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A GUIDING WORD
Dear PMQ,
I just want to say thank you for sending us a copy of your magazine to try it out. My wife and I bought a small independent pizza parlor 18 months ago and still have not broken even yet. I feel like some of the things in your magazine will help us get on track. The Lord gave us a vision of turning the pizza parlor into a great place for family fun that would give Him honor. We doubled our size from 1,500 square feet to 3,000 square feet in April of 2006. We built a 30’ long by 13’ tall Noah’s Ark clubhouse for kids to play in. We also put in a game room and an air hockey table for the older kids and adults. We have silk palm trees, plants and vines all throughout the place, along with stuffed animals in the top deck of the ark. We also added 12 flavors of Blue Bunny ice cream. It is really an awesome place! We still have new people coming in about every other day but we are still struggling with how to pay the bills and taxes each month. I would appreciate any advice you might have for us.
Jeff and Susan
Probably the biggest deciding factor in where families eat is kids. Places like Peter Piper and Chuck E. Cheese rank among the top per-store sales earner in the industry. The only thing I wonder about is if it is considered more of a family fun center than a pizzeria. First, I would go through your P&L statements (profit and loss). Look at what your labor costs are and determine if you are overstaffed. Typically gross wages run around 18 to 25% depending on the owner’s hours and paycheck. Look at your food costs and make sure you aren’t losing money on items. Ideally food costs ought to be in the 24-32% range. Also look at your menu…are there things that simply are not selling? If so, cut them from the menu. With your concept, you may want to approach local church groups (youth groups, Royal Ambassadors, GAs, etc.) and other groups such as day care centers and see if there are any ways you can work with them for parties or store tours. One simple promotion I have seen work is doing classroom demonstrations on how pizza can have all of the food groups. Check with teachers to see when they are covering this subject. After your demonstration, give each kid a certificate good for one small personal pizza for free with any adult purchase of $10 or more. Kids will go home begging to go get their free pizza and you end up getting new customers. Also, go to PMQ.com’s Think Tank and peruse the posts there or post a few questions.
THAT'S JUST IGNORANT
Dear PMQ,
We have been having a problem lately with people coming in (the PMQ Think Tank) and writing ‘ignorant’ posts. It was funny the first time but now it is becoming an issue. A few regular (posters) have suggested that only people that have registered be allowed to post.
Thomas
This is a subject we have debated many times here at PMQ…to require registration for posting or not. Through some polls, feedback and experiments, we have determined that the Think Tank gets more action by not requiring registration. I guess some people like anonymity when asking business questions or maybe some don’t like providing email addresses or the time it takes to register. But back to your comment, I personally check the Think Tank each morning and remove SPAM posts and those which aren’t appropriate. Occasionally one may slip by and if you happen to notice a post that is inappropriate, please let me know (tom@pmq.com) and I will get it taken care of immediately.
DISPLAY CASE BLUES
Dear PMQ,
Hello from London, UK. It’s a long shot, but I wonder if you can help me out on something. I am trying to source a pizza display case that can hold 20-inch pies. I have looked everywhere but had no success. Any ideas on finding one?
-Justin