Best of all, this product is made to last so people keep responding for months. It never ceases to amaze me how many customers tell me they’re still getting orders over a year after distribution. Quite simply, this is the most cost-effective marketing tool available to the pizza industry today!”
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 percent. In addition, the amount of time callers were willing to hold increased 130 percent, plus 90 percent 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.
Appetizers 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.
It's not your father’s pizza landscape anymore and today’s operators are constantly on the search for a marketing tool that can give them the edge over the competition. The people at Fun Express, a major wholesaler of toys and redemption prizes nationwide, have a saying: “Fun: The Perfect Pizza Topping.” Jerry Venner, director of sales and marketing for the company, says it’s not enough anymore to just have great pizza. “Pizza used to be novel alone but now it isn’t a differentiating factor,” Jerry declares. “Now an operator has to have other attributes that become differentiating.” Fun Express can provide pizzerias with an entire galaxy of kid-friendly offerings such as a complete Kids Meal program including toys, crayons and placemats, toy crane mixes, redemption center prizes plus a cavalcade of party supplies for special events such as Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day or even a Luau. In fact, Fun Express wholesales over 25,000 items including novelties, party favors and decorations. The company ships product from a massive 2 million square feet warehouse, so most products can be shipped within 24 hours.
Fun Express also helps operators promote their business through branded product including character development and logo'd merchandise. Among its 3,000 restaurant customers are Peter Piper, Chuck E. Cheese and Happy Joe’s Pizza and Ice Cream. Jerry says since competition for the pizza dollar has increased, ways to reach consumers have been forced to evolve.
“With over 125 years of experience on our team, we consult with operators closely to customize programs to their specific needs,” Jerry points out. “We find out what their goal is and address it. It might be they want to raise their check totals, or the frequency of customers visits or they may want to bring branding home by offering customers a prize with their logo on it.”
Jerry says that although Fun Express caters to large operations, it can also provide a valuable service to so-called “mom and pop operators.”
“For example, a small pizzeria with a limited marketing budget, can get a Kids Meal program started for only $200. This would include toys, cups, crayons and a placemats with state-of-the-art graphics. It helps the operator’s business to become what we call a “destination pizza place.” I have three boys myself, and I can tell you they will beg to go back to a place where they can leave with toys.”
“We think what makes us different is that we offer so many products and the consultative support to help operators appeal to both kids and adults. That’s why we’re excited about the pizza market,” he enthuses.
“They have the food people love and we help bring the fun.”
Fun Express has been in business since 1932 and is located in Omaha, Nebraska. They mean it when they say, “When it comes to fun, we’re all business.”
For more information call Jerry Venner at 888-999-0340 or visit FunExpress.com to request your free catalog.
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, who then turn around and sell them for a fee.
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. The card is used by the customer as a savings card, and pays for itself after a few uses. 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. 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.
This is also a good idea for smaller pizzeria owners who are hit up for donations of products and money repeatedly each 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 have an Italian restaurant/pizzeria. You serve Italian entrees and appetizers, so what do you offer in the form of Italian desserts? The popularity of Italian ices, sorbets and other frozen desserts has increased steadily and has now become a year-round treat. Italian ice isn’t just a summertime frozen treat, but with summer right around the corner, now is a great time to consider adding it. Italian ice generally consists of flavoring, water and ice, but Italian ice should be smooth and sweet and its texture should be uniform throughout. The most common flavors are cherry, coconut, lemon and rainbow although some companies sell a wide array of flavors such as cantaloupe, orange and chocolate. In New York City, Italian ice can be found in most any restaurant, especially Italian eateries, and is usually served in pizzerias or specialty Italian ice shops. Other variations are served by street vendors and now you can have something no other pizzeria in your area has. So how do you make Soft Italian Ice? You start by calling Electro Freeze.
“We do ice cream, slushies, smoothies, hard ice cream, gelato,” says Bill Guest of Electro Freeze. “We also have Soft Italian Ice, which is like a lemon sorbet. This you would put in a cup and serve. It’s softer than gelato, but it has a very distinct flavor. It wows you when you taste it.”
Electro Freeze equipment is durable, reliable and easy to use. But those attributes are just the whipped cream on top because the real benefit is profit for your business. Electro Freeze equipment delivers margins of up to 80 percent. On its own, that’s an excellent return on your investment. But Electro Freeze doesn’t stop at profit potential. The Electro Freeze team is determined to help you maximize profits in every way. With a nationwide network of distributors, they can work with you to develop a menu of frozen treats that’s most appealing to your customers. “We have 48 distributors in the US, six in Canada, and one in Mexico,” Bill says. They will also help you promote your new items with merchandising support and training for your employees. It’s all backed by the most responsive and reliable service in the industry.
Electro Freeze can help you perform a complete profit/cost analysis. Get a quick look at what your profits could be by using their online profit calculator (www.electrofreeze.com). One of the things that are very appealing to a pizza operator is that a four ounce serving only costs six cents because it’s a liquid product that you mix three-to-one with water, and it’s poured into a machine. Can you think of a simpler way to create a tasty frozen treat? Can you imagine selling 30 servings a day? Did you do the math?
Instead of giving away coupons to get people into your pizzeria, you could offer free dessert for the entire family, or if you prefer, you could even sell it for $1.59 per serving with a 6 cent food cost. The enticement here is MAJOR PROFIT for you with a small out-of-pocket expense. Electro Freeze sells the machines in all different sizes…a small one would go for around $4,000 or can be leased for less than $10 a day.
When it comes to Soft Italian Ice ingredients from Electro Freeze, there are over 30 different flavors from which you can choose, so there is never a problem with customers getting bored by the same old flavors. “We make the equipment and we’ve partnered up with a company that actually makes the ingredients,” says Bill.
If you would like to learn more about Italian ice, or how to add it to your restaurant, you need to call Electro Freeze. Call them at 800-755-4545. You can also visit their website at www.electrofreeze.com to locate a distributor in your area.