Editor’s note: This is the 11th in a new weekly series of PMQ-exclusive articles about pizzeria marketing from Matt Plapp, CEO of America’s Best Restaurants and Dryver Powered by Repeat Returns.

Now that we’ve wrapped up 2024, let’s head into 2025 with more focus and determination than ever to drive sales through your pizzeria’s marketing. The question on your mind should be, “What’s possible?” Meaning: What’s the best-case scenario for your current setup? What is the biggest sales number possible for your restaurant based on seating, capacity, hours and days in the year?

First, though, let’s look at 2024. What were your gross sales, how many transactions did you have, and what was your average check? The breakdown will look like this:

2024 Sales = __________

2024 Transactions = _________

2024 Average Check = _________

Now, what’s possible? What could your max sales look like with the same team? I spoke with an owner recently who took over a family pizza business that did less than $500,000 annually for 20-plus years, and within three years, he had the exact same business doing $1.7 million. Same location, same hours, same team and same menu. He tripled the sales under the exact same circumstances. What changed? The operator changed, the effort changed, and the inputs changed. And the new owner determined that more was possible.

Last year, I was on a 2.5-mile hill run that I’d done every week for six months. It was a big loop; run down the hill for 1.2 miles and then run back up. I thought, why do I run it only once? Could I run it twice? Guess what? I ran it twice—no problem. All that changed was my target.

I promise there’s a marketing message here—but first, let’s get crazy. Let’s visualize what’s possible. For me, it starts with one simple equation: How many more transactions could you process?

____________ x ____________ = ___________

Transactions       Avg. Check              2025 Sales

We often fail to aim high enough due to a lack of belief in ourselves and because we’ve been programmed by someone else to hit a “benchmark” or “average.” I want you to erase what you think is possible and do the math. I’d bet most of you could double sales for 2025.

Marketing for More Sales
Fact: Marketing drives sales! But restaurant marketing that works requires a plan. When I explain sales and marketing planning to my team, I like to refer to a trip—from my hometown of Erlanger, Kentucky, to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina—that my wife and I took in 1999.

Obviously, to make this trip, I need a car in solid mechanical condition. Next, I need directions and a map (this was before smartphones). Along the way, I also need to remember to put gas in the tank, put some food in my stomach, and possibly get some rest to make it there safely.

If you want a marketing plan that drives sales, you must map it out. A few weeks ago, I wrote about your tech stack and how it’s hurting your marketing and sales. Your tech stack is your car, and the right tech stack will make hitting this new sales goal much easier.

The fuel we will put in the gas tank is the marketing effort behind your tech stack: the emails, texts, ads and social media posts that drive eyeballs to your brand. But before we get to the effort, let’s look at the goals of those marketing efforts.

Remember that you have four ways to increase sales:

  • Drive new sales
  • Increase visit frequency
  • Recapture lost customers
  • Increase your customers’ spend when they visit

The sole purpose of your pizzeria marketing is to gain attention and drive sales through one of these four levers. I wish there was a simple equation, where you plugged in your numbers and the effort needed, but it’s not that easy. However, if you build a plan, stick with it for an extended period of time and monitor it, you’ll find out the ballpark numbers.

Below are the numbers from one of my divisions at America’s Best Restaurants. Over a three-year period, we’ve monitored every aspect of this marketing funnel. As I head into 2025, I can predict the sales and growth of that division based on the numbers below.

Our funnel looks like this for each new customer gained:

Marketing effort = 160

Decision makers reached = 16

Appointments scheduled = 4

Appointments showed = 2

New customers = 1

The No. 1 indicator you need to know is the initial effort required. In this case, it takes us 160 marketing efforts (calls, messages, emails, texts, etc.) to get in touch with 16 restaurant owners. Then, six of those owners schedule a meeting, of which 50% show up, and one says, “Heck, yeah, I want to partner with your company.”

It’s taken us three years to figure these numbers out and fine-tune them, but we know that for every new customer we want to gain, we have to make 160 efforts. In 2025, we plan on adding 800 clients to that division, so I now have to build a plan to make 128,000 efforts. I’m not aiming for anything else—only the effort needed to start us on the right track.

Side note: Something I can’t wrap my head around is how 50% of restaurant owners fail to show up for the meetings they schedule. I don’t know about you, but I show up for 100% of the meetings I schedule. Having a core value to live up to your commitments is key, and it trickles down through your staff when you fail to hold up your obligations.

What Are Your Efforts?
Simply put, what efforts must you take in 2025 to hit your sales goal? 

We know there are four ways to increase your sales, so let’s break down how we can do that and the effort needed. But remember: Your current sales are a product of your current effort and resources within that effort, like the size of your email list.

Let’s take a look at the easiest way to win in each of these four areas:

  • Drive new sales: These customers will come through new customer acquisition efforts, such as Facebook marketing campaigns.
  • Increase visit frequency: These visits will happen with people who already know you, so they’ll be on your email and text list.
  • Recapture lost customers: You can find lost customers through luck with your marketing efforts or a loyalty program that tracks usage.
  • Increase your customers’ spend when they visit: This extra spend will come through two places. The first and easiest way is to send offers to your loyalty members built to encourage spending. Second, teach your team how to sell in-store.

To accomplish the items above, you will need to be able to leverage your marketing assets and focus on growing them. In next week’s article, I’m going to cover the actual efforts and volume, but this week, I want to cover the topic only and give you some homework.

1. Drive New Sales: Your Facebook Page 

You’re going to use your Facebook page to drive new sales. Like I said, next week we’ll dig into how to do this, but for now, tell me:

  • How many followers do you have? _________
  • How many people did you reach in 2024? _________
  • What was your organic reach in 2024? _________
  • What was your paid reach in 2024? _________
  • How many interactions did you have in 2024? _________

This data can be found under the Meta Business Suite under page insights. See the screenshot below from a single-location pizzeria.

Screenshot

2. Increase Visit Frequency: Your Email & Text List 

Money follows attention, and the most efficient and least expensive way you can gain attention is via email and text messaging.

  • How many email subscribers do you have now? _________
  • How many text subscribers do you have now? _________

3. Recapture Lost Customers: Your Loyalty Program 

If you don’t know who stopped coming, how will you get them back without luck? Your loyalty program’s key feature should be monitoring how often your customers visit (or don’t).

  • How many loyalty program members do you have now? _________
  • How many did you add in 2024? _________

4. Increase Customer Spend When They Visit: Your In-Store Marketing

The most important marketing you’ll ever do is inside your four walls—and, unfortunately, it’s commonly where you fail the most. The easiest way to get people to spend more when they visit is to ask!

  • How many transactions did your restaurant have in 2024? _________

You have homework. Gather those numbers, and next week, we’ll discuss the effort needed across these four tactics to hit your 2025 sales goal.

Featured, Marketing, Matt Plapp